In Bloom

Every Spring, I hold my breath and wait for our peony bushes to bloom. They run basically the whole length of our sidewalk and they are so beautiful. Unfortunately, this year it seems they're literally all blooming at once which means that in a week or so, they'll all be gone. But for now, I'll enjoy every square inch of them.

We also have these terrible weeds that grow up, in between the peony bushes every year. They're sticky and pretty much the worst to try to remove. I wish I knew how to prevent them from ever coming back. 

"Ma, this picture would look cute and all, but I need to get up and run towards the swingset..."

 Yesterday morning I went to open up the windows to let some fresh air in before the heat took over and was greeted by this rose bush explosion. Love, love, love me some peach roses and I am SO happy that we have this giant bush to call our own and I'll be sad to leave it whenever we move.

Seriously, my most favorite flowers. Wish you could smell them! ;) Also: Peyton calls peonies, "panties" and it. Is. Hilarious.

Rhett and the Peonies from Sara on Vimeo.

xo,

Sara

Save the Date!

It's officially official! The Save the Dates have (nearly) all gone out and been received by guests-to-be. I keep getting a select few back because the post office can not read them with how I had them addressed. (Total ridiculousness if you ask me.)

We ordered these magnets (magnets!) from Shutterfly and they could not have been more perfect. 

I can not believe that there are only 128 days left to go.

Seriously, wasn't it 365+ days to go just last week?

In addition to mailing out the Save the Dates, we finalized our contract with our photographer/videographer as well as our officiant - both of whom, we absolutely love and can not wait to work with! My dress is purchased, shipped, arrived, tried on, and awaiting final alterations (to be done closer to the big day), Peyton's flower girl dress is purchased (we bought the one the salon had in stock since it fits her so perfectly), and 2 out of 3 bridesmaid dresses are purchased and ordered and (hopefully) on their way to the bridal salon soon! AND there are tons of ceremony/reception decorations purchased and tucked away (thank you, Momma!).

Next up: design/pick/order wedding invitations!

Wedding planning is exhausting, buuuuuut --
I can't wait to be your "Mrs.", Nicholas.
I love you!

xo,
Sara

two hundred and nineteen days

**photo via kristen marie photograpy - this is a photo of another wedding that took place at our wedding venue.**
aka: this will be us in less than 8 months!

"Marry your best friend. I do not say that lightly. Really, truly find the strongest, happiest friendship in the person you fall in love with. Someone who speaks highly of you. Someone you can laugh with. The kind of laughs that make your belly ache, and your nose snort. The embarrassing, earnest, healing kind of laughs. Wit is important. Life is too short not to love someone who lets you be a fool with them. Make sure they are somebody who lets you cry, too. Despair will come. Find someone that you want to be there with you through those times. Most importantly, marry the one that makes passion, love, and madness combine and course through you. A love that will never dilute - even when the waters get deep, and dark."
- Unknown.

Nicholas, I can not wait to marry you.
To promise to love and cherish you for all of the days of our life, while standing in front of our loved ones.
I love you, so very much.
You are truly are my best friend.

xo,
Sara


ps- my bridal salon called the other day and said my dress has arrived!
Eek!
I am just dying to go try it on and get the alteration process started so I can soon bring that beautiful dress home with me!

Enagement Pictures

A few weeks ago, Nick's friend Mandy took our engagement pictures at a local park. She did a wonderful job, despite the fierce wind and freezing temps we encountered for an early morning in October.

 

Here are a few of my favorites:

 

 



 

I can't believe that in less than a year, we'll be tying the knot!

*que the anxiety from all that we have left to do/plan!*

 

Thank you, Mandy, for the beautiful pictures!

 

 

Turks and Caicos: Day 2

I figured that it was about time I finished up this whole vacation recap - that we took this past July... oops! Hey, editing pictures takes a longggg time, okay?! Okay. Here we go:

The morning of the second day of our trip, my sister and I had to wake up early to be at the marina in order to get on the boat for our first set of open water dives! Papa Ron was also up early to head out for his first day of scuba diving as well. Unfortunately, we did not take a single camera with us {because we no longer have an underwater camera that can go deep enough for diving, womp womp} and we just didn't think to bring one of the regular ones with us. I wish we would have, though, because that morning on our way out to the first dive site we saw JoJo, the dolphin! He's a MASSIVE dolphin that is local to the island and is always coming up to the boats to see who's aboard {he must love propellers because his whole head/back is scratched up from getting too close to them}.

Anyways, we had to do four open water dives to complete our scuba course and the first two were that morning. We didn't get much time to just explore the amazing-ness that is the Caribbean ocean floor that day because we spent the majority of the time underwater going over all of our techniques and lessons, etc.

While Jen, Dad, and I were all out diving - Peyton, Nick, and Gigi had a little adventure of their own and went out to the condo's private beach for a little fun in the sun.

 

We returned and scarfed down something to eat quick {diving and being out on a boat makes me surprisingly hungry!} before making our way down to the condo's pool for some relaxation time.

 

 

Relaxation time soon turned into naptime on the screened-in porch.

 

 

 

 

After all of the divers returned and some food made it's way into our bellies, we all high-tailed it back out to the beach and walked and walked and walked until we found a good spot to test out our tent and enjoy some snorkeling!

 

 

Look how tan my man is! Can you believe it? When we went to the Cayman Islands a few years ago, he was Casper-white. We both did a little pre-tanning this time so we were sure to NOT turn in to lobster-mobsters, ha.

 

*sigh* this view never gets old. NEVER.

 

Papa Ron attempting to set up the tent. The hat? The speedos? Our condo key secured around his neck so we didn't lose it?
Priceless.

 

A certain little someone cough*Peyton*cough, fell asleep on the beach while everyone was taking turns snorkeling. Therefore she was carried the whole way back home. Must be nice ;)

 

Me & Momma (the birthday girl!)

For dinner that evening we decided to head back out to the marina to a restaurant called Tiki Hut.



That bottom picture? Oh lord. I'm pretty sure she made that pose and then I just went with it, haha.

Papa Ron allowing Peyton to dance on tables while we waited for our food, ha.

Peyton picked a flower for my hair, of course.

I made everyone take a picture with their food. I believe I had a cuban panini and it was just "eh". Everyone else loved theirs, though!

After dinner, we hit up the grocery story to find a birthday cake suitable for Momma's big day!

 

And then we sang to her, of course :) -- sorry for the low quality picture below. I took it while I was also recording the whole sha-bang.

 

Love you, GiGi. To the Moon & back!

 

This concludes Day 2.