Our First Christmas, so far not a white one

(a little blurry but this is our ornament this year, cute!)

I have been thinking and missing my Christmas' of old, well not missing all of it, but more the family traditions of it. As many of you know, we are not to look back lest we turn to a pillar of salt. Okay, a bit dramatic as we won't literally turn to a pillar of salt, but what good comes from dwelling on the past? I say, remember it fondly but look at today and ahead with joy! A friend, Sarah, reminded me today of something. She mentioned how a blogger friend of hers wrote how each Christmas has a different flavor. I thought, "YES!" I am so excited and so blessed to have this first Christmas as husband and wife, yet a part of me will miss the traditions of old. But why? I think it really is just the tradition of it, this by no means is my first Christmas without my family, only the 2nd. I am 34 years old and this is my 2nd Christmas without any family. By family, I mean extended, because this Christmas I have Scott and that is wayyyy better! (No offense family!) I love Scott and thank God each day for the incredible man that he is and for the wonderful husband he is to me, I could not have imagined anything better! Yet, here I am still being a little sad because I am away from my family this year. I think the sadness is wearing away, thank you Lord! It is wearing away at each memory of old and reminder of prayer answered!

There were 2 times a year that were the most difficult for me, as a single gal. Christmas Eve was one of the hardest. Each year I went to church alone, I invited my family, but it just wasn't their thing. So I went, usually sat by myself (pity party starts now!) and looked around to see all the families together. The night always ended with me in prayer for a husband to spend Christmas with. After service, I would drive through somewhere then head to the other side of town to go to Christmas Eve service with my dear friend, Becca. Her mom always sang and it was beautiful! usually Becca and I would hang out after then I would head home to snuggle with Herbie and Rebel. (side note: unpacked their stockings a few weeks back, it was hard!) Last year, however, Kiera and I had this fabulous Christmas Eve dinner for her family, who is also my 2nd family and then I slept over so Scott and I could wake up together on Christmas morning (I slept in the guest room, him on the couch. So we didn't actually wake up together, but were under the same roof.) We woke, and enjoyed the joy on Elyse's face as she opened each gift. After, in our jammies, in my usual Christmas morning routine, we headed to my moms, after taking care of Herb and Rebel, of course! So each Christmas morning for years, I go to my moms in my jammies, Ryan and Emily meet us there in theirs and we always have Asher. So we got to watch him rip into his gifts. After, we have a huge breakfast then all head home to nap, I bake pies then back over to mom's for Christmas dinner. Later I always ended up at the Palmer's or Farrar's. It was a wonderful day. Last year meant more because Scott was there, but this year will be even better because I can assure you I am not sleeping in the guest room and he is not sleeping on the couch! :) So there you have it...that is my tradition of old. I am letting it go and this year we are beginning our own tradition as Mr. and Mrs. and I am so excited!!!! As it is, my mom is not even hosting the Christmas dinner this year. Her first as long as I can remember. I am thankful for that. I remember thinking last year, it was time for her to get a break. This year she is going to my cousins and enjoying dinner with them. I hear they are still doing the morning routine though with Asher. Good!

We are not having a Massimino or a King Christmas, but a Mr. and Mrs. Scott King Christmas! We are heading out early tomorrow morning to drive to Scott's parents. We will go to his brother's church with them tomorrow night then back to his parents house to open gifts. We are going to sleep there tomorrow, although in future years will probably drive home so our child can wake at home on Christmas morning. We had bought a turkey at Thanksgiving when they were on sale. So we plan on cooking up a Christmas dinner (my first one ever cooking myself!) and snuggling up together, opening our presents to each other, sipping on hot cocoa and watching a Christmas movie or whatever else we decide we want to do. Part of me wants that big family dinner that I am use to, and we almost were going to stay down there for that but after talking about it, we both realized what we really wanted this year, was this time between us. At least a little part of it. To celebrate the wonderful things God has done for us this year and to just enjoy us. With our work schedules, we have little time for that right now and come next year, baby will make 4! (Hunter already makes 3 but it's easy to hush him up! LOL)

So that is our flavor this year. Next will be different as I imagine all future ones will be as we enjoy each year with our boy, Samuel Alan. There it is...we decided on a name! :)

This year I have checked off many answered prayers, that have been prayed for many, many years. God is good! I would not change any of those years with just Him as all those years led to this year, and neither Scott or I would change a thing that brought us here together!

Samuel means: Name of God; asked of God; heard by God. Samuel was the prophet who anointed Saul and David as kings of Israel in the Old (from Babyhold.com) Samuel was definitely asked of God, we have both asked for many years, just as Hannah asked for him. It seemed fitting and we both just keep coming back to it. It is a strong male name and the baby will have Scott's middle name and Scott's initials! Woo hoo! Baby Samuel! He likes his name too. :)

So Merry Christmas all! I hope your year was richly blessed and that you too have some answered prayers to check off. If not, remember..God's plans are so good for us even in the midst of trials we may not always see it and sometimes we never see the real meaning of something, but they are good plans and they are plans to prosper us and to ultimately draw us closer to Him. Rest in His arms this Christmas season and remember the amazing gift He gave us, His one and only son, Jesus!

Okay, just saw a really cute commercial- Santa running through target for last minute Christmas gifts! LOL! Anyway, I best get a packing or we won't make it out of here early in time and may sit in ferry traffic!

Baby happenings

I realize I have not truly blogged in forever! Busy, busy, busy and then traveling. Figured I'd better get on it before I get busy with Christmas!

This was me on Thanksgiving Day, 20 weeks. And no, I do not know yet what I am having. I go for my ultrasound next week and should find out then, unless baby doesn't cooperate, which would just be sooo wrong!

So far everything has been normal in pregnancy. What has not been normal is my doctor! I actually have decided to fire him. I will get to that later.

Here are the highlights so far:

Nov. 5th began to feel first distinctive flutters.

Nov. 15th Baby kicked me-3X! Dad got to feel the baby kicking! Baby decided to keep me up all night, figured out how to move around and didn't stop!

Nov. 25th (Las Vegas, NV) Baby moves up in my belly and boy did I feel it! My belly was not quite stretched enough for that yet and it was tight! I actually got worried with the pressure and soreness. About 3 a.m. I could not handle the not beign able to get comfortable and sleep anymore. I tried texting Kiki to ask her if this was normal. All that was going through my head was "I never should have flown!" Well, of course at 3 a.m. Kiki was asleep, so I called the maternity triage line here at the hospital (I was 20 weeks now so allowed to call them, not just the ER) and Scott prayed for us. After speaking with the on-call doctor and realizing it truly was just stretching and nothing serious, he recommended I take a warm bath and some tylenol. Having no tylenol, my wonderful husband drew me a warm bath (thank goodness the guest room at the Farrar's has a bathroom in it!) After the bath I slept much better and woke with the belly you see above. What an exciting Thanksgiving!!!! That night, Rhonda graciously pushed and rubbed on my belly, she found the head and bum of the baby and whatever she did, got the baby in a better position. I slept like a baby, lol, the rest of the weekend! Now the baby just rolls around like crazy! I love the feeling and it is so great to share that with Scott. He loves kissing baby goodbye when he leaves or when it is time for bed. We have found the baby really moves during worship at church. On the plane ride home I put the headphones on my belly and played country and christian music. Baby enjoyed that more than the motor sound!

Had a fun time visiting family for Thanksgiving and the girls, Becca, Kiki, and Jenny took me to Cheesecake Factory (YUM!) and then to a movie for a late birthday celebration. It was a well needed girls night out for this girl who hasn't had one. Cheesecake! Need I say more?

Sadly on our way to the airport Sunday we heard the news of the 4 Lakewood Officers murdered here in Washington. Once we got to the airport we were able to get online and see the breaking story. It was the next day that Scott got confirmation that the Sgt murdered was one of his instructors for SWAT when he was on the team. It just broke our hearts to hear of the tragic ambush and then to hear the story as it unfolded. Our prayers continue to go out to the families and the Officers on the Lakewood PD. This certaintly has brought me to my knees praying for my husband, Hunter and the other guys he works with each night. Thankfully, they caught the bad guy before he hurt anyone else. Even more, they are getting all the accomplises he had and we just Praise God for the justice He has given. I also am so grateful for the comfort I have in Him. Not saying I don't worry for my husband, because I always have. But...there is a comfort in knowing that God has him in His hands and loves him more than even I do! The best thing I can do is pray for him each night and let God take care of the rest! :)

At last months appointment I asked my doctor if I could get my ultrasound before this visit (I just went today for my 21st week visit.) He said if we want 100% assurance of what we are having we should wait. So I reluctantly agreed. Everyday people ask me "what are you having?" Of course they assume I know, because everyone knows by now! Well I don't know. Guess what? I show up to the doctor today and as he is searching for the heartbeat (he did find it) he asks me "Do we know if it is a boy or a girl yet?" I about kicked him! I looked at him and said "You wouldn't let me go yet!" Grr! So he finally wrote order for it, they don't do them there. I called today and the earliest they can schedule me is Tuesday. We may wait until Wednesday though since Tuesday is Lakewood PD memorial.

I have not been super comfortable with my doctor anyway. I feel like he doesn't know me and really I am just another patient. After praying, researching and talking with so many, we have decided to leave him and go with the midwifery clinic at the hospital I plan on delivering at. It will be a much more personal experience, I meet each midwife, and the midwife stays with me pre, during and post! An OBGYN doesn't even do that, no matter who they are! Since I will be at the hospital, if anything goes ary, there is an oncall OBGYN. There was no gurantee my dr. would deliver anyway, you just get the oncall dr. I already feel better and really enjoyed speaking with the midwife clinic the other day!

We got our tree up the other night, outside lights are all up, just have a few more yard decorations to put up, snow flurries in the forecast...we are all ready for our FIRST CHRISTMAS AS HUSBAND AND WIFE! I love this time of the year!

Merry Christmas and remember...without Jesus there would be no Christmas!

Another great giveway!

Safeway has lowered their prices even more! I was there last friday and saved about what I spent! Woo Hoo! Bonus was I got $4 off my next Safeway purchase as well!
My favorite blogger has another great giveway, this time $50 Safeway gift card! Check out Thrifty Northwest Mom's blog to read all about it! Hey LV'ers. Read it, I think I read Vons will honor Safeway gc's!

$50 off $100 coupon for Old Navy

My favorite blogger has another great giveaway! Old Navy and Thrifty Northwest Mom have paired up to offer 10 $50 off $100 coupons. Check out her blog for the details!!!!

Check out this great movie giveaway!

Read my new favorite bloggers post about this awesome movie pack you can win! She always posts on the great deals going on around here in WA, around the country and also on the web!

Thrifty Northwest Mom

Enjoy!

2Cor7:1
Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God

At last.....

Our Thank you cards will be going in the mail, at last! You are probably thinking to yourself, "Umm..haven't you been married for over 4 months now? Shouldn't these have already gone out?" Well the answer would be yes and yes! Unfortunately, someone had offered to make the Thank you cards for us and kinda flaked. So I decided to make them myself. However, I had to wait for the photographer to send us our pictures, which turned out to be longer than I would have thought. So....finally, I asked the photographer to email me this picture so we could start getting them printed and...the rest of the pictures arrived a week later, check fb for the goods! So, Scott and I set on my final DIY project connected to the wedding. I must say, I love how they turned out and it has been fun working on them with Scott. Especially since he was living here in WA during all the fun wedding planning and missed out on alot! ;) He loves me!

So, first task was designing the photo card. I searched all the recommended sites, but ended up with the old standby, Costco. They made our Save the dates beautiful so I knew they would do the same for our thank yous! The design I wanted was no longer available, so my crafty mind went with this plain one and decided I had enough materials leftover from the wedding projects to jazz it up! Scott and I got 100 cards printed for under $25, envelopes included (and these don't cost extra postage-bonus!) We picked them up, loved them then headed to Michaels to buy the "We tied the knot" ribbon. We actually didn't set out to buy that ribbon but loved the look and decided to splurge ($1.99/spool, 2 spools.) Finally, we went to Office Max and bought large, white address labels to write our thank you on and affix to the back of the card (under $20!) The rest of the materials I had at home (glue tape, scissors, stamp, ink, embossing powder and heat tool-remember my exciting trip to Paper Source in April, here in Bellevue?) I will say it is time consuming, but def worth making them ourselves. We saved at least 50% if not more than the other guy was going to cost and the time Scott and I got together making these alone was worth it!

I measured out the ribbon so it would curl under each side just a little, used the glue tape to tact it down and Scott worked his magic on stamping up the back. It took a little perfecting, as picture paper and heat don't mix. All and all, we are very happy with the finished project and hope our guests enjoy what we think is a unique thank you!

So my gracious, generous guests...be watching your mailboxes for yours! They should go out this weekend! Thank you for being patient with us on getting these out so late!

Jer 31:3 The LORD appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you. Sweet!

Recipes

I love my crock pot! It is the best invention since sliced bread! Nothing makes dinner easier, and so yummy for a working gal like a crock pot! I love mine so much that for the wedding we got a new one, yet kept our 2 old ones. You never know when you may need one!

Here is one of our favorite and most simple recipes! I found this recipe on About.com a couple of years ago. I make it quite often because it is so easy! My husband absolutely loves it!

Cheesy Chicken in a Crock pot

6 chicken breast, boneless skinless

2 can of cream of chicken soup (I use the family size, low-fat)

1 can cheddar soup

salt & pepper

garlic powder (I use garlic salt and pepper)

Rice

Rinse chicken, sprinkle with salt & pepper and garlic powder and place on bottom of crock. Mix soups together and pour over the chicken. Cook on low 6-8 hours. Serve over rice.

It really is that easy! It is delicious too! The chicken literally will fall apart. It is very hot once done though, usually I have to let it cool a bit.

Proverbs 19:21 Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand.

The K household as Mrs. goes back to work...

(My 2 favorite boys! Hunter only gets to sleep in bed in the morning when I get up or now when Scott is traveling!)

Stinks! It was so much more fun being married and not having to work! I mean, Scott is off for 4 days a week sometimes and we could pick up and go. Beyond that, we actually got to see each other! Now, we will go 4 days without seeign each other, except the drowsy "hi" at 3 am when he comes home or 7 am when I am leaving. It stinks. I remind myself daily that this job was such a provision and blessing.

So he is actually in Spokane for a DEA sponsored training on searching and seizing vehicles. He is having fun, doing awesome (of course) and getting free goodies! Hunter and I....could be getting along better. Let's see, where do I start with our week adventures? Let's start with yesterday morning about 6:30 a.m. Mom (that's me) has to to leave to go to her 2nd OB appointment. Hunter and I play, he goes potty then right into his kennel (for those who haven't seen it, it is 18x18 covered. It's pretty sweet!) So I put an extra dog bed in there for him, give him a treat and say goodbye. OB appt goes well, I heard baby's HB, it was sooo cool but I sure missed having Scott there. Got my flu shot. Told Dr my concerns over the Swine Flu shot (umm...it's new, who know what affect it will have on baby.) He discusses it with me and asks me to consider it for next time. All the flu vaccines they use are thimerosol free (not that there is any proof it leads to autism, but the lesser the better in general.) So then I head to school, call Sarah to ask how Hunter is. He is whining but is okay. About noon she gets home and lets him out. Then animal control shows up in the neighborhood for the neighbor and just to be safe, Sarah gets Hunter and takes him to her house. He has fun with her kids and Cole until Mom gets home. Hunter spends the night licking his paw, Mom looks and THERE'S BLOOD! He is so active that his nails stay super short, he seemed to have irritated one and it was bleeding. Thankfully, Scott has the powder to stop the blood and all is well again. He settles in for his nap and I settle into getting work done and deciding which photo I will use for my thank you cards. Later, we go outside and I notice that someone (HUNTER!) was trying to break out of his kennel and about did! AHHH!!! What am I going to do? He just is sooo attached to Scott and they are so much more than partners. He goes nuts when he is gone. He loves his kennel! So...after talking with Scott it is decided he will come to school with me today. He is much happier being with his people and I have enough flexibilty that I can' let him out every few hours. This morning, he wouldn't have let me leave without him anyway! So lunch time comes I heat my cheddar broc soup and head to the car to eat with him. Ruth, my partner SPED teacher, wants to come along. So Hunter does his business and I am settling in the front seat to eat and WHAM! Ruth puts my soup on the dashboard which is not flat and next thing you know I am drenched in soup, my durango is drenched in soup! We get it cleaned up but it is obvious I must drive the 16 miles home to change and then get back in an hour so I am ready for my small group pull-outs. We made it! Hunter loved coming to school today and is much happier tonight. Now he is begging me to take him outside to play!

Tomorrow, my neighbor Sarah, is throwing me a Pampered Chef belated bridal shower! Just the neighbors and a few other officer's wives I invited. Should be fun! I am excited to have a girls night! I miss my girl time! Okay, okay, Hunter is seriously whining! I better go!

Love this!

Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

A year later.....

Happy Anniversary to being matched on eharmony!!!!

Yep, a year ago today Scott and I were matched on eharmony. We were just talking about how much has changed in one year! Who would have thought this is where we would be a year later? I was just reading through some of our first emails to each other. It's funny to read now, we both were so unsure! Actually, in our first emai to each other (still through eharm site) we both wrote (no kidding) "I'm very unsure about this whole thing but will continue praying about this and see where the Lord takes it." Silly us! God already knew where He was taking it! Funny thing is that when Scott 1st got me, he was going to delete me, he had only wanted to meet girls in this area and LV was too far! For some reason (Hmmmm.....wonder what that reason was???) he read my profile and really liked what he read! For me, I was very unsure, not because of the distance but just because the whole thing was weird to me! Meeting someone online? Was that taking it out of God's hands? I still wasn't convinced it wasn't. Thank fully God used Kiki to push me into taking the chance and..... Scott and I hit it off! God did have big plans for us! (Jer 29:11)

3 months later I was visiting WA for the 1st time and Scott proposed! I still remember how nervous he was! Oh- I was just reading one of our emails and I had mentioned to Scott I was going to Disneyland. He wrote back "That's cool. Wish I could go." A week later after we had talked on the phone for over 10 hours that first weekend, he was planning his trip to come to LV to meet me for the 1st time and come to Disney with us! Brave guy- met my 2 best friends, the family, The Harwoods, and Cody that weekend, and still wanted to marry me! ;) It was so obvious to us both that weekend that God had amazing plans for us, I think by then we both knew we would be getting married. Okay, Scott was sure of it, in usual Alison fashion, i denied it, thought of all the reasons that this wasn't what God wanted. Of course I was wrong and it was just my way of being fearful, untrusting, absolutely ridiculous! Thank you Becca for being my voice of reason and pointing me bcak to the word! Geez- if not for Becca and Kiki maybe we wouldn't be together??? Thank goodness God sends us friends like them! He has used them mightly in my life!

So here we are a year later, I am watching my husband rock hound our yard to prepare for the dirt which is getting delivered today. In a month, he says we will have a full backyard of grass! Oh- and it will be flat! While I think the wedding was perfect! The marriage is amazing! God can us the internet! Nothing is out of His power! When He has designed for 2 people to come together in marriage to serve Him, amazing! That is all I can keep saying! We already know with Him in the middle of our marriage we can handle all the ups, downs, hills and mountains that come our way! Including the baby we will be having in April! Yep, a year later with a marriage and a baby on the way! Scott and I like to take things slow! LOL!

One of my favorite, most comforting things to do, whether its a great day or a bum day, is to read the Psalms, particularly 145 on. They are just full of praise and there is no way that I can't help but be filled with joy, even on those bum days!

Psalm 145:8-9 The LORD is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy. The LORD is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works. (that's one of my favorite verses!)

Scott and I often remark we wish we had met years ago. Then we stop ourselves because we are reminded that it is in God's timing. We each had things that we needed to go through, choices we made, molding that needed to be done so we could be the husband and wife that each other deserved. It's still a work, but God thought we were pretty close to being ready! LOL!

Can't wait to see what God has in store for the next year!
Ok, I have the best picture to add to this post but blogger pic uploader is not working! GRR! Hopefully will get it up later!

Letting Go and letting God

I heard that phrase at a teaching years back and it has always stuck with me! I love it! It speaks such truth!

Had dinner tonight with my good friend Jen. She lives about 45 mins from us and since I was up that way taking mom and Asher to the airport, I stopped for dinner at Olive Garden. YUMMY! Jen is leaving on Thursday for Niger, Africa for 2 years- please keep her in prayer! While it is not a mission trip, she will definitely be in a mission field! She is going over to teach at an embassy school there and I have a feeling God will open many ministry opportunities for her! She is going to start a blog once there and I will post a link to it once she does! It will be exciting!

In any case, her and I were talking about various things involving what God has done in her life to bring her to this and in mine to bring me here and with the wedding. So on the ride home I was reflecting on our conversation and began writing this blog in my head. Silly, but that is how I work. One of the things we talked about was how Scott and I sold/donated anything from our past before moving in together as husband and wife. Many people had made the comment before we got married in regard to us registering and gifts that "well you two each already have a home so you probably don't need much." Well yes, we did have everything but most of what we each had we had purchased while we were in another releationship. We agreed once we got engaged to get rid of anything that had been bought or gifted during our previous releationships. To be honest, I feel the Lord laid that on my heart with a seed planted a long time ago. About 4 years ago (I think it was 4!) I attended a Ladies retreat in Murietta, CA where Gisela Yohannon was the guest speaker. Amazing! That weekend had such an impact on my life! One of the things she taught on concerned keeping things from our past. How by doing so we can hinder God being able to move in lives. She wasn't just talking about spirtitually holding but also physically. But aren't they the same? The example she used was a lady who was having troubles in her marriage and was going through old pictures and reflecting on old flings and how satan used that to bring more trouble! Scott and I knew we did not want to give satan anything to use in our lives to bring any trouble. He tries even without needing anything, but why make it easier? I won't say it was easy. There were things I had which held no sentimental value and I liked! But God always reminded why I was letting them go and that was enough to do so. How easy could satan use a pot to bring troubles in our marriage? So we decided that we were not bringing anything into this home! Scott had purchased this home on his own and never lived here or even had another woman here so for us it was important to keep this place pure for our new marriage! God has provided abundantly for us for everything we needed to replace what we sold. Besides, it was fun to shop for new stuff! I don't even miss any of the old stuff! So glad we chose to do what we did, we chose to be obedient to what God had laid on our hearts, even though it was difficult at times to let go. That's just it though, it was a struggle on some things but then once we let go, it was like "why was holding onto that?" LOL!

The other day I checked the mail and there was a letter, a personal one, addressed to Scott's ex. Funny thing, I didn't even know her name until that day! I had to ask him who is ____ King? Anyway, he was baffled because she had never lived here or even ever received mail here. So we just returned it to sender. Just an example of how satan can weasle his way in. It would have been so easy for that to turn into something between us but it didn't. Like I said, not letting satan get any grip in our marriage!

You know, there are so many times I think, Herbie would love to be playing with Hunter in the grass, or Rebel would have loved to be hanging outside in the kennel, or they would have loved playing with us at the river. Again, while Herbie was always my dog, I did get him from my mom while with my ex and he had picked out Rebel. God blessed me with them when I needed them but knew it was time to let go, even though I wasn't ready! Still makes me sad and def wasn't easy but God has taken care of that and provided me with comfort in those times and peace about the decisions to let them go. He also has blessed me with Hunter, another loved one pet to inch his way into my heart and provide the companionship that dogs do! Scott already has plans for a nice spot in our garden to bury Herb and Reb's remains too. We got some lovely headstones and plan on planting some carrots in their memory! ;)

I am reminded of one of my favorite verses, its from the Old Testament (which I keep wanting to read more of!)

Joel 2:25: "So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, The crawling locust, The consuming locust, And the chewing locust, My great army which I sent among you." While God was speaking to the Israelites here I have always been reminded of the restoration God does in our life, in my life, of all the years the locust ate away. Sometimes the locust still gets in and takes a nibble but I have the strength of the Lord to fight them off stronger now than before I was saved. While this restoration often hurt, sometimes pinched a little, God is good! So yea, we got rid of every little thing that had been a part of lives while we were with someone else and not truly walking with the Lord and its good!

A month later...

I can't believe it has been a month since we got married! Happy Anniversary my love! The first month has been wonderful and I look forward to many, many, many more! I can't believe I waited a month to blog about the big day!

The day, June 13th, began like any other ordinary day....okay that is not how this story begins! The day began early, which is not like any other day for me (except that week since I couldn't sleep in!) In any case...Becca had stayed over with me the night before and we woke about 7:30 (I am pretty sure I had been in and out of sleep for a few hours prior.) I showered and did not wash my hair, per hairdresser's directions. I felt gross, slimy and unclean. Terrible feelings on your wedding day! Jen transformed all those feelings to give me this:

After the salon we headed to the hotel room to really get ready! Jenny had my de-puffing patches ready for me when I arrived. While I snacked and de-puffed, Becca got made up! It wasn't long before Josh and Keny Cohen (photographers) arrived. They started snapping away and I jsut relaxed! Next was my turn to get ready and wa la! Jenny was amazing and transformed me from a tired, worn out looking bride to this:

The florist soon arrived with my amazingingly beautiful Calla bouquet! She outdid herself! We rushed out the door and headed to Lake Las Vegas for our first look and bridal party pics! We had a great time and Josh and Keny took some amazing photos (sorry, don't have any to post yet!) The guys had fun playing Kung Fu fighters though! Check out their blog to see some teasers- The Cohens Photography. While there Josh saved the shaky bride by getting me some chips, yum! After about 2 hours of shooting we said our goodbyes, fiance and I one last time as engaged peep and headed to the church! Once again, Josh saved the day by providing cheeseburgers for the bride to chow down on just moments before taking the walk! I think Elyse enjoyed one too! It was a good thing I ate! The waitress at the reception pulled my dinner plate while I was dancing! Not to mention my slip was sooo tight, I could barely eat anyway! So back to the ceremony...

It was perfect! To be honest, the entire day was perfect! God completely smiled on our day and blessed us! It was amazing!!!! The high for the day was 88, completely unheard of for Vegas in June! We had sprinkles in the morning and little cloud coverage, which provided for some great photo ops! The ceremony went on without a hitch! Within 30 minutes I became Mrs. King and jsut could not stop the joy in my heart to walk away with my husband in hand! My bestest friend Kiera stepped right up and got the sanctuary cleared out and got the arrangements sent to Black Mountain before I could even blink!

Scott and I jumped in our car that mom got us and headed to Black Mountain Country Club for more fam pictures and our reception! We got some great pics, again! They did a really fun one of us running away to the sunset on the golf course (you can see it on the Cohen's blog.) After 30 minutes or so we were ready to head in and see our reception site! It was soooo beautiful! It was my first time seeing it and I was in awe! It looked so beautiful and the wait staff really took care of us and our guests! I don't have any good pictures of the room yet, but promise to post some!

To be perfectly honest there were only 2 minor snags and so minor, I can't even remember them now. While drama did try to come into our day, we looked up to God without giving drama a second blink! For "This is the day the LORD has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it!" Psalm 118:24 AMEN! That is what we said to ourselves and we did enjoy the day! I had a wonderful dance with my dad and step-dad, with my niece, Elyse and my husband! Him and his mom danced, so cute! After the parents dance we had fun, fun, fun and danced the typical wedding cheese songs-YMCA, slide etc....oh don't forget the Chicken Dance! About 10:30 we snuck out, well not really. Ended up saying goodbye to all and then we ended to our hotel.

To all who wonder-yes the wait for God's perfect one for me was worth it. I would not trade all those years alone for anything! There was never a moment where I questioned whether this was God's will, it was just so obvious. Ladies, it is worth the wait in all ways. There is no field to play-God already knows who the one is, just enjoy your singleness and the blessing it brings and wait patiently on God (ok, so that part isn't always easy, but trust me-soooo worth it!) It just isn't worth settling! It was nice to come into this marriage with a pure heart-which God made clean again many years ago for me. Now if I can just remember my own advice in times-Alison, it is worth waiting patiently, key word patiently, on God's best! :) There were many women along the way who were patient with me as I struggled with the same thing over and over again, whose words of encouragement came straight from the Lord. God used each of you mightly in my life. Trust in the Lord-that's all I can say!

This is way long now and I must get going on our anniversary dinner-Linguine and clam sauce (fresh clams) and brownies! YUM!

Matthew 23:12 Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted

As promised....

Ok, so I have gotten a few pics from friends from the wedding. Come on peeps! I want to see them, share!

So here is one of Scott and I on our first dance, we danced to Phil Wickham's "Divine Romance." Love Phil! Must check him out if you are unfamilar with him! Joseph did one of his songs for the lighting of our unity candle also! And the 2nd pic is of my and my niece, Elyse. She was a beautiful princess that day and was the best, best, best flower girl!!! More pictures soon to come!

We arrived here in WA at about 2 am tuesday morning. it was a terrible drive! Beautiful, I saw some parts of Oregon and Washington that are just amazing! Reminded of God the whole way. I was just tired, tired of driving and tired of not being in the same car as my husband! Today we slept in, for the first time since before the wedding! :) We unloaded the vehicles and trailer then rturned it. WE washed the yucky dead bugs off the truck and then shopped!!!!! Kohls had an unbelievable sale today! We got 8 towels all buy one get one free! We got all our dishes, buy one get one for a $1! (one is a box of 4) so we got dishes, salad plates, soup bowls and coffee mugs. We got a ton of platters adn serving ware we registered for all buy on get one for a $1 and finally got an iron, blender, rice cooker and grill plate thingy (so Scott can make me pancakes saturday morning!) All that and after we used our gift cards, we only spent $74 of our own! We got about $1200 worth of stuff but like I said everything was buy one get one! Oh- and I get 15% off everything from my registry but the salesguy just gave us 15% off everything! Kohls has redeemed themselves!

We also went to target to buy me a cute, professional looking dress for my 2nd interview tomorrow! Speaking of which, I must go finish preparing some stuff for it!

Goodnight!!!!!!!!!!

Deut 6:4-5
"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might."

The Lord is good!!!!!!!!!!!!!

~Mrs. King ( I just love the sound of that!)

We are the Kings!

It was the most perfect day for a wedding! It was also the most perfect wedding ever!!!! Seriously, like maybe 2 minor glitches which in the end worked themselves out! The saddest thing thing that happened is that my cake cutter/server was accidently tossed out after the wedding. It was a gorgeous day and we had an amazing first look session at Lake Las Vegas with our photographers, Josh and Keny Cohen. Watch their blog for a post about the day- they promised me teaser pics! There are a few pics on my photobucket share album, I hope more get posted!
For now, I don't have any to post here! But promise to soon!
Goodnight!
The Kings
John 3:16- For God sooooo loved the world!!!!!
We are so blessed He loved us this much! Marriage is an incredible blessing and He truly smiled on our wedding day!

4 days and counting!

I just can't believe in 4 days I get to be Mrs. K!!!! All this planning leads to this one day and many years of marriage!
I dropped my engaement ring of today to get all spified up for the big day and they also cleaned my earrings and necklace. The jeweler originally said I could pick it up on friday night but he saw the look on my face of disappointment and will have it ready for me tonight! Today I have been printing, tearing out and folding seating cards and organizing stuff in piles for church and reception. Oh and I created (with the help of Joseph and Kiki) a photobucket group album-Scott and Alison Wedding, where guests can upload their pics from the big day! Be sure to check it out after Saturday!
Tomorrow will be big running around day! In-laws came in tonight, tomorrow Scott, my dad and stepmom and my good friend arrive. We have dinner plans tomorrow night, thursday night, friday night and saturday, of course!
i just need to finish writing thank you cards, get few more gifts (already know what!), put favors together, programs and bells. Wow! I am soooo glad I didn't leave too much for this week. I can understand how brides freak out when they have long lists!
Will get pics posted from wedding as soon as I can but plan on me being gone until at least next thursday! We honeymoon until wednesday. Def check photobucket link for pictures!

Where has the bride been?

Sorry! Bad blogger!!!! I have been up to my ears in packing! Packing my classroom (tomorrow is officially last day for teachers) and packing my house! With less than a week until the wedding I have turned my focus to that! I have a huge list to do this week in order to get ready for saturday and the honeymoon. Honestly though, it isn't that much! :)

What I have been up to is DIY projects! I am the least DIY person in the world! If you remember I blogged in April about my inspiration for the programs. So I set out this weekend to work on them and....they won-3X!!!! I am not really that computer savvy so 1st issue was printing on the 4x6 card (it wasn't quite cardstock but thicker than paper.) I got the format down but it kept printing crooked! So...I went down to Office Max and they are now my new best friend!!! The girl originally said since it was specialty paper, I had to wait until monday or wednesday the latest. Which was ok, I left wiht hopes it would all turn out! Well...she called me today and she was able to do it for me!!! They came out perfect and she was able to use the fonts I picked out!!!!!!!!!! Next round was the back, we had wanted to put on the back our thank you's, list our party and direction to the reception site. The question was how??? Well, I decided the clear labels worked so well for the invitation envelopes I'd try that again. The trick was size- I found full sheet clear labels so I was trying for an hour to format the page so I could get at lest 2 on a page. I finally got it and...here is the outcome!

They will sit in this basket on a table outside the sanctuary with a little note for people to take one per family. We are having 90 guests (if you count all kids and wedding party) so it works out to be about 42 families. So I am making 50. We are actually having DIY day Thursday and my amazingly, wonderful friends, Kiera, Becca & Crystal are going to help me put together these, the bells and the favors!

Oh- the favors! I bought this personalized ribbon which turned out to be too long so Becca and I worked it if we cut up ribbon we can wrap it around the box and put a bow on top! :)

I also made these! They came out super cute, if I do say so myself!

So....parents start arriving tuesday, groom arrives wednesday.....we are so close and I am so excited! I just can't wait to marry him and spend the rest of my life with him! :)

Oh and we already planned our first trip back to Vegas in August! LOL!

15.25 days!

LOL! No, I really am not counting down that specifically! Just didn't have a catchy title for this post!

Scott hung our new ceiling fan today in our bedroom! Per my request...while it barely reaches 90 there in the summer, and he assures me that is maybe only for a week, not having an AC in the house makes me nervous...I don't like to be hot! So.....we used the rest of our Lowe's GC's to buy this one! Thank you shower guests! We were also able to buy a medicine cabinet I wanted for our bathroom and paint for the formal living room and the hallway!

What a handy hubby I will have! He hungthe medicine cabinet, the fan and has pretty much painted the entire house! :)

My projects include making these:

Or at least something similar. Think I can? I am making a pair for me, my MOH, junior bridesmaid and flower girl. I bought the flip flops, ribbon and these cute white bows with calla lilys on them! I printed DIY directions from Michaels, oh and I bought flip flop glue. Yes, they really make flip flop glue and yes I fell for it! LOL! I looked online and they wanted $20 for these! Besides that I think there is something special about handmade, even if they fall apart!

I also need to work on the wording for the programs and the tags for the bells. finally, I need to figure out how I am going ot put the favor boxes together and add the personalized ribbon I so wanted and bought! After I work out those details, its just a matter of putting them together. THURSDAY, JUNE 11TH is craft day!!!! :) :) :) So far I have me, my MOH, my bestest friend and another close friend signed on to help...any other takers?

Since I've been slacking....here is today's verse...Luke 4:18-19 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

Ouch! the news just said it was 99 here today...:( please cool off!

Now, to run tonight or not? I've been super lazy in the mornings and haven't ran since Monday! Now I'm home, it was 99 today and it's windy....to be lazy or not to be???????

17 days and counting until the end of our releationship!

LOL!
Just kidding! It is 17 days but DEF NOT the end! On Sunday I mistakenly said that but what I meant was the end of our traveling to each other part of our releationship (we were discussing how allegiant hasn't been offering our wonderful $28 flights lately.) 17 days! I can not believe we are here! Everything is done, all the final meetings have been met, all we are missing now is putting few details togehter (programs, bells and favors!) Each day I pack a little bit and slowly my house is emptying. We decided 2 weeks was way too long to leave Hunter so Scott and him will drive down. Won't lie, I'm a little nervous about him driving to me before the wedding. This also means him and I will have to drive seperatly back up to WA after the wedding, which makes me terribly sad...I really looked forwarded to that time with my new husband. On the plus side- we are saving a ton of money not having to rent a car one way and we needed vehicles for everyone to get around weekend of the wedding-this will help!

Make-up trial number 2 is today! Today also marks one more week of school with the kiddies! Part of me is sad because this very well may be my last end of the school year for a while...:( but there is a HUGE part of me that is sooooo glad to have some rest and time away from my crazy class!

22 days....

I can't believe I just typed that...22 days! I'm soooo excited! All the big plans are done, all the rsvp's are in. Well, actually, they didn't all come in :( but we have contacted everyone. Just waiting on 2 of Scott's friends, but we are pretty sure they are no's. So final numbers look like 79 including the bride and groom. Everyone said expect 20% of your guest list to say no, well ours was more like 40% no's. *sniff sniff. We wanted a smaller wedding...so we got it.


Scott is flying in saturday for our final visit as an engaged couple. We have lots to do!

-buy rest of favors stuffers (sorry, can't be more specific!)

-buy teeth whitener (smile! cheese!)

-meet with reception coordinator on Sunday

-meet with photographers on Monday

-buy photo pens and ribbon at Michaels (gotta love the 40% off coupons!)

-touch up walls in my house rental so we can get deposit back!

-pack me

-move furniture out so it can picked up

-get Scott fitted for his tux!

-prepare the programs

-pick out must have shots and must play songs!


hmmmm....i'm sure there is more!

I have just one more item to buy for my MOH and then all shopping is done! Week of the wedding Scott is going to get all the "thank you" gifts we need. This is a really exciting time! I can't imagine that in less than a month I will be a Mrs., moving to WA and handling wifey duties! LOL! I remember when it was 3 months to wedding and that seemed like a long time!


I have 6 days left with my kids. Possibly the last 6 days of my own students for a lllooonnngggg time! No jobs yet! No worries! I actually have 11 work days left but my kids don't come on Fridays, Monday is Memorial day, and the last day of school the kids come for an hour each session, that doesn't count!
So I am posting my inspiration for the cupcake tree. Ours will be similar to this but.....my step dad is making it and it is much smaller! Our cupcakes will not be looking like these. Actually though, we are using a purple ribbon. :) Just noticed the ribbon color. I took this photo from online and I can't find where now, sorry I can't credit it! Ours is from the cupcakery here in Las Vegas, sooooo yummy! Oh, and they are making us a 6" square cake for the top instead of putting cupcakes up there. So Scott and I will have a real cake to cut into and then freeze to eat on our anniversary! Scott thinks I am crazy! His response when I mentioned it..."I don't think that will be good." LOL!


Hebrews 4:16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Bachelorette party

Last night was my bach night! The girls took me to see Marriage can be Murder at the Four Queens. It was hilarious! The food, not so good, but the show was great! It is a murder-mystery dinner show where the audience is involved. It was really fun! I would rec checking out the show, locals get a discount!

This was the Police Officer in the show. We were dying over his shorty shorts, and the black socks totally make the outfit!

After our dinner show, we went to Golden Spoon, Yum! Then back to Becca's. We snacked and then played with makeup to work on day of style. No pictures of that as we are still doing trials. But....I did have my hair trial! It went great! I'm going with a simple, curly updo! I thought I looked lovely. No pictures of that until day of!

Thanx girls for a memorable evening! Less than 4 weeks to go! Yikes! Can't wait!

1 more month!!!!!!!!!

I am at work (shhh! don't tell.) I work through lunch so here I am....anyway, that's the only pic I have. Me as a fairy for Halloween.
In any case-1 MORE MONTH TO W-DAY!!!!!!!!!!! That's right everyone, in exactly 1 month from today Miss M will be Mrs. K. :) excitement, nerves, fear, anticipation, impatience, giddy, butterflies, let's get this show on the road! Those are all my feelings! Notice not one mention of regret! Not an ounce! I know for sure this is the man designed for me by God. Good, bad, sickness, health etc....he is the one! People speak of true love, mostly in the movies, well I found it. True love is when Jesus died for us on the cross and now He has demonstrated that love for me by bringing Scott in my life and blessing us to be husband and wife forever to serve Him! Yikes! I CAN'T WAIT TO START OUR MARRIAGE! I CAN'T WAIT TO CELEBRATE THIS BLESSING WITH OUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS ON JUNE 13TH!

Newly added to the wedding party!!!!

Just found out Scott's niece and nephews are coming to the wedding! His dear niece will be my Junior Bridesmaid! I'm super excited! She is a lovely girl and I am glad she wil be a part of our day!

Her dress is from David's Bridal (link to pic of dress), I just bought it today! Before I officially asked her I wanted to make sure I could get her a dress! They had one dress, in my color (Lapis) in her size!!!!

Becca's dress:

Except hers is Laapis (deep, dark, beautiful purple!!!) Just a sneak peek for ya'll! :)

It's been a week that went from bad to worse. I am continually reminded that God is near, that this is part of His plan-although def not part of mine! Oh and we finished our next to last counseling session tonight! 5 more weeks until I am Mrs. K. I cannot wait! I cannot wait for my marriage that was sooo made by God!

Hebrews 13:16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

More from the shower

The yummy cake! That's Jenny's peace sign. Not sure why, but thought it was funny so I used this pic!

My aprons! The one on the left was made my aide, Gaby. It has our new name on it for when I'm teaching! It's super cute! The other cute little number was part of a game we played. Everyone had 1 minute to look while I modeled it and then they had to list everything they saw. It was fun and I got to keep all the cool gadgets. It's a lettuce knife, not a cake knife-got it! ;)

So the above picture ( I love mine and Becca's face! Scott and I were rolling when we saw this one!) Anyway, Kiki and Becca gave Scott and I a year's worth of candlelight dinners. I asked, and that does not mean they are cooking for us! LOL! They made a set of tapered candles for each month! When I say made, I mean they put cute ribbon and little cut outs on them to represent the month. The one's I'm holding were from Elyse! For June, they put a wedding cake, July has little firecrackers, Decemeber is candy canes...you get the idea. I LOVE THEM!!!!!!! It's the best gift ever! I want someone to get married so I can make a set for them! It is the most thoughtful and practical gift! What a great way for Scott and I to take time out to help our romance. ;) It'll be a fun memory each month I bust out the candles! I had bought these crystal taper holders for our unity candle tapers at the ceremony with the thought we would re-use them, and now we def will! Thank you friends!

Today I 'm realizing how much a part of my everyday routine the dogs were involved in. It's hard. It's very quiet around here and the cat keeps looking around for rebel. Sad.....

Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to [His] purpose.

That's what verse has been going through my head all day today...and I usually am not good at remebering verses! When I start to really miss Reb that pops in my head. God is comforting me and it is working. I had to drop Scott off this morning, that was difficult too! We are down to one more visit, 2 more counseling sessions...5 1/2 more weeks!

Unofficially married and tears....

Rebel joined Herbie today......I came home friday night to a very sick dog. He could hardly walk adn was breathing heavly. I called my vet, who was at the baseball field with her son, but didn't even mind! In any case, she said I could wait to take him in Saturday morning and another Dr. we see would be there. He found a huge mass off his spleen. While it could be surgically removed, there were a few issues with doing surgery: if they went in and it had already spread they wouldn't wake him, it would come back and there is nothing they could have done and finally, he was 14. We all agreed surgery would be too difficult on a dog his age. We decided to try to manage the pain, but were told with or without surgery, he prob wouldn't make it to the wedding, and def not make the trip to WA. He didn't get better over the weekend, actually worse. He coudl barely walk, had such labored breathing and was obviousely in pain. We decided to put him down today. The Dr. I called on friday was in today, she usually isn't. My mom brought Reb a cheeseburger and fries today and after school Scott and I took him to the park. We played ball, although he couldn't run after it and took alot of breaks. We got to spend and hour with him at the vets before he went. If you ever need an incredible vet may I highly recommend Spencer Springs Animal Hospital. I have been going to them for 13 years and they are awesome! They genuinely care and treat the animals so kindly. They treat me so kindly! I always knew my pets were in the best hands possible. The time they have taken with me and the dogs as I have had to make each difficult decision....I couldn't replace that!

The weekend was busy! We picked up our truck Saturday and it's awesome! I also had my shower and it was soooo much fun! We didn't get to do Race for Cure since Rebbie was sick.

The favors! Homemade wedding cake cookies (they were YUMMY!) and Calla bag with a personalized chapstick inside! Chapstick made by our friend's son from church, were labeled with our verse Jer 29:11 and our name and wedding date! Besides I'm a chapstick addict!

All I can say is that this was one of the games. In respect for others dignity, I won't post additional pictures! LOL!

Okay, blogger upload images is not working! I can't post anymore tonight! Will try later! :(

Saturday night we got all the labels embossed and put on the bottles! Thank you to Kiera, Becca, Elyse, Jacqui and Scott! My embossing queens are Becca and Jacqui! Huge props to Kiki for the labels! She got it dead on the first time and came up with our "seam" solution! Scott...well....he should have worn his glasses! And Becca....well after one bottle she moved on to just handing us the bottles and returning them to the cases. But hey- it was an important job! By the end even my labels were crooked! Oh! Joseph worked on our DVD! Beautiful!

Sunday we turned my car into carmax, got truck detailed (half price deal!) then drove out to Red Rock. Scott got some awesome pics but again....DARN BLOGGER IMAGE UPLOADER!

We ended the night with dinner at the Melting Pot for Scott's bday and........we became unofficially married!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (phew! was able to get this pic up!)

Getting your marriage license in Vegas is interesting. I can only imagine what they see there each night! Work would be people watcher central! We walk in and security guard says "bride and groom this side, friends this side!" Becca had to sit to the side. There were several couples who were obviously headed straight to one of the dozen chapels nearby. The couple next to us were hilarious! The ap was seriously a joke! Super easy! The couple next to us, had to re-do theirs. *what???* Then the groom says, "we are from W. Virginia but I promise we are not related!" *WHAT?????* We couldn't stop laughing!!!!!!!!!!!! Itried...but Scott said we couldn't elope...actually I could have easily convinced him but Becca said NO! PARTY POOPER! I told her we would never tell anyone! We'd still have wedding in june, it'd be our secret. She didn't seem keen on the idea!

So I am obviousely beyond sad. My dogs are a huge part of my life. For 5 years now its been me and the dogs. God gave me them for a season for a time when I needed them most! I suppose that season is over now and Rebel particulary held out longer than a lab usually does. Herbie had the same cancer 2 years ago and God gave us a miracle by it ending up not being cancer. Even the Dr couldn't believe it! Still she says it was very rare for it to turn out that way. It wasn't rare-it was God! That wasn't my time to lose them. Now was. It is of little comfort right now, but it is a comfort knowing that God planned this, every detail. Scott was suppose to leave tonight. His schedule was changed at work, Allegiant opened up a flight on tuesdays now so we were able to switch his flight to tomorrow (before Reb got sick.) All those details were planned by God. Even the fact that Dr. C was there today. In this storm, I praise Him. I praise him with a face full of tears......read the psalms, they are what are providing me with comfort this day.

Shadow, my cat, knew we were at the end. She hasn't slept with us since last summer. She slept with us every night this weekend and even when Reb was on his bed woudl curl up with him. I hope she holds out til we get to WA, she will need Hunter. As crazy as he is!

It was a great day!

Started with my mom sending me these pics of our new truck! We will be upgrading to bigger tires once up in WA!!!! for now, Im just happy I won't need a sep stool to get in! LOL!

I also found out today that my prof canceled the final! Oh yea!!!!! I AM DONE WITH SCHOOL! I AM MS. M.ED!!!!!

The day ended with my school receiving the Bronze from NVPIE for inclusive practices. $5000!

Finally, I received back 4 yes's and 2 no's today. I love getting them in the mail! 2 gifts also arrived at my mom's house for me for the shower saturday! I can't wait!!!!!!!

Psalm 55:22
Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.

Not only does He sustain us but boy does He provide abundantly!!!!!

You must, must.....

Must read this blog post by Mr. Tiramisu on Weddingbee!Especially you, soon to be my Mr. K! What beautiful words from a man! I can't wait to celebrate our love with our family and friends! I can't wait to share with everyone what God has done in our lives! the wedding day is that- a celebration of our love and what is to come. That is what all this event planning is about. At the end of the day, what shoes I wore, the colors that didn't match, all the things that went wrong won't matter. What will is that we celebrated the beginning of our marriage with those closest to us and we will finally be Mr. and Mrs. K!!!!! :)

BAD blogger.....

I have been such a bad blogger! It was a busy weekend! Saturday I had to get some tan going for my shower this weekend and the wedding! Then it was a full day of celebrating Micah's (nephew) 1st bday! No pics since he's a babe- security and all. :) Sunday, we had church in the park. Probably one of my fav times of the year! It was a gorgeous day Sunday! We have church in the park, of course, and then yummy food! That night I had to finish editing a group project, we are submitting it tonight! Then I just have a final on thursday and I WILL OFFICIALLY BE A M.ed. (Masters of Education-Early Childhood Special Education.) Can't wait!

I have officially sold all of my big furniture and my kitchen! Just have few odds n ends to sell at our garage sale end of May! I am in total move mode now! And....Friday Scott and I bought a truck! Will post pics tomorrow! Its a 2007 Dodge Ram 1500, 4WD 5.7 Hemi! Yea, its a Hemi! :) Scott's happy! We are selling my car tomorrow! Woo hoo! I get to drive a BIG truck around for month and half! Scary! God is so providing. In case anyone doubts I am suppose to leave......its quite obvious! Oh- I applied for a job last night too! 15 minutes from the house!

So far only received one "no" RSVP but 2 verbal no's. :( It's so much fun getting cards back each day! I actually check my mail each day now, mailman must love it! I use to be a once a weeker! LOL!

Alright, going to meet MOH to pick up her dress and buy my veil materials!

Romans 8:29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

And the winner is.....

These arrived today, it is a tie! My mom (of course!) and Cody (LOL!!!!) were the first to RSVP for the big day and both were YES's! I was thinking, how terrible would it be if the very first one I received was a No? I would cry...:(

The invitations have been delivered! Reports from Washington state delivery as of today! It is so exciting to check the mail and get an RSVP back! I feel like everything for the wedding from here on out is the fun part! We get to do all the DIY projects and have a HUGE, FUN party on June 13th to celebrate what God has done and our marriage with our closest friends and family. I just can't wait! 1 more week and Scott will be here (I miss him!) and my bridal shower! It will def be fun! 2 weeks after that, bachelorette! Okay, it won't be your typical go out and get drunk fest....as I am NOT that person! I have no idea what the ladies have planned, but I do know it will not include alcohol or a stripper! Phew! Oh! Becca's dress will be in next week! I can't wait! It's soooo pretty!

So...today I turned in my 75 page fieldwork curriculum plan. Yes, that has been my life for the past week! I am down to 2 last assignments for my Masters. Tonight my group from class met to finalize that project, it will be turned in on Tuesday. She is posting our final next thursday and I fully intend to complete it before Scott arrives on Friday! Below is the corner of my living room, all of which I will be BURNING! It has been my life for the past 2 years, more specifically I have read through all that over and over for the past year! I have used it all to write so many papers. I am done! It felt so good to turn in my fieldwork today. Such a huge weight! Folks, in about 1 week I will be Alison ______M.ed! I can't believe it! This is def something I never imagined I would achieve. Honestly, I just thought I'd get married before I had this opportunity. Well, God had different plans and guess what? In His most perfect timing I will finish my Masters just shy of a month before the wedding! Yikes! My advisor and another professor are trying to talk me into becoming Dr. Ummm???? I DON'T THINK SO! So now the question is....after I am doen packing and unpacking and planning the wedding....what do I do with my time? I am getting my life back and it scares me!

I had a breakdown last weekend when I realized in less than 2 months I am leaving this place, my friends, family, my church. I have been so busy with school/work, I barely see anyone anymore! It stinks......and now that school is over, my weekends will be full of wedding and moving. There just never is enough time. Scott promised me I could come back whenever I wanted to visit. Although, I have no desire to board a plane again for a long, long, long time! lol!

Also arriving yesterday..................
Scott and I will be running in the Race for a Cure next weekend. Its just a 5K. I did it last year, but walked. It is fun! Best part....it supports a GREAT cause! I'm going to tell Scott he has to wear the pink tee...it's required! LOL! Real men wear pink! Oh and the thread for my veil came too! Kiera found it online, I'm soooo excited! Next week we are going shopping with Becca's mom for the rest of the veil materials! I can't wait to see it! It will be gorgeous! Davids wanted like over $100 for it and honestly, even I could have sewed it better than they did! So, Becca volunteered her mom and I said "yes!" How special to have it homemade. Means more.

Proverbs 18:12 Before destruction a man's heart is haughty, but humility comes before honor

Delivery status: Being delivered!

Word around Vegas is that people are receiving an invitation to the M-K wedding June 13, 2009!!!!!!

And then there were none...

Invitations that is! I left the house with a bag full and returned empty handed! the anticipation building up to the mailing of invitations is now gone replaced with the anticipation of returned RSVP's. Who will respond first? And the race is on! The winner is.......check back later to find out!

Bridal shower pics take 2!

Just got these from my aide, Gaby, who threw the shower, along with Elvia (that's them on the left!) They are the best 2 people in the world to work with! Thought i'd share some more of the fun! The group of teachers I work with are among the best! I will most definitly miss my school here in Vegas! I was glad everyone came out that did and we sure missed those who couldn't make it! Today when I got to school I had 3 more cards with GC's waiting for me and a gorgeous quilt! Handmade by one of our kinder teachers and her grandmother! Its beautiful! Picture does it no justice! Its so special to me that she would make it! The colors will match our house perfectly!

And onto the pictures!

Wait! Is Mrs. Lyons peeking on Ms. Hoersh's paper?????

Above to the right is me reading all the lovely advice given to me. There were two that were repeated....compromise and never go to bed angry. My favorite was Elvia's...."kiss before bed and kiss when you wake!"

1st Bridal Shower....DONE! Invitations.....DONE!

Oh yea! You read correctly! The invitations are done and will be put in the mail tomorrow!
We had sooo much fun putting them together! My mom, Kiera, Becca and I punched holes, looped ribbon, tied square knots (o.k. well mom and Beccas did square knots, not sure what you would call what Kiki and I did-Sorry guest!) Becca and Kiera stamped the RSVP envelopes, put the inner stuff together, I addressed inner envelope and mom stamped and sealed the outer envelope (good luck getting in those guests!) Finally, Crystal showed up just in time to wax seal the outer envelopes with a K fom me! Becca assisted! They look fabulous! Once guests begin receiving them, I will post more pictures! Until then...all shall wait for the good old USPS!

Yesterday was my work bridal shower! It was so much fun! I am including several photos from the party! It was a gorgeous day out and we sat out by the pool, played games, laughed, ate (so much good food), had cake and opened presents!

The cake! yummy! It was white cake with whipped frosting! LOL! I didn't really lick the cutter, just pretending!

Julie and Brian gave me bakeware (calphalon cooking racks and a spoon.) The picture to the left is me telling my "baking" story. When Scott and I 1st got matched, before we met but while we were talking on the phone, I decided to make him a care package-homemade cookies! Well, while I believe I am a pretty good cook, my baking skills seriousely lack! It is actually a joke among my friends and I. So my dear, bestest friend, Kiki, says "Ali, I can't let you do that." She was serious. She really wanted this to work out between Scott and I and was pretty sure if I baked for him that would end that! So I bought all the ingredients and she made the cookies! I packaged them up and sent them off! The funniest part is that for a week Scott went on and on about how good they were and he thought I said I couldn't bake. I couldn't stand it anymore I finally broke and told him the truth! He laughed! So Becca and Kiera promised to make cookies to send to WA so I can give Scott home baked goods! LOL! I thought if I got some cool baking toys maybe I'd be better! They told me yesterday no. :(

Above, my friend, Jacqui, got me a complete scrapbook kit for the bridal shower!

The tulip corsage Gaby and Elvia gave me! I love tulips!

Opening presents! Oh that is my friend Kassandra who works for Assistive Tech in CCSD. I was excited she came!

Finally, here are my lovely, most bestest friends ever! A girl can't better than these 2! I will miss them soooo much!

Matthew 19:26 But Jesus looked at [them] and said to them, "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." This is soooo true! With God all things are POSSIBLE!