Hooray!

Hip hip hooray! Christmas break starts today!

Hello 2 weeks of sweet freedom! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Also check out this link... http://portablenorthpole.tv/home
I think it will provide you with some entertainment, especially if you have kiddos!

One Request....

My one request- Jenna please post some belly pics already! I feel slightly like a stalker with how often I'm looking to see if you posted one. Thanks :)


On another note thought I'd post a handful of the wedding pics from my photographer, the ever so awesome Lindsey Shea. If you need any type of photography done I would highly recommend her.

Fall Treats

One reason I love fall is the food that goes along with. Especially anything with pumpkin. Below are a couple of favorite recipes and both are really easy.



Last night I made this and it was a big hit. And the best part is, it's super easy to make. I've already been asked to make it again. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Crunch Cake

1 can pumpkin (15oz)
Large can evaporated milk
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp salt
4 eggs

Topping:
1 box yellow cake mix
1 1/2- 2 sticks butter/margarine
Pecans (optional)

Beat together pumpkin, milk, sugar, pumpkin pie spice, salt and eggs. Beat together until well mixed & pour into a 13 x 9 greased pan.
Sprinkle cake mix & pecans over pumpkin mix.
Thinly slice 2 sticks of butter over mix. (Cover well)
Bake at 350 for 50 minutes.

I chose to omit the nuts because I'm not a big fan myself.


This next one is a Thanksgiving/ Christmas favorite of my family. I look forward to this every year.

Berry Mallow Yam Bake

1/2 C Flour
1/2 C Brown Sugar
1/2 C Old-fashioned oats
1 t Cinnamon
1/3 C Margarine
2 16oz. Can yams
2 C Cranberries
1 1/2 C Mini Marshmallows

Preheat oven 350. Mix together flour, brown sugar, oats, & cinnamon. Cut in margarine until mixture, resembles coarse crumbs. Put flour mixture with yams & cranberries in a baking dish. Bake 35 minutes. Sprinkly with marshmallows, broil until lightly browned.

We were robbed....

Don't get too worried I don't mean Tim and I personally. Starting this year I have started to be the class of 2012 sponsor with my friend Kristen. Overall its not too time consuming until homecoming starts rolling around. And everything is a contest between the classes. However the seniors normally win, whether it's deserved or not. The week before we have to make a big banner. Ours looked awesome, it was navy and said "Believe. Achieve. Conquer. XII Mustang Mentality Is it in you?" Ours clearly was the best. Even unbiased sources agreed. The following week we have to decorate a hallway that goes along with the homecoming theme. This year was the theme passport to paradise. Going into this Kristen and I agreed we just wanted second, since that was the true winner. But the more we got into it, the more we wanted first. And we were going to go all out to get it. And it turned out awesome and again no contest ours was the best. (Below is pictures, so you can see the awesomeness yourself) Everyday during our conference we would work on stuff and come up with ideas. We made 3-d trees with 3-d coconuts. Fish and other sea
life plus we made an awesome waterfall. Well come the pep rally friday afternoon we got 3rd on our banner and 2nd on our hallway. I am most upset about the hallway situation. We truly were robbed from our rightful win. So next year we must come up with a more elaborate plan...







And yes our awesome hallway was made almost entirely of paper.

Honeymoon!

So I finally located my camera cord. So I thought I post a few pics from the honeymoon... you can see the whole lot of them on facebook.

Well first we had to wake up to catch the plan about 3, left for the airport at 4, and our plane was at 5:30. By the time we got there we were soo tired. We went to the beach after we ate lunch and both fell asleep. We had so much fun. The weather was so nice, actually cooler there than Texas. Which was not what I expected. You constantly got an awesome breeze from the ocean. We ate lots, Tim loved the idea of all you can eat. I had to stop him on several occassions from going to dinner twice in one night. I did however on the last night humor him and we went back out for dessert. Our resort had so many restaurants. Japanese, Italian, Steak, Seafood, Mexican, buffet, French, lots of food, and it was all very good. Which was great for me since I'm always looking for my next meal. Besides eating a lot, we spent a lot of time at the pool and beach, took salsa lessons, went snorkling (which was so much fun!) and enjoyed some down time. We really liked out resort a lot, and would love to go back again. Maybe I can talk Tim into a one year trip :)

After we first got there... I think you can see bags under our eyes, we were so tired!


Pretty Beach




After dinner


Lunch


Sweet Hats


My yummy shrimp that freaked Tim out

Wedding

So I suppose it's time for an update! In the past month a lot has happened! Number one: I got married! You spend so much time planning and planning and planning and there is so much build up and the night is over in the blink of an eye. There seems to be so much sensory overload that the night is somewhat of a blur all of the thought over details have blended together. And no matter how much you plan, things always go wrong. An hour before the wedding we found out there was going to be no cake, so dad came to the rescue and borrowed a fake/display cake from a bakery and bought sheet cake to serve. The fake cake actually was very pretty, and I supposed ended up being a money saver! I have a few pictures, thanks to others :) and once I have the professional ones I'll post those as well.

My Bridal- by the amazing Lindsey Brittain of Lindsey Shea Photography



My Bridesmaids and I


My Brothers


Ceremony


First Dance





I'll be back with posts about other happenings and the honeymoon... still not exactly sure where the cord is for my camera. Still trying to find things from the move!

One Month!

Today makes it's one month to the big day! Tim and I have had a very productive few weeks. Yesterday Tim moved into our new digs. I really love the apartment, we've been slowly moving things in, but last night was his first time to stay there. Not a lot of furniture yet. But, our sofa is being delivered tomorrow! Tim had been waiting for the holy grail of furniture, so it was a miracle that we even bought a sofa. We have even purchase a kitchen table... no chairs yet, but nonetheless. We do however have stools to sit at the counter with... so better than nothing! We also painted an accent wall in our bedroom. I can't wait to get everything all set up.

Yesterday we booked the honeymoon! We are going to The Secrets Silversand Riviera Cancun for six nights. We found an amazing deal on travelocity. So if you're hoping to travel this summer check it out! We all know how Tim feels about a good deal, so he is still smiling about it!

Monday I purchased Tim's wedding ring... which he is so excited about. We also got the tuxes all figured out.

Today I picked up my wedding dress! I can't wait to wear it for an extended period of time. Tim also scored me the photographer I've been in love with for a year. She is going to do the wedding, bridals and re-do our engagements! We've been having quite a time with the photographer situation and my dad always wanting to use "a friend of a friend". So thankfully Tim took care of it! www.lindseysheaphotography,com

This Saturday is our first shower. This will be the first wedding event thus far, I'm excited for everything to get started!

And to make things even better... tomorrow is the LAST day of school! I've been waiting for this day since August. Hello sweet freedom! However, I will miss my kiddos... most of them anyways! There is a few I'm glad to get rid of!

Yay!

I am super excited for this summer, and now I have one more thing to look forward to! I will be going to Utah June 20th-25th to visit Shan! During that time will be her baby shower and Jenna will be there too! I am very excited! It will be so much fun to have 6 days with them together. Matthew is sending me up there as a Mother's Day gift for Shan, what a thoughtful husband! The month of June is a little hectic and it just so happens that was the one week that was free! It will be a nice vacation from the wedding craziness, and from the Texas heat. And to add to the fun, we will get to do some twin birthday celebrating since their birthday is the 26th. I can't wait!

2 Months to Go!

Well today marks the 2 month marker for the wedding. I can't believe it is so soon! I'm not really sure how people can handle one year+ engagements! Mine has only been 7 months and it has seemed really long!

Things have started to come together, yet my to-do list is growing instead of getting shorter! However this past year has been very productive wedding wise. On Monday, I went to my reception place and made the day of timeline. On Tuesday, I picked out my linens. On Wednesday, Tim and I got our passports. This week I also worked on my invitations. I should be getting the sample on Monday or Tuesday.... which I am super excited about. Just seeing it in black & white on my computer it was so pretty, so I'm excited to see the final product. Yesterday I got my veil and a cute hair clip for the reception. But there are still one million things I need to do! I also got my rehearsal dinner invitations in the mail. They are blue and brown, with an outline of a cowboy kissing a girl. They should go along perfect for the western themed rehearsal dinner! I can't wait to see what my family from up north wears for that! And I think Tim and I have picked our honeymoon stuff out... we are thinking Mexico despite the over reaction of the swine flu. (don't even get my mom on that soap box...) And hopefully with the swine flu scare we can get a good deal! - Tim must be really wearing off on me.

Great Products

I felt like I should my new love for this product. It is MAC's Paint Pot in "Bare Study". It acts as a base/primer for your eye makeup. The sales guy promised me that is would make my eye make up last for up to eight hours (and assured me that it worked for him...yes, I said him). Well it's true, it's awesome! It comes in several colors, but this is a light sparkly color. Very neutral. And the container lasts forever, like 9 months to a year. Plus it is only $16.50, well worth it I say for eye makeup that stays on through work. I also think it makes me shadow go on a little stronger, takes less to do the job.

And while I'm on my beauty soap box, I'll rave about my love for Mark Makeup. It's through avon. They have really cheap makeup. Plus they have these products called "hook up's", which pretty much means you can take any two things and hook them together, lip gloss, mascara, eye shadow, liquid liner, brushes, you name it. I really like their liquid liner, "On the Edge". It has a very thin brush, so it makes it easy for the liquid lining challenged. www.meetmark.com

Hope you can share my enjoyment!

Oh boy!

I just heard Shan is having a baby Boy is July! I am so excited for her and can't wait to see her precious son! I'm bummed she won't be at the wedding in July but couldn't be more excited that she will be having a very joyous July herself! I'm also bummed that I won't get to be there for his his birth. I somehow perfectly planned when to come visit Cade, in fact I think he was just waiting on me to get to Utah. It was so fun to be there when Jenna became a mom! I'm glad Cade will have another boy to play with! Maybe I can convince Tim he should let me take a trip to Utah in '09! (And Jenna, Cole and Cade should meet us there)

And don't worry Shan I'll come up with some great name ideas for ya! ;)

More Wedding

Read at your own risk.... (if you don't wanna hear about wedding stuff, stop now :) )

Well just a little update: The wedding is in fact July 3, 2009... 6 months from yesterday. Both the ceremony and reception will be at Maple Manor. I have almost all of my vendors but it's just a matter of meeting with them and getting stuff picked out. My dad has taken it upon himself to be the wedding planner... which is a good and bad thing. He doesn't always understand the small stuff. For the favor I'm having a candy table, I'm excited about that. Both Tim and I have a pretty big sweet tooth. I don't know about the honeymoon yet either... all I know is tropical and all-inclusive. Finally have the bridesmaid dresses picked out. Hopefully I should be meeting with the invitation ppl in the next couple weeks. I'm excited to see what the designer comes up with... I've collected lots of pictures and some are similar, some not at all... my indecisive-ness is not alway pleasant to work with. I want my programs to be shaped like fans to help with the fact it will be a 100 degrees... July was always a month in my mind that I didn't want to get married since it would be so hot-- go figure.

There is a funny thing about being 6 months out, when I tell people the date is in July I get 3 different reactions:

A. Wow, that is really soon!

B. Oh, you've still got a little while

C. July, that's a good time to get married

... I personally agree with B myself. Even if I didn't have a day by day countdown till the big day, 6 months is a while to me. And C, I think they are just being nice, because I personally thing July is going to be freaking hot.