Happy Holidays:)

It's our first holiday season as a married couple! We spent Thanksgiving in Arkansas with my family and we are going to spend Christmas in our new hometown in New Mexico! 

Wedding Planning!

Us in Arkansas. Marmie was such a good sport.  She's in the middle of a big move and still found time! 

We're nearly a month into being engaged and everything is pretty much done for the wedding!  We have chosen a short engagement (a little less than 5 months), so that's a good thing.

Our official date is: October 30, 2015.  10.30.15.  Isn't that perfect?  It will be in Arkansas, in the same town that I was born in.  We wanted a short engagement for a few reasons.  The first is simply because we want to be together!  Matthew and I believe in waiting until marriage to live together, so that's a no-brainer.  You know in the movie When Harry Met Sally, when Harry says, "When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.”   That's how I feel!  

Also, we didn't want our wedding to be too far into the holiday season, so October 30th seems perfect to us!  Not to mention that because it is on a Friday, we are saving about $5000 on wedding venders.  Total plus in my book.  

Two weeks ago, I had a break between my two work weeks (about four days), so Matthew, his mom, my mom, and I went to Arkansas to do some hands on planning. Even though it was a lot to do, we got a TON done:

Venue
Catering
Entertainment (DJ and photobooth!)
Cake tasting/ordering
Photography
Rehearsal dinner location
Officiant booked (My grandpa!)

For decoration, I'm doing mercury glass with flowers and some natural linen accents.  My main color is light pink.  The venue is honestly so beautiful that I don't think much will have to happen.  

For favors, I've already hand poured 100 bottles of homemade vanilla extract that my Daddy made, and Matthew's family has something fun up their sleeves too!  

We are so excited!  Everything is going really smoothly.  I went with just my mom to David's Bridal about a week after I got engaged and picked out my dress and its already arrived in store!  Our budget is on target and hopefully things continue to go so well.  

Things still left to do:

Dress fitting/alteration
Order veil
Order shoes
Finish DIY mercury glass project
Make labels for vanilla and apply
Tie ribbon around vanilla
Tie ribbon around Matthew's favors
Find baskets for favors
Finalize catering menu
Buy gifts (Mother in law, my parents, bridesmaids, groom)
Order flowers
Pick processional/recessional/dances music
Trial run makeup and hair (I'm doing my own)
Write vows
Print/scan old pictures
Pre-marital counseling

Not too shabby!  We are 3 months and 18 days out, and I'm not worried.

I Got Engaged!

You guys! I got engaged! Here's how it happened: Matthew had planned a breakfast picnic for the two of us for a recent visit I took to New Mexico. This wasn't particularly suspicious because we love going ok picnics and I had been talking about wanting to go on a hike in the mountains. I mentioned the night before that I had brought my cute hiking backpack and that I could pack it for us and Matthew stopped what he was doing and said, "no!" I thought that was pretty odd but I figured that if he really wanted to take his backpack then that was fine with me! So we set off on our breakfast hike and made it moooost of the way up the mountain but I didn't realize that it was a THREE MILE HIKE that I was attempting to do (without any food yet, mind you) and I pretty much found a smooth rock near the top of the mountain and declared it the top and we sat down and ate some yummy breakfast burritos that Matthews mom, Teri made for us. We ate and talked and relaxed and then Matthew said that before we went back down, he wanted to take a picture on a flat spot right behind us. So we got up and I asked him for my phone so that I could take a picture and then turned to see the awesome view from the top (top-ish?) of the mountain. When I turned back around, Matthew was on his knee and before I knew it, I was engaged! I couldn't be more happy. He's everything I've prayed for through the years and I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with him! 

We had a really sweet moment halfway down the mountain where we stopped and prayed for a blessed marriage and relationship and we thanked God for all the amazing things that He is working in our lives. We are so lucky! 

If you're reading this, we would love it if you would pray for us too! 

Now, without further ado...pictures!! 

Sarah Came!

I'm always begging for visitors and finally, my oldest friend Sarah took me up on it!  We had so much fun and it was great to see her. 

This trifle has history, yall. I call it Sarah's Trifle

Brownie waffles?! What???

I practiced wacky hair-dos on her

Alamo drafthouse!

Sarah's old place of employement

Grill time in my yard was delish

Her dog Tesla came too!  She was an energetic goofball

Lots of movie time

I love her!  15 years strong now of friendship!

My Review of Groovebook

Have you guys heard of groovebook? I'm obsessed. Basically, it's an app and you upload up to 100 photos a month and then for $2.99 a month they send a photobook of your pictures. Also, the pictures are perforated so you can tear them out! I love them. Solid product that I will continue to enjoy, for sure. 

Every month as a different cover

They time and date stamp each picture

Not the BEST quality, ,but still frame-able for sure!  It's better than printing out pictures on computer paper. 

Life Lately (In Pictures!)

Here are a few photos from the last week or so! 

My oldest friend Sarah came to Lubbock to see me and we visited the wildlife rehab center she used to work at. ( more on that in a later blog post!) 

We Went to White Sands

About a month ago, when I was visiting Matty, we took a day trip to white sands. I love how genuine and joyful our relationship is. We try to make it a point to have a relationship grounded in God and so far it's been the best relationship of my life! We had a blast and even built a super cool sand castle with a moat.