Merry Christmas!!!

I was so excited for Christmas to come this year! I couldn't wait to start new memories with Jeremy and let him experience how my family spends the holiday. Jeremy wanted my family to come and celebrate at our new house this year. So my sister decided to brave the weather and the pass from Seattle and got quite a few days off. Our plan was to have her drive to my parents and then the three of them drive to our house in Hermiston. They would spend the night at our house and we would all wake up together Christmas morning and spend the day together.

My work schedule worked out great with me having both Christmas Eve and Christmas day off. My sister got into town Christmas Eve morning to my parents and a couple of hours later the three of them packed up and drove down to Hermiston. For our family tradition we always make G-ma Kitty's clam chowder for Christmas Eve dinner. We had to make a minor adjustment because Jeremy doesn't like seafood and so we made the chowder and also stromboli. Us girls started prepping right away for dinner so it could be simmering while we went to Christmas Eve service. The service was great, I always love singing Christmas songs and having candlelight service.

Not long after we got home, our friends Bob and Becky and Bob's brother Don came over to spend the evening with us. Normally we just had our chowder in bowls but my mom surprised us and had bought bread bowls which were a big hit. Everyone got their food together and found a place to sit and enjoy. Afterwards everyone congregated into the living room where Jeremy started up the Wii.

The next few hours were spent sitting around laughing and watching several of us play numerous games. Some of the games we played were bowling, tennis and carnival games. I played tennis and really had to pay attention and focus so I swung the right way to hit the ball. While everyone was sitting around, I passed around slices of my chocolate cake. I had made the "Chocolate Lasagna" cake from Olive Garden. It was a big hit! After our company left we only stayed up a few more hours. We prepped breakfast for the morning and finished any last minute things before heading to bed.

Immediately after waking up, I got my stocking stuff done first and then went to get my sister and mom so they could do theirs. During this time no one is allowed in the living room to spy. Dad came down to get his coffee and was shooed away so Jeremy tried to get the coffee ready and he too was sent to his room. Apparently I hadn't explained well enough to Jeremy all that Christmas morning entailed. I just laughed hysterically hearing my sister yell at him to get to his room and he tried to push it but it didn't work. Finally it was time to start the fun! We emptied our stockings while sipping on coffee. Then we decided to fix breakfast so we could enjoy it before we got too late. Mom had planned quite the spread and everything was wonderful. The gifts came next and of course I was santa. I passed them out until they were gone. Now it was time to relax, get ready for the day and spend time with each other. We looked into seeing a movie at the theater and found a time that worked. Since holidays always seem to be a day of eating, we already were thinking about lunch. We decided to go non traditional and have french dip. After eating everyone passed the time visiting and just being together. Later that night we went to the movie, "Did you hear about the Morgans." It was very funny and a great way to end the day. Soon after my parents and sister gathered up their things and packed them in the car. After they left the house felt so empty. Jeremy had received the movie, "The Hangover" and we popped that in and ended our holiday laughing!

Thanksgiving 2009

The holidays came quick right after all the hype of the wedding was over with. My mom has always told my sister and I that once we were married, we didn't need to feel obligated to spend all the holidays with them. She knew we would need to spend time with the in-laws and might even want to be by ourselves. That made it nice so we didn't have to stress about where we would spend the holidays.

This year for Thanksgiving Jeremy and I headed over to my parents in Tri-Cities for a quiet, relaxing holiday. My sister decided to stay in Seattle and spend the holiday with family there.

Once we got to my parents I helped my mom finish with last minute dinner preparations. Everything came together really smoothly and in no time we were ready to eat. We also had my mom's twin cousins, John and Larry join us. We all sat around talking and sharing stories and laughing. Then I helped my mom put food away and get leftovers together. Some were given to John and Larry to take home and others were packed up for Jeremy and I to take home later on.

Soon after, John and Larry decided to head home and we decided to go see a movie. My parents and Jeremy and I ended up seeing "Old Dogs" and laughed hysterically. What a great way to end the holiday!

We went home at a decent time because I had to work early the next morning. Even though the holiday wasn't crazy busy with all the family, I liked how nice and laid back it was.

Basketball season begins

It's that time of year for basketball and Jeremy has been getting very excited. I met him right as he was finishing up with basketball and so didn't fully experience it. Throughout our dating and engagement, he continually told me about how it took up a lot of his time with practice and games and that he was gone a lot. I told him it would be fine and we would work through it.

I will admit I wasn't really looking forward to having him gone so much. I wanted to be able to cheer the girls on at games as much as I could, if my work schedule would allow it.

Thank goodness it only lasts 4 months! We will see how it goes...

Honeymoon in Vegas!!!

Figuring out where you want to go on your honeymoon can be a very tough choice. Jeremy and I hemmed and hawed for months. I really wanted to go somewhere tropical and warm like Hawaii. I researched and met with a travel agent, but things were too expensive and we didn't have a full week off to enjoy it. Somehow Las Vegas was mentioned and we really started thinking about it. I had never been before and what better time to experience it for the first time then with your new husband!
We planned it out so we didn't fly out until 6:30pm the next night after the wedding so we could relax and not rush around trying to get to an early flight. It was great looking out the window of the plane and seeing the Strip all lit up. We finally arrived at our hotel, The Mirage and got checked in. It was 10:30pm but that's when the Vegas night life begins!!! We dropped our bags off, freshened up and decided to go out on the town.
Before I forget, something that was really cool was that Karen, one of my bridesmaids had given us a $150 gift card to use at the Mirage. We could use it at restaurants and any stores within the hotel. Every morning we slept in and woke up too late to have breakfast. We did decide to make getting coffee from Starbucks a priority! There was a Starbucks in our hotel and so using our card made it that much nicer. We even treated ourselves to a very fancy and expensive dinner with our card.

We went to two shows while we were there, The Blue Man group and The Beatles Love, a Cirque de Soleil show. The Beatles show was in our hotel and we saw that monday night. We had a great view though we both thought it would have been even better closer to the stage. The acrobatics were astounding and we found ourselves singing along to the music the whole time. We actually bought the tickets for the Blue Man group on our flight to Vegas. That show was held at the Venetian and was awesome! I laughed hysterically and the show was very audience interactive. I would have loved to go to another show called The Reve at the Wynn but maybe next time.

Most every night we were out until 2am walking, looking at the sights, people watching or doing some gambling. In the time we were there, we walked from one end of the strip to the other. We went down to the Luxor and walked around inside and then decided to go to the Body Exhibit they were holding there. We ate at Margaritaville where Jeremy ordered a huge thing of ribs and we had delicious drinks. The atmosphere was really fun inside and they had great music playing. We walked through the M&M store and were overwhelmed with all the things and didn't even make it through all four floors. We walked through numerous casinos/hotels that included Caesar's Palace, the Wynn, the Venetian, the Palazzo, the MGM Grand, the Luxor, New York, New York, Paris, Treasure Island, the Riviera, the Flamingo, the Bellagio and Excalibur.

We discovered our favorite gambling machine, Wheel of Fortune at the Wynn. We had a blast sitting there together playing. At one point we had our money up quite a bit and then we decided to take chances and lost it. We didn't care because we were having a good time. We went back to this same machine 3 or 4 times during our week there.

My two favorite things we did were riding in the gondola at the Venetian and going up in the Eiffel Tower at Paris. The Venetian is so fun to walk through because they have made it look like there is blue sky and clouds above you and you are walking outside, all while inside. The atmosphere is amazing and the music floating through makes you really feel like you are walking down the streets in Italy. The gondolas were very romantic especially when your boatman sang a song in Italian for you as you lazily floated down the river. My next favorite thing was going up in the Eiffel Tower. We went up while it was still light but the sunlight started to fade while we were up there. The best part aside from the view was watching the fountains at the Bellagio dance to music. We got some great pictures! Then to top it off after coming down we went over to the fountains and watched them again and got a completely different experience.

We had a wonderful time but didn't even come close to seeing everything that Vegas had to offer. We will make plans in the future to go back for more!

My Wedding!!!

The minute I woke up, I immediately started getting excited! Today was my wedding day, the day I have looked forward to forever!

The morning was very laid back and we took our time getting showers done and getting everything ready to take with us. We had to make sure that nothing was forgotten. Jenny and I were a little late getting to our hair appointment and both Karen and Andrea met us there. My hair dresser Becky and a fellow worker were all ready to work on our hair and make us beautiful.

Becky started working on my hair first so she could spend her time getting it perfect. Since Jeremy loves my hair long and straight we decided to leave most of it down with just the sides up. She came up with the idea to tease my hair on top and create a bump that the veil comb could go in so it would stay. It's amazing how much you can get hair to do what you want with tons of hair gel and hairspray. She twisted several bunches of hair back on either side and secured them with bobby pins. The veil fit perfectly and looked great.

After I was done, I began putting my makeup on. Of course the one thing you dread is getting a zit for your wedding day. I had been fighting it for a couple of days and it wasn't quite gone. Becky gave me some special cover-up for it and you couldn't even see it on my chin. After my makeup was on I walked around talking with the girls and taking pictures as they had their hair done. As the morning wore on Jenny noticed I was getting a little bit antsy about the time. It was getting close to 1pm and we still hadn't eaten lunch. Jenny and I took off to get some sandwiches at Subway and then on to the church. I must have been quite the sight sitting in the car at Subway with my veil on waiting for Jenny. People would walk by and do a double take. Haha! I wanted to be at the church between 1 and 1:30pm so I could start getting ready and have time to take care of any last minute things.


The photographer got there around 2pm and started taking pictures of the boys getting ready. I had made sure to have so much time that I was actually getting bored and really antsy! Jeremy had decided early on that he didn't want to see me before the ceremony. This meant that we had to take individual pictures of the guys and girls and the together and family pictures after the ceremony. It was pretty funny to watch how our coordinator scouted out to make sure Jeremy was no where to be seen when it was my turn to take pictures.

When pictures were finished, the wedding party minus Jeremy got situated in our room and waited. We were able to wait in the "cry" room which has windows that are one way so we could see out but people couldn't see in. It was great to look out and see the guests arriving and knowing they couldn't see you. I was very excited and kept pacing back and forth because I wanted to get the show on the road! Everything looked so beautiful and the music was perfect. I'm even getting excited as I am writing this!

When it was just my dad and I left in the room he probably thought I was nuts. I was watching Jeremy escort my mom and his mom down the aisle to seat them. It was the first time I had seen him that day and the first time seeing him in a tux. He looked so cute and I kept jumping up and down wanting to be out there so bad! Finally it was my turn!!! Jenny, our coordinator had come up with the idea for closing the doors behind the bridal party and then opening them back up for me and giving me a grand entrance. I loved the idea and it worked out perfect. I was all smiles walking down the aisle and watching Jeremy's face and seeing his reaction.

The ceremony was beautiful and we both were able to say our lines without messing up and the rings slipped on our fingers without a hitch. I had found our vows online and loved what they said. We had my parents unity candle burning but decided to have communion instead just between Jeremy, me and Dick(the officiant).

After the ceremony we went to sign the marriage license right away. While we were finishing taking pictures, the guests headed into the reception where they were able to go through the tortilla/salsa bar and have special coffees made while waiting for us. Pictures didn't last very long and then we made our grand entrance. We got started right away on going through the buffet line and eating that yummy mexican food!
Next thing on the agenda was dancing, one of my favorite things. Jeremy and I had a great time talking and laughing during our dance. Then my dad and I got up there and had a blast dancing to Creedence Clearwater Revival. Jeremy and his mom also danced and had to stop early because Carla, his mom started tearing up.

The cake and toasts were next and I wasn't sure how we would do the cake feeding since we hadn't talked about it yet. When it was time, Jeremy surprised me and smeared it all over my face! It was pretty funny and he did help me clean it off. My dad and Jeremy both said a little something and thanked everyone for coming. My sister started crying part way through and had to turn around facing the other direction to finish. Ron, Jeremy's best man made up a rhyming poem that was awesome.
After that Jeremy and I walked around to the different tables saying hi and thanking people for coming. Then we got our groove on and started dancing and letting loose. Jeremy had said he might not dance much because it wasn't his thing, however I was very surprised and impressed how often he came out to dance with me. I had a blast doing the Cotton Eyed Joe song and even the YMCA.
As time passed, I started getting excited about what we were leaving the reception in. My family had been very secretive and wouldn't tell us at all. Both of us left to change clothes and get our bags together. When it was time, the guests who were left had sparklers for us to run through and waiting for us was a 1930's vintage limo. Our driver had champagne and old love songs playing for us. The car was great and really fun to ride in. He drove us to our hotel, the Hampton Inn where we were staying the night.

The room was great with a see through fireplace and a jacuzzi tub. The first thing I noticed after walking in was the most gorgeous bouquet of red roses for me! Jeremy had ordered them the day before and made sure they were in the room for me to find. We had a relaxing night of watching tv, opening up cards and....ok I think that is about all you are going to hear about the rest of the night!
It was a wonderful day and everything went exactly as planned. One of the best days of my life!!!

Day before the wedding

Us girls woke up at a decent time at Karen's and quickly got ready. We decided instead of breakfast to run into Starbucks for coffee and little goodies. I got my favorite Pumpkin Spice Latte and a pumpkin scone to go with it! Yummy!

Then we made our way over to our nail appointment right down the road. Having pedicures was a must for all of us and I was still debating about getting my nails worked on. Pedicures are always a little slice of heaven and I enjoyed every minute of it! It was even better with picking out the best orange color that I loved! As I was nearing completion, I did decide to have my nails cut and painted so they would look good when I had pictures taken of my hands with the ring on it. Andrea and I had our nails worked on together and were able to chat while having them done. After our appointment, we decided to have lunch somewhere and walked a couple of doors down to the Pita Pit.

After we were finished with lunch, we headed to the church to start decorating. We were given clearance to get the decorating done the day before. We were very thankful for that so the next day could be more relaxed. We had a lot of people there helping including my aunt B and uncle Ed, all the bridemaids and my family. Chandra, our flower lady was also able to be there. Jeremy showed up a little later with his brother and not long after that his mom Carla and Jerry.

With so many people helping, we were able to get it done pretty quickly. We had people split up and some stayed in the sanctuary to help and others went to the reception room to decorate. My sister headed to the reception room as my liazon. She knew exactly what I wanted and how I wanted the tables to look. I wasn't too picky and knew they would look good. I bounced back and forth checking in to see how everything was coming along. It didn't take us very long, of course it helped that I didn't have too many decorations and made it pretty simple.

For the sanctuary, my parents had bought an awning for us to get married under. My dad had added extenders to increase the height so Jeremy could fit underneath! Then we found some off-white material and draped it over the awning and pooled it by each side on the floor. We had a little table set up towards the back of the awning where the communion would be held. We put on a tablecloth, had my parents original unity candle with a newly made candle ring of flowers around it and our blue goblet that my mom's friend Melody had etched our names into. We gathered some artificial trees from around the church and placed them around the awning for color. We were able to find a couple of trees with orange leaves that went along with the color scheme. We placed two small pom pom trees in front of each side of the awning and Chandra made them poppy trees by sticking cut off poppy flowers in them. I loved them! Chandra also made two flower arrangements that she hooked onto the front two corners of the awning.

I was especially happy about how the tables for the reception turned out. The church provided white tablecloths and then we rented royal blue overlays. In the middle of the table we put a silver charger plate and a vase with poppies. There were two different vases I picked out that were placed on every other table. I also picked out two different types of filler for the vases. Half had broken green glass and the other half had rounded green stones. Three poppies were put in each vase with green grass for filler. One day while mom and I had been at Paper Factory, we saw these blue mini chinese take out boxes on sale. We loved them and bought a bunch of them. Those boxes were put at everyone's place at the table. We decided to fill them with our favorite candy, so half the box were peanut m&m's and the other half were sour patch kids. My sister made cute tags that read, "These are a few of our favorite things" I wanted the favors to be something the guests could take home and not just toss away in the garbage and I knew no one could throw away candy!

A table was set up off in one corner for the cake. The cake wasn't a big deal to me and I was having a simple two-tiered cake made and then several different kinds of sheetcakes that could be easily cut up for the guests. My mom's friend Melody also etched two other glasses with our names and the date for us to drink during the toasts and they were placed on the table as well. Numerous other tables were put up on one side of the room closest to the kitchen for the food to be set up on. We had our food catered from Fiesta Mexican Restaurant and would also have a lady there making fresh tortillas with a salsa bar.

After everything was checked over, it was time to start the rehearsal. Jenny, our coordinator slowly took us through each step and made sure to answer any questions. We figured out exactly where we were to stand during each part of the ceremony. She even made it easier for us by putting colored dot stickers on the floor that no one else could see! Dan Porter was our music man and the rehearsal gave us a chance to go through it and play the songs at the right points. It was great to hear it all coming together and it made me that much more excited about the next day and the real deal! We went through the ceremony a couple of times until everyone felt comfortable.

Now it was time to eat! We took off for Round Table where we had reserved their party room. We started ordering all different kinds of pizza and breadsticks to be made. While those were getting ready, those who wanted salad went to the salad bar. Once the pizzas started arriving, everyone just sat back and relaxed and visited with each other. We spent a couple of hours there and then people started heading home.

Jeremy headed back to stay the night in Hermiston and I was staying at my parents. As I kissed him goodbye, I told him the next time he would see me I would be walking down the aisle!!

Bachelorette party

As it got closer to my wedding, my sister planned for me and my bridesmaids to get together and have dinner at Olive Garden. Of course I love that place and couldn't wait. Then afterwards we would head to Karen's house, one of my bridesmaids to watch movies and spend the night.

After the football party Ron and Lori threw us, I started to think about my friends in Tri-Cities I hadn't seen. So I decided to have some of my friends join us at Olive Garden for dinner so I could visit with them. Three of my friends were able to come and we had a great time! The three who came were Erin who I went to high school with, Nicole who I had worked at Kania Clinic with and Lori who I went to x-ray school with. Andrea, another of my bridesmaids wasn't able to make it to dinner because of school but came later to Karen's.

Dinner was great as usual and all my friends got along great and conversation flowed. We sat around and talked wedding details until we were stuffed.

Then Jenny and Karen and I headed over to Karen's house. We weren't there very long and Andrea showed up earlier then expected. We immediately got into our pajamas and Karen made everyone a drink to sip on. We sat around talking and taking some pictures and then we put a movie in. We finished that and decided to head to bed because we had a busy day coming up.

I had a great night spending time with my closest friends and relaxing before the wedding.

Viking's football party

Jeremy chose his long time friend Ron to be his best man at the wedding. They had worked together at Walmart for many years and Jeremy was practically part of their family.

As the wedding got closer, Ron and his wife Lori decided to throw us a bachelor/bachelorette party! Jeremy's favorite football team are the Minnesota Vikings and it just so happened that they had a game on Monday October 5th, the week of the wedding.

So Ron and Lori got reservations at Midway, one of the local taverns in Hermiston. They posted the event as an open house on Facebook and invited lots of people that knew one of us or both Jeremy and I.

Jeremy skipped bowling that night and Ron came to pick us up. We were both wearing the jerseys that Jeremy bought for us. Ron also gave us hats that said bride and groom and mine even had a veil. We had to get pictures with our hats on before getting in the van, per Lori!

When we got to the tavern, Lori had decorated with streamers in the colors yellow and purple and put up signs all over. She even had placed a special order for cupcakes with thick frosting of yellow and purple and cupcakes in the shape of a football. It happened to be taco night at Midway and we ordered some right away. They started us with some drinks and then we just sat back as the game got started. Some people stayed the whole game and chatted while others came later and said a quick congrats before heading out.

It was a really good game and the Vikings won!! This of course made Jeremy very happy and he was having a great time. I was able to meet lots of his friends and guys that he worked with. Lori and I mostly stood around laughing and watching Ron and Jeremy together. I played pool a couple of times and had my streaks of greatness and then my streaks of nothingness.

Towards the end of the night, it was the four of us and only a couple of friends. Ron and Jeremy played numerous games of pool and it was hilarious to watch them play and their interaction especially after they both had consumed many drinks! Finally it was early in the morning and we left about the time the tavern was closing. We decided we were starving and drove through Jack and the Box for food. Then they came in and got a tour of the house before heading home.

Later Lori gave me a photo/scrapbook filled with pictures and words of advice from everyone who had been at the party. We loved it and what a great way for us to remember that night and the fun we had.

"Heart" concert

I had been so excited to go to this "Heart" concert since I first heard they were coming to the Tri-Cities. I had seen them the previous year in Seattle when they were on tour with "Journey" and "Cheap Trick."

I knew I was getting a ticket I just didn't know who I would go with. Jeremy would have gone with me if I had asked him but I didn't think it was his kind of concert. I get debating over the next couple of months and then Jeremy mentioned that his mom loved them and maybe I should ask her. I thought that was a great idea and called her up right away. She said she would love to come and would ask for a couple of days off so she could also come down for a visit.

Finally the day came for the concert and I was so excited! Carla came early enough to Hermiston that we were able to sit around and visit before getting in the car and heading to Tri-Cities. Jeremy came with us and hung out with my parents while we were gone.

One of the best parts about the concert was that they were the only ones singing and we didn't have to wait for anyone to open for them. We had great seats and had a fantastic view of the stage. Everyone screamed when they came on stage and I had to try and control myself since I was with my future mother-in-law!!!

I sang to the songs, took lots of pictures and even video of my favorite songs. They sang all my favorite songs and so I was a happy girl. Carla really enjoyed herself and I'm glad we were able to spend that extra time together.