Bridal Shower and Bachelorette Party!

In case anyone is counting, only 26 more days until we're married!!

Getting so close can only mean one thing... wedding festivities! That's what we spent Saturday doing :) My Maid of Honor, Bridesmaid, and Mom hosted a beautiful bridal shower for us this weekend. It was so much fun and we are so spoiled! We ate, we played bridal games, we opened gifts, we chatted and mingled. It was just a really wonderful day! I was so excited to see everyone I hardly slept the night before. (Bridal confession: Since I couldn't sleep, I was up at 6am working on wedding programs!)

I cannot say it enough, we are so incredibly blessed by the people in our lives, coming together to help us celebrate the new journey we're about to start! We are so happy so many people could make it from out of town and really missed those who couldn't be there.

Here's the highlight reel:

The spread! My mom and bridal party helped to make a yummy appetizer buffet.

My daddy surprised me with flowers before he whisked the boys off to the movies!

 

My MOH and her mom brought my favorite cookies from my favorite bakery back home!

Some of the attendees!

Me and the Moms

Bridal Shower Games: Bridal Bingo, Who Knows the Bride Best, Toilet Paper Wedding Dresses, and Foil Engagement Rings!!

Allison (MOH), Me, Tiffany (Bridesmaid), & Kayleigh (Wedding Planner)

See what I mean? Spoiled!

After the shower, the girls and I went to our apartment for a Bachelorette Party pre-game. Then, we met some of the moms at Painting with a Twist! It was a blast :) You get to paint and drink?! When we set it up, the owner was so sweet she opened another class up and let me pick the painting... with my groom in mind, I picked "Turtle in the Sand." We were all so worried about how they would turn out but we all did pretty good! It was so fun we can't wait to go back :)

My finished product! Not too shabby if I do say so myself :)

My friends dressed me up right!!

Our turtles!

Group shot of the artwork!

It was certainly a very fun day, filled with lots of love and laughter! We can't wait for more wedding festivities and have a full calendar for the next 26 days :)

One month! *squeal*

We can hardly believe it!! ONE MONTH until we become husband and wife :)

We are so close to the finish line,
only a few more things to take care of!

It is going to be quite the busy month. This weekend we have our bridal shower and I also have my bachelorette party! We are doing premarital counseling in February. We'll be getting in touch with vendors for final meetings and I'll be off work in 29 days and won't return until I'm a married woman :)

We've been engaged for so long, it's hard to imagine life without wedding planning! We're definitely looking forward to spending weekends and free time being newlyweds :)

Moving Day!

What an exciting (but tiring) day yesterday was!! Friday we got the keys to our new apartment! Yesterday we moved all of our stuff in!

We had a lot of help yesterday and are so thankful for it! We would never have been able to move so quickly without it. I'd say 2-3 hours tops to load and unload everything.

We spent most of the day building all of our ikea furniture. Yesterday we finished the dining table, end tables, two bookshelves, a TV stand, and a shelf. Our moms built our coffee table and dining chairs. The only thing left to build is our ginormous desk!

Lots of unpacking left to do and things to hang on the wall. We're going back over there today to try and finish up at least the building :)

   

Dining Table

Living Room

Office

Living Room (view from couch)

These knobs are one of my favorite things! The tv stand came with standard knobs and I found these at Hobby Lobby for 1/2 off in the perfect color! I couldn't resist and they look fab!

Master Bedroom

We are just so super excited about having our own place and can't wait until May when we actually get to live together full time!!

UPDATE: We went to the apartment and finished building! The desk was an enormous undertaking but it's built and it fits perfectly in the office.... that's right people, we have an office :) It took entirely too long but it's done and it looks awesome! We also unpacked all of the tubs except for the kitchen. We will tackle the kitchen and hanging things next weekend. We still need a few furniture pieces and other things but it's coming along and it's starting to feel like home! I can't wait until it's finished and we're in there and we can cuddle on the couch and cook dinner together...  We are just really looking forward to married life :)




DISCLAIMER: Things will be moved and hung :) We were just testing some things out!

133 Days until the Honeymoon!

We are so stinkin' excited about our trip to Alaska!! How could we not be?!

Today we finished up all of our bookings! We picked our excursions and booked a hotel for the nights we'll be in Seattle.

Our first excursion will be a Skagway city tour and a trip to White Pass Summit. The second stop (and my favorite!) will be whale watching and the Mendenhall Glacier. In Ketchikan, we'll be on the Rainforest Preserve, Totems, and Eagles excursion. We're hoping to see bears on that one! We aren't sure yet about our Canadian stop because we'll only be there a few hours. We may just have a romantic dinner in a Canadian restaurant :)

Before we board the ship we've decided what we'll do in Seattle! We are going to ride the Seattle Great Wheel (a ginormous Ferris wheel on the waterfront!) and go to the Seattle Zoo!!

I have also lined up a couple of surprises for my groom! I hope I can keep them a secret for the next few months :)

I just couldn't be happier about our upcoming trip and can't believe how wonderful Jesse is to agree to a cooler destination so that I could have the honeymoon of my dreams! He is truly amazing and he spoils me rotten :) Now we just need to get married so I can change my name and we can order passports!

Welcome to the Family Sophie!

How exciting is this?! My aunt and uncle adopted a sweet little girl from China and we FINALLY got to meet her this past weekend!!! She is absolutely adorable and so incredibly smart! She is 6 years old and she doesn't speak much English but she seems to be picking it up and adjusting well! She was really shy when she first got to our house but within 10 minutes she warmed up to us!

She loves to color, do sticker books, clean, and play with baby dolls! She's also got no problems using all of the technology she has (ipod, leap pad...). She is a giggle machine and it is a wonderful sound to hear!

We are so glad to have her in our family and can't wait to watch her grow up!

We took her to Build A Bear and she picked
out this colorful bear! Of course Rainbow needed
sunglasses and a purse (to match the one grandpa got Sophie)!

Sophie meets Pawpa!

Sophie and cousin Clay in their sunglasses!

Sophie and I playing with her fairy sticker book!

Sophie with Aunt Jacque and Uncle Steve!