Day 299

Last week we went over to Danny's dad's house to visit for Christmas. I was speaking with them about different ideas we had for the wedding when I told them about how I would need photos of Danny as a child.

Within an instant Jeff had three huge binders out full of old photographs. I was so impressed and tickled to finally get a chance to see what Danny looked like when he was younger. I already have two photos from when he was very little. I kept them because he looks just like baby Frasier Crane (anyone remember Cheers and Frasier, they were some of my favorites)! 

I thought it couldn't get much cuter than this, however, it totally did! Remember I am going to be putting photos of both of us at the same age on different tables. I have already started putting these in pair based off our ages, but some are too cute not to share anyway. Also, I am waiting for my parents to get back to me with photos from my childhood. The ones I have are quite limited. 

Disclaimer: These are photos of photos, for the wedding I will scan the photos so they will be more true to form. 

Danny and Tricia learning to crawl

Danny and Tricia at one years old, same hair cut! 

First birthdays, we both seem to be obsessed with fire

Acting special

These are just some other photos that were fun for me to share from Danny's dad photo albums. This one particularly because it is of Danny and his sister Angela!

 

Day 300

Family and friends, only 300 days until I marry my best friend! This is exciting news! We have survived through Christmas and our on our way to the new year!

 We had planned to have a special date for this day. Something cuddly and warm in lieu of the weather. However, since Danny had to work in the evening we didn't do anything out of the ordinary, yet. We plan on doing our date for this milestone on 1/1/13 since we will both have this day off. 

Today was also my brothers birthday. While Danny had to work I met up with my family and had some frozen yogurt to celebrate how awesome Loren is. Since I would have been alone in our home I spent a great deal of time at my parents house. This break from school has been wonderful for family bonding. 

Day 320

Well, its been awhile since I posted anything relevant. It seems like we have been pretty busy these days. 

During the course of our relationship Danny and I have shared a vehicle. This has proven to be tough in certain situations as we both work. Thankfully, my parents and my grandparents were always willing to help with rides. Though it was always a hit on my pride when I had to call my Grandpa Jensen because it was too cold or my mom would yell at my because it was too dark to walk home. Richland is a pretty safe place to live but I understand her concern. However, in the recent weeks my grandpa got us another vehicle. I am blown away by the kindness of my family during this time. The truck is older than I but it is a great way for us to get to work without leaving someone else stranded. We have so much credit to give to other people on all of this I don't even know where to begin but to say thank you every time I see all those that helped in the deal. There will be a thank you clause at the bottom of this post just to spell everything we are grateful for! 

We have also been spoiled by Danny's lovely sister Angela. Not only has she agreed to make our wedding cake but she is actively trying to make it the best possible. I was a bit worried about how I would fit in with his family because I had not had much interactions with them. Except last Christmas when I was sick due to medicinal poisoning.  Needless to say it was not my most shinning moment. I have been getting to know her well and have had a lot of fun doing it. She even offered to teach me how to cook, which means she is crazy :) We have been testing out different cupcakes and even some cookies. This girl can bake! Is professional taste testing a job? Because I think I would be excellent. I don't want to ruin any surprises but from what I have tasted everyone will be delighted. 


Last week Danny and I spent our first night apart in nearly a year. It was difficult but we survived! I got the opportunity to go to Wenatchee to hang out with my cousins children while my cousin and her husband were able to enjoy a well deserved night on the town! I had a lot of fun and I hope they all did too. Normally I am afraid to drive long distances by myself but it really wasn't bad and well worth it to know they had an enjoyable time and I overcame an obstacle. 

We only have two finals left and we are done with this quarter! I cant believe it is already December;  Christmas is only 15 days away! Next quarter starts on January 2nd which seems a bit quick but we will take whatever break we can get.

I spoke with my brother on the phone today he was helping me with some Christmas stuff and we started talking about the wedding. I have posted about my troubles with the catering before and that I haven't been able to find one. He seemed pretty interested. As we talked more about the facility and numbers it became more conceivable. We are going to have a few more chats about it all but it sounds like he is going to help us out! Which is great because anything Loren sets his mind to do he does wonderfully. A few weeks ago he made me a homemade veggie burger from scratch, it was excellent. He has experience catering events before and is in tune when it comes to culinary features. Danny was very excited when I shared the news! I really love how everyone is coming together for the wedding. I am related and going to be related to some creatively talented people. 

Thank you clause: 
Thank you to my grandma and grandpa Jensen for totally hooking us up with the truck, I don't think words can express how grateful we are. Thank you for getting new tabs, plates and a battery for it as well. 
Thank you to my Dad and Tona for always picking me up from work when I needed a lift. Another thank you to Tona for keeping our pantries and fridge full with delicious and nutritious food, the almonds you bring keep me from starving. You are very kind and we appreciate you!  Also thank you for getting us soy milk from Costco! We are also happy you helped us get our school books for next quarter, thank you from our future selves. 
Thank you to Dev, my step-dad  for fixing up the truck so we could actually use it. Also thank you for chopping us down a Christmas tree in the mountains! Our charlie brown tree is perfect for us! :)
Thank you to Angela for feeding us delicious treats. Also thank you for keeping me company and offering us a nice place to visit. 
Thank you to Leanna for always putting up with my shenanigans.  I had a great time visiting your family, cant wait to see you all again. 
Thank you Jeff for bringing my water bottle all the way into Richland when I forgot it at your birthday party. 
Thank you to Eren, for always chatting with me for like 5 hours on the phone. 
Thank you to Disney and Netflix for making a deal and providing my favorite movies instantly so I don't have to watch south park reruns!
Am I missing anyone?
Duh! Thank you to my mom, because she totally rules. If i wrote down everything she helped us with it would take like 3 pages but to name a few. Thank you for finding insurance information out for us. Thank you for always being the go between person, arranging and organizing things. Thank you for our wreath. Thank you for letting me hang out at your house so I am not lonely. Thank you for helping me calm down when I am worried. Thank you for being concerned about us. Thank you for giving birth to me. 

Day 336

This is the man for me

Day 338

Happy thanksgiving everyone! Though this is not our first thanksgiving together, it is our first thanksgiving together engaged! :) It is also the last one we will be spending with our last names being different. I cant believe its already the end of November! 

The whole idea of family has really come back to me in the last week. Though I know I have always had family I guess i feel it more now, if that makes sense. Probably doesn't but I feel more apart of my life now than I have in the last three years and its wonderful. 

Danny and I got the opportunity to attend a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert, in Portland OR. It was a blast. Our baby girl Eren came with us and it was a great break from the mundane. We did get a speeding ticket on our way home but that was my fault because my work schedule was making us cut it pretty close. Either way it was worth the trip, some guy rubbed his butt on Danny. It was a hoot! 


Danny's sister and us have been chatting all about cake's and cupcakes. All those who are attending the wedding are in for a great treat! I have read that when you are planning your wedding you are supposed to pick three things/aspects that are the most important for you and splurge on them. For me, the cake would be in the top three. It means so much to us that she is handling this with such care. We get to start taste testing on Sunday, yum!

My dress should be here in the next couple weeks, which is very exciting. The bridesmaids have all been looking at dresses and pretty much have their selections made. Once they are actually purchased I will share. 

We did decide what we wanted to do for the guestbook. Originally, I wanted to have a picture made and have everyone stamp their finger prints as leaves on a tree or birds on a branch. Though I still find this idea adorable, we have found something else that would be more suitable. There will be a table with a Polaroid camera and have people take their own pictures (or have help from others) of what they look like at our wedding. Instead of signing a guest book we will ask our guests to give us advice or words of wisdom. Then I will make a scrapbook and put their handwritten advice on the same page as their Polaroid. Here are some pictures I am using as inspiration for this idea.

Day 350

Hello again,

This week has been full of ups and downs. We had someone loose our trust and friendship completely. He tried to create a wedge between us by disrespecting me. However, he truthfully just made himself look like ass, but i will say it was a trying time. 

Some awesome things happened this week too! We began asking people to be in our wedding court.  Ironically this was the first wedding craft we started a week after we got engaged. 

What we did was buy a bunch of cigar boxes (from craftware house) and paint them our wedding colors. Each box was painted and then sponge painted a little bit differently.

Then we monogrammed them each persons  first initial.

I matted the inside with a quote from William Shakespeare that we thought was very fitting for our attitude about our wedding.

"To unpathed waters and undreamed shores"

 We began filling them with little bribery items personalized for each individual. 

Each person also got mini bottles of liquor based on what we know as their favorite drink, except my younger sister who is not old enough to drink. She was substituted lime green (her favorite color) head phones to go with the music player she got for her 16th birthday.

We also wrote a letter to each person asking them to fulfill these spots in our wedding. I used coffee to make the letters look old and rolled them up like a scroll and tied them with twine.  

We wrote more for the girls, the boys simply say "Your service as a groomsmen is requested." We figured they wouldn't need any more hoopla. 

The girls got:

• Chocolate with proceeds that are donated to endangered animals (always nice to help)
• 2 Nail polishes
• two bottles of liquor (or headphones)

The boys got: 

• Cigars
• two bottles of liquor
• mints
• toothpicks

I took some of the left over paint and dipped Popsicle craft sticks in each wedding color for each person so they would have something to compare with when they are shopping.

Finally I wrapped each box in a recycled Winco paper bag, tied twine around it and then stamped it with a carpe diem and started handing them out. 

So far the reactions have been wonderful. Here is the line up in case you were wondering:

Best Man/Lady: Eren York ( Best friend of the bride and groom, long story will explain later)

Groomsmen: Brian Sorensen (brother of the groom)

Groomsmen: Loren Saywers (brother of the bride)

Maid of Honor: Karisa Saywers (sister of the bride)

Bridesmaid: Lindsey Littlejohn (sister of the bride)

Bridesmaid: Holly Myers (best friend of the bride)

Ring security: Sir Diesel pants (nephew)

The other great wedding advancement that took place this weekend was that we found our cake baker! Danny and I had talked about asking someone around us to help with the cake, we thought it would be special to have someone close to make it. A few names came to mind but the most prominent was Danny's sister Angela. We wanted to wait until the perfect time to ask her. Yesterday Angela and I started texting about thanksgiving and the wedding and the cake baking came up. She offered to do it before I was even able to ask! We are all really excited, we have already started talking about recipes and designs. She has so many great treats you can check out her blog yourself!  Angela, Herself

Day 354

I write to get my emotions out, usually in the form of letters I will never send. Here is yet another one of those instances to the jerk of the week. 

To the shadows of friends we once knew:

Though I will never fully understand your motives against our hopes, I will say that I hear your cries and will not alter my courage to your demands. Despite the best efforts we will not stop loving each other or ourselves. We never intended to hurt anyone and I am exhausted of fighting my own grief for blame of words I never spoke. The self entitled job to love everyone and everything comes with its burdens and I have felt them silently until now when my anger fills the spaces in my heart and I can no longer promise solidarity.

I have given friendship with the most honest intentions and in return my name is slandered? Forgive me, but this is not companionship. We were supposed to be friends, no matter the distance. People who genuinely cared for one another. But now i’m just a vagina that ruined other peoples relationships. No one is willing to stand up and say what happened was wrong?

But some how I am still standing up for you. I am protecting you against all the people who want to defend my honor, because in my heart I still see your goodness. My grace and rage are fighting a battle inside. My heart is saying let those who have my best interests at heart teach some manners, but my head is promoting peace. How dare you attempt to abuse my name and try to destroy my dignity in the name of your shallow gain. Yes I have had mistakes and I will be the first one to draw upon them, because I have learned my lessons the long way, and i’m not ashamed of who I am. Are you?

Your pettiness has surprised me. Take lessons from mine and learn how a real man treats a lady. Perhaps you wont be alone then.

Thank you for showing me the strength of the people around me and reminding me that all my efforts are being carefully gardened.

Best of luck

Day 365

I cant believe we are already are at day 365. I am glad we decided to have a long engagement rather than a short one. I couldn't imagine getting married today! 

We sent out our Save the Dates and our engagement photos today. I read that for a destination wedding giving more notice is better. Our pictures turned out pretty well with special thanks to my friend Eren who took them. I am disappointed we didn't get better shots but I believe it was the weathers fault, it was a pretty windy day that we decided to do it. 

I also purchased my wedding dress this week. I pulled a Carrie Bradshaw and just bought a dress without the traditional bridal shopping trip. I had been looking online at dresses for a few weeks, and had been saving the ones I liked in my favorites. However, there was one particular gown I had become rather fond of, I called it the Greek goddess dress because it reminded me of something Aphrodite would be sculpted wearing. It is simple, flowing, and elegantly romantic, which is everything I was looking for in a wedding dress. 

After several days I returned to my favorites to glance at it and the Davids Bridal website had taken the dress down and posted a note that let viewers know this dress (Greek goddess) had been discontinued. My heart became heavy. I frantically began searching the internet for this dress on eBay, amazon and anywhere I think it could have been. I was able to find it through the manufactures, straight from China. I was apprehensive about ordering something so special to me through such a long chain. My cousin Leanna -my moral support during all of this-reminded me that most clothing comes from other countries. 

I took several days to deliberation and research on sizing, I decided that I would be upset to let this offer pass. Did I mention that the dress was significantly cheaper through the manufactures website? Go figure, right. To get it made and shipped to me from China cost a third of the price that Davids Bridal wanted for just the dress and nothing more. I read reviews and most of them said "You receive exactly what you order." I will post a picture of the dress once I receive it, I ordered it in ivory. 

I did not mean to hurt anyone's feeling by not doing the shopping trip, I just felt like I got the best deal. Danny is very adamant about not seeing it until we are getting married. I will still need people to model it for when it comes in! 

Last night we were going to try to do something special for our pre-anniversary day. Danny had to work until 8 though so we had a low key night when we came home. However he did get dressed up, we played chess, had a beer and watched some CSI. Not a bad evening! 

Day 377

Sorry it has been awhile since I have brought anyone up to speed. It has been a busy time of year with school and work. Danny has been working anywhere from  45-60 hours a week between his jobs. That is not including his school work. He is my hero. We have been working on some wedding things however.

 We got his attire for the wedding (mostly) picked out and purchased.  We knew we wanted gray for his suit and we had our eye on one particular suit at Macy's  last week when they went into their Columbus Day savings we were able to pick up exactly what he wanted for about 75% off! What a steal!

He looks so handsome! 

I started working on my vows today. Just the first draft but for some reason I felt relatively inspired today while watching Pirates of the Caribbean during Danny's 10 1/2 hour day. 

Note this is just a first draft, and Danny has been advised to no longer be an avid follower of this blog(that way I can start posting the good stuff).

" When I was young I promised myself I would never be with someone who I wouldn't commit a crime with. Though I have no desire to do ill will, the point was to never settle for someone who did not inspire great adventure. My heart reminds me of this every time I look at you. I see a man who encourages me to grow everyday. A man who is strong and wise in his silent way.  A man who loves and forgives as easily as he breathes. A man who has faced struggles but still greets each day with an open mind and warm smile. A man who hold me to the highest honor and never lets me feel anything less than sweetly blessed. A man who will go out of his way to make someone else feel hope. You continually teach me what love truly is. As we begin this stage of our adventure I promise to spend my time nurturing your dreams, feeding your thoughts, cherishing your talents, freeing your fears and simply holding your hand with mine in those quiet moments. I pledge, above all things, to give you the love of my whole heart and entire brain no matter which paths we pursue or challenges we must conquer, for forever and a day." 

What do you think? Any thoughts or edits? Is it to mushy?

Day 400

Today we are celebrating the 400th day of our engagement. Id like to report that we had a lovely date planned tonight. Well, we did but our plans got shot down. After our vacation last week we got slammed with work....and when I saw we I mainly mean Danny. He is still working two jobs to support us, neither one will give him the commitment of a 40 hour work week so he is still battling the limbo caused by scheduling. One of his places of employment will schedule him on calls so he is never really sure when or if he is going to work there. 

Anyway, it worked out this week that between Tuesday and Wednesday he worked a total of 30 hours. You read that right, in two days he worked 30 hours! I wish I could have worked some of those hours for him. Overall for the week he is at about 54 (scheduled) hours. He was called into his second job for this evening after working during the day at the other one.

Basically, we haven't seen each other at all today (excluding a half an hour this morning). We had talked about going wine testing for this date. There is a popular festival in town this week that would have been fun to attend too. I was at work when I found out we weren't going to get to go through with our plans and I was bummed out. 

When I came home this evening to our empty home, as I have been growing accustomed too, I was surprised to find these sitting on our coffee table. 

How sweet of him to take the time between jobs and shifts to do something because he was thinking of me. The note was wonderful too.

"My dearest love,

Can you believe it? Only 400 days 'til our day of marriage! I can't wait..."

 Tonight might have to be some thrown together event when he gets home, if he is up to it. However, something tells me he will be. I'm thinking a big bowl of popcorn and a lord of the rings movie! Which would work out because i'm really not all that ready to share him with people. 

Day 401

My little sister turns the sweet 16 this Sunday. Boy does that make me (and everyone else around) feel old. When I was in the first grade I brought my brand new baby sister to show and tell....and that was 16 years ago! Anyway, Lindsey is a soccer star at her high school and in our family. Her team is having a team dinner before their game Saturday and Lindsey asked me to make special birthday cupcakes for the event. She requested vanilla and chocolate cupcakes both with vanilla frosting but nothing else too specific. So I put on my apron and here is what I came up with:

Dark chocolate cupcakes with vanilla bean frosting

I love making off the wall recipes....ok so this one is not really all that crazy but in a world full of people who bake from boxes it is fun to throw zany ingredients into a homemade creation. Not to mention I would do anything to be a chocolate-tier, even though I can eat it I just love experimenting with it! Below is a link to the recipe I based my treat off of. My professional taste tester (Danny) said "these are delicious." 

Dark chocolate cupcake recipe

Vanilla neon rainbow cupcakes with vanilla bean frosting

These were totally fun to make! Lindsey loves neon colors so they are perfect. Basically I just made vanilla cupcakes then separated the batter into 4 bowls and dyed each a different color. When I was filling the cupcake liners I just used the colors to create layers. It made me feel like I was making something for a Dr. Seuss book.  The lime green color turned out a bit yellow but it doesn't mess things up. 

I hope the girls like them, I have had a migraine all day and had to force myself to keep going with this project. Though I would do anything for my sister and I feel like baking is my calling, I really was not feeling well and had to take little breaks so I wouldn't get dizzy. It was worth it!

Good luck on your game Saturday ladies and Happy early birthday Lindsey! 

Day 404

Tower of Terror

Hello! We are back from Disneyland and I am happy to report we survived and had a great time. The temperatures were record setting, which made some points pretty miserable considering I do almost everything possible to stay indoors when it is over 95 degrees. Thusly, the reason I am so pale. 

Danny had never experienced Disneyland before so it was such a special treat to be with him on his first visit. Not to mention this was our first family vacation together(not just a weekend trip). We got to pretty much walk on rides the first 3 days we were there since school was in session. However, Friday is when the heat and the crowds set in and the park starting loosing its luster. We ate some great meals, and witnessed some wonderfully designed shows. Danny said he couldn't wait to go back.....well technically he asked if we had to come home...I think it translates into the same thing. 

I love Disneyland and always have. I even was named an Honorary Citizen....ok that might not actually be an award but I wore the button with pride. It is always fun to go on thrill rides, story rides, see shows, wave at characters, get your walk on, dance in public and people watch but honestly the trip was so special because Danny and I got to spend so much time together. 

I know that sounds super cheesy but most people need breaks from each other  and we really didn't have any moments where we wanted to push one another off a cliff. I'm not saying that we don't appreciate alone time too, it is just that we really are the best of friends. Towards the end of the trip we just wanted to hang out together it didn't matter where it was, hotel room, park or various stores. I think that is a sign that our relationship is strong, because even faced with constant contact we wanted to be closer. We are probably the most annoying lovey dovey couple, but I don't care if its a cliche. 

This morning we were having separation anxiety when I had to get up and get ready for work. Gross I know. It is going to be a long week coming out of our vacation land haze......especially since school starts Monday. No worries though we have already talked about our next few trips! :)