Happy Thanksgiving

Lets start with how much we have to be thankful for this year
-Our loving and supportive families
-Our great friends
-Our beautiful home
-Careers that we both love
-Our health along with others
-Our cute pups

It was a great day and even better weekend since my brother, sister and her boyfriend all came in town. For the last three Thanksgivings Phil's family and mine have combined our Thanksgivings which is great so we don't have to split up our holiday's! Phil's dad and my mom ran the kitchen and cooked a delicious meal, my mom and Phil's mom baked, and Phil baked his very first pie! I took care of cleaning up everyone's messes;)

No Black Friday Shopping or us! I always told myself I would when we owned a home... Now I'm telling myself maybe when there is kids I'll try it out....

FriendsGiving

About 10 of us girls got together before Thanksgiving and had our own little Thanksgiving. Everyone brought festive dishes (minus a Turkey), had some wine and hung out. It was a perfect little evening and the start of a new tradition!

My FAVORITE Time of the Year

Fall is my absolute FAVORITE time of the year! October was a crazy month, however we did get to enjoy the second half with some fall festivities. 

-Decorating our house for it's first Halloween

- Gilcrease Orchard with the Chippewas (Next year we better go earlier because all the pumpkins were dead, however the doughnuts made it worth it! )

-Phil finally carved pumpkins with me!! It's only taken 3 Halloween's for me to convince him it's fun ;) 

-Cooked chili for Halloween, had some friends and family over, and passed out candy! 

10.13.12 The Best Day of Our Life

7 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 days from him popping the question, we did it! We're official...No longer are we living in sin.

That was quick many people told us, but we love fall in Vegas, and we couldn't have asked for any better weather. The girls all stayed together the night before, and our morning started bright and early at 8am (If you read the prior post we were in a party bus until 2 am, oops). Thanks to two amazing friends of mine, Gina and Kristin everyone had perfect hair and make-up! The morning was perfect, reminiscing on the night before, girl talks, sipping on champagne, and getting pampered. Thank god for all these girls, because they kept me completely calm! I was totally chill until they all left me up in the room, and it was just me, my dad and mom... It then hit me, I'm getting married! I was suddenly extremely nervous, butterflies, and the list of nervous symptoms continues....

I obviously didn't go into the guys room, but I had a friend deliver a little something to Phil and this is the description I got... " One of the guys is sitting on the balcony in his underwear smoking a black and mild, and Phil was running around and is very very VERY nervous." I would have loved to been a fly on the wall in that room!

I'm not one who likes the attention on me. You could call me more shy I guess... Walking down the aisle was one of the most nerve wrecking things ever, because there are 240 people staring at you.... YIKES! The ceremony was beautiful, short and sweet, many tears, and the weather was absolutely perfect!

I wish the reception never ended haha. Phil and I had so much fun and hopefully everyone else did too! We wish we could have spent more time with everyone, however as any married couple knows, it's so overwhelming! Phil's brother gave an amazing speech, My sister gave an amazing speech and made me cry, and my dad who can talk in front of anyone (definitely didn't inherit that quality) gave THE BEST speech ever, leaving me in tears as well. I cannot thank everyone enough for being there to celebrate our special day with us. Phil and I feel so blessed to have such loving family and friends, and we're so happy so many people could be there to celebrate with us.

I just received a few pictures from our photographer today, but I'll wait till I get them all and then I'll post them. Until then, here are a few I have from friends and family!

Week of The Wedding

Why is it that it takes forever for your birthday to come, forever for Christmas to come, forever for that vacation to come..... but your wedding comes and goes so fast. Literally! 

The week before the wedding we had a lot going on... I worked up until Wednesday, Phil worked until Thursday, we had family coming in town starting Tuesday, date changes and rsvp's continuing to come  (my advice to anyone... don've have a seating chart, or personalized name cards), my final fitting, a CRAZY rainstorm Thursday and Friday, a party at my parents for all the families to meet, pampering appointments and all the other last minute things you do the week of the wedding. For the most part I think I stayed pretty calm (Phil may say different). 

What's a crazy week without a little humor? We definitely had that, however all jokes were on my poor father. He had his brand new tux, and wanted to get his shoes shined for this exciting day so my mom took a pair of his shoes to be shined at a little hole in the wall place she always go to. Well I guess those shoes weren't meant to be because the place caught on fire.....and yes the shoes turned into ashes.  So he just picked another pair from his closet and this time decided to shine them himself. Remember the CRAZY rainstorm I mentioned earlier. Well anyone who lives in Vegas knows we don't get much rain, and when we do it lasts all of 5 minutes. Not this one. It poured, and not just for 5 minutes, pretty much for 2 straight days. To make a long story short, my brother had borrowed my dad's car, thought he could make it through a puddle, and...well.... not quite. That car is still being "looked at." He didn't let any of this effect the week, and that's why my dads the best!

Friday was here before we knew it and had an amazing rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. One of my best friends, Savanna put together an amazing surprise to end the night, and to kick off the morning of the wedding! A party bus for the bridal party. From Bonnie Springs, to John Cutter, to Paymons....What a night=) 

Bachelorette Party in Cabo

My bridesmaids and friends are seriously the best....They asked me what I wanted to do for my bachelorette party, and my only request was I didn't want to be that girl in the hotel walking around with a penis necklace on. So instead of having me do that on Las Vegas Blvd. they just made me do that in Cabo;) Just Kidding!

4 days in Cabo with the best of friends, sun, drinks, and not a thing to worry about! I had an amazing trip and I can't wait for them to get married so i can return the favor to each and everyone of them!

Phil is currently on his "bachelor weekend" here in Vegas.... I'll ask him to write about it, chances are he will not, so if you want you could just go find him down on Las Vegas Blvd ;) Hopefully without penis necklaces haha

My Bridal Shower

The wedding is is getting a lot closer and wedding festivities have begun! My sister (with a lot of help from my mom, and lovely bridesmaids. since she lives in LA) gave me the most incredible Bridal Shower ever! Tons of family and great friends came, making it such a special day! 

Like most, I'm addicted to Pinterest....  It probably gives me more anxiety at this point then it does anything else. I could re-plan my wedding every time I go on, it makes me want to eat everything (right now that is not ok), re-do and want everything for our home, however I did come across some super cute bridal shower ideas. My sneaky mom and sister took everything I pinned, and had it at the shower. They're the best!

There was tons of yummy foods- quiches, fruit, salad, yogurt parfaits, pasta, croissant sandwiches, shrimp cocktail, pastries from DW Bistro, cookies from Red Velvet Cafe (less guilt ;) ) home-made doughnuts by my mom, mimosas, mojitos, and the cutest cake pops! Let's just say I enjoyed every bit of it and cardio will be my best friend the next few days!

It was overall an amazing day and I think it has finally hit me that I will be a married woman in 48 days! I am so truly blessed and was totally spoiled by all my family and friends with great gifts. Words cannot express how thankful I am, and appreciate everyone being there for me! 

Here's a few pictures from this perfect day!

2012

Well even though we're half way through 2012 (YIKES) I figure I'ld catch everyone up on what's happened this year, because it's been A LOT.

For anyone who knows me well, you'll know I did not want to go to college! I wanted to go directly to hair school after high school. However my parents strongly encouraged me to go to college, whether I did anything with it or not was up to me, but they felt as though it was a good thing for anyone, but especially their daughter to do. So I went, graduated, and 6 months later I was enrolled in hair school. I graduated from Paul Mitchell on January 12, and 5 months later I was finally licensed in the state of Nevada. No I did not slack and mess around for 5 months, it just takes Nevada State Board that long to put my paperwork together, give me 2 test dates, and send me my license (ridiculous I know).

 

(The group of girls I started with and still are friends with today:) )

Phil and I have been dating a little over 3 years now. On February 27, Phil cooked me dinner and got down on one knee and asked me to marry him! I obviously said YES, and it was by far one of the best days of my life. I think I screamed, I cried, I jumped at him, hugged him, kissed him and kept telling myself it was all a dream. I woke up the next morning and the ring was really there, so I started planning right then.... Just Kidding, however my mom might have haha

Phil and I purchased our very first home and moved in on March 17th. We had been looking since the beginning of the year, however it wasn't too serious, just looking here and there. Don't let anyone fool you, there aren't that many short sales and foreclosures out there and the few that are, all suck! We might have been a little picky, wanting to be in Summerlin, and wanting to have some sort of backyard, but who wouldn't! We ended up purchasing a new build, up in the Mesas, and I absolutely LOVE it and LOVE our neighborhood! A new house came with a lot to do, but it kept me busy as I was waiting for my license;) Still no backyard, but maybe one day....

We still have A LOT to do but I LOVE our bedroom (don't mind that I screenshotted it from my instagram)... It took a lot of begging and me just buying, but Phil secretly likes it;)

My brother moved home from Japan, he has lived there since 2006. He was only in Las Vegas for about 6 weeks then moved to San Francisco, but hey I'll take that over a different country! My little sister graduated from Loyola Marymount, and is now living in Marina Del Ray, working a "big girl job."

As you can see it's been an exciting year and the wedding hasn't even happened yet!

I wish I could say not a bad thing has happened this year, however we did loose my grandpa, "Bud" in November of 2011 and buried him along with my Nana in April at The Arlington Ceremony in Washington DC.  The funeral here in Vegas was beautiful and was the first time I had ever witnessed a 21 Gun Salute. However the funeral in Arlington (a full military honors funeral) was by far one of the most beautiful and also one of the saddest things I have ever been too. My grandpa was an amazing man and did SOOO much for this country (if I were to write about everything he did the list would never end), a perfect husband to my nana, an amazing father to my mom and aunt, and  most of all THE BEST grandfather to all of his grandchildren. We were greeted at the Arlington Ceremony  by a horse drawn carriage with tons of service men, which was followed by a flyover, and then we walked  to where my Nana and Bud would be buried and another 21 gun salute. As all the service men and our family walked to the gravesite, all the tourists stopped and put there hand over the heart, it was such a great feeling and I know Bud felt very honored=) I love him and miss him so much, but know him and my nana are together, happy and not in pain any longer. Love you both!

Our very first family dog passed away April 20 (the day after my birthday). She was by far the BEST, most sweetest dog ever... She lived a happy 15 1/2 Years.

Hope everyone is having an amazing 2012. XO

My First Blog

Hello=) A few good friends of mine have a blog, and I always enjoyed looking at them, which finally encouraged me to start my own, especially as we begin this next chapter in our life. I tried putting fun backgrounds and headers, however an hour later I gave up. Maybe one day I'll get the hang of that, until then I'll keep it simple. So here's to creating a blog, and sharing the life of Phil and I with everyone=)
I was never a good writer, I hated writing papers in school, and most of all I hated giving them to my dad to look over, because it always came back in all red ink with grammatical, punctual, spelling, and question marks all over it, so please don't judge my writing skills=)