Less than 300 Days!

I was just looking at my Wedding Countdown on the bottom of the blog. I noticed that we now have 299 days until the wedding. When I told Dave we were under the 300 mark, his face turned "as white as a ghost". He's already getting nervous! (Don't tell him, but I am too!)

Good Fortune

Friday night, I had dinner with my family at the local Chinese restaurant. My brother, Justin, loves to eat there. He has a rule that you should always pick the fortune cookie farthest from you on the plate. Of course, everyone always loves to share what theirs says. Sometimes they are dumb, or funny, or maybe even a little inspirational. We never take them seriously, but mine was too good, and I just have to share!!

"A family reunion in the coming months will be a tremendous success!"

I thought it was quite approriate, since our wedding will basically be a big famiy reunion.

And for those of you craving wedding details, here are a "few" bridesmaids dresses I have seen and liked on-line. I'm leaning toward a harvest gold color. In person it's a beautiful color, but I'm not sure if it looks good in pictures. Let me know which one(s) you like!

Dress #1

Kellye's favorite!

Dress #2

Dress #3
I'm not sure what the front looks like,
but I LOVE the back!

Dress #4
I'm not sure if I want this
for the wedding. I may
buy it to wear somewhere
myself!!

"A Snowy Day" (sort of)

Dave and I spent the weekend at Camp Mac with the McBrides. We went up to see Jenny (she came home from the hospital on Thursday). We knew there was a good chance for snow. It started on Saturday morning and was over and melting by lunch time, but we had a great time playing in it. Here are some photos from our snowy day.

In this shot we are standing on John and Jill's pier. That's Lower Lake behind us. It's been dry for almost a year now.

Snowball fight!

This is us with Jenny. You've read about her in one of my other posts. Just five days after brain surgery, and she's out playing in the snow! God is so good!!!

In this photo I am pretending not to be cold.

This shot is taken in the McBrides' driveway. Aren't the snow covered trees in the background beautiful?

Here is a blur of our puppies Gabby and Reese playing in the snow. They had a great time. Reese especially enjoyed eating it.

Reese decided to slow down for a picture.

As you can see, we had a great weekend. I don't have any photos of the other McBride girls. They didn't come outside in time. We did have fun playing Wii bowling with all of the sisters. We took Emily and Riley Ann to see National Treasure 2 which was a great movie. It's always fun to visit Camp Mac. Thank you for a good visit guys! We can't wait to come back!

Back to the Wedding!

Dave and I decided to plan an autumn wedding. Fall is important to both of us because it is the time of year we met and started dating. We both love the beautiful colors and crisp, cool weather. We chose the Saturday before Thanksgiving because I am a teacher, and I will be out of school for the entire week after the wedding. (Saving those sick days!) To be honest, Dave would probably get married any time as long as it doesn't interfere with turkey hunting. He is not a deer hunter (yet) so November is a good month for him. And to those of you wondering........no we are not getting married on the same day as the Iron Bowl! That was the first thing we checked before setting the date.

The vision for our wedding is to spend the day with those we love the most. We want it to be a reflection of us. In no way do we want it to turn into a "production". A wedding is supposed to be a happy time, not a stressful ordeal. It's been a lot of fun so far!! No thoughts of eloping....yet!

So, I now find myself constantly looking for fall wedding decor and ideas. I have a stack of books and magazines that come up to my waist. We have a "wedding room" in my parents house full of wedding items we have accumulated.

So far the most exciting part of planning has been the reception. My parents have decided to build a new barn at their home for the reception. It hasn't even been constructed yet, and I have no idea what it will turn out like, but I do have "a vision" for how I would like it to be. It will be hard to create an "old barn" atmosphere in something so new, but we will try our best.

Here are some inspiration photos I found:

I love the lights in this one!

This is a pretty pose.

No, I'm not Catholic, but I do think my cousin Griffin went as the Pope for Halloween a few years ago. I put this photo in for you Griff. You BETTER NOT show up in this outfit!! :)


Another pretty pose in front of the fall foliage.

I've heard people say that the best weddings were the ones that showed the personalities of the bride and groom. So, Dave and I have decided to serve one of our favorite meals at the reception: Camp Stew, BBQ, and grilled cheese sandwiches! I love the stock pot up above!!!

What would a fall party be without Caramel Apples? YUMMY!!

Another must for us is a candy buffet!

I definitely prefer these to pew bows!

Pumpkins are so easy to decorate with!!

Another easy decoration

I like this bouquet..........

and this one!!!

J-E-N-N-Y!

Here is another gift from God....Dave's cousin Jenny. She had neuro-surgery yesterday and is doing fantastic!! The entire family is thrilled that she is doing so well, and I cannot wait to go visit her.
Just in case you don't know her, she is a "real character"! This is a photo I took of Jenny eating what she calls a bread sandwich. She makes and eats them all of the time, and will be glad to give you the recipe.

This is Jenny and her twin doll. Memama gave this to her for Christmas. I think it is absolutely adorable! I would have loved to have one of these when I was her age.

Gifts from God

I know I haven't had a post in a while, but I honestly haven't made any big wedding plans lately. I would like to blog about some little people that are very important to Dave and I. Dave's step-sister, Wendy, had twin boys on Dec. 27th. They were about 11 weeks premature, but are doing great. They are still in the NICU and continuing to gain weight. Dave and I are already crazy about them. It seems like we are surrounded by twins! I had to take most of the pictures through the incubators, so they aren't the best. They definitely don't show how tiny the boys are. I tried to get some of Brady compared to Dave's hand, but they didn't turn out to great.

Uncle Dave scrubbing in at the NICU.

Brady and Dave

More Brady. He weighs about 3 and 1/2 pounds now.

Whit's turn

Whit weighs a whopping 4 pounds!! It must be all the hair.