Show Us Your Life - Wedding Party

Oh - I've been looking forward to this all week! Jason and I got married on August 18, 2006, at the EFC church that I've been going to for 10 years and that Jason switched to when we were dating. Okay - it wasn't the frozen tundra, but it was a nice balmy 80 degrees here in Minnesota that August day.

Our church pastor, Dan, married us and we had lots of music in our ceremony. After our pastor greeted everyone, our friends, Jon and Christa, led a small worship band in two worship songs. This really took our nerves away as the focus was taken momentarily off us and onto the music. My bridesmaid, Talia, sang this BEAUTIFUL song by Sara Groves called "He is Faithful", which is a mix between 'Great is Thy Faithfulness' and some other lyrics. Oh, my - I still cry when I hear that song!

Jason and I had a private first moment together before we began taking pictures before our ceremony. He was facing the front of the sanctuary and I walked down the aisle. This picture is when Jason turned around to see me for the first time. Jason had a Bible with him and he read out loud the last chapter of Psalms. During our engagement, we read one chapter in Psalm each night to each other on the phone. Our plan was to read the last chapter on our wedding day when we saw each other for the first time.



You'll also see that I LOVE hydrangeas and as my father-in-law put it, "You brought the garden inside", because our ceremony is laden with flowers. My wonderful cousin-in-law and friend, Becky, did all of our flowers for our reception and ceremony. She is amazingly talented and !!!

Bridesmaid Jenny's husband, Dave, designed our invitations, programs, reception seating cards, and thank you cards. This is our program. We had everything printed at our friend, Brian's, print company.


This is our neighbor's Chevy Impala that Jason and I sped off in after our ceremony as we drove ourselves to the reception. I'm really glad that it was just the two of us driving together in the car, because we just needed that "breather" moment apart from being surrounded by 200 people!


I had to show you two pictures of the bells that everyone rang as we dashed out of the church and into our get-away car. The bells were silver, but my cousin, Kim, and her daughter, Holly, spray painted all 250 bells a soft shade of muted gold! Thank you, Kim and Holly!!

Here are the beautiful bridesmaids!

L to R: Holly (friend), Becky (friend), Jamie (cousin), Jenny (friend), Stacey (friend), Talia (friend)

Here are the groomsmen! Check out the handsome man all in black - hee, hee.

L to R: Kyle (friend), Ross (friend), Best Man - Dave (brother), Ryan (friend), Brian (friend), Mike (friend)

Ha, ha - so which of you guys came up with this idea? I have an idea. When each groomsmen walked their bridesmaid up the aisle and came up next to where Jason stood, they each handed him a card with a word that when put together said, "It's too late to back out".

These are our two flower girls, Kristen and Jamie, who are daughters of our good friends, Jer and Angela. The ring bearer is my Caeden, my cousin's son. They were so good! Though I'm not sure what Caeden thought of everything!

This picture was taken in front of the golf club that our reception was at. You can't see it very well, but it's a beautiful club that has a lot of Scottish detailing.

My family L to R: Jayson (bro), my new husband!, Mom Debbie, Dad Harvey, and Kyle (bro)

I love this picture of my dad - he and Jason are always laughing and carrying on like this. He was probably even more giddy here because he was so nervous about walking me down the aisle in a few moments!

I love them all so much! Jason and I like to credit the wave of weddings that we started when we got married in 2006. Soon after our wedding, both of my brothers popped the question to their girlfriends and I got blessed with two AWESOME sister-in-laws....whose names are both Jennifer Marie. Yep - we have two Jenni's and two Jayson/Jason's in our family.

I love this picture of Jason with his mom and dad because I remember that Roger, Jason's pop, could not stop having fun during the photo shoot. I'm sure he's tickling and poking Jason to get him to burst into laughter. That was just the kind of man he was. We lost Roger to a tough, short battle with brain cancer in April 2008. He was a wonderful, godly father and husband.

Here is the whole family, including Jason's brother, Dave, on the far left. We're missing dear Carrie, Dave's wife. They weren't engaged yet, so again, Jason and I like to think we spurred the engagement on. :)

Boy, I could go on and on here. I want to show you this and I want to show you that, but you've got other blogs to look at!

My Wedding Dress

Okay - I love reading Kelly's Korner blog and I'm happy to participate in her "Show Us Your..." each Friday! Today it's the tour of wedding dresses and since Jason and I are approaching our 3rd wedding anniversary, it was so fun for me to look through our wedding pictures. Jason and I were married on Aug. 18, 2006. The candid pictures I'm sharing are pre-wedding preparations taken from my friend who was on duty for taking random pictures of me getting ready and the digital professional pics are on CD, being neglected. Here we go!

I found my dress on the first dress hunt my mom, best friend and I ventured on in Jan. 06. I love the beading and the organza overlay over my dress.















I loved our wedding day - it was the best day of my life because I became Jason's wife and all the celebrations have given me so many wonderful memories of the moment we shared our vows and celebrated with our friends and family. I wanted to look beautiful for Jason and my dress was exactly what I envisioned.

I can't wait to look at everyone else's wedding dresses!

Not Me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Before heading out on a camping trip last Friday, I honestly wondered how I was going to handle three days without being able to play Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook. I am NOT addicted to Bejeweled Blitz and my last three published posts on my FB wall have not been my latest high score. No, not me!

Home Improvements

We've been doing a lot of them! Which has kept me away from blogging for the last month or two. I didn't feel like constantly blogging how much my dining room looks like it got puked on by the contents of our kitchen - pans, dishes, silverware, pots, pans....everywhere! I'll spare you the details. I promise to share pictures.

There is one big home improvement that I'm excited to share soon - it's still kind of in the works, so I don't want to spill anything yet.

It's Friday

....and sunny, with blue skies and the whisper (or should I say trumpet announcement) of 70 degrees. Yay - spring is finally here. Please, please stay.

Tonight, Jason and I are going out to dinner. I may even talk him into a walk around the lakes. Dinner with my handsome husband and a walk afterwards = BLISS. It has been a few weeks since we had a date - the kind where we actually go out and do something. I was starting to feel the itch. Jason must have sensed this because the other night, he asked what we were doing on Friday night and said, "Maybe we should go out to dinner and use that gift card." Yes, please! On Monday when he talked about power-washing and sanding the deck on Friday night....(crickets chirping)....I should have told him at the time how grateful I was that he suggested dinner out.

I'm also kind of bashful because of my new photography hobby. Jason has been very encouraging and (mostly) willing to be a random photo subject. A few weeks ago, he signed me up for an introductory digital photography class, so I went to the class this past Monday. I was so tickled when Jason emailed me during the day and said how excited he was for me that I got to go to the class. When I got home, he wanted me to show me my favorite new tips and tricks. I love that he is so interested in what I'm interested in!

Here's to a fun evening with my rockin' husband!

MHR

One year ago today, my husband lost his father, Pop, to a five-month battle with brain cancer. Pop was a wonderful, godly man whom we loved so dearly. I had the privilege of being his daughter, if only by marrying his son. He left this Earth too soon, but we believe that the Lord brought Pop home to Heaven in His wisdom. We glorify and praise the Lord for the many gifts He gave us during those final months with Pop. Today, I am reminded that had Jesus Christ not died on the cross for our sins, Jason and I may never have been able to see Pop again.

Jason has made it through a year of missing Pop. Not a day goes by that he doesn't think about Pop in some way. There are tears and a sad face when I know he is thinking about Pop. And yet, Jason's unwavering faith in the Lord and sensitive spirit encourages me. His support for his mom swells my heart. Pop's memory lives on because Jason is so much like him. His good-natured look at every situation, bringing laughter into our home, a deep sense of responsibility for family and friends, a solid faith in the Lord, and even his walk.

I drove to work today, bawling my eyes out, as I heard for the first time this song from MercyMe. It relates so much to what Jason has shared with me as he looks forward to seeing Pop in heaven someday.

Fashion Friday

There are times when I get it in my head that I need a certain article of clothing. Right now, it is a dress that I could wear to weddings this spring and summer. Granted, I can do this because the weddings are in different circles of friends and family, so there shouldn’t be much overlap in who is going to see it. Except for the fact that all my pics on Facebook of these weddings will show me in the same dress.

I would love to have two dresses, but my budget says only one. And it almost always happens that I never find what is in my head what I want....or it was in my head and when I tried it on, it doesn't fit right.

Four separate shopping trips. Five malls. Only 5 dresses that really caught my eye. I bought them all and asked my friends to help me choose because there have been too many times when I walk out of the house wearing a dress that looks like I’m going to a high school dance. And, believe me, I don’t want to repeat those memories!

Three of them were from a Junior's store: Charlotte Russe, Francesa, and Maurices. The others were from White/Black Market and Herberger’s. I will often go to Junior’s stores for skirts or dresses because the styles are a little shorter and since I’m on the short side, they hit me at the right length on my legs.

Like Big Mama said, one advantage for shopping at Junior’s stores or departments is the price. The coral dress from Charlotte Russe was half of my budget. I used the rest to buy accessories to go with the dress and for some heels at Target for this dress and a black dress that I already had in my closet.

In the end, I ended up with two dresses: the coral one from CR and a black dress that was already in my closet that I spiffed up with new heels, earrings and belt. The black dress is more dressy, so I’ll wear it to the more formal wedding. I know, I know. Wearing a black dress to a wedding is iffy. I’m balancing it out with a cream shrug, gold accessories, coral belt, saucy high heels, and a cream clutch. I can wear the coral dress to the summer wedding, which will be a little less formal.

Oh, and now I must make visits to 2 malls to return the vetoed dresses.