The full story of Matt's ER visit...and a little humor :)

I woke up (probably around 2:10-2:15) and realized that Matt wasn't in bed and that our bedroom door was wide open. I vaguely remembered being half asleep and hearing him walking around in the kitchen, assuming he was just getting water, and falling back asleep. Because I was only half awake when he got up I couldn't really judge how long he had been out of bed. I didn't hear him in the kitchen anymore (the floors creak alot) and the bathroom light wasn't on and I couldn't hear any noise from the bathroom. I tried to just fall back asleep telling myself "you're freaking yourself out for nothing" but I couldn't. I thought "maybe he sleep-walked and ended up falling asleep in the living room" but I doubted that. Finally after what felt like forever, I see him walking from the bathroom. I said "....Matt?" thinking he might have been asleep, and then I asked him if he was ok. He rolled into bed holding his right lower abdomen and said that it hurt really bad, but not like his stomach hurt, more like a pain, and that it woke him up. My first thought was "isn't your appendix in that general area?" so I got my computer and googled it. His symptons didn't seem consistent with appendicitis from what I read, but I knew that if it WAS it could be serious and not something to ignore. So I called my mom because I didn't really know where to take him and he was not about to let me call 911.

We left the house around 3:00 and arrive at Whittier Pres. around 3:10. There was no one in the Emergency Room so he got taken in pretty quick. They took 3 vials of blood and wanted a urine sample but Matt had gone to the bathroom right before we left. At one point waiting for the nurse to come with the blood sample supplies he started feeling the pain severely (we're wondering now if that was when the stone actually passed if there actually was one) and more towards his back. Anyways, they hooked him up to an IV to give him pain killers & fluid so they could take a urine sample and then the dr. came in. Boy I was shocked to see that it was Rick Fox, the dad of a kid I was in band with (he never recognized me). It was reassuring to know though that he was a Christian, even though he had no clue who we were. He examined Matt and said that it sounded more like kidney stones than appendicitis and then left us to wait for the urine sample. After they took the urine sample, it apparently didn't show anything conclusive because they took him for a CT scan around 4:55. Around 5:45 Dr. Fox came in and said that Matt was a "quandry" because while they did find a few kidney stones IN his kidney, they didn't see any blockages and it didn't appear that there was a recent passing of a kidney stone. It was possible that it was very small and that's why no evidence of it. Also, his appedix was slightly enlarged. He examined Matt again to make sure it wasn't appendicitis and then said that we could go home. If the pain returns or doesn't completely go away (it was now down to just a dull ache in his back) in 24 hours then to come back.

So we got home around 6:00 and were finally able to sleep. He says now the pain in the same as when we left the hospital - just a dull ache. Thanks for all your prayers! Gotta love facebook & blackberry!

In lighter news, I'm at my parent's house at the moment to do laundry and Caleb ran in to tell me that he "got his own iTunes" (Chelsea made him a playlist lol). So he has it on in the living room and "American Pie" came on. He ran into the kitchen where my mom and I were and said "Mom, you should sing this song if you go on American Idol." So we asked him what he would sing if he went on American Idol and he said "oh, and easy one...Batman."

No pictures...yet!

I was trying to wait til I could post pictures of the new place but I left my camera at my parent's so I'm going to stop putting it off.

We made the official move last Saturday (thanks Zoro, Zoro's friend Dan, Mandy, Mom & Dad, Hk, Tony & Jason!). We stayed up until about 2 am because I got on a roll unpacking boxes and unpacked all but probably about 6. Part of it was looking for our clean sheets (we didn't find them), part of it was trying to get settled so we could go to the first Gathering at church. I already have alot of stuff up on the walls and have 1 box left. We even got a new loveseat off Craigslist that matches the rest of our furniture!

That's the update for now :)

New addition to the family...

Well, we had seen him a few times about 3-4 months ago around the laundry room at our apartment complex and Matt thought he was the coolest cat because after Matt pet him he would follow Matt around like a dog. We haven't seen him for a long while but Saturday morning we went to leave the house around 6:45am and he was asleep on our welcome mat. We got home around 11am and he was still there asleep, so Matt let him inside and he wandered around exploring for a while then stretched out on our living room floor and fell asleep. We put him out a little while later when we left to take some boxes over to the new apartment but when we got home around 11pm he was waiting at the top of our stairs for us. We let him in for a little while then put him out when we went to bed. Sunday morning we asked around church if anyone might want a cat if we found out he was abandoned and we couldn't keep him at our new apartment. We were under the impression that pets weren't allowed at the new apartment but Matt wanted me to call and make sure. When we got home from church Sunday he was on our balcony again so I let him in. Matt decided to feed him some cat food and he gobbled it. We left again that day to take boxes to our new apartment and noticed a cat in the apartment below us, so Matt got hopeful :) Monday I took some pictures down to the management office and they said that most of the pets here at the complex will have collars and the maintenance lady didn't think it belonged to anyone here. Then I called our landlord and said that we had just rescued a cat and had thought that we weren't allowed to have pets but had seen a cat in the apartment below us. He said that they had paid a large deposit and if we were willing to do that we could have it. So we have a cat...and his name is Bagheera (as in Jungle Book). *sigh* He's a pretty good cat, as far as cats go :) He doesn't get up on the furniture except when he sits next to us on the couch. He does get up on the bed to be with us but he doesn't fight us when we kick him off. He seems to have been a pet previously because he doesn't have fleas, has been fixed, wants to stay indoors, and knows how to use the liter box. He doesn't scratch anything and he seems to not shed that much.

MOVING!!!!

Yep, that's right! We're moving! We found an apartment in uptown Whittier that's $300 less/mo. plus pays for utilities (except electricity). It's very 60's/70's but it's worth the money! We sign the rental agreement tonight and start moving in Friday. Unfortuntely, because our current apartment requires 30 days notice and the new apartment won't be held for us, we're having to pay for both apartments for the month of September. The one benefit from that is that we have all of September to move!

I'm sad to be leaving this apartment for a few reasons, the main one being it's where Matt proposed and where we came home to from our honeymoon. But aside from that, there's alot of memories...our Christmas party, sisters sleepover the night Matt got in his accident, Michael leaving for Liberia, our Guitar Hero parties with way too many of us in the place, decorating my first home...but the money we're saving will mean a more permanent house sooner hopefully.

Once we've officially made the transition I'll send everyone our new address. And if you want to help us move, just let us know when you're available!

"Equality California" Commercial

If you don't know what I'm talking about, you probably don't own a TV. If I have to see it ONE more time, I just might shoot my TV. It's not even JUST the content of the commercial (which, if you haven't seen it, is a bride confronting numerous obstacles just so she can get to her wedding...the final one being an older woman tripping her with a cane as she walks down the aisle, the groom trying to rush to her side and being held back by the officiant and best man with the words "What if you couldn't marry the person you love?" across the screen) but the fact that it's played EVERY commercial break on EVERY channel. I was looking for it on YouTube to post but figured then I'd have to watch it every time I came onto my blog. But as I was reading the comments, a person had a good point. They use a man & a woman...the way it's SUPPOSED to be. Of course it looks wrong when two people that SHOULD be allowed to get married are stopped. If they had used two men or two women, which would be what their ACTUAL message is, it wouldn't have the same impact! The commercial has to start with the assumption that you see NO difference between men and women whatsoever to make the comparision valid. I think I scream every time I hear the commercial. In fact, yesterday I was in the kitchen out of range of the TV and heard some classical music, very generic, not a well known piece or anything, but I knew it was that commercial because they play it SOOOO much! Ok, done venting...

Just an update...

I spent yesterday with the preschoolers at the LA Zoo then today at Splash! with the elementary kids. Needless to say I'm tired, probably a little sunburnt, but had fun! It's been a long time since I've been to a water park (probably 8-10 years). Unfortunetly it was overcast and the elementary kids didn't want to stick with me so I didn't go in the water for too long. I did go down the fastest (straight drop) slide twice though. I was just scared I'd lose a contact lens and then not be able to drive home!

Then a highlight of my day was finding a route home from work that hits 3 grocery stores so I can actually take advantage of figuring out what's cheapest at which store. I didn't think it'd be worth it if I have to drive to 5 different stores, but if I go home from work one day one route I can hit 3 of the 5 and then go the other route the next day I can hit the other 2! I got some yummy stuff today...salmon, Matt's favorite OJ ("LOTS of pulp"), Kix, organic waffles and kiwi...all on sale!

Now I'm watching the Tyra show while waiting for pork chops to defrost so I can start making dinner. It's slightly pathetic, but it has to be a goal that I work towards to make dinner at home twice a week. Somehow we always end up having dinner somewhere else (and we're not eating a bunch of fast food or restaurants...). So I finally sat down and went through recipes again yesterday and planned out a weekly menu. And I got my new Simple & Delicious magazine (THANK YOU OLSONS!!) today and I'd say 85% of the recipes in there sound worth trying. I was a little discouraged because last issue had maybe...3 recipes that I wanted to try. But now I'm motivated to make dinner now. I just wish the apartment didn't get so hot.

Enough rambling...I'm sure you've had enough!

Babysitting

Last night we had the privelege of babysitting for our good friends Derek & Amy. Kaylin is 4 and Trevor (TJ) is 2. Kaylin painted my nails, had me braid her hair, and we played "pool" for quite some time. Despite the poopy pants, courtesy of Trevor, we had a blast! And we even got a few good photos out of it!

Taken by Trevor

Taken by Kaylin

She was just trying to get him to look at the camera

Trevor kept "singing" at the top of his lungs

This is Kaylin's "emo" picture (I was having fun with settings on my camera)

See Derek & Amy?! It was no trouble at all!!

Apartment Pictures!!

Our apartment was finally clean (thanks to Carri's bachelorette party) so I snagged the chance to take some pictures to show ya'll that haven't seen it.

Bathroom

Bedroom

Living Room

Dining Room

Kitchen

This was too funny

So first Zoro was trying to sing...but he can't. So he decided to rap...this was the end of alot of even funnier stuff, but it took me a while to decide it was worth it to run downstairs to get my camera.

3 down, 2 to go...vacations that is! Updated with Pictures!

So we're more than halfway done with our vacations this year with our honeymoon to Coronado in March and a weekend in Big Bear with my family in May.

This past week (Wed. - Sat.) we were in Palm Springs taking the last half of Matt's uncle's week long timeshare at the Westin Mission Hills Resort & Spa in Rancho Mirage. We basically just slept most of the time since both Matt and I were getting over colds the first two days. But on Thursday we did take the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway up to the top of Mt. San Jacinto. Edited to add...PICTURES! :)

The station at the bottom

One of the peaks on the way up

At the top! One of the best self-taken pictures we have :) (Ok, it was the 3rd try)

That shadow is our tram car! It fits 80 people!

We basically were between two walls of rock like this the entire time up.

Other than that we just relaxed and enjoyed the king size bed, AC, shower with three shower heads that was the size of our entire bathroom, a bathtub with jets, TWO sinks :)...it was hard to leave :) I think I'd rather live in that bathroom than our entire apartment at the moment...just cuz of the heat.

Thank you Uncle Alan, Aunt Candia, & Lauren for letting us stay and for all the yummy food you left us!

Next up...Mammoth on Friday!

Update

Just to let you know (because I had alot of concerned inquirires yesterday lol) I'm doing much better work-wise as of yesterday :) Thank you for caring and asking!

AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

That's how I felt today.

Seems like I keep dropping the ball on alot things with work lately.

First it was with Rent-a-Kid, the fundraising program for our jr. high and high school students to raise money for summer camp. I'll just leave that one at that since rehashing it brings up feelings from BYIM.

Then it was the Senior Salute, with my usually organized mind pooping out on me on what time we had set it for so that different bulletins, flyers, and e-mails said different times. That caused me to have to make an executive, last minute decision to make it 6:00 which potentially caused some issues with the most important people involved...the seniors and their families. Thankfully it all came together and I'm happy to say that it was a great night!

Then YMO Summer Camp is struggling for students. I keep thinking we have great leads and they're not coming through. Now we have students that had registered dropping out!!! At this rate, it'll have to be God alone that brings us the people we need to make this thing happen. I just feel bad because I don't want to let Christele down while she's out of the country. I'm doing my best, but it's not good enough for myself. I'm constantly trying to think of what I haven't tried that's going to be THE thing that brings in the students we need.

And finally today, again, Rent-a-Kid fell through the cracks because of my mind being on all these other things! I don't know how many things can be my "top priority" (work wise) at the same time and still all get taken care of.

Zoro wants me to buy a Palm Pilot on the student ministry's budget, which could be helpful if I could get calendar and to-do list reminders on the go, plus check my e-mail. But do I want one more gadget? I'm on my computer 24/7 as it is. Part of me wants to say "I'm just unavailable before 9 am and after 6 pm for work related matters" but because I'm in ministry, I can't. Basically I'm available 24/7, that's right, Saturdays & Sundays as well, to take care of whatever needs to be done.

I love what I do...really. I just don't love having to do it ALL at the same time! So today, because I had a "day off" (I've probably done 2 hours work of work sporadically throughout the day with phone calls and e-mails that are urgent) I sat down and visualized (in a spreadsheet, one of my favorite things) a daily/weekly schedule and task list. Hopefully I can make keeping that accurate a priority so I'm reminded of the other priorities I have to take care of without feeling like either work or home is being neglected. And I even have 2-3 hours of free time scheduled in each day so I have a bumper.

*sigh* I just needed to vent. Thanks for reading :)

Reasons I have converted...#2

to a country music fan.

People are encouraged to think twice before letting hearts wander when married.

Well I got a good friend who's got a good life

He's got two pretty children and a real nice wife

But he never seems quite satisfied

I said I know what's on your mind

But you better think about it before you cross that line

The grass aint always greener on the other side

Then what, what you gonna do

When the new wears off and the old shines through

And it aint really love and it aint really lust

You aint anybody anyone's gonna trust

Then what, where you gonna turn

When you cant turn back for the bridges you burn

And fate can't wait to kick you in the butt

Then what

Clay Walker - Then What

Babies are seen as everyday miracles from God

Got my face pressed up against the nursery glass

She's sleepin' like a rock

My name on her wrist

Wearin' tiny pink socks

She's got my nose, she's got her mama's eyes

My brand new baby girl

She's a miracle

I saw God today

I've been to church

I've read the book

I know he's here

But I don't look

Near as often as I should

Yeah, I know I should

His fingerprints are everywhere

I just slowed down to stop and stare

Opened my eyes and man I swear

I saw God today

George Straight - I Saw God Today

Brad Paisley...'nuff said!!!

Reasons I have converted...(taken from a past Myspace blog)

to a country music fan

Paradise is sour milk and kids climbing into bed with you...simply because you're with you're wife

The kids screaming, phone ringing

Dog barking at the mailman bringing

That stack of bills - overdue

Good morning baby, how are you?

Got a half hour, quick shower

Take a drink of milk but the milk's gone sour

My funny face makes you laugh

Twist the top on and I put it back

There goes the washing machine

Baby, don't kick it. I promise I'll fix it

Long about a million other things
Friday, you're late

Guess we'll never make our dinner date

At the restaurant you start to cry

Baby, we'll just improvise

Well, plan B looks like

Dominoes' pizza in the candle light

Then we'll tippy toe to our room

Make a little love that's overdue

But somebody had a bad dream

Mama and daddy

Can me and my teddy

Come in to sleep in between?
Yeah it's ok. It's so nice.

It's just another day in paradise.

Well, there's no place that

I'd rather be

Well, it's two hearts

And one dream

I wouldn't trade it for anything

And I ask the Lord every night

For just another day in paradise

Phil Vassar - "Just Another Day in Paradise"

Dad's think Mom's are the heros

Football, soccer and ballet

Squeeze in Scouts and PTA

And there's that shopping list she left

That's seven pages long

How much smoke can one stove make

The kids won't eat my charcoal cake

It's more than any maid can take

Being Mr. Mom
Pampers melt in a Maytag dryer

Crayons go up one drawer higher

Rewind Barney for the eighteenth time

Breakfast, six naps at nine

There's bubble gum in the baby's hair

Sweet potatoes in my lazy chair

Been crazy all day long

Oh been crazy all day long and it's only Monday

Mr.Mom
Balancin' checkbooks, juggling bills

Thought there was nothing to it

Baby, now I know how you fee

lWhat I don't know is how you do it
Baby, you're my hero

Lonestar - "Mr. Mom"

Marriage isn't something you do later in life after pursuing your high-power career, but an anticipated lifelong dream come true

I smell the jasmine floatin' in the air like a love song

Watch my words draw sweet tears from your eyes

Bow our heads while the preacher talks to Jesus

Please bless this brand new life, yeah
Lost in this moment with you

I am completely consumed

My feeling's so absolute

There's no doubt

Sealing our love with a kiss

Waited my whole life for this

Watching all my dreams come true

Lost in this moment with you

Big & Rich - "Lost In This Moment"

Real men and respect, not macho men and rebellious "independence"

I wanna honor your mother

And I wanna learn from your paw

I wanna steal your attention like a bad outlaw

And I wanna stand out in a crowd for you

A man among men

I wanna make your world better than it's ever been

Keith Urban - "Making Memories of Us"

Rather than spouting f-words, adults realize the influence they have on children

Driving through town just my boy and me

With a happy meal in his booster seat

Knowing that he couldn't have the toy

Till his nuggets were gone

Green traffic light turned straight to red

I hit my breaks and mumbled under my breath

His fries went a flying and his orange drink covered his lap

Well then my four year old said a four letter word

That started with "s" and I was concerned

So I said son now now where did you learn to talk like that
He said I've been watching you dad, ain't that cool

I'm your buckaroo, I wanna be like you

And eat all my food and grow as tall as you are

We got cowboy boots and camo pants

Yeah we're just alike, hey ain't we dad

I wanna do everything you do

So I've been watching you
We got back home and I went to the barn

I bowed my head and I prayed real hard

Said lord please help me help my stupid self

Rodney Atkins - "I've Been Watchin' You"

Sexy is redefined
You'll be sexy in your socks

(We could polish the floors)

In case that anybody knocks

(Let's lock all the doors)
I'm having a party

a party for two

invitin' nobody

Nobody but you (yeah)

Yeah, you

Shania Twain - "Party for Two"

Past two weekends

The past two weekends have been really different, but both were really fun.

Weekend before last was Roscoe's House of Chicken & Waffles on Friday with the high school group. We took 39 kids!! It was a great turn-out and I was really happy we had enough drivers. It was neat to see alot of kids bring friends and a few even brought parents! That's the kind of event we want! I can't say much for the actual chicken & waffles though; they were GREAT separate, but not so great together.

Saturday we had to be at Biola by 8:30 for Carri's graduation!!!! The Javier's have pictures of us there, but I don't have them. If I get them, I'll add them to the post. It insane to think that she graduated from high school 4 years ago already! There were a few other people I knew that graduated that day as well but none that I knew so well. Carri, we're so proud of you!!! After her party back at her house we went to my grandparents to visit with my cousins who were here in CA from Colorado. My aunt had her 6th baby in January and we were out there a week after she was born but that's the last time we've seen her. She's such a smiley baby! Again, I have pictures but not on my camera so I'll have to add those later.

Sunday was Danielle and Lily's magic birthday party. THAT I have pictures of :)

Lily, Caleb, and Aaron

Danielle, Makayla, & Big Lily

This weekend we had NOTHING on the calendar for Friday or Saturday so we banned TV and computer for Saturday, slept in, then had a date day. We went to Color Me Mine and then Crepes & Grapes for dinner.

Matt getting paints and brushes

Working on our piece

Writing our names "in the sand"

The (almost) finished product! We pick it up Thursday.

Cha-CHING!!

Ok, I know I'm a dork but...

Cash registers make me HAPPY!

I bought a cash register on Ebay for the Meating Place (the snack shack I run at youth group every Wednesday night) and it came last night! I spent about an hour programming it and it'll print receipts that say our name and will actually say the items ordered! I seriously ran into the bedroom when I got home to Matt at the computer and said "DO YOU KNOW WHAT'S IN THAT BOX!?!?!" I'm SO excited!

Coming soon...

As soon as I get the place clean I'll post pictures of our little home finally with furniture and almost all of our pictures (well, frames) up. It's fun to finally see if look like a "home" when I lived here for so long without even a dining room table. So soon, I promise.

Will you be my friend?

http://www.netflix.com/BeMyFriend/PitrIc5cNJAwzTKEfrFX

Click that link to be my friend on Netflix so we can share movie suggestions!

Old vs. New

A little bit of an improvement, don't you think?

Every Day by Rascal Flatts

I'm obsessed with this song at the moment. It's on "repeat one" on my iTunes as I'm typing. I've been a huge fan of Rascal Flatts for a while (basically since I got into country music) and I loved the sound of this song before I even really payed attention to the words. Then when I did I fell even MORE in love with it! It totally takes me back to high school when Matt was going through his difficult time and sorta counted on me being available every day. I won't brag and say I saved his life, but it is almost scary to think of what could have happened if I hadn't come back into his life (someone else probably would have...but anyways). I played it for him before dinner a couple nights ago and he just said "wow, yeah, I could totally have written that".

Every Day by Rascal Flatts

You could've bowed out gracefully

But you didn't

You knew enough to know

To leave well enough alone

But you wouldn't

I drive myself crazy

Tryin' to stay out of my own way

The messes that I make

But my secrets are so safe

The only one who gets me

Yeah, you get me

It's amazing to me

How every day

Every day, every day

You save my life

I come around all broken down and

Crowded out

And you're comfort

Sometimes the place I go

Is so deep and dark and desperate

I don't know, I don't know

How every day
Every day, every day
You save my life

Sometimes I swear, I don't know if

I'm comin' or goin'

But you always say something

Without even knowin'

That I'm hangin' on to your words

With all of my might and it's alright

Yeah, I'm alright for one more night

Every day

Every day, every day, every day

Every day, every day

You save me, you save me, oh, oh, oh

Every day

Every, every, every day

Every day you save my life

It's OVER!

And it's back to the regular work week!

I really don't know what to say...I'm married, that basically covers it :) It's been an amazing week and I know it'll just keep getting better (not easier, but better).

As most of you know, I'm a control freak, a perfectionist and a "planner". But I'm happy to report that even with those tendancies, in my mind my day went PERFECT. It's not even that I just had to let go of stuff (which I did, but mainly during planning), but God blessed us with calm nerves, helpful and extremely generous friends & family, and a smooth, flawless day. I couldn't have asked for anything more! Here are just a few of my favorite pictures so far (check out my facebook or myspace for more, or go to the website).

Something old (my mom's pearl necklace), something new (my white Rainbow flip-flops), something borrowed (Matt's mother's hanky from her wedding) & something blue (the bow on my polka-dot garter, made by my mom).

Right after I was given away, singing our favorite hymn, "Before the Throne"

Becca, my cousin & one of my bridesmaids, wiping away mascara-tear streaks.

Ok, I would have put the one of us with Michael & Jessica but Jessica hates that picture of herself, so until we get it photoshopped a little, here's one of Matt, me, and his brother & best man, Michael.

CAKE!! Paradise cake with whipped cream frosting from the King's Hawaiian Restaurant & Bakery in Torrance, CA. The most AMAZING cake ever on earth! Sadly, we didn't get a chance to eat our slices that night :(

Coronado was AMAZING and the resort we stayed at was wonderful (here's my plug, stay at Loews Resorts, they're all over the US). I don't have the pictures from that uploaded onto my computer yet but I'll add them when I do.

5...4...3...2...1...

5 days to go! And I made my goal of being done with wedding prep a week before the wedding! Well...almost (which was the goal of my goal haha). All I have left to do is finish up the slideshow, do the beading on my veil, wrap my attendants gifts and put together the kid's favors. Oh, and finish packing for the honeymoon. I'd get more of that done today only now I'm not feeling very well. I've got a killer headache and keep getting dizzy and lightheaded when I stand up. So I'm taking it easy and drinking more water.

But really, I'm so not stresed or nervous or scared. I'm just ready to be married and start my life with Matt. We moved all his stuff into my apartment over this past weekend. It's weird to see his clothes hanging in the closet. The apartment is a disaster right now with all my wedding stuff, all of Matt's stuff, and then all the boxes from all the shower and wedding gifts.

Oh, speaking of gifts, we've recieved 2 sets of our dishes and our vacuum in the mail but the packages didn't say who they were from. So if they're from you, please let me know so we can send thank you cards!

AHHHHH 19 days!!!!!!

The fact that I haven't posted in a month might be a small clue to how busy I've been...and not even with wedding stuff!

Two weekends ago Matt and I went up with the high school group for winter camp and cooked 3 meals a day for 70 people. It was really fun, we got to spend alot of time with each other, in the kitchen and then relaxing back at a cabin for some of the leaders.

This past Friday we put on our annual Valentine's Day Dinner at church which I headed up so this whole past week was basically taken up by prep work for that.

Yesterday I had my bridal shower, which was a blast (although I still dread opening presents in front of everyone!).

Now it's crunch time! This week I pick up my dress, finish the wedding favors, and this Saturday is the deadline for RSVPing and when I give the reception location my final head count! Today I'm ordering a second sample cake, scheduling a time to walk through the reception with our coordinator, sorting our hair and make up for my girls, and hopefully working on bridal shower thank-you cards. Still to do...

Finish up two last details for my attendant's gifts, write all notes and wrap them.
Confirm our honeymoon reservations.
Do the beading on my veil.
Hair & make-up trial runs.
Schedule my nail appointment.
Decide on send-off materials, if any.
Decide on get-away car.
Decide on ceremony set-up & decor.
Decide on where to take pictures.
Create "must-have shots" list for photographer & videographer.
Create reception music play list.
Start (and finish) ceremony programs.
And...the list continues...

*WHEW*

Wedding invitations are out!!!! 2 days late but they're OUT! That's a huge load off my back. Now I can just check all the little detail things off the list over the next 6 weeks. I'm going in to get my dress altered this week as well as meeting with the florists for both ceremony and reception. Two weeks ago I finalized music with Justin (oooo boy am I excited for that!). We're also doing a cake tasting this week!! I'm REALLY excited for that haha! We went through old pictures of Matt this past weekend and next weekend I'll go through old pictures of me for our slideshow. I'll have to post some of my favorites (Matt in tights anyone?) Bridesmaids' & groomsmens' gifts are ready and we've almost reached a decision on tuxes :)

My wedding websites

Check 'em out!

http://mrshamel3808.googlepages.com/home

www.theknot.com/ourwedding/EliseAlcorn&MatthewHamel

Invitation disasters :-/

So my concept was good, my execution just was lacking. So I sucked it up and ordered invitations today. That actually relieved 99% of the stress and reason I've been in a bad mood for the past few days. The remaining 1% is worrying about the budget but I know that that will work itself out too. Here's what the invitations will look like now...



The thought of leaving this week for 5 days is rather disconcerting but I just keep trying to remember what Matt tells me when I tell him how stressed I am "in the end we'll be married and THAT'S what really matters". *sigh*

On the fast track to a wedding...

Apparently 3-month engagements are so rare that Jr. Highers needed to start the rumor that I'm pregnant and that's why we're getting married so fast! But oh well, that's their problem (although I do wonder why they would think that with me still serving in Student Ministry but maybe they just didn't think through the rumor).

In other news...or maybe not so "other" since it also has to do with the wedding (what doesn't nowadays!?) we got a huge chunk of my to-do list done yesterday. We registered at Target & Macy's (although everything we registered for at Target in store somehow didn't get saved so I have to do it again, unless they can fix it when I call tomorrow), I got my little black dress & Matt got a formal jacket (items we figured would be good to have on the honeymoon), I took Matt to meet our reception coordinator and see the reception location, we bought our wedding bands, and we bought our attendants' gifts.

Awesome story about Matt's jacket too (I told so many people at church the story, I know, but I get excited about bargains like this!!!). When we went to register in store at Macy's, the lady told us about their rewards program that you can have if you have a Macy's credit card (you get 5% Macy's cash back on everything people buy you off your registry) so we opened one just to get that. Well, because we opened a new account, we got 20% everything yesterday and today plus yesterday they had their huge "One-day Sale". So we didn't think to use it until we stopped at the Stonewood Mall (we did our registering at the Brea Mall) to visit Zales for our wedding bands. Then we realized "oh we should look for his jacket and my dress NOW while we have the 20% off". It took a while to find jackets that weren't outrageously priced (even with the discount) but we finally found some that were 75% off. They were really nice cashmere blend Alfani (I'm guessing a name brand???) and they were in the men's formalwear department and their retail was $295. They only had charcoal or black in his size (they also had brown, but all L or XL) or else we would have gotten him two...why? Because being 75% off and then adding our 20% we ended up paying $15 for a $300 jacket!! I joked that we should get them as groomsmen's gifts they were so cheap! Anyways, we took a brown one up to the cashier and asked if they could search other stores for it in his size and they supposedly had two there at that store and Brea had 6 but the sale was only yesterday and we're NOT gonna pay that much! lol

ANYWAYS...This week on my to-do list is:

Make invitations
Start working on the handmade portions of my bridesmaids gifts
Pre-marital counseling homework (verse memorization)
Buy supplies to make the ring bearer's pillow like this