Date Nights, Spending Time with Friends, and House Projects

I have been thoroughly enjoying my time off from graduate school. I still have another full week until I start my class for my specialty! I have been doing a bit of wedding planning and lots of house shopping. I had a great past weekend with Nate and Friends.

On Friday, Nate planned us a date night which was simply perfect (GO NATE)! We went to PF Changs for dinner and ended up spending almost 2 hours there just talking about how blessed we are to have met one another and how crazy it is that everything lined up just perfectly so that we KNEW we were supposed to be together. Nate had planned fo us to play put-put afterwards, but it was getting late so we ended up getting a good movie (A Night at the Museum...you should see it...pretty funny) and staying in. FABULOUS!

On Saturday, me, Dahsha, and two girls from the inner city spent the day shopping. It was a lot of fun just spending time with them and looking at some cool stuff. Dasha is a great decorator so she is trying to help me with the house :)!

That is about it...I am sure I will post more soon. Life is fairly busy even without school, but it is full of all the good stuff in life! [Pics are from before our date night...we are really making the house our own]

Wedding Planning

I am sure some of you are curious to know about the details of our wedding...

Well I have created a little page so you all can acquire some of the details:
http://www.theknot.com/ourwedding/StephanieForeman&NathanFaught

That will give you basic info like the time, place, and the wedding party.

We are really excited because our main goal of our wedding day is to keep it relaxed and personal. My belief is that a wedding isn't some big show. A lot of people place so much emphasis on their wedding day that they forget about the importance of the day and the most important element of the day, taking your marriage vows in front of God and your most trusted friends and family. Don't get me wrong, I truly believe it is one of the most important and special days of your life, but I think it is important to keep marriage first.

This being said, we have chosen to get married in this small country town right outside of Huntsville. We want our guests to come in whatever they feel comfortable in (jeans, shorts, whatever...). We want to know each one of our guests in a personal way and we want our friends and family to walk away feeling refreshed and relaxed.

I attached a few pictures of the church and the reception site (the reception is actually outdoors in their little gardens area). These pics should give you an idea of the style we are going for! Oh and you all have to hear the story of my awesome wedding dress. My friend Dasha just happened to "pick it up" for me at a local discount store not knowing if I would like it or not, but knowing she just had to get it. It is a J Crew wedding dress (I didn't even know they had a bridal line, but they do) and fits the style of the wedding PERFECTLY! The fabric is just so natural and beautiful. It had to go through a series of serious alterations (it was too big), but it is looking awesome. Plus, you know how Nate and I are, we love a good story and this is a great one if I do say so myself!

I will keep you all posted on the other details...next up...cake, making sashes for my 9 BM's, finding shirts for the GM's (that's right...no tuxes just some brown (hopefully linen) pants and a cream button down dress shirt), picking out photos for our little photo line (made with clothespins and rope...it will attach to the old fence in the gardens), and buying the decoration stuff Joanna (she is helping me with my simple decor) suggested (this is Nate's brother-in-laws, brothers, wife...confusing I know).

This house keeps us busy...

I haven't written in awhile because we have been quite busy with the house and "some" wedding planning (I really haven't done as much as I need to). Since I wrote last....

- My mom came to visit for about 4 days and helped us paint our ENTIRE house. It was great. We had so much fun and our house looks fabulous. The Faughts and Walkers really enjoyed my mom's visit. We were able to spend some time with everyone which was really nice. I hope she can come and visit again soon...hopefully next time she won't have to work so hard!

- We went to Nate's 10 year high school reunion. We had a good time hanging out with Geoff and Melinda (she graduated from Madison Academy with Nate) all day and Nate also got to see some old friends. It was crazy because we were the only couple there without kids or who were expecting kids. We told them that we will try to have kids by the 20 year reunion.

- Nate has become a serious handy man! I am sure many of you didn't know he had it in him, but he is quite the Mr. fix-it. This past month he has taken on the following roles...landscaper, yard maintenance man, pest control specialist/ bird killer, air technician, painter, plumber, electrician, and many more. Our house is looking better and better every day thanks to his ability to learn new things. We have been working so hard to make it this house our home. It has been so much fun for us. We are a great team.

- We went to our friends Andy and Bethany's wedding shower. Andy is a co-worker of Nathan's. They are getting married at the end of May and we are super excited for them. One thing I took away from this experience, I DO NOT want to open gifts in front of tons of people...I think I will feel like I am on fire because I will be 20 different shades of red.

- I have 1 more week of classes for this semester! YAY...I made it! I was planning on taking practicum this semester but due to my job and me finally saying enough is enough...I will be taking a break this summer by only taking one course needed for my specialization. This graduate degree feels like it is never going to end, but after a semester of working full-time and going to grad school full-time, I need a break!

I can't wait for summer! We are so excited to have everyone over to the lay-out and play in the pool. BYOT....bring your own towels :-)!

Our New Home!

I know I said I was going to post more pictures of our engagement the day after my last post, but life has taken over to say the least. Between getting engaged, working full-time, full-time grad school, and buying a new home, I have found myself extremely busy.

Nathan and I started searching for homes after our engagement (really before too). Our good friend Derek helped us find a home we can raise our family in. I never thought I would live in a home like this (most people that I grew up with didn't have homes like this ). I say that not to boast, but only to say that this is a true dream and a blessing to me. Nathan is an amazing provider and I am so thankful that he can give me such an awesome gift.

It is located just a few short minutes away from Nathan's sister and brother in-law, his parents, and many of our closest friends. It is on a corner lot so we have a huge backyard! Plus, the subdivision has a pool which is a MAJOR bonus for us, our family, and our friends. I am so excited to live there after we get married!!!

Here are some pictures! I didn't post too many because I want you all to come visit:)

Engagement Story

I don't have a lot of time (crazy semester) so I will tell it with pictures. Our story....I wrote this for him (with the help of his sister) for our anniversary and while we were walking through the OpryLand Hotel, he handed it to me. I was confused...I didn't understand why he was giving it to me.

He told me to read the book out loud...so I did and then I came across Chapter 2 (I still had no idea that he was proposing at this point).

This page talks about our relationships with family and how important that is to us.

This page talks about why he loves me and feels that dating would not be enough. He wants to make me his wife (I was flat our bawling)

This says he went to the store to find the perfect ring. (Now I was breathless and bawling).

And he got down on one knee and asked me and then asked me 3 more times because I was crying so hard I couldn't respond and finally I replied YES YES YES!

Nathan Proposed last night...I said YES!

I don't have much time to write at this moment... I promise to post pictures and details tomorrow! Nathan proposed to me last night in Nashville, TN at the Opryland Hotel (for those of you that don't know, there are huge botanical gardens in this hotel)! It is an amazing story and I will be sure to write it all out very soon. The most important thing for you all to know is that I am now engaged to the most wonderful man who has taught me so much about grace, respect, love, and the value of family. I feel so blessed to have Nathan in my life and I know that we are going to have a wonderful life together despite anything that may come our way. We are the greatest team and the best of friends. We are now ready to commit to one another for life. We haven't set a date yet but we plan to marry sometime in September or October of this year (08). Many more details to come...
Thanks for all of your love and support (I also apologize if you learned of our engagement through this site- we are trying to call everyone). Please lift us up in your prayers as we enjoy this time of commitment and excitement for our future.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Ski Trip in Colorado...

This Sunday I returned from a week long ski trip with Nate and some of our friends in Colorado. We had such a great time! We stayed in a small ski in/out condo in Breckenridge, CO. We spent 4 days skiing and 1 taking in the beautiful surroundings. I am back to work and grad school now so I don't have much time to tell all of the funny stories that came with this trip, but I at least wanted to show you all some pictures. We had a blast...I'm sure you will be able to see that from the pictures:)