Our Disney Adventure: The Beginning

There will be three parts to our Disney extravaganza...so hold on people...it's kind of a long ride! 

Wendel and I decided when we got married that we wanted to take a trip to Disney before we had kiddos, so we could make memories to share with them someday! 

We had a very short window in between Wendel's spring and summer term of his masters classes to head to Disney, and we booked pretty early to get the best possible price. 

A lot of people have asked how we found a good deal at Disney, and all I have to say about that is to try to be flexible and go on off days. We flew down on a Friday {when most people were leaving} and then flew home on a Wednesday. 

Anyhoo...here we are before we left with my handy dandy chalkboard. 

This was our first trip by ourselves since our honeymoon so we were overly excited to spend some quality time together! 

I just loved our little Disney tag. I also put some bright colored ribbon on the handle to help us identify our normal looking black suitcase. 

This was also the first trip that we have checked a bag...and it was glorious! 

We got there and got on the Disney Express to head to our hotel, The French Quarters! 

We didn't take tons of pictures of the hotel, but it felt just like New Orleans. There was music playing throughout the property that made you feel like you were on Bourbon Street!  

These little guys were everywhere! 

This was the entrance to THE pool...ya'll...the pool was phenomenal! 

There was a dragon snaking its way through the pool....

And you could walk to the top of it! 

And there's the dragon's head...with a water slide on it's tongue..no biggie. 

There was also a little trio in a clam to keep us company...

And a smaller kiddie pool for little bits! 

So I didn't quite document this through pictures...but this picture pretty much sums up how I felt at 

9:45 PM the night we got the Disney. 

To make a very long story short...we were trying to get to Downtown Disney for dinner from our resort and got on a bus {which we learned a few hours later that there is a boat that takes you directly there...} anyhoo...the bus didn't take us there. We got to Epcot and tried to catch a bus back to our hotel and by 9:45 we were eating dinner at The French Quarters. I was so tired and stressed that Wendel had to literally pick out everything for dinner and where to sit because I was extremely overwhelmed! 

I got myself some dinner, a Mickie rice crispy treat, a shower, and some rest and I was ready to go the next morning! 

Our first day was spent at Hollywood Studios! 

Little funny story...the VERY first thing I remarked on was a squirrel...really? Not the crazy Disney World-ness? 

Wendel and his family are big time Andy Griffith fans...so this was pretty exciting! 

Smooches for Andy! 

We fit a whole lot in our first day! And it just worked out that everything was starting as we were walking in so we didn't really wait for anything. We got a fast pass for Tower of Terror and that's about it! 

Some Beauty and the Beast and a little snack! 

It was Star Wars day at Hollywood Studios....I wish you all could have seen some of the craziness we did. Lots of adults dressed up ridiculous and Star Wars characters walking around...it was entertaining! 

But the best thing to come out of Star Wars day was this cupcake. Ya'll...best cupcake I've EVER had ever! It was chocolate peanut butter and it was insane! The other was toffee and it was delicious too but I'm still dreaming of this cupcake! By far my favorite dessert I had the entire time in Disney! 

Okay...enough about cupcakes...mmm....cupcakes...

We were loving all of the {indoor} 3D things! Our first day was our hottest, so we were thankful to come inside for some reprieve! 

My brother lives in San Fran and wanted us to come and visit...this was kind of like visiting right? 

This was Wendel's favorite...the stunt show....

A Mickey pretzel to tide us over until dinner...

I was too over whelmed by the fact that it was actually raining over the umbrella to actually pose...

We wanted a picture with Mater...but didn't want to wait in a line. So enter random kid...and Mater! 

Some random other ride...one of my favorite pictures from the whole trip! 

We ate at the 50's Prime Time Diner for dinner...

{Side note...my shirt totally started bleeding. I mean I know I was sweating a bit but not THAT much! Annoying! And when I washed it it completely bled and now I have a pink shirt with what looked like a bow at one time on it...$25 people...stupid! }

Wendel and I eat VERY healthy and clean, so splurging on vacation was exciting! I had the olive oil poached salmon...pretty much solely so I could get the garlic mashed potatoes :) And what is not pictured is the MASSIVE brownie sundae! Mmmmmm....

Then it was time for Fantasmic...with our little Irish friend behind us :) 

It was so magical  ya'll...I cried a little during it! I couldn't believe we were really there! 

And here's a little overview of our trip. Notice the cupcake got the middle square...big deal ya'll! 

Stay tuned for our next episode on Monday! 

Have a fabulous weekend!! 

{We're Backkkkkk}

Hello Friends! 

We're back from Disney and boy do we have a lot to share from our little getaway! 

It was absolutely wonderful, but we were thankful to get home to some family time!  

Wendel's sister and brother-in-law came into town for Memorial Day which is always a fun time! 

I'll be sharing about our Saturday events soon, but for now here's a little video preview of our time in Disney! 

I'll be for real documenting our events because this whole blog thing is like our journal, but for now here's a tiny peek into our Disney World vacation! 

Enjoy!

{Craziness}

Hey Blogger Friends! 

It's been the most insane week and it's only Tuesday! 

We co-hosted a shower Friday night, did tons of yard/organizing around the house Saturday, and hosted Mother's Day dinner on Sunday. 

Today was my last "normal" day with my sweet littles, tomorrow is our picnic, and Thursday is graduation...

Wendel just finished his spring semester last week and starts his first summer session on Wednesday and have class the evening we get back from Disney!

Then I have meetings Friday morning and we leave at 3:30 for Disney! 

Oh yeah and I have to pack sometime in between all of that! 

To say a vacation is necessary is a bit of an understatement! 

So...I'm slacking on the blog front...but I'll be back next week with Disney updates, house projects, and my very first giveaway! Woo hoo! 

Here's a little Insta-download for you!

Mother's Day breakfast with our moms! 

A little obsessed with my new Beautiful Mess app! 

A few sneak peaks from the couples shower. 

Saturday brunch after sleeping in the longest I ever have in my life {10:30 FYI}

My mom and I went for 30 minute massages on Friday morning...and 30 minutes was not enough time...

See you next week! If you want to follow along on our Disney journey...

Follow me on Instagram: LeliaWendel

{Flitter Flutter}

As you could tell from from our Butterfly Show trip, I've been quite obsessed with butterflies! 

Our class "grew" butterflies in our classroom, and have since been 100% mesmerized! 

So when it came to completing the Spring Pinterest Challenge...I couldn't help but emulate Farm House 38's butterfly wreath. 

Ya'll...it took 15 minutes...no joke! 

I took a little after school trip to Michael's and thanks to my teacher's discount, I came out with $15.00 worth of butterfly wreath goodness! 

Here's what I needed: 

1 Grapevine Wreath

1 Box on Large Butterflies

1 Box of Small Butterflies

Glue gun 

Wire cutters 

As you can tell by the picture below, these butterflies came with long wires attached  I guess you could have just wrapped the wires around and through the wreath, but I didn't want wires poking out everywhere, so I opted to snip those wires and hot glue them! 

And here you have it...my pretty, pretty butterfly wreath!  

We have gotten so many complements on this lovely and I'm just obsessed! 

On a side note...I am in love with this door and am trying to convince Wendel that this is the door for us...color and all! 

What do you think Wendel?

{Twitterpated: A Very Full and Fun Weekend}

Wendel and I had a jam-packed weekend of productivity and fun! 

Friday night we did some gardening. We had a big flower sale at school so stocked up on some annuals and we picked up some perennials to add to our cutting garden from Lowe's! We've also had a bunch of mulch in our drive way for almost two weeks so we had a lot of work to get done! 

In the end, we only got the grass cut, some weeding done, and the mulch spread, so these pretties are still on our front porch ready to be attended to this week! 

May is birthday month in my family because both of my brother's have birthdays in the first week of May! 

My sister-in-law planned a little surprise dinner at Mitchell's Fish Market for my brother, Scott and it was wonderful! This is the best "surprise" picture I got! 

After dinner we all headed to see Iron Man in 3D! Highly recommend it! 

Here are a few outfit shots from Friday night! 

I wore this dress for Easter...it's comfy, easy, and springy! 

Dress: Loft  Flats: Tory Burch  Bag: Fake Tory Burch  Bracelet: J. Crew Factory

We got my brother two small cheese boards that are in the shape of Kentucky and Ohio. He loves to entertain and do wine/cheese parties so they were perfect! And with my brother being from Kentucky and my sister-in-law being from Ohio, it was the perfect paring! Wish I would have snapped a picture of them! 

I decided to "break in" my new rainbow sandals last week on a walking field trip to the post office...bad idea! My poor feet will have blisters for weeks! 

Sunday was a very exciting day...we went to the butterfly show at Krohn's Conservatory. 

We went a few years ago and caught these fun pictures so we were determined to catch a few again this year!  

They were so much harder to catch this year! The last time we went, they just flew up on your head and plopped right down...this time we had to do a little chasing :) 

I wore this bright yellow shirt thinking they would think it was a flower...but they must have thought it was the sun because they weren't interested...and it made me sad. 

Evidently these were butterflies that originated from Morocco so they had this little Morrocan photo booth. But hey...any chance for a photo booth and I am so in! Luckily Wendel loves me enough to grin and bear it!  

Finally...after a lot of chasing, I got one! It landed on my mother-in-law's jacket and we were able to get it on my finger! 

They gave us these "flower" coasters to use, but these butterflies wanted nothing to do with them!  

Ya'll they were so fast! I mean when Wendel was taking this picture a butterfly was on my jacket but by the time he snapped, it was long gone! 

There were two butterflies that were precious! They were flipping around with each other like they were all twitterpated in love! 

We ended our Cinco de Mayo Sabbath with a nap and dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant. 

Loved every second of this amazing weekend! Now for a busy week of finals {for Wendel} and end of the year slideshow finalizing {for me}...fun stuff!