Boys are more difficult than girls?

This Sunday all of the groomsmen, Michael and I piled in the car and made our way to Salem to find some suits for the boys!  When we started the journey I didn't expect it to be difficult at all, my only specifications were:

It has to be medium gray

You all (the boys) have to agree on the price

If you want accessories (other than a tie because I get full control of that!) you need to decide as a group

Shouldn't be too hard to find right? Especially since all the boys are essentially the same shape just with height differences. Wrong. It was exceedingly difficult to find something that everyone liked, that fit everyone properly, that was wool (that was the boys aka. my brother Ryan's specification) and that was in stock.  We started out at Burlington Coat factory and found a lot of options there that were okay, but only one that we found that was wool so we decided to continue on.

After getting into a parking altercation with a grumpy family we grabbed some lunch at Red Robin and then left for Macy's.  I would have assumed that Macy's would have a wide variety of suits (like they normally do) however, that was the exact opposite of what we found.  So off to JC Penny we went assuming the same thing.. of course they will have suits, its a big store and it always does. False.  Same problem, there were only a few suits and none of which were right for the occasion.  

Finally since I had to go pick up my wedding dress in the same area, we decided to go to Mens Wearhouse to check out the situation.  We found a lot of good suits, but they were really expensive (until I found out that I get 50% off all suits!)  

Finally we decided to meet back to Burlington Coat factory after Ryan and I picked up my dress! (YAY) and try on the ones that we very first loved.  All the boys like it and it was a good price, and then we found out a problem.  They can't get any other sizes, what is there is what they've got.  So much for that.  

So after a whole frustrating day of un-opinioned boys trying on suits we left empty handed.  Who would have thought that finding gray suits for four tall thin boys would be more difficult than finding a dress that fits four very different shaped, sized, and height girls?? 

not I... but heres some funny pictures from the day!

All about cake.

If you know me at all you probably know about my love of cake.  I love making cake, I love decorating cake, and I love eating cake.

So on Saturday we did something that I was suuuppper excited about. Yes. We tasted cake.

The baker met us at my parents house in Corvallis and brought all sorts of flavors from white chocolate to pink champagne to chocolate hazelnut to lemon and more! She also brought a variety of different fillings to mix and match with cake flavors.  

And we were off, cutting the cupcakes, tasting fillings, changing filling flavors with different cakes, eating frosting and everything delicious that you could imagine.  Between my mom, dad, Michael and I we devoured about ten cupcakes... with frosting.. and fillings...

Our favorites ended up being the white chocolate (my personal fave), pink champagne, and lemon (each with a different berry filling, but not too much, just enough).  There was also a delicious whipped cream cheese filling that I loved so much that I may or may not have just eaten it with the spoon... but I got overruled so it didn't make it into the favorites list.

We also discussed the design of the cake which I'm very excited about, but just like the dress its a secret until the day!

Asking the Kiddos

Keaton and Ella are my parents best friends kids that Michael and I have known since they were born.  We have babysat them more times than I can count and have watched them grow up.  Although both Michael and I have cousins that are the perfect age to be a flower girl and ring bearer we decided that Keaton and Ella were the right choice.  They are wonderfully behaved and the sweetest kids that you'll ever meet.

We decided to make them each a little box (in our wedding colors) and write them a note asking them to be our flower girl/ring bearer.  On Sunday morning (2/3/2013) our families went out to lunch where we gave the kiddos the boxes we made them.  They are in 1st and 2nd grade so they are both in the process of learning to read which made what happen next even better.

As they were sounding out the words to their notes they both reached the words "flower girl" and "ring bearer" at about the same time.  Ella's face lit up so bright it made my heart so happy!  Keaton was a little more vocal with his acceptance of his new job by yelling "I GET TO BE THE FLOWER MAN!" 

I wasn't expecting them to react in the way that they did. I figured Ella would be excited because she got to wear a pretty dress and hold the flowers, and I kind of thought that Keaton wouldn't even really know what a ring bearer was.  Their elated responses seriously made my wedding planning a thousand times better!

The Saturday of Checking Stuff Off the List

On Saturday Michael and I had two very important meetings which led us to drink a lot of coffee!

Our first meeting was at 10:30 at Coffee Culture (which makes a mean black and white mocha!) with our pastor Randal. I don't know why I was as nervous as I was since Michael and I have known Randal the majority of our lives, but I was so jittery!! Randal is the youth pastor at the church we have attended forever (I came there in 2nd grade and Michael was there before me) which is why he seemed like the perfect person to ask to be our officiant. He said that he would be happy to be a part of our wedding, and we discussed some preliminary details. 

Officiant: check!

The second meeting was at Starbucks (seeing caffeinated theme here?) with a wonderful photographer that was recommended to us by a family friend.  When we walked in I wasn't sure what to expect, there were all sorts of people sitting in the room.  An older man with a computer who didn't look too friendly (I hope its not him), a young unprofessional guy eating a pastry and staring aimlessly out the window (not so sure I trust him with the most important pictures of my life...) a couple of young women sitting and chatting over coffee (well thats obviously not him) and right in the center a young blonde man wearing a well fitting sport coat (yes.)

We sat down and started chatting about the different packages he offered and looked at pictures of weddings he has done in the past.  As it turns out, it is only his 4th year doing wedding photography (which you would NEVER be able to guess by looking at the pictures) and because of that, his prices and options are perfectly within our budget!  After talking it over with Michaels mom and my mom (who met us there) we said yes and signed the contract!

Photographer: check!

I am so excited that we can mark two really important (and time sensitive) things off our (long..) list of things to do!