Jars, Jars, & more Jars

I am going for a rustic theme with our wedding so that has to include mason jars. I have been wondering where in the world I will be able to find some for a decent price or free!! I asked people on facebook, I googled, looked on craigs list, have been looking all over. The other day I just happened to mention that I was looking for some when my hubby to be says, "I know where there are a bunch and they are FREE!!!" Awesome is what I am thinking. In an old shed on the farm he noticed a whole pile of dirty old mason jars wasting space. I put them suckers in the dishwasher a couple times and good as new. I think I told him thank you about fifty times while we were dragging them out of the shed. I plan to put flowers, candles, wheat, branches, anything rustic looking into these mason jars and use them on the tables for decoration.

Thank you Rhett!!! Another thing I will be doing at the reception with jars are the little keepsakes for our guests. I have gotten into canning in the last couple of years so.... I have decided to can jam, salsa, & relish for everyone. Sounds like a lot of work I know but just think how everyone will love it. Or at least I am hoping everyone will love it. I went to bucheits on a hunt for a large amount of 4 oz canning jars. I ended up buying 180 jars! That seems like a lot but they are only 4 oz each so I am praying it won't be that bad. I already made all the little name tags that are going to get attached to the jars so that's done. Thank you free time at work! I will probably wait and do all the canning in the summer when we have fresh ingredients from our garden and nice ripe peaches for my jam. I Love peaches!! I may have a little party when its time to tie all the ribbons around the jars though. (hint, hint all fam members)

The other day at Christmas my Aunt Kay gave me a couple canning books that belonged to my Grandma Phegley. She has passed on and my aunt thought I would be interested in them since I am now into the whole canning deal. In the very back of one of the books was a cute little story. I cried when I read it the first time. You will come to find out I am very sensitive. I cry a lot over anything & everything. Although in the last couple of years I think I am getting a little better. Lord help Rhett cuz he knows I am a crier. That's prob why he never asked me to marry him because he knows how I will for sure cry at our wedding. Here is the little poem I found. I found it so sweet and wonderful I found it in this book that used to be my Grandma's. I think I just might have to enlarge, frame, & place on the table next to all the jars at the wedding reception. Just thought of that literally 2.5 seconds ago! 

One other thing that I got on Christmas day was quilt blocks that my Grandma had embroidered in the past. She never made the quilts but had made all these quilt blocks. My cousins, siblings, and I were allowed to go through them and pick which ever one we liked to take. Looking through them I really wasn't sure which I liked the best. Then I noticed the name of the one pattern was "Wedding Rings & Stars" Totally chose that pattern in an instant. It is def the little things every day that matter.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!!

From The Simpson's, Liefer's, & Markotay's

From The Phegley's

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve and Christmas day!! Spent time with both of our familes, went to church, ate too much food, and just hung out and relaxed. We got some great gifts thanks to our awesome family members. Like this one from my sister-in-law Erin. Thanks sissy!!!! The doggies even got hooked up from Gma Phegley. They got all kinds of new toys. God Bless Everyone!! Hope you all enjoyed the Holiday.



Big Decisions....

The next thing on the agenda was to pick out an engagement ring and wedding bands. Every time I told someone that I was engaged immediately they wanted to see the ring...no ring yet. That is a bummer because you want to show off that finger! I was nervous to go ring shopping but very excited. I had absolutely no idea what I wanted at all. If you know me well then you know I am UNDECISIVE!! (about everything) When I am trying to decide what to order in a restaurant it takes me forever and you def don't want to be with me in the card aisle at Wal-Mart. Rhett wanted to look locally first so we went to a local jewelry store. Their wasn't a large selection which made it difficult. I didn't want to look in a book and I def didn't want to design it myself. I just wanted to see the ONE and I would know that it was right. Their was a nice ring but nothing screaming pick me!! We decided it would be best to look elsewhere before making a decision. It's funny how some things never even cross your mind or pay you any attention until its right in front of you. Like when we were building our house and it was time to pick the shingle color for the roof. I have never in my life looked at the roof on another person's house until......I was checking out the roof on every single house I drove by. Same with the ring I had to check out every one's ring at work, family, and random people. One weekend after I got off work on a saturday we drove up to Fareview Heights to shop and spend some moolah. Rhett does a lot for me and always gets me great gifts but not really ever jewelry. He did get me a pair of dangly gold earrings for my highschool graduation and they came from Kay's Jewelers. We entered into the mall at Sears. Every man's dream...tools, tools, and more tools. I think he was stalling. LOL Eventually we made it Kay's and the search began. The only requiremnt I had for the ring was for it to be yellow gold. This is what I got!!

Def not what I exepcted to like and pick. I totally changed my tune once I started looking at them. The yellow gold just wasn't cutting it for me and neither was any cut other than the marquis. I love the marquis! I kept putting this particular ring on and it just felt right. The ring at the local jewelry store was also a marquis.It's kind of akward when the sales person is standing right there and your trying to make this big decision. They prob work on comission too so of course they want you to buy buy buy. Of course this ring was bigger and more expensive then the previous one we looked at so what to do...We decided to buy the ring and then would go compare to the other one I liked. We had like 30 or 60 days to return for a full refund so why not. Off we went to Red Lobster to celebrate our purchase. My fingers are fat so of course the ring didnt fit on my ring finger only my pinkie. I was so excited I put the ring on my pinkie anyway.  While we were eating Rhett says, "I can't believe you are going to eat with that on." Then I said, "Well at least I didn't get crab legs." Def didn't want to risk getting it dirty from those stinking crab legs. We are so stupid. LOL It is just a ring!!!!!!! But it was so shiny and new and fresh we were both being so anal. Long story short I went to compare with the other ring and their was no comparison at all. The ring from Kay's was perfect and was the winner!! I kept sending pics from my phone to everyone and their brother showing it off. It had to be sent off to be sized and finally after what seemed like two months I got it back. Let me tell ya I was nervous to wear it to work. Heck I was nervous to wear it at all. I think every 2 seconds I would double check and make sure it was on my finger. Doing mammograms was a little bit of a challenge at first too. Lol I did't want to poke anyone's boob out with my new ring. Now it is couple months later and its all good. I am still pretty anal though. I always take off to shower, sleep, lotion, do my hair anything that would get it dirty. I constantly take it to get cleaned too. I'm sure eventually I will slack off with all this but not anytime soon. Oh and of course I wanted 2 bands (one for each side of the engagement ring) so I get 1 when we get maried and the other whenever Rhett wants to gift to me. Can't wait!!!!!!

P.S. The picture does not do it justice!!

The Proposal

Let me take you all back to the very special day that we got engaged...my 26th birthday. Now to some people your birthday may not be a big deal but to me it is important. I mean this is your day!! I always make sure I take the day off of work because honestly why would I want to be there. I want the whole day to be fun and special and spend it with my family. This year my birthday day started off with a little photography session at LC Photography in Sparta. They were holding a special for pets that benefited the human society. I have always wanted to get the dogs professionally photographed so why not. Away we went to our appt Rhett and myself and our 3 babies. Our dogs are typically pretty well behaved so I was praying this would go well. On the way over Rhett says, "Now how much is this going to cost????" Ughh we werent even there yet and he is already wanting to know the price. Of course the sitting fee is a small amount and it is donated to the humane society but then you still have to buy the pictures. We all know that is where you spend your $ when you get these types of photos done. The session went well. We got each dog alone and then at the end a pic of them all together. Totally worth it!! I ended up getting this collage made since I couldn't decide on only 1 or 2 pics.

After we dropped off dogs we headed to Fareview Heights. We hardley ever go to the movies so if we do it is always a treat. We saw Crazy Stupid Love & then ate at Red Lobster. One of my favorites! I don't know why but in the back of my mind all day I was thinking (wouldn't it be great if he took me to a jewelry store while we are up here). Right like that was really going to happen, NOT. We headed back home and made a short stop at the rural king in Swansea. Overall the day was a lot of fun but I was bumming inside. I had it engrained in my mind that today was the perfect day for him to propose but I knew it just wasn't going to happen. Since my sister-in-law got engaged marriage was in my mind a lot more than normal. I was growing to be a little more antsy than I ever had been before. Once we got home Rhett had to go do some farm chores and my Mom was going to come over with some presents for me. It was taking my Mom forever to make it to our house. Little did I know that my sneaky man was down at her house asking my parents if he could marry me. Even after all this time together he still made it a point to ask my parents for permission. You can all sigh now! How wonderful that makes me feel that he respects my Mom & Dad. I still hadn't gotten my present from Rhett either so he then gave me a card. When I opened the card this is how it read: For My Wife
I was confused I said what they didn't have any cards that said girlfriend. What an idiot I am. I open the card read it and OMG it says lots of mushy stuff for my eyes only and ultimately asks if I will marry him. Well OF COURSE!!!!  I keep saying "Are you sure, are you positive, is this for real?" It was so wonderful! I had been waiting for this day for a long time. He said but I don't have a ring & I'm like I don't care!! He wanted me to be able to pick it out myself. All I care about is you asked and I'm saying yes. I immediately had to call my parents who duh already knew and my sister, aunts, and close friends. They were all so excited. The following day was my mother-in-law (we share same birthday) and my birthday party with the Simpson family. I wanted to hold off until then to tell all of them. That was really hard I just wanted to call each and every one of them right away but knew it would be better in person. We went to church the next morning and I got to tell Erin (Rhett's older sister). I think she might have been more excited than me. LOL jk
My mother-in-law introduced me to someone saying our son's fiance! I think she looooved saying that. Remember I have been around for a long time so other than really being official I have called all these family members my mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and nieces/nephews for as long as I can remember. When Rhett & I got together Brooke & Madison were 2 years old and 3 months old now they are 12 & 10.

I love these crazy girls! Best nieces ever!!

I ended up being able to tell all of the rest of our family members at the party and that was a lot of fun. I had already called Margaret (Rhett's mother) the night before though because that just couldn't wait. Next thing on the agenda was to pick out the ring. That's a whole other story!! Here is one of the earliest pics of Rhett & I that I can find. Taken at his sister Meghan's high school graduation (May 2001) We got together in March 2001

I'm getting Married!

So this is officially my first time writing a post on my blog. I have decided to do this in order to document my wedding planning. I'm not the greatest writer so hopefully I don't get too boring and I may have to steal some ideas from other people's blogs.
                Here we go......For anyone who does not know me personally first I will tell you about myself. I am 26 years old and I grew up in Prairie du Rocher IL. (huge town of like 700 people)  I am the oldest of 4 siblings with 1 sister and 2 brothers. I have 11 nieces/nephews who I love to pieces! My family is large & wonderful. Rhett & I have been together since I was 15 and he was 19. Yep do the math that's a whole whooping 10 years 9 months. We just got engaged in August on my bday!! Best present ever! Although it took us a while to get to the engaged status we have basically been like a married couple for a long time. We have 3 furry kiddos Ammo, Dakota, & Drake. We have lived in 3 different homes and built the one we live in now. People say that if you can build a home together then you can get through anything. I have to say it was a piece of cake so I'm thinking he's a keeper!! Now we I get to plan our wonderful wedding. I think that many people just assume that I had the whole stinkin thing planned already since we have been together for such a long time. So wrong in every possible way. I had a couple ideas in my head but not a lot thought out. Although my sister-in-law got engaged this past Spring so I was getting wedding fever. I do have to admit that the night we got engaged I ordered this online as my cake topper.

Please don't judge. LOL Yes we I am marrying a hunter and I think the cake topper is adorable. I know exactly what I am getting myself into. That's a plus when you have been together for so long you already know how things work. We are not some spring chickens who just met and are getting married right away. I don't honestly think much will change once we get married other than my last name. Now once the kids start coming....that's a whole other story. That stepping stone will come next but not quite yet. Another thing I had toyed with before we got engaged was the idea to do a destination wedding. Rhett & I love love Branson, MO. We have been there probably like 5 times total. One time while visiting we made a little trip to Eureka Springs, Arkansas. That is where we will be getting married on October 6, 2012. Yay!!! Their is a little chapel in the woods called ThornCrown Chapel. It's amazing and beautiful and perfect! Sorry getting a little mushy but I am so excited to get married there. In October my Mom & I made a trip to do wedding planning and we paid a visit.

 

If you have time check out the website http://www.thorncrown.com/

That's all for now! I worked a 12 hr shift today so I need to go do something productive around the house. Can't wait to keep everyone filled in on all the details.