Engagement Photos...oh boy....

So last Sunday Chad and I ventured down to Springville to get our engagement pictures taken. We had my dad take them (he did Heather and Dave's photo's and he is so talented) and we chose Springville because Chad has some family friends with some amazing property there. It was the first time Chad's mom met Joy and Larry! Thank goodness Larry was on his best behavior and my mom was there to ease my dad's awkwardness (love you dad haha). Most girls don't have a father with so many darn opinions on pictures, but since my dad was the photographer and he is an artist, I basically had to do whatever he said. First was my hair. OY. How I had my hair done was fine but it was "in my face" and he couldn't see my eyes apparently. Then, it was my outfits. "Interesting" was one of the comments I got. GEEZ. Then it was "your not going to wear shoes but Chad should". WTF? So we wanted a "country" outdoorsy theme that was really relaxed and a little bit "Southern". Apparently in the "Southern Country" the women don't wear shoes and the men get to wear boots. Mind you I am in a frilly polka dot dress (think circa 1950 but way cuter) and he is in a button down shirt, jeans and boots. It's like we are back to the days of the little bare foot wifey and the big strong man in his boots! haha. I seriously had to BEG my dad to let me wear my red high heels for 2 shots! You could hear Joy in the background "Larry just let her wear the shoes come on!" and poor Joleen thinking we are a bunch of weirdo's. She was probably thinking in her head "Wow....these people talk to each like they should be on the Jerry Springer show....DADDY LET ME WEAR MY SHOES! (think redneck southern accent) NO DARLIN THE WOMEN DON'T WEAR SHOES IN THIS HERE FAMILY!

To add to the wondeful fesitivies we fell in a pond filled with mud and crap! Yeah. Larry's brilliant idea was so get on the rickety dock of this pond that had swans in it. It seemed like a really pretty photo op, but this dock was a piece for sure. So we get on it and I cuss out loud (oops) and decide right away this is a BAD idea especially since I am in a white lace dress of Heather's. So, we are standing on this thing, trying to smile and look in love, and the swans are not coming towards us despite our best effort with fish food (swans eat fish food? huh?). So Tim, the property owner decided it was a genuis idea to get on the dock and lure the swans over and then he will leave so he isn't in the picture. Yeah right as he puts his foot on I freak! Am I the only smart person here??? Then for some unknown reason he starts stomping on the dock trying to level it out! UM WHAT?? So instead it tips completely and we all fall in! Lovely! Chad being the gentleman he is held me up mostly so I got only a bit wet, but he fell in completely and was covered in mud...like caked in it. Awesome. My face said it all in the photos (you guys are bright...NOT..). Looking back it was pretty funny, but after it happened I was pissed. REALLY pissed...and I didn't hide it much (although I tried). HAHA

Regardless, we got some good pictures (and some really bad ones) but mostly good ones and the effort was not for nothing. When I get around to it, I will post some of the better ones, along with the ones where we fell in the lake. I'm sure people will get a kick out of them :)

My first post!

So this is my first blog and for someone who grew up loving to write and wanted to be a writer for years, I am stumped on what to say! Who knew? I guess I will start by saying that life right now couldn't be better. I realize that is really cheesy and lame, but it's true. Getting engaged has been such a happy time for Chad and I and we are really excited to spend the rest of our lives together. Chad and I met a year ago through some friends that we actually don't talk to anymore. Pretty random I know, but hey, we got something good out of it! I was pretty skeptical to date Chad because he was really good looking and 32 and I thought there had to be something wrong with him if he was single. BUT...I guess the same could go for me right? haha. Anyway, we met at dinner for our first date and I was pretty much smitten right from the start. We went on a few more dates in the span of about 2 or 3 weeks and then decided that we didn't really want to date anyone else. It moved pretty fast and I was nervous because every relationship that moves fast tends to fizzle out, but we just couldn't get enough of each other. I thought that was definitely different and realized pretty early on that Chad was unlike any guy I have ever dated for sure. I knew that I was falling in love and he was too, and I knew after about a month that I wanted to marry him. WHOA pretty fast right? Well luckily we waited about a year to actually get engaged (smart thing to do) and here we are a year later planning a wedding for April.

Things that we love to do is hang out with our families, especially little Elsie girl! I love Elsie to pieces and you can find tons of pictures and notes about her on my sisters blog, but for some reason she cries every time Chad holds her. This is really random because Chad is actually better with kids then I am! You should see it, it's hilarious it's like it goes in slow motion. We put her in his arms and he talks to her in this little whisper of his best "baby" voice but it sounds more like a man trying to sound a bit breathlessly femmy (LOL) and she is good for about 30 seconds then she looks up at him and her little lip starts to quiver and all of a sudden she is just bawling! We're all like what is going on? Chad always says "Guess she isn't my buddy today". But, I guess we still can't get enough of this darling and hilarious little chubber :). Hanging out with my family is so fun for us, because I am really close to them and so is Chad. My parents like Chad more than they like me I swear! We do lots of fun things together mostly on Sundays and it really is a blast.

Right now we are working on making our litte apartment a home! We got new couches, a new bedspread, and we are working on getting a washer and dryer. Decorating a house is really fun and actually a lot more different than what is was like decorating my apartments when I lived alone. Men actually have opinions about what they want (well Chad does) and it is pretty interesting to see what they pick out. For instance, Chad picked out our bedspread and it is a celdon green with peach embroidered flowers and it is actually pretty girly! Who knew? Should I be worried? Nah! It's always nice to have a man who has a good eye for something pretty. LOL