week four.

I went to Texas to meet the family I'm marrying into & am really happy they are so wonderful. 
I survived the unmatched heat and humidity of Houston in August and even {kind of} happily watched three hours of football in it.
I did take my camera but did not take a single picture, grrr.
I will get ten darling nieces & nephews when we get married.
I met Mckay's high school girlfriend at his 10 year high school reunion we attended. Special huh?
I am sick of being engaged, living in my horrible "packing up" room, and searching for new jobs.
I would love to be able to be putting our new apartment together, but tenant boy is still there.
I am excited to be going home a week from Friday!
I am elated to be getting married three weeks from Friday!
I need to find a veil to wear in some photos (general consensus from friends and family).
I want a hot, homemade oatmeal raisin cookie right now-but will not go make a batch.
I wish furnishing a little love nest didn't cost money.
I was at the library the other day and picked up a baby names book, I literally read it for an hour.
I think I'll like naming babies.
I feel a little stressed at having a only a week left out here and a big long to-do list glaring at me.

{Two of Mckay's good friends, Kevin and Joe also came for the reunion with their lovely wives Danica and Cherise.  It was good to finally meet them and their cute kiddos. Photo courtesy of Cherise}

{I think this is the veil I'm looking for. Short and cute and sassy...}

"marry mckay"

& we're off to Texas.

Announcements were mailed this week, thanks to my wonderful Mom.

The new nanny came on Monday, she's nice.

On Saturday I had the most wonderful and perfect "bridal tea"

-courtesy of my dear friend April.

Picture this: china and tea and a 100 year old house as a back drop, sweet friends and presents and delicious food and a chocolate cake & even coconut M&M's. The tables were decorated with scrabble pieces and we drank out of mini glass tea cups. Like I said, perfection.

(I'll post some pictures of that later).

Before I go, one more picture and a story:

One frigid February day I was in the city with Alli.  On our way back to Grand Central we stumbled upon this wishing wall of sorts.  It had entries from people all over the world and their wishes/goals/dreams.  You just walk up to it, wait your turn, and then type in your name, where you are from, and your wish.  It gave me nervous butterflies to write this & I was self conscious that somehow Mckay would see it and think I was crazy! But I did it (probably with a little encouragement from Alli) because it was the only thing I could think about standing in front of that wall. Alli was smart & snapped a picture before it was added to the hundreds of other wishes on the screen and eventually disappeared.

This is one of my favorite pictures, it makes me smile and then it makes me feel very grateful.

week five.

If last week was the week of nothing update worthy, this was the week of all things update worthy, productive, decisive and lovely. Here's why:
1.  Found and purchased my dress
2.  Mckay booked our honeymoon
3.  Picked flowers with flower lady
4.  Picked food with food lady
5.  Picked cake with cake lady
6.  Harassed friends and family and then addressed 456 envelopes by hand
7.  Ordered engagement photos
8.  Checked out reception place
9.  Got my drivers license, been driving with an expired license for five months
10.  Signed the lease to our first and very own love nest, wow oh wow

*Also squeezed in a whole day of quality family time which was wonderful. My cousin Alex will be serving a mission in Washington DC and we went to Idaho Falls on Sunday to hear him speak in church and eat yummy food with family and friends.

Internal debates & other thoughts:
1.  Veil or no veil? I'm leaning towards no veil... What then? Headband? Hair clip?
2.  Did you know I've never met Mckay's family? It's true. At first I was having minor anxiety over this, but now I just think, how fun! What an adventure, I love surprises, right? Right.  Plus I've talked to a few of his sisters and they're so sweet, so I'm not worried.
3.  Is there something I'm totally spacing on our registry? Married people?
4.  Bridal shower this Saturday and I'm elated!

The dress I did not get:

Gorgeous isn't it? It had a price tag that would have fed a small country. I love lace, and I loved this dress- but still- it's the "trendy lacey old-fashioned" look, if you know what I mean. I absolutely adore the one I did get. No pictures of that one, it's more homemade and old fashioned looking.

How adorable is this guy? I love him a lot. He's such the gentleman. He opens the car door for me and Regan everywhere we go. Can't wait to see him in his handsome suit at our wedding.

Why I love going home {minus one, she was in CA}.

Oh PS: Ellen DeGeneres on SYTYCD tonight?! Dancer, lesbian, comedian, lovely talk show host, Dory fish extrodiaire. Of course.

week six.

Saturday we went kayaking on the Long Island Sound and then had hamburgers with friends. Josh & Colleen had us over to their lovely home on the water for that. We also played SingStar. I beat Mckay at one of Pink's songs. Twice. Then we played boys vs. girls and killed them again.  Mostly because Colleen knows every song by heart. Mckay's good friend Christine was passing through from LA and we got to spend the evening with her, lots of fun!

Sunday we went to Waveny Park for a picnic. The weather finally cooled off after a few weeks of temperatures and humidity that had me certain I live in a butterfly conservatory. I'm glad of that, as Pollyanna would say.

Tonight I'm flying to Utah for a weekend of wedding planning. Kenna and Trevor won't even be there, bummer, but I'll be an only child in my parents house. That has not happened since Regan was born.  I keep getting excited butterflies in my stomach to be home with my family!

Here's one of the engagement pictures, I've had a few requests from impatient people {wink}.  I'm not looking at the camera and I blame him {see below}, otherwise we probably would have used this picture.

He is so cute!!!

I hate packing, as excited as I am to be home, I still haven't finished that task. Mckay will be here in 15 minutes to take me to the airport so I better get my butt in gear. There are no wedding updates because I hardly did anything update worthy. This post is almost not worth posting but whatever!
We're hanging in there and counting down the days till September 17th!