Happy Father's Day

I would like to take a moment to wish a Happy Father's Day to all the important men in our lives, and my mom.

To my grandpa: Thank you so much for everything that you have done for me. And for Jake. You have always been there for me throughout my life and I appreciate everything you have done for me. You are a big reason why I am the young woman I am today and I love you so much! I know that Jake looks up to you as well and appreciates everything you have done for Jake and for us.

Photo Credits: Sarah Tunstall Photography

To Jake's dad: Thank you so much for welcoming me to your family with open arms. My dad isn't a big part of my life, but I know that I can look to you for anything that I would need. I appreciate you raising such a strong, independent and caring man. I know that Jake looks up to you in so many ways and I appreciate you being such an important role model in his life--I know that Jake is a great man, and will be a great father someday, because he had you to look up to. We love you!

To Jake's grandpa: I know that Jake also looks up to you in so many ways. Thank you for being so welcoming and warm to me. We miss you and love you!

And, I cannot forget my mom. Although she has already had her special day on Mother's Day, she deserves recognition because she had to hold up our family for so many years and had to not only be mom, but often play the dad as well. We love you mom. And both Jake and I appreciate everything that you have done for us throughout the years. You are a strong woman!!

Cork & Canvas - My Birthday Celebration

Since we were out of town for my birthday (on our honeymoon), I decided to try and plan something with my friends here at home to celebrate. Normally I don't celebrate my birthday, but this year I really wanted to :) I decided that I wanted to go to Cork and Canvas. Basically, you go in on a day that you like a picture (or just reserve your spot for anytime) and the instructor/owner, Robin, walks you through the process to paint the picture. It was sooooooo much fun and I will definitely be going back.

It was so therapeutic, which is pretty important to me, especially in my field of work: social work/therapy. It was so relaxing (maybe it was the wine?) and I wasn't thinking about anything other than trying to get my picture right. I was so in the moment. It was awesome.

Here are some photos:

Did I mention that Jake came with me? He's such a sweet husband <3

Our Honeymoon [In Pictures]

My grandparents gave us a week of their timeshare for our honeymoon--so we went to Orlando, Florida and spent a week just relaxing and celebrating finally being husband and wife. It was fantastic and a much needed vacation!!

Instead of using words to describe our honeymoon, I'm going to let the honeymoon explain itself through pictures. So, here goes:

Sunset on the Gulf Coast

Sunrise on the Atlantic Coast

Our Happy Day [aka: Our Wedding Day] -- 5/8/11

There are absolutely no words to describe how perfect our wedding day turned out to be. Honestly, I could not have asked for a more beautiful day weather wise and everything went sooooooooo smoothly.

If anything went wrong, I do not know about it. And I'm pretty sure I would like for it to stay that way.

My little younger brother, Jason, took this :)

One thing that everyone sort of wondered about and questioned me about, was seeing Jake before the ceremony. I know there are a lot of superstitious people out there that still believe that you shouldn't see each other the day of the wedding and before the bride walks down the aisle. But, for Jake and I, although this was our wedding day, we have been together for 8.5 years (well, 8 years and 4 months when we got married) and have already been living together. We wouldn't be moving in together after the wedding and learning all sorts of new things about each other--we would be going back to our life the way that we knew it before the wedding day. We would just be husband and wife, finally. Anyway, I for one knew that I was going to be a bundle of nerves and emotions the day of the wedding and part of the 'first look' for me was to help ease those nerves and emotions before I started down the aisle. And omg, I am sooooooooooooo glad that we did it the way that we did. I cannot wait to see the pictures and it was a super awesome and touching moment between us. I sort of teased Jake before I tapped him on the shoulder to turn around (which I am pretty sure got him a little tensed up before he was able to turn around) and there are no words to describe what happened when he turned around. It was like everyone around us completely disappeared and it was just Jake and I in the world. It was like this for our first dance too. I cannot get over how perfect it was :)

Most of all, I am excited to finally be married to my best friend, my high school sweetheart, the love of my life. We seriously have an amazing road ahead of us.

Here are some of my favorites from the night:

Credit to Sarah Tunstall Photography

Credit to Sarah Tunstall Photography

The Grandfather/Granddaughter Dance -- So incredibly special and emotional!!
Credit to Sarah Tunstall Photography

I am still waiting on our professional pictures, but I have a plethora of pictures on our Shutterfly share page. I will write another blog post about our little details later. I have a lot of little special touches from the big day!!