St. Louis Adventures

This Christmas was very different. It's the first Christmas ever that I haven't gone back home to Yakima. Instead, I'm in Missouri with Corde and his family which has been a blast. To be honest I expected to feel homesick this Christmas but It's difficult to feel sad in a home so filled with love. We made cookies and ate way too many of them (well, mostly just me), played games, watched movies and more. It was probably one of the best Christmas's I've ever had. I'm grateful to have gained such a beautiful family, but I'm not happy about gaining 5 pounds from all of the cookies.

It's really cool to have married a man who is from such a cool place. I'm from Washington state and haven't had the chance to see Missouri until now and let me tell you St. Louis is AWESOME. The other day, Corde and I had the chance to go to University City, which is a suburb of St. Louis. It was fantastic! I love the place. We went to an awesome thrift shop and got a few items of clothing. I swear I could've spent the entire day in that shop. There were a lot of other cute little stores with nicknacks and such. To finish out our adventure we dined at the famous Fitz's restaurant. They're famous for making their own sodas and they have mastered the art of root beer floats. I'm not kidding. And not only do they have root beer floats, but they also have other float combinations like cherry soda with chocolate ice cream. My goodness, I'm drooling. See for yourself:

And I just had to add this photo of my studly man next to a statue of Chuck Berry. ;)

Anyways, Corde's parents hosted an open house for us yesterday. That went wonderfully. There weren't as many guests there as expected but I still really enjoyed meeting all of the new people. Corde's mom made 14 homemade pies, cherry and apple. They were to die for. The pies were paired with glorious cinnamon ice cream. I even took a picture for you.

I guess you can say I've been pretty well fed since I got here.

Corde and I were sealed in the Logan Utah LDS Temple on December 14th, 2013. It was a wonderful day. I've never felt so much stress and so much happiness at one time.

There is so much that lies ahead for Corde and I. I'm so excited for the journey!

Here are some of my favorite photos of the wedding taken by Andrea Brionne Photography

THE DRESS

Here are some photos of my wedding dress. Is this bad luck? I'm not even married yet. Whatever. (hehe) Anyways, my girly friend and I met up with my seamstress yesterday. She added full-length sleeves and they turned out fabulous! I absolutely LOVE lace.


Photo Credit: Bekka Ward

I'm up in my hometown for the weekend and so far, I'm having a blast.

Today my mom and I are going to bake cookies and finish my wedding invitations. It will be really great to have that project out of the way. Things are starting to come together and there's only one month left until I'm married! (craziness!) Some ladies from my home ward threw me a wonderful bridal shower yesterday and people I barely even knew came to support me. I felt incredible loved and special. I'm so thankful for the people in my life.

But anyways, in the midst of all the excitement of getting married and planning that, I have been thinking a lot more about where I'm headed with my life..

The truth is that I don't have much of a plan. My only plan right now is Corde. (best plan ever) All I truly want is to be a wife and mother. All my life that's all I have ever wanted and school wasn't something I spent any time thinking about.

Today, as I looked around the congregation at church, I saw so many wonderful people who I have looked up to my entire life. As I looked at all of these people, all I could think of was the experiences I've had with them, the service they've provided for my family, and the love that I have for them. I didn't look at any of them and wonder what they had studied in college or how much their brains were holding because those things don't truly matter.

That's when it really hit me, that whatever I choose is okay. I don't have to go to college right now and I'm not any less of a person if I do or don't. It's okay that all I truly want is to be a wife and mother. I don't need an extremely high-paying job. I will find happiness in whatever I choose.

Typing with acrylic nails is the worst idea ever.

So anyways, this is a photo of Corde and I from Saturday morning:

We ran a 5K called Humans vs. Zombies. It was a great experience and now that's it's over I just want to run even more. Interesting how exercise can be addicting, huh? As you can see in the picture, I was pretty dang happy to be there. I'm hoping for more races to come.

I've been trying to run a bit more recently. You know, slim up for my wedding... but so far I haven't made much progress. I'm resorting to drinking protein shakes for dinner and/or other meals. I guess we'll see how that works. The biggest problem is that I really enjoy chocolate.

... DID I MENTION I'M GETTING MARRIED IN LESS THAN TWO MONTHS!! And to the most perfect guy on the planet! I've come to realize that wedding planning is not all that it's made out to be. In fact, It's just a pain in the booty and needs to die. Can I just be married now?

OH MY GOSH. Has it really been almost a year since my last blog post? It is amazing how quickly time has passed since December 30th, 2012. In the meantime, something amazing has occurred! I am engaged! Ladies, you will meet your dream guy! He will be a dream you never knew you had. He'll be everything you didn't know you needed. December 14 will be the best day of my life and I cannot wait. Seriously, I can't wait.