Naughty or Nice

Well, I had an awesome bridal shower. I just wanted to share a FEW (maybe more than a few but definitely not ALL the pictures from my shower)--especially for those of you that couldn't make it. I feel so blessed, Misty had an awesome theme that she really did a great job with. It was a lot of fun and I felt blessed by the people who showed up to show their excitement and support!

Here's the gift table and the theme...

This is the "nice" side

This was the "naughty" side ;)


Playing games(I put these in backwards, technically this was the last game but oh well) This was a game where I had to answer questions about Zach. If I got them wrong I had to put a JUMBO marshmallow in my mouth. It was actually gross by the end. There were 21 questions or something like that. I did OKAY.

This is me at the end, however, keep in mind some of the mallows had dissolved by then. After all, it's just sugar, EW!

The guests played the traditional, 'make a dress out of toilet paper game' There were three teams. All did great, but you have to truly appreciate the work done here!

This one was good!

This one just made me happy! :)

I chose this dress as the winner. Here all of the group is...nice work ladies! :)

All of the brides! :)

Gift time!

I don't know, but it made me happy :)

Jessica gave me this AMAZING soft robe that really made me tear up. It's in purple and everything. I can't wait to wear it!

Mom of course, gave me sheets!

As you saw, there were many more gifts. You also saw the theme, I will keep the others just between the girls and myself...oh and maybe Zach eventually ;)

Thanks for an awesome shower, Misty!! And for everyone who attended. It was really great, I truly enjoyed it, and it meant a lot to me. It was a much needed mini, girls celebration!!!

*One thing I didn't get a picture of, but I thought I did was the cupcakes. Misty made 'Naughty and Nice' cupcakes. White one with white frosting (I can't rememer what was on them? :( But then the DARK (stain your teeth dark)chocolate cupcakes had red bras and thongs on them :) It was all very creative! I was very impressed by Misty's thought and creativity!

The Beginning of Forever

Cheesey line? I know. I can't help it, I'm happy. On Friday, October 2nd, I had the opportunity to go through the temple for the first time. I will admit, I was a little more than overwhelmed with everything. Zach and my mom were very supportive. My friend Jen came to support me as well. In the end, it was the best experience! I love the temple! I've already been back once, and I have plans to go tomorrow and then again next week! It has made such a difference in my life and it has definitely enhanced my relationship with Zach along with (of course) my Heavenly Father. I only bring the Zach part up because I always wanted to go through when I turned 25 (two weeks ago) and I didn't want to go because I was getting married. I wanted to do it by myself. As I've thought about it, having Zach with me has been such a blessing and it's yet another bond we share. I feel so blessed to have the support of my family, Zach's family, and friends, as I went through. I cannot express how much I love it. I am so grateful to have a temple close by, so that I can experience it frequently and feel so incredibly at peace and uplifted. I love my Heavenly Father for providing a temple for us today! I'm just grateful and I needed to document it. It was a milestone in my life and I hope to remember the feeling always.

Farewell,

Well, I've moved back with my parents...This move includes some mixed emotions, as I was sad to see my little place go. I really almost teared up as my mom and I cleaned it out and I locked the door for the last time. But it comes with some good benefits:

1. I'm closer to Zach so we don't have to drive all over the place or worry about how late one of us it at the others house.

2. Zach gets along with my parents REALLY well, so hanging out there is really no problem

3. The gym is on my way home from work...hello TWO MONTHS AWAY!

4. We're hoping the money we save will go towards some appliances in our new HOUSE...still haven't heard back from the bank...waiting (patiently?)

5. It's really good for me to be in the environment at my parents' house right now. I'm stressed, that's where most of the planning has been taking place. It's just better on so many levels that way. However, I still am sad. That was my first place of my VERY own. It's honestly the first place I've been truly sad to leave since I started going to college and moving. I loved it....so please give me a minute to share with you, some memories there:

*I moved out about a month after I met Zach so I spent a lot of time with him here, but I am just now remembering the very beginning things.

*When I moved, my grandma purchases all of my laundry stuff for me, because my grandma loved laundry and it was her specialty. She passed away while I was living there. I still have a bottle of Downy and a box of Tide that I haven't touched since.

*I hosted my VERY OWN game nights in that place. A couple that come with some really good memories :)

*Zach and I watched Wicker Park on the Papason chair together as the first movie we watched i in there

*I had Austin and Natasha over for dinner

*Zach and I made dinner, especially in the summer, oh it was so fun!!

*We had epic fights in that place, (I think we got a lot of them out of our system...:)

*Zach proposed to me in that living room.

*I truly fell in love, grieved, graded papers of my first year students, cleaned, tanned, read incessantly this summer, LIVED, in that house. Although, my stay was a relatively short 10 months, I really experienced a lot in there.

The only thing that gives me solace to saying goodbye to a place that is actually dear to my heart, is that I will be LIVING WITH ZACH in TWO MONTHS! I cannot wait. It is going to be amazing! AH! I am truly TRULY blessed!

We've Started!

School has resumed....and I am SO thrilled to be back into a routine. I must admit, I didn't know there was such a need for routine in my life. The first day was difficult because I missed my old students and there's so much reviewing rules and such! Today was good, though. I went to bed at 9:30 last night (I was exhausted!) and I felt so refreshed. My room is more organized than it was last year and so far, I'm ahead of the game with some really great kids. My year in fourth grade is starting out GREAT!

Family Blog

Let's see how many people actually read my blog posts. Aside from sending a few select people invites...I'm just going to see who reads and cares : ) I am starting a blog for my soon-to-be new family (Zach, Me...for starters). That way I can keep this blog to vent/share my little personal philosophies and such. Our blog will journal our beginning of our new life together as well as contain some fun sneak peaks about our wedding. Comment me with your email address if you'd like to be invited. I have set comments to private for now...I'll give it two weeks and then I'll delete those and display my comments again! Our new blog will be set to private and can be found at ourhappybeginning.blogspot.com :) Enjoy


P.S. I have a slight obsession with Beyonce..expect some Beyonce at the reception! ;)

Goodbye Summer!

It is time to (just about) bid farewell to our summer. We have some more fun underway before I completely get swept away with school: 1. Taking the boys to Roaring Springs 2. ENGAGEMENT Photos! 3. Spending some time together in any way we can! :) Oddly enough, I'm ready for school to start. As much as I will be busy...and even though I still have SO much to do with the wedding (quickly, but not quickly enough) approaching...I cannot wait for school to start. For a number of reasons. The main reason being I CANNOT wait to marry this guy! The more I plan the more I'm excited. If you are reading this and you pray, please pray that things will fall into place and happen the way they are supposed to. I would really appreciate it. Here are a few pictures of the happenings since I last really blogged... We spent a day at the lake with our ward and came back FRIED...we followed it up with some Settlers with Austin and Natasha...always a good time! :)

We took an impromptu trip to Lagoon with Misty and Ken and I truly had a blast!


Goodbye summer! You've treated me well. I will welcome you again next year...as a married woman!

My Space

Well, here are some pictures of my little place. I have actually fallen in love with it (aside from the bug problem and the fact that at night this floor is complete with an air mattress and blankets because it's too darn hot upstairs) I didn't include pictures of my bedroom because my bed/hope chest are the only exciting things up there, it's a relatively boring room.... But here it is. My first place of my own. I'll be sad to leave it come November but it will be well worth it... This is the living room...you can see my Papasan chair which I LOVE...and my fire place which is fun in the winter...

More living room. I love my couch. My picture of Christ is a gift from my Grandma in a round about way. It goes really well with my living room and color scheme so it makes me happy.

My kitchen...the eating area

My kitchen..the cooking/serving area

This is one of my favorite parts of my house so I had to include it. This sits on my bar in the kitchen. I have searched high and low for picture frames that say "Grandma" on them. You see "Grandchildren" frames all the time but rarely ones for grandchildren. I love this frame which I found at Walgreens. It's not my favorite design or type of frame but I love it. It seriously will follow me everywhere I ever live.

This is my bar. (those are a variety of Sparkling ciders there:) I love this thing. Mom knew I wanted one she found it for me at a great price...so it was my Valentine's day gift. I love it! I just need some glasses for the middle. I have tons of wine type glasses still in the cupboard but they are too big for this particular thing so I am looking for more.

Mom gave all of us these for Mother's Day this year. Possibly the most awesome gift ever. It sits near my sink. It says 'Our Grandma's Prayer' at the end there. It was, my Grandma was raised Lutheran and this was the prayer she recited before our meals. It means a lot to me and I love having that in my kitchen as well.

Now to my FAVORITE room...in terms of my decorations. This is the guest bathroom which is a full bathroom. This is the sink area.

More sink. That's a Moulin Rouge shotglass my friend in high school brought me back from Paris. I usually keep q-tips in there. Long story :)

And this is the basic idea of this bathroom. Zach (although not a huge fan, has said that I can take it with me to our place:) I love it. My shower curtain is black and the bath mats are the same deep red. I'm working on framing some quotes to put up over the toilet)

My bathroom sink. My colors in my bathroom are sage and an ivory like color.

Shower curtain and mat are also sage. I love this bathroom as well, it just needs cleaning more regularly than the one downstairs and it wasn't as fun. I have had those ivory towels since high school...mom bought them for me and I love them. So when I moved out they were the perfect match!

So that's it. That's my space...I love it right now, it's finally fitting for me...aside from the bugs and the heat upstairs, I love it!