Flynn's Family Introduction

Yesterday we had a party for Flynn at my Mother-in-law's and I think it was a great success. A bunch of our family on all sides were able to make it to the BBQ and my friend Adriana and her family who came up from Colorado Springs. I didn't take too many photos personally but my Aunt, Mom and both of my Mother-in-laws (Chris's mom and step-mom) all took photos so hopefully I can get more.

Flynn did great and people respected that clean hands rule. We had sanitizer all over the place and not many people held him which was great. We all slept really well last night too.

Gifts were not required at this party but since I never had a baby shower a few people did bring gifts and my Cousin Emily gave us some more hand-me-down baby clothes for Flynn. Huzzah! For gifts we received more things for Flynn's nursery - a lamp, decals for the walls and some more bedding. We also got another hanging toy for his car seat and bassinet and he received his first football. Not a security blanket one but nice big plush one that says "My first Football" and is a rattle inside, we got a baby bjorn carrier and a hiking carrier! We are excited to use them all. ^_^

Here are the few photos I did take that came out from yesterday:

Saturday Morning, Sleeping on Daddy

First time at Grandma Miller's house!

Checking out Granpa Miller

Grandma is well stocked on toys!

Grandmom (aka my Mom) holding Flynn

Lauren meeting her newest cousin

Bottle Time with Daddy

A shot of a few of the earlier arrivals

Forground Grandpa Green; background Emily and Sierra playing

Today we have to go shopping and are planning on trying out the baby bjorn carrier if possible. I'm going to see if I can get my hands on more photos over the next week or so and then I can share them as well.

We were gone for about 7 hours even though it was only 10 minutes from our house, if that. The whole day was a really great one and I'm so happy to have the friends and family we do. ^_^

Life happens..

Plans change quickly for the good and the bad. My plans for yesterday were to spend the afternoon with my Mom but she rescheduled to today. Which is fine by me. Flynn and I tried to go for a more intense walk yesterday and it started to rain. I guess that the fates have a plan. Hopefully today is a better day but on that walk I spent part of it jogging to try and get back to the house so that was a plus. 

I'm also feeling pretty darn good today. Aside from getting the walk in yesterday Flynn decided to sleep last night. Only waking up in a proper pattern. First around midnight and then around 3:30 which was ideal since Chris gets up then to go to work. Yay for our little man! He also is up to 3oz per bottle during the day. Still working on it at night but that is okay. He was only at 2oz when we brought him home on the 30th. Tomorrow he goes in for his 2 month visit at the pediatrician. Poor little guy. 

Maybe its the sleep, or it could be that second cup of coffee but I'm in a really good mood this morning. I am feeling really motivated. Which is great because I need to clean and prep for my mom's visit as well as get my work out on this morning.

Last night I totally improvised for dinner (grilled cheese, baked potatoes and pears!?!), tonight I'm full steam ahead with trying a new recipe for pork chops. I'm hoping now that I'm home again and not working to really get back in to cooking and baking and maybe get a bit more skill in both areas. I've always loved to bake but never been a really good cook, I have the chance to change that. Although I'm sure I will have to get creative since we are living on one income now. I plan on coupon clipping as much as possible now. Sales are a good thing!

So now for a quick update for Project Get Healthy:
I received a pedometer on a challenge for my Father-in-laws work and now I'm using it as well as my fitness watch to help keep track of what I do. That is where the miles and steps come from. the calories are from my fitness watch, it accounts for my heart rate and my age and sex so it gives me more accurate calories. I'd like to get nicer watch but between the pedometer and the watch I have I have plenty of information and it was only 30 bucks at Walmart.

I'm really hoping to keep the daily walking up so I can build up to jogging instead, after all I have a jogging stroller. That is enough for the Get Healthy bit today. I'll post another update when I have one and a guaranteed one on Friday.

I hope everyone else out there is having a wonderful weekend. I'd also love suggestions and advice on how to get in a great workout when you have a 2 month old!

Hugs all around!

Yesterday ended up being a great day. Not only was I able to get my work out in, although it took longer as I had to stop and feed Flynn half way through it. Still it felt good and it is only the beginning.

Friday was a family day as will be today. My MIL came over and we had lunch and we got to cuddle Flynn. Donnamae went through all his clothes and helped me reorganize some of the clothes we haven't gone through yet. She and I were still talking when Chris got home from work. She being the great woman she is then offered us dinner at that point. She and I went over the the Brick House to pick up our meal and I got a hug! Before Flynn was born we went to the Brick House almost once a week. It is the only restaurant in town. When we walked in I got hugs. I got squeals of happiness to see me and how well I was doing. I got questions about how Flynn is doing and asking when they can see him. It felt really good.

An old photo of the Brick House

I am not one to be the center of attention. I like blogging and the internet because its a bit more anonymous than the real world sometimes, but it felt good. I live in a really small town. We don't even have a grocery store. It means a lot that people in town actually were worried about us. We haven't lived here that long but it makes me glad we picked this town to finally settle down in.

My mom is coming up to hang out today. Hoping to take a nice walk with her and Flynn today. I'll take my camera with us and maybe get some good shots. ^_^

Mom and I Sept 2010

Nothing like coffee and a sleeping baby..

Yesterday was an adventure to say the least. Flynn did not want to sleep Tuesday night. He went the first 4 hour block great. He woke up like clock work at midnight. He did not finish his bottle though and was up again at 2 then he woke up again at 3am! By then it was just a matter of saying screw it and staying up. Chris had to get ready for work so I stayed up as well. It meant I was able to shower while he was still here.

Flynn and I both had Doctor appointments yesterday in Denver. I packed up both his diaper bags with formula, clothes, burp cloths, diapers, wipes, blankets, bottles, his baby monitor and a book for me haha. We headed to Children's Hospital around 6:30 to account for traffic and go down there at about a quarter to 8. We were needless to say about 45 minutes early when I parked the Jeep and that is when I realized I forgot his stroller. It wasn't that big a deal but I'm still building up my strength and his car seat gets heavy!

We made it inside fine. I found a family bathroom and Flynn had his first ever public building diaper change. Haha. So many silly firsts out there for us to experience together.

They took us at the Eye Clinic pretty quickly. I felt so bad for him. Preemies are prone to a condition called Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) which is caused due to the blood vessels to the retina developing abnormally. Anyway, in the NICU Flynn was cleared but had to have a follow-up because his retina blood vessels had not fully matured yet. I was not there when they did that initial exam. Yesterday I found it out they were really close to being mature at that point. Which had I known would have made me worry much less. He saw the same doctor at Children's as he did at UCH. Mainly because they are right next to each other they share a lot of physicians. The UCH NICU is a level 3 and Children's is a lvl 4. He could have gone over to Children's had he been in worse shape when he was born, that is where all the babies requiring extra care/surgeries go.

I know the eye exam didn't hurt him but it wasn't pleasant to watch. He cried his eyes out while the nurse put the eye drops in his eyes. First numbing ones and then dilation ones. I got to hold him for a while after that while the dilation ones set in. The whole exam felt like a normal eye visit. I've worn glasses since I was 8. I know what its like to go through dilation and all of that. I didn't think about how babies don't know how to look left and right on command this young or to keep their eyes open with the bright light in their face. I stayed for the whole thing, I wanted him to know I was there but I had trouble watching as they clamped his eyes open and she manually turned his eyes. I'm grateful the nurse held him while she did the exam. It was over quick and he was back in my arms. He was also cleared as she announced his retina vessels were fully mature! No more eye visits until next year. They said to come back between 6-12 months so I picked April as a good 8 month range. Preemies are more prone to need corrective lenses or have other eye issues as they get older. Not all preemies will, my husband Chris has fine eye sight, his twin brother wears glasses though, and as I mentioned I do too although I'm not a preemie.

After our visit to Children's and the great news we headed to my parents house and I fed Flynn and put him down for a nap. I tried to nap too but I realized I was starving at about 10 and Flynn woke up and wasn't happy (new place and eyes still dilated) not long after that so he hung out with me on their couch for a few hours before we had to go to my own doctors appointment.

My dad came with us so he could watch Flynn in the waiting room. I think he also wanted to hear what the doctors had to say. He was always very worried about me in the hospital. He's made it clear via my mom that he doesn't want Chris and I to risk having another baby, but that is another story. This visit was a great one. They said all my stats were fine and it was great how quickly I recovered. My appointment was a follow-up with the Renal Clinic. They said they would check my proteins because it had been awhile but with my blood pressure being okay again and all my other blood work normal they didn't think their be an issue. My creatinine was only a 0.8! I remember when it was a 9! I have one more OB Post visit next week and I'm finally done with doctors for awhile. Flynn has just begun his visits but the rest should all be routine every baby visits. On Monday he gets his 2 month immunizations. I'm so glad Chris will be there with me for that one.

Last night Flynn didn't want to sleep in the bassinet upstairs so I ended up sleeping on the couch so that Chris could sleep since he has to get up so early for work. Flynn had another similar night where he woke up at midnight and then 2am and 3am. This time he fell back to sleep though and is still sleeping so I didn't get up till 5 and can enjoy my coffee. Here is to hoping today is smoother. I plan on doing some much needed house work today and just relaxing otherwise.

Easy like Sunday Morning.

This weekend has been going really well so far. My parents came up yesterday to see us and visit with Flynn. They so graciously allowed Chris and I to go shopping without having to worry about bringing Flynn into the store. I'm determined to limit his exposure to the outside world until he is older and his immune system is stronger. Today we have to take him to Babies'R'Us with us to pick up somethings.

My Mother-in-Law and her husband were over for dinner last night as well. In honor of all the visits we dressed up Flynn a bit. I'm proud to announce that he no longer requires the Preemie clothes as he finally fits more appropriately in his New Born sizes. I cannot wait to see how much he has gained when we go in on the 13th for his 2month visit at the pediatrician!

Such a handsome boy!

Flynn is rocking the bottle so I'm so excited. He is taking more and more each day and he seems to be on about a 3-4 hour sleep stage. He is nearly two months so soon we will increase his feedings and hopefully he will start sleeping a little longer.

We also recently found out that Flynn likes the song "Let's Go Fly a Kite" from Mary Poppins. I think its the tempo because it works wonders at calming him down.

The ring from Flynn's circumcision is finally off. I think it was really bothering him at the end as it was partially fallen off. Last night it came off fully and he stopped crying as much when being changed.

Today he may get to meet more of his family! His Aunt and Uncle and cousins have been up in the mountains at our Bi-yearly family vacation. Chris and I were unable to attend this year for obvious reasons. Two of his Uncles did not want to visit Flynn in the hospital so I'm excited for them to meet him.

Lately I've been thinking, "What about me? How am I really doing now?"

There are some things that still make it difficult for me to accept that what happened did but I've been adjusting and being able to hold Flynn now all the time really helps. Sometimes though I remember the things we missed out on and how different things are from the way they would have been if he was full term. Today we received a package from Similac. When I first found out I was pregnant I signed up for free coupons and information from Similac and Enfamil and never really thought about it. The 15th is my due date and they sent us free samples of formula I'm not really sure what to do with them. Flynn is on a very specific formula although it is Similac so we can use the coupons they gave us at least.

This kind of stuff as well has hearing what people did with their kids when they were babies is hard for me. Hard because I feel like I'm going to miss out on certain aspects of having a baby. Although I treasure every moment of his life and and look forward to getting to know my little man I can't help but wonder.

I'm also nervous because Chris goes back to work on Tuesday at which point I'm on my own and truly a stay at home mom. We shall see how things go. I may have more adventures by then to share with all of you.

Doctors appointments and just life in general. Coming up in full force this week.

Happy Tuesday!

Yesterday marked my 1 year anniversary and one of my favorite holidays, Halloween. We have this whole week off in honor of our one year anniversary! Friday we had dinner with Donnamae and David at the Brickhouse. That is their thing, every Friday they try and go. Its fun. We got the same waitress 2 weeks in a row which isn't suprising because its a small place. Donna and David were telling her we had ice cream cake back at their house so David and Chris took her a piece! I thought that was really sweet of them.

Saturday was a typical day. College Football and grocery shopping. Oh! We finally ordered our garage door opener. So far since we purchased this home in January we've added backyard landscaping, a fence, and now an automatic garage door opener, which was totally on sale so we got a nicer one than originally expected. I'm hoping to get photos printed and hung on the walls this week. It is supposed to snow so I think home improvement is a nice way to spend it.

Anyway Chris finally made his guiness stew again this past Sunday. OMG to die for yum! That and his Guiness Chocolate Cake but he hasn't made anymore recently. Sigh

Donnamae and David came over for the Broncos game and stew. We lost sadly, very sadly. But we they are trying to rebuid the team and I heard 3 years is what they expect it to take. I married into a family that are Broncos fans and it rubbed off on me!

Chris also made his breakfast potatoes on Sunday. I really have to start working out again its getting to that season that is all about food!

I finally finished the halloween decoration. I hung up an orange lighted spider web and bats in the front window and put a singing skeleton on the front porch, he sings "Bad to the Bone"

We also attempted to carve pumpkins. Chris picked an advanced level carving though and it collapsed on him.. : ( I picked the easiest one in the book a cat silhouette. LOL

From 2011

We were not home for trick or treaters but we definitely got some as our candy bowl was empty when we got home..

But let me back track. We tried to do a little of Halloween and a little of our Anniversary. We've talked about it and if we are home next year we may go out for our Anniversary the weekend before as Halloween is Wednesday, we shall see. So after Carving the pumpkins we did Zombie movies, than we cut into the top tier of our wedding cake and let me tell you, it may seem a silly tradition but the cake does freeze well. If it didn't I don't think they'd have this tradition. The trick is to get it in a freezer as soon as you can and to defrost it still wrapped up in the plastic wrap and all. Because our cake was iced with Buttercream it did start to crack after we thawed it but considering its moved between 2 freezers and been frozen for a year I think it came out pretty good.

From 2011

On our wedding day we barely got a bite of cake things went so quick so this is the first time we got to sit down and enjoy it. Our original cake was 3 tiered and had baileys chocolate cake for the bottom and top tier and so I was happy to get to taste that as I'm a chocolate fan. The cake was still delish after a year but I never realized how sweet the icing is! Oh well. We still have most of it down stairs. I don't think it will last too much longer. ; )

Anyway we went to The Melting Pot for our Anniversary. We've been talking about going for years and we finally made it. They wished us a happy anniversary. We did their Big Night Out which just changed to the All American (I think that was what it is called). It had a beer cheese fondue which was yummy to start, we then got salads, then the main course, lobster tail, chicken, pork, sirloin, shrimp and veggies.. yum! We went with the Chocolate S'mores Fondue for desert. Yum! It was 2 1/2 hours of indulgence. But for a special occasion like this it was so worth it. We have a fondue set too so we are going to use what we learned to start enjoying fondue at home. ^_^

For our anniversary I am getting a kindle but it isn't released until the end of Nov. So I'm just going to wait for it. Chris is getting a few video games he wants. Mainly the collectors edition of Uncharted 3 because it comes with a belt buckle! Haha. I love my husband.

From 2011

Hope everyone else had a wonderful and safe Halloween!

Cold and Rainy Monday

Good Morning Folks!

We are just two weeks away from Halloween/my 1 year Anniversary now!

Yesterday we spent the day with my parents at the Botanical Garden in Denver. It was a lovely day, not too hot not too cold and the sun was out. I took a bunch of photos and I spent about an hour going through them this morning. I added my favorites to my 2011 album. I've been seriously thinking of how I can fund my hobby of photography. I love it so dearly but its expensive! I need a Macro Lense. I had so many chances to take great close up shots there but my lenses just aren't good enough for the kind of vision I had. I realized that if I keep taking the pictures I love maybe I can try and sell the ones I am most proud of. I'm still a long way from feeling confident enough to try but I'm going to keep learning and someday soon I hope to let all of you know when I open my store online!

Aside from the people and animals in my life there are only 3 things I really love, first photography, second books/reading, and third baking. If I could magically combined all three into a job I'd be the happiest girl in the world. ^_^ Maybe when I'm older Chris and I can go all out and open a coffee shop. We can display photography from local artists and have a reading area where people can swap books, and of course I could make yummy treats to go with our coffees. Its a dream I'm willing to dream for. I'll add it to my "if we win the lottery" list.

Anyway here is the album again for 2011!

2011

October? Already?

My First year of marriage has flown by. In mere weeks we will be celebrating our 1 year Anniversary at the Melting Pot. I am so excited! This year has mainly been about spending time with family and friends and working on our house. Even though we bought a brand new home there is SO much to do!! Home Depot has become a home away from home this year.

We built Achilles a kennel using some of the extra space in our 3 Car garage. Which we then had to reinforce as he bore a hole in the wire. >_<

We had some drama getting our fence. We were ripped off and the guy has disappeared! He is wanted by the police here in Colorado. I hope they get him! Live and learn I guess. Chris, my Dad, and my Father-in-Law all came together and built our Fence this past July. It turned out better than had the company we hired done the work. Our neighbor had them and they've had to replace several posts already themselves.

Friends and Family are expanding. Our friends Woody and Shannon are having their first baby in December! I'm so excited for them! My cousin Emily is have her 4th child a baby boy anytime now.

Halloween is right around the corner. We've started decorating the house and we plan on getting pumpkins next weekend.

The fall weather has finally arrived! Its been a really hot year so far and this weekend it dropped into the 50s!

A friend of mine from High School has moved to Colorado Springs. Its nice having more friends so close. Her husband finally is here from Germany. They were living there for the past 4 years. Her husband is in the airforce. We got to visit her and her kids a few weeks ago. Now we have to make plans to meet her hubby! I'm looking forward to it.

Anyway lots to do!

Here is a photo update on my year..

2011

Life or something like it..

I've learned a lot about buying a house over the last month, first never say you are closing until you are in the office signing paperwork! Our close got rescheduled 3 times in one week. We finally closed at 2pm on January 21st. We officially moved in Januarty 22nd.

I am loving having my own house. It is way more than enough room for Chris and I. I feel like we can start a family here. We have our fur babies Higgins and Achilles living with us, and we have all kinds of plans in store for the next few years.

The second thing that I've learned is that you can't pick your neighbors. The morning of the 22nd. We loaded up my jeep and then I headed to the house to start unloading while Chris and Randy loaded up Randy's car. We had actually dropped off everything from the storage unit the night before and Chris and left his card there over night in our garage. So it is about 8:30 in the morning on a Saturday and this older woman who happens to be our neighbor comes over and introduces herself, cannot for the life of me remember her name.. anyway she asked me if we were going to build a fence and I quote said "If you do you know you have to pay for that part of the fence right?" pointing to the side of her fence that runs next our yard. I just tried to stay civil and polite and said we hadn't decided yet on fence. When she left I proceeded to text Chris and let him know.

I could not believe the audacity of some people. Let me make this clear it is not written ANYWHERE that if you build a fence and your neighbor has a fence that you HAVE to pay them anything. Her fence was up before we signed the paper work purchasing the house. It went up the day after we signed our contract saying we wanted to buy the property. We have no legal requirement to pay her anything and since she came over like that and immediately said we do we have no intention on paying her a dime. Had she come over after she saw us putting up a fence and discussed it with us maybe we'd help re-imburse her something but not now.

Chris promises to take care of her when we do have our fence built, we have every intention to build a fence because we have a 90lb dog that we currently shuffle to Chris's mom's house and then back so we don't have to worry about him destroying our house out of boredom.

In happier news my lovely, wonderful, amazing parents bought us a sectional for our house. It is what they call a birthday/adoption day gift. It was way more than I expected. When we saw them for my birthday they said they would buy us a piece of furniture. I expected an end table or coffee table, maaaybe a sectional or some chairs for our dining table (a table they are lending to us for the time being). We are so happy and blessed and lucky. This gift allows us to have enough seating in our house not to make it feel like we live there. It should arrive tomorrow so we have to vaccum the living room and move the green couches up to said living room, then vaccum the family room and make sure its prepped for the sectional. I think Chris is going to put up the only set of permanent blinds we've bought so far.

Even as big and empty as our house seems to me at times it still already feels like home.

Oh on the plus side it has a 5 star energy rating based on the 2006 requirements. We also plan on recycling as much as we can. We just got a few more of the reusable bags to take with us when we go shopping. I think we have 4 now. I figure we'll get a few more each time. Go Green! Haha -_^

So many changes and it is only January!

So once upon a time Chris and I had a deadline in our head saying we'd have money saved up by Feb for a down payment for an FHA loan and so we'd start looking in January for a house. We were going to the store a few weeks ago before the Bronco's game to help his Mom and Step-dad do some grocery shopping and we drove past a new housing development that we've been interested in but has always been just out of our price range.. until that day.. they were now listed as "Starting in the 170's" so we stopped by the model home - no one was there. It was Sunday and the Bronco's were playing so we headed home and unloaded the groceries and watched sadly as they lost..

The next day was of course Monday and that is Chris and I went to see if anyone was there. The office was still empty. Chris took the number though and called the guy. We went back an hour later and we got to see a few of the homes they had finished. We walked out of there having decided on getting one of these homes. We found out about a USDA Rural Development loan that Weld County is covered under which allows us to get the home without a down payment and no mortgage insurance like what is required for an FHA that ups your mortgage by like 100 bucks a month for so many years.. We crunched the numbers and went back a few days later and signed a contract. We officially close on Jan 14th, exactly 1 month after we first signed the contract. I'm really really excited.

Mead, Colorado is a small town. There is no way getting around that fact but I like it! They have good school system and its a really friendly community. Chris, his uncle Randy and I all had lunch at one of the 2 restaurants they have. Yes that is right folks there is only 2 places to eat in this town! It is a farming community. They do not even have a grocery store. The Brick House BBQ has good food and the waitress was really nice. She welcomed us to the neighborhood and chastised Randy since he only lives about 2 miles away and has never been there before.

We are going to own a house! That is what I can't get past.. I am really giddy when ever I think about it. We had to buy a refrigerator and washer/dryer and we got a new bed..king sized... all thanks to the king sized bed we got to use on our honeymoon.. lol.. but on the plus this means we have a spare bed for the guest room! We have a 3 bedroom house now so we have plenty of room to start a family. Chris and I call this our starter home.. we agreed our next one will be our dream home.

I need to start getting ready for the day.. My birthday is on Tuesday.. I can't believe I'm going to be 28.. I am starting to feel old.. in honor of said birthday and since we didn't get to see them on Christmas we are going out to lunch today with my Aunt Paula, my parents, and my cousin Emily and her family.

It is also snowing so we need to get gas in my Jeep and stuff before we go.

Hope everyone had a safe and happy New Year!! I am feeling really good about 2011 so far! My mom pointed out that my birthday falls on 1-11-11 this year. I hope that means good luck!

Happy Turkey Day Eve..

We still haven't gotten our professional photos for the wedding. Chris and I really need to call them about that to find out when we will get them..

In the mean time I did go through the photos I got from my mother-in-law Donnamae and I've picked the ones I like the best and loaded them online to share.. I'm also finally getting down to business about sorting through the over one thousand photos we had from the Honeymoon..

We got all our thank you cards written and mailed yesterday. I'm happy to have that done. We also did our first "Date Day" since we got married. Chris and I both came down with some nasty colds and Chris actually got a sinus infection so we've been sick for the past few weeks. We are finally feeling better. So we saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 on Monday. I thought it was brilliant!

Anyway my main reason for this post is to share what photos I do have so far.. I'll work more on the honeymoon pics after work today so I may have more by Friday. I'll let you know when I get them all up. There are a lot to sort through.. I promise I'll only put up my favorites!

I really love my new work schedule and we were told Chris should *fingers crossed* be moved to the same schedule by the end of the year. I hope it works out I really do, It would be so much more economical for us since we are saving up for a house if we can carpool again.

Without furhter ado here are the photos! I hope everyone has a lovely Thanksgiving tomorrow!

Wedding Weekend

Honeymoon

Chris and I are spending Thanksgiving with his Dad's side of the Family. We will go have lunch with my parents on Saturday. Christmas Eve is with Chris's Mom and Christmas day is with my parents.. We'll get together with Chris's dad again after Christmas as I'm sure.

Married!

I started my new shift at work today so I've already been here for over half my shift..its craaazy. What is more crazy is that I've been married for just over a week! The wedding was officially on Sunday Oct 31st, 2010 at 11am. I thought I'd be all freaked out and nervouse but nope I was too excited. Chris was nervous. His hands were still shaking even after the ceremony!

I hope to have pictures to share with you soon. So for now all I can do is really talk to you about it all.

First of all 3 of my best friends flew out for the wedding so I was able to see Cordy and her husband Chaim for a bit on Friday which was nice. We walked around the mall it felt like old times and Chris was able to meet them finally!! So happy! We had a lot of last minute errands that day to run. I really didn't think we'd pull it all off. We got home at like 9 that night.

We had the rehearsal at 11:30am on Saturday. It went well. We didn't think we needed all the parents there though so I felt bad because Chris's Mom and stepdad didn't come but everyone else did. They really didn't need to be there but it didn't look right. I wasn't expecting both my parents to come but my brother had missed his flight. He ended up missing the rehearsal dinner because of that. His lose it was fun. My mom wanted me to see as much of my friends as possible so Shayne and Aparna two of my best friends from college joined us at the rehearsal dinner. Shayne apparently really hit it off with Chris's Stepdad.. haha.

Chris, Justin, Kimi and I all go hotel rooms in Golden for the night before and night of. Justin wasn't feeling well after the wedding so they didn't stay that night, but it was nice staying so close and being able to ride up with them the morning of the wedding. We arrived on site at 9:30 and it took until about 10:40ish for me to get my hair and makeup done then I Had to get dressed and we got a couple of shots from the photographer of all of this.

I was so excited I thought I was going to cry before hand but the day of I just couldn't stop smiling all day! I had a lot of fun. We had one hiccup but its a story to tell. We had the fire alarm go off thanks to the omelete station! We had to all evacute the building and wait for the firemen to come. Chris and I got photos with the firemen though. So its a little silly story and nothing was really damaged they just had to move the omeletes outside.

Our cake was awesome! We have some in the freezer for our anniverary we will see how that goes.

Disney World was also amazing. I promise to have photos of everything to share as soon as I can get them up!

Our next big deal is buying a house. Thanks to some lovely gifts of money we recieved we are slightly ahead of schedule which puts us back on our original time table. I'm hoping by Feb to be moving. *fingers crossed*

I will try and keep you updated on everything as it happens!

Last few days = marathon of crazy

I figured because I've been planning this wedding since January that I'd be more calm now. Everything is set. I just need to pick up my dress on Friday and show up for the rehearsal, rehearsal dinner and the big day now. But my nerves.. oh my nerves.. I'm stressing about things I shouldn't be worrying about at all!!

I keep telling myself it will all work out and I'll be sooo happy come Sunday morning, and I believe it but its my nature to worry.

Chris and I are picking up his Tux tonight. We have to call the DJ and let him know three more song choices.

Cordy and Chaim arrive tonight. They are using a friend's house in Denver this weekend, I am so happy that they were able to do that, because of the Sabbath on Sat I'm going to see them tomorrow hopefully and then Sunday for the wedding. I also have only half a work day tomorrow. I was 2 hours short of a full day and I guess too many people took the day off anyway so half day it is. I also have to pick up my Dress and head band Friday and get my nails done, which the nails I'll probably end up going back out to do that evening. I have to call today and see if I can get an appointment.

Saturday Morning the rehearsal is at 11:30am because there is a wedding at the Boettcher that evening. Which is fine because then we could have the rehearsal dinner where ever we wanted.. so its a simple dinner at the Olive Garden at 6pm. Just family is invited. So Aparna and Shayne arrive around 2pmish so Chris and I are going to swing by and see them for about an hour or so that afternoon before running back home to get ready for the Rehearsal Dinner. Our plan is to Carpool with Kimi and Justin everywhere starting that night. They even are taking us to the Airport on Monday morning!

We have to be on site at 9:30am Sunday. The wedding starts at 11am and we'll be gone by 3:30-4pm because the wedding ends at 3. Then we'll go back to the hotel for a bit Cordy and Chaim hopefully joining us and then we'll go out to dinner. Then its back to the hotel with Kimi and Justin and just chilling till the next morning. Bright and early it will be off to the Airport! Disney World here we come..

We've already started packing this morning. I hope to finish by this evening. ^_^

I hope everyone else out there has a wonderful weekend!

23 more days!

So last Sunday was my Bridal Shower. I think it went really well. I enjoyed it. I'm still waiting for pictures from people. I've asked my mom and Donnamae to give me the pictures they took. I tried to take pictures but after the first few minutes there I put the camera away and just enjoyed myself.. The Shower took place at The Dickens Tavern in Longmont, C0. It has a neat history and there were ghosts in the old photos! It was totally my kind of place and the food was good so I've told Chris we'll have to eat there some time soon.

Here are the only photos I have:

Bridal Shower

Isn't my cake great! It came from a bakery in Fort Collins. It was very good too. I need to get more pics and as I do I will add them to that album.

After the shower Kimi and I went shoe shopping and got her some great shoes. I finally got word that my Dress is at the Bridal Store. So I need to go in before work tomorrow for a fitting. That was the only thing I've really been stressing over. I still am worried. Until I get the finished dress in my hands and can walk out with it I'll be nervous about it being done in time.

Chris and I were able to meet with our Officiant on Monday. That meeting went really well. We also met with the DJ and finished paying for him. He was a lot of fun to talk to and I was reminded why we picked him (aside from it being his equipment at the Boettcher). We also picked up the rings! I really like the ring we got Chris. Part of me feels weird because his is soooo different than mine but thats because mine are family rings from his mom. He still says we can get my rings of my choosing. I don't mind waiting a few years. Its not like the rings matter as much as who I'm with. ^_^ and I like the rings I have they are really pretty.

I can't believe how close to the actual wedding we are getting. I have a list of things that still need to be done. I know it will all get done but I feel like I'm going to go nuts in the process. We haven't heard back from the florist about the changes to our order, we need to pick up the stuff for the favors as well as the last piece we need for the centerpieces, we need to go get our marriage licence and make a seating chart and make a few signs for the boettcher to help direct people where to go. >_<>

Well Back to work I go! Have a good weekend everyone!

Happy Day!

So we are getting closer and closer!

We tried to make our invitations this past weekend but the paper was having issues with the ink from my parent's printer. Chris's mom is going to get a quote for us from her printer. It shouldn't be bad since we only need a small number and we have all the paper and everything. We hope to get them printed up this week so we can assemble them and mail them by next Monday.

I am still doing well with WW's I've lost a decent amount of weight since I started a whole 2 weeks ago. I've started working out every morning except Sunday now. I feel really motivated and just good in general.

We had Achilles sleep in our room the other day and it went really well so we may start doing that more and more and once winter comes we'll keep him in our room as much as we can to keep him warm, he doesn't have as heavy a coat as the other dogs.

One of the things I am really happy about is my wedding gift from Chris. At walmart yesterday we saw a deal we couldn't pass up. Chris bought me my new Cannon Rebel! It is the 10mp camera which is fine with me since I'm not a professional photographer. It came with an awesome camera bag and a 2GB memory card. All for the regular price of the camera itself. Chris said he'd intended to try and get me my camera before our Honeymoon and voila! Now what should I get him?? Oh dear.

I was so giddy yesterday but I didn't get to really play with it because it took 2 hours to charge the battery and his Mom had gotten new stuff for the Wii so we played frisbee golf and then after dinner we all watched The Hangover. Donnamae and David hadn't seen it before. Its so funny. We got The Hangover and American Werewolf in London on Bluray yesterday. I love that Walmart sells cheap ones now. ^_^

I'll share some of the shots from my new camera when I get them loaded on my computer at home. I was playing with it for a few minutes this morning. This was a really extravagant gift and I have no intention of asking for anything else for awhile. I need to pick up an extra battery for it and Donnamae who uses a Nikon and wants to start doing photography at least partially for a living has all kinds of recommendations for me for things to get.

I still carry my little 10mp Kodak Easyshare in my purse so if I see something I want to photograph I have something with me but when we go to Disney and for other things I'll take my new one. Like for my Bridal Shower.. ^_^

We are meeting up with the DJ on October 4th. My Bridal shower is the weekend right before that. We have a meeting setup to finalize everything at the Boettcher and another to see the caterer and pick our linens, we finally decided on our center pieces and our favors. I am feeling really positive about everything!! So it really is a happy day!

All Dressed up and no where to go..

I still have an hour until my appointment. Justin just called to get directions and let us know they are on the way down. We've cleaned the apartment, showered, and even Achilles got a bath. Higgins is hiding because its day time and we were cleaning. He really doesn't like the vacuum.

The other night Chris really wanted cookies. So we looked up a recipe online for sugar cookies. It was really easy to make the dough, but it had to sit for at least an hour in the fridge, preferably over night. He made the dough on Thursday night and I made the cookies on Friday night. We only have one cookie cutter though and it is in the shape of a person. My mom gave it to me when we made ginger bread cookies for Christmas two years ago. Chris told me he'd never made cookies before! I was in shock. I know he has done the ones where you break them off and put them in the oven but from scratch like this and rolling the dough out, never! The recipe made a crazy number of cookies so we are going to have plenty for a while! Hopefully Justin and Kimi will eat a few haha.

In the spirit of the donuts I attempted to make a few weeks ago I took pictures of the cookies. .


Chris making Cookies for the first time..


The final count.. I have no idea.. but this is after we ate a few .. they are really yummy!!

My mom just called and said she is on her way. I'm really getting excited. Not just for the dress but because my Mom hasn't met Achilles yet. She wasn't thrilled that we got him. I hope she likes him. Kimi and Justin were there when we got him but he has gotten a lot bigger since then!

Not sure what else to do while I wait.. its really nice outside today but cool.

Hope ya'll have a great weekend!!