HONEYMOON

I am finally getting around to sharing about our honeymoon with y'all! I uploaded the pictures the other day so here they are!

We left the morning after our wedding bright and early. We stopped at McDonald's on the way to the airport for a quick breakfast. Can I just say living so close to the airport has its perks? Hello extra sleeping time :) We had both packed before our wedding day which helped tremendously! Also, don't you love my luggage set?! There is another small rolling piece to the set.  Matthew picked it out himself! 

 I haven't been on a plane since I was 10 and was a little nervous at first, but loved it! This was both of our first time out of the country. So glad we could check that off together!!

 Our first glimpse of MEXICO :)

The view from our room

Sadly the beaches were covered in seaweed. As in no one was in the water, we never got to get in either but we did enjoy plenty of pool time and lounging on the beach. Everyone was at the pools (there were four total on our resort) so we practically had the whole beach to ourselves! And, they still came down to the beach and took our drink orders. Hello unlimited glasses of coke!

All four pools were beautiful and huge

There was a theater on our resort and they had shows every night!

The show, Grease

I ended up getting a selfie stick, as much as I hate them and laugh when I see people using them. I just knew I didn't want to have to stop and ask people to make our pictures and I wanted good pictures, you only honeymoon once y'all!

Matthew surprised me and booked two excursions while we were there. He told me the night of our rehearsal dinner, and we were PUMPED! He spaced them out perfectly, Tuesday we went and toured Tulum, one of the oldest Mayan Cities, and Thursday we went and rode ATV's though one of the jungles and then went cave exploring. We both agreed that we enjoyed the ATV's and cave exploring the most!

Tulum was very interesting and there was a lot to see! It was extremely hot and really crowded but we had a good time! It's not like we get to see all of that stuff everyday so it was worth it!

These little big guys were EVERYWHERE in Tulum and they weren't afraid to come right up to you. There were even some on our resort but they weren't as friendly, thank goodness!

We weren't allowed to take our camera or phone on the ATV rides or in the caves but they did make pictures of us that we were able to purchase. I did snap this one on our way out though! I will have to do a whole new post about our excursion on Thursday, It was SO much fun!

The food their was different, but there was always plenty. I'm almost positive I had bread and guacamole with every meal. The wedding diet was officially over and I could eat ALL the bread I wanted to that week, HA!!

One of our favorite restaurants was the Italian restaurant. Hello delicious bread and pasta!! I only got the lasagna there but Matthew ordered the ravioli one night and I tried a bite, it was good, too!

On Saturday night, our last night, they had a ton of vendors come in and set up on the resort. It was like a little market that you could go through and buy stuff at. Some people don't leave the resort so we both thought that was pretty cool. This man made magnets. He hand painted most of it, only using a fine brush to do the really small details. He was so talented and did a ton of magnets. We ended up getting two! He put "Honeymoon 2015" on one of them for us! I stood there and watched him make a couple of more because it was just so neat. Matthew got a really nice leather wallet and he picked out THE prettiest necklace and earring set for me! He is so good at picking jewelry out ;)

One of our favorite things to do, I think we did this every night, was to walk down to the beach right after dinner and just lay on the chairs talking, listening to the waves roll in and have our toes in the sand (at least my toes were in the sand, Matthew isn't a big fan of sand lol) We would sit there for at least two hours just talking. We talked about everything, from the wedding, to creating a budget, to where we want to go on our next vacation, to where we see ourselves in 5+ years. It was probably one of the greatest memories I have of our honeymoon, and there were a lot! No one was really down there so we again, had the whole beach to ourselves. A few nights we stayed out there so long it was time for the resort workers to put the chairs up for the night, which was our cue to leave!

Although I can't say we will go back to Mexico or that resort we had the best time together. Whoever thought of the idea of a honeymoon is probably one of my favorite people. Spending the whole week with your new husband, not knowing a single soul around you, limited wifi access, and not having anywhere to be or on a certain schedule was THE absolute best thing the week right after we were married. I'll admit it was a little strange going to work the following Monday and not being with Matthew almost every single minute of the day lol.

My heart is so, so full and I am still on cloud 9!

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HONEYMOON

Blogging? What's that??

Long time no blog... Life has been spinning like crazy and I feel as if I never get time to sit down and blog, and when I do I choose sleep. Sorry, but it's true. I used to blog at work, I have an earlier schedule so I would blog as soon as I got there before we got really busy, well a little over a month ago they updated all of our computers with new software and it now block everything on the internet. Including things we needed on a daily basic so they had to go back in and reset some of the settings, unfortunately blogger didn't make the cut. I spent the first little bit of every morning when I first got to work to read your blogs and then write my post, but now I have to do it outside of work, and to be honest I don't know how y'all do it!! I have started multiple posts on here but got so tired I couldn't stay awake. Maybe one day I'll finish them and finally post them.      I WROTE THAT ^ OVER THREE WEEKS AGO. Got tired. Saved it in my drafts and called it a night. Seriously how do y'all do this?? I know once the wedding is over I'll have more time and maybe can take a rainy Saturday afternoon to write up a couple of posts but goodness, right now there just isn't time. So what have I been up to?  Well let's see... -I have had two bridal showers so far. What a blessing our friends and family have been so far! Organizing, planning, crafting, cooking, and decorating. All of it has been SO overwhelming, but one thing is for sure- we are blessed with the best! They have showered us, prayed for us, and have been so generous with gifts and advice.

 

 -I have been reading a lot! I have read two books some friends from church recommended.. His Needs, Her Needs by Williard F. Harley and Love and Respect by Emerson Eggerichs His Needs, Her Needs was good, but my goodness, Love and Respect, it definitely was my favorite. Seriously, I can't say enough good things about that book. I am hoping to do a post over it. If you haven't read it yet, do yourself a favor and read it ASAP. So many things in that book absolutely blew my mind and left me speechless. We aren't even married yet, but since reading that I have already noticed some positive changes in our relationship. IT'S THAT GOOD!   -I went on a work mission trip with the SOC last week...my last SOC trip. Let's not even talk about my emotions after I dropped everyone off that rode with me, and I realized that. Such a fun trip, even though some of us had to come back early.   -My sister graduated high school. Yeah, I still can't believe I typed that out, MY SISTER GRADUATED HIGH SCHOOL. Keeping right on up with the crazy emotions, they were seriously all over the place. Happy/proud/sad/excited/freaking out...you name it. Sometimes I still can't believe she is old enough to drive and have a debit card, but graduating high school? I just did that...four years ago. Time is flyin' y'all! I really am proud of her! She worked so hard all through high school, especially her senior year, taking dual enrollment classes to get college credit, volunteering tons of hours, staying on top of her grades, and so much more. She is getting her first two years of college paid for thanks to the Tennessee Promise and then scholarships will kick in after that. We had a big graduation party at our house for her the weekend before and it may or may not have included a nacho bar. Heavenly.

  -I've still been working out as much as I can, eating healthier options, and smaller portions. So far I have lost 18lbs. I'm not at my goal weight yet, but I still have time. Also, I am losing inches. At first I had only lost around 10lbs and kept getting so frustrated on why I wasn't losing more, but then I started trying on some clothes I hadn't worn in about two years and they fit SO good. Some were even a little loose (insert praise hands emoji here). I do have to say that is one of THE best feelings. I was literally down to about two pair of dress pants for work because all of my other ones wouldn't even zip up anymore and I refused to buy new ones (they are expensive!!) Now, they ALL fit again!! Even pants from high school fit....like I said...best feeling ever! As crazy as it sounds, one of my favorite workouts is running bleachers at our football stadium. We set goals on how many we want to run, 10 or 15 depending on time. We can usually finish them up in 20-30 minutes!! Add in a few sets of squats and calf raises and our workout is done in 40 minutes.   -We had our engagement pictures made!!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously a day I have been dreaming of finally happened!! I was on cloud 9 all week because I knew we were having them made that weekend. I felt like we put it off for so long, because I wanted to loose weight, everything to turn pretty outside, and for good weather. We didn't send save the dates and we aren't sending any pictures with invitations so we didn't have a deadline, thank goodness! We made some in Murfreesboro and then the rest in Cookeville. The weather was perfect and we had a good time...at least I think we did. I had a blast, Matthew on the other hand was totally out of his comfort zone but handled it all like a CHAMP! We may or may not have rewarded ourselves with Cookout after for over three hours of picture taking. HAAAAAY engagement pictures! We have the ones we made in Murfreesboro back, but the ones from Cookeville we only have a sneak peak. I'm pretty sure I squealed for a solid 10 minutes when we got that and ran around the kitchen a few times, bless my parents soul. I'll be sharing those with y'all when we get them all back.

  -One of my sweet friends from work got married at the beginning of May. We spent ALL last summer talking about her wedding, mine and Matthew's fall wedding (he had me convinced we weren't getting married until the fall), wedding crafts she could do, how crazy it is that she was finally getting married, and everything else. It made the work days go by faster and we loved chatting all through the day, we sat beside each other. So seeing her walk down the aisle to her groom literally almost made my heart burst out of my chest. She had it at her dream wedding venue she had wanted it at since she was a little girl, her dream wedding dress, and her best friends from elementary school standing beside her. She was glowing the whole afternoon, and the weather could not have been better. A dream I tell ya! They actually went to the same place we are going on our honeymoon!!

  -My three best friends graduated from college. Another huge emotional rollercoaster over here. One of them found out she got her dream teaching job the Thursday before she graduated. She told me right after she found out I was on my lunch break and big ole alligator tears came pouring. I am so incredibly proud and excited for her. She has worked SO hard all through college. Making good grades while most of the time balancing two jobs. Honestly, I don't know how she did it. She had told us about the interviews coming up and We prayed and prayed for guidance and peace when it came time for the principals to make a decision and they called her! She is teaching 4th grade and will be getting her classroom this summer!! We are already brainstorming ideas on how to decorate it. Fun fact: We met and became best friends in the fourth grade and she got to student teach with out fourth grade teacher! She had a huge impact on both of us and we made so many sweet memories in her class that year. Sarah, was definitely lucky to student teach with her!! I know without any doubts she is going to be the best teacher. I get so overwhelmed thinking about all those precious kids that are going to come through her class over the years and how big of an impact she is going to have on them.

  Okay, I think that is about it for now. Last Saturday afternoon was the first time in over a month I was able to sit down at home and relax for more than two hours at a time. Sweet sweet times, three hour nap and then some wedding crafting followed by hotdogs for dinner with my family around the fire.   If you made it through all of that, you.are.a.boss. I am hoping to get back in the swing of things and blog regularly again, not making any promises though ;)   oh, and 57 DAYS UNTIL WE ARE MARRIED!

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Blogging? What's that??

Wedding Wednesday: Flowers

Last Saturday morning I went with my aunt to pick out our flowers for the wedding.  We went to a place in Nashville that is considered a wholesale flower shop, whole sale = lower prices...perfect! I already had in mind what I wanted but we needed to go see them in person and talk with the florist to see when we need to buy them. My aunt is actually going to be putting our flower arrangements, bouquets, and the guy boutonnieres together!! She has done a lot of weddings and I have seen them and they look beautiful. I am SO excited, and SO thankful!! Here are some ideas we have found on Pinterest:

The flowers: Peonies They are my favorite. Every since I was little my dad has grown them and they come up every year late spring to early summer in the prettiest soft pink, and every year daddy has cut me a few and put them in a vase on our table. When I moved out he started putting some together for me to take back to my apartment. So really it wasn't even a question, peonies are just beautiful. If we were getting married late spring/early summer while daddy's peonies were still coming up I would use those in a heartbeat. I am still holding out on maybe just a couple that decided to come up later (fingers crossed!!) Carnations  I love the way these look and I have found multiple ideas of mixing peonies and carnations and loved them all!  Baby's breath It seems to be very popular theses days, and I really like it as a filler. I wanted to look at other greenery filler options but there wasn't much that I just really loved, especially the prices. Peonies and baby's breath is going to look so good together! There are a few other flowers we are looking at still but those are the main three!! -My bouquet is going to be mainly peonies with maybe a few carnations and some baby's breath. -My sister and MOH, is going to have a couple of peonies and mainly carnations with some baby's breath. -My bridesmaids are going to have carnations with baby's breath. -Matthew is going to have either a white peony or carnation, his groomsmen are going to have a pink carnation and some baby's breath. We are still working on the guys flowers! What flowers did you ladies have in your weddings?!  Y'all, I am getting SO excited!! We hit the 100 day mark last Thursday and I am pretty sure I was on cloud 9 all day lol. 95 days to go!!!! Double digits!  We are getting engagement pictures made early next month, and I am SO excited about them. I have been planning our outfits and finding places to have them made. Praying for pretty weather the day we have them made!!

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Wedding Wednesday: Flowers

Bee Rock and Good Workouts

Whew! I feel like life is flying by and I can hardly come up for a breath. The past week has consisted of: Wedding Planning Spending time with family Some REALLY good workouts Some good times with friends and of course, some REALLY good food ;) Wedding planning is going well! I went this past weekend and picked out our flowers with my aunt. It was so surreal, a lot of this wedding planning has me feeling that way. It seems like it was just yesterday we were picking out his suit to wear to senior prom and boutonniere for senior prom and now, these past few weekends, we've picked out his suit and and boutonniere for our WEDDING. As in what he will be wearing when I walk down the aisle to him and we become HUSBAND and WIFE. My emotions are just through.the.roof.

I got to see most of my family this past weekend. The kids had their annual Easter egg hunt while I enjoyed some chocolate ;) My mema mad a huge lunch on Sunday and, of course, it was delicious. Her ham and potato salad are to die for...and calories don't count on holiday weekends, right? ;)

Last Monday we had a GOOD workout. I'm talking about the kind where you push yourself and feel amazing afterward. Love workouts!! We didn't go to the gym everyday, but I still did some workouts at home! I went to bee rock with my sister and best friend. I had never been there but Matthew's brother, Nathan, talks about it all the time so we went! It was well worth the drive, too.

 Also, campus is SO pretty right now!

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Bee Rock and Good Workouts