Doesn't this just melt your heart?

Ryan had a visitor to his office this week. He is holding baby Whitt. They both look pretty content to me. Ryan says Whitt loves sleeping on his belly.

My First Wedding Shower

I had my first wedding shower on April 2 at the Chancellor's House in Fayetteville. I was so overwhelmed with the attendance and how generous everybody was. Ryan and I are truely blessed to have such amazing friends and family. Below are some pics from the day. Thanks Aunt Laura for being the official photographer and thank you to everybody that came.Half of my bridemaids were able to be there - Emily, Shelby, Collin and Bekah

Aunt Julie, Aunt Susan, Shelby and Aunt Laura

Aunt Teresa, Mom and Nana

My future family - Kathy-Ryan's mom, Grandma, Nancy and Aunt Kris

The amazing hostesses

Liz, Amy and Anniston - Anniston was my bow helper. I only broke one bow at the shower

Bride and Mother of the Bride

Aaron and Alena's Wedding

A couple of weeks ago we were in Dallas for our friends Aaron and Alena's wedding. Ryan was an usher so we went down Friday morning. Alena is Jewish and Aaron is Catholic so you can only imagine how fun that reception was. It was the first Jewish wedding I have been too and I loved all the traditional dances and yelling "Mazel Tov!"

The Groom rehersing

the Bride rehersing

me and my future hubby at the rehersal

the traditional Jewish chair lift

Ryan is the next guy in their group of friends to get married so Aaron threw him the garter

Me and the Bride, and a random table of people

We're Next!!

Happy Birthday Spencer!

Today my baby brother turns 23! I can't believe it!!! Love you bubba and hope you have a great day.

Wedding Details: The Honeymoon!

After much thought and consideration Ryan and I have decided where we are going for our honeymoon. We recently decided that we would both rather go on a shorter, US trip for now. We wanted to have a few days at home just to relax and recoop and we wanted more time to save more money to go on our "big" honeymoon trip next year.

So we thought and we thought and we decided on a place that we both have always wanted to go. Not only will this be the perfect place for the nerds that we are but what better place to spend our nation's birthday than in our nation's capital...

WASHINGTON, D.C.!!!

Yes we will be spending the 4th of July on the National Mall watching a brillant display of fireworks. We will be there for 4 days and we intend to hit up as many tourist spots as we can. We both love history so we want to take it all in. On our "must see" list are the National Mall, the Smithsonian, the Holocaust Museum, the White House, Arlington Park and a few others.

Ryan did a lot of research and everything he found said that the hotel we chose is the best in DC. We will be staying at the Hotel Palomar which is located in Dupont Circle. When we called to make the reservations Ryan told them it was our honeymoon and the instantly upgraded our room. A+ for customer service so far.

Needless to say we are super excited about the honeymoon! Our next goal is to find some great restaurants. Anybody got any suggestions?

SURPRISE!

Ryan and I were in Dallas this weekend at our good friends' wedding. When I got home on Sunday I found this on my door step. It is our very first wedding gift! We got a dinner plate of my fine china from my good friend Bekah's mom, Anne. I guess this means that the wedding is getting closer. Ahh! So exciting!!

100 Days!

I can't belive that we are 100 days away from the wedding! I am getting really excited but I am also starting to get stressed.

I have a very long to do list at the moment. Here is what I am working on currently:

• picking the food to serve at the wedding - we meet with the caterer later today
• picking out rentals and linens - also meeting with the rental people today
• Family picture display for the reception
• Rehersal Dinner arrangements
• Wedding video - I have taken this project on myself and it is just about to drive me crazy!
• Guest Bags for out of towners
• Reception Gifts

I have also made a lot of headway recently. I am proud of myself for getting this accomplished:

• met with the florist and negotiated the contract
• secured the Band!
• SET HONEYMOON! (more to come on that later)
• Found the perfect hair piece to wear at the reception
• Had all my alterations done on my dress
• Taking my Bridal Portraits NEXT WEEK
• Secured my make-up artist and hair stylist
• Ordered personalized napkins
• secured special musial talent for the ceremony
• started our pre-martial counseling - not at all what I expected
• ordered sparklers for our exit - its 4th of July weekend so of course we had to have some sort of fireworsk
• finished my cake topper and it looks fabulous!
• Ordered personalized thank you cards - I think I went overboard and ordered way too many

Next week is crazy busy for me with wedding hoopla. I am getting my bridal portraits made on Friday which means I have several "beauty" appointments that week - spray tan, nails, makeup, eyebrows, hair, etc. Also on Friday my aunt and uncle and grandmother are coming in town because I have my first bridal shower on Saturday. I'm so excited to spend the weekend with my family and to do some more planning.

Tomorrow means we are in the DOUBLE-DIGIT countdown. Wahoo!!