My own house!!

While Jeremy and I were dating, we had started looking at houses for sale in Hermiston and Umatilla. We already knew we were getting married and decided we didn't want to keep living in apartments.

First we decided to see about getting a home loan and seeing how much we qualifed for. My mom had always told me growing up that when I decided to buy a house with my husband to make sure we bought it on one income so when children came along, I wouldn't have to work. Jeremy and I talked about it and decided on an average monthly mortagage and a price we wouldn't go above. We were really surprised of how much we could qualify for but with our choice to budget we were able to look at houses between $140,000 to $180,000.

Many nights were spent looking online and printing off our favorites. Then we chose a realtor because of the fact that Jeremy knew him. He was very helpful and let us know this was a great time to buy. We gave him our favorites and he also looked up some others we have missed. He made some phone calls and some appts to see the houses. We spent most of one day driving around taking tours and getting a better idea of what we liked and disliked. One of the first houses we toured, Jeremy fell in love with it. We kept going and looked at our other choices to make sure, but we ended up back at that same house in the end.

The house had been built the prior year but hadn't been lived in yet. It was on the higher end of our budget but we were able to work with the loan people and the seller. Everything was so exciting! We were impatient to get through all the paperwork and find out when the closing date would be. When we finally found out they told us July 24th. We tried to be positive from the beginning but people get telling us that things seem to always come up and the closing date gets pushed back.

Now it was out of our hands and we had to wait a month and a half. We would call occasionally to get an update but there wasn't much else we could do. As it started getting closer we kept calling and probably annoyed the heck out of our realtor and loan guy.

I was also getting really nervous about getting my stuff out of my apartment and finding a place for it. Another stress for me was that we were headed to the beach for a week and the closing date was getting too close to when we were leaving for my taste. Jeremy kept telling me to stay calm and he would get it figured out. I really tried but I couldn't help getting a little stressed. It ended up that our realtor had a shed I was able to move my stuff into until we got back from vacation. Jeremy and I moved most of my things ourselves and had our friend Scott help with the big items.

The Friday before we left to the beach, we got the call that it was the day!! I was able to get off work early and drove straight over to the title company. It was so exciting to be signing papers but after awhile your hand started aching! Haha! After completing the paperwork, we had to drive to Tri-Cities to get a cashiers check for the down payment and closing costs.

Now I felt like we could leave for the coast and have a relaxing time. The only bummer was that we had to wait to pick up our keys until after we got back. Still we had a HOUSE!!!!

Table decorations

I stayed pretty simple with my table decorations. I didn't want a whole bunch of things on the table that would make it hard for the guests to visit and see each other across the table. We decided to use white tablecloths that the church provided and then we rented royal blue overlays for over the tablecloths.

My mom and I had made an appointment at the place we rented everything from and we left there with a different setup then what I had pictured in my head. I knew we were going to have favor boxes and I had the idea to put them on cake plates in the middle of the tables. That way they were all centralized and it also gave some height to the table. The flowers would be placed in a vase in the middle of the plate, also adding height. So at the appointment we started playing with different ideas and setting things up so I could see it. We decided that the cake plate idea wasn't the best. One reason why was because the guests might not know that they could take the favors. The second reason being that if the favors were taken, the plate would look bare with just the vase of flowers in the middle and nothing else. So we pondered different ideas and came to the decision that we would use two different sizes of vases with three poppies and some grass in it. Even though we placed our order, I left there feeling like I had been talked into something I didn't want.

My mom and I went to a flower appointment with Chandra a week or so later and I told her about my experience. She had worked with them numerous times before and she told me to head back there and pick out what I wanted since it was my wedding. This time we just walked in instead of making an appointment which turned out to be much better. The ladies that had been there before were gone and a women let us look around the room with all their vases. She gave me suggestions but ultimately I picked what I wanted. I stayed with one of the vases and then picked an entirely different one for the second vase. I also picked out two different types of green filler to go in the bottom of the vases.

After the second time, I finally left there feeling satisfied and excited to see it all put together.

Mark and Kate's Wedding

The month of July brought another wedding in the Willer family. This time it was Mark and Kate getting married.

I was able to take off from work early. I drove straight to my parents and changed clothes and then my dad and I rode together. My sister was the wedding coordinator and my mom and her had already been at the church for most of the day helping.
The wedding and reception was held at the church in Etopia, WA. The colors Kate chose were bright and cheerful and perfect for that time of year during the summer. She chose lime green, orange and yellow and used real oranges, limes and lemons in the decorations. Mark loves this certain drink and they were able to personalize the wrapper on each bottle and every guest had one at their seat. After they were announced, everyone began to line up to go through the buffet line.

After everyone had a chance to eat, people moved outside for the reception. The weather was not too warm with a little breeze. The rest of the night was filled with tons of fun dancing and music. I was having a great time and decided to stay a little longer when the rest of my family headed home. The wedding turned out great and I'm glad I was able to go.

X-ray Reunion

This year marked the 2nd year of being out of school. Some of the people from class decided to put together a reunion and get as many of us together as possible. We decided that July would work for the majority and a good number turned out.

I drove to Tri-Cities and met Chelsie at her parent's house. We then drove together so that we could chat and catch up with each other. All of us first met up at Red Robin for lunch, then we headed to a bar/restuarant and sat around talking. It was great to visit with people and find out where everyone was working and living. I was able to tell everyone my great news of being engaged. After that for the rest of the night we went around to a couple of bars for drinks and visiting.

Chelsie and I were able to stay at her friend's house and then headed home the next day. The night brought back some great memories and I got some good pictures.

Wedding Flowers

Flowers make a big statement at a wedding and I wanted mine to be great. Ever since I could remember I have loved Poppies, especially Orange Poppies. I had always dreamed of having them at my wedding.

Chandra, a friend of my sister's who started her own business agreed to do the flowers. I knew that poppies weren't in season and I would have to have artificial ones and I was ok with that. Chandra was able to find flowers that were called real touch and you had to do a double take to make sure they weren't actually real. I decided to get them for my bouquet and for my bridesmaids. The other orange poppies I was able to find at Michael's. We even ordered more of them from the Michael's in Spokane. The flowers from Michael's were used for the boutonnieres, the cake and the table decorations.

For my bouquet, I decided on the real touch poppies and blue hydrangea. For my bridesmaids, all I wanted for them to carry was one single long stemmed poppy with some blue and orange ribbon hanging down. I wanted the orange poppy to "pop" against the blue of their dresses.

We planned to be married under a Hoopah, which in Jewish symbolizes the house and life we will share together. We created our own by buying an awning and our own fabric. We thought the fabric could be draped over the top and pool at the bottom. My dad took off the awning material and raised the whole structure so Jeremy could get under it! We rented two pompom trees and I had the idea of placing extra poppies randomly throughout them. She also created corner arrangements for the hoopah and a candle ring to go around my parents unity candle from their wedding.

I was getting excited to see everything come together on the big day!!!

We have secured the venue!

Finding a place for us to get married was quite stressful. Every place we looked at was so expensive and there was no way we were going to pay that kind of money. We decided to check with Bethel, my parent's church to see if they had an opening and what we would need to do to secure the date.

There were a few issues that included us not dating for as long as Bethel would have liked and we needed to go through premarital counseling. Bethel would like couples to be together for at least a year before their wedding. The total time Jeremy and I would have been together would have only been 9 months. However, we did have a liazon with Dick Erickson. He was an elder at the church that I had known for many years and we decided to have him marry us. He came to our rescue and talked to some of the other elders and helped us be able to get through the red tape. He offered to counsel us four times over the course of our first year of marriage.

I was excited to use the large sanctuary for the ceremony and then be able to walk down the hall to the fellowship hall for the reception. Using the fellowship hall also gave us the opportunity to use the kitchen and the coffee cafe.

Securing the venue took a lot of stress off my shoulders and started getting me excited for the big day!

4th of July

Since 4th of July is my favorite holiday, I decided to take the day off of work since it was on a Saturday. Another reason to take the day off was that my sister was visiting that weekend. That week ended up being great because we also got Friday off in observance of the holiday so I only worked two days that week!
I left early that morning and got to my parents in time to leave for the parade. We sat with the same people as usual and had a great time. After we got home, we all relaxed and sat around visiting. Jenny and I were able to get a lot done for the wedding. At one time, both of us were sitting in the living room with each of us on our own computer. Quite the comical picture! As it got later in the afternoon, we finished up getting ready for the bbq.

We had a small amount of people come over for the bbq. We had great food and we all just sat around and talked and relaxed. Halfway through the evening, I went over to the neighbors bbq to visit. I wanted to spend some more time with Robyn, who was heading back with her family to Alaska the next day. When it was time to head down to the river to watch the fireworks, I walked down with my mom and sister. We spread our blanket out and plopped ourselves down. When our neighbors got there, they ended up sitting with us too. The fireworks were great as usual! All in all it was a great holiday.