Good Clean Fun

With just one week until the wedding the parties and plans are wrapping up. I'm about on my wit's end just ready to be married to my dreamboat! We have been busy trying to get the house ready and sorting through all of the sweet loot that we've gotten. Mom and I have also been having some fun doing last minute decorating and getting so excited for the end of the week wedding festivities.
I'm realizing that I am capable of taking on so much more than I ever dreamed! I owe every ability to move and breath to the Lord. He is the reason that I am not a bridezilla. PTL!

I have had such a wonderful week going to parties and such. Our first party was a Mascaraed Ball for one of the girls in Josh's youth group. As a party conesour myself I was throroughly impressed by the decor and theme that were executed pretty well! And they had good food!
My second party was the Lingerie Shower hosted by the lovely and talented Maid of Honor, Katie Crooks!

The party had beautiful lace decor and even more beautiful guests!

Mom and I have had so much fun hanging out this month!

Katie was incredibly well prepared for this party, not only did she make some delicious food, but the decorations and games were awesome. And being the sweetheart that she is, she only embarrassed me a little.

I get embarrassed pretty easy so I was a little nervous about opening presents.

Probably my favorite gift of the day. A lovely pair of 'i do' granny panties from my friend Charlotte.

I am ready to take this next week by storm and enjoy the rest of the Wedding Extravaganza festivities! There will be more parties and pictures later ! Go love on someone!

Busy Busy Weekend

This weekend was such a wonderful time for Josh and I. His parents came into town on Friday and got to stay and visit until Sunday night. We started our weekend extravaganza with a trip to Tazikis and then we spend the rest of the night talking and just enjoying each other. I truly love Josh's parents, they are so much fun and it's like being with my own parents. On Saturday Tina and I made rehearsal dinner plans and then that night it was time for the Tool & Pantry Party at the Lovoy's house. Now, when the Lovoys throw a party, they throw a party. I was not surprised at all by the absolutely beautiful and delicious setup that they had prepared for everyone.

The dessert table was epic to say the least. It consisted of two types of brownies, a huge assortment of fruit, banana pudding, ice cream, cinnamon rolls, pretzels, whip cream, all sorts of syrups and of course, cherries.

To go along with our burgers and hot dogs we had a huge variety of chips and dips. 

Casey, John, and Sharon Lovoy are officially my party host heroes.

I had such a good time hanging out with all of my awesome friends and family!

We got a ton of gifts, including 6 hammers! Josh was so excited to get some of the tools that he registered for, and now I can start making him a list of things that I want him to build! :)

Two of my best friends just got engaged! Abby and Daniel are going to be such a beautiful married couple and I am truly and deeply excited for them.

On Sunday morning we had a lot more festivities to partake in. At Riverchase, Josh had his Ordination Ceremony, which was one of the sweetest services that I have ever taken part in. He is truly loved by his church family and in turn they have accepted me as one of their own without reservations. During the service I realized the true depth of Josh's calling to ministry and now, my calling. I am so excited to minister with him and looking forward to all of the opportunities to serve the Lord!

I am so proud of Josh! He is officially a pastor! And after our amazing ordination ceremony the church had a wonderful carry in dinner and a wedding shower for us! I cannot believe how loved and blessed we are!!! I hope that you are feeling equally blessed! More festivities coming up this week and we are officially 2 weeks and 5 days until wedding extravaganza!! Go love on somebody! love, e

Time for Tea!

This weekend I was filled with so much excitement that I might burst! On Sunday I had my first wedding tea at the church I grew up in. Rock Creek Church of God has always been my church home (I am basically related to everyone there!). I was so happy to go to church on Sunday and see all of my family and friends. The tea started and I don't know that I have ever smiled or talked that much! It was so wonderful to see so many friends come and support my upcoming marriage. It actually kind of felt like one of my birthday parties, there was such an interesting mixture of all the different people in my life.

So excited to have Katie as my MOH, she has already blown me away by her awesome planning and decorating skills. She is so wonderful!

The decorations and food were so amazing! I cannot believe all of the effort that the ladies from church put into this tea.

Since I am the first grandchild to get married on both sides of my family, my grandparents are pretty excited. My Grannie had her own gift table. She put this whole table together and even went out and bought me a new table cloth because she didn't like the one that was on it before.

I still don't understand teas, because it doesn't make since to not get to open your gifts, but Lynn actually let me sneak in and open a few!

One of my flowergirls, so precious I can barely stand it!

Hannah I coordinated our outfits just for the occasion ( it's the mind connection kicking in).

My beautiful gypsies showed up! I have missed them so much.

It's crazy, you get engaged and register for stuff and people go out and buy it! I have some pretty amazing people in my life. I still cannot believe how blessed I am!

Yes, that is a vacuum cleaner, and yes, it is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.

 

We have our second party this friday, I cannot believe how close we are to the wedding! I am loving all of the parties because I get to visit with all of my loves that I don't see over the summer, and it is super fun to celebrate marrying my best friend! 

:) love, e

Counting down, but loving these days

Since returning home I have taken on the huge duties that come along with planning a wedding. I think we've moved rapidly from the planning to the doing stage. Mom and I have gathered everything from flowers to thank you cards. I am definitely a big idea person, so trying to decide on all of the little details is pretty difficult to me. I know how I want our wedding to feel, I just can't tell you if that translates into chocolate or vanilla cupcakes. Thank goodness for my Mom! She is so wonderful and organized. I would be getting married in the back yard in 100 degree heat wearing a thrift store wedding dress and having little debbie cakes at my reception if it weren't for my sweet mama.
We have gotten a lot done wedding wise in the past weeks since I've gotten home, but thankfully I have had plenty of chances to hang out with friends and family! Here are a couple of shots from my weeks back in America! 

On the 4th of July we had a cookout at Katie's house and the rained calmed down long enough for us to enjoy some fireworks downtown.

I had such a wonderful time hanging out with two of my besties and also bridesmaids! So excited to have Valerie as the final member of my all-star bm team!

This is Lauren, one of the youth girls from Riverchase showing off her blanket-toga.

Some more lovely Riverchase ladies that we met up with downtown to watch fireworks.

My new family, Jewel and Kevin...

I absolutely loved Independence Day! This was the first 4th of July that I have spent at home in probably 4 years. I t was so pleasant to relax with a group of friends and eat a plethra of delicious food. USA.

 

 

 

 

After enjoying some days resting and hanging out by the pool I hit the ground running getting ready for the wedding. This sunday we had our first shower at my home church. 

Katie is a super Maid of Honor! She has been so helpful and just plain awesome during the months of our engagement. This is her displaying the amazingly classy and hilarious lingerie shower invitations.

Of course if you have a wedding shower to go to shopping is a must. Mom and I ventured to Belk and I think I tried on every size 4 in the store.

After much deliberation Mom and I decided on these two absolutely adorable dresses. I was so excited to go shopping with Mom, just spending time with her has been wonderful.

Another fun activity for summertime that Josh did with his youth was a "gutter sunday". This delicious treat consists of a rain gutter filled with ice cream and topped with chocolate syrup, cookies, bananas, whip cream, and of course sprinkles. The youth loved it and many of them ended up with more toppings on their faces that in their ice cream.

Finally, a shot of Josh and I on the 4th of July. He's got his serious face on :) Can't wait to marry this amazing man! Only 26 days! Enjoy your summer and I hope that you are making the most of eveyday day! I have a lot of fun events coming up! I can't believe how busy life gets! But, I am making sure that I take time everyday to think about how stinking blessed I am. I hope you'll do the same! love , e