Honeymoon!!

(note: this was supposed to be posted mid July... and when I went to change the date, it pushed it back to 2008 -- YIKES)

Was fabulous!

Richard and I made a deal about a year ago, that whenever we got married, I would plan the wedding and he would plan the honeymoon.... and that the honeymoon would be a surprise. So on June 11, we were married and it was everything that I've always wanted. I felt gorgeous, Richard was extremely good looking in the tux (I wasn't sure about the black shirt with white tie ... but it was awesome) and we had a blast. We got to see friends (went to fast) and got to swing dance ( I didn't keep my frame well but we had fun), really it was perfect. From the feedback we've received everyone also had a great time ... but people always tell you that. Then that night we got hooked up at a local hotel, the Omni... with Champagne and chocolate covered strawberries.

The next morning, we did what any new married couple would do.... went home and mowed the lawn! I know romantic, right? But it needed to be done before we left and we always do it together. It also gave us (read Richard) time to finish packing and prepping for the honeymoon.



SAT AM - we go to the airport and I find out we're going to Tampa, FL. I'm thinking, really Tampa? Why Tampa of all the places for a surprise honeymoon. But I keep my thoughts to myself cuz who knows what Richard has planned...

We arrive in Tampa, get on a shuttle bus and head downtown to our hotel. During the shuttle ride the driver is asking all kinds of questions and I learn that no, we're not in town to go on a cruise, while we are here for the beaches we're staying just about as far away from them as we could get and we didn't rent a car ... interesting honey!

So we go to a nice dinner that night since it is our honeymoon and all... there Richard breaks down and tells me that we are in deed GOING ON A CRUISE!!!! And not just any cruise, but a Western Caribbean 7 day Cruise to Grand Cayman, Belize, and Isla Roatan, Honduras! Couldn't have been a better place for our honeymoon.

We just got on the boat and thy handed us drinks!

Cruising around on the boat, checking things out

We spent much time sitting in these chairs, reading, napping and laughing

Dancing in the club :)

Port #1 - Grand Cayman Island

We went snorkeling here ... look how clear it is.

Port #2 - Belize

Sharing a Coke over lunch

Mayan Ruins of Belize

Port #3 - Roatan Island - Honduras

Our favorite!

Swimming with Dolphins

Kisses

More Dolphin kisses

The best beach EVER!

Last day on the boat

Every night at dinner our steward would make a towel animal, but on the last night we got a heart. He must have figured out we were honeymooning.

My favorite animal of the trip was the monkey - he was awesome!

Florida Aquarium - We spent our last day here until we had to go to the airport. It was an amazing honeymoon! Way to go Rich!

We're Back!

I've started to write a post detailing our honeymoon - but I've been doing it in my free time at work and I don't have any of the pictures here. I've also decided that posts without pictures are boring, so you'll have to wait for the honeymoon detail :)


We've officially been married for 20 days!!

Our wedding was everything that I could have dreamed and then some. We had a blast! I felt gorgeous and knew by the way Richard first looked at me that he agreed. Richard looked amazing in his tux. Almost everything went according plan with some minor changes, of which, I barely took note of. I married my best friend! Who cares about anything else? I don't have the

(at our reception)

wedding pics yet but thankfully Kath took some awesome shots (and shared them via FB), so I'll leave you with some of them until I post honeymoon details (like how I'm not giving anything away). If you have pics from the wedding, I really want to see them.

(Yep, he dipped me!)

(Officially Mr & Mrs)

Swing Dancing

It all started with a friend at my old work asking me/us to go dancing with him, before Richard and I even started to date. This friend went all the time and was really good, so I mentioned to Richard, if you go, I'll go. And as we were both beginners we could learn together - so that's what we did. We would meet at a local park-n-ride, then take one car to Denver (to save on gas). This was another time that we were able to spend time getting to know one another. I truly feel that car rides are a great time to talk to one another - other than traffic, there are really no distractions. It was on our car rides down to the Merc that we talked most about life, dreams, ambitions, and stories from childhood. Richard was always anxious to share new music with me and we found that we never ran out of things to discuss.

(Not Us - though maybe one day)

Since then, Richard and I have always loved to swing dance together. When we first started dating every Sunday night was swing dancing at the Mercury Cafe. As we prepare for our wedding, we decided that we really need to practice and get back in shape, so we're back at the Merc on Wednesday nights for their beginner lessons. It is also a great way for us to relieve stress and to spend time together, reminiscing the good ol'days.

5 Weeks and Counting

Yesterday marked 5 weeks to the wedding. Both very exciting... but also kinda stressful. I made the mistake of looking at my checklist of things to do and got REALLY stressed out. It's just all those little things that add up. So please help me - if you haven't sent back your RSVP - please do... we won't be offended if you can't make it - we just need to know, so don't let that be the reason to net sent it. And if you can make it - by all means let us know so that we can fully prepare to celebrate with you .... If you didn't pick up the gist - just send them back sooner rather than later.

On that note, it has been interesting to see people's response cards. For people who have recently planned or are currently planning, they put the names of everyone who will be attending. Then there are people like Richard - who just put there own name then say 3 people are coming. While that's fine and all - but that person will be receiving a phone call "so its you and who are you bringing - can you please spell that for us." Because the last thing that you want is to spell someone's name wrong. It happened to me at a wedding once - Sarah - not Sara, was put on the card. It kinda made me sad. So as I'm picky about my name, I don't want to mess others up. Okay - I'll step off the soap box (for now).

A new stress for me - the rehearsal dinner. Even before Richard's mom passed away, we had always planned on doing/planning the rehearsal dinner ourselves. She lived in Oregon thus making it hard to plan and his Dad really didn't seem interested. Richard has really handled the details of this - but it dawned on me today that we should create a guest list. We knew we wanted just immediate family and bridal party - but that leaves a lot to question: Step-parents, girlfriends/boyfriends, husbands/wives, children, dates .... wow that is a lot to ponder. Holy cow - I think I'm gonna need some wine.

So with 5 weeks out - I have my 2nd/final dress fitting tomorrow, trying to break in my shoes (thats a whole other post), and then do the little things.

Oh yeah -Happy Mother's Weekend to all the moms! In my family we don't just celebrate days - we make weeks or weekends out of events. I guess you could just say that we love our family. So I leave you with my Mom, Nana, and sister. All amazing women!

A Friend's Journey

I was cruising around one of my favorite social networking sites and found that a friend of mine had a link to this blog.

A group of women, my friend included, are going to Sierra Leone this summer to work with children and the blog is how they are raising money for their trip. They are holding an auction where people can bid on everything from paintings, to gift cards, to even shower money for the team. The auction is open from today (5/7) through Sunday night at 8pm (MST). I think this is such a cool way to raise money and get people involved and excited for their trip.

It's really happening

We got it .... the first RSVP to the wedding!! It seems that receiving that in the mail really helped me realize that the wedding is 2 months. I loved that I got to be the one to open the mailbox last night and see it in there....I'm not sure Rich is as excited about it as I am. I can't wait to check tonight.

On a different thought - I was making our traditional green bean casserole for Easter dinner at Nana's this weekend and Rich says "You should have extra bought ingredients. That way we can make more..." Who knew he liked the casserole that much! Luckily for him I did get the family size and we have leftovers. I'll be adding this recipe to the "list" of foods we can easily make and both really like. It was so nice to be cooking in my kitchen this weekend in my home, though it did really make me feel like a grown-up, especially with Rich outside working on making the yard look good. Dog urine and poo which is not picked up is NOT good for the yard -- thank you precious owners! We also have this weed which Richard has never seen which has infested most of the back yard. He says it'll take 2-3 YEARS before it looks the way he wants it to.... Really?? Its a yard... grass grows... well I trust that our (cough**his**cough) yard will be the best on the block when he's done.

Wedding Update

Family invitations are out! YAY.

We just got our tax return(s) this week and have some plans for what to do with it ...
- bedroom furniture :) I would love to get this sooner rather than later, that way I can free up some space in the closet for Richard to put his shoes in the shoe spot. I also think it will help to have a finished look in the room.
- new fence :( not really wanting to spend $$ this way, but we desperately need a new one. I can home last night and one panel was completely off the posts.
- Other home buys: Lawn mower - someday soon