The Tovar Shower

Just a couple of weeks ago, Matt's Tia Pat and his Grandma threw us a shower. It was really fun to spend time with some of Matt's family members and celebrate our upcoming marriage. Matt was at the shower too, he was way excited about getting to help open presents this time! 

The house was beautiful, they had made a lot of food and decorated with items from Matt's Grandma and Papaw's 50th Wedding Anniversary. It was very sweet! 

Also, Matt's Grandma said that she always wanted to use this tablecloth for the wedding of one of her grandchildren. This tablecloth had been her mother's and was used every Sunday when they had family and friends over after church.

We are very grateful to have gotten many beautiful, fun, and generous gifts!

(that last one is homemade Snuggies, made by Matt's Mom)

Claire was a big hit! :) Kelly and Abbi enjoyed taking care of Claire a little bit during the shower. 

Here are Matt and me with the hostesses of this shower, Matt's Grandma and his Tia Pat. Thank you!!

We grabbed a few other people before they walked out the door to get some pictures....

Matt's G-Mom, Matt, and Laura

Laura, Abbi (Matt's little sister), and Matt

Kelly (Matt's Step-Mom) and Laura

And of course, the Hervey Girls again! (the ones who came, that is!)

Mom, Laura, and Julia

Claire's Blessing Weekend

The weekend after the Houston shower, our family headed back to Houston, this time to watch my newest (and only) niece be blessed! Claire Lois Cooper was born on March 25, to proud parents, Julia and Jordan. She is such a sweet little girl!

If you haven't seen the pictures from the blessing day on Julia's blog, you can find them here.

Matt had the opportunity to learn some parenting skills that weekend! He gave Claire a bath, his first time to ever bathe a baby! He did a great job, and she is always such a happy girl! 

Marcus had a great time jumping around at the Cooper's house, he is such a ball of energy! (isn't he cute??)

Here are Matt and me with all of my (soon to be his too!) nephews and niece! Taylor, Marcus and Claire all sat still long enough to let us take a picture with them! I love it!

The Houston Shower

A couple of weeks after I got home for the summer, my aunts and grandmom threw me a bridal shower in Houston! Several of my extended family members we able to make it, and we all had a great time! Thank you everyone!! I am so grateful to have family members that will take a little trip to come celebrate with me! 

Here I am opening the first gift, LOTS of Fiesta from the Coopers! Yay! Thank you!

Julia gave me three gifts to open in a certain order...I wasn't quite sure why she gave me chocolate chips?

Because she got me our griddle and now I can make Dad's recipe for chocolate-chip pancakes of course! She also typed up and laminated the recipe that he uses!

Jennifer's gift was also a bit confusing, those boxes were SO heavy!!!

She gave us $50 in pennies for LOTS of good luck!

Mom got us some beautiful Lenox Holiday Christmas china! I absolutely LOVE it!  

The beautiful tables of food and punch!

The fabulous hostesses and me. My Grandmom, Aunt Debbie, and Aunt Carol. These are my mom's mom and sisters!

The Hervey Girls: Jennifer, Mom, Laura, Julia and Claire!

Jennifer and Laura with our sweet niece, Claire Lois! 

Laura, Ashley, Debbie, Jennifer, and Claire

The Lubbock Shower

The weekend after our surprise "Date Night" shower, Hannah and Rachel threw me a bridal shower! I was able to invite all of my Lubbock friends, and some of Matt's family who live nearby. We all had a great time. 

Here I am with the sweet hostesses, Hannah and Rachel! 

Look at the beautiful spread of goodies they made for us! 

Sister Curtis, a missionary for our church, who volunteers at the Institute in Lubbock made this gift for me! It has a picture of the Dallas Temple (where Matt and I will be married), the Lubbock Temple (where we will be living and attending the temple for at least a year and half), and some teachings about marriage and the family from latter-day prophets. I just LOVE this and can't wait to put it up in our home!

Matt's Grandma got me the things necessary to make homemade tortillas (my favorite!) as well as many other Mexican dishes, I can't wait to get started on these things! Matt's family got a kick out of watching me open this gift! 

One of Mom's gifts was a set of pretty towels with a "T" on them for our home. I am excited (although it will be strange!) to change my name.

The week before the shower, Hannah asked me if she could make me a shadow box with the letters Matt wrote and then gave me during the proposal night, and the ring box! I am SO excited about how it turned out, she did a fabulous job! 

Some of Matt's family: Aunt Lili, his Mom, me, Grandma Mary, Bella, and Aunt Helen.

My sweet Mom and me. 

These are my bridesmaids (except Julia!!) Rachel, Hannah, me, Chrystal, and K'Lann. I love these girls!

Surprise "Date Night" Shower!

Wow! Where did the last month go?? I guess it's time to catch up again!!!

Lets start back in April, when Chrystal threw Matt and me a surprise wedding shower. It was so sweet. We went to meet Chrystal and Erik at Chili's for lunch, and she had gathered several of our friends there who gave us gift cards for Date Nights that we were instructed to use during our engagement. What a cute idea! Don't you think? 

The Groom-to-Be and the Bride-to-Be!

The Bride and the Maid of Honor :)

The sweet favors that Chrystal made for us all!! Inside there was a poem, it said:
"It makes me JOLLY,
to know you're mine,
I'll KISS and HUG you,
all the time.
You're a LIFESAVER,
I hope you know,
We're MINT to be together,
it sure does show.
Every day I thank our Creator,
that we'll be together,
NOW & LATER!"

Then she filled the bags with Jolly Ranchers, Kisses and Hugs, LifeSavers, Mints, and Now & Laters! It was adorable! 

Matt and I played this game where we had to answer questions about the other person, it was fun!!

I won a prize for winning the game! This has been a great place to keep all of the shower and wedding cards that we have gotten so far, I love it! 

The whole group that could make it!