Wedding Thus Far

One of the joys of having a personal blog is not only to share your life events with others but to keep track of all you have done and to look back on your experiences and memories. I have decided to keep up with posts on our wedding. I would love to look back in the next couple years to see all of the little decisions, personal touches and events that happened in the planning of our big day. So with his being said, lets catch up on what we have done so far...it isn't much, and we haven't got to the exciting part of planning yet, but we are almost there.

So we have picked a day, July 27th, 2013 as of today we only have 380 days until I become Mrs. Smith, how crazy and exciting is that? I just keep thinking on how fast this past year has gone, and it makes me a little nervous that we only have a little over a year. But I am going to do my best to get everything done (at least the big things and the things that take time) at least a month before the wedding. Because i d.o.n.t w.a.n.t s.t.r.e.s.s! That is when the Bridezilla in me will come out, and I am going to do everything in my power to steer clear of that lil' monster. Anna and I have watched too many bridal shows, so i know that is something that I don't want! And besides Anna has already told me a time or two that she will put me in my place if I start:)

Other then the date, we have reserved St. Mary's Catholic Church for our ceremony and the Gorge Room at the Hood River Inn for our reception. As yes, that is the same venues as MB's wedding, but the gorge room is the venue that works best for us. I have chosen my bridesmaids....yep all 10 of them. Yes you heard that correct...I am having 10 of my closest family and friends standing by my side as I marry my best friend. At first I was a little hesitant, but Aunt Staci brought up a good point, she said "you should be honored and lucky that you have 10 girls that are so close to you, that you can't imagine getting married without them by your side!" and since that conversation I haven't second guessed my decision at all. We are still working on Naamans side:)

We have looked over invitations and save the dates just to get an idea of the style we are going for. And I had some of the best help while looking at the invitations!

Lou-Lou liked any invitation that had pockets...Maybe I'll take her advice and get pocket invitations:)


We have also agreed on colors! We found this chair months ago, before we got engaged and for some reason it just spoke to me. I made my mom take a picture and then kind of forgot about it. Well then time came to start throwing around ideas for our wedding colors and this chair popped back into my mind. I really wanted to try and incorporate green into our wedding, naamans favorite color is lime green, and if he could have it his way our wedding would look like someone puked lime green everywhere. So from the very beginning my goal was trying to focus on a color scheme that Naaman personally liked, and wasn't just giving me the okay to make me happy. So we agreed on chartreuse and charcoal. I think we will incorprate different shades of green but this is our table liens and napkins.

The only other thing we have done so far was asked the girls to be my bridesmaids. I've always been the type of person that likes to make others feel special; from leaving someone a random note on their car, sending a random card in the mail, to just randomly sending an 'i miss you' text. I have never been afraid of expressing my feeling so i wanted to make sure asking these girls was something special. I racked my brain for weeks on how I was going to do it. I finally came up with the idea of mailing each girl a box with a cookie and personal note. They turned out better then what I envisioned and Lindsay with frosted made me the perfect cookie to finish my vision.

Well thats where we are so far on the wedding. I am sure there will be posts on and off throughout this next year, so you better be ready!

Fourth of July!

Marking #27 of my 30-by-30 list!!! I finally did the 4th of July run in Hood River. Mari-Beth, Kathryn, Anna, Lous, Bella and I did the run/walk. It was totally last minute, but I so glad we did this. It will become a tradition for us girls I am sure. We started in Odell and ended at Jackson Park, and total of 7.5 miles!

It was great weather for the 4th...after the run we stayed and watched the Parade! Here are some pictures of our morning

After the parade we walked to Auntie M's house and along the way, look what we found...

A lemonade stand. The Girlies loved it, and Bella was so excited that she got to pay. All in all it was a wonderful event and we can't wait till next year!

Our Date with Lou-Lou

I didn't think it was possible to be more in love with Lou-Lou but it happened! Yesterday Naaman and I watched Lous while Anna & Jeremy went to watch her moms dance recital. Naaman was going roping so we decided to head up to my parents with him. Oh man, Lou's fell in l.o.v.e with the horses...I for sure thought she would be scared since she had not been around them, but I couldn't keep her away!

Unfortunately after this picture my camera decided to stop working:( But she was kissing the horses, tickling their noses, and actually sat on top of one! I can't wait to take the girls up to watch Naa and Papa Craig rope! I loved loved loved doing that when I was younger, those are some of my best memories; watching Dad & his buddies rope, playing in the dirt, shocking the cows(kinda feel bad now), waiting for Gordie or Dad to give the 'nod' and release the cow from the shoot, and just being dad's little cowgirl. Who knows maybe Lou-Lou will ride in MB & I's saddle from when we were little! 

Lou-Lou had so much fun at Papa Craigs & Grammy Mary's.....we played basketball, tried to kick a soccer ball around, played in the back yard, and played with the puppies. 

 All in all it was a great date with Lou-Lou, but we got her home a little past her bed time, say oh...a little after 11pm!! Ouch, but it was totally worth it

Seriously, how could you not love this face?

Vegas June 2012

Once again I have to say I L.O.V.E  M.Y. F.A.M.I.L.Y, we had a blast in Vegas celebrating Robbie & John's 21st Birthday!!! My dads side all went to Vegas the weekend of the 8th. I can't even explain how much fun we all had gambling, laying by the pool, drinking and just enjoying eachothers company.

Unfortuntly when we were there it was like college spring break on steroids at the pool, and poor Papa had to experience that! Next time we go to vegas we will make sure it isn't the same time they are hosting a EDC event, there were somewhere between 250,000-300,000 people there for that! It was insane!

So glad we were all there to experience John & Robbie's first Vegas trip...I am sure there will be many more with the family! 

The Proposal 5/30/2012

Its been a week since Naaman got down on one knee, and I still catch myself staring at my ring, getting butterflies when he calls me his fiancé, and daydreaming about our wedding! It was perfect in each and every way, and I am so beyond blessed to be taking this next step in life with Naaman by my side.

I never thought in a million years Naaman would surprise me or catch me off guard when he popped the question, but boy was I wrong! I was in shock, crying like a baby, and speechless that I actually forgot to say yes! 

May 30th is a day I will never forget: It went a little something like this.....
Just like every other morning in Lake Havasu we got up, ate breakfast, packed lunches and headed out to the water! It was a gorgeous day and all we wanted to do was play in the water. Gracie and Clancey went on the tube for awhile and then we all took a boat ride to London Bridge! We docked the boat on a little beach and all did our own things, I was sitting on a chair in the water reading a book. Naaman then walked up to me and asked if I wanted to go for a walk to the bathroom, so I got up, put my book down and started walking. We walked hand-in-hand along the canal and stopped to look at some fish that were swimming in the water. I am not sure what came over me (I hadn't talked about us getting married let alone thought about it the whole time we were there) but I just looked at him and said "Naaman I am so ready to marry you!"  ( I use to say that to him all the time, and I would always get "I know, when the time is right" or " Me too, but we need to wait just a little longer" or "We've almost saved up enough money") So I was surprised when he said "Really?!!!" with this little smirk on his face. Next thing I know he is on one knee asking for my hand in marriage, and all I could do was cry! I am pretty sure I shook my head yes but no words would come out! After he slipped the ring on my finger and we had a little hug, people from across the canal started yelling and congratulating us, and cheering with beers. I had no idea people were watching us, but I guess we were putting on a little show! 

I don't exactly remember what all Naaman said, I think I kinda went into my own little world there for awhile. But once we made it back to everyone, he said to me " you know you actually never said yes to me!" and of course I then said yes a hundred times! 

The funny part about this was everyone knew but me. Amy, Ben, and the girls knew and my whole family was waiting for my call to tell them! I am so excited to start this next chapter in life we Naaman, and I can only imagine the memories we are going to make!