199 days...

So my wedding dress came in today! yay! My parents and I went to go pick it up after they called and told us it had arrived. It was awesome! Here's a picture of the dress!

You seriously didn't think you could see it before the wedding did you....come on now!

It's so hard to believe that it's Thanksgiving already! I am so thankful to get a break from being at school and getting to spend time with my family. I have a busy week ahead but I'm looking forward to it! When Thanksgiving break is over then I only have 4 days of classes left and one exam. So about a week and 1/2 left then I'm back home again for a 5 week Christmas break.

This morning mom woke me up and we got started on making goodies for Thanksgiving...yum! We've made haystacks, chocolate peanut balls, peppermint bark, and chocolate fudge. We still have to make Ritz crackers and chocolate and pretzels dipped in chocolate. Then it's onto cooking food for dinner tonight which is the start of our Thanksgiving feast!

Aaron is at home with his family for Thanksgiving and this is the last time we'll be apart for Thanksgiving. Now we'll have to figure out where we're going and when for the holidays. We'll see how that goes. He's gonna come to my house on Saturday and spend the weekend with us until we go back to school on Monday. Sunday we get to go and see Phantom of the Opera at DPAC! I'm so excited about getting to do that!

Everyone have a wonderful Thanksgiving and remember to be thankful for what you have in your life. Take the time to thank God for the blessings He has given you in your life. I know I will!

The pictures are up!!

A couple of weeks ago Aaron and I had our engagement pictures done by Leslie Carmichael of Barefoot Photography and I got the CD today! I already had my proofs but I was waiting for the CD so I could put the pictures up on Facebook and now they are up! Yay! So go check them out and enjoy! My mom took the first half of the pictures and then Leslie took the others in the 2nd outfit.

Here's a peek at a picture and go to Facebook for the rest!

I'm so excited to have the pictures finally! Now we can get going on other things for the wedding! More updates later! We haven't been able to do much lately because of school and soccer (for Aaron) so hopefully when that winds down some we'll have more things to share!

Bye for now!

Engagement pictures!!

Well today Aaron and I had our engagement pictures done by Leslie Carmichael of Barefoot Photography. We spent about 2 hours taking pictures and then came back to school to look at the pictures and narrow them down. We went from about 350 to 100. We aren't quite done yet but it's been fun seeing how the pictures have turned out and seeing the end product. It will be difficult narrowing it down even more but I'm excited to be able to post these pictures later. Check back in a few days to see if I have any posted! In the meantime here's a picture for ya'll to enjoy!

Homecoming '09

This weekend was Homecoming at Montreat. It was full of sports events, dances, coffee houses, inflatable slides, and many other things. It was a lot of fun this year because there were more things to do! My parents came up for the weekend which was awesome because I got to hang out with them the whole time. Aaron and I went out to dinner with them Friday night to Okie Dokie's Smokehouse which is an AWESOME and DELICIOUS BBQ restaurant.

We had lunch outside on the porch of one of the guys dorms and it was fun. It was actually good for once cuz they were grilling burgers and hotdogs instead of the normal cafe food....

Sea food anyone?!?

My parents, Aaron and I walked around the lake for a little to pass time after lunch. We saw the swans, fish, and some other things.

There was a volleyball game and I went with my parents for a little bit. It was a tough game. I only stayed for the first two sets because there were other games going on. Montreat won one and lost one while I was there. However, we ended up winning in 5! yay!

From there we went to the girls soccer game. That game was so awesome! We were tied 0-0 and then the other team scored. We were down 0-1 and KK went for a free kick and scored in the last ten minutes of the game to tie it 1-1. Then we had

another free kick about 2 minutes later and that was the game winning goal leading to the first win for the girls this season. AWESOME!

Then the guys played after that. That game was good too and we won that 2-0. I was distracted by a certain little girl named Ryann who is adorable! I watched the game some too of course and saw both goals. They were ridiculous! It was a good day for Montreat!

Oh and mom went on a motorcycle ride with Aaron's dad....crazy!

Can you find me and mom in the picture?--->

US WINS THE GOLD!!!!

This is for you Laura! Wahoo!! The US went to the finals at the Deaflympics and won against Germany 4-0 again! It was a frustrating morning because the livefeed kept switching back and forth between the soccer game and men's basketball however it showed basketball more. We missed 2 of the 4 goals but thankfully Anthony found a live blog so we followed that! It was an exciting game! Wahoo!!

Here's a picture of your adorable niece Laura! Thought you'd want to see one from this morning!

Here's a picture of Laura before the game started....pumped and ready to go!

Ryann was rocking her shirt for Laura the entire game!

After the US won the game! Such an awesome sight!

The final score! yeah! GO USA!

The victory ceremony! USA-Gold, Germany-Silver, Russia-Bronze

Laura after she received her medal....what a smile!

It was so awesome watching you play Laura! I thought it was cool that I knew someone who was playing and I'm so glad that I kept up with your games even though we didn't get to watch all of them. However, we watched two of the most important games! We're so proud of you Laura! love you! see you when you're back in the States!

Deaflympics

USA has beaten Germany 4-0, Denmark 7-0 and now Great Britain 2-1....and they are now going to the finals for the GOLD! Erin, Jenna, Aaron and I all watched the game together and we took some pics at the end. CONGRATS LAURA! We love you so much! go kick butt in the final! Looking forward to it! Good luck in the final!

So here's a little update on wedding plans.....first off Aaron and I have selected a place to have the ceremony and reception. It will be at the Manor House on the other campus in Black Mountain and we will have the ceremony outside in a little courtyard and then move inside in the gym and have the reception. Here's a picture of the house.

We have the wedding party all set now and everyone that we want in the wedding has accepted which is exciting! I've been having fun with my mom picking things out for the bridesmaid gifts and they're adorable! I can't wait to give it to the girls!

The last week of my summer I went home and spent the week with my mom and we went shopping for wedding stuff. The big thing was going shopping for my wedding dress. We went to Bridal Mart in Burlington and the 4th dress I tried on was "the one" and it was so exciting. However I felt that having 2 hours of shopping wasn't enough and I wanted to make sure that it was the dress I wanted. So the next day my mom and I went to another bridal store and I tried on dresses for fun. I tried on styles that I never thought I would wear but it was good because it gave me an idea of whether I wanted a different dress or not. I was lucky and I still want the other dress that was "the one". My parents went and bought it last weekend which is super exciting! I can't describe or post pictures cuz I don't want Aaron seeing or knowing anything about it.

My mom and I also went to craft stores to pick things up for our scrapbook table that we're going to have during the wedding and we got some stickers and other things for that. I'm looking forward to having a scrapbook table and have everyone make a page for us. It'll be a more personal type of guestbook.

My grandma had a lot of things for me when I went to visit her. I got all of her mason jars and took them home because we're going to use those as centerpieces at the reception. She had a bunch of those it was insane! She also had her mother's hanky that she had for her wedding and passed that down to me. I haven't quite figured out how I'm going to use that yet for the wedding. She also let me see the cake topper that she used and my mom used so who knows if we'll use that or not.

I believe that's all we have about the wedding for now.....however keep a look out for another post about Deaflympics!

Wedding detail update

This weekend has been full of wedding stuff.  Everything from wedding venue searching to pictures.  My parents came up this weekend to meet with Aaron and I to talk wedding stuff.  My mom showed me some things she had picked up and wanted to see if I would like it and gave me some ideas for decorations and we liked it.  We have our wedding colors, most of the wedding party, started registries, some engagement photos, and things like that.  It's been a pretty full weekend and I'm loving every second of it!  Hopefully we'll have a lot more details soon! 

So far we're registered at Target and Bed, Bath and Beyond, and we tried to do Lowes but the year 2010 wasn't on it so that'll come at a later date.  

Here's a peek at some of the engagement photos my mom took! 

 

Wedding Date Anyone?

Hey everyone! Aaron here and I wanted to let everyone know that Addie and I have discussed wedding dates and have come up with one. I'll announce it in a few, so bare with me. We started discussing it because we needed to get this done quick due to some friends of ours, that we want in the wedding, who live on the other side of the country and wanted to give them time to save that date. We also wanted to hear our parents feedback on the date as well. There were a few worries about the timing due to how busy the month of June is for my family, but we've been able to work it out I think. The date that we have picked is June 12, 2010!!! We are super excited and hope to keep everyone updated as the planning continues!

The Story!

So here goes....

Aaron had told me in the beginning that we wouldn't be getting engaged for a while but I would have a year to plan like I wanted to.  At the same time we had been talking about getting married sometime next summer and he was running out of time in my opinion so I got to the point where I didn't know what to think.  

Anyways he was coming to Montreat to help out with a soccer camp and it ended up being cancelled so he was gonna come later than he originally said he was coming.  He was coming in the first place to be together for our two year anniversary because we couldn't be together last year for our one year and I was disappointed that it was gonna happen again.  He had a game in Charlotte on Saturday that he had to work and apparently never went home that night like he told me.  He had called up my parents and asked if he could come to Durham to talk to them.  However they were already going to be in Charlotte for my cousin's 3rd birthday.  So they met on Saturday at the Great Wolf Lodge to talk.  Aaron sat down with them and said "So I'm sure you know by now what you're here for.  I want to get both of your permission to marry your daughter." My dad smirked and said "What's the plan?"  Aaron explained what his plans were after graduation and what kind of job he's hoping to get and that sort of thing.  They hung out for a little bit after that.  Aaron was glad to have that part out of the way (my dad can be tough lol).  

After that he drove to Asheville and stayed at his brother and sister-in-law's house for the night.  He called me up Sunday morning and asked what I was doing and stuff and told me he was driving home from church and that he was probably going to come on Monday to hang out for the week.  Of course while he's driving to school from Isight I'm thinking he's in Clinton, SC.  Soon he asked if I was still outside McGregor and I said yea.  He told me to look to the left and there he was.  He surprised me by coming earlier to hang out for the week.  Of course at this point I still had no idea what was to come.  He had emailed back and forth with my boss trying to set this whole thing up.  Brackin (my boss) told me on Monday that I had to go on a scouting mission for them in Old Fort to see if a road would be available for the summer to get to Mt. Mitchell.  He showed me on the map where the gate would be and told me that I was meeting someone there around 11 to talk and see if the gate was going to be open for the summer.  Of course I thought it was real and I went with it and Tuesday morning I was on my way.  
I was told that it'd take an hour to get to Curtis Creek Road and find the gate so I left around 9:30 to give myself a little cushion incase I got lost or whatever.  Soon I realized that it wasn't going to take an hour to get there and I was pretty early.  I was driving down the road trying to find the gate that Brackin was talking about when I saw Aaron's car in the middle of nowhere on the side of the road.  I was completely confused because I had never told him where I was going but he knew that I was doing something.  I debated whether to keep driving and turn around later or just stop now and scout the area later.  So I backed my car up and parked there.  There was a note on his window with my name on it.  It told me to follow a trail to a picnic table and there would be more instructions there.  So I went to the picnic table and there was a single rose and a Bible on the table.  On the front of the Bible was a note from him reflecting on the last couple of years and a Bible verse for me to read.  I didn't think anything of this whole thing other than the fact it was something for our two-year anniversary.  He had already told me at one point that we were not getting engaged on our anniversary so I thought it was something else.  I turned to that verse and read it then there was a note in there with him explaining the verse a little from his view and another verse.  This kept going for about 6-7 verses/passages.  It was based around three things: love, trust, and faith.  The last two passages were about the husband and wife and marriage.  In between the two passages was a note that basically said, "so I'm sure you know by now where this is heading...." and at this point I thought to myself...."oh this is going in a completely different direction than I thought!  I suddenly started getting nervous and in shock that it was actually happening right now.I had to make a promise to love, trust and grow in our faith with him.  If I could do that then I could continue with the instructions.  So I read the last note and it told me to go across the dam in the creek and follow the trail and he would be waiting there for me.  I walked over there slowly and trying to grasp what was going on.  By the time I got there I was like oh man it's happening.  I gave him a big hug and he dropped to his knee with the ring in hand and said "will you marry me?"  I said "yea..." very quietly that he had to ask again to make sure I said yea lol.  Then we hung out at the creek for a little bit to be together and realize what just happened!  It was a wonderful surprise and caught me off guard completely.

Now we're just enjoying being engaged and we're still a bit giddy about it!  Hopefully we'll soon sit down and start planning once it sinks in that we're actually engaged!

Right after I said YES!

The ring is on the left finger but the picture is backwards for some reason.....