Valentine's Day

Our first Valentine's Day as a married couple was a lot of fun! It was nice that it was on a weekend so that we didn't have to rush after work to get ready and go out. We started the day with "love cakes", which are my version of chocolate pancakes. I whipped up a batch of love cakes and made Josh some bacon. We ate together and watched Battle Star Galactica together.

Unfortunately the rest of the morning couldn't be spent cuddling or hanging out as we both had homework to work on. I was able to pound out two small papers. When I finished I got into the shower and while I was getting cleaned up flowers had arrived for me. Josh placed them in the bathroom and I was surprised to see them when climbing out of the shower.

After I got dressed and ready for dinner I set out the presents.

The flowers are beautiful and I'm excited for another beautiful vase. Its really neat as it looks like its folded into itself with a pretty green trim. The large box was Josh's gift and the smaller one was mine.

Josh was very excited to open his gift. He saw it in the closet and has asked a few questions about it's contents, but I kept it a secret!

When he opened it he didn't even notice what was on the wrist. He thought his gift was just a Build-a-bear Coyote dressed very similar to himself. Note the shoes and sunglasses look exactly like his own brown sneakers and sunglasses! He laughed when he saw what I had named him; "Howly McHowlerton", which is a play on some of the names we jokingly call our animals.

I actually had to point out the coyote's wrist. Josh said he thought it was just part of the coyote's outfit! He said he was pretty jealous of the quality Build-a-bear had when he didn't have something nearly as nice! My silly guy!

He loved the watch and was hamming it up to show it off to the camera.

Then it was my turn to open my gift. Josh told me that it was something I had wanted for quite some time. I couldn't think of anything off top of my head that I had been wanting for a while, besides a clean house without putting in the effort!

And when I saw it I realized that it was the jewelry set Tracy made that I have been coveting for almost a year! Every time I've seen the honey jade and amber set I've mentioned how much I'd love to have it, but never bought it myself. Tracy is one of the most talented people I know.

I was disappointed that it didn't quite match my outfit and considered changing, but Josh thought I looked too good in my pink dress to change. I left my new jewelry at home and wore my rose quartz, mother of pearl, and garnet pendant instead.

After we took a few more pictures and cleaned up our present mess we headed to dinner. Josh took me to Oregano's where we ate yummy pizza, lasagna and pazookie while drinking the best Bellini's ever. We were so stuffed that we came home to watch a movie instead of going out to see one. We started to fall asleep on the couch and that pretty much concluded our Valentine's Day.

All in all, I have to say celebrating Valentine's Day as a married couple is tons more fun than dating. It was an excuse to get dressed up and have a good time without the awkwardness of dating or the pressure of expectation. It was amazing to spend the day with my husband just loving each other and celebrating our love for one another, even if we had to do homework inbetween!

Graduation

Both Josh and I will be graduating this year!

I think both of us have a slight case of senioritis right now with graduation only3-4 months away.

Josh's 14 year education journey will finally end next month and he'll have his BA in business management (although if he took one more year he could probably finish two others in psychology and information technology). He is looking forward to beginning his MBA focusing in marketing and is thinking of starting that in the fall. He is currently working on his last 16 credit hours and will be finished with his course work in 3 weeks, but won't "graduate" until June. He's been swamped with homework and we haven't spent a ton of time together but it's all worth it in the end.

I will be finished with my MEd in May. I'm taking an online course and then will take a seated class starting in March. I'm very excited to be finished. My degree is in Early Childhood Instruction with an emphasis in reading. I finished the reading requirements last summer and already have my reading specialist endorsement. I know that I will be walking on May 9th, which is a Saturday, so that means I won't be missing any teaching days. I'm just ready to be done though. I'm slightly burned out.

In the end we'll be smarter and will look back on this year and wonder if we were crazy for getting married and going to school all while taking care of a house and working full time.

3 months

How fast time flies when you aren't paying attention!

Josh and I have been very busy with the day to day details of our lives. It's hard to believe that its already been 3 months and that soon we will be rounding off the 4th!

Josh and I had a nice Thanksgiving with our families. We spent Thanksgiving afternoon with my family and Thanksgiving Evening with Josh's family. Before we knew it Christmas was here! As tradition we spent Christmas Eve with Josh's family and then we spent Christmas morning together. Christmas afternoon was spent with my family. Since we put a lot of work and money into celebrating our marriage we kept to a low key Christmas, but Josh was still able to surprise me by buying us tickets to see The Lion King, which we'll be seeing this weekend.

Our first New Years as husband and wife was spent with our wonderful friends. And then Christmas break was over with and we both realized that we had packed on some pounds between the honeymoon and the holidays. We are both working our behinds off to loose the extra weight and then some.

Our jobs are keeping us on our toes.

The kindergartners are growing in leaps and bounds and before I know it they will be in the first grade and I will have successfully completed my first year of kindergarten and my fifth year of teaching!

Josh has decided to leave Best Buy. After lots of careful consideration Josh decided to take a Corporate buyout and will be leaving Best Buy as of February 12th of this year. We are both confident that this will open new doors for Josh and ultimately us as a family.

Josh and I will both be graduating this year as well. Josh will finish his degree Business degree through Ottawa University in March and I'll be finished with my MEd from NAU in May. We are both excited to be finished with school, but Josh wants to start his MBA fairly soon after graduation.

To answer many family member questions, no we are not planning to start a family yet. We each are working getting our education squared away and we will start planning for little Willinghams further down the road.

It's our intention for (at least me) to keep everyone updated about us via this blog. Please feel free to pass it on to other family members!

Newlyweds

We'll we've been married for a little over three weeks now. Many people have asked if it feels any different. To be honest it doesn't feel different, just better.

The entire wedding was beautiful. Josh and I are so happy with the way everything went. Our DJ was wonderful and made the reception worry and stress free. The reception hall was beautiful and the ceremony was priceless.

I've included a few pictures of the day and will hopefully upload some slide shows at a later point. Most of our pictures are from other people since we haven't seen the professional ones yet.

We are also waiting for the video from the wedding and I hope to be able to load it on here so that people that couldn't join us can still see what our special day was like.

Here is our church alter

My dad walking my down this aisle

My grandpa and me posing

My family

The bridal party

Josh and me in the limo heading to the reception hall

Our very yummy cake that Josh designed

Josh and my dad talking before the grand entrance to the reception hall

Josh and me doing the grand entrance

Josh and me while telling each other why we're perfect for one another

There are a ton more pictures, but they are not organized or anything. Mostly they are jumbled randomly in my picture folder and on photobucket. My goal is to organize them and create a slide show of the wedding, the reception and then the honeymoon.

Eventually we will have professional photos and we will share those too. Keep checking back!

Wedding Day

Today is our wedding day. Josh and I are so excited to be joined together at husband and wife. We hope that if you can't be there with us today that you will keep us in your hearts as we announce our love and pledge our vows for one another.

Pictures of the rehearsal as well as the ceremony will be forth coming.

Less than 3 days to go

We have been busy bees preparing for the wedding day!

Josh met with the church yesterday and finalized music and programs

This is the front and back of the program. The announcement is obviously the front and the scripture is the back.

This is the inside with the bridal party and the ceremony details.

We are putting things together for Friday as we are setting up the reception hall the afternoon before the wedding. We have several tubs full of decorations, center pieces, and favors. We are going to manage to put the reception hall together in two hours and then make it to the Church for the rehearsal.

Besides preparing for the big day Josh and I each had our respective bachelor/bachelorette parties this last weekend.

Josh and about 10 of his friends got together and went formula 1 racing then ate massive amounts of pizza and played poker until 2 am

I had my party and Dave and Busters. There were about 8 of us total. We snacked, drank, and played games until they closed.

We each had a great last weekend as "single" people.

Now we are working as hard as we can to finish up our respective college courses so that we can be stress free on our honeymoon.

It's hard to believe that in 3 days we will be husband and wife finally. It's such a joyous occasion that we are both looking forward to. We are so happy to be celebrating it in our church with our family and friends and to have the opportunity to see so many loved ones at once while we express our love for each other.

Mexican Fiesta Bridal Shower

Saturday was my bridal shower. My best friend and Matron of Honor, Tracy threw the party for me with the help of my mom and sister. Since Joshua and I are going on a cruise to Ensenada, Mexico Tracy cooked up an amazing party with a Mexican theme. She paid attention to the tiniest details including the invitations!

How cleaver of her to use my face right on the front of the invitation. She, my mom and sister showed up at my house around 10:30 and were quick to rush me out so I wouldn't be tempted to help set up.

When I returned home my downstairs was transformed! A blend of music set the mood as well as the great decorations. There was even a slide show of me on the TV!

The yummy food was catered by Qudoba, along with homemade mexican wedding cookies, and homemade truffles and chili-chocolates! My mom made margaritas and Tracy created sangria with chunks of fresh fruit to garnish!

Shower games included a raffle, which Kelly won.

A 20 question quiz about Josh and me; naturally my sister was the winner. And a purfume making contest, which I judged and Sandi won!

(Judging the perfume contest)

(Sandi, Andi, Kelly)

The perfume doubled as a neat favor for each guest, not to mention the great flowers hair clips that Tracy made by hand!

No bridal shower would be complete without the bride becoming completly embarassed! If you know me, then you know how easily red I become. My mom filled my gift box full of individual personal lube, which I had to move out of the way before I found the actual gift, a road map of California and a picture of Six Flags, which represented the tickets my parents bought us toward our honeymoon registry.

The embarassment didn't stop there as I open gifts from my sister which included lacy thongs in my wedding colors and foreplay bathsalts!

I was very touched by my guests' thoughtful gifts. Many people contributed to our honeymoon registry, which will help Joshua and I have a wonderful honeymoon!

(My Godson, Thomas James)

The party went so well and I am forever greatful to my wonderful MOH Tracy. Not only for the wonderful things she has done as my matron of honor, but for introducing me to Joshua in the first place. No one could ask for a better friend!

Less than a month!

We have 24 days until the wedding!

We are working on several projects including seating arrangements. That means if you haven't sent in your RSVP then we need you to do it ASAP! The RSVP by date is Friday September 19th, that's this Friday! We have to let the catering company know about a head count by the 26th, so if we haven't heard from you by Friday I guess we'll be making phone calls!

My dress fittings are coming along well. I had the first fitting done and the seamstress wasn't in the store when I went in last week. They had to take quite a bit in on the sides and it's still too big so I have to have it taken in again. I go down on Friday to have that worked on. They did complete the bustle and it looks great!

Three under and three over! They numbered the under bustles for my mom and MOH so that it makes it easy the day of. Sorry, but I don't have any more pictures. You'll have to be at the church or wait until after the photographer sends us pictures to see the rest! We hope that you'll be at the church though!

Tomorrow we are going to pick up a marriage licence so that we are legally united on October 11th. Saturday is my bridal shower, being hosted by my wondering MOH, mother, and sister. I will post pictures of the shower including the awesome invitation that Tracy made. While I'm at the shower Josh is going to get fitted for his tux and work on getting his passport. We have so much to look forward to!

Wedding Musing

The first dress fitting was on Saturday. Of course I forgot the camera! Oops! All but two bridesmaids also came to have their dresses fitted. Naturally Lindsey didn't need to have hers altered at all, not even the hem line!

There was much jealously from the other girls.

Putting on my dress really made me feel excited about the wedding. It was the first time I put on my actual dress since I bought it. I've tried on the floor model at the store but it didn't feel the same as when I put mine on for the first time.

The alterations needed on my dress are the hem line (If you know my mom then you understand why!) and the sides. The hem needs to be raised about 2-3 inches and I have to have 1.5-2 inch taken in on each side. I also had breast cups inserted so I wouldn't have to wear a strapless bra or one of those medieval torturing devices called a corset.

The bustle is the complicated part. My train is chapel length and it is non detachable. There is also detailing on the back of the gown that I want to be visible.

After several attempts that were not flattering or simply didn't look right we finally found a style that works, but requires 6 separate bustles. I'll wear it down at the church but will bustle it at the reception.

They will call me to set up my second fitting and maybe I'll remember the camera, or maybe I'll hold off and make everyone wait until the wedding to see the completed work.

Also, the shop owner had me put my veil on with my dress and it does look very nice with it. It completes the look, so I'm not so upset that I have to wear the veil after all.

Center Pieces and Favors

Today my kitchen table looked like this:

It was the day to put together the center pieces and the favors. Josh and I decided to make our own so that we could express our own style and save some money. IKEA was a big help as all of the vases and candle holders were purchased from there. All the ribbon, flowers, and candles were purchased at Hobby Lobby and a few other craft stores.

About a month prior Tracy, my MOH, came over and help me cut all of the flowers so that they wouldn't be too long. Unfortunately she was ill and wasn't able to make it today. She really helped cut the day by 3 hours by helping cut the flowers previously.

This was definitely not a one-man-job. We all started by putting the bouquets together and wrapping them with ribbon. I couldn't have done it all without the help of several people!

Joshua was wonderful and made several trips to Hobby Lobby for supplies. We first didn't have enough ribbon. Then we didn't have enough flowers! Twice he ran out without complaint to pick up items for us.

Josh's mom came over and made a run to wal-mart and helped cut flowers, ribbons, and stickers. We started by putting flowers together and binding them with ribbon. We put large stickers at the bottom of the vases, with the backing still on them so that people would be able to pull them out after the wedding.

Initially they were going to go on the outside, but ended up being too big to place on the vase so my mom and sister thought of the idea of putting them in the bottom of the vase that way when people finish the chocolate kisses that they would see our label and realize who in fact gave them the tummy ache from all the dark chocolate!

After much hot gluing of ribbon around flowers and around the vases we filled them with dark chocolate kisses. Above Amy (bridesmaid) is arranging kisses into the vase to properly hold the flowers up.

Michi (wife of Nai, an usher, not to mention fabulous friend) came to the rescue and not only helped hot glue ribbon around flowers and vases, but added purple accents to all of our black wedding accessories.

My mom and my sister came up with the idea of wrapping ribbon around the favors and adding the stickers I had printed up at Zazzle.com.

My mom is wrapping ribbon around the candle holders to make a lovely design.

My sister carefully applied stickers to the front of the favors. And then applied tiny black bows, which I tied, with hot glue.

My sister refused to be photographed further than this picture. She was mortified that I posted the pictures of her in the bridesmaid dress back in June.

When the favors are placed on the tables they will have tea light candles in them. Unfortunately the reception hall won't allow them to be lit, but that's o.k. The still make a nice visual!

The army of center pieces! Each table will have one vase and my mom has a fun idea for how to send them home with people at the end of the party! We were only short 4 vases' worth of flowers and kisses. We also ran out of ribbon again and have 40 more favors to make.

A final picture of what we did today. We started at 1 pm and my mom and sister left around 10:30 pm. Over all it was a great day and we got a lot accomplished!

Next weekend, the first fitting for my wedding gown!