Updates!

Wow... between the wedding and the holidays I have been absolutely horrible at keeping up with our blog. I promise to be better in the future! We have had a very exciting past few months that has included several showers, our wedding, our honeymoon and the holidays. Here are some updates and pictures from all of these exciting events!

Showers: Jason and I had several wonderful showers thrown for us! In October, our good friends Kristi and Nick Conway and Sara and Dave Fletcher threw a couple's shower for us at Nick and Kristi's home in Houston. We had a great evening with close friends. At the beginning of November, Debbie Richter, Suzanne Murphy and Cathe Heinrich (two of my Bridesmaids and my Matron of Honor) hosted another wonderful couple's shower for us. We enjoyed good friends and fajitas at Sue's beautiful new home! Right before Thanksgiving break, the parents and students in my homeroom class threw a bridal shower for me during the school day. The kids (especially the girls!) absolutely loved all of the fun wedding decorations, heart shaped cookies and personalized M&Ms. Finally, in December my amazing team at Frostwood had an "Hour Shower" for me after school. All of the grade level teams gave us a gift according to the "hour" on their invitations. For example, for 8:00am, we received muffin pans, measuring spoons, a whisk and muffin mix. The teachers at my school are SO creative and we got some really neat gifts! Here are some pictures from the various showers:

The Big Day: December 12th, the big day was finally here! The day before the wedding, my mom hosted a wonderful bridal luncheon in the wine room at Ouisie's Table for me and my wedding party. After the luncheon all of my bridesmaids and I treated ourselves to manicures and pedicures. That evening, we had the rehearsal at the church and enjoyed a delicious rehearsal dinner hosted by Jason's family at Brenner's on the Bayou (the same restaurant where Jason proposed!) The next day, we were married at Chapelwood United Methodist Church. Following the wedding, we had a reception at Paraiso Maravilla, a Tuscan-style villa located in the Galleria area of Houston. Both the church and reception hall looked beautiful and everything went off without a hitch. It was truly the best evening of my life! Although we don't have access to all of the pictures from the photographer yet, here are a few pictures from our amazing wedding weekend!

Bridal Luncheon

Mani/Pedis

Wedding Rehearsal

Rehearsal Dinner
Before the Wedding

After the CeremonyLeaving the reception and off to our honeymoon!

The Honeymoon: The Monday after the wedding, we headed to Playa Del Carmen, Mexico for an amazing honeymoon. The weather was great, the food was wonderful and the resort that we stayed at did an incredible job of making our honeymoon spectacular. To view our honeymoon pictures, click here: http://alisonandjasonshoneymoon.shutterfly.com/

The Holidays: We got back from our honeymoon just in time to celebrate our first Christmas and New Year's Eve as a married couple. We were able to divide up our time on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day between both of our families and had a wonderful time with everyone. We rang in the new year at Smith and Wollensky's with a group of close friends. We are looking forward to what the New Year holds for our new family!

In front of our tree on New Year's Eve

Happy Birthday Jason!

Well, it happened... after two months of picking on me for "robbing the cradle" and being his "older half", Jason finally turned 30! In true Baker form, his birthday celebration lasted not just one, but three full days. We started out the festivities on Thursday (his actual birthday) when I took him out to a nice dinner at Frank's Chop House. Friday, we went out to another delicious dinner at Brenner's steak house with his mom and Dana. After dinner, we met up with a big group of friends at Cedar Creek, a neat patio bar that we love to go to. Saturday afternoon, Jason played golf with his dad and many of his guy friends. After golf, all of the wives and girlfriends joined the guys at Jason's dad's house for a yummy bar-b-que catered by Rudy's. Everyone had a great time and Jason had a very happy 30th birthday!

Showers of Happiness!

This summer, I was lucky enough to have two wonderful bridal showers thrown for me. The first shower was hosted by two of my mom's best friends who live on the street in Kingwood where I was raised. It was so much fun to catch up with friends and neighbors that I don't get to see as often as I would like to. In addition, my aunt, two of my best friends, Jason's mom, stepmom and sister all came into town for the shower. The shower was beautiful and it was so nice to introduce Jason's family to many of the friends and family that I grew up with.

The second shower was thrown by several of Jason's mom's good friends, three of which are the mothers of Jason's best man and two of his groomsmen. It was wonderful to get the opportunity to meet and visit with many of the friends and family that have known Jason his whole life. I was also lucky enough to have my mom, one of my bridesmaids and my brother's fiance all come to the shower as well. It was a very special day!

Jason and I are so blessed to have such wonderful families and friends to support us as we enter this new chapter in our lives. We can't thank everyone enough for both of the beautiful showers!

Here are a few pictures from both showers.

Marilyn Deane and Janice Dassing, the hostesses of my Kingwood shower.

The beautiful table and decorations at the home of Marilyn Deane.

Jason's mom, Shauna with my Aunt Jean.

Cathe, my Matron of Honor with one of my good childhood/family friends, Carrie Nelson.

Jason's mom, Shauna and his sister, Leah.

Amy, one of my bridesmaids, me, my Aunt Jean and Carrie.

Cutting the cake!

My mom and I.

Me with the hostesses of the Katy shower, Barbara Koy, Nancy Brammer, Daphne Jones, Donna White and Kay Callender.

The lovely table and decor at the home of Barbara Koy.

My mom and I.

Anna, my future sister-in-law, Shauna, Jason's mom, me, my mom, and Debbie, one of my bridesmaids.

Me with the moms!

Bachelorette Party!

Last weekend was my bachelorette party! I know that most bachelorette parties are generally a few weeks before the wedding, but I really wanted a fun weekend getaway with the girls and since half of us are teachers, summer was the easiest time to get together. We decided to go to Lake Travis for a long weekend and Jason's dad and stepmom were nice enough to let us stay at their beautiful lakehouse.

We spent Friday wine tasting at a few of the local wineries, Flat Creek Estates, Lost Creek and Stone House. Wine tasting is one of my favorite things to do and all of the wineries were gorgeous! Friday night we cooked dinner at the house, enjoyed some of the wine that we bought and had a fun lingerie shower. Saturday we headed out to Lake Travis where the girls had rented a pontoon boat for the day. We decided to go to Devil's Cove (a fun place where tons of boats anchor or tie up to each other and everyone floats and hangs out). The weather was perfect and we all had a great time on the lake! After our long day we headed to The Pier, a restaurant on the lake for dinner.

It was a great weekend and one that I will remember forever. I am so grateful to have wonderful friends to plan such an amazing bachelorette party for me!

Having lunch at Flat Creek Estates Winery.

Cathe, Debbie and I sampling some delicious wine at Flat Creek Estates.

Wine tasting at Stone House with their "winery dog".

Enjoying a glass of champagne.

Debbie, me, Sue, Amy and Cathe in front of Stone House's beautiful vineyard.

The whole group on the pontoon boat about to go out on Lake Travis.

Cathe, Sue and I.

Cathe and I.

Debbie, Sue and I.

Kristi and I.
Floating the day away with the girls!