Almost Official!

Yay!

Giant bed for giant dog!

Today we had an appointment with our baker to finalize our wedding cake plans. Everything looks great, I can't wait to see the finished product on the big day... and eat it too! Erol/Arol/Aros/or some other Greek/Italian/Yugoslavian-ish name (the baker) gave us this delicious tray of Christmas cookies to take home. Isn't that cute? Also, they were the best cookies I've ever eaten.

Today we went to the furniture store to find a bed frame for our awesome Christmas present from the Overmans... a giant king sized bed!!! It is fantastically gigantic and super comfy as well. We LOVE it!!! Fiona had to test it out for herself. Doesn't she look guilty?

Christmas Party

Today was our work Christmas party for residents and staff. It was a pot luck dinner where everyone brought their favorite dish. The residents families each brought an item that either their parent's used to love, or used to always make for them. My favorite was the chili relleno bake... I'm getting the recipe next week! We had a lot of fun getting our ladies dressed up for the big event! Some staff did makeup, while the other staff did hair. They all looked gorgeous! Merry early Christmas!

A day for eating (and thanksgiving!)

Lori hosted Thanksgiving at her house this year and we had a great time. Believe it or not, this was mine and Jeff's FIRST Thanksgiving together! In years past, Jeff or myself have always been stuck at work. So we were thankful for having the time off this year to spend with eachother. I made a cheeseball shaped like a turkey...isn't he cute?Can you believe all of this food fit into my stomach? And it was good.... Kara's family has a tradition of always making a holiday craft at Thanksgiving. This year we made Christmas ornaments! I made a little bride and groom for our wedding this year :) After eating, Kara's family had everyone over for a bunko tournament. Jeff and I had never played bunko before but luckily it was easy to figure out. Happy Thanksgiving!!! 34 more days!

Giant dogs

Living with a giant dog... she thinks she is a lap dog and can squeeze herself into the tiniest of spaces...
But give her about 10 minutes and some how she manages to take over your entire space... We love our giant dog though, they make for great cuddle bugs and space heaters! I had my final dress fitting on Saturday, here is a little teaser until the big day. Friday we are meeting with our musicians to go over music... yay! Things are really starting to come together, now the time is zooming by.

They say it's your birthday!

I can't believe I am a quarter of a century old! (Not a half century like I had before Aunt Terri caught that big one!) I hadn't had that 'starting to feel old' feeling yet until today when someone asked how old I was and I couldn't say 24. Okay, okay 25 is still young but it's just one of those ages that seems to hit you more. It has been a great birthday weekend though so I'll take another birthday next year! Yesterday Jeff and I went to Pappadeaux for some Cajun seafood dinner. As far as seafood goes in a land locked state, it was great! We even tried the oysters being the daring food junkies that we are.

After dinner we went to see "A Christmas Carol" in 3-D at our Imax theater. It was really cool! I only had to nudge Jeff a few times when he was snoring, and I only fell asleep for about 5 minutes myself half way through. (Apparently we can't go to movies past 9 o'clock without falling asleep, talk about embarassing.)

Today was also a special day because I was welcomed into our church officially as a member. I have been doing the RCIA process at St. Thomas More to continue my Catholic faith (I was baptised as a baby but did not complete the rest of my sacraments.) Only 25-30 more weeks to go until I graduate from this 'class' and can start taking Eucharist with everyone. Jeff is my sponsor so it was really cool to have him there to give me a blessing. We had to walk down the aisle together so it felt like a mini wedding practice! Father Andrew was there who is also the one who will be performing our ceremony. I almost cried several times thinking about it, so everyone better be ready for some major water works on the big day. By the way, the best part of this picture is the old man up in the left. Jeff was in love with his teal sweater and told me that is exactly what he wants to wear when he gets to be an old man.

In other birthday news, Jeff surprised me and took me to the cowboy store today. I got to pick out a pair of boots for my present! Now I officially feel like a real Coloradoan. Aren't they great? So Terri this means I have to come visit you in Washington so I can run around your barn to get them dirtied up.

Hockey Time

Jeff has been working down in the office the last few weeks. Last night we got to go to an Avalanche game with some of his co-workers and sit in the Ensign Suite. It was awesome! I had never been to an Avalanche game before, so now I will be quite spoiled next time that I go.

Ghost Hunters!

Lori, Kara, Brigitte and I went on a real ghost hunt! The mansion of Highlands Ranch apparently has been taken over by some spirits and we were on a mission to find them.

Could that be a ghost in the window.... What's that behind the vines.... a spirit?? No! It's Lori!

Brigitte was in charge of the EMF detector, a device that measures electromagnetic fields. She worked very hard at measuring each and every nook and cranny of each separate room, but didn't find any fluctuations. Boo! We must have scared away all the supernatural spirits with our laughing and goofing off!

Bridal Shower and Wedding Invites

Tyler helped out for a minute, but then he needed to go to bed!

Making invitations is as easy as 1, 2, 3!

The finished product...

Grandma, Mom, and Aunt Cheryl at my beautiful bridal shower.

Too bad flowers can't last 3 months... I could have used these for the wedding!

How awesome are these...m&ms that say Jeff and Emily!

My wonderful second family that I love!
Here are all the lovely women that threw together my amazing bridal shower. Thanks so much I will remember it forever!

PS Thank you cards are being mailed out TOMORROW! (I had a few set backs, lost our first wedding reception venue, mini blizzard...the usual. But they WILL be out tomorrow morning. :)

I am here!

I have been so busy I have not had time to update my blog at all! Look out tonight though, I need to catch everyone up on the past month...bridal shower, wedding news, winter snow!

Book signings and golf course weddings

On Monday night Jeff and I went to Olive Garden for dinner before he left for work the next day. Ever since I have known Jeff I have been following an author and her book series. Her last book was released over a year and a half ago. Well I mentioned at dinner, I wonder when the next Diana Gabaldon book will be released? It should be coming up soon. So we decided to check out our local book store. Well upon arriving we saw signs decorating the store saying the book was being released the next day and that Diana would be there the following day. My favorite author, in my little town! I couldn't believe it.

Needless to say, I dragged my best friend out with me to wait in line for 2 hours just to listen to Diana speak for twenty minutes, and then another 2 hours just to have her sign my book..

Here it is! She wrote me a Gaelic blessing for good health. I couldn't tell you what it actually says since it is really just one little scribble. But she did tell me "It's a Gaelic blessing for good health." She's the expert so I'll take her word on it.

Yesterday I did something a little less dorky... another wedding! It was set at a gorgeous golf course. One that would make even the most anti-golf person want to learn the game just to play there. Can you imagine teeing off from here?

Aren't they adorable? Four down...One more to go! (and it's mine yay!)

Joe and Lisa Palladino

We have had an event filled weekend. Jeff's very good childhood friend Joe and his now wife, Lisa had a beautiful wedding downtown. Can you believe this is the only picture I took of the bride and groom?

Here are the boys all dressed up. Don't they look handsome!

Brian was the best dancer on the floor!

Lori and I had a blast too talking to everyone and tearing it up on the dance floor as well.

It was a very beautiful wedding. The flowers were gorgeous, the food was fantastic and everyone had a really good time! Congratulations Joe and Lisa!!

Coconut Shrimp

Look what I made! Coconut shrimp and rice that I did not burn. Man, I'm getting pretty good at this cooking thing. (Okay, okay... it was a dream dinners creation.) But let me tell you I still made it all homemade! You prepare the ingredients in advance, and then you freeze them. When you want to make the dinner, you pull it the morning of then you prepare it that night. It is awesome for working women or those that need a little help coming up with meals. My boss let me try this one, and it was a huge success with Jeff, and me!

The next Tiger Woods

We got to see Tyler last night at his dad's birthday party, he is such a cutie! He was getting ready for bed so he had his little jammies on that were just the cutest things I have ever seen. I was shocked at how big he is getting! Every time we see him he is bigger and more attentive to everything going on. Here he is drooling all over his Uncle Jeff. Jeff has been teaching me how to play golf which has been lots of fun! We love to spend time with each other over a friendly dose of competition, so I figured it was about time I put some honest effort into his favorite game. The hardest part for me so far is putting the ball on the tee, or as I like to call it, the wooden stick. Jeff is a great teacher though, so I've really been enjoying my time. Soon I'll be up there with Tiger. We played with my very good friend Kristi and her boyfriend so it was a lot of fun walking the course together and laughing at our rediculous shots. Toward the end, we even had some half-way decent ones!

Jeff is spending the rest of the day catching up on work stuff while I put some finishing touches on some wedding details. I can't believe we are getting married in four months, I can hardly wait!