1 week.....

Wow, 1 week left until the wedding. I am so excited, yet scared. I have alot of things to get done and it seem like there is not enough time to do it! The boys have sport activities all weekend, so Sunday will be the day to get things done!

Bridal Shower

Well we had our Bridal SHower/Bachelor/bachelorette party last nihgt. We had so much fun! I will post more about it later. But in the mean time here are some pictures... Be careful when opening, might be offended!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?&conn_speed=1&collid=54822155807.694070225107.1158504312647&mode=fromsite

Closer...

Wow, time sure is going fast now. We are down to 23 days til the wedding, 20 til we leave for Oregon!! We are getting pretty excited. The weeks between now and the wedding will be busy. My Bridal Shower/Bachelorette party is this Saturday. Can not wait for that.

Next week Jared leaves for War Fighter. He will be gone a week. He comes back 5 days before we leave for Oregon!!

We are excited and anxious for our big day!!

34 Days and counting

Wow 34 more days and I will be Mrs. Alton!! I can not beleive how fast time has gone.

Tonight we went to the wedding of one of William's close friends' mom! The whole time all I could think about was it is almost my turn! Angela has 3 kids, one being William's best friend, and her husband Keith has 2 of his own. Their wedding party was made up of all 5 kids. It was such a beautiful ceremony. They made up their own vows to each other and it was nice to see that she was so happy!

all I could think about was what our day is going to be like! Is the weather going to cooperate for a outside wedding? I sure hope so.

Football

Football has begun here in Kansas! William had his first Scrimmage game tonight for the Freshman! Man did I feel old sitting in the bleachers watching my "SON" play! I can still remember sitting in those bleachers on Friday nights watching our high school football games!! Here are some pictures of him tonight. He is #81.


Tonight William really made me feel proud of him. He brought a friend home after school and when he got home Jared was gone at the gym. William asked me when he was going to be home cause he wanted to introduce Travis to his "DAD". He told me he likes "SHOWING" Jared off! It made me proud of him that he thinks of Jared as a Dad! I just wish Jared would give himself more credit when it comes to him being a father figure to the boys! He does not want too take the place of their dad's, but William has never had a relationship with his dad, so he enjoys that father relationship with Jared!
Then tonight Jared had a revelation, He realized that the wedding is only 6 weeks away! It has gone by so fast! I can not wait!!
Oh, I also got Jared a Cat this week! He is part Maine Coon cat and his name is Lynx! He is supposed to be Jared's cat, but I think he loves me the best!! He is 8 months old.

BUSY!!

Man have we been busy! With the kids starting school again we have been so busy!!! William is doing Football and had practice EVERY NIGHT!! Who decided to schedule football pracrice in the middle of my wedding planning?? Don;t they know they should have priorities!! haha!

Well we are down to 46 days and it is starting to scare me!!! But it is a good scare. I can not wait to spend the rest of my life with this man!!

Recollection

Today is the official 60 day, 2 month mark for the wedding. I sent out for the wedding license today! That makes it all the more real for me. I am getting more excited everyday to know that I am that much closer to becoming Mrs. Alton!!!

1 more week and the kids start school!! I so can not wait. I know with that happening the next 2 weeks will come and go fast. William is starting High School and doing football so that will keep him busy. I am sure it will keep Jared and I busy to with going to allt he games.

Austin will be in the 5th grade, his last year in Elementary school. Next year it is off the the Junior High! My, where did my baby's go?? They grow up so fast! It is like they are babies one minute and then getting their drivers license the next.

It is very difficult everytime I get in the car and William now asks me to drive. Man I feel old sometimes!!

Also I just updated the sidebar with our wedding registries.

Breaking Jared in!!

We seem to be breakin Jared in to all the fun things to do in Kansas!! Last niht we took him to the county Fair and watched a Demolition Derby. I have a good friend that I grew up with that races in them. At first Jared did not know if he would like it, but after goin and spending all evening there, he did like it!!

My Cowboy!!

My sister invited me and Jared to go to a Country Music Concert yesterday. I did not think Jared would want to go, but he did. We went and saw a bunch of country artists, but the main one we saw was Miranda Lambert. Jared likes her song Kerosene!! I got a picture of Jared goofing off wearing my cowboy hat. But after looking at it, Man did he look good in it!!! The only bad thing about the concert was that it was an all day thing. I was there from 11:00 am til 9:00 P.M. Well needless to say I got sun poisoning and could not go to work today! I was so sick last night. Throwing up and I had a horrible headache. I ended up passing out in bed, and then had a hard time waking up this morning! So I stayed in bed all day!! But here are a few pictures of Jared, My sister, my niece, and I!!!

Dress is in the mail

Well it is official. My dress is in the mail on it's way to Oregon. Jared's Aunt Donna is going to take it in for me to get steamed. WOOHOO! I have another box to send off on Monday with Wedding stuff in it.
I also found out that my mom is going to go to Oregon with us for the wedding. We got her tickets Tuesday!!

MAIL TIME

Well it is mail time. I put the invitations in the mail today! 48 of them! I will update the numbers in the sidebar as I get the RSVP's back. I can not beleive it is that time already!!

I am going to get my dress in the mail this week. Aunt DOnna is going to take it to David's Bridal at Clackamas Town Center to have it pressed for me. That way I do not have to take it on the plane adn worry about it getting wrinkled. I think I might also send Jared and the Boys' outfits also and see if Grandma will take them to the cleaners to get pressed for me!!

WEll I better get off here and get ready for bed!

We llove and miss everyone!!

74 MORE DAYS!!!!!

Our Weekend

We had a great weekend. Now that the boys are done with Baseball, I can finally start finishing up stuff for the wedding. I got all the invitations done, now just need to get them in the mail. We stayed home today and got the house cleaned, the yard mowed, all the laundry done, and the cars cleaned out!! I am glad that we finally got all that done. Last night, we went to a Mud Marathon with my sister and her husband! We had fun, it was a pretty nice night, not to hot, and not to cold. The weather is supposed to get hot again this week, I am so not looking forward to that! I need to get a box of wedding stuff packed up and sent to Diane, that way it will be there waiting for us and we will not have to take them on the plane! Well I will close this with a couple of pictures of us and the kids yesterday at the Mud Marathon.

Been a While!!

Well it has been a while since I have posted. So I thought I better get busy! Things around here have been pretty busy. Jared tried out for the WarFighter Competition again this year and made it as the alternate. That means he will train with all the guys and then when it is time to go for the competition, he will compete with the other 2 guys to see who gets to go down for the real competition! That is going to be a crazy time for us cause it is exactly 2 weeks before the wedding!!!

Today I got all the invitations done, now I just need to get them off in the mail. I need to get a box ready to go to Oregon that will be some of our wedding stuff. That way I do not have to take it on the plane.

Other than that not a whole lot to report on. I will try to update more as time grows near. Hard to believe we are close to the 2 month mark!!

Oh What a week!!

Have not posted on the blog for a bit. The kids and baseball keep us pretty busy.

Thursday Jared started the WarFighter Competition. It went all day and night until Saturday at Noon. We do not know how he placed in it as they are not going to tell them who made the team until July 18th.

My mom was taken to the hospital Friday morning as she had a small Heart Attack. They are scheduled to do an Angioplasty tomorrow morning to find out how much blockage she has. Hopefully they can get whatever is wrong fixed. She had another small one this morning, so they are transporting her to another hospital tonight.

Friday, Jared and I leave to drive to Colorado to see Diane and Ed Manley! We can not wait. I am going to take some of the wedding stuff with me so that Diane can take it back to Oregon!

We are down to 104 days to go! WOW! I can not wait!

I started taking Adipex, a weight loss pill, about 1 1/2 weeks ago and I already lost 5 pounds. I have really been working on slimming down a little before the wedding. After I had back surgery I gained about 40 pounds, so I really want to loose at least 20.

Well I better get off here so I can get ready for work tomorrow. We love you all and can not wait to be back in Oregon soon!!

CAnoeing

We had an awesome time canoeing with the kids. Here are some pictures of our trip! Hope you enjoy!!

Pictures

Ouch!!!!!!!

Well I am a Klutz!! tonight I was trying to cut a zip tie with a brand new knife ans slipped and cut my finger!!

Jared had to take me to the ER to get stitches. 4 stitches later and I have to go see a hand surgeon. The cut was almost to the bone, and they think I might have cut a tendon. I also cut through an artery, so it bled pretty good!!!

The boys are more concerned about our canoe trip this weekend!! The cut is so nasty, here is a couple pictures of it !!


Well I am a Klutz!! tonight I was trying to cut a zip tie with a brand new knife ans slipped and cut my finger!! Jared had to take me to the ER to get stitches.

4 stitches later and I have to go see a hand surgeon. The cut was almost to the bone, and they think I might have cut a tendon.

The boys are more concerned about our canoe trip this weekend!!

The cut is so nasty, I will try to post a picture later!!

Bailey

Well we are getting rid of Bailey. Jared just Don't not care for him and the big d0gs do not like him! He is going to a good home though, I am giving him to my niece who has wanted a puppy like him for a long time. I am a little sad to see him go, but then again, I am tired of his whining at night!!

This weekend we are taking the boys on a canoe/camping trip! It should be a lot of fun! I will make sure to post some pictures after I get them developed!! We leave Friday after organizational day and will be back home Sunday afternoon! I can not wait!

Bailey

Well we are getting rid of Bailey. jared just Don't not care for him and the big d0gs do not like him! He is going to a good home though, I am giving him to my niece who has wanted a puppy like him for a long time. I am a little sad to see him go, but then again, I am tired of his whining at night!!

This weekend we are taking the boys on a canoe/camping trip! It should be a lot of fun! I will make sure to post some pictures after I get them developed!! We leave Friday after organizational day and will be back home Sunday afternoon! I can not wait!

Bailey

Well we are getting rid of Bailey. jared just Don't not care for him and the big digs do not like him! He is going to a good home though, I am giving him to my niece who has wanted a puppy like him for a long time. I am a little sad to see him go, but then again, I am tired of his whining at night!!

This weekend we are taking the boys on a canoe/camping trip! It should be a lot of fun! I will make sure to post some pictures after I get them developed!! We leave Friday after organizational day and will be back home Sunday afternoon! I can not wait!

Wow! I can not believe that we are 4 months away! It has gone by so fast. I finally booked our airfare to Portland last night. We will be coming in on the 4th which is Wednesday. I also got the whole honeymoon airfare figured out also. I did have to move the reception and wedding time around, but it will all work out.

We are leaving for our honeymoon directly after the reception. Man will we be tired. But then again we will have 8 WONDERFUL days in the sun, just him and I! I can not wait!

I have been reflecting this last couple of days about how lucky I am to have Jared in my life. He stepped up to the plate with my boys and has become the father figure that William so desperately needed. I do not think he will ever know how much I appreciate him for that!

It also means so much to me that his family and friends have taken my boys in and treat them like they are family also! I love him for everything he does for me and the boys!!!

HUGE PROBLEMS

WOW! We have some huge problems right now. Today I went to look at our flight times for the honeymoon. Thank goodness I did. American Airlines decided to cancel 2 of our flights and now we have no flight to Jamiaca! I was able to find a flight to take us, but the problem is it leaves at 12:30 A.M. on the 8th. Our reception was supposed to go until 11:00 P.M.

I have had to change the times of our reception and wedding.

The new wedding time is going to be at 11:00 A.M. on the 7th.
The reception is going to be from 3:00 - 7:00 P.M. on the 7th

Then we leave for Montego bay Jamaica straight from our recetpion.

I also have to reprint all the invitations!!!

Oh How I hate the Airline industry!!!

Oregon Pictures

Here are a couple of my favorite pictures from Oregon. There are more in my photobucket account so please feel free to browse!!

We are Home!!

We are home from Oregon! We had a good time. Jared enjoyed spending an evening drinking with his friends! He was smashed! I had fun taking pictures of him on Nicole and Michaels bathroom floor! We got to go to the beach and check out the wedding site. It is very pretty there. I can not wait to go back in August for Michael and Nicole's wedding and then it will be 2 short months and then Jared and I will get to do it also! Here is the link to our photobucket account with a bunch of pictures in it from the weekend. I tired to separate them into where they were taken to make it a little easier! Hope it helped!


P.S. Nicole...... I will try to update on a regular basis now so you will not get bored with Bailey! HAHA! See you in August!

http://s69.photobucket.com/albums/i74/alton_family/

~~BAILEY~~

I think we ahve a name for the puppy! William, Austin, and I thought we would name him BAILEY!! Now when Jared comes home in 5 more days he may decide to change it! We will have to see. But for now he will be called Bailey.

It is so funny, I have seen people give Shih Tzu's pacifiers for them to chew on, so I got one for him, He is so funny, he casrrys it around with him and loves it!!

Family Addition

I told Jared not to leave me home by myself casue he might come home to a new puppy!! My sister found a lady that owned Shih Tzu's and had 2 males for sale. I took her today to see them, and I ended up bringing one home! He is so cute! I jsut can not think of a name for him! Jar3ed wanted to name him PEBBLES since he is so lo to the floor, but I think that is to girlish for a boy dog! I gues he will jsut be pretty boy until I can tink of something else! Here is a picture of hima nd my sister Stephanie's little guy! Mine is the red and white one and hers is the black and white one!

So Lonely

Here is sit on a Saturday night by myself! Jared is gone to West Virginia for work. He left Friday morning at 5 A.M. He will be gone until Thursday! Both boys are gone and I am here with just the dogs!!

Already I have finished up the wedding invitations, Scrapbooked 4 pages and now I am not sure what else I am going to do! Maybe I will get some motivation and walk on the treadmill!

Things are coming along so well for the wedding, it is hard to believe that it is only 5 months away! I can not wait! We went on Thursday before Jared left and got my wedding ring! Glad I did cause when I looked at my engagement ring, I noticed I had lost a diamond. So Kay Jewelers, where I got it is going to replace the diamond for me, at the same time I am having it sized!

after we got the ring, we went to dinner, I had Jared try on his ring again, and boy am I glad I did, it was about a size to big! I took it back to the jeweler and I was afraid they could not do anything since I already had it engraved, but thank god, they are ordering him anew one in the right size!

Well I better go, I am going to read a little of my book and lay down with the dogs!

Jared The Scrapbooker Part 2

Jared came home last night and made sure he told me that he got an A+ on his homework assignment. I guess his scrapbooking escapade the other night was worth it!!!

Jared the Scrapbooker

I thought it was pretty funny the other night when Jared came in and asked me if I had any tape in my scrapbook stuff! I told him yes, I had some Photo squares he could use! He then asked could he use some of my construction Paper...WHAT???

If you are a scrapbooker, you will know that it is not construction paper, it is BAZZILL and it is about .60 - .75 cents a piece! Yes I said PIECE!

I had to give him a quick lesson on scrapbook paper and not to call it construction paper! I gave him 3 pieces of Bazzill and told him to use them wisely as he would not be getting anymore!

Off to work in the kitchen he went! I was so proud to have a scrapbooking fiance` even if it was just for a school project!

Now I wonder will he support my habit better, now that he knows how addicting it is!

All I have to say is he better stay out of my Bazzill for now on, if he wants to scrapbook he better go get his own supplies!!

Cake

Well it looks like the cake baker is decided on. Aunt Donna and both the Grandma's went to Portland on Monday to check out cakes and taste them for us! It looks like we are going to go with the Helen Bernhard bakery. Here are a couple of pictures of what I think the cake will look kinda like! It is supposed to have the triple dots on it as well as the sea shells! Aunt Donna said the lemon filling that we want is GREAT! I can not wait to see how it turns out!

My Bouquet

Well I went tonight and got the flowers to make my bouquet. I think it turned out pretty good for my first attempt at making one! I chose Latex Roses to make it with since I probably will not throw it at the reception. There probably will not be to many unmarried girls there!! It is a hand tied Bouquet!

Wedding Bubbles

Here is a picture of our wedding bubbles I decorated last night. Tonight my sister nad I are going to go to Hobby Lobby and see what else we can find for the reception adn wedding!! I will post later what I found!! In the meantime, here are the bubbles!

Reception centerpieces

Tonight I made a sample of what our Reception centerpieces are supposed to look like! Hopefully when we come in next time I can get these done! All I have to get are the shells and the Sand. I bought enough raffia tonight and Diane has the glass and the candles for me!! But anyways here are a couple pictures!!

Happy Belated Easter

Happy Easter to everyone! We hope everyone had a wonderful day! We stayed home and I cooked dinner for Jared, William and I! It was nice to be able to do that.

Things have been pretty hectic around here. Jared is going to school 4 nights a week and the boys are playing ball right now and they have practice almost every single night! I am always on the go, and it is wearing me out! I NEED A VACATION!!

The wedding plans are coming along good. I am kinda on a hold right now until things get closer, I got pretty much everything done, except the little things!

Aunt Donna and both the grandma's went and tasted cakes the other day, I am glad they did because Aunt Donna said the place she went was not that good! They are going again on the 24th to taste some at another place.

I need to call tomorrow and book my hair appt for Seaside, and then I will be done with that. I have the marriage license filled out and ready to mail off, I just have to get a few more tidbits of information from Jared's mom and dad of where they were both born.

Well I better get going, I have to get the boys from baseball practice.

We love you all and miss you so much!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR JARED,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!


I LOVE YOU BABY!!!

Honeymoon

Well I am glad to say the Honeymoon is officially paid for. Now I just need to go home and pay for the flights to Jamaica!! We have decided we are going to go to Sandals in Jamaica. We will be there for 8 days and 7 nights! I am so excited to go!

At the same time, I am trying to plan a party for Jared's birthday Friday and then Saturday I have about 20 14 year olds staying the night! I think I am out of my mind!!

WOOHOO IT'S FRIDAY!!

Thank god, It is Friday! I am so tired this week and I don't even know why! Jared has been in training all week and not getting home until late at night, but I am still wore out!

I want to thank Aunt Donna! We got a package in he mail from her and it had a bunch of pictures of Jared and Andy when they were little! It was so nice to see pictures of Jared as a baby and of Andy before he got sick! I think it might have even brought a tear to jared to see these pictures! Thanks again Aunt Donna they meant a lot to us!

Well no big plans this weekend! The boys both have baseball practice, but other than that we are just relaxing! I need to clean up the yard and plant some grass, but nothing big!

Hope everyone has a good weekend and Remember to turn your clocks forward for daylight savings time Sunday!

Busy 2 weeks ahead!

Wow, just realized that I have a busy 2 weeks ahead. Both of the boys have been chosen to play on a traveling Baseball league. So we have practice almost every single night.

Jared is going through CERT training for the next 2 weeks, so he gets up and goes in at 630 but does not get home until around 11 at night! Then his birthday is next Friday! I have to get things together for that! William's is the 19th and I have to plan a birthday sleep over at my house for 20 fourteen year olds. Can you tell I am crazy!!

Well I got Jared's ring back from the engraver. It is so pretty and I am glad I got it engraved! I have to order the boys' family medallions for the ceremony this week. Boy I have alot still to do!

Thanks Diane for the offer on the raffia, sand and seashells. I will probably take you up on that so I do not have to mail it there. I am going to do a trial centerpiece to see if I really like it first and when I do I will let you know!

I think we have to figure out what we are going to do about decorating the day of the wedding. Jared and I and Grandma Marlene and Peggy are all staying up at the beach Friday night before the wedding, so I am unsure of how we are going to get the reception hall decorated. Because we can not get in to decorate until Saturday morning. I guess we will have to get that figured out soon! Well I better get back to work! I have tons to do!

We love and miss EVERYONE!! We may be seeing you sooner than August Diane!! I will let you know for sure later!

Wedding Plans

Well here we are 6 months away from the wedding and things are coming along really good! I got the call today that my dress is in. I have to go try it on and see if I need to reorder a different size. The invitations are already printed and ready to be in the envelope and sent out. I need to get busy on buying the stuff for the centerpieces at the reception. I already have the glass bowls, and they are in Oregon waiting for me to go decorate them! I just need to get the sand, Seashells and raffia. We have Jared's wedding attire already, so now we just have to get the boys' and then we will be done with that part!

This week I get to pay for the honeymoon! Thanks to Grandma Marlene, that is her wedding gift to us! JAMAICA here we come! I am so excited it is all coming together! It seems like just yesterday Jared proposed and I Said yes! I can not wait!

PICTURES

Our Wonderful weekend!

We had a GREAT weekend!! For my Birthday Jared surprised me with a night at the chateau Avalon. It is a romantic theme Hotel here in Kansas city! We checked in at 4:00 yesterday and we stayed in the CAMELOT room! complete with a Knight and a draw Bridge that you walk over to get to the bed! It also had a Jetted Tub in the middle of the room as well as a 2 person Glass shower, with 2 heads!! No cold water for me!! It was so nice! I took some pictures and will post them in a bit. At about 6:15 we got a call to come up to a different room as Jared had arranged for us to get couples massages! That was nice! I think I want my own Massage table now! We went to dinner at LongHorn steak house and had a great dinner! Then back to the chateau we went. We also were to call when we were ready for our couples dessert! CHOCOLATE for me and an Apple tart for Jared! We then had them bring up a movie for us to watch, The City of Angels. But 5 minutes into it I was asleep! I think the sit in the jetted tub, the massage and then the awesome food made me tired!!

Happy Birthday to me!!

WOW! It is hard to beleive that it is my birthday!! Jared was so good to me. I got a BEAUTIFUL aquamarine necklace and flowers. He said there is more to come so I will have to post that later!! But here is a picture of the flowers and necklace!!

Wedding Invitations

This is my project for the weekend. Jared has training tomorrow, so I think I am going to start working on the invitations. I really don't want to wait, I want them done and ready to be mailed with no rush! I know, we still have a little over 6 months to go, but I am impatient! I want to get it done NOW! HAHA! I have a few ideas, I jsut want to try them out and see which one I really like!

THE BEST!!!

Can I just say that I have the best Fiance' in the world.

I have been in a dilemma about dresses. I purchased 2 on eBay and they just really did not bowl me over after I got them and tried them on. In January, Jared and I went to David's Bridal and I tried on a dress that I really LOVED. Jared liked it to, as a matter of fact it was his favorite dress.

All this time, I have been searching on eBay hoping that this dress would come up for sale. No such luck. Well yesterday Jared came downstairs at work to see me, as I was looking at the last dress and our favorite dress, comparing the two. The great guy he is, he told me, "Let's just go buy the original one we both like and then you can sell the other two on eBay"! So taht is what we did!

MY DRESS SHOPPING IS OVER!!! Here is the dress I bought last night and the dress I will be wearing to the wedding!

DRESS DILEMMA

Well can you say CONFUSED?? I am in such a dress dilemma here. I have 2 dresses already, but I really like the first dress I tried on. So between now and October, I May change my mind about what gown I am going to wear.

Here are 2 more pics

HERE IT IS!!!!!

Here it is! The dress. I really like it and I am going to keep it!!