One Bahama Mama, Please!

The honeymoon was wonderful. Although we didn't sail right into the middle of Tropical Storm Colin, we were awarded three days of the rain caused by him (added to the list of names I dislike: Colin). But, the last two days of our cruise (in Nassau and at sea) were hot, sunny, and perfect!

I'd love to show you some pictures of the boat. But I'm legally bound not to. But, I like to think we are prettier than architectual structures anyway...so here is some of what we did!

We sat in the window of our room and watched the rain. For two days.


We drank incredibly strong daquiris out of carved coconuts on the beach under the storm clouds. On the third day.


We took pictures of our feet (mine are the brown ones. what can I say, I married a white boy).


We wrote cheesy love letters to each other in the sand. On the fourth day. The one where the sun existed.


We stopped by Oprah's to say "What up, Oprah."


We built a crocodile.


We visited the straw market and saw more knock-off bags in one are than anywhere else in the world. I have never been called "pretty lady" so many times in my life.


We watched Dion, whose address on his business card is "on the sidewalk outside the straw market," paint this. And then bought it.

We took pictures of unsuspecting locals...


...random ship parts...


...cheesy poses of ourselves...


...and gorgeous sunsets.



We finally got some sun on our last day at sea, which made me super happy!


The cruise experience was different. I've been fortunate enough to have been able to experience many different "types" of vacations and, although the cruise was fun, it's really hard to top the all-inclusive resort.

The ship had 2600 people and one pool the size of the one in the backyard, so we only ended up using it once and that was just to cool off for a minute in the hot sun on the fifth day. I found myself wanting to jump off the boat multiple times in a non-titanic-suicidal fashion (which we, of course, took pictures of ourselves immitating), but because I really just wanted to swim! Plus, soft drinks weren't included...and that just seems odd to me.

It took hours (literally) to get on the boat the first day, and by the time we finally made it to our room we were starving and exhausted and couldn't decide which was more important, food or sleep. Getting off the boat was much much faster, which pleasantly surprised us! We were basically planning on missing our flight home because of a long debarkation process, and we were actually at the airport 2.5 hours early.

But, we enjoyed ourselves and the food in the dining rooms for dinner was absolutely fabulous. Lobster, steak, the best lasagna I've ever had, turkey...we even tried a little esgarot and discovered that it's really not half bad (as long as we don't have to pay for it :)].

We had a lovely honeymoon :)

Here, We Recept You.

I may have been at a loss for a creative title here. Don't Judge.

Our Reception..








..these simply need no explanation :)

Do we look at the light or the box?

At the wedding reception, we also had a photobooth. This was the one thing that I said "I want this" in our wedding. Everything else was a "what's the cheapest" kind of choice, but this was a necessity in my book. Why? Because it's awesome, that's why. And everyone loved it!

We had our fair share of awesome pictures from the booth. And "how many people can we fit in here" pictures. And "look at me, I'm 6 and I have a drink, haha" pictures. And "where do we look? did it take it?" pictures. And some "look how not pretty we can be" pictures that I ...may or may not have...taken part in...









And it was worth every penny.

Terrible Twos goes to a Wedding (Ceremony)

This time, I have to tell this story with a little bit of a two year old who happened to hit her terrible twos on May 15th.

This little thing...



...was absolutely hilarious on the 14th at the rehearsal dinner (as you can see). Brady does very well in large groups of complete strangers, for whatever reason, and while practicing she "danced" down the aisle while shaking her butt and sticking her tongue out. I wouldn't have expected her to do anything else.

So on wedding day, after I made the mistake of feeding her basically nothing but fruit for breakfast, I made the girls be really quiet while we were getting ready at the house so Brady could get a long nap in before the ceremony. And she did. I want to say a good 3 hours. I mean, check out this bed head:



But, once we were at the church, Ms Thing refused to smile for anything. I was actually worried about our other flowergirl, who I would have bet my entire life savings on not smiling or walking down the aisle if her life depended on it. She did fine. Brady gave scowls in ever picture.



Or the "hand on the hip" move that says "why am I doing this?!"



But by the time the reception came, Ms Thing was sweet again and wanted nothing but to be with me. The conversation we had before this photo went a lot like this:
DJ: "Is she walking in with you or...?"
Me: "She's going in with the junior usher."
Brady: "Noooooo!"
Me: "Okay, she's going with us.



And then she gave up some kisses, while we were in the center of a gigantic circle...mind you...



But, even with her two-yr-old-ness, Brady was still amazing. And so was the ceremony.

The Details

This is the first installment of our wedding photo series. Aren't you excited?!? No?! Well, I am, so suck it up and put a smile on ;)

Today, it's the details of the wedding. Somewhere along the way someone once told me to start small and build up. So I am. It definitely doesn't have anything to do with keeping you in suspense for the actual ceremony, receptions, etc. pictures. Definitely not.







I definitely also did not do a whole bunch of posts in one night and schedule them. No, I did not.

Perfect

Our wedding rehearsal ran very well. I do, however, fully expect Brady to dance down the aisle in her flowergirl outfit sticking her tongue out until she gets to B at the end and forces him to pick her up ;) True Brady style right there!

You won't see another picture or post from me for a few days. We aren't honeymooning right away, but will not be internetting for a couple days either!

But, I wanted to take this minute to show you one picture from this absolute perfect night.



Our rehearsal dinner was on the river, and the restaurant happened to be right across from the ballfield, where our team had a game and they just happened to have planned an amazing fireworks show afterwards.

Absolutely perfect.

Tomorrow...

...we're getting married!

Done, Check, Next?

Things have been super busy around here, and I know I haven't done an update post on the wedding plans for awhile. I will say, though, planning a wedding takes a lot more effort than I ever would have imagined.

And can I just say that I don't understand why people think I should be nervous? Every time people ask when the wedding is, I say "about a month away now," and they immediately go "Ooo, close. Are you getting nervous?" No. I'm not nervous. I'm marrying my best friend. Why the crap would I be nervous? But, I usually take the polite way out and answer with a "no, I don't have time to be nervous!" Which is true!

The only thing I'm really nervous about at all is that I'm not going to be the one in charge. I know that sounds "i'm a control freak"-ish, but I trust myself to do things more than I trust others to do things haha! B is always saying "I can help you with stuff!" but...well, I mean when we did the save the dates I had him put a few of the mailing address labels on the envelopes, and they were so sideways that "straight" wasn't even in it's vocabulary. So, I'm like "hmm, thanks baby, but uh...I'm doing fine" haha. The biggest reason I like to do everything myself is mostly because if I screw it up, I can only blame myself. I can get over blaming myself a lot quicker than someone else screwing it up. I know, I'm nuts.

So what has gotten done lately?

The girls flowers as well as ordering the flowers for the church.


Favors and Pew Bows.


Hair picked, and trial run done (PS. This girl is not me, just FYI. I showed this to my Grandma and said "this is how I'm doing my hair for the wedding." She said "I like that. Your face isn't going to look like this, is it?" I replied, lovingly, with "No gram, I think I'll wear my own face that day.")


All reception songs chosen.
All readings chosen.
All readers chosen, notified, accepted.
All bridal party gifts purchased.
Pre-Cana attended.
FOCCUS meeting with priest accomplished.
B's passport attained.
Rehearsal dinner booked and invites sent out.

Up next:
Meeting with the music lady at the church.
Obtain marriage license.
Meet with wedding coordinator at church.
Construct programs for ceremony.
Purchase/Choose parent gifts (Any ideas here?)
Finalize things with photographer and DJ.
Pay remainder for photobooth.
Purchase video camera.
And have final two dress fittings. I was supposed to go to the "month before" fitting today, but the seamstress called and I guess something happened involving her car, purse, and store keys so it's rescheduled for tomorrow!

Phew!

Also, I apologize for any ridiculous typos in this entry! The backlight on my computer went out, so I'm using a desklamp to see the screen and it's not working too well! It's a really funny sight to see, though! ;)

Sure, I'll Hand-Cancel 162 Envelopes

Any guesses as to what we've spent our entire week doing?





...any guesses as to what headed to a million different states and two countries today? ;D

In other news...I've decided that no one is pretty when they yawn. Really. Even babies. Even Brady looked like a small lion when she yawned as an infant...and she was normally pretty ;)


Lastly, a friend of mine just found out on Monday that she was selected to travel to the Republic of Congo for a missions trip. I'm trying really hard to be excited for her, but really I'm just deathly worried. I know this is hypocritical, since I dropped myself into Kenya in the middle of a genocide...but the war in Congo, it's just different. I remember saying a few years ago, "There are a lot of dangerous places I'd go but, as a woman, I would never go to Congo." It's not changed. I don't know why I know stuff like this, but if it's a country in Africa I'm pretty familiar with what's going on. Those of you who are not aware of the issues in Congo, do just the tiniest bit of research and find out. It's not good, and it's not changing--it's kind of being ignored, and that's really sad. I'm super worried for Tiff, but glad she has the guts to go.

I'll post about the bridalshower(s) gift explosion in our living room soon.

Okay, who's sleeping on the top bunk?

Most people have their bachelorette party at a bar...or a collection of bars...but, then again, I've never claimed to be 'most people.' Nor have I ever claimed to enjoy being in a bar.

I have always been very straight forward about my hatred for cold weather, however. So, instead of a bar, we spent the day and night here:



Those of you who don't have one of these glorious things near your home, Great Wolf Lodge is a giant indoor water park. None of us had ever been there, and it was not cheap by any means, but it was absolutely worth every cent!

But, did we book an adult room? Pfft. That's for wieners. We book a "kids cabin." Complete with bunk beds, a real bed, a balcony, fireplace, two sinks, and nintendo.



We found it just a tad ridiculous that we couldn't get into our room until 4, but sucked it up and waited...or, rather, changed into our bathing suits in the parking lot while avoided awkward glances from strangers. It was amazingly nice outside, though, and after we got our room we stood on the balcony in said bathing suits and it wasn't even cold out...amazing.

Then we headed down to the waterpark. This place was AMAZING. Tons of waterslides, fun play areas, a "creep across the lilypads while holding onto a net and look like an idiot as an adult while doing so" section, and too many dumping water buckets to even count. There is one waterslide called the rollercoaster, that really runs like one, taking you up and down instead of the standard down, and is covered by a net to catch you when your tube flies off the slide. I may or may not have screamed like a small child on that.




We showered and headed down to dinner afterwards, where we were greeted with an hour wait and this giant wolf who somehow managed to hold my boob without me even noticing.



And almost all 9 of us had this gorgeous and delicious 32oz "meg-o-rita."



So of course it was time for twister, and to break out the henna tattoos.




But, all-in-all we were a pretty mild group, and not one hangover ensued the next day for my bridal shower! Have another shower this weekend, and I'll report on those together next week!