Beautiful Brady

On Saturday morning, I had the privileged of helping host a bridal shower for Miss Lauren Brady. I have been friends and roommates with Lauren & her fiance for 8+ years now! Lauren has one of the biggest hearts and just wants to love on other people. Lauren is always the friend that travels the furthest to be at all her friends events and does it with a joyful heart. She never asks for things in return and just wants to make others happy.
We (me & 3 of her bridesmaids) decided it was time to show her some much needed love!

We had a girlie shower on Saturday morning with good food and beautiful women. All the women there have played a special part in shaping the person she is today. The fun shower got me ready for their big day in July. I cannot wait to watch the tears in Kyle's eyes as he sees his bride for the first time!

Ball & Chain

Mike is home safe and sound from his bachelor weekend in Savannah. I only heard a little bit about the weekend, but it sounds like they had a blast. Mike has assured me that he will sweat all the beer out before our wedding day...awesome, thanks for that!
I was only privy to one picture taken this weekend...
Yes, that is Mike with a 50 pound ball and chain. It is tradition with their group of friends that on their bachelor weekend, they have to wear this ALL night long. He has bruises all over his body to prove he wore and carried it around all night.
I'm just thankful they had a great weekend and he came home in one piece!

Feeling the love

I think I'm just now coming down off a fantastic weekend.
This weekend was filled with marriage counseling, welcome bag "instructions", West Girls dinner and my first bridal shower!

I have been looking forward to marriage counseling since before we even got engaged. Mike & I met Nathan on Friday afternoon for some good ol' counseling. We previously took an "assessment" and began the session by reviewing our results. I am happy to report that we passed the assessment and it looks like we are compatible! :) WAHOOO...we can get married now! (Nathan was fantastic and I'm even more excited that he will be marrying us!)
Friday night we had our traditional dinner at the Reynolda Village Tavern with the West Girls + the men. Little Oliver joined us and kept us entertained the entire time.
Saturday morning I woke up a little nervous and didn't know what to expect at the shower. The West girls did a fantastic job hosting my first bridal shower. I was blown away by the guests, gifts and all the love I felt. They didn't forget a single detail and made sure everything was perfect. Tara even remembered my love for cupcakes and had every flavor possible!We ate and mingled before the game began. When Meg told me the rules of the game, I had a slight panic attack. I'm sitting in the front of the room, everyone is staring at me and i'm stressing that I might screw the game up...crazy much?!?!The game was so funny and I think everyone enjoyed laughing at me! (I'm not going to give details in case we play it at BFF's shower this weekend!!!!)
Everyone was so generous and I think my kitchen is stocked now. Too bad all the presents will remain at my parents house until we get married. (Dad-do not try and sell my gifts on ebay!)
I really felt LOVED on Saturday and couldn't have asked for a better shower.

I got to meet baby Kessler!! I LOVE his cheeks

I love my West Girls!

Special Treat

If you are an out of town guest coming to our wedding, I would book your hotel NOW...seriously.
You will want to make sure you get a room in our block so you don't miss out on receiving one of our welcome bags. Guess who is heading up the welcome bag project...DADDY GIBBS!!!

Dad has agreed to help with our wedding bags and that means you never know what you are going to get. I'm so excited because my dad is the BEST deal finder I have ever met. The welcome bags might contain "odd" items, but they will be from the heart.
Here are some things my dad might try to slip in: detergent (since we have 100 extra bottles in our garage), George Foreman grill, car wash quarters, car mats, windshield wipers, Gatorade, brownie mix, bazooka gum, napkins for your car and so much more.
I'm giving my dad an outline of items so at least I will know a few things it will contain. My dad is pretty creative, and I know he will spend the next few months working his magic.
I can't wait to see what treasures he finds :)

True Colors

When Mike & I first got engaged, we got a LOT of advice from friends. Everyone that gave us advice said, "just wait for people's true colors to shine through". I didn't really know what to think by that comment and just put it in the back of my head.
Now that I'm 6 months into this wedding planning "fun", I am seeing what they really meant.

I have been blown away by some of our friends & family and their outpouring of love. They constantly want to hear what is going on with our planning, offer to bend over backwards to help us and really want to throw showers for us. It has been a humbling experience and something I was not ready for. It is hard for me to let others do things b/c I want to be the one "doing" and it makes me feel guilty. God is really teaching me that its okay to let others love me and do for me. I know that sounds silly, but its a hard thing to accept for me.

On the flip side, I have seen some behavior that hasn't been as warm & fuzzy. You really see the true colors you didn't want to believe were there. But then I'm reminded that this wedding is about US and its sad that some want to make it about them! God has called us to love one another...despite the bad stuff. I am trying hard to remember this all the time, but I'm human too. :)

We want nothing more than to have a wedding day filled with LOVE and FUN! I want the church filled with friends and family that are truly excited for us to get married and will encourage and challenge us through the years...then want to party at the reception!!!!!

On another note..
HAPPY EASTER!