My Beautiful Days

Great post to follow "Married Life is Great!" right?! Well, he doesn't really tick me off, he just frustrates me a little bit. I'm sitting at my kitchen counter, overseeing he and our friend, Chris, doing some electrical work to prepare for the new range that we're putting in (yes, this spoiled brat got a gas stove/oven for christmas/her birthday!). I tell him to be careful and just a moment later (as he's reaching behind an outlet with a needle-nose pleiers [sp?]) he starts shaking and screaming, "aaah! aah! aaahhh!" Then comes the laughter as he looks at the shock and freak-out factor on my face. Then comes the punch from me when I realize it was a joke. My husband is a butthead!!! :)

... or at least the first two weeks of it has been! My new family is amazing, my husband is a dream-come-true, my life is truly blessed. Thank you so much to everybody who helped make this day as amazing as it was! We love you all so much!!

Alright Michelle, here it is! I've been tagged to find the sixth picture in the sixth folder on my computer - and here it is! A picture of my friend's and I on the night of Shawn and Chris' engagement dinner - and the waiter couldn't figure out how to zoom the camera OUT so that everybody could be seen! What a great night! :) I hereby tag Angela, Amanda, Melissa and Shannon to do the same! Here are the instructions: 1. Go to your sixth picture folder and find the sixth picture. 2. Pray you remember the details! 3. Post it on your blog. 4. Tag four others and leave a comment on their blog to let them know they've been tagged. On another note - wedding plans are almost complete! I have yet to buy votives for the reception, make my programs and finish writing my vows - all of which I hope to complete TODAY! YiKeS! It should be great, though. I can't tell you how excited I am to see everybody and to be able to celebrate my marriage with the people I love most...

You know when it's coming - you can feel it building under your skin even before it shows it's ugly face. You've been stressed out, had a little too much on your plate, and now you know that you're REALLY going to have something awful to show for it. Then it happens - the zit of the century pops out on your face and it seems like there's nothing you can do to get rid of it. You? Oh no, wait, that's right - this is happening to ME! Ugh. 10 days before my wedding, I have a monsterous zit on the side of my nose - bulging over my eye (and making my nose appear to be twice its normal size!) and I can't seem to get rid of it! Whatever is a woman to do?!!! :)

I hereby tag all of you to do this ... 1. Where is your cell phone? In my purse - in the closet. 2.Where is your significant other? On his way to work. 3. Your hair color? I wish it was still brown, but it always fades back to blonde :( 4. Your mother? Completely amazing! 5. Your father? There when I need him. 6. Your favorite thing? Spending time with my Monte! 7. Your dream last night? No dreams - just a hard sleep after a full day of shopping with my sister, Tanya. 8. Your dream/goal? To raise my kids in the path of God. 9. The room you're in? The kitchen. 10. Your hobby? Right now it would have to be doing laundry, changing diapers and cleaning the house! 11. Your fear? Losing people I love. 12. Where do you want to be in six years? Here with Monte and the kids - with some more kids too - loving life, serving God, working hard, reaching people and touching lives. 13. Where were you last night? At the Mall of America with Tanya. 14. What you’re not? Awake .. I could...

So, as a treat to myself, I have began a ritual of daily taking a little bit of "Me Time" when Colin is down for his nap. During this time, I am allowed to do NO work (this was at the request of my wonderful Monte!), but I am allowed to relax and use the time to do whatever my heart desires. Today, I want to blog. So here I sit at my kitchen counter, staring at the insane MESS around me! Somehow, after my trip to the grocery store this morning, I made the command decision to clean out some of the cupboards in the kitchen. WHAT A PROJECT!! And now I'm sitting here, eating peanut m&ms and drinking a diet coke, just watching this mess stare me right in the face ... and it's driving me crazy! I just might have to break the 'me time' rules today, cause this project is one that needs to be tackled again soon! I'm happy to say that I believe wedding planning is almost complete! My sister, Tanya, and I are off to another full day of wedding shopping a...

Here I sit, 19 days away from my WEDDING DAY, and all I can think about is how the last seven weeks have flown by. I remember the day that Monte and I decided to move the wedding date up, and when wedding preparations began. I have gone from that phase of having nothing figured out, to almost being completely set and ready to go (thanks to a LOT of help from my sister, Tanya). I am so completely excited to be married to such an amazing man - and I can't imagine what life would be like without him or his four awesome kids. I think it's almost beyond belief that, in the course of a year, I went from being a single woman living with her brother and his family, barely making ends meet (or not making them meet sometimes!), just wanting to be married and life to move forward .. just wanting love; to go from that to being married with four step-children in the course of a YEAR ... holy moly! I am so thankful to God for all He has blessed me with, and I pray that I will never take...

I can't really show you a picture or tell you anything about it being the fact that my Monte has access to my blog as well ... but I HAVE A DRESS!! :) I'm so excited - it's so elegant and gorgeous! I picked out my bridesmaid dresses as well and will have the last of those ordered by this weekend (Michelle, this is the reason you need to call me ASAP!). It's going to be completely amazing! :) I'm excited ... :)

Things seem to be coming together wonderfully for the wedding, and I'm really excited about it! We've got our church (Mt. Olivet Lutheran Church in Excelsior), the reception site (BayView Event Center in Excelsior), looking into DJs, dress shopping with my sister tonight ... it all seems to be falling into place! I am really beginning to enjoy planning for this, and have yet to feel stressed out over the wedding planning. I will admit that, when we decided to move the date up to December 6th, I was a little nervous, as we were leaving ourselves with only ten weeks to plan - but God has been so faithful to open doors for us and to provide venues and details -- and to do it in a hurry! I must say, however, that I'm incredibly excited to start dress shopping tonight ...... Tanya - let's get going! :) On top of that, I'm thrilled that my best Michelle will be able to make it back home for the wedding! Monte and I were blessed that almost everybody that we wanted in...

It's official - as of Thursday October 16th, I am going to be a stay-at-home (future) step-mom! Monte and I had been discussing this one for a long time, as we are having some stresses with the nanny who currently stays at home with Colin during the day, and we have come to the conclusion that it's going to be best for all of us (in the long run) to have me there sooner as opposed to later. I wanted to give my bosses at least a month's notice, as I really do enjoy my current job and don't want to burn any bridges or leave them high-and-dry when I leave - so we decided to cut my time there right at the end of a pay period - thus October 15th will be my last day as Business Manager at Accelerated Sports Therapy & Fitness. It may just be a sad day ... but I promise the 16th will be an exciting one! It's always been my heart's desire to be a stay-at-home mom, to devote my time to my children (now my future step-children) and to see what avenues God will have...