Anniversary Surprise 1

I didn't mean to leave you hanging for so long, but I just needed to be away from the blog for a while. Before I was telling you about our anniversary and the sweet surprises my husband gave to me. I have such a thoughtful guy. I know they are hard to come by. Brandon hijacked our wedding photo CD and mailed it to my sister to have her make it into a photo album! I had no idea and was so surprised and happy (I cried) when I opened it. It reminded me that even though all the planning was stressful, having those memories in hard copy to look at everyday is so special to me. Thanks sisters, and awesome husband of mine.

A Wedding, Birthday, and Anniversary

I realized the importance of blogging this weekend. I really, really enjoy being able to know exactly when things happened and figure out exactly where time goes. Two weekends ago we celebrated one of my good friends getting married, my husband turning 28, and our one year wedding anniversary. Phew.  

The morning of the wedding I made breakfast for some of my favorite friends that still live in Columbia, my family, and another friend in from California for the wedding. Like always, time flew and it seemed like I barely got to see them at all.

The wedding was amazing. I couldn't be happier for my sweet friend and her husband. Not to mention how amazingly beautiful she was. It was also Brandon's birthday and I gave him the option to skip out on the reception. He still came to the reception with me...and so did the football game. He dodged out for the dancing part which was fine with me because he would be embarrassed by my moves. My friend Stefany and I served cupcakes that turned your teeth/lips/tongue blue. He He. The Bride gifted us these adorable aprons. Obviously I loved it because I had been making my own very similar. It was so fun to be on the receiving end of a handmade gift that I love. 

In between the wedding and the reception we did a bit of birthday/anniversary celebrating. I had him take me to the grocery store to buy him a peanut butter cream pie and candles. I'm not near as sneaky as he is because he surprised me with an anniversary gift, which I will share in our anniversary celebration post up next.

LD

Our Honeymoon / Virtual Vacation

I was thinking how much baseball has consumed our lives lately and how relaxing a summer beach vacation would be about now. As I was pulling photos for an update post of the last few weeks I came across our honeymoon photos.  What a perfect time to relive it all! 

My aunt and uncle gifted us a week in Cabo for our wedding present. It was awesome! We were especially grateful to have such a nice place to go and relax after the chaotic and exciting baseball season and all the wedding planning. 

We sat through two time share presentations and honestly...we almost got hooked. We told each other before we went to them we were NOT buying a timeshare. Period. They made it look good, real good. We got out of Mexico without owning property though and instead ended up getting some great excursions for a little less than $70 a piece. Steal. We went on a scuba adventure, baja buggies, and jet skiing. The other time we spent eating chips, salsa, and guacamole or other things honeymooners do. My favorite line from the excursion salesmen was "You're on your honeymoon, want to know how I know? Because you look tired and she looks happy." I said that with an accent as I was typing it, I hope you do the same. Made me laugh every time!  We didn't get  a ton of pictures but we took our GoPro video camera and captured our adventures. 

If only we were there now instead of living through these photos...sigh.

LD

Our Wedding -- Part I

We've been married three months today! We lasted longer than Kim and Kris so we're doing pretty good. I'm sorry, but I had to. I gave you a recap after the wedding but I decided it's finally time to start showing you some pictures and tell you a little bit more about our day. If you remember it was very stressful planning our wedding and if you want to read here, here, and here for some of the details go right ahead. I don't want to think about that so I'll just let you check it out if you're interested. 


We invited our family and close friends to Gatlinburg,Tennessee for the wedding. It was a group of about 60 people, exactly like I wanted it. Our family and the wedding party stayed in a huge cabin with a gorgeous view from Thursday through Sunday morning. 23 of our favorite people all under one roof. Good memories. Even when one of my bridesmaids beat all the guys at air hockey.


Our wedding ceremony was right across the road from our cabin which was super convenient. We had not been to TN to see any of what we had booked. It was all decisions made with hope that they would turn out perfect and they did. My sister was the mastermind behind helping plan this destination wedding. I'll never forget the hours we spent on Gchat planning and swapping information from the vendors we had contacted. Thank you so much if I forgot to tell you. I'll NEVER forget that. 


Friday was our rehearsal, we walked across the road, and did a quick run through of the ceremony. Twice. Then we walked back to the cabin where my mom and grandmother had fixed Chicken N' Dumplings, BBQ Brisket, Salad, Rolls, Carrot Cake, and I honestly can't remember what else. It was DELICIOUS and everyone had fun hanging out at our cabin. It was so great for our families to spend time together for longer than the duration of one of BD's games. 


I know this post could go on and on but I'll try and let the photo's tell the story starting with... pictures of me and my groom. 

We decided that we were going to wait a year to get my

 wedding band and instead he surprises me during our first look. 

Tonight my husband spoke at our church's wild game supper and it made me realize all over again why I fell in love with this man. I'm blessed to have him to share my life with. 

On a totally crafty note -- please go visit my good friend Karen and show her some love. She had me over on her blog the other day sharing this EASY Valentine craft. Her photos are amazing if you have time to browse. Love love love them. 

2011 in Review

Can you believe another year has flown by?

I have taken the time to look back through some of my favorite posts and share them with you again for a second time.

We got married! It was an interesting adventure but we tied the knot. I still owe you a real wedding post.

Brandon's ultimate dream came true. He was called up on July 2nd. A dream come true and I got to be there for all of it. 

I got my job back. Then I left it again. But not a moment before I fell in love all over. 

I posted my first tutorial. It was a LOT more work than I thought. Now that I have a new camera I hope to be doing a lot more of these in the new year. 

I shared two of my favorite recipes. 

Lasagna & Chicken Teriyaki Stir Fry

I learned a lesson in marriage early on.

I cannot even believe all that I've been through this year. Especially all of the undeserved blessings. I am so thankful. Normally I get really sad between Christmas and New Years. The post holiday blues set in and we have to say goodbye to another year. Although this year as I look through all the wonderful memories, I become excited and curious as to what great things will happen in the months to come. 

Here's hoping 2012 is even better than 2011. 

Feel free to post your favorite moments of 2011 

in the comments below! I'd love to read them. 

Home Made Apple Butter {Our Wedding Favors}

I've been holding out on you for a while now.  I didn't want to give anything away before the wedding. Brandon and I decided a couple things about our weddding with little to no hesitation. 
The first was our wedding date which I've explained reasoning for that before. The second was what we wanted to give our guests as a wedding favor.  A little random right?


Brandon loves applebutter and I'm a pretty big fan of it myself. When I was younger and growing up I vaguely remember making homemade apple butter on my grandma's farm. I asked my mom if we would be able to do this for our wedding. If you know my mom she saw this as an easy task. I love her for that.


It was the perfect fall day. Cold actually. The leaves crunched beneath your feet as some color still dangled up above. The only way to stay warm is huddled around the fire. The smell - heavenly. Cinnamon and apples. Delicious.

The process was moderate difficulty and is NOT a one man job.We cooked it outside, over the fire, in the copper kettle the old fashioned way. 

I brought my little helpers out to my house for the day so they could help. The liked digging in the mud. 

Fresh applebutter is the best thing on some butter bread. Can I just say yum, again!

So here are the finished wedding favors. The lids are adorned with labels and the Bible verse Romans 12:10 "Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves."


The bats had our names and wedding date engraved on them - moms idea and gift to us! They were a hit. Ha Ha. I loved them, and so did our guests. Except the ones that couldn't fly the applebutter home. Each time we have apple butter now I think of this great experience I had with my mom and dad and of course our wedding. 

Its me, Mrs. D - A Wedding Preview

Hello my lovelies its me Mrs. D! I know some of you are anxious for wedding goodness galore, and you will get that, it just may take me a while to get you the entire story.  Here you can find see a few of the professional photos.  I love them all already! Today I'm showing you a few of my favorites I picked out that friends and family took. There is actually a TON more I love, but I think there will be time for those later on.

We are so unbelievably blessed with the way our wedding turned out. We can't even begin to thank all our family and friends who joined us in our celebration! Maybe we'll take you to one of our two timeshares we bought this past week in Cabo...(just kidding but I can't wait to tell you about this!)

Also we just got back from our honeymoon today and we had quite a good time. We felt like kids on vacation for the first time and I can't wait to share some photos and videos of our adventures there. 

As we settle into our new home as husband and wife we have TONS of stuff to do around the house which makes me giddy and sick at the same time cause I don't know how we will get it done before we move again in twelve weeks, not that I'm counting.

Anyways I'm SO glad to be back and hope to share our wedding story with you as soon as I can. Enjoy some photos for now.

Excited, Not Excited

Hello dear friends! As always I hope your having a wonderful day. Tonight I have a headache. I think that this is a stress headache because my mind is bouncing around inside my head with so much emotion. 


My world is about to be flipped upside down, in a great way, and I am very excited! On the other hand this sudden change is coming full speed right at me. I haven't fallen asleep before around 3:30 am the last three evenings. My days have been filled with organizing, laundry, and wedding details. I pretty much feel like I can't do anything without feeling this huge knot in my stomach about what isn't finished yet or what has to be done next. I'm ready to move on.


I'm not excited for my wedding day/weekend to fly by like I know it will. This I know I will want to pause all day. 


I'm excited to move in with my best friend and to see how he has remodeled the kitchen in less than two weeks. He is SO good to me!


I'm not excited to pack up ALL my clothes, pack for my wedding weekend, and honeymoon that aren't for another week. I'm a bad packer as it is, so do it in advance and then have all my stuff be in another state is kinda nerve wrecking. 


I'm excited to be in the newlywed stage of life, only ten more days.


I'm not excited to lay down my craft starting Thursday until November 15 but hopefully will come back more motivated and inspired than ever.


But mostly I'm excited to see my handsome man in three days. I had forgotten what its like to not see him for three weeks and I can't stand it. I also know that a hug from him will make any and all anxiety and stress go right out the window. 

October 36th

Did you know I'm getting married on October 36? Well I am. Try and stop me. 
Did I tell you why we chose this date? 


My reasoning to Brandon-


"When you get called up in September and the Cardinals make the playoffs, I'm don't want to have to call everyone to tell them we are moving the wedding because you're playing in the World Series." 


Half of my prediction was true. He did get called up in September. Now I'm waiting for the Cardinals to clinch tonight and head to the world series so the other half comes ture. I don't seem completely crazy for my reason of choosing an October 36th wedding day right?


These beautiful fall days are really making me appreciate that we will have a fall wedding. I used to picture it in the Spring.  Whoa whoa whoa... yes I thought about my wedding some but the time of year was about it. Then last week I found out the leaves are supposed to be at peak season in Tennessee the weekend of our wedding. Apparently they extended it from two weeks to three. Can't wait to see those gorgeous mountains. 


Happy October

Okay FINE. Its November 5th but I just really love the month of October. 

Save the Date

How many brides do you know that e-mail a 'Save the Date'?


Well we did. It was sort of a small joke but also just a heads up for some fam and friends that we decided to make a switcheroo on the wedding location.


And guess what?  They were designed by my sister. Seriously why isn't that girl doing freelance work for weddings? Contact me if your needing some cause she is hot right now and taking orders.

Enjoy!

Bridal Shower

Three ish weeks ago  on the 17th, was my bridal shower. (Better late than never on this post.) It was at my house and my sister, bridesmaid Liz, and Mom threw the shindig.  In cased you didn't remember here were the invites. 
There was so much delicious food. Chicken salad sandwhiches, fruit cabobs, relish tray, seven layer dip, chocolate covered pretzels and cupcakes. Amazing cupcakes!

The events began Friday evening as one of my good friends came in early from out of town to spend some extra time with me. My bridesmaid Liz also came over. We hung out and helped get all the food and decorations finished. It was SO much fun. I really enjoyed spending the night with my mom and sister and some close friends. 

Here are some photos from the shower. 

We ate, I opened gifts, all of which we love, and then we played a game. This had to be my favorite part of the day! This and the cupcakes. 


My sister had emailed my soon to be hubby a list of questions. He answered them. Then at the shower I was asked the same questions. For each answer I got wrong I had to chew a piece of Double Bubble. Here are some of the questions.


Q. What is Brandon's favorite food?


A. Chocolate Syrup and Biscuits 


Q. What was Brandon's first job?


A. A baseball player


Q. What is Brandon's dream car?


A. The Avalanche he drives


Q. Boxers or briefs?


A. Boxers - oops TMI


Q. What is Brandon's favorite song?


A. Small Town Kid- Eli Young Band


Q. What famous person would Brandon like to meet?


A. Mila Kunis


Q. What is Brandon's favorite color?


A. Camo - don't argue with him. It is a color. 


You get the idea. I did pretty good if I do say so myself. I missed five 
questions totally, two I got on a second guess resulting in only half a piece of gum, and I got 13 correct.  This is the wad of gum I ended up chewing. 

The day went by so fast. I seriously had such a blast and I know all the guests enjoyed the food and company. Each on of our gifts will be used and I am so appreciative of all of them and for all my friends and family that could join me in celebrating. I haven't received copies of pictures yet with people, I promise people came, but as soon as I do, I'll try to get them up!


I almost forgot! I got the suprise of my life at the shower. Another very special boy in my life popped the question. Unfortunately, I had to tell him no. Boy, I sure am a lucky gal!