Two Years Ago Today.....

I cannot believe that it has been TWO years since that beautiful (and HOTT) July day when I married the man of my dreams. I didn't realize how much you could love someone until I met Ted. These past two years have been the most amazing years of my life and it is all because he is in it. Thank you God for bringing him into my life like you did!

This song is one that came out just a few weeks after Ted and I met. It has stuck with me since then. I truly do feel like Ted "saved" me from a life that could have had a totally different outcome.

I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!

I had all but given up on finding the one that I could fall into... The day before you
I was ready to settle for less than love and not much more
There was no such thing as a dream come true, Oh, but that was all the day before you
Now you're here and everything's changin, Suddenly life means so much
I can't wait to wake up tomorrow, And find out this promise is true
I will never have to go back to.... The day before you
In your eyes I see forever, Makes me wish that my life never knew....The day before you
But Heaven knows those years without you, were shaping my heart for the that day I found you
If you're the reason for all that I've been through, Then I'm thankful for the day before you

The Wedding!

I am SO SO SO tired but I wanted to get some pictures up for you all to see. It will not do it justice, but I will post some of the professional ones once we get them back. The day started at 10:00. All the girls met at the hair shop to get our hair done. Mine was a DISASTER and the sweet lady that did Carrie and Emily's hair ended up ripping mine out and starting over. The church had NO A/C but I made it through ok. Ted had a water bottle for me and would hand it to me during prayers. The Ceremony was BEAUTIFUL.... Mom, I SO wish you could have heard the brass band (same one from Sarah's) in that church. It literally gave me chills. The reception was to die for.... the same guy that did Sarah's flower did this one as well. His website is http://www.neilleeson.com/ . I think there are pics from Sarah's wedding, and he will put some up from the girls event today I am sure. I had a blast at the reception. I even surprised myself on the dance floor. I successfully made it through the electric slide, the cha cha, and several other songs. It wasnt until the 4th round of the limbo when I unintentionally did the splits and needed help up that I decided to quit. That was painful... and I am feeling it now. :)

It was such a fun day and it was so neat to see the girls and how happy they were! And they were absolutely STUNNING. Dan and Greg are LUCKY men. Ok enough talking.... here are some pics.


Thomas's girlfriend Amanda and Brooklyn

The Kane's & Bryte's

Kelsey (greg's daughter), Ted, Melanie (cousin), Tom, Sarah, Amanda, Roger & Seth (greg's son)

The Church

The Cake

Check back on Monday....

Pictures from the double wedding extravaganza!

Check back tomorrow......

Hot air balloon experience to come.... my camera died during the upload process.

And she's gone......

Its sad that when you spend so much time with a little child, you can being to think that she is your own.

And then one day you find yourself sitting alone.

Depressed.

You keep finding her little toys around your house.

Her blanket in your bed (btw Nik- we have her purple blankie..opps)

and you wonder to yourself.... does she even think about me anymore.

Ok, so its really not that bad. But I will be honest and tell you that, I MISS HER! I am going a little stir crazy without miss Olivia at my heel! However, the exhaustion hasn't given me much time to wallow in my sorrows. It was a total of three weeks that we got to share with Olivia (a.k.a. "livers" - not to be confused with her dog "libbers") and boy did we have fun. I, again, have a huge respect for mothers that do this 24/7 day in and day out! Olivia was a peach- we had NO issues with attitude, NO accidents in her pants, and NO naps! Truly, she didnt take one nap. That is probably because on night 1 she heard Ted say the words "thunder storm" and it was over from there. EVERY night of the 3 week stay the three of us crawled into bed together, watched some curious George and then shut out the lights. It was like a 21 day sleepover. I tried to put her in her own room once or twice and then she would look at me with those eyes and say "what if there is a thunder...." and I would melt. For all you who are wondering.... I promise I will not sleep in bed with my child. :)

Ok, so here are some of my faveorite pictures from our time together.

Olivia is OBSESSED with playing baby! This was one of the ONLY times I was able to convice her to play with her baby instead of making Ted or I be the baby. She sat and read book after book to her baby.... it was precious.

Spaghetti night at the pool!!! Look at her face in these pics.


These are the "eyes" I was mentioning earlier....

Holding my girlfriends new baby boy. Liz was SO impressed at how well she handled him!

Making "pup-cakes" as she calls them....


We had to wait so we could frost them with Ted. They had more fun eating them then frosting.




Even though we miss her, we are so thankful that the whole family is home and out of the hospital! What a long 3 weeks for Jed, Nikki and little Maddie. We are so thankful that Mads seems to be doing better and will continue to pray for a life of "normalcies"! After these past few weeks of having a kid in the house, Ted and I are beyond excited to welcome our baby in just 9 weeks!

Fun moments with The Smiths....

Olivia is obsessed with painting nails right now.... the first night they were here she painted my mother-in-laws, mine, Nikki's, Jed's and Ted's finger nails! We captured some pictures of Jed's manicure session. He looked so good with the hot pink nails.

One night we were all lying in bed and the baby started moving. So we thought is would be fun for the girls to be able to listen in the heart monitor. They also would lay their head on my belly and laugh so hard when it would kick!

It's Done!!!!

After many LONG hours... the construction part pf our nursery is done and now we are ready to move everything in! Nikki, Jed, Ted and I (mostly Ted & Jed) worked for 5 days straight for this finished product. They also managed to hang the drapes in the living room and dining room. I am SO excited about it and LOVE the end result. I feel like our house has turned into a home!

(drapes that Miriam made)

(Closet organizers were installed by the boys)

(this is my bedding.... the bumber has more of the green, the skirt is all the striped, and the sheet is the brown circle pattern. All of our furniture is a very dark finish.)

(Mirror will hang on the green portion above the crib)

THANKS JED, TED AND NIKKI!!!!

I'm Back!

I know it has been a while since my last update, but I have alot to share now! I had a wonderful week in Illinois and my sisters spoiled me rotten by throwing me a fabulous baby shower. It was so fun to be with so many of the women in IL that were apart of my life growing up! A few days after I returned from IL, Jed and Nikki made their way up to our house for a few days before Maddie's surgery. We have been BUSY, BUSY, BUSY with all sorts of project... the most fun has been working on the nursery! Jed and Ted have SLAVED away (even worked through the night til 9:30am on night!!) and my house looks completely different now! Here are some "before" pictures and "work in progress" pictures.....








We are hoping to finish it all tonight, So I will be back SOON with more pictures!