Wedding Preparations

This post is basically about the decorations and colors. I decided on Fucshia and Royal Blue with Pink Gerbera Daisies as my main flower! At the wedding the bouquets, colors, and decorations were absolutely beautiful!!! They turned out better than I had imagined! From the beginning stages of planning, I wanted to mainly do everything myself, not only for the control but I have a degree in marketing so I consider myself somewhat creative! I designed and created our wedding invitations as well as our programs. I was very pleased with how they turned out when I got them from the printer!


Why May 7th? Irene, Matt's grandma, celebrated her birthday on this day and in honor of her we decided to have it then also because it is the only date he could ever remember so hopefully our anniversary will never be forgotten! We were planning to have the wedding in Cabool where she lived but last September she passed away at 93. She loved Matt so much, always calling him her baby boy. It was a hard time and Matt said that he believes when God closes a door, he opens a window. He meant that she could leave because he had me now. I thought that was such a sweet thing he said! Since she passed away, we decided to have it at Whitestone Wedding Chapel in Marshfield.



Only two months after September, Matt's good friend and groomsman, Trevor Waugh was killed in a car wreck! I felt so bad for Matt and Trevor's family, no one could believe it and the fact that he was at our house a week before it happened. We decided not to replace him, and make sure a space was saved for him in all aspects of the wedding. In honor of him and Irene, we had pictures, memory candles lit by Matt in the Ceremony and the reading below:

If you look around the room, you may notice two important people missing today: Irene Maness, grandmother of the groom, friend and groomsman Trevor Waugh. Within two months of each other the lord called them home and though they are not present, they are here in spirit. In honor of their memory, candles will be lit as a reminder of the positive impact they had on our lives.

There is always a face before us,
A voice we would love to hear,
A smile we will always remember,
Of Irene and Trevor, we loved so dear.
Deep in our heart lies a picture,
More precious than silver or gold,
It's a picture of them both,
Whose memory will never grow old.

Time to Rehearse

Rehearsal went well. The only thing that had me worried, the lady with the chapel went out of town and left a lady in charge that didn't know a whole lot about running a wedding. If I had only known how the wedding would have turned out, I would have really been worried. I wanted to elope from the beginning but Matt was wanting a wedding, however, he changed his mind too late into the process. I had been planning this wedding since April of 2010, I pretty much did everything myself and it turned out well, but, in my perfectionist eyes, could have been better. It will definitely be a great memory to have but could have skipped over the expense part.

Ever since, The Notebook, one of the famous quotes from it has been my favorite and I knew if I were to ever get married, I would use it in my vows. My only hope was to be able to find someone that exemplified the quote, and I finally did:-)

The wedding will be a long post, there was a lot that happened! Some was great, some not so great, but in the end I was married to my dream guy and that is all that matters!

Bachelorette Outing

A week before the wedding we went out, Bachelorette style! The bridesmaids and my mom, and Matt's mom all went to El Charro for dinner then finished the night bowling at Lighthouse Lanes! It was a lot of fun!

A Second Addition

JuJu's hyperness was about to drive us crazy, and it was mainly due to us being gone all day cause of our jobs. We felt bad about leaving her alone all day, so we thought getting her a companion would be a good idea. JuJu was an amazing puppy! I had bought her potty pads and set up 2 pens, one for her bathroom and food and one for her to sleep while we were gone. She would go into the other pen and use the pads but when I got home, she would be out of the pen. I caught her climbing out of it. The amazing thing is she wouldn't potty on the floor or tear things up while she was out. After this happened a couple of times, I just decided to leave her out and never had a problem.
When we decided to get Sammy aka. Bam Bam, we were scammed! A lady ran an ad in the paper saying she had a Shi poo, we went to get him and she was literally pushing him on us. I felt bad because she wasn't sad or anything to get rid of him. Well this cute little furball was/is a hand full!! He is not a shi poo, he is jack russell mix. Trying to train him was a nightmare! He would sometimes get on the couch and poop, peed in the bed sooo many times, and if I put him in his pen he would get so upset he would throw-up! Matt said if boys are anything like boy dogs, he doesn't know if he can handle it! He has calmed down some, but still has his moments. He is definitely a chewer and has tore up many things. JuJu has become mischievous as well, but she leads him into it and he gets the punishment from Matt. JuJu is his little angel, and she can't do anything wrong! I think after having Sammy we are definitely ready for kids...lol!
However, our sole purpose for getting him was accomplished. Him and JuJu are great friends and they do well together when we are at work!

" I Don't Want No Stinkin' Havanese"

Our happy family!

Yeah, he didn't want a havanese...You couldn't tear her away from him, he loves her soooo much!

















For quite awhile I was wanting to get a puppy and I had my heart set on a Havanese. They are just getting popular in the US...from Havana, Cuba. I did my research on them and thought it would be a great dog for us. Matt was totally against it, mainly because they cost $800 and he was not going to pay that for a dog and he liked labs. Matt's lab, Buddy, had just disappeared and a couple months earlier, his other lab, Sadie had disappeared as well. We think a pack of coyotes got them, since they liked to run off. Anyway, I thought it was good timing. After we got back from Texas, I noticed one of the puppies price had been cut to $400. She was a cute puppy, so I thought I would go check her out. The place was in Lebanon, so I was glad it was close. It was love at 1st sight!
When they let her down she immediately looked up at me and came over to me and sat under my legs looking up at me. Then she followed me around. I couldn't leave without her and the whole way home she just kept looking at me with these big, puppy eyes! Matt had called wanting to know where I was and I told him that I was in Lebanon dealing with my wedding gown, he had no clue! When I brought her home, he was on the couch and I got in the floor with her and I had named her LuLu.....I started patting my lap saying come here LuLu. Matt had no clue what I was doing, and then he said" A PUPPY!!!!!!" Immediately he went into the floor, playing with her calling her JuJu. He didn't like LuLu so the name stuck and now she is our beloved JuJu that has such a personality. I constantly remind Matt, when he is snuggling with her that he said, " I don't want no stinkin' Havanese!"

Our First Vacation

Matt and Charlie in their farming hats, lol.
Matt enjoying the ocean!



The rainbow bridge, one of the tallest bridges in the world. I used to get a kick going over it when I was little, on our way to Galveston.



June of 2010, we decided to take a trip to Beaumont, Texas with my parents and visit my old stomping grounds. Earlier in April, we were engaged so I thought he needed to meet my family before we got married. We first went to Hot Springs for some great BBQ at St. Clouds BBQ....I think that is the name...lol.

We wanted to go to the beach, and Sea Rim is where we used to go almost every weekend when I lived there. It was about 30 minutes away. The sad thing is that it was completely demolished in Hurricane Rita. It is a state park that had a huge building on it, that is no longer there. I have tons of memories there, and now to see it gone, was literally a tear jerker. Matt hadn't been to the ocean in a long time and I had forgotten how warm the water used to be. After Sea Rim we went to Galveston for awhile and ate some great seafood at the Fisherman's Wharf:-)

This trip was an eye opener for Matt when he said the words " I think we really are meant to be together, that it is fate." He said that after he met my uncle and realized his uncle and my uncle were a lot alike, both the mountain man, blacksmith type. I couldn't believe he said that!

Discovering a New Sport

When I first met Matt, he was telling me he was ranked nationally for Trap Shooting. I had never been to a trap shoot and really never been around a lot of guns, but it didn't scare me. He invited me to a couple of tournaments, one being in Berryville, Arkansas. There are very few women at these events that actually shoot. I discovered a new sport, that I thoroughly enjoyed and now I have a gun of my own. I met his uncle for the 1st time, and he took me under his wing showing me how to load a black powder, muzzleloader. What was funny, his family and friends would tease him by saying that I must really like him, to go to a shoot with him.
One thing that amazed me about Matt, he is really good at the sport, especially to not have any lessons. He ranked nationally at his 1st shoot in Friendship, Indiana. During this whole time he needed contacts, he couldn't see very well...lol but was able to bust the birds.

A Simple Promise

In December 2009, Matt decided to give me a promise ring. I know it sounds a little childish but he approaches things with caution. We had only been together for 4 months and he wasn't quite ready to be engaged, so he made a promise to me that one day he would get me a ring! Apparently promise rings are kind of non-existent anymore. We went to different places and they only had very few, the funny thing was a lady showed us an engagement ring that was really pretty and Matt said, "I really like that, do you want that one?" He didn't realize it was an engagement ring, lol. We eventually found one and it became my early Christmas present!