One Year of Bliss

This may be my longest post yet.  I have so much to share, so much for which to be thankful.  A year ago today I married the man of my dreams, my best friend, my partner in crime, and the love of my life.  I feel so blessed to be able to call such a wonderful man Husband.  All of our family and friends were in town, (some of which [family] I was meeting for the first time.)  It was such a joyous moment and one that brings a smile to my face and butterflies in my stomach every time I think about it.  I'm excited to see where this God-given journey takes us in the years to come.  Looking forward to sharing many more memories and making so many new ones.  Thank you to everyone who has helped us along this path and who helped make this day so extra special for us!

                               {I love this one of Mom putting on David'd boutenniere.}

                                        {How many girls does it take to put on a wedding dress?}

 {That's right.  Part of my dress fastenings broke as we were putting it on and I had to be pinned in!}

 {Hand-made invitations. Mom and her group of friends put so much effort into them.  They even made the clay leaves themselves.}

 {Some of my wonderful friends whom I am glad could be there.  They sang one of my favorite choral songs in the wedding: Where Your Barefoot Walks By David Childs. (See a YouTube video of the song here)}

 {Our photographer Ruth Reese told the bridesmaids to pretend like they were throwing their pumpkin at David.  One bridesmaid actually threw it and Ruth caught the pumpkin mid flight!}

The New Mrs.

    This past weekend I had a blessed opportunity to be a part of one of my dear friends, Sarah's wedding.  It was a perfect day!  It was full of music and everything that was so suited to Sarah.  The family and bridal party walked down the aisle to the introductory song from Pixar's UP.  The rest of  the music was smooth jazz. She was such a beautiful bride.  I couldn't be more happy for her.  By now, the new Mr. and Mrs. Spurrier are probably enjoying themselves in Florida on their honeymoon!  It was an extra special experience to sing David Child's Where Your Barefoot Walks with some of my best friends.  It was made extra special by the fact that it was the same song they sang at my wedding also.  Sarah wanted to carry on the tradition and I loved it.

    Their reception was vintage carnival themed, with large metal tubs of popcorn to scoop into little brown paper bags, garlands of burlap, an iPad photobooth, and a caricature artist.  One of the most unique things that I have never seen before was a s'mores bar.  It was delicious!  There were all the fixins, such as three different kinds of graham crackers, chocolate bars, and marshmallows.  Wooden skewers were provided to roast the marshmallows over a display of little bunson burners.  CONGRATULATIONS, MR. AND MRS. THOMAS SPURRIER!!!

Countdown to Fall

Fall is by far my favorite season.  I love everything about it.  The crisp air, fallen leaves, hot chocolate, pumpkin spice lattes, the way anticipation hangs in the air, time with family, fog, Halloween!, Thanksgiving, fellowship, apples, pumpkin carving, warm apple cider, pumpkin and pecan pies...the list can go on and on. Nothing beat a crisp fall morning, dressing in a sweater, leggings, boots and a scarf and walking the couple of blocks to school while fog was still in the air, drinking a hot mug of coffee...mmm.  Everything seems so peaceful and silent.  Can it be Fall already, please??
 
  Now I know countdowns typically start lower, and end with the top spot, but I can't resist starting with number one on my list. Mine and Hubby's 1 year wedding anniversary!!  This blog started off as a log of the wedding planning but kind of fell by the wayside with so much going on with school, job, opera, recital and planning a wedding.  So I figured I'd give everyone a peek into the beautiful day that couldn't have come together more perfectly!

                                            {Precious cousin flower girl and ring bearers}

 {Story behind this is: Photographer told my ladies to pretend like they were going to throw pumpkins at Hubby.  One of them actually did throw it, and it was caught in mid-flight!!}

 

                  {Our lovely wedding party.  Each one of these people meant so much to us!}

                 {Hand carved synthetic pumpkin with a tealight that my bridesmaids carried in}

                                                  {Wedding shoesand rings}

                                                             {As husband and wife!}

 

 {Delicious cake! Red velvet, marble, and white.  We should have made the biggest tier instead of the smallest tier be the Red Velvet.  We played nice during the feeding of the cake and didn't smash it into each other's faces}

                             {Blushing bride and Handsome Husband}                 

                                           {Three generations; Grandma, Mama, Me}

 {Blowing bubbles for our exit. Everything seemed to happen so quickly!!}

Honeymoon

I figured I would sneak this post in here about our Honeymoon to Branson.  I'll post later as well about the details of our wedding, since that kind of is why I started this blog.  :)

                                                             [Our rented Mazda 3]

                                                                         [Bride and Groom shirts I made for the first day of our Honeymoom]

[Luggage from my parents for our Honeymoom, with Bride/Groom tags. We didn't want to get them mixed up....;)]

[Welcome to Missouri!  We went and did everything there was to do in Branson, Missouri!]

[Dinner at the Outback Restaurant our first night t here.  Delicious food.]

[For our wedding night, we stayed at the Crowne Plaza in downtown Tulsa]

[David met the Genie at the Hollywood Wax Museum]

[I met Hugh Heffner.  He let me borrow some of his bunny ears]

[Lunch at the Baldknobbers Restaurant.  Home cookin style buffet]

[No Branson trip is complete without riding the Ducks!  Plus who can resist the free quackers; all they were missing was cheese......*quack quaaaaack*]

[We went to Silverdollar City on the last day!  I tell you, this was the time to go.  It was during their Festival of Lights.  Children were still in school, so it was just us and a bunch of Senior Citizens groups.  Hardly any lines for the rides and really not too crowded.  It was actually part of our deciding factor for going to Branson. (Not the senior citizens, but SDC's Christmas Festival)]

[We youred Marvel Cave while at SDC.  It was a lot of fun!  It was one of the best trips to SDC]
[We also played mini golf at Grand Country Buffet, went to Ripley's Believe it or Not, saw Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede Christmas show (complete with the most amazing meal I've ever had there, I even got to take home my little hen that we were served.  Unfortunately, I left it at the hotel in the fridge and never got to finish it...) Also saw the Jim Stafford show, toured a winery and did a wine tasting, saw the Titanic Museum (it's such a tragic, yet amazing story.  I will never tire of hearing about it,) rode on Branson's Scenic Railway into Arkansas and back (which we found out after we'd already purchased our tickets that in the Christmas season, they had a reenactment  ride of the Polar Express, complete with singing waiters, hot chocolate and cookies!  Maybe we can do that next time.)  We shopped at Branson Landing, down by the river, shopped in Hollister, a cute little German-esque town just outside of Branson, and hit just about every antique store in and surrounding Branson.]

[Welcome home sign from Mama and Daddy!]