Professional Wedding Pictures are here!!!!

We got our professional wedding pictures today...ahhh!!! 3 CD'S FULL OF PICTURES!!!! Holy smokes!! Our photog was beyond amazing and he truly ripped himself off....we got a hell of a deal from him! He was there from 8am until at least 9 or 10pm at the reception! He got so many unique shots of details throughout the day, candid shots, fun poses and was super helpful to have around too! I have no idea how we'll narrow it down to start getting them printed and framed and scrapbooked! They're all amazing! So without further adieu, I give you a small snipit of some of our favorite shots from our wedding day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome to 25

Whoever said turning 25 is a bad thing? And why do people always say, "wow now you're closer to 30 than 20!" like it's such a bad thing! I am gladly welcoming turning 25 with open arms and if this past weekend was any indicator as to how the rest of the year is going to go, then I know it will be a good one! Janelle got to town late Friday night and right from her bus, we went downtown for some early birthday celebrating. What started out as "just a few drinks," turned into staying out until bar close, going to aftie's with some friends, a trip to Wal-Mart at 4am for wings and fries...and of course, The Hunger Games on blu-ray!!!! Needless to say, it was a fantastic start to the weekend! Saturday we got to Des Moines and hit up the State Fair for some drinks, people watching and fried food before the concert. Fried pickles and beer were a huge hit. So soooo good!!! Then we headed into the concert... It. Was. Awesome. Loverboy went on first then Pat Benatar came on stage and totally rocked it. Jordan and Scott got a kick out of how many of her songs that Janelle and I knew! I mean, who doesn't know "Heartbreaker" and "Hit Me With Your Best Shot!" Throw back 80s jams are the best! And then the real entertainment of the night hit the stage....JOURNEY!!! They were amazing! I am not sure if any of us stopped singing and dancing and rocking out right with them and everyone else there! The best songs were definitely "Faithfully" and of course, "Don't Stop Believing"....they ended the song with confetti and streamers blasting everywhere! Epic concert and we all loved every minute of it. Big shoutout to my parents for the tickets for all of us! It was a blast for the 5 pack to be together so thank you for the fun outing!!!!

early birthday celebration!

Sisters at Brothers!

State Fair Fun!

Awesome electric guitar solo playing
The National Anthem!

Don't Stop Believing!!!

The Fab Five!

Birthday Week!

Whoo whoo it's time for another birthday week!!!! Of course, I know this year won't live up to last year's birthday considering Jordan proposed and between him and my parents, I got the most adorable puppy to really top off the day! Seriously, it was the best birthday ever! It's so weird to think that we've had Paisley for a year already this Saturday, that we got engaged a year ago and two weeks ago, got married! We're celebrating my 25th birthday by going to the Journey concert at the Iowa State Fair along with Pat Benatar and Loverboy. It's going to ROCK!!! And The Hunger Games comes out on DVD....on my birthday! Looks like the odds are in my favor! Here's to a great birthday week and a fantastic weekend of celebrating with Jordan, my siblings and our friends!

Sew Cute: tank top dress

Before my parents left to continue their roadtrip around the midwest before heading back to Texas, we did a little early birthday celebration here for me with Jordan, my parents and Janelle. My mom first gave me a present that left me super confused. It was a sewing kit and a huge book called "Guide To Sewing" and she had wrote a really sweet note in it. The only reason why I was confused was because I didn't have a sewing machine....and she knew I had been wanting one for a long time! Mainly thanks to all of the awesome projects I have seen on Pinterest and also so I can start being awesome like she is and just make my own stuff when I can't find what I want in stores! Anyway, so in my head I was all like, "gee thanks a heap for the sewing kit and sewing book...just rub it in that you have a sewing machine and I don't!" until she totally blew my mind and handed me another box with a sewing machine in it!!!!!! Ah yesssss!!!! Is this seriously my life now, married, turn 25 and freak out about getting a sewing machine?!! Yes, yes indeed it is and I love it. So, I practiced for a little bit with a test piece of fabric that I had and then scoured Pinterest to decide what my first project would be and I decided to go with a tank top dress! 

total time: 4 hours....this really IS a simple project BUT since it was a first one, I admittedly used the seam ripper a lot more than I would have liked to and spent more time rethreading the machine than probably necessary.

total cost: $9.00. The tank top was $3.50 from wal-mart and I found the fabric in the 60% off section at JoAnn's Fabric

tutorial: I followed this tutorial from A Small Snippet Blog and it worked out and was pretty easy to follow along with actually! I changed the sash by adding elastic to it and used snaps instead of keeping it long enough to tie. 

And here's my final product.....

my first handmade tank top dress!

WE'RE MARRIED!!!!

All of our family and friends have come and gone....our place looks like a tornado came through here....there's a pile of thank you's staring at us already.....we are exhausted but happy, excited, in love and each of us have a shiny pretty ring on our left hand! Holy crap, we're finally married!!!! After a 352 day long engagement that was most definitely full of its ups and downs (thankfully more ups than downs), some really special time spent with my mom and sister, an awesome bachelor party for Jordan and an amazing bachelorette party for me, and this past weekend getting to be surrounded by all of our family and closest friends to celebrate our wedding, made it all worth it. All of it. So what if we had an argument here or a disagreement there? The wedding still went on and it was magical and really, we all learned something about each other along the way. And that's what made it such a fun journey and I couldn't have asked for a more perfect guy to stand beside me throughout it all.

Our wedding weekend can be summed up in one simple word: epic. It was literally epic in every sense of the word. From the moment my parents got to town up until the moment we said goodbye to them and finally kicked back on our couch to take in the past few days. I don't want to brag, but it really was one of the most amazing and kickass receptions I have ever been to. Which rocks, since it was my own. And that's exactly what we wanted it to be, a huge party to celebrate! My Dad kicked things off with a very heartfelt, humorous and emotional father of the bride speech. He had all of us laughing our ass off one second and the next, crying like a baby, and just like that, laughing again a minute later. His love for me has always been obvious but his love for Jordan, and for us together, shined through and it made my heart so happy. Your parents can tell you that they're proud of you or that they love you, but when you can see it show through without hearing the words, that's just when you know. And the whole time he was speaking, I just knew and knowing that he's proud of me and Jordan, and loves us and supports us, well, that's a pretty great feeling. After all of the typical dances got out of the way, we kicked off the reception dance for all of our guests by having a "snowball dance" which basically started with the wedding party on the dance floor, and when the music stopped, we had to go get someone from the crowd to dance with us and this went on and on until everyone was out dancing! And the dance floor wasn't ever empty or clear all night from the beginning!!! The DJ was amazing and our family and friends were even more amazing! They know how to party and party we did...all night long! Party a little too hard? Maybe. Feel bad about celebrating my wedding a little too hard and drinking maybe just a little too much? Not at all. Jordan and I had the time of our freaking lives! All of those people were there because of us for our wedding and it was a very surreal moment when I looked out at the crowd and realized, "I know every single person here. And they're here because they love me and Jordan, support our decision to get married and want to help us celebrate." I don't know if I've ever experienced a moment like that but it gave me chills and I could just feel myself light up. Best moment ever. And like I told Jordan at the end of my toast, the best is truly yet to come for us and for our lives together. And I can't wait to see what is in store for us!

morning of the wedding...done with hair and make up!

Mom making sure everything is centered and looking good...fighting back the tears!

Teagan, the cutest flower girl and niece ever!

exchanging vows...I Do!

Hawks for life in front of Kinnick!

4 sisters!

our first dance to Matthew West "When I Say I Do"

and my second favorite dance of the night with my Dad
to The Temptations "My Girl"

I can't wait to get back our professional pictures! And to start using some of our awesome and neat gifts that we got! AND to plan a honeymoon with Jordan thanks to my verrrry generous family! How lucky in love are we?! Here's to celebrating 4 days of marriage and a life time of them to come!