Lost Things

I recharged the battery on my old camera and found a couple lost treasures (we're in Tinkerbell mode here at the Murphy's).  And, since blogger restored the movie upload tool I can even share a fun video from the past.  Enjoy...

Mommy's Little Helper

Meet Dino

Meet Dino  (aka Ri Ri): 

Riley loves Dino.  There was a day when Dino hid downstairs under a blanket out of sight because of a fearful child.  Now Dino spends his time moving back and forth from the living room to the front room.  Dino is pretty neat.  He eats leaves, or whatever snack, that Riley feeds him. He likes kisses on his nose from Miss Riley.  He especially likes stickers (Hello Kitty, to be exact!) on his horns. He's even able to move his eyes and head, and make dino noises. But we may never see all of his talents during his stay at the Murphy house, or he'll be hiding under the blanket in the basement for the rest of his life.  You see, Riley only likes the lifeless Dino.

And yes, all of Riley's babies, and even Dino, are named "Ri Ri." 

Watkins' Wedding: Revealed - Part 2

So I believe that I left off the night before the wedding....

Saturday morning Riley and I stayed around the house playing and getting our things prepared for the day while Daddy was off playing golf for the second day in a row!  Lucky Daddy!  Around 11:45 am I dropped Riley off at Grandma Sheryl's house to eat lunch, nap, and bathe before her big flower girl appearance.  Thanks to Grandma Sheryl, I was able to go to the hotel and get my hair and make-up done.  It was fun hanging out with Libby and all of her girlfriends...and enjoying a couple pre-wedding cocktails.

After taking pictures we headed over to the Jasper Winery to wait for the ceremony.  Riley arrived with plenty of time to get her dress and headband on.  Remember how we were worried that we would see a repeat of Friday night....we were even more worried when our fear was coming true.  Riley was shy and unsure of all the commotion around her.  Luckily the winery had some magnetic letters that seemed to occupy her for the final minutes leading up to the wedding.  Last minute we decided that it would be best for Riley to walk down the aisle hand in hand with her mommy.  I was so surprised that she walked all the way down the aisle without crying or sitting down.  She did great and we were so proud! And then...Riley took in her surroundings and decided that she just couldn't handle it.  After some frantic nonverbal communication Grandma Sheryl took her back inside the winery building and everyone else enjoyed the rest of the wedding.  Despite the 90 degree weather, the wedding was perfect.

After the wedding we finished up pictures of the entire wedding party and the family.  I'm pretty sure that we only got two pictures of Riley.  Both of which her face is bright red from crying.  I'm also pretty sure that neither of them includes a picture of smiling flower girl.  Oh well.

The reception was great and Riley was eating up all of the attention.  She loved wearing her pretty dress and running around EVERYWHERE!  She had fun dancing, twirling, and flirting.  I wish I had taken some more pictures, but didn't feel like carrying my camera around with me everywhere.  Grandma and Grandpa Burch took Riley home around 9 pm and then the real party started...!

I'm hoping to steal some pictures off of Facebook to upload in a separate post.  Hopefully that will come later in the week.  In the meantime, here's a peek at Riley in her dress: 

Summer Fun!

Watkins' Wedding Revealed

The big weekend day finally came and went.  The Watkins' Wedding went off without a hitch.  Libby was beautiful in her white dress.  David was handsome in his gray suit.  And Miss Riley made it all the way down the aisle hand in hand with Mommy!! Whew.  She had me worried up until the minute we began walking.  Here's the story of our weekend...

We began the festivities with a Cocktail Buffet on Thursday night.  All of Libby and David's family and closest friends who were in town enjoyed some cocktails and some great food at the Neumann's.  Riley loved the piano and had so much fun "playing" it.  In true fashion Riley refused to eat.  It seems that any time we are at an event Riley decides she doesn't need to eat!

Friday, Riley and I attended the bridal luncheon.  Before we headed over I decided to make an impromptu stop at Kohl's to find us each a new outfit.  We ended up spending 20 minutes in the Kohl's break room while the tornado sirens went off.  Then, quickly paid for our stuff and ran to the car in a downpour.  It was great and I was super excited to go to the luncheon with my rain-soaked hair!  The luncheon was great, with a "mini" theme.  Everything from mini champagnes, to mini deserts, to mini food.   It was all delicious!  Riley loved everything about the luncheon - the mini food, all the ladies, and of course watching her dress fly up while standing on the air vent!

After a quick nap we headed out for the rehearsal, "meet and greet" event at the Marriott, and the rehearsal dinner.  Riley fought us all the way through the rehearsal.  It didn't help that it was outside at the Summerset Winery, a billion degrees, and humid.  She refused to do any walking with the ring bearer, but did like the car that he shared with her.  So, we left there praying that Saturday night would be a much better night.  The highlight of the meet and greet was eating meatballs from a toothpick, watching the waterfall in the lobby, trying as hard as she could to get her fingers in the water and taking the escalator up and down many times over.  After running after her all day we were super excited to head over to the rehearsal dinner (at Dos Rios).  Riley nearly made it through the entire rehearsal dinner.  I ended up taking her home around 9:30 with our food in to-go containers.  We missed out on the wedding party's speeches, but I made Brett recite them to me nearly word for word. 

To Be Continued...

Father's Day 2010

Riley loves her Daddy for so many reasons, but this may be her favorite...

Endless rides on the escalator!!