My friends Cherie and Whitney came in on Tuesday. It had been 3 years since I saw Whit and like 9 months since I had seen Cherie. It was as if I saw them yesterday, I loved having them back. On Wednesday Aly came in which was also fantastic!
Thursday, Ian met my mom and sisters and then we headed up to the hotel with my bridesmaids.
We got a call on the way saying the temple was without power and they weren't expecting it on Friday either. There were huge storms in the area. (I guess that's what we get for get married on Friday the 13th, huh? haha) When the girls and I got to our hotel we said goodbye to Ian and we went and got our nails done. Then we went to dinner and the awkward waiter gave me my drink and our appetizer for free since he wasn't allowed to sing a song for me getting married, and I suppose he didn't know one either! But free food is always better than a song.
I was actually able to sleep pretty well Thursday night, and got up around 5am to get ready. The girls and I got breakfast downstairs and then we did hair and makeup. We got to the temple right on time and it was amazing.
By the time we got outside the sun was peeking out from the clouds and gave us great light for the pictures. We only took a few because we knew traffic would be bad. The drive home took 6 hours! It normally takes around 4. Boo traffic!
The reception was lots of fun, though there were some problems getting the audio set up. It was nice to see everyone and we finally got to see our cake! There wasn't as much dancing as I hoped people would do, but Ian and I had fun and that's what counts right?
We went off to our honeymoon in Williamsburg and ate soooo much good food! Ian's uncle and aunt got us certificates for dinner and they were well used :)
Now back to the job hunt and life, but I am loving married life! It's pretty much amazing!
I found this from a friend, Lisa (the one that did the family photos with Ian's family). How cute is this stuff? I saw the aprons and thought of you Stacey! But if you, don't tell me :P
So tonight after I left Ian's house I felt so good. I am so excited to marry him and be sealed to him forever. I sent him a text from the first light after his house (no drive-texting for me!) and said "While I don't like the feeling of leaving you at night, I love the feeling of knowing that we are being completely good right now." We've been engaged FOREVER it seems and it could be very easy to mess up, but we both know it's not worth it so it's not going to happen.
So after I got home, feeling all good about myself and what not, I decided to do some blog hopping. I hit the lovely "next blog" button on the top of the screen. I was sent to a family from St. George. I ended up clicking on a friend of theirs, a photographer, because I wanted to see more of her work. After checking it out, I hit "next blog" again (what? You know you blog stalk too :P)
*This time I was sent to one with a quote in the sidebar about heaven. *Then one with a tagline (that's what I'm calling that little line people put like over their picture) "We have been chosen to raise children of the King. A son and two daughters of the Most High. What a privilege...and a responsibility." Again.. *Thanking Jesus for the men in her life *A blog with a list of ministries and Bible commentaries in their own section of sites s/he visits. *I was greeted with a picture of a man with a cartoony giant ear and the title "Listening to God today?" *A blog titled "Moms United Prayer for Unsaved Family" *A blog from a cancer patient who leads ministries around the world. His tagline is "Dave's point of view with a Christ-like perspective. "God said it, not me"" *A blog following a mission youth group's activities *A pastor's blog *A blog from a student who's just finished her first year at a Christian University who had an amazing poem of God as her top post. (Remember this one...) *"Chocolate and Coffee, being a Pastor's wife" *A mom wanting to update her friends on her daughter's Bible study* *A religious works author, who is a convert to the Catholic Church and a former Episcopal priest. *Another Father's Day post being thankful to all the fathers in her life, including in Heaven *Looking at Truth, Looking to God's Word for real answers to all the questions life brings *Lectionary commentary from the Massachusetts Bible Society *Remember that blog about the student with the poem. It brought me back here...
So I decided to read the poem. It's the lyrics to a song called "In Christ Alone." There are so many versions of it on youtube. Here is just one I found...
I think it's interesting of all the times I hit "next blog" I ended up with a strong overtone of love of God. It's funny because I always feel weird talking about religion too much on here, but I'm not sure why exactly. Here's 20 some blogs that I just clicked on randomly that have no fear or regret posting these messages.
By the way, I thought I'd see where else it goes. The next one led me to a post about a solar oven. I thought I had finally run out my luck? Nope, I scrolled down a little further. The man was making a solar oven because he lives off the land so he can enjoy all of God's wonders. Let's see what else....
So I finished my bouquet! Yay me!! I wanted something original, something that wasn't silk flowers (real ones are $$ and they would die between the wedding and reception seeing as they're on two different days), and something I could be proud of.
And what better time than to come up with some sort of crafty skill to put in my book of things I know how to do.
My inspirations....
Aren't they FANTASTIC?!
I love them. So this is what I came up with. I can't wait to get some better pictures of them (like with me in my wedding dress haha!) I made "button-eres" for the boys and some to put on the tables as well.
Here's my basic approach:
100 ft of "clothesline wire" (I think that's like 9 gauge?)
800 buttons--slightly overkill if you're just doing bouquets, but I've made table decor, "button-eres" and jewelry for the Moms also.
Beads
Needle-nose pliers and wire cutters
Tape (floral or duct)
Ribbon
There are different types of buttons. Some have "shanks" on them and some have holes, either 2 or 4. I bent a 12-15 inch piece of wire at the top third and added a shanked button at the top. After bending the wire tightly around the shank (without breaking it off), I would add other buttons either by sliding them through two ends of wire, or alternating them with one button on one end and another on the other. I added beads to space the buttons out more. Then I wrapped the ends together and made it as small as I could so it would stay together. The bridesmaid bouquets have about 15 "flowers" and mine has 30. I wrapped them in tape to keep from getting poked and then added the ribbon to make it look prettier.
The great thing about these being on wire is I can bend it out wider or narrower as I want. The button-eres are single "flowers" and the bracelets for the moms have the buttons laying flat on the ribbon.
Mother's bracelets
Mixed in with the other table decor
"Button-eres" Notice the center one has a matching button as my bouquet. That's Ian's. Awww
All of the girls
Hardest project of all of them. I had to stack the beads, connect the ends, and loop them around so they'd connect. But I LOVE it now that it's done! This is something I feel like I can hang on my wall even after the wedding and be proud of!
He surprised me on Sunday! I was supposed to see him on Tuesday of this last week, but when I got to church he was there!! I was shaking I was so happy! I spent all of Sunday-Wednesday at his house (coming home to sleep and shower and then I went back). It was absolutely perfect. Next time I see him for sure is July 28th! I'm hoping to go to the temple on July 10th, and I should be able to see him that trip. And I'd love to see him another time before that. We'll see though.
We've got almost everything for the reception and it's all sitting on my floor in my room. My room's a mess right now but I don't want to clean it up because I don't know where to put it all! I thought about putting it all in my closet, but that's really just hiding the problem haha! All we need to get now is a few more little containers to hold the centerpieces, the food (how much ice cream do I get?!) and borrow another punch bowl. I'm thinking I might want some white Christmas lights too, but I haven't decided yet. Ian is actually pretty helpful in all of this, but when both of us just don't care about a certain thing, like decorating, it's hard to make a decision.
School started for me on Monday. It's just one class, "Intro. to BYUI Online Classes", and it seems okay. Kinda just seems like busy work right now, but I guess it's getting me back in the mode of doing homework before I start my real semester in September. And it's required so I can't really complain about it can I? :)
My birthday is coming up and I don't really have anything planned. It kinda saddens me. I'm used to having huge parties with all my friends. But things are always so hectic/chaotic here and there are a lot more people's schedules that need to be considered around here I guess. We'll see how it goes. This is my last birthday before I get married though. Next year is going to be totally different :D
So I'm finishing up the invite list. I'm still looking for some people's addresses, but not many! Of the 13 addresses we're missing, I'm only responsible for finding 7. Okay, so it's more than half, but I can do it :) We had a ton of help, so thank you all! And Ainsley, if you see this, you're one of the missing ones. And I can't find anyway of getting a hold of you. It makes me sad :(
Here is a link to the pictures we did as a Hornbaker family!! The photographers were absolutely amazing! I want to work with them again sometime.
So, let's see....I got my buttons so I can start working on my bouquet as soon as we buy the wire. I'm super excited for that. I still don't know what I'm doing as far as decorations at the stake center. I'm not really looking for anything in particular. I have a couple ideas here and there, but Ian and I would rather not spend the money on stuff that we don't really care about, ya know? I just hope when we look back at the pictures in 10 years we don't say, "Wow, that was boring!" hahaha!
I spent a ton of time with Ian's family this last weekend. My parents and Ian's parents and us went out to dinner on Friday night. Then Saturday we hung out and cleaned up because of the plans for Sunday. On Sunday his brother and sister-in-law and their adorable daughter came to VA so the adults could go on a delayed honeymoon and grandma and grandpa could babysit. I also forgot I was teaching on Sunday, so I missed that (though I don't know if it's really forgot since I was sure I did it this next week. Oh well!)
On Monday we went and got family photos done. I was just about giddy that I count in a new family photo. Like, it's so cool!! The photographers were great too. I can't wait to see the pictures!
We also watched a few movies this weekend. "Paranormal Activity" gets a B- because Ian and his family talked it up a bunch more than it was. Though when I was in the kitchen getting a drink after and the water pump gurgled at me I admit I was a little scared. So maybe a normal B. "The Fourth Kind" was LAAAAAMME!!! Haha! It would get a B because it did give Ian and I something to talk about, but it was really super lame so it gets like a C. But, I wonder, are there really aliens? Hmm... I'm sure we watched another one, but I just can't remember.
Ian left for Fairfax this morning. I'll see him next like on the 9th. Then at the end of July. Sigh....I can do it. I know I can. But dang.
Actually, I think if he left earlier in our relationship we wouldn't necessarily be here. And if he left later (after we were married) I'd be going with him so it would be a non-issue.
Yesterday I was crying and crying (PMS plus losing him was causing a lot of tears) and he was just holding me. He didn't even look that sad. It made me feel even worse and I asked him how he was so strong. Wanna know what he said?
"I'm not stronger than you. I'm stronger for you."
Yup, I'm totally in love with the perfect man for me.
Just before he left, after one last good cry, he looked me in the eye and said, "I'll miss you." I'm not sure why hearing him say it out loud was so relieving. But it really was.
And I'm going to be okay. Sunday's are going to be hard though I think. Maybe just to start with because I always see him on Sunday. But I have a lot to look forward to in these next couple months. I've got wedding stuff to put together, my birthday next month, a bridal shower in July, Disney with my family before the wedding, and hopefully finding some sort of temp work. So I'll be busy, and busy is good.
But please, if you see or hear me cry, let me cry. Don't try to fix it. I'll be done soon. Thank you.
Today we made the invitations. A lady at church is part of Stampin Up and she's fantastic. We still need to get our photo printed and then we'll put them in the envelope and then we'll finish collecting addresses and emails and get the word out!
Ian had his last day at Domino's today; he heads up to Fairfax for the rest of the summer next week. So between now and then we need to finish with the apartment tours, picking out stuff for the apartment, family photo shoot with his family, the dinner of the parents haha, and just spend time together. I'm sure there is something else but I can't remember it now.
I'm getting married in 104 days....I'm practically to double digits :D
This is in honor of my friend Ellen who pretty much rocks at life.
She wrote a really nice post today that I feel like I can relate to. Granted, she was writing from the perspective of being married, pregnant, and her husband is in medical school, but other than that, I think I'm right there with her haha!
Here's part of her post:
We were told a thousand times "Just wait until you're married, then _______________ will change. That's just the way it is." Well, I hate to inform the world, but none of the things those people told us turned out to be true. It's NOT just the way it is. Sorry. [We] are, to put it plainly, a different sort of couple. That's not to say we are cool or anything, just different. We don't watch sports. We don't have "girl's nights" or "boy's nights" to have some time away. We've never had an argument or a fight. Disagreements? Yes. More in love than on our wedding day? Absolutely. ... My point is, life isn't a rubber stamp. One thing most certainly doesn't equal another.
I was told a while back that I needed to have a fight with Ian to know if I really wanted to marry him. I didn't like that. If Ian and I disagree about something we work it out. Sometimes we'll joke after we "fix" the "problem" that we should have let it become a fight just so we can get married. But that's all it is to us. A joke. We know how to be serious, but we don't have to fight to be serious. Maybe everyone gets it and I'm being boring, but hey, at least I'm posting, right? :)
Anyway, I hope that when we get married and Ian is eyebrow deep in school work and everything else is going on that I can be as cool and level-headed as my friend Ellen. Yeah, she might not be stressed but she doesn't let it rule her life.
Yesterday was a much awaited date for Ian and I. He always plans our dates. He does such a good job and I wanted to plan one for him. I planned it from start to finish (well, I thought so anyway!)
After I picked him up we went to Williamsburg, via the ferry. I am so glad we got the big ferry that Ian likes. We also had a loaf of bread and we fed the eagles seagulls. There were people taking pictures too as soon as all the eagles--seagulls came out. I like to think we helped :D
We got into Colonial Williamsburg and walked through there for a few hours.
I finally got to see the parade come through!
I like seeing all the old houses and thinking that this used to be a person's home. They had their all sorts of memories there and we just traipse through.
After Colonial Williamsburg we went to Pirate's Cove for some mini-golf. It was a blast!
He is such a stud :)
I died after the game. Yeah, apparently I didn't do it right, but I don't care.
We went to a gorgeous park to eat our lunch. Peanut butter and jelly, animal crackers, string cheese, and pudding! Ian brought the pudding. He handed it to me and the lid came off really easily. At first I thought it had melted in the car, but then I remembered it was in the cooler. So I stick my spoon in it and hit something hard. I thought, "Ooh, maybe it started to freeze! Cool!" Haha, nope, it was my ring! It was wrapped in plastic wrap and so I started licking it off and I was laughing and smiling and saying "yay yay yay!" over and over. Ian had a big smile on his face. I couldn't get it out of the plastic so he helped me out while I lamented (silently in my head) not touching up my fingernail polish before we left the house. I thought I knew when it was coming. I would have had my nails done then :)
It's on my middle finger because it was too big. I printed a sizer off the internet. Don't do that. We'll get it resized in a month (for some reason it'll be free then, but $40 now?) and then I'll wear it where it belongs.
I am SO excited to marry Ian. I can't even tell you. I never thought I'd be loved like this. I knew I deserved to be loved like this, but I thought it was a fantasy. I am so glad my friends and family have stopped me from settling for anyone else. We're getting married August 13th in the DC Temple and then the reception the next day back here in VA. Ahh I'm so excited!
**For whoever doesn't know about when he proposed, keep reading. But there aren't pictures here**
Ian and I had been talking about marriage for a while. We knew we wanted to get married really quickly, but it took us a while to say it to each other. "A while" is a relative term since we have only been together since January 23rd or something like that.
I knew he had been ring shopping and a couple weeks ago there was a fireside with Gladys Knight's choir. One of our friends asked if she could ride with us and Ian hadn't said yes. And he talked about us going out to eat after. I thought, "Oh.my.lanta he's going to propose after the fireside!" Well the Monday before the fireside I came up with this conclusion. I told my friend who proceeded to send him a text saying, "She's onto you!" "Onto what? "The fact that you're going to propose Saturday." "I wasn't going to propose Saturday." "Well figure something out, because she's expecting you to."
He didn't want to disappoint me so he sent a text to my dad that night and they met up at 6 am Tuesday morning to have the chat haha! He had sent me a text saying he woke up early and would love to come over whenever. I kinda slept through that and woke up around 9 or 9:30. When I got up people were acting weird. I was getting messages from my step-mom and his mom being VERY interested in how I was doing that day. By the time he came over I was feeling very confused and I told him, "Ian it's the weirdest thing, like everyone knows something I don't!"
After my mom took my brother to his playgroup we sat on the couch and I said, "Oh, you said you worked on a poem, can I see it?" He had written me a poem for Valentines Day and I knew he was really good at poetry. He pulled it out and started shaking. I was still confused until he told me the title of the poem was "Yes".
After many amazing stanzas of him asking questions like "Am I ready to be in love like this?" and ending each line with "Yes" I knew it was coming. The final stanza asked if I would marry him and I finished the poem by saying "Yes yes yes yes yes!" He handed me a ring (nope, he didn't even put it on me haha) and gave me a hug. I looked down and saw it was black! I was so confused but before I could say anything he said, "Don't worry, that's not the real ring." Then he handed me a pen so I could write "yes" into the poem itself.
He had woken his sister up at like 5:30 and borrowed a ring so that he'd have something to give me when he proposed. He wasn't planning on asking until he had a ring. I would have gone crazy waiting til now! I needed to tell people!
But he did great and I am seriously so lucky to be with him. And he's not even upset that I rushed him by a few weeks :)
Things are going great here. I've got an interview on Monday at Dollar General. Yay!
Friday we (mom, brother, sister, her kids, and Ian) were supposed to go to the zoo, but just as we got there they shut down because of a natural gas leak. Erin says "So did the monkeys fart?" Hahaha...silly girl :)
We went over to Nautilus instead so we could do something educational for the little ones. Ian and I went through on our own which was fun. Here's a couple pictures and then I'm going to bed!
This is Ian, and he's the most AMAZING man in the world :D
He's made me the happiest girl, and treats me like a queen. I love every minute that I get to see him or talk to him. Shoot, I even love the times I get to think about him....which is ALWAYS haha!
We spend a lot of time at the house, a lot of that time is with my family. One day we took Aubrey out to look at the deer (that's where that first picture is from) and yesterday we took Aubrey to a park to play. He slept so well that afternoon! One day we decided to play with dominos. It was so much fun!!
He took me to my first dance since Prom on the Friday before Valentine's Day. Mom took me shopping for a new dress and shoes and jewelry...yay!!
I forgot to take any pictures at the dance, we were having too much fun! So this is at the fountain outside when we left.
On Saturday he brought me flowers and a teddy bear and a card. First off for the day, Ian took me to an incredible playground!!! Unfortunately it was not as springlike as this picture represents haha! It had been snowing but the slides looked pretty dry. I forgot to check the bottom of the slide though. HUGE PUDDLE! So as I went flying down the slide at a high rate of speed, "Weeeeeeee!!!!" I saw the puddle. What do I do?! Do I jump off the side? Do I try to lift up my butt before it gets........too late. I was soaked to the core. I didn't even have time to warn Ian who was right behind me. Luckily for him though I had taken the majority of the water upon myself. I'm just so nice like that :)
We played for a little while longer but I was so cold and wet that I had him take me to Target to get some new pants. Yay for more shopping!
After I got myself changed we went to 5 Guys for lunch and split a bacon cheeseburger with onions and bbq sauce. It was INCREDIBLE!
Then we watched Valentine's Day (it was entertaining but I'm good not seeing it again haha!) and went to his Grandparent's for dinner and dessert. It was delicious!
Long post, but at least there were pictures this time! Have an amazing day!!!
So I made the most yummiest dinner last night. (I'm working on my humility haha!) Mom and I even said something about taking a picture, but I got distracted as I was reaching for the camera.
A warm, hearty, rustic meal that's easy enough to make at home but feels like you're eating out!!
5-7 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup orange juice
1 can whole cranberry sauce
2 TBS apple cider vinegar
1 small red onion, chopped
1/4-1/2 tsp ginger, chopped
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 TBS brown sugar
2 tsp garlic powder
****
3 TBS flour
2 TBS cold water
****
Combine all ingredients in a deep cast iron pot. Cover and cook on high until it comes to a boil. Reduce heat to medium for 1 hour. Combine flour and water and mix into pot. Cook on low for 15 minutes uncovered.
Serve with roasted asparagus, mashed potatoes, rolls...
My first book in my challenge to read 26 books by different authors (one for every letter) by the end of the year left me dying to read more. This was incredibly well written, though at the beginning I found myself nit-picking small details. I soon found myself so engrossed in the story that I no longer found small points like creativity in the naming of characters to be a big deal. I have found there are 3 more books about the main character, Emily (or Kallista). Unfortunately they will have to wait until the end of this quest of mine. I need to keep going!
As far as book "B" I'm thinking Dan Brown's "Angels and Demons" but I also think I want to just randomly pick someone else. This time I just started in the "A" section and browsed until I found one that piqued my interest. I may do that again and if I do not find something, I will go find Mr. Brown.
So we decided to go up to Washington DC to see the lights at the temple. I'm really glad we went, I hope my dad knows that. I was being a little sarcastic about it when he told me, that is something I need to work on.
After a long nap...er...drive haha, we got up the the temple. The parents went into the temple and my brother and I went into the visitor's center. How do you entertain a 5 year old for 2+ hours in a building? Elevators. Christmas Trees. A camera. And a secret mission to McDonalds. (I'd tell you more about that, but I can't. SECRET mission rules)
There were lots of nativity scenes there he enjoyed looking at. He told me every time he saw a wise man that they were the ones bringing baby Jesus presents. I asked him what he would bring, fully expecting something like "A train" or "A Power Ranger". He put his hand on his chin, tapped his finger once or twice and said, "I'd bring him a candle. That way he'd be warm and he could see." Then he walked away and started talking about something else. I truly have an amazing brother. I'm lucky to have him in my life.
He and I took a ton of pictures throughout the trip:
Okay, there were lots more, but I just don't feel like posting them :P
