Wedding Fun

Thanks to our great friends and family, we are official done making our invitations. We had a lot of fun making them. We loved the idea of saving money by making our own invites, but now we just love the invites and can't imagine purchasing them. Besides, it just wouldn't be us. The guys even helped us by cutting and printing. Justin Austin is actually a master invite cutter. Plus, the guys wrapped wire around about 35 jars while watching Tiger play some mad golf! I was sad I missed out on the golf but I was busy figuring out the invites. I decided to give you all a little sneak peak of our invites. We also made RSVP post cards that match the invites. They have a cream background and the blue pattern on them (much like the initial portion of the invite)...they turned out really cute. We also sat with Cani and Justin for about 15 minutes that afternoon trying to figure out the wording for the invites. As soon as the storybook wording came up, we knew it was ours! Cheesy but fitting.

We have so many DIY projects but they are being knocked out one by one. Our friends are so willing to help which makes the projects not only easy but also enjoyable! We still have a lot of projects ahead of us, but I am confident that we are going to conquer them all.

Nate and I have decided that we are on and off again wedding planners. We get pumped about getting stuff done for like 2 days and then we don't even look at wedding stuff for a week. We know we are going to need to get better about that. We went into our engagement knowing that we didn't want the wedding stuff to take up all of our time or thoughts, but now we are realizing it may need to take up some of it in order for us to get stuff done! Especially since we are all about DIY projects.

I still love the simplicity of our wedding. That is what excites me about it the most! The natural beauty, relaxed feel, and closeness of the day. The hardest part has been figuring out how we are going to narrow down our friends and family to a select 130 (that is all the church will hold) who are going to be able to join us on our special day. It has been tough because we feel close to so many people, but we know this is what we want! In fact, we actually wanted more like 80 guests, but upon our first draft of the guest list, we realized that was IMPOSSIBLE. We are planning on having a "Stop in to give the newlyweds a blessing" event at Nate's parents after we return from our week long honeymoon (in Jamaica...not sure if I told you all that). So, I am hoping people who we are not as close with will enjoy that time with us and undestand that we want an intimate wedding.

In other breaking news, MY LITTLE SISTER IS GETTING MARRIED THIS WEEKEND! AHHHHHHH!!!! So, we are headed to Nebraska for a weekend with the family. She is having a large bright pink formal Lutheran Church wedding! This is crazy if you know my sister because she has always been a laid-back tom-boy. When she showed me her huge princess dress and my bright pink bridesmaids dress, I was shocked to say the least. This her day though and she decided that for one day she is going to dress herself up and be as girly as her heart desires! It will be wonderful seeing everyone and celebrating with my little sister who doesn't seem so little anymore. I'm sure I will have plenty pictures when I return!

Have a great weekend!

Fun Facts about Nathan (as requested)

Some of you have requested a short blog about my best friend and future husband Nathan. So, for your reading pleasure...here are 20 fun facts about Nate. I am pretty sure I could write about 100 and brag about Nate pretty much all day, but I will try to keep it short.

1) He has two sisters, Natalie (younger) and Nicole (older). Nat has a master's in Social Work and is heading up a new learning center with our church. Nicole is a mother of two (Ty and Tess) and is married to wonderful man named Donald. His mom and dad also live in HSV and are both teachers at a local Christian school. His mom teaches Spanish and his dad teaches bible.

- He is very close to his family and believes family is VERY important.

2) He is originally from Vernon, AL which is a very small town. His friends tell me that he sounded like a total hick when he first moved to HSV.

3) He graduated from Harding University in 2002 (A private Church of Christ University) with a B.A. degree in Information Technology.

4) He is a software developer for a Christian company that his brother-in-law and friend started called EMUN. He has worked there for the past 6 years. He absolutely loves his job because he works with a great group of men! Plus, he is a huge computer nerd...so it just fits.

5) He will turn 29 this October. His 30th B-day is creeping up!

6) He loves to tell a good story! I have heard every one of his favorite childhood stories at least twice. People love to hear his stories because he never leaves out the details.

7) He is always searching for a good deal. He has so much fun trying to find the best deal on something or at least a coupon. I have learned to share in this joy. We are serious about finding deals and staying on budget. We are not cheap, we are just informed buyers!

8) He really enjoys traveling and taking mini-vacations.

9) He isn't Mr. Romantic by nature, but he cares about me so much and loves to see me smile, so he often tries to think outside the box and do simple things for me that he knows I will love.

10) He loves getting all of our friends together. He and I are always planning our next dinner with friends and family. We both place a lot of value on our friends and talk about how thankful we are for them a lot.

11) He loves spending time with Ty and Tess, and the kids from church. He is the kind of guy who just picks up a kid and puts them over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. He loves to play!

12) He is one of the most laid-back people I know. I have seen him in the midst of trouble and turmoil and he is calm, cool, and collective. He has the ability to brush things off and think rationally in all circumstances. He is a problem-solver. He is patient and steady. The is one of the qualities he has that has made me know he is the one I need to spend my life with.

13) He is one of those people who forgives and forgets. Full of grace. Each time he shows me this side of him, I am truly amazed.

14) He loves working in the yard and is bound and determined to get our yard looking superb by next summer.

15) If we go on a road-trip, he makes a game out of seeing how fast we can get there. It is hilarious because we refuse to stop and try not to drink too much so we don't want to have to stop for bathroom breaks....ha ha ha. What am I saying, Nathan will make a game out of anything. Him and Natalie are always making up some sort of trivia game or singing game whenever we go on trips.

16) He is going to be an excellent provider for me and our future family. He is a great financial manager and desires to keep us free of debt. He also desires for me to stay at home with our future children and continues to plan for this.

17) He always tells me how thankful he is for me and how excited he is for me to be his wife. He loves to tell the story of how we met and point out all of the things that perfectly lined up in order for us to be together. He says he never thought he would be this happy in a relationship and this excited for marriage. He can't wait!

18) One of my other favorite qualities about Nathan is that if I come to him with a concern, he actually works on it! He doesn't just say he is going to work on something, he actually puts his words into action. This is awesome and is an area that he has helped me in.

19) He keeps life simple, laughs a lot, and is satisfied in the small stuff!

20) He trusts in God's plan for his life!