#tbt: The Engagement Photos

Since I was not a big blogger at the time we got engaged, I have decided to do a few posts about everything leading up to the wedding.  It has officially been a full year ago since we took these so here is the story on our Engagement Photos.  

We knew from the day we got engaged that Susan Lines would take our photos.  She is a beautiful and talented friend of ours that so graciously said yes to taking our pictures.  Susan has known D.J. since he was a little freshman at JMU so it was surreal for her to be taking his engagement photos! We decided that the best time to get together would be over Thanksgiving break.  Just like we knew Susan would take our pictures, we knew she would be taking them at one of our most memorable locations- James Madison University in the heart of the Shenandoah Mountains. 

Pictures on the quad was a must.  Although neither of us were ever on the quad for class, it is still an important part of JMU!

This is seriously one of my favorites.  I can't help but notice how blue my eyes are!

Must have a picture kissing on the "Kissing Rock"

If you don't know, I was the first girl D.J. met at JMU. I was an Orientation Guide at the time and with a little bit of luck from JMU, it was fate that I got Ikenberry that August of 2009.  From day one I thought for sure that D.J. and Billy (the other baseball player I had) would be the hardest to get to participate. Ironically, it was the opposite- they were doing everything..although I think this was because D.J. had a little crush ;).  So it was a no-brainer that we had to take a few pictures back at our old stomping ground!

The railroad tracks don't have too much significance to us, but I always wanted to take pictures on there... so we did! I am pretty sure Susan was thinking this chick is crazy for wanting to take so many different pictures, but in the end I couldn't have been happier with the way they turned out.  

Last but not least was the baseball field.  We had seen a friend of D.J.'s take pictures on the field a few years before we got engaged and there was no option but to follow suit!

We were so lucky to get Susan to shoot our engagement photos.  After our shoot, Susan became pretty popular for her photo shoot for Megan and John!

You can read the full post from our engagement photo shoot with Susan Lines Photography here.

Wendesday Weekend Recap with the Williams'

This past weekend we had some of the family in town for the weekend! Stef, James, and not-so-little Jayden all came down on Friday night to spend some quality time with us! The best part was is that they all had a bed to sleep on... even if one mattress was on the floor- its the fact that it was there that counts! They got in late Friday night and Jayden was already passed out.  They put him down and we stayed up chatting for a little bit before we went to bed.  

Saturday morning I had already signed up to run the Girls on the Run 5K in downtown Norfolk so I was gone by 7:30.  If you don't know about GOTR, it is a program that "inspires girls to be joyful, healthy, and confident using a fun, experience-based curriculum which creatively integrates running." They are nation wide and I am proud to say that my mom was one of the first people to get involved in the South Hampton Roads Area.  At the races, they like to have a running buddy for each "girl on the run".  This year C.J. and I ran a great race and I was very proud to see her complete the race with her head held high! 

After the race was finished, I ran home (not literally) and got ready to head out for a fun-filled day with Jayden and the family!

The Children's Museum of Virginia in Portsmouth is literally the best place to take any kid ranging from 2-23 because I love the place! They have lots of interactive areas from bubbles to grocery stores.  Upstairs they have different exhibits to show the laws of motion, our planet, and they even have a plasma ball where you can touch and see the electricity come to your hand!

After about 2 hours, Jayden was getting tired and so were we.  We went home, had some lunch and then we all fell asleep watching Home Alone.

For dinner on Saturday we had my family over and all sat around the table for a big home cooked meal from me and D.J. Right in the middle of dinner the whole street lost power for about 10 seconds but it felt like the longest ten seconds of my life! I couldn't even see my hand in front of my face! After we ate, we ventured out in the rain to see the Garden of Lights at Botanical Gardens.  Stef, James, and Jayden loved them! Jayden was hanging out of the sun roof (don't worry- we were barely moving and we were all holding on to him!) and he was awing at every single Christmas light display.  We finished the night off with some of Pappy's home make crab soup and chocolate chip cookies!

Sunday they got on the road around 11:30 to head back to Fredericksburg.  I attempted to make my first ever Crock Pot Mac and Cheese.  I would say for my first time, it was pretty good.  Nothing special- but not bad! We took it to the Neighborhood Christmas party later that night and it seemed to be pretty good since it was all gone! 

Our weekend was super busy, but why waste time not being busy!? Can't wait to have lots more fun weekends in the next few to come!

Family Pictures

Last week, we had our first family pictures! D.J. and I are naturals when it comes to taking professional pictures now.  From our engagement photos to the wedding, it's safe to say we both know how to turn the switch on and off! Stryker on the other hand is a pure natural! Stryker is now almost 10 months old and acts like he is 10 years old.  He is so calm and loves to sleep.  During the photoshoot he just laid there and looked right at Rose as she took pictures! Here are a few from the talented Rose Tran Boone!

Thank you Rose for making our family look beautiful! We are so happy that we were able to get our first family photoshoot done and in the books for 2013!!

Our Christmas Card

For our first Christmas card as a family, I decided to use a picture from the wedding.  Our photographer, Charlie Gunter took so many stunning photos, I needed an excuse to use another. 

I have seen so many different blog posts about how to display Christmas cards from past years, but I think my favorite has to be Julie's who blogs over at Girl in the Red Shoes.  I have been waiting to get some wedding photos printed to make our gallery wall of pictures.  I have decided this is going to be a task to do one of the days I have off the next two weeks!

I went to Target tonight and got a pretty red frame to put the picture in, but it was the wrong size (of course..) so now I will just wait till I find another pictures frame to put it in!

If you would like to get our Christmas card in years to come, please let me know!

Merry Monday

Things are starting to look a little festive around our house! We have the tree up and already have lots of presents for friends and family under it!

For our first Christmas, D.J. was responsible for the outside of the house and I was in charge of the inside.  It was his goal to make it look just like a ginger bread house.  I think he did a pretty good job!

 Even though D.J. did the outside, I had to put my little touch on the steps with these DIY "joy" planters.  I got the trees from Home Depot and the pots from Michaels and just spray painted them gold.  They really add a nice touch to the front porch when you are walking up to the house!

The inside really took me a while to finally get everything together.  I feel like since this is our first Christmas in the new house that our decorations will only continue to grow.  The mantel was the hardest to make a decision on.  I had seen so many cute ideas on Pinterest and wanted to make mine look just as good as the ones I saw there! I think we did a pretty good job! I got the stockings from Pottery Barn and everything else from Michaels.  The garlands made of glitter balls were so easy! I just got some string and used a sewing needle to pull it through! I love the way they turned out!

The dining room table turned out exactly how I wanted it too! all the other random decorations Nana gave us!

We just finished wrapping some more presents and now are enjoying the night by the fire watching The Voice and The Blacklist! Have a merry Monday!!

Our first tree

December is finally here! Since we have moved into the house, I have been waiting to decorate for Christmas!  Even though we did a lot of other decorations before getting our tree, I wanted to share our experience getting our first tree!

My family has been going to this same Christmas tree "farm" for as long as I can remember.  I honestly don't know any other place to get a tree. Yes, there is Home Depot and Taylor's Do-It Center, but this was as "real" as it was going to get besides going to cut down our own.  With my family, it usually takes us 30 minutes to decided on a tree.  Julie always likes one and my dad likes another, but in the end, it usually always comes down to us getting the first one my mom looked at.  For us, we knew we had to get a smaller tree than my family usually gets.  We have a smaller house and not as many ornaments to decorate it with.  There were a few trees that had potential, but we ended up going with this fraser fur beauty.

We couldn't resist the beautiful wreath too.  I had been debating whether I was going to try and make a Christmas wreath or just buy one.  None of the ones I saw I liked, so this was perfect.  Now every time we walk into the house it smells like a Christmas tree!

Since my dad was in Pennsylvania with the truck, we had to tie it to the top of my CRV.  Never though the day would come where we are putting Christmas trees on my car!

D.J. was awesome and we were able to get the tree set up on the stand right when we got home! While he was outside being an awesome husband, I was trying to untangle the white lights that we were putting up on the tree. Someone decided to see what these lights were all about and got all tangled up in them. Looks like he was pooped afterwards!

After Stryker had his fun, D.J. brought the tree inside and I started to decorate. From the beginning of decorating, D.J. told me that it was my job to do the inside of the house and his job to do the outside.  Here is the progression of my decorating skills! We had to go out and get more ornaments though so now it looks more full of ornaments than it does in this picture!

Here is our first ornament going on our first Christmas tree!

Some of the presents we already have wrapped our under the tree! However, as of yesterday, they are getting put up because Strkyer already tore one open.  I decided to be a little "pinterest-y" and wrap them all in brown paper and put pretty bows and ribbons on them all! Let me know what you think!

And there it is everyone, our first Christmas tree experience! Be on the look out for more Christmas decoration posts soon!