Bed Bath & Beyooooond

This weekend was filled with all kinds of exciting wedding planning. The mini mason jar glasses I got for Jake & Claire came in the mail Friday. I originally just bought small glasses from old time pottery but that wasn't really what I wanted. I then managed to mess them up when doing the etching of their letters. I put the etching cream on the stencil then sat the glass upright. (pretty silly thing to do) The substance ran down the side of the glass leaving streaks. Now I know a 4 yr old could care less but I am very particular plus they only cost like a buck each. The hunt was on for the mini mason jars so I found them and ordered them. Darn Cute if you ask me!


Saturday I woke up at 5 am (by choice I'm crazy I know) and rode my niece's bike for 6 miles. I have not ridden a bike since I was a kid so I was a little nervous but I did it! I know I put on fb it was 4 miles but I calculated wrong it was really 6! Thank you Kelly Donjon for motivating me! It was fun at the time but now my butt is soooo sore. My sister, my mom, & I went to Bed Bath & Beyond to do my wedding registry. I was no way prepared for the next 4 hours. My goodness that was so exhausting. Started off looking through several books at china, dishes, & luggage. I found the perfect dish set for us! I love brown so these dishes are exactly up my alley. They are not fancy, seem very durable, and aren't girlish so Rhett will like them too. Ha ha he could care less what our dishes look like but I do think he will approve. I did choose a fancier set but only registered for 2 place settings. 1 set for me 1 set for Rhett (for special occasions)

We don't have any luggage unless you count a huge camouflage hunting bag I bought Rhett many years ago. It was supposed to be a bag he used to carry all his stuff out into field when waterfowl hunting but its so large we use it like a overnight bag when traveling. Not that we really travel that much. Rhett goes to northern IL & Missouri for hunting & we go to Branson. The guy was like oh you need luggage for the plane...I said in 11 years we have never gone on a plane. I did end up putting it on our list bc we do have to go on a honeymoon and that will most likely require traveling on a plane. Plus luggage is a good thing to have & at the rate we travel it will last us a lifetime! It was kinda annoying that the man followed us through the store the entire time. I guess I could have kindly asked him to back off but I did not. He was helpful at moments but he tried getting me to register for ridiculous things....
 $100 iron ( I do not own an iron and will not own an expensive iron) I picked the $50 one and am thinking about changing it to the even cheaper one. $75 thermometer for cooking (seriously) I did choose a very nice set of pots & pans but they have a lifetime warranty and I cook a lot so they will get good usage. The man helping us probably thought I was a complete hick/lunatic. Here are some fun items I picked out! I feel like it
was all mostly kitchen items but we spend a lot of time in the kitchen & I love baking. I did pick out some nice towels and other various odds/ends,

 
                                      If you couldn't tell these are little corn holders for your corn on the cob! So cute!
I am glad that Rhett did not go because he would have been bored out of his mind and we would probably only have like 5 items on the registry. Doing the Cabela's/Bass Pro registering will be much more fun for him.

We ate at Red Robin afterwards & then went to take Prom Pictures of my brother and his group of friends. So handsome!!!! He is graduating in less than a month and off to college he goes. Exciting but sad....

I would love to show you all some pictures of Rhett & I at prom but we never went together! I went with a group of girls the 2 years I attended. Here is my junior year with my friends.

Here is my senior year. Good Memories!! Note to self every single girl in these 2 photos has a child or is pregnant except for ME! I must be slacking!!

What a Beautiful Day

    I don't have new wedding details for now but I do have this awesome video of my friend Lindsey & her new hubby Ben.
Since this blog is mainly about wedding stuff I felt it would be shame to not share this beautiful wedding video. This makes me sooo want to have a video made. I seen it at the reception and then watched for a 2nd time last night. Rhett was like oh my gosh are you crying?? Yep, of course!! Hope you all enjoy!





                                                                                 http://vimeo.com/40944488

Weekend Wrap up

I had a pretty uneventful weekend except for rising at the lovely 3 am time so I could head to work dark & early. Working 12 hrs is a long shift especially all alone but it really isn't that bad. Rhett called me mid day on Saturday to tell me that he was headed to Missouri for turkey hunting. I planned to go home and hit the sack about 7ish so I would get plenty of sleep before work on Sunday. I always have these good intentions but they really never happen. I ended up taking my niece & her friend to eat out at Mary's for supper. Then I mowed grass for like an hour while they hung out. Our grass takes like 3-4 hours to mow so if I get a chance to get some done have to take it while I can. Sunday after work I came home and cleaned house. Such an exciting life huh! I did something I def didn't intend to do.......sucked up my exercise theraband in the vacuum hose. Ughh We have central vac and it is pretty stinkin powerful. By the time I realized what was happening it was too late. Hopefully Rhett is going to be able to get it out bc otherwise we will have to buy a new hose. I am just thankful it is stuck in the hose and not the tubing that runs through the walls.

Monday I got to spend the day with this little cutie patootie! (my nephew Cole)

He is beyond the sweetest little man ever. He is checking out my 3 lb weights I had just bought at Wal-Mart. He kept trying to pick up the 6 lb ones but these are a little more his style. Erin had some stuff she needed to get done so I volunteered to watch him for the day. He is seriously an angel!!! Soooo good and sweet. We did all kinds of stuff...went to Wal-Mart, visited with my Mom at lunch, mowed grass, went to my brother's baseball game. I have to say doing all those things with a kid along for the ride was a little more challenging but it wasn't that bad. Now I can't imagine when they start to outnumber you that is probably when it gets even more fun! . He loved playing with the doggies!! Overall we had a great day

I have some new ideas for my unity candle. I found them on pinterest of course. This way I can buy a cheap plain white pillar candle and dress it up. It doesn't have too be too fancy just a little burlap and lace or rhinestones. My wedding sure would be a lot less creative with out that website. Thank goodness! I also found someone to do alterations for my bridesmaid's dresses. Thanks ladies for the suggestions on fb!

Also I just have to say if you read my blog please become a follower! I only have 10 which is making me feel kinda pathetic!!

Bridal Trivia & other tid bits

Today we are going to have a little Bridal Trivia! When Meghan got married last year I made up a fun list of questions for her & her soon to be hubby to answer. I asked Jason ahead of time and then at the bridal shower asked Meghan the same set of questions. It was fun to see how many answers were similar. I really think everyone enjoyed it as well. I know I did. I shortened the list and changed a few.         ( I promise I didn't cheat either) Ok maybe on one of them    Lol
Here are Rhett's answers:

              1.     What is bride’s favorite food?  grilled cheese
            
         2.    What is grooms favorite food? I don't know (he asked me what his fav was)

3.    If the groom were an animal what would be choose to be?    goose

4.    Where did you go on your first date?        I don't remember

5.    What is bride’s least favorite house chore?  cleaning

6.    What is bride’s shoe size?      9             

7.    What does the bride love to do but is not very good at?      singing       

8.    How many children do you plan to have?      2

9.    Where did you first meet the groom?    Vicky Young's clubhouse

10. How many times a day does the groom brush his teeth?         1 

11.  What do you want to name your first child?         Everett  

12. What is something you feel that you have in common with your other half? 

                               we love dogs

13. What are a few names of groom’s childhood pets?    Coco Blackie Remi 

14. What is one thing the bride can’t live without?   family

15. What is the groom most looking forward to with the wedding festivities? gifts and eating pizza at the big guitar in Branson

Alright he did actually answer those pretty quickly. I handed the list over and he complied! He knows it all goes on here so I was pleasantly surprised when he didn't complain about answering them.

Here are my answers:

                                  

               

           1.     What is bride’s favorite food?        Grilled cheese      

2.    What is grooms favorite food? right now Spicy nachos ham sandwich mt dew     

             3.    If the groom were an animal what would be choose to be?    goose

4.    Where did you go on your first date?      some party who knows where

5.    What is bride’s least favorite house chore?  mopping

6.    What is bride’s shoe size?    9                

7.    What does the bride love to do but is not very good at?         singing        

8.    How many children do you plan to have?      2

9.    Where did you first meet the groom?    Vicki youngs clubhouse

10. How many times a day does the groom brush his teeth? Once usually sometimes twice      

11.  What do you want to name your first child?       Everett or Ruby    

12. What is something you feel that you have in common with your other half?  Kind heart & laid back personality

13. What are a few names of groom’s childhood pets?         Remi coco

14. What is one thing the bride can’t live without?   family

15. What is the groom most looking forward to with the wedding festivities? Being over with

So it looks like we got 10 out of 15 right! Yay!!!!! I am so happy bc that would have been a little embarrasing if we didn't get any right.

In other wedding updates I have been trying to decide what to do about my garters. Today one of my sweet co-workers volunteered got suckered into making them for me! Thank you Vickie!!! She is already making my ring bearer pillow. I just gave her a few pics and told her to surprise me with the garters. I know they will look great.

               

     

I have also been trying to decide what to do for the unity candle......I don't want to spend a ton of money bc after the wedding it will probably just get put in a box somewhere. My Mom is going to get hers out and I may end up using it. Their are some really cute ones on etsy but all too expensive. Who knows what I am going to end up doing with that. I am getting anxious about jewelry shopping for my girls and myself too. Next weekend I will actually have 5 days in a row off so that means time to be very productive!!! Thursday I am attending the Healthy Woman Event at The Falls in Columbia. If you haven't heard about it contact Meghan Markotay at Red Bud Regional Hospital for more info. It looks like a fun ladies night!! Lots of vendors, a motivational speaker, & good food. We all need a little motivation every now & then.
Have a great weekend!

     

Can anyone tell who the creeper in the background is??????

Whata Weekend!

                                                                     Be Prepared it's a long one!
I now officially have a permanent schedule at work. Instead of my ever changing days never knowing when I will work I have  "set" days. I am always off on Mondays & Fridays & every other weekend. So on my weekends off I have a 4 day weekend which so far has proved to be amazing! This was one of those weekends. Lets start with Friday.....I had a great workout with Darla in the morning. The afternoon I spent babysitting my sweet nieces Tess & Maggie. Let me tell ya that Mags is terrified of dogs. In this household their is no fear!!! A while back when I babysat her she sat on the island counter top for like 3 hrs while I worked away in the kitchen. She warmed up pretty well but still not 100%. Friday as soon as we got to my house I let Ammo in and I let her fend for herself. Ammo is the most laid back sweet dog so he was the best chance to start her out. She loved coaxing him over "here doggie" "doggie come here" as soon as he would come near she started shrieking with fear. By the end of the afternoon she was actually hugging him and letting him lick her face. Yay!!!!!!!!! We eventually let Dakota upstairs as well. Drake is only 2 and he gets pretty hyped up especially with kids so he stayed downstairs. Maybe next time!

That evening Rhett & I spent making 30 lbs of deer jerky. We used a little hand grinder which was actually not the worst part. The suckiest part was cutting the fat off all the meat. Ugh I was exhausted and seriously felt like my entire body smelled of meat. We are just now finishing up the last of the jerky in the dehydrators tonite. Lots of work but worth it when its all done. We watched the movie "We bought a Zoo". Well I watched part of it bc I passed out on the couch halfway through. It was cute and Rhett said it had a happy ending.

Saturday was wedding day for Mr. & Mrs. Essenpries!! Congrats Lindsey & Ben! The wedding was in St. Rose at a beautiful catholic church. The ceremony was in Aviston at the legion. In between we had some time to kill so we went to the Hidden Lakes Winery. That place was Gorgeous!  We drank some yummy old fart wine. I was feeling pretty darn good after two glasses of that!

http://www.hiddenlakewinery.com/index.html

The reception was very nice as was to be expected. Yummy food, michelob ultra, visiting with friends, wedding ideas. Later in the evening they showed a same day video edit. AMAZING!! The videographer basically took footage all day then made a video and it was played at the reception. I wish I could post it on here so everyone could see it. So good!! That makes me want to have someone video for us on our wedding day then make a video for our big reception. We would have 2 weeks though not a few hours! We do have an extremely awesome camouflage video camera!! Now I just have to find someone to run the sucker and make the video. Overall what a great day. It even rained a little which I hear is good luck!

Sunday I slept in while Rhett rose at 4 am and went turkey hunting with one of his friends. I spent the morning cleaning my Dad's car & father-in-law's truck. Happy Birthday to them! Cleaned up the kitchen bc the deer jerky project has taken it over and I needed some order. My kitchen being messy just makes me ill. My wonderful Aunt Kay let me borrow her chocolate fountain for our bday party in the evening. We celebrated Brooke turning the big 13. Ahhhh I have a niece who is a teenager (technically not till the 22nd but still) I stood in the card aisle Thursday night at Wal-Mart literally crying as I picked out her card. I swear I am not making this crap up! That's me sappy Aunt Sara. She is the sweetest little chickie I know!! In 2 years it will be Madison's turn and yet again I know I will be sad that they are growing up so fast. We also were celebrating Justin and Aunt Claudene's birthdays! (ages will not be revealed) lol

It was a typical Simpson family get together. Kids everywhere, yummy food, lots of laughing, and lots of noise. The chocolate fountain was a hit. Everyone enjoyed it very much. Great idea Meghan. It was a wonderful party. Brooke with her gift from me. Her first coach purse!

                                                                               Brookie with Grandma

                                                                 Margaret, Justin, Brooke, Madison, & Mike
                                                                       The family they always wished for!!

I keep trying to upload this video but its not working. Ugghhhhhh I put it on my facebook page though.
http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=58804038

One more day to my weekend!

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE

So everyone knows I adore my 3 dogs. They are literally my children. I don't have human children yet but I am imagining that I will be well prepared to say the least. They wake me up faithfully daily at 7 am. I don't even need an alarm clock bc Drake pounces on me every morning. He shoves his cold nose in my face and he is very persistent. They love sleeping in bed with us. Normally by the time I get in bed my spot is taken by "Drake". I always sleep with my feet curled up so "Dakota" can sleep at the bottom of the bed. They make a huge mess in my house..... hair, dirt, puke (occasionally). They cost us quite a bit of money bc they eat constantly!! All 3 of them are little piglets. They always need new toys, vet appointments, medicine, etc. You can see the resemblance here to kids right????? Having said that I wouldn't change a thing! I love them to pieces. Plus I do really believe that pet owners make better parents. I know kids are a lot more work but at least we are getting a good head start. Since the dogs won't be going to Branson with us for the Big day I want to include them on the reception day. I found this pic on pinterest...

 So I made my own sign and took some practice pics with all 3 of my dogs! I should say Rhett & I made the sign bc he helped me with the whole thing. He is so slick. I didn't have a hole puncher to make the holes for the ribbon so he had another idea. He used a torch to heat up the end of a nail then just poked it right through the foam. Worked perfectly! It was pretty easy making the sign but getting them to pose was another story. None of them would perk up their ears so they all look so silly. Drake was more concerned with the toy Dakota had in her mouth. My Mom & I did a run to South County area Monday and hit up Michael's & Jo Ann's Fabric. I purchased several crafty items for the wedding including the foam board here to make the sign. I debated on the size wanting to get bigger. My Momma thought this size was perfect and what do they say "Mothers know Best". Thanks Mom!! I have more boards so I want to make 2 more so each dog has a different word. I can't decide what else I want them to say though so if anyone has any ideas...throw them out there please.

I saw this ad in a People magazine and just thought it was too funny. I love watching that show for the brides. I'm sure the bridesmaids version will be just as crazy. I spent a lot of time yesterday decorating  about half of my mason jars. Ribbons galore!!! I think Rhett thinks I am a lunatic. I constantly have stuff spread out everywhere working on it. We walked through all our pine trees so I would have more pine cones to use. I am thinking that I may want a different cake for our big reception. I am going to start looking for a different design. I just am not feeling the other one anymore. I was looking for chalkboards to use for behind the head table but instead ended up getting chalkboard fabric. It is black fabric that can be written on with chalk. So cool! Now lets just hope it works. Once I mess with it will post some pics!

Would just like to say Happy Wedding Week to my sweet friend Lindsey Stein!! Can't wait for your big day. I know it's going to be so beautiful.

Through the Years

First of all I have to totally revoke something I said in my previous post the other day. I know I said fat chance that is ever going to happen but Yes it is.....I have decided to register at either Cabela's or Bass Pro along with Bed Bath & Beyond. This is totally going to make my soon to be hubby happy as a clam so why not! Not sure how we are going to do it bc they don't do typical wedding registrys at either place but we are going to make it work. He may as well get in on some goods too!

As you all know Rhett & I have been together for an eternity (11 yrs 12 days to be exact) And I'm not really even sure if that anniversary day is right bc when you get together at 15 I think you just make up whatever day sounds good lol   I just go with it every year. Tomorrow it will be exactly 6 months till I DO!!!!! You can't even imagine how many people would constantly randomly ask when we were getting married. Why we weren't married.....A lot of people at my work thought we were already. This sometimes became quite annoying and frustrating. Heck I often wondered why we weren't married too. I mean I knew why we weren't bc Rhett had never asked. Simple as That. We often talked about marriage and kids so I knew eventually he would be ready. We built our home together and that was a huge step. I honestly think it had to do with the fact that he didn't want anything to change. Also he hates being the center of attention and standing in front of everyone at the wedding that is exactly what he is going to be.

Ha Ha As I am writing this Rhett says, "Omg 11 years. We should wait 20"   Good luck with that honey bun. You asked I said YES and this shindig is happening!!

Part of the reason I believe we will have a long successful marriage is bc we both have wonderful parents. My Mom & Dad have been married for 31 yrs as of November 7th 2012. Margaret & Justin will be married for 43 yrs on September 6th 2012. (I think I did all that math correctly if not please don't judge me!) They are all such great role models. Here are some fun pictures from their wedding day. They all look sooooo young!! When Margaret & Justin got married someone thought it would be funny to write "help me" on Justin's shoes. So when they knelt at the alter everyone in church could see this message. Too funny! My Mom also told me that when they were lighting the unity candle on their special day her veil caught on fire. I sure wish I could see a picture of that!

Can't wait for day number 18,253!!!!

I absolutely love this song!

Mega Millions!

Unless you live in outer space I'm sure by now you know that someone in Red Bud is one of the 3 winners of the mega millions lottery. Well I guess I should say someone bought a ticket in RB that is a winner. The winner has yet to come forward so it could be a stranger just passing through for all everyone knows......Since I didn't even purchase a ticket I had absolutely NO chance of winning. Lets just pretend I did win and here are the top few things I would spend some of that moolah on.

• Pay off our debt (whoo hoo I can't imagine our house being paid off only 3 years after building)
• Pay off my family's debt
• Build an inground swimming pool
• Rhett says he would buy LOTS of land
• Take some awesome vacations
• Invest a huge chunk of it
• Start a college fund for the kids I don't even have yet

Then I would quit my job! I would want to work again eventually but being a millionare would def give me the ability to just do whatever for a while. Have babies and raise them lol that's what I would do with my time! We can all dream!! Congrats to the real winnner & be smart.

Back to the real world.....Saturday I was on a mission to be wedding productive. I headed up to Farview Heights with a long list of stops to make. I went to David's Bridal to pick up Jaimee's dress. Was very excited for this!! She will be home this weekend for Easter so I can't wait for her to try it on. I find it odd that even though all the dresses were ordered at the same time only one is in. I made a stop at the mall and got some bridesmaids gifts and returned a $60 shirt that I didn't need in the first place. I went by every single craft store possible.... Michaels, Jo-Anns, Hobby Lobby, Party City, Old Time Pottery, Dollar Tree. I bought several odds & ends items. (Burlap, bow holders for pews, ribbon.) I was looking for strands of led lights that I can string through the branches I got from my Aunt Patti. That is part of the reason I hit up all craft stores looking for them. Unsuccessful & frustrating. Hobby Lobby did say that they start putting out there Christmas stuff in July so check back then. I don't want to wait till July!!!! I guess I am going to have to search online and hope I can find what I want. I went to Bed Bath & Beyond to get information about registering. I got a nice little packet of info and am starting to make a list of what I want to register for. I knew Rhett would not be interested in going along when I do the registering so my Mom is going to join me. He said we need to register at Cabela's (fat chance that is happening). He also said that I need to make sure I get some cool items & my response was, "you want cool stuff, you can come along." It will actually probably be easier if he doesn't go along. LOL

When I got home from shopping I brought every single item from the spare bedroom out into the kitchen area. That room was extremely messy and driving me bonkers. I did a little inventory of everything I have for the wedding. Organized and counted everything up. Here is what the bedroom looks like now. Much better!! I feel so much better when things are in order and not just laying randomly everywhere.

I am still trying to decide how many tables will be used at the reception hence how many centerpieces I need to get together. I have the mason jars in different sizes so I have a little variety of what they will look like.Some have burlap in the jars, some on the outside, I stuffed one with raffia, some with pinecones. The one on the far right wll have the lights strung through them. I am also going to utilize real wheat (once the time comes and it is dried out) and acorns (if I can find some). I need to walk through our pine cone treees and collect more. Since it is 90 deg out I will not be crossing that off my to do list quite yet.

I have a big loooong list of questions/decisons I need to make so when Jaimee comes home this weekend she is going to be bombarded with wedding mania!! Sometimes I just need an opinion or two. Heck I always need an opinion who am I kidding. I also need to work on the seating chart for the round tables. The list just goes on and on and on....I have no idea what I did with my time before I started planning this sucker.

I love this cute litte name place. So adorable!