161 days to go!

Well, we have been engaged for around 5 months and have around 5 months to go. 161 days to go, to be more specific.
I think we have been trucking along quite nicely with the planning. Although, the knot to do list slightly terrifies me.
We found a location for both the ceremony and the reception.
We have discussed food and drinks and cakes.
We ordered Save the Dates, and only got half of them because of a problem with the postal service. So, I ordered more. Those were cut wrong. So they sent me ANOTHER order. Half of them have been addressed and the other half will be soon, so that they can get sent out in the next two weeks!
I tried on dresses, found pictures I liked, and talked to my mom and grandmother about them. Kaitlyn and I went to a fabric store and found some great fabric that we think will look great for the dress.
Nick and I bought buttons and worked hard at making hundreds of button flowers.
We finished registering, although we still need to go through and make sure we did not miss anything.
Nick and I went to the fabric store in Jefferson City to look for the right colors for bridesmaid accessories.
Right now, we are working on groomsmen attire, figuring out what I want to do with my hair/veil, finding a place to live, and searching through honeymoon locations. I have the basic idea for bridesmaid attire, but I am trying to work out the details.

I just thought I would add a list of resources we have used so far.
- Green Wedding Shoes
- Once Wed
- Style Me Pretty
- Intimate Weddings
- Vistaprint- Free save the date postcards! We only had to pay for shipping!

Well, I will end with this note: I am currently watching Say Yes to the Dress, and it makes me want to throw up.

Peace.

The Proposal

I was off school for a few days for St. Pats day ( gotta love MST ) so I flew down to Dallas, TX to spend some time with Haley and, unknown to her, to "Pop the ?"

So, I planned a day of festivities for us to do on March 11, our 8 month anniversary.

First, I let her sleep in because she thinks I wake her up too early when I visit. After she got ready for the day, we went to a coffee shop to start the day because she LOVES coffee!! But she got an italian soda... so much for loving coffee. Oh, and another reason for the coffee shop was because in Tyler, we hung out at a coffee shop a lot to get to know each other on the weekends.

Next, we went to Barnes and Noble, because it was another place we hung out in Tyler a bunch and because she LOVES books!! We walked around for a while and she looked at books, I stood next to her, and it was a great time. I talked her into buying a better version of Peter Pan. We looked at wedding books too, which looking back on, is kind of funny!

After B&N, I figured we would go to another of her favorite places and one that I enjoy more each time we go: IKEA. We strolled around the store for a while looking at the different furniture setups and room arrangements. Before we left, we grabbed some delectable food: 50 cent hot dogs.

I drove us to what I thought would be a great little park by a lake but turned out to be a dock that was no good for picnics. In my defense, it's hard to plan stuff in a town that you are not familiar with. She saved me with a spot that was actually a park by a lake. By this time, the hot dogs had become slightly warm dogs but it is ok because I had Garden Salsa Sun Chips, Zebra Cakes, and Sweet Tea to go along them. We enjoyed the goods and the environment for a while but it was a bit chilly so we packed up and headed out.

I thought about going to a library (once again she loves books) but instead, we headed home because we were both tired. I didn't have anything else planned until dinner so we relaxed and ended up taking a little nap in the hammock in the backyard.

Then, it was dinner time!! I had her get dressed up nice, not that she doesn't always look beautiful, but you know what I mean. We were off to ....... Buca di Beppo!! We had a great meal and got more than we paid for because they messed up the order. This meant that we were plenty full. We still had to get some dessert so we stopped by Braums for some ice cream, which was kind of funny because we were all dressed up nice. After that, we were stuffed so it was back to the house.

When we got there and walked in, the lights were off and "Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop" was playing, which was a song that Haley had me listen to with her over the summer. We then proceeded to the backyard where I had Nancy set up some stations for me. The first one was our cedar medallions and a small white candle, representing how we met. Next was a painting she made for me and a bigger candle, representing our relationship growing. Finally I had a white daisy sitting on a bible and larger candles. I gave the daisy to her and then read her a couple of verses about God's love and how we want to replicate that in our relationship. Then I got down on one knee and asked her if she would want to marry me!!!! She was crying the whole time and said that she didn't even comprehend what I said but she knew what was going on and said YES!!

After a few hugs and kisses we headed inside where her parents and siblings were waiting, and her dad was behind a video camera. Nancy had gotten us a cake, which was amazing, but since we were so stuffed, it was hard to eat... but I managed. Then, we started telling all the friends. She had crazy, loud, exciting phone calls and I cranked out those texts.

It was certainly a day of festivities to remember!