9...

My CA staff planned a BBQ/potluck for us and our families. What I didn't know was that it was also a surprise wedding party for Ben and I! Our friend, Andy, asked us to get in his car and see if we could hear the clunking noise his car was making. We rode around for awhile and came back to our BBQ site to see this!

(sorry for the strange looking pictures the camera was on a funky setting and I didn't realize it!)

A beautiful sign!

And gifts! My staff is truly wonderful.

We got ice packs for a cooler, mattress pad, and a pudgie pie maker!

Delicious cake that Jackie made! YUM!

There were also bubbles on the tables which we had lots of fun with.

Andy made friends with the three little girls who enjoyed jumping on his back and squishing him!

The adorable card we received!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Now here are a few more glimpses of our wedding!

I decided last minute to do another do-it-yourself project, call me crazy!

We received a few wedding presents while visiting Ben's family and also through the mail.

They are taunting me by sitting in our spare bedroom.

All that stuff is wedding things!! Our wedding has officially taken over our spare bedroom and half our living room!

On a side note, I start another job today. Wish me luck!

10...

Can you believe it?

It feels like just yesterday that we were at 100 days and here we are at 10!

The last time I wrote here was our to do list. I've since updated it! :)

* Writing out Thank Yous DONE

* Meeting with our vendors one final time ALMOST DONE (one last meeting with the DJ)

* Finalizing music selections and reception schedule DONE

* Putting together ceremony programs DONE

* Checking in with the last people who haven't sent in their RSVP DONE (as done as I think we'll be)

* Working on paperwork for name changes, joint bank accounts, etc. A WORK IN PROGRESS

Looking ahead our to do list is MUCH smaller. I'm no longer the least bit stressed and it feels so wonderful. I'm truly going to sit back and enjoy the next 10 days. We still have plenty to do but I'm passed the point of worrying about anything. This is such a special time in our lives and I love where we are at.

The past two weekends have been a blessing to us. We got to spend a weekend with my family while seeing my best friend Ashely and this past weekend we spent time with Ben's family and I got to see my other best friend, Lauren. It was so wonderful spending some time with family and friends and the next time we see them it will be for our wedding!

Here is a behind the scenes look at our lives in the last two weeks.

We started our first garden!

We are growing cucumbers, carrots, green beans, sugar snap peas, acorn squash, tomatoes and peppers. We are also taking part in the community garden (I'm the co-chair!) and there are MANY more glorious things in that part of the garden too!

We had quite the rain storm yesterday and Ben and I were running around trying to take in our plants and little peppers who aren't strong enough to be planted yet. Of course Ben had to try out his new rain gear! He stood out in the rain for a few minutes and came in as dry as could be!

On our drive back home this past weekend we stopped at a little roadside park with stairs leading to a gorgeous beach. We explored the beach and then walked through the water and played on all these rocks!

We also checked out this cool waterfall. We always see it on our trip and this time Ben stopped so we could get a good look at it!

Congrats!

I lost my maid of honor yesterday afternoon..

BUT

I now have a Matron of Honor!!

Congrats to Ashely and her husband Chad on their marriage.

Ash looked stunning, here is a glimpse!

I'm so lucky to be able to share in your special day.

(2 weeks and 6 days til our wedding!)

23 Days

This past month has been so busy that I've completely overlooked our blog and I'm so sorry.

We are getting down to all of the "small" stuff.

* Writing out Thank Yous

* Meeting with our vendors one final time

* Finalizing music selections and reception schedule

* Putting together ceremony programs

* Checking in with the last people who haven't sent in their RSVP

* Working on paperwork for name changes, joint bank accounts, etc.

Since school got out Ben has been able to help me A LOT. So this is a big shout out to him.. THANKS for all of your hard work and help with everything (even the crafty things you'd rather not do!).

What have we been doing?

* Bought and put ribbon on bubbles

* Put together little bathroom baskets

* Finished gifts for our bridal party

* Created place cards

* Finished everything for the kid's activity table

* Figured out rehearsal dinner set-up (chairs/tables/etc.)

* and SO much more.

I don't want to give too much away and spoil the surprises on our wedding day but I'll try to share a few glimpses.

To make it even more difficult there are no captions. :)

Any guesses on what the pictures are of?

See you all soon!

Bridal Shower #2

LOVE /'luv/

(noun, verb, and everything in between)

1: holding hands, walking in the rain, and not even knowing it's raining 2. being there for each other (no matter what) 3: that certain look 4: trust 5: passion 6: the best kind of friendship 7: gets better with time 8: a fairy tale that does come true

(I received this card at my bridal shower held in my hometown. It's perfect for a Language Arts major!)

This past Saturday was my Bridal Shower at home. My mom hosted the event with a lot of help from my Grandma Kathy, Maid of Honor, Ashely, and help from all of my aunts. The day was PERFECT (minus a few guests who couldn't be there).

I walked into to my church's Sunday School room to a room filled with brown, blue and a splash of lime green. Hydrangeas, tissue paper flowers (made by a girl I used to babysit, Hannah), towel cake, beautiful wedding-like cake, homemade wedding tree, LOTS of delicious food, homemade chocolate and a posterboard filled with pictures from my first shower.

Some picture have been added to Facebook but I'll put a few on here in case you didn't see them!

(I stole them off of Ashely's, Lauren and my mom's facebook.. THANKS!)

The set-up. Thanks to everyone who help set up!

A posterboard filled with pictures from my first shower.

A digital picture frame with photos of Ben and I.

Picture of me with Ben's family so everyone could see his two sisters who weren't able to join us.

A wedding tree that my Aunty Lisa made!

My cake that my aunts got for me! It was beautiful and TASTY!

The delicious food that my mom and Grandma worked so hard to make. It was so yummy! A special thanks to Aunty Bonnie for all of her work during the shower!

The gift table! I am so blessed.

The flowers my mom and friend, Hannah, made!

You can also see the Kleenex holders that my Grandma made as party favors and chocolate bride favor my Aunty Jodi made. Yummy!

Towel cake made by Aunty Jodi and cousin, Kaitlyn. This was filled with bathroom and kitchen towels, pot holders and bamboo utensils.

A closer look at the wedding tree!

Aunty Jodi starting our meal.

Ashely, Raena, me and Lauren! Thanks for all your help!

My helmet! :D

I had a wonderful bridal shower!!

I can't say THANKS enough to everyone who helped make my day so amazing!

Love you all!

Bachelorette Party!

Last Saturday evening my best friends, Ashely and Lauren threw a Bachelorette Party for me at Applebee's in my hometown.

It wasn't anything huge - just the way I wanted it!

It was the three of us, Ben's youngest sister and Tia, my brother's girlfriend.

We played a few games, had a few drinks, ate some delicious food, and enjoyed some scandalous moments! ;)

Ben's family had to head out of town late Saturday night so we headed back early and crashed Ben's bachelor party. We all spent some time together enjoying one another's company before Lauren and I went to bed. Ben's best man, Eric, my brother, Justin, and Ben spent a few hours playing video games as a fun end to a wonderful bachelor party!

I won't share many pictures of my fun night but here is a glimpse..

Lauren made party bags for all of us!

The party bags were filled with goodies!

Check out all the fun candy! Read each bag! :)

What a cute idea!

A big thanks to Lauren and Ashely for planning this! I had such a wonderful time and I'm so thankful to have such amazing friends!!

48 Days and Counting!

My school to do list is down to two items:
1. Presentation on Wednesday

2. Exam on Thursday

THEN I'M DONE!

My Community Adviser to do list is growing smaller each day as everything is wrapped up this upcoming Sunday.

I will continue to be a CA throughout the summer but the work load is WAY less and the job will be all around more enjoyable.

Fortunately, I was able to get a job for the summer and will be working a desk job similar to the one I have now. Unfortunately, the job starts in June. I did pick up a little janitor job for the summer that starts May 1st but that isn't a whole lot of pay - at all.

What does all this mean?

I have NO excuse for not emerging myself in all things wedding related. I relaxed a lot this weekend but now it is time to boogie! Or wedding is 48 days away so I need to get my butt moving.

Here is a glimpse of my Saturday Weekend Visitors! :)

Noah (usher) and my mom playing on Webkinz.

Ring bearers: Logan (left) and Jonah (right)

Here is what I've been working on!

2 Months!!

We are down to the final weeks!!

Unfortunately I don't have any new photos to share.

The Reasons:

1. We've been concentrating on gifts for everyone in our bridal party and we can't share what we got them!

2. I've been doing checking off some of the "boring" things off our to do list like making little appointments for various things like setting up a hair appointment for the morning of our wedding and making sure all my BMs and GMs have everything in order.

3. We have only 7 days left of classes so as the semester gets busier - we spend less time on wedding stuff.

BUT the good news is in 2 weeks we will be finishing up the school year! My final day is April 29th! YEAH!

This weekend is a BIG one for us!!

Here is a run down of our weekend in my hometown.

Friday: Ben's family and our best friends, Lauren and Eric are coming up and we are having dinner at my parents.

Saturday:

12pm: My Bridal Shower

6:30pm: Spa Party at my Aunt's

8:30pm: Bachelorette Party

And Ben is having a man night on Saturday. Eric, Ben's best friend, is planning something to celebrate Ben's bachelorhood. I believe the night starts off with all the guys and then the 21 year-olds are heading out.

Sunday:

Church with everyone then

My Maid of Honor's, Ashely, bridal shower!!

What a fun weekend!

See you all in 2 months!

Easter Miracle!

I got a special phone call today from one of my bridesmaids, Lauren and her husband, Ben's best man, Eric.

They just found out that she is expecting! Their daughter Addison will be a big sister come December!

CONGRATS Lauren and Eric!!!

Happy Easter

Christ has risen! Christ has risen indeed!

NWR (Non-Wedding Related)

I haven't been blogging as much as I'd like so I thought I'd show you why I've been so busy!

Ben and I have been trying to eat healthier and take better care of ourselves. We bought into a Food Co-op and we buy a good chunk of my groceries there every week. We have also been cooking one "almost" organic meal each week. Sometimes we aren't able to be completely organic like when we have to add milk or butter. We had to try out their organic pizza dough - and man is it good!

I've been becoming more involved in classrooms! I've been very busy planning lessons, preparing those lessons and teaching my own lessons!

What an AMAZING experience this has been.

These are some of the third graders that I have been working with for the past few weeks on a unit plan on the Arctic Circle.

Ben and I are starting up a garden! We have a community garden for the on-campus apartments and we are taking advantage of the opportunity to try out our green thumbs.

I still try to find time for friends, which doesn't happen as often as I'd like.

A few friends came over this past weekend and we made cupcakes to surprise a friend on her birthday. We encountered a few mishaps along the way but everything turned out edible! Yeah!

So there is just a glimpse at our lives outside of wedding planning!

I'll leave out all pictures of the the boring stuff - homework, our jobs, etc.. :)

3 Quarters

75 Days to Go!

On Saturday Ben and I made a trip to the Post Office to send out our invitations! It felt so wonderful to have them leave my hands. Now I need to set up an area in my apartment so I can start collecting and logging RSVPs! Here is the final shot of the invitations as we headed out the door.

I've been working on lots of wedding things. In fact I've got about 5 projects started but I get too excited to finish one project before starting another so none are really complete. Some I want to keep a surprise, sorry! But here is a shot of our programs that are in progress of being made.

Have a great week!

3 Months to Go

Time sure is flying now!

Spring Break was last week. Ben and I spent half the week with his family and the other half with mine. I was able to get help from Ben's youngest sister, Raena, in a special project. And in the process I learned a new craft! :) But that is all I can tell you about that.

My mom and little cousin, Mikayla, helped me out during Spring Break too. Thanks to them we were able to get the favors about 70% done! They were a HUGE help!

I really concentrated on the kids during Spring Break. I want to make this day special for all the amazing kids in our lives!

A few questions I had to answer:

1. What to have at the kids table?

2. How we can entertain kids at every age level?

3. Are there a few fun (and easy!) craft projects that I can make for them?

4. What can we get for the kids in our bridal party?

I was able to answer all of these questions! After figuring out the details, Ben, Raena and I did a little shopping and we picked up a few items to get me started on the kid details.

Now that I have that figured out:

1. We went to the post office and got our invitations weighed and bought all the postage stamps that we need. I'm putting all the stamps on the envelopes and sealing them shut TODAY! Those will go out soon.

2. I made a kids activity book and I am in the process of finishing those up this weekend.

3. The table markers have been sitting in a box just waiting to be worked on so those are on my to do list this weekend too!

What has Ben been doing?

He has been such a BIG help during the planning process. If I am doing crafty things, even though he won't be able to help (I'm too fussy haha) he'll sit next to me while I work on things. He is always asking me what he can do to help and wants a part in all the decision making. He has sat through numerous "boring" meetings with the florist, photographer, etc. He has been working on a few things of his own though.

1. He booked the honeymoon!! I have no idea where we are going but I do know we are driving and it will be mid 70s! Sounds good to me! I can't wait to see what he has planned.

2. Ben picked out the tuxes without my help and now he is in charge of getting all the measurements needed and getting that information to the shop we are getting the tuxes from.

3. He has been helping me with the table markers too!

No pictures this post but I'll try to get a few for the next one! :)

See you all in less than three months!

One-Hundred

100 days until we get married!!

This is our last day in the three digits!!

Check them out!

Here they are!!

I am almost done with them. I just need to get them weighed and put postage on the envelopes.I have been finishing them up and assembling them all evening. I have about 65% of them assembled and will have them finished by Tuesday! Feels SO terrific to have this BIG project done. After all I have been working on them since December.

I couldn't be happier with how they turned out.

I'm so excited!

Most of the invitation parts.

Part of my assembly line.

USA USA USA

This is totally not wedding related but I just love the Olympics!! Ben and I spent some quality time together on Saturday night watching the Olympics and eating a big bowl of ice cream. We've been cheering on our favorites every free moment we have and tonight was no different. Shaun White, Kimberly Derrick, Shani Davis, and J.R. Celski are among our favorites. Our National Anthem is currently being played as USA takes another gold in snowboarding and I can't help but tear up! I'm so excited for all of these athletes and I love watching some of the greatest moments of their lives! GO USA!

4 Months!

Four months left until our wedding! The months are truly flying by which means we have been very busy!

Tuxes

Ben and two of our groomsmen picked out the tux style this afternoon. Now the rest of the guys have to get measured and then we are all set! Feels good to cross off another big item. I was not able to make it to the appointment with them but I trust that what they choose will be great! I believe Ben said something about lime green tuxes.... haha

DJ

Our DJ is booked and paid for in full! Another big item completed! Want to check them out? You can at http://digneitbrothersproductions.com. And we got a discount just because I chatted with them at a bridal show. Yeah!

Registry

We are finishing up our Target registry tomorrow morning and our Kohl's one has been done for months now. This isn't Ben's favorite part.. but he's been a great sport plus he likes being in control of the scanner.

Rehearsal Dinner and Day After Brunch

We have figured out almost all of the details as of last weekend. We just needed a place to hold both and we found a FREE location last weekend! :)

Reception Decorations

We ordered all of the decorations for our reception and they should all be here soon.

So many things are finally falling into place and I couldn't be happier.

And now for some pictures....

My work station for embossing the invitation inserts.

The inserts are all printed and cut, now I am finishing them.

Most of these are done, finishing them up this weekend!

All the pieces of the invitations waiting patiently to be assembled.

We are putting out Andes Candies on the tables.

5lbs of chocolate is currently sitting in my fridge.

They came in the mail today.

What a great 4-month gift!

A mock table layout.

The fabric used here was some scraps from another project (see below).

Our table markers aren't done yet but you can get a good idea of what they look like.

The Andes are going to be down the middle of the fabric.

I got a chance to try out the sewing machine I got from the moms at my bridal shower.

I love it!!

I made a pillow case for Ben's knee pillow he got for Christmas! :)

Wedding Website

It is finished! We had a few "minor" details to add to the site but it is officially finished along with the times for our ceremony and reception!

I'm hoping to add a new post in the next week or so updating you all on what we have been up to and we have been up to alot! :D

Until then check out our website http://benandjessica2010.blogspot.com/ which also includes a pretty neat looking map I made.