MARRIED!!

We made it! The wedding was absolutely perfect. A few little things went wrong (like Aaron leaving the ring at my parents until half hour before the ceremony) but everything got figured out and the day was perfect!
Sunday morning we left for Mexico and had an awesome time! The resort was nearly empty and the weather was beautiful.
I'll post pictures soon but just wanted to say a big THANK YOU for everyone who helped to make the day so amazing!:-)

One Week...

So apparently I'm really bad at this blogging thing... I never remember... so here's a quick update of everything that's happened

The girls at school threw me a Bachelorette party

We went to eat at Olive Garden (my FAVORITE!) and then we played some fun games

My aunt and cousin threw me a shower for my dad's side of the family

My friends at home had a Bachelorette party for me

(please notice a trend with the crown... I now have 3 of them because apparently people think I need to wear a pink fuzzy crown that lights up to announce my pre-marital status.. haha)

The market where Aaron worked last year has recently opened up for the year so Aaron's been putting in long hours there on the weekends.

Aaron and I had our last day of classes yesterday! After two finals next week I will officially have survived my first year of graduate school! Aaron has been having some issues with his credits from Sinclair transfering evenly since it is a quarter school and Miami is a semester school. We found out he may be here a little longer than expected but everyone in the business school has been awesome with helping him get done as soon as possible. Right now we're looking at him being done one semester after me, so he'll be done in December of 2010.

And the most exciting news of all.... WE'RE GETTING MARRIED ONE WEEK FROM TODAY! It still hasn't hit me, but I'm getting really excited!! I'm really excited to see all of my family and for all of Aaron's brothers to get into town! I've been checking the 10-day weather forcast multiple times a day (haha I know, I'm a loser) and it's been quite different everytime I check. It's ranged from 60% chance of rain to sunny and 73, which is what it says right now. Its still a week away though and I'm sure the forecast will change a dozen more times before then. I'm really not worried about it raining on the wedding day (that means good luck afterall) but I really hope that it stops for a least a little bit so that we can get some pictures outdoors because the country club where we're having the reception is BEAUTIFUL!

Everyone's been asking us if we're still going on our honeymoon since currently it's planned for Mexico and well, Mexico hasn't exactly been a wonderful place to travel recently. The company we used to book our trip is allowing people to move their trip to either another date or another location. Aaron and I have been talking about it and there hasn't been many (if any) outbreaks of swine flu in the Cancun region (which is where we'll be) and it seems to be a little less serious than what experts once thought, so we're still planning on going. The only thing that makes either of us nervous is the actual flight. Being that closely confined to people, especially on the way home, is a little scary but if there's someone on the plane who's sneezing and coughing we just won't breathe their air! haha.

29 Days!!

We're under a month now! Aaron and I are getting married 4 weeks from tomorrow! Oh how the time has flown! It really seems like we were just getting engaged. And since most of the planning was done over the summer I really haven't thought a whole lot about the time and now it's less than a month away! I don't think it has sunk in yet. It probably won't hit me until I'm walking down the isle and then I'm going to be a basket case! haha. Right now we're just finalizing all the plans and I've started working on the seating chart for the reception (so if you haven't RSVP-ed yet, please do so! :-) ). I'm getting excited and really hope that these next few weeks FLY by!

Bridal Shower #1

My Aunt Donna and my cousin Michele threw me my first bridal shower today! The theme was "holiday" so everyone had to bring a gift that corresponded to the holiday they were assigned. We got a buch of SUPER cool things, like an ice cream maker and a fondue set! I'm excited to have little get togethers now so we can try everything out! Aaron was very excited to see everything when I got home and he actually did the dishes the first time I asked because he was so excited to start using things! haha. Here's some pictures!

My aunt, cousins, mom and grandma

some more cousins and aunts

presents!

Mom and Grandma

Opening presents. Nathan was my little helper the whole time!

What the apartment looked like after getting the stuff home. I was so overwhelmed trying to find a place for all of our stuff in our ity bitty apartment, and after a few hours, it was all put away! :-)

SB '09

For spring break this year Aaron and I decided to drive out to Oklahoma again to visit his brothers and their families. We left at 9:30 Saturday night and arrived at 9:30 Sunday morning. Aaron's brother Mike, and his wife Laura were kind enough to let us stay with them. We had an awesome week just hanging out with family! Aaron pretty much spent every day at Mike's dental office bothering everyone and I spent a few hours every morning doing a midterm (Thank you Dr. S.. grrr) and then Laura and I and sometimes Leanne would hang out in the afternoon until Aaron and Mike got home from work and Issac got out of school. We did lots of fun things, like go out to eat at Pop's which sells a bazillion different types of pop, we went to the zoo one day, Laura took me to this really cute little restaurant for lunch and tea one day, and of course we played some games! (including a very intense and physical game of spoons, which turned into ultimate spoons)

I LOVE Aaron's family and I am SO blessed to be marrying into a family where everyone is seriously AWESOME! Everytime we spend even just a few hours with any of Aaron's brothers and their families I feel so lucky to have some of the best brother and sister in laws and nieces and nephews. I can't wait for everyone to be together again in two months at the wedding!

Here's a few pictures from Pop's, the zoo and our last night...

Laura enjoying "Love Potion 69" at Pop's

Issac, Leanne, Aaron and I at Pop's

Heidi was cold so Aaron shared his coat. P.S. check out his badge. He jumped over a fence to get employee "Dean's" badge that he lost...

Aaron, Gretchen & Calvin at the OKC Zoo

Isaac, Heidi and I (Isaac and Leanne made Heidi shout "Go Cats!" while wearing her hat. They're torturing the poor child! :-P )

Heidi, Calvin, Gretchen, Me and Aaron on our last night.

Charter Day Ball

Miami University is celebrating its 200th year this year. It is only the 10th university in the country to do this! In honor of the anniversary, there was a Bicentenial Charter Day Ball (there's a Charter Day Ball every 3 years, but this year it was a HUGE deal because of the Bicentenial). A lot of the people from my major decided to get together and have a spaghetti dinner beforehand and then go to the dance. It was a lot of fun to get all dressed up and go out and dance. All of the girls kept saying "this is what your wedding is going to be like!!" haha. Here are a few pictures I took.

Red and black were very popular colors apparently..
All of the ladies in red
Aaron and I. Next time we're dressed up it'll be for the WEDDING! yaay!

Aaron and I at the dance

Ice sculpture

Nothing new...

Nothing new has been happening in our lives. We're both still trucking along with school. I'm getting burnt out on this semester VERY quickly and I'm ready for a change of pace, so I'm definitely looking forward to my externship this summer. I'll be at Good Samaritan Hospital in Dayton. It's quite a drive from Oxford so I may live with my parents during the week and then just come home on the weekends. Aaron will have to take summer classes to stay on course for graduating next August.
For Valentine's Day we spent the morning with the priest who will be marrying us. We talked a lot about the actual details of the wedding, so that was exciting! Then Aaron came back to Oxford to work all day and I went out to lunch with my mom, grandma and a few of my aunts. I ended up spending most of the day with mom, grandma and my aunt Jenny. It was fun! Sunday we went to church with Aaron's parents, Noah, Mel and baby Eden.
It's almost spring break! 3 weeks (I think). Aaron and I are planning to head to Oklahoma to visit his brothers Mike and Isaac and their families. I'm really excited to see them since it's been awhile! My aunt is also throwing me a bridal shower over spring break so that will be fun too! We're hoping to get the wedding invitations all put together and sent out over spring break, so be on the lookout for those in the next month or so! :-) I can't believe how quickly the wedding is approaching. For so long it was so far away and now it's slowly starting to hit me that I'll be married in just a few short months. I can't wait!!