Fishing and Food Poisoning

33 Days! There are only 33 days left until the wedding!!!! Can you tell I'm excited? 

Anyway, on May 25 it will 1 year since Kyle asked my dad if he could officially date/court me. Unfortunately, because it's only 6 days before the wedding, we figured we wouldn't have time to properly celebrate that milestone. Instead, we decided to celebrate our 11 month-iversary. 

I had suggested that we go fishing because Kyle loves to fish and I haven't gone since I was about 7 years old. I used to ADORE fishing with my Grandpa so I was totally pumped about getting to go! 

I'm pretty sure Kyle thought I was kidding; what girl would want to go fishing for a date night? But, thankfully, his mom convinced him that I actually wanted to fish. Besides it being super fun, it's a great way to spend time with each other very cheaply! (I am a money-saver!) 

He picked me up after work, took me out to dinner, and then said he had a surprise for me. 

The weather and the sunset was beautiful as we headed out. 

I was pretty sure he wasn't going to take me fishing because he wouldn't tell me what was going on... 

But sure enough, he pulled out some fishing poles! 

After a short hike, we found the pond. 

I totally out-fished Kyle. I got 3 bites; he got 2. I got a giant bass; he got small ones. 

Woot woot! 

When we go on our honeymoon, he's going to teach my to fly-fish and fillet my own fish. 

How fun is that going to be?? 

When we stopped getting bites, he built a fire and warmed up the beignets that Emma had so generously made for us. Yum! 

Afterwards, we looked at the stars for a bit and then made our way back to the truck. It definitely ranks up there as one of our most fun dates! 

Unfortunately... we got food poisoning from dinner. One second we were watching a movie, and the next Kyle is rushing to the backyard to vomit while I lay . It was pretty bad. Luckily, food poisoning doesn't last very long; the worst part is that we only got about 4 hours of sleep. 

Even though it didn't end like we thought, it was still awesome. I love getting to spend time with him and do what he loves to do! Hopefully, I didn't embarrass him too much with my fishing technique. 

Thank you for being so awesome, Kyle! I love you! 

33 DAYS! 

A House and A Shower

In order to take a break from homework, I'm going to post a link to Emma's blog, One Big Joyful Family. She took over the blog once I started college, and has been doing an awesome job! This weekend I had my first bridal shower, and since she combined the shower post and our rental house pictures in the same blog I decided there was no point in me re-writing the same things.

Click on the link and read all about our crazy weekend!

One Big Joyful Family - Glynne's Shower

I had such a great time at my shower - which is pretty amazing since I don't enjoy being the center of attention. So, THANK YOU to Aunt Lauren, Ally, Emma, and Kate for hosting my beautiful shower! I'm getting more and more excited everyday to get to move in to our adorable house.

The Craziness

Don't worry! I am still writing the blog! It's just gotten a little crazy here in the past couple weeks. We are down to only 52 days until the wedding. Isn't that exciting?!

Anyway... I've been putting off the blog for two reasons; one being that I haven't been inspired to write about anything, and two being busy. My second job (wedding host at a local venue) has started for the season, and my third job (dance teacher) is kicking into high gear because the recital is coming up.

Did I mention that the recital is the week before my wedding and is also the same weekend I am photographing my first wedding?

 I am going to really look forward to this summer when I get to relax a little!

BUT, no matter how stressed I get or how crazy life is, I am still SO HAPPY to be marrying my best friend in just 52 days! Truthfully, when I look back, I won't remember how nuts it was. Well... ok. Yes, I will. But it will be worth it. :)

I know this post is really short and to-the-point, but I wanted to let you all know that I'm still here!

Hopefully, for my next post, I'll get some pictures up of our house so you all can get a little tour!

In the meantime, here are some pictures of our most recent engagement photoshoot.

Skyler Livingston Photography

Now, I don't want to brag, but isn't he pretty much the most handsome guy you've ever seen?! 

Wedding Preparations

We have devoted our Spring Break to the wedding. Mom and I went to College Hill Coffee the other day and spent 2.5 hours planning our detailed schedules and lists.

I LOVE lists.

There's something about having every single thing planned out that makes me feel so much more prepared and stress-free! Whoo hoo!

Anyhow, after we got the ceremony and reception timelines planned out, we got to work on the various projects that need to be done. Invitations must be finished, signs made, vases decorated, playlists chosen, music picked, and we have a big list of stuff we need the guys to build.
As of March 18th, we have 2 months, 13 days, and 2 hours until wedding time!

I can't decide whether the it has flown by or dragged on...

Here, Mom and Ally are in the process of making signs to direct people where to go. 

This will eventually be a chalkboard to put cute quotes on or whatever. 

Jonah broke his trike, and decided the best way to fix it was with the drill. 

We're going for the vintage, rustic look, and Pinterest is full of awesome ideas like vases full of sticks! Sounds stupid, but it will look awesome! 

I am so blessed to have an artist as my sister! 

Everything she does is beautiful and I'm so grateful for her.  

While we (they) slave over wedding preparations, the boys entertain themselves with target practice. 

I had to throw in this adorable picture of Jenna napping. How cute is she?! 

I would love to be outside in this beautiful weather, but... I have schedules to type out, invitations to finish up, and music to download. 

To those of you who are free to be outside - enjoy it for me! 

The Importance of Family

     One of the things that could make marrying into a big family difficult, is having everyone accept you. Luckily, Kyle has won over every single sibling I have! The boys have an especially close bond with him. Landon doesn't have an older brother, so he loves when Kyle comes over and goes possum hunting with him, or when they watch RC car youtube videos with each other.

Somehow watching those videos with his older sisters just isn't the same...

     More than anything, I love watching him interact with Jonah. There are lots of guys who shy away from the idea of having kids, and aren't really sure how to handle them. Not Kyle! From the first time he came over, he jumped right in. Now, they adore him. Jonah gets so excited when he sees Kyle's truck pull into the driveway. He yells, "KYOL! KYOL UCK!" and jumps around like a maniac.
     Jonah isn't the most easy-going child... He is often extremely stubborn and whiney. Kyle is one of few people that can get him to listen and obey.

     The other day, we went to the lake to hang out and celebrate having a small break from school. Kyle was flying with my dad and Landon, so he couldn't make it. Somehow, we still managed to have fun. ;)
Jackson made a little boat out of driftwood with Ally's friend, Drew. It made me smile when I heard what he named it; Kyle Bliss. Isn't that cute?!

You can read more about our trip to the lake in Emma's family blog: A Day at the Lake.

     The reason behind this blog, is that I want to point out how important family is in choosing a life partner. If my family hadn't gotten a good feeling, or the little kids didn't like him, the relationship would never have worked out.

Knowing that my family loves him almost as much as I do gives me so much security for our future! What's even cooler, is the fact that Jonah, Jenna, and maybe even Jackson, won't remember not having Kyle around. To them, he will have always been a part of their lives!

How We Met

Turns out, Kyle and I have a long, intertwined history. Through the years, we danced around on the edges of each other's lives, without quite making it all the way in.

Example 1: We sang in the same Christmas children's choir! I found old home videos of him showing my mom a craft he made (VERY excitedly) when he was about 8.

Example 2: His sister was one of our horse-riding instructors way back when we took lessons. He told me once that he remembers being there one day when it rained and we all played in the puddles together.

Example 3: I was in a home-school play with his sister. Their good friends have a home video of me talking with Kyle's mom backstage.

Example 4: We went to youth group at a local church for YEARS together. He remembers me... but I only occasionally remember him. Kyle insists he used to try to talk to me, but I'd just blow him off. In my defense, I'm not good at recognizing when someone is interested. Also, I was a little bit stand-offish.

It was only about a year and a half ago when we finally connected for good. One of his good friends wanted him to talk to me about something, so he messaged me on Facebook and we met up at McDonalds. Romantic, right?

Somewhere in that time period he had surgery on a hernia - which meant he was taking strong pain medication, so when we began to text/talk regularly I thought he was nuts! Pain medication does crazy things to that boy. After a while, I decided that this hyper guy was actually really sweet. He asked me to prom and from then on we were pretty much inseparable.

I didn't want to date in high-school, so we stayed just friends until I graduated in May. This may sound shocking, but we already knew we'd end up married before we officially began dating.

When you know, you know!

Growing up, I never could have imagined that this loud, goofy kid would become the man I'd spend the rest of my life with. It's amazing how God works!

Our Favorite Things

First off, I'd like to say a quick thank you to those who were so supportive of my previous blog! I loved hearing from all of you - thank you very much. :) 

     I'm totally loving the blog poll widget! You guys voted, and tied, so here is the first of the two winning blog subjects - our favorite and least favorite things about each other.

     I'm just gonna dive right in...

*What Kyle likes about me: My energy, sincerity, persistence, love for others, eyes, maturity, patience (I don't know where this one came from), and inner beauty.

*What Kyle doesn't like about me: My stubbornness, extreme stubbornness, and argumentative tendencies.

I need to work on my stubbornness if you can't tell!

What I like about Kyle: His confidence, goofiness, handsome smile, loving nature, understanding, work ethic, brilliance, dependability, muscles/height (you can't blame me for this one), and how he can cheer me up like no one else.

What I don't like about Kyle: His stubbornness, his need to fix problems instead of listening (he's getting better though!), and his disdain for my favorite T.V. shows - Say Yes to the Dress and Four Weddings.

     Here's the point of this blog: neither one of us is perfect and we know it. I need to work on being less stubborn and listening more, while he sometimes needs to let me watch girly shows (hint, hint).
     I'm extremely blessed to be with a guy that doesn't get hurt or angry when I tell him he's being annoying. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for myself. Sometimes it's hard to listen to criticism, but I am trying to recognize when I'm being stubborn or arguing just for the sake of arguing.

To Kyle: Thank you for putting up with me! :) You're the best.

*Both of these came straight from his text with little/no editing from me!