Moving!

So the minute Jeremy and I got back into town from the beach, we headed straight to our realtor's to pick up the house key. We had planned on having my parents available to help move as well as our friend Scott but things didn't quite work out.

Jeremy and I changed into comfortable clothes and decided to start moving my things little by little. The weather was so nice and everything went so smoothly that the two of us were able to get everything moved by ourselves. It took us four trips but it was great to know that it was done.

Now the process of moving boxes out of the garage little by little and putting them away. Organizing...one of my favorite things to do and one of my hobbies!!

Beach time!

Ahhhh I love going to the beach for vacation! It's so relaxing and laid back. Such a nice change from home and my job. I was also stoked to have Jeremy come along and for him to be able to relax and hang out with my family.

This year my parents had rented two houses next to each other. The first weekend, my mom's best friend Laurine and her husband Dan came and then my aunt and my sister came from Seattle. It was the first time my aunt had been there and she was staying for a whole week. For sleeping arrangements, Jeremy stayed with my parents in one house and my aunt, sister and I stayed in the other.

Jeremy was a little irritated because the one time he got to sleep in and catch up and he kept waking up around 6am! I didn't have a problem getting more sleep and both him and my dad would end up walking down by the beach together. Days were spent walking around downtown Cannon Beach, watching movies, reading books, playing games, playing on the computer, going to the beach, driving to Seaside to look at antiques and go grocery shopping and just plain relaxing.

During the week we kept up on the weather to see if one of the days we could head down to the beach for the day. Wednesday proved to be that day and all of us packed our stuff up to spend the day down there. My sister had even made two wind shields for us to put up that worked great. We even brought down snacks and our food for lunch so the only reason we had to go back to the house was to go to the bathroom. Of course I had my swimsuit on and planned to go in the water at least once if not more. I had already been able to go in a couple of times over the past few days. Jeremy and I went in further then we thought and ended up soaking ourselves with our clothes on and then mom went with me and soaked herself! It was a great day for the beach. The weather was warmer and there was just a slight breeze. We sat around and read, we learned to fly several of dad's kites, we played frisbee, we got in the water, we soaked up some sun and we took pictures. Flying the kites was great, especially the big one. You had to steer it with two hands and sometimes it got a little wild and you had to dig your feet in to stop. Jeremy taught me some good pointers and I was able to fly it by myself without help. One time my sister started taping me flying the kite and I was doing really good. Then all of a sudden there was a gust of wind and I got off balance. I was trying to save the kite from nose driving and was able to, except I lost my footing and fell flat on my backside in the sand!! Of course Jenny got it all on camera!! Such great memories.

We had decided for each of us to have a night to cook dinner and then we would be on our own for breakfast and lunch. This worked out pretty well and we didn't have to stress too much about what to do. My night to cook ended up being Thursday night the day before Jeremy and I had to leave. Earlier in that day, all of us had been downtown and Jeremy asked me on a date to go to dinner, just the two of us. I helped get dinner started and then we took off in the pouring rain to find a place. We ended up at Mo's and had a great view of the ocean from where we were sitting. Then we decided to take a drive instead of heading right back. We stopped at a view point to take pictures and continued to a place called Hug Point. We got out of the car and did a bit of hiking up a hill to get a good view and to take some pictures. Then we walked down to the beach and walked along for quite awhile until we decided we needed to get back before it got too dark. It was fun with just the two of us exploring. When we got back, the rest of the family was watching a movie and they were starting to get worried since we had been gone for over three hours.

The next morning was sad because Jeremy and I had to leave and head home. Its always a bummer to leave the beach. However, I was excited to get back and pick up the key to the new house!!!

The time at the beach was great this year and I'm so glad that Jeremy was able to come and experience it all!!

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!!!