Becoming Mr&Mrs

One Month!

2010-09-07T20:48:00.000-04:00

First, my apologies for being absent from the blog. But, as today is our one month anniversary, I had to make time to post. WIth Josh's new job and my student teaching plus moving we have been so busy. I hope to keep up with the blog on how our wedding went and our newlywed adventures. Everyone always asks, "how's married life?" Our first two responses are mostly fun and weird. Fun because we are always together laughing, bike riding, cooking, etc. Weird because it's all so new. It takes time getting used to seeing each other all of the time. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE it, but it's still a big change that takes getting used to! It's such a joy being married to Josh (finally!!) and our first month has been simply amazing.

(This was at an event Josh and I were at for his work!)

Our Wedding: The Flowers

2010-07-21T01:53:00.002-04:00

To go along with our rustic theme, we decided to do wild flowers! My sister and I went to J's Fresh Flower Market yesterday to order some flowers! I'm SO excited! The variety of flowers is beautiful and wild flowers look so fresh! Here's some wild flowers they happened to have in the store while we were there.

Bridesmaid of the Week: Stephanie Froman!

2010-06-28T22:54:00.001-04:00

Stephanie is also one of my bridesmaids who I have known for a longggggg time. We have A LOT of embarrassing pictures together (I will not be posting the really embarrassing ones :) ). Our favorite song is Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch which led to our nicknames. We've had tons of sleepovers, been to concerts, took the train to Chicago, made beadie-buddies, spent weeks at camp, and we used to sit next to each other nearly every week in church growing up! Love ya Steph!

50 Days!

2010-06-18T00:17:00.002-04:00

I know I posted the two month countdown not too long ago, but a 50 day countdown seems unreal! Time is flying!!!

Bridesmaid of the Week: Melissa Rich!

2010-06-15T22:24:00.004-04:00

Melissa and I were destined to be friends! Actually, Melissa and Josh have known each other since they were little. The new year's eve before my freshman year of college, Melissa and Josh ran into each other again and Melissa told Josh that she would be going to GVSU in the fall! Josh casually mentioned that Melissa and I should become friends, but Melissa figured with the amount of students it'd be unlikely that we would meet. But, God had different plans for our friendship! At my first GVSU event (a Campus Ministries Picnic) Melissa and I met! From then on Melissa and I spent tons of time with each other and then lived together our sophomore year! Melissa is the easiest person to get along with and we have so much in common. I love her so much! After she transferred colleges, we were no longer roomies, so now we have to make an extra effort to spend time together. Melissa also was a huge help to Josh when he proposed - Thanks Melissa!

2 Month Countdown!

2010-06-07T21:48:00.001-04:00

Couldn't help but smile when I received this e-mail today :)

Wedding Updates!

2010-06-04T21:24:00.000-04:00

With spring classes underway, things have been busy! But, here I am to give some wedding updates! Josh & I are almost two months away until our big day. The majority of the major details are pinned down and decorations, etc. are bought! Now we need to start thinking about the smaller projects - printing invitations and programs, favors, etc.. Needless to say we are getting SO excited to be married. For your enjoyment, here is a little wedding detail:

(source)

Josh's Graduation

2010-05-25T19:59:00.007-04:00

This past Saturday Josh graduated from Calvin College with a Bachelor's of Arts in Media Production. It was such a great weekend and I couldn't stop smiling because of how proud I was of him! It was great to spend time with Josh's parents, grandma, and brother as well as my mommy! Now, our next big event is the wedding!

Bridesmaid of the Week: Rebecca Sissom!

2010-05-11T14:40:00.007-04:00

Rebecca and I grew up in church together and have been friends for a long time. We have had a lot of fun times shopping, taking pictures, singing in church, watching movies, camping, and most frequently we can be found drinking slurpees :). After Josh proposed Rebecca brought me a slurpee and my favorite candy as my congratulations gift! We have tons of fun together and love to laugh! Rebecca has been in school in Massachusetts, and I have missed her tons, but I'm excited that we'll both be moving back home around the same time in June!

Happy Mother's Day!

2010-05-09T22:28:00.003-04:00

Happy Mother's Day to the two best moms (and part time wedding planners) in the world! We love you!

~Josh & Katie

Priceless Pictures: January 2007

2010-04-29T12:55:00.000-04:00

Bridesmaid of the Week: Katherine Wybo!

2010-04-27T10:14:00.001-04:00

Katherine and I tell everyone that we meet the story of how I inspired her birth. Katherine and I are a little over nine months apart and we have been friends since she was born! Our moms bought us matching Gymboree outfits... we had tons of barbies, including cars and houses... and our favorite, American Girl Dolls! Needless to say, that's not what we like to do now... We have also taken a few trips to Chicago and enjoyed a few years at Lake Ann Camp together. I feel so blessed that Katherine and I have been lifelong friends. She is my only lifelong friend (besides CC :) ).

My Ring!

2010-04-22T16:31:00.003-04:00

I had been looking at rings since my freshman year of college. I had been dropping hints at what kinds of rings I liked since my freshman year of college. Josh finally took me ring shopping shortly after the middle of my sophomore year so he could get a better idea of what I liked. I showed him a few rings that I liked but secretly fell in love with a certain one. After seeing that specific ring in the store, I visited the website often to drool over it again. One day, I returned back to the site and the ring was no longer available - I was SO sad. I remembered hearing it was an exclusive ring which meant it was only being sold for a certain amount of time and may or may not come back. I called Josh right away (even though he wasn't supposed to know I secretly loved that ring the most..) and told him. He seemed bummed but not nearly as upset as I was (which kind of annoyed me.. ;) ). Little did I know, he had already purchased THE ring and was just waiting to give it to me!!! When Josh proposed I was SO shocked that he had the ring.. I had NO idea that he had bought it before it was unavailable! Needless to say, I was exceedingly happy and felt so loved that Josh bought such an awesome, perfect ring for me. The ring has three stones in the middle which signifies past, present, and future. For Josh and I, this seems extremely appropriate! We have spent a good portion of our lives together already and that's something we never want to forget!

I'm excited that I get to wear this ring for the rest of my life :)

Our Wedding: The Table Numbers

2010-04-20T00:15:00.000-04:00

Our table numbers are one thing I seemed to have tons of ideas for. I finally decided to use something that could incorporate the red bird. The table numbers are definitely a DIY project, but it's been fun experimenting and finding a way to make them perfect! I even got Josh to help me with the painting :).

Bridesmaid of the Week: Natalie Bogusky!

2010-04-12T22:41:00.001-04:00

Natalie and I met and then became step-sisters! We shared a room and consequently became very close friends. Our room was ALL purple.. Natalie now hates purple. When Natalie and I are together we mostly laugh. I love that Natalie remembers all of the funny things that have happened when we're together and reminds me of them often. Love you Natalie!! :)

4 Month Countdown!

2010-04-07T22:12:00.003-04:00

Received this in my inbox today:

Glad we have this already checked off the list!!!

Bridesmaid of the Week: Christy Wilson!

2010-03-29T23:27:00.010-04:00

Now, CC is technically my Matron of Honor, but for the blog title's sake, I had to write bridesmaid :). Where do I start... my sister has been and always will be my best friend! She is the only person who has been with me through everything. She made a beautiful bride last September, and it's been such a blessing to have her and all of her bridal knowledge throughout my planning process. I feel like I could say much more, but I have to save that for the wedding program! I love you CC!

(source)

ALSO, thank you SO MUCH to CC for creating our awesome blog layout! It's amazing!

~~Katie

Checklist!

2010-03-29T23:03:00.007-04:00

Due to extreme craziness at school, wedding plans have unfortunately been the last thing on my mind! (Ok, they were actually the first thing on my mind, but the last thing on my list of things to do..) I had 8 projects/papers due over a two week period which meant little free time. I can finally relax a little as I have things finished and am just waiting to turn them in. So onto blogging! Earlier today I was able to make a to-do list of all of the major things that need to be done asap! The list consisted of 18 things - not sure if that is good or bad! Luckily only about half of them should be done very soon.

Today, we were able to check off a HUGE to-do, which was book our flight to Hawaii!! My nana has been calling airlines for the past few weeks trying to find a good deal but was having no luck. On a whim today, I decided to see what I could find online. To my amazement, I found the best deal that we had been able to find yet! I am feeling so relieved that we got this done! When I realized four months until the big day was right around the corner, I knew we had to get our tickets fast! SUCH a BIG THANK YOU to Josh's mommy for all of her help today! I am going to have the greatest in-laws :).

Here is where we will be staying in Hawaii (with an ocean view room I might add :) THANK YOU NANA AND PA!):

(source)

~~Katie

Our Wedding: The Red Bird

2010-03-17T21:37:00.003-04:00

In honor of my dad's birthday today I thought I would share how we are going to be remembering him on our wedding day. It's extremely hard to figure out how to commemorate someone who should be such a huge part of your wedding. Not only is it really sad, but it's hard to know the right way to do it. My sister got married last September and found a really neat way to represent our dad in her ceremony. My dad was a firefighter, so she put his firefighter hat on the chair next to my mom where my dad would have been sitting. I think it really touched everyone's hearts who were at the wedding, especially those who knew my dad.

(Photo by Genevieve McKeiver)

To go along with that, Josh & I will be incorporating the red bird. A while back my Nana shared with me, The Legend of the Red Bird. I'm not exactly sure of how the legend goes, but basically when someone in our family sees a red bird we remember my dad and are reminded that he's looking down on us. So, throughout our ceremony and reception I plan on incorporating red birds. It's amazing how many times I've seen an actual red bird since hearing the legend. In the dead of winter even. I think it's God's way of reminding me of His perfect plan. Here's a picture I took last November of a red bird I happened to see. You may have to look pretty close to see it!

I'm not exactly sure if these will be the only ways we remember my dad at our wedding, but so far this is what we have planned.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

~~Katie

Our Wedding: The Invitations

2010-03-06T12:01:00.001-05:00

I have to admit, invitations weren't my biggest concern. Knowing that people just read it, and eventually end up throwing it away or storing it in a keepsake box reminded me that I didn't want to spend a fortune. This doesn't mean I wasn't going to be sure they were really nice, but I didn't want to spend a lot of time and money on them. I remember reading that the average couple spends about $700 on invitations. Compared to other wedding expenses, that isn't too bad, but I was sure I could still get something that Josh and I loved while spending a lot less. Personally, I would rather have the money we could save for our honeymoon! Anyway, my mom and I were out shopping one day and had no intent of buying invitations. We stumbled upon a great deal on some invitations that I had casually seen before and really liked. So I called Josh made sure he was fine with it, which he was. Needless to say, we bought them! Including printing them on our own, I think the total cost will be around $100! Here's a picture that doesn't tell all:

Our Wedding: My Shoes

2010-02-20T12:49:00.002-05:00

My shoes were another awesome deal I got. My sister wore pink shoes at her wedding, and it made for some awesome pictures, so I decided to do the same but in purple! The best part is they were only about $6. They were the last pair in the store and just happened to be my size!

(source)

My Dream Has Come True

2010-02-18T20:40:00.001-05:00

Barn Dance Held Here

:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

Our Wedding: The Napkins

2010-02-18T20:28:00.004-05:00

It feels funny to be writing a post about napkins, but when you're not having your dinner reception in a typical wedding reception venue, you have to think about these kinds of things! To go along with our rustic theme, my cousin Stephen's fiance' Kelly suggested we use bandannas for napkins. I loved the idea, but unfortunately I couldn't find any in bulk all in the same color that were perfect for what we needed them for. So I juggled the idea of getting monogrammed paper napkins, but wasn't thrilled with that. All of this brings me to my story of the deal of the century... Josh and I were shopping at the Meijer Outlet in Grand Rapids where I stumbled upon a 4 pack of cloth napkins which were originally $4.99 each. Before I got too excited, I counted how many packages there were. I counted about 45 which means there would be 180 napkins. Dissapointed, I was on my way to putting the package on the shelf when the sale price caught my eye. .30 cents!!! So I called my mom to ask if it'd be worth it to spend the $14 for the majority of the napkins we needed. She said yes, but advised me to ask an employee if they happened to have anymore. Since it's an outlet I wasn't expecting them to have any in the back, and I was right, they told me that was all they had. So Josh and I grabbed every last package they had on the shelf and decided to walk down a few more aisles before we left. This is where the story gets even better. As I'm browsing down a completely different row, my eyes were suddenly fixed on MORE napkins! So Josh and I quickly counted how many more were there and realized we had the perfect amount, with even a few to spare! So, we got 66 packages for $20.99 when at full price the napkins would have been about $350! Needless to say, I've never been so excited about cloth napkins.

I debated sharing this picture because I don't want to give too much away about our wedding and all of the details, so consider this special :)

6 Month Countdown!

2010-02-08T21:48:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I recieved this message in my inbox:

Time is FLYING!

Priceless Pictures: March 2007

2010-01-28T21:06:00.003-05:00

For our 2 year anniversary Josh and I made homemade gifts for each other!

Our Wedding: The Colors

2010-01-24T22:44:00.001-05:00

For the past few years I was convinced that my wedding colors would be pink, pink, and pink! But as the planning started occurring my color ideas completely changed!!! Here are some inspirations for the colors we will be using:

(source)

Ouch

2010-01-19T19:58:00.000-05:00

On Saturday Josh and I were planning on finishing up our registries but before we wanted to go out to grab some lunch. We had just sat down and I grabbed the seat of my chair to move it closer to the table. Unfortunately the seat of the chair wasn't connected to the base of the chair so my fingers slipped perfectly in between the two and in that split second and I sat back down crushing my middle and pointer fingers. My first reaction was to pull my fingers out and I was greeted by blood and the majority of my finger nail hanging loosely off my middle finger and luckily my pointer finger looked fine. Right away I think I was just in shock. I showed it to Josh and he of course asked me if I was okay. I then started sobbing, so he gave me the keys and I went to his car. He grabbed the food and came to the car to take me back to his apartment. Just as Josh was shifting the car into drive I realized I didn't have my purse (so thankful I remembered before we left!) so Josh ran in to grab it and then we were off to his apartment. Realizing he only had bandaids, Josh called my sister to see if he could bring me there to bandage it up. Still crying, I got back in the car and Josh drove me to CC and Chris'. CC was able to put some infection protection on my finger, bandage it up, and give me some medicine for the pain. I'm so thankful to be living near family! I love you Josh, CC, and Chris!!!! Despite the pain and ugly finger that I got out of the situation it was neat to see how Josh and I were able to handle the situation together. I was a little irrational shortly after and told Josh I was going to have an ugly finger for our wedding day, but he was able to give me the advice that I could always put on a fake nail to which I responded, "not if there isn't a nail there to glue it on!!!" Looking back on that conversation now, it's pretty funny. Josh is such an encouraging person and I am so thankful for him! The past few days have been weird adjusting to not using my middle finger, but it's slowly getting better!

I do have a picture of my finger pre-bandage, but for the sake of those who don't like blood this picture will have to do:

200 Days!

2010-01-19T15:44:00.002-05:00

Today starts the 200 day countdown until the wedding!! Is it too early to make one of these?

(source)

Wedding Things!

2010-01-14T13:31:00.003-05:00

My mom, sister (and MOH), nana and I took a trip to a wholesale craft store to start getting 'supplies' for the wedding! Here are a few pictures from the day!

After we got home, we organized all of our purchases in the basement!

Just so our guests have some element of surprise, I'm not going to say what this will be for, but it will be fun!!

Thanks CC for taking all of the pictures!! Next time I will have to take one WITH you :).

~~Katie

Priceless Pictures: June 2007

2010-01-12T21:57:00.000-05:00

Our Christmas! Part 2

2010-01-12T21:52:00.002-05:00

Josh & I were able to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas day with my dad's side of the family, my mom's side of the family, my immediate family, and his family! I am realizing more and more what a blessing it is that our families live so close! Both of our families are extremely important to us and we love being able to spend the holidays with both sides.

Here are a few pictures from Christmas Eve and Christmas day:

~~Katie

Our Christmas! Part 1

2010-01-03T18:36:00.008-05:00

First of all, Happy New Year to everyone! Josh & I were blessed with a wonderful 2009 and we are looking forward to an even more wonderful 2010 - wedding year!

Going back in time a little, during my exam week I had a night of relaxation as I had no exams the following day. I was lounging around when I got a phone call from Josh who asked me to come to my front door. I opened the door and was greeted by a stack of rubber maid boxes with Josh's face barely peaking over the top with a huge smile on his face complete in his Christmas pajama pants. He came in set everything down and started to explain what we were going to be doing to celebrate Christmas a little early. He had planned the entire night for us and this is what it included:

Watching "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" and snuggling with his Long Beach Island Blanket.

Eating Christmas Tree cookies that Josh made himself :).

Drinking hot chocolate.

And lastly painting snowmen and Christmas ornaments for our Christmas next year!

Here is our finished products:

Josh's absolute favorite holiday is Christmas (so much so that he starts listening to Christmas music in October!). We had a great time enjoying spending time with each other and celebrating our own little Christmas in our own little way.

Our Date: August 07, 2010

2009-12-28T01:38:00.004-05:00

A few weeks ago Josh & I were able to decide on a date for our wedding! After much contemplating and planning we decided the first weekend in August would be best. The wedding will be one week before my birthday, and if you ask me, a husband is the best birthday present a girl could ask for! It's kind of funny that we are getting married on an odd numbered date because incase you didn't know, I have a weird thing with odd numbers - I always said I'd never get married on an odd numbered day, but here I am getting married on the 7th! But, I am getting married in the year 2010 which is what I always dreamed of because the number of years that we have been married will be easy math - once we get to August 07, 2032, simply subtracting 10 will be the number of married years! Weird, I know.. but I'm the kind of person that thinks about those kinds of things! Numbers aside, I am beyond excited to marry Josh and spend the rest of my life with him. I'm so excited to see what God has for our future together. 222 days to go!
ps - stay tuned for posts about our Christmas!

~~Katie

Priceless Pictures: August 2006

2009-12-15T23:47:00.000-05:00

My First Lasagna!

2009-12-10T23:31:00.003-05:00

Last Sunday Josh & I were finally going to be able to spend some time together after not seeing each other for a week, so I decided that I was going to make a nice dinner for us. I called my sister and asked her for an idea of what to make and she said lasagna, and then I called my mom and she said they were having lasagna for dinner that night too. So I decided, lasagna it is! My mom makes the best lasagna and I've helped her before, also a few weeks ago my sister & I made lasagna together, but I've never made it by myself so I was slightly worried. Since it was just going to be just the two of us, I made two smaller pans and put one in the freezer for another time! In the end it ended up turning out perfectly and it wasn't 'runny' which my mom says is the key to a good lasagna! I think I've proven to Josh that he will be well fed for the rest of his life :).

(Thanks to my roommate Jessica for taking this picture! Don't mind my apron :) ).

The Countdown

2009-12-04T20:45:00.003-05:00

Just about a month ago I received the following e-mail which nearly knocked me off my chair:

Consequently the shock put me in to high-gear and Josh & I were able to make some important decisions regarding our wedding. I really can't believe how fast time is going. This Monday will be 8 months until our day (which is also pretty scary). In the past day we've gotten 12+ inches of snow where I live, so I've taken the opportunity to stay inside and wedding plan (and watch 4+ episodes of Say Yes To The Dress on TLC)! I know the next 246 days are going to be a whirlwind. I'm so excited to marry the man of my dreams but also stressing about planning!

~~Katie

Priceless Pictures: August 2005

2009-11-30T17:07:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T23:05:00.002-05:00

First of all, a very Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! We are so thankful for you all. God has blessed us with family, friends, health, education, and eachother! :) Today we were able to spend time with both of our families which was such a blessing (having two Thanksgiving dinners was awesome!!). We can't thank God enough for all He has truly blessed us with and are so thankful for His direction at this point in our lives. It's fun being engaged this Thanksgiving - our first and only engaged Thanksgiving! It's also crazy to think that next Thanksgiving we will be married! Now our favorite holiday is on its way: Christmas! Before we know it, it will be 2010 which is wedding year!

God bless you all!

Our attempt at Thanksgiving pictures:

~~Katie & Josh

Priceless Pictures: December 2005

2009-11-18T18:21:00.000-05:00

Our First Gingerbread House! It's a beach theme :)

Mushy Memories: Two Cards

2009-11-16T22:01:00.001-05:00

Something Josh has always does that melts my heart is for our anniversaries and my birthday's (and sometimes other celebrations) he gives me two cards. One of the cards is a funny one and the second card is romantic. I think it just sums up Josh for me, because he is always making me laugh and yet is always making me feel like the most loved woman in the world! I got permission from him to share one of my favorite excerpts from a birthday card:

"When you read this you need to lean over and kiss Josh. THE END"

No Shave November

2009-11-16T22:01:00.000-05:00

Josh decided to participate in No Shave November with some of the guys from his work. At first I didn't like the idea but was glad he was getting out the urge to do it before we're married ;). BUT, I was wrong and I think it looks really good! Maybe by the end of the month it'll be a little more out of control, but for now it's working for him. Anyway, thought the people who don't see Josh regularly would enjoy seeing a picture of the progress.

Priceless Pictures: July 2005

2009-11-11T11:18:00.000-05:00

The Story of My Wedding Dress

2009-11-10T12:35:00.008-05:00

Well, after Josh proposed I started my search for dresses online and got a few ideas of what I liked. One of the first dresses I picked out was from David's Bridal. Life was so busy that I wasn't able to go dress shopping till a few months after getting engaged. I went back online often to look at that dress and one day I noticed it happened to be on sale, so soon after my sister and I decided to go try it on. We went to a store in Grand Rapids and I told them the dress I wanted to try on, but was informed that the reason it was on sale was because it was being discontinued and they no longer had any in their store but they could check other stores in Michigan. So the lady checked on her computer and then said, "Do you know where Novi is? Because they have the dress in white and a size 2 at that store." My jaw almost dropped and I told her that my family lives minutes away from Novi. The only downfall was that their dresses can only be put on hold for 24 hours and I wouldn't be able to get back to the east side until the following weekend and chances are it would be gone. So I decided to try on some dresses and see if there were any others that I liked. I ended up finding three which all had a different characteristics that I liked. So my sister took pictures of the dresses and I pondered over the pictures for the next few days. The original dress then popped back into my mind so I decided to look at it online. As I was reading the description, I realized that the original dress had all three of the characteristics that I had liked from the three that I had tried on. So, needless to say I was determined to at least try the dress on because it seemed so perfect. I called the Novi store on a Tuesday and said I wouldn't be able to be there to try it on until Friday. The lady told me that she couldn't put it on hold for that long but if she were me, she would just call every 24 hours and put it back on hold. I asked her if that was an appropriate thing to do and she said, "you're a bride you can do WHATEVER you want!!!" So I did. I was able to head home Thursday night and then went first thing Friday morning to try the dress on. IT WAS PERFECT - everything I wanted and even more beautiful than the online picture. It fit pretty well (of course I have to get it shortened...) and was white which I wanted (as opposed to ivory)! I loved it so much and so did my family! So the VERY first dress I found back in July ended up being the dress of my dreams!

Priceless Pictures: October 2004

2009-11-02T21:26:00.002-05:00

I'm going to start an ongoing, hopefully weekly post, called
Priceless Pictures because when it comes to
pictures, we have TONS!

~~Katie

My Dream Cake

2009-10-26T21:14:00.000-04:00

Today when reading a wedding blog called Intimate Weddings, I stumbled upon the cake of my dreams:

(source)

~~Katie

Wedding Planning Weekend

2009-10-24T21:42:00.000-04:00

This past weekend I was able to head home to nail down some wedding details. Josh works pretty much every day over the weekend, so he had to entrust the wedding reception venue search to me. I'm realizing it's going to be hard to start planning this wedding while living 2 hours away! The trip home was both successful and unsuccessful. It was successful in that I found my dress :) :) :) :) It's a great story that I will post soon. But it was unsuccessful in that we didn't make any final decisions on our reception location. Our first potential location was the Novi Community Center - they have a huge atrium with beautiful wall length windows and really high ceilings. BUT, the man we toured with (who ironically was my sister's basketball coach from middle school) told us that we cannot be guaranteed our date - for instance, last year a bride had her wedding date picked and payment in, but the mayor decided he was going to have a convection that day, so the bride had to change her wedding day, and all her plans without much of a notice. Needless to say, I don't really want to take a chance and Josh agrees. So onto our next option, the Wixom Community Center - it's definitely pretty and could work (not necessarily with my rustic theme idea tho :( ), but.. (of course there is a but..) they are booked on the day Josh and I were thinking would work best for us and our families. So again, the search continues... But for now, Josh and I are enjoying a relaxing Sunday night:

~~Katie

Mushy Memories: My First Birthday Gift From Josh

2009-10-22T23:17:00.000-04:00

To share all of our stories, I'm going to start an ongoing post called, "Mushy Memories." Here's the first one, enjoy!!

About three months into our blossoming relationship my 13th birthday was just around the corner. I remember being really nervous about what Josh would get me for my birthday, but he did great! :) One of our first movies we watched together was A Walk to Remember. I had seen the movie a few times in theaters and had rented it also, but didn't have a copy. So, Josh bought me my very own copy of the movie on VHS! Yes, VHS - and he bought it the day it came out! I still have it today and watch it whenever I can.

Fun Fact: the first movie we watched together in theaters was The Counte of Monte Cristo (which Josh cleverly included in the proposal) and the first movie we watched not in theaters was Brokedown Palace!

(Source)

Rustic Reception

2009-10-20T15:15:00.000-04:00

Of course as soon as I got a spare minute of time after Josh proposed I was doing wedding 'research' as I like to call it. My sister (who you'll see me refer to as CC) introduced me to Wedding Blogs which I subscribe to from Google Reader (If you follow multiple Blogs, Google Reader makes it SO much easier!). I also am a huge fan of theknot.com and have been secretly getting ideas from there since my freshman year of college! Anyway, one of my first major ideas was to have our wedding reception in a barn. Josh hated the idea at first and asked if, "we'd be shooting our dinner out back?" Once I showed him some of these pictures his eyes were open to my vision:

(source)

But much to my dismay and after hours of online research and phone calls, I cannot find a barn that is big enough for the amount of people we are inviting and close enough to where we plan on having our ceremony. After a few weeks of being discouraged and losing excitement for my vision, I started searching again, and that's kind of where we are now. I have found a few potentional places, and am going to check them out this weekend. I still want to use the elegant rustic theme, but I'm just not sure if it'll fit right in our prospective venues. I'm still a little dissapointed but have come to terms that there are no barns perfect for what we need. My family has even joked about building our own barn.. I know there's somewhere perfect for us, but finding it is the hard part!

~~Katie

Our Story: Josh's Version

2009-10-17T22:28:00.000-04:00

Once upon a time in the mid 90s, in a little white church, a 5th grade girl and a 6th grade boy sat in sunday school together. The boy had no idea who this stunning new girl was, but he was determined to find out. He leaned back in his chair and and tried his best to pay attention to the lesson... fail. He couldn't take his eyes off of this 4 foot 6 5th grade beauty. As it turns out, however, she was PART of the sunday school lesson. She was the prophetess Deborah from Judges 4. Because she was acting out the part of Deborah, and the Sunday school teacher kept referring to her with that name, that must have been her name. That day this 6th grade boy knew that he was going to marry this 'Deborah' girl. Turns out though, her name wasn't Deborah, it was Katie, Katie Cain; and his name, well, his name was Josh, and thats me. This really is the first memory I have of Katie. We grew up together in that church, moving from elementary school into junior high where we started our relationship together. Somewhere between nervous conversations and impersonal IMs, we fell in love and on May 18th that year in 8th grade, I asked her if she would "be my girlfriend" in the parking lot of that little white church. Needless to say, she said yes, and that marked the day of my first girlfriend. Being junior highers in the late 90s, AIM was the core communicator for the next six months in our relationship. We talked about our feelings on AIM, we planned our first kiss over AIM, and we decided to call it quits because of AIM (and by decided to call it quits I mean Katie broke up with me because we never talked in person). Over the course of the next 2 and a half years, we became the best of friends. Then, after Katie and I began attending the same school, we started dating again. The official date was March 25th of my Junior year and we have been dating ever since. We stayed strong through the distance of college and have grown even stronger together as a whole. This past July we got engaged and now we are looking forward to 'dating' for the rest of our lives. I love you Katie Cain.

Our Story: Katie's Version

2009-10-14T16:30:00.000-04:00

(Our First Picture)

Josh & I met back when I was in 5th grade and he was in 6th. Our families went to the same church which we still attend today. My first memory of him was in Mr. Speight's Sunday School Class but he had cooties so I didn't really want much to do with him. But things soon changed when I was now in 6th grade and Josh was in 7th. We expressed an interest in liking each other through our friend Stephanie and before I knew it we were talking on AOL Instant Messenger every day. Josh asked me to be his girlfriend and I said, "of course!" We 'dated' (if middle schoolers can even date..) for 6 months and then I broke up with Josh (Yes, I still hear about it to this day..) Josh and I did still stay friends which I think was all Josh's secret ploy to sweep me off my feet again one day. Fast forwarding to when Josh was a junior in highschool and I was a sophomore, we both knew that we wanted to date again. A few months after transferring to Josh's highschool, Southfield Christian, in the middle of my sophomore year, Josh asked me to be his girlfriend again: March 25, 2005! The rest is pretty much history! So we have officially been dating for a little over 4 and half years. But, Josh likes to forget the break up and say we've beend dating for almost 8 years! I love him!

The Journey Towards Marriage!

2009-09-29T23:58:00.000-04:00

This is our blog: the journey towards marriage! I began thinking of all of the memories that Josh & I have had that seem to be slowly fading from my memory bank! I figure this is a way to keep my memories secured and invite you all into our exciting future together! I'm hoping I can even get Josh to write a few posts as we go along :). So, here's to the ups and downs of wedding planning and to our exciting future!

~~Katie