Sweet Relief

We made it. Our wedding was a little over a month ago, and I feel like I can finally breathe. The wedding was amazing, beautiful, SO much fun, all of the things we were hoping for. And I'm so glad we had this big wedding with all of our family and friends who mean so much to us. But oh my good Lord I am so beyond happy that it is over.

The eleven months of wedding planning were quite possibly the most stressful of my entire life. Not only was I planning the wedding, but I started a new job a couple of months after we got engaged, we bought a house about midway through, and I'm pretty sure Arsen and I argued more in those eleven months than we did in the two years before.

But it was worth it! Everything was gorgeous and everyone had an amazing time. Of course there were the little wedding day disasters that had to happen. First of all, this summer in Texas has been the hottest, driest summer ever. We didn't have a drop of rain for what felt like 3 or 4 months. Well, wouldn't you know there was a massive thunderstorm during the rehearsal dinner, and a more than 50% chance the day of the wedding. I wanted my beautiful outdoor wedding SO BAD. I was furious. I made everyone wait until the very last minute to make the final decision, and we ended up doing it indoors. I was so upset, but it all worked out.

Then, as soon as I showed up to the venue that day I was told to go look at the cakes because they were so amazing. And they were! However, there was one small problem: our Oklahoma State University groom's cake was iced in white and RED! Like OU, or OHIO State. Arsen didn't care about many details, but he was set on an OSU groom's cake from day one. I had a momentary, internal freak out, but our wedding coordinator was on it. She had them come out and re-ice the cake before it was even time for the reception. And it looked beautiful and OSU orange! No one would have ever known :)

Hideous Original Cake

Cutting the Re-Iced ORANGE Cake

Other than that, the biggest freak out came courtesy of one of my lovely bridesmaids (love you Amelia!). They all decided to get ready about 45 minutes before the wedding was set to start so they could help me closer to show time. I saw a little whispering going on, and a few concerned looks....and then I was told one of the bridesmaids had two right shoes. She called the David's Bridal where we got them, which thankfully was right down the road, and wouldn't you know...they had a box with two LEFT shoes. So we sent my uncles racing to David's Bridal to exchange the shoes, and they made it back just in time. Disaster averted. And it makes for a great story!

My Mom With the Missing Shoe!!!

After all of that, everything went pretty smoothly. The ceremony was short and sweet, just like we wanted, and the reception was SO. MUCH. FUN. It was a non-stop dance party from the minute they cleared the plates after dinner until we had to leave. Definitely everything we were hoping for and so much more!

So now that all of the wedding craziness has passed, it's back to life as usual. And I'm loving it. I've been working on getting the house all put together, Arsen has been watching a lot of sports, and I'm pretty sure Addie is relieved that life is back to normal. 

Hopefully now I will be able to keep up with the whole blogging thing. I've never been great at doing it on the regular, but I'm hopeful that now that I am a mature, responsible, crafty little wife, things will change. 

I'll leave you with a few wedding photos. If we are friends on Facebook you have had the joy of seeing about 8 million of them, but just for fun I'll add some here as well. Until next time!

 

A Baby Shower! And no, NOT for me.

Where shall I even begin? The last few weeks have been tons of fun, and super crazy busy. A few days after my last post I hosted the first gathering in our house, which was a Baby Shower for my good friend Krisha! I wasn't technically the host of the shower, but since I had it in my house I wanted everything to be perfect. Of course it wasn't, because what is, but it was fun anyway! We had a pretty big crowd of girls, and I made everyone play all those cheesy baby-themed games.

 Guess How Big Mommy's Belly Is.....Always Fun. Is There Even a Baby in There? She's Tiny!

We Have a Winner!!!!

Hard At Work on the Word Search

And then of course we watched her open all her adorable gifts. I never truly understood exactly how many things you need when planning for a baby. Arsen and I went to Babies R Us and printed off her registry...21 PAGES!!! Unbelievable. To be fair, she did say that the lady told her to register for everything she could possibly need, so she wasn't being greedy ;)

I discussed with my mom this last weekend how I really hope I look like Krisha when I'm pregnant. Skinny all over with a tiny bump. Mom quickly informed me that this is NOT what women in our family look like when pregnant, so not to get my hopes up....ah well. 

One of the lovely ladies in attendance, Jillian, happened to be quite crafty. She made this gorgeous diaper cake herself, and brought these blank onesies for everyone to decorate. How freaking cute!

So I would say the first party in the new house turned out to be a success! It was so much fun having everyone over, although I don't think Arsen and Addie enjoyed being kicked out. I made them go visit Arsen's parents for a few hours.

  Arsen Made it Back Just in Time to Take a Photo For Us!

So when I started this post about, oh, 20 minutes ago (People.com keeps distracting me), I was planning on posting about everything that's happened up to my Bridal Shower this last weekend. However, I am very sleepy and have now decided my beauty sleep is more important. So to all of my loyal readers out there (Mom), you will have to wait....I'm such a tease! Goooooodnight!

Our Summer So Far

Even though this summer has been crazy busy, it's been a lot of fun. Last weekend was 4th of July weekend, and we honestly didn't do anything too exciting, but it was SO nice to have three days with nothing we had to do.

On Friday night we went to the Rangers game. Now, I'm no great sports fan, but I must say it wasn't bad. Had a couple tasty beers and some really fattening food (pizza AND a funnel cake), and there was even a fireworks show after the game! I literally understood not one thing that happened...but I know Arsen had a great time.

The rest of the weekend was just a lot of working around the house, which was much needed.We had a little date night on Saturday at Blue Mesa. Really yummy, unique Mexican food. And no,Addie didn't come along. I just like to take a family photo every chance I get...

Arsen's sister Lena stopped by with her family to see the house on Sunday, and she also brought us a gorgeous set of dishes! A couple of nights later his brother Armen came by with his family...and brought Arsen a grill! Personally I was super excited about the dishes, but Arsen was definitely a little more into the grill.

The three day weekend seemed to make the work week harder than usual, but thankfully, it's the weekend again! Tonight Arsen decided to fire up the grill for the first time. I took on the task of chopping up the veggies and whatnot, and he did basically everything else.

It was pretty nice to spend a good part of the evening in the backyard....it was really the first time we've spent much time out there. I basically sat in a chair and had a drink while Arsen did all the work. And Addie played for approximately two minutes before she exhausted herself. She doesn't really care for the heat.

I must say the finished product was amazing. I honestly think it was the best steak I've ever had. We did learn that baked potatoes take ages to make on a grill, so we'll have to make some adjustments next time. But overall I would say it was a success!!

So I would say we've had a pretty successful summer so far. And Arsen just informed me that it is 9 weeks to the wedding, so the rest of the summer will basically consist of wedding planning. Like always, I've been a huge slacker and left a ton of stuff to the last minute. I don't think I could do it any other way!

It's Always Something

So I've learned that once you move into a house, you have zero down time. There is ALWAYS something that needs to be done. Not just the every day stuff like cleaning, laundry, all of that, but there are also a million little projects to complete. I'm currently in the middle of approximately 83 projects. Not really, but it feels like it.

The other night after a nice little walk, I decided to pull weeds in our front flower bed while Arsen went for a run. I've never really pulled weeds before, but I got some really cute gardening gloves the other day that I wanted to try out.

First of all, no one warned me that these gloves would get so dirty after one use. Also, no one informed me that pulling weeds is really hard. I was so sore the next day it felt like I had gone through a serious work out. But maybe I burned off my fast food dinner? There has to be an upside.

So here is the result of all of my hard work. I mean, my dad spent hours working on it and really getting out all of the big stuff that didn't need to be there, but I like to take credit.

I have no idea what this flower is, but I like it.

Addie spent the entire time I was outside laying by the front door crying because she was being left out of something. Obviously, since she's crazy, we can't let her outside without a leash. So when I got inside she decided it was time to play. This is how she tries to convince me.

After about 10 minutes of playing, she was over it.

What an exciting night, right? It's absolutely crazy, but I love it. Who knew I was meant to be domestic? I mean, I still don't love dusting or cleaning the bathroom, and I'm certainly no great cook, but I'm working on it. I even bought a magazine about cooking last week! I'm really growing up.

Welcome to our Blog!

Since A and I just bought our first house, are getting married (twice) in a couple of months, and are figuring out how to build a life together as a family, I thought it might be fun to chronicle our adventures along the way. Family and friends are spread out near and far, so this should be a somewhat simple way for everyone to stay involved. How about everyone else go ahead and start a blog so we can keep up with you as well? K, thanks.

 Somehow, (and I will never understand how this happened) A and I ended up living in the suburbs with our little dog Addie. For anyone who knows me, this is something that I absolutely never planned on doing. I'm talking about marriage, a house in Texas, a dog, all of it.  But life is funny, and one thing I have learned is there is NO way to predict what will happen. So here I am, living in a (quite wonderful) house in a suburb of Dallas with the love of my life and our little one. And I wouldn't trade it for anything!

So, if you would like, join us on our little adventure through life. I plan on adding photos of our house soon, perhaps a little before/after action?