Our First Apartment

So finally after a few months of living in our new apartment, it's finally starting to look and feel like home. Since we are newly married, we've basically have started from scratch and slowly building up our collection with the help of our family.

And of course I had to post pictures, so here it is.

Before: 

This is one thing I absolutely love about our apartment, our closet is HUGE. It's fantastic. 

After:

And of course the bedroom. The Before:

yeah, our setup was pretty sweet. But don't worry, it's gotten even better.

The After: 

And all the thank you is due to Cameron's mom :) 

yes, our bed sets up 4 feet and we have to run and jump to get it. No exaggeration. But we are getting a lower setting box spring and then the bed skirt will fit and the whiteness at the bottom will go away.  :) 

our beautiful dresser :)

And the nightstand for my side. I am still on the hunt for lamps of course. 

It's still a work in progress, but we love it and it's all ours. :) 

Picnic in a tree

This is just another reason why we love Austin so much. We were down in South Austin running a few errands tonight, and for dinner we decided to stop at our favorite pizza place. It's a little slice of heaven. We both got a slice of our favorite pizza, and took our slices to the coolest tree to have ourselves a little picnic. Yes, we ate our pizza in a tree. 

I apologize for the picture not being the greatest of quality. We only had our phones with us and I couldn't not resist having a documentation of this adventure.

Austin

Top Five things about Austin:

1) Cameron loves his job. He loves what he does, he's happy when he goes to work, and just as happy when he comes home. He loves the work environment and he gets along great with his coworkers.

2) We live roughly fifteen minutes from downtown, it's fantastic. Downtown is such a fun city to explore and try new things. There are a ton of delicious restaurants all over, including my favorite Banarchy (a frozen banana stand that comes with your choice of toppings - HEAVEN). We have our pick of absolutely anything and everything. Cameron and I are always trying new places to figure out our new favorites to eat in our new city. Every Saturday morning, we try a new breakfast place. It's been so fun exploring and tasting new locations.

3) Not only is the food scene incredible, but the activities are endless. We kayaked the Town Lake one Saturday and had an absolute blast. It was so neat seeing all the incredible homes along the river. We also saw the bats fly out from Congress bridge. It's strangely beautiful. Right after sunset, hundreds of bats come flying out and hundreds of people are waiting just to see it whether they're on the bridge, on the grass by the river, or on a boat.

4) Austin is known for the music scene and now I understand why. Sixth street is famous for the music. Cameron and I spent one Saturday night walking up and down the street just exploring and listening to the new music. There is just about every kind of music for all different types of music lovers. It's just a fun way to spend a Saturday night.

5) We live in a town that sounds like Dr. Seuss named it - Pflugerville. We are close enough to downtown to go down whenever we would like, but we also live away from all the chaos. It's a pleasant little town just north of Austin. We have a wonderful view from our apartment. On the far side of a field we can see the steeple of our church building. It's a wonderful place for us to start our lives together. 

Chad & Carrie Jensen

Today my best friend, Carrie, got married in the Columbia, South Carolina LDS temple. Carrie and I have been best friends since we were babies. We grew up together and learned from each other. She is the once in a life time kind of friend that I am so grateful to have. I am so sad that I wasn't able to be there and share in the special day with her and her new husband, Chad. But I am so happy for them. Congratulations you two!

Lazy day on the river

Now that we are finally somewhat settled into our new home, we decided that we need to find out what makes Austin so wonderful. Cameron heard about kayaking down the Austin River from one of his co-workers and we decided to check it out as a late birthday shindig for my twentieth. It was a perfect. We got to the dock, got our life jackets, and got into a double kayak and spent two hours paddling and floating. The river was packed but luckily it's a huge river and we never felt like we were in a huge crowd. We saw tons of people on the sides of the river just swimming and jumping in from a rope swing. I was dying to try it but Cameron was hesitant. So finally we found a rope that wasn't surrounded by people and tied our little kayak to the shore. I have never jumped from a rope swing so I was beyond nervous. So Cameron decided to be the brave one, climbed up the tree and jumped in. He actually had to do it twice before I could get the courage to endure it. I finally decided that I just had to do it and stop thinking about it. I grabbed the rope, went up the tree, stood there for minute and then people were paddling by and stopped to watch me jump. I couldn't back down now so I jumped. Loved it. We made a few more jumps and then had to head back to the dock. Sadly we didn't bring the camera, now I wish that we had. But I am almost positive that we'll be spending another Saturday very soon out on the river. I did get a few pictures at the very end. This was definitely one of the most fun ways to spend a Saturday in the summer time.

just for you char

A Garden Party

After the wedding day and after the honeymoon, we headed back to my home in Atlanta. Ever since my parents moved into this home, I have always said that I will have my wedding reception in the front yard. I don't think anybody really took me seriously, considering it was at least ten years ago that we moved into this house. Every summer since we have been in this house, my dad has made the front yard not only into a  garden, but a work of art. My dad and my mom spend hours and hours into perfecting the yard. It is truly the most gorgeous yard I have ever seen.

The garden party was everything and more that I have always wanted. I owe a very special thank you to my parents, Charity & Derek, Julie & the Dunlaps, and Megan & Cony. Thank you so much. Cameron and I couldn't have been happier with the way things turned out.

We all spent the day setting everything up. Half-way through, it started POURING on us. I hear that rain is good luck though? It poured the day of my bridal shower, the day before our wedding, and of course it only had to rain the day of the reception. So sadly, I was use to it raining for our wedding festivities.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the garden party. Courtesy of The Other Megan Photography.  She is fabulous!

"You and Me" - DMB

This is one of my favorite pictures of the two of us. 

Wedding Luncheon

The wedding day was perfect. Cameron and I were married at eleven o'clock in the morning, and then we took pictures for four hours. We were so happy, but by the end we were just exhausted. We finished the afternoon off with a beautiful luncheon at Maurizio's. Everything was beautiful. We were surrounded by all of our favorite people and we couldn't have been happier. 

Thank you Thatcher family for everything. I am a lucky girl to have such great in-laws. 

The pictures are courtesy of Wendy and Summer. 

Some of the Thatcher's and the Hammock's

Cameron & I had our own little booth in the conner and our cute little nephews decided to join it. I loved it. They are so stinkin' cute.

This cake was seriously delicious. Cameron's mom, Debbie, hand dipped the strawberries herself and made the into little tux's. They turned out adorable and it tasted just as delicious as it looks. Thank you Debbie!

My Mom said that if we smashed the cake in each other's faces that we were going to be in big trouble, and I knew that she wasn't kidding either. 

I love this tradition. Debbie is from Canada and it's a tradition that at weddings when somebody taps their knife against their glass that the bride and groom had to kiss. Our families definitely had their fun in this as well.