After Christmas!

Our Christmas was pretty good. The boys made out like bandits. I got my printer. It was good. Now we get to focus on the wedding!!!

Yesterday was officially my last day of work. I am now able to be home with my kids. I am ecstatic. I know that it will take getting used to but it will allow me to do so much more with them, and with the house. I will also be able to do my workouts daily, and walk the dog, and keep the house clean, and keep up with my school work.

Today I am going to be cleaning the house for Christmas. I might try to make some goodies as well. Tonight we are going to a candle lighting at the church and then back home for some stories. I am excited to see what I get for Christmas. I have been really hoping for a new printer so I can save some costs on wedding invitations and programs. I hope that Charles likes what he has gotten as well.

Only 79 days left to the wedding. I need to figure out the lengths of the tables and how much fabric I am going to need so I can start sewing up the tablecloths. It seems so far away, yet I know that it will go by so fast it will feel like I didn't even have time to think.

Until next time!

The best Christmas present Ever!!!

Quick update on the car, everything seems to be fixed at the moment. The check engine light is on right now and I think it is the fuel pump. I am not sure yet, but I had the boys with me today and didn't want to stop and get them out of car in the snow. So.. still a few issues there, but at least it is running.

Charles gave me the best Christmas present early. Sunday afternoon on the way home from church he said that he thinks he figured out how to rearrange our finances that I am going to be able to stay home with my kids. I was a little nervous at first and was thinking about it all day yesterday at work. So, we talked about it again last night and he went over the figures of how much our bills are and how much comes in every month. He says that we will be able to live comfortably and still afford to get everything we need for the wedding.

That being said there is only 81 days left until the wedding. It is fast approaching. So many things to still figure out and get done. I am really praying that Santa got me a printer for Christmas so that I can play around with the invitations and programs for the wedding. I am very independent sometimes, who am I kidding, all the time, so I am going to be doing a lot of the wedding myself. I promised I wouldn't make my own cake so no one has to worry about that.

Well, I am off to get dinner started. Talk to you all later.

Car Update

Charles and GT replaced the upper and lower manifold gaskets. Then there was white smoke coming out of the exhaust. We did another oil change, now a flush and still have to replace the thermostat. Hopefully that will be everything that we need to do and it will continue to work for the next year or so.

School is going okay. I am having a hard time getting assignments in on time. I know that is my fault because I don't want to work on it anymore. I want to focus on other things like Christmas gifts. I will be spending the next week to get caught up so I can try to keep my 4.0.

Wedding is being placed on hold at this moment until car is done and Christmas is done. Then I will start to get things again. Part of me wants to post pone the wedding all together but I know that won't help anything.

Update with the car.

Charles and GT have been working on my car. Unfortunately it isn't going very well. They got the intake manifold gasket changed and the car back together. They started it up and there was white smoke in the exhaust. This typically means that there is coolant in the combustion chambers. Not good at all. They are going to try to do an oil change tomorrow to see how that goes. If that still doesn't work, we will have to evaluate from there. At this point I feel that the car is toast and it is time to figure out how to get a new one. With most extra money going to the wedding, I am not sure how we are going to do that. However, I feel that God is trying to either teach us something, or preventing something worse from happening.

I will keep updates about the car as they come about.

The car is starting to come together. Turns out it was the lower intake manifold... not sure what that means, other than it is much cheaper to repair then the head casket. Charles and GT spent all afternoon into the night working on it. From about 2:00 until 10:30. I love them for trying to fix this for me. They are going to try to finish it up today. Hopefully Charles won't be too tired to do so. He was called at around 4:30 this morning for one of his works clients. He was on call last night. Not sure how he is doing yet, haven't heard from him this morning. I am sure that he is going to want to come home and go to bed tonight.

105 Days and Counting

So... I strongly feel that Satan is trying to do everything in His power to prevent my wedding from happening. Things just keep happening that make me want to post-pone it a few months.

First... Wednesday November 25th... I was picking up my brother to take him to get diapers for his kid and to my place for Thanksgiving. While I was waiting for him to grab something from his place, I noticed that my car was smoking. I couldn't see it when I had my sunglasses off, but I could see the smoke when they were on. It wasn't big as if the radiator had cracked or anything, so I opened the hood to look. I saw there was something leaking on the engine block itself. Looking closer I see that it looks a little green and it is coming from a hose. Me being a girl and having no mechanical knowledge, besides flat tires, was freaking out. Luckily, I wasn't too far from my future in-laws place, so I took it over there and had G.T. look at it, with Charles on the phone. He said it looked like there was oil in the coolant system. This would mean the head casket would need to be replaced that can cost upwards of 1500 dollars. So, I park my car, swear a bunch, cry a little, cause I don't have the money to replace anything, whether it be the head casket or the car itself. I borrow Cassie's car for the weekend, and get home feeling like the world is crashing in on me.

Second, Thursday... Kyle calls mom to see how Pat's meeting went to get approval to come to the states. Kyle gets me on the phone with mom and she proceeds to tell me that Pat has to go to a psychiatrist next week, the next step in the process, but he still may not get permission for another 4-6 months. She then says, so we probably won't be able to make it for the wedding. I asked, "Are you still going to come if Pat can't?" Her response, "I don't know. We will see." Talk about a slap in the face. I see her once a year, maybe. I understand that I have been married before, she was there for that one, and I understand that she doesn't want to leave her husband, as she has been away from him a lot this year, but... come on. She can fly in on Friday night and leave Sunday morning. She would be away from him less than 48 hours. I am not asking her to help me with the wedding. I am buying my dress instead of having her make it, like she did the last one. I am having my bridesmaids buy their dresses instead of mom making them. I am not asking her to do anything but be there.

They say that bad things come in three's, so I am now waiting for something else really horrible to happen. I just need to remember that God is putting me through these trials for a reason. That he is allowing this to strengthen me. He will not put me through any trial that I am not able to bear. I need to have faith that he is just making sure that Charles and I can withstand stressful situations and come through it. He loves me and is with me every step of the way. I need to have faith that He will provide a way for my mother to come to my wedding and for my car to be fixed at a decent cost.

As for everything else... I am still having trouble sticking to my diet and exercise. The diet portion isn't too bad, but the exercise part is what I am having trouble with. I just feel like I have no time to do it. I know that I need to because I only have a few outfits that fit me right now, and I don't have the money to purchase new clothes. At this point we aren't going to have much money for Christmas.

Not a whole lot of update for the wedding yet. Still just starting to think about when to purchase what. G.T. is suppose to be working on scanning in pictures and figuring out the slide show. I am still working on the song list. Everything seems to be going fairly well though. 105 days left and I will officially be Mrs. Charles Hastings.

New Term!

Sometimes I really dislike the start of a new term. They tend to start the term smack dead in the middle of the week. So I either have three days to get the first week assignments all done, or I have a week and a half to get the first two weeks of assignments done. I always feel very rushed the first week of the term. It tends to be very frustrating. I have managed to get the first week of assignments for 2 out of 4 classes finished. I will have to work on more tomorrow after work. This week is going to be busy. Who am I kidding, this term is going to be busy. With Thanksgiving and Christmas both within the term, it is going to be extremely busy.

As for the wedding, the countdown is still going. Only 117 days left until the big day. I am excited and nervous all at the same time. I feel like I am not going to be able to afford or get everything that I want. I need to get tablecloths for the tables since the church doesn't have any for the big long tables. So I need to measure how long those are. I also want to make table runners for the tables. I will need to get all of the center pieces as well. I still need to order my dress and my shoes and finish up the invitations. I need to figure out how to get those printed, especially since my printer is on the fritz. I think I will be asking Santa for a nice, new printer that can print pictures too.

I realized the other day that I have uploaded pictures of my shoes, and the flowers, but I haven't shown what I am going to try to get my cake to look like, my dress or the bridesmaid dresses. The cake looks like this:


The website for my dress is: http://www.romanticgowns.com/Collection/product-page.asp?q=Wedding+Dress&SKU=Natalie&i=79544234277

The Bridesmaids dresses will be similar to this: http://www.vponsale.com/bridesmaid-dresses/337331/?main_page=product_info&cPath=295&products_id=2082

I know that as long as I trust in God, everything will fall into place. He will provide for me whatever is needed as long as that is his will.

Friday was busy!

On Friday I managed to do a lot. I feel like I accomplished so much. I figured out how I want our wedding invitations, I figured out the scrolls that I am going to have, I also did the response cards. I set up and RSVP website, to help save on cost for postage stamps. I did almost all the laundry, made a cake, and worked on Grandma's blanket a little bit. I also updated a bit of the guest list for the wedding as well. So much still left to do in the next 125 days.

My car is fixed. We had to replace the battery again. that is twice in the last couple of years. I need to make sure that I am taking really good care of that car, since I can't afford a new one for a while yet.

I didn't get to take Logan this weekend. He has the chicken pox. So... hopefully he will get better soon cause I miss him. I am having baby withdrawals.

Good day turned bad.

So I go to the store today with three little boys, get the items that I needed. Get back out to the car and then, my car won't start. It wouldn't even click over. I am thinking, oh great... another thing for Charles to get stressed over. I call my brother-in-law, he was at my house, to come help me out. He gets there with the jumper cables, and nothing still. We wait about 5-10 mins and try again, still nothing. I call my dad to come tow me home so I can at least try to work on my car. About two minutes after I called my dad, GT wiggles the jumper cables a bit more, and we try again. It starts!!!!!! Dad shows up, we then go home. I get home, turn the car off, and it won't start again. Charlie is going to be frustrated again. I know it isn't my fault, but it is situational. I just feel bad because it is my car. Hopefully we will be able to figure out what is wrong with the car and be able to fix it really cheap. We don't have the money right now to fix anything really.

On a lighter note, the wedding is 127 days away. I get 160 hours of PTO with the job so I get to take the week before and after the wedding off. At least that is the plan and hope. I'm thinking if that is the case, there is sooo much that I will be able to do on my own for the wedding. It makes me excited.

For karate last night we learned strengthening techniques. This is where we strengthen the arms by hitting them with each other. I thought it was really cool. Charles also said that my form was looking really good. That I was improving a lot over the past three weeks. I still have a little bit of issue with him being the 'boss', but I am slowly getting over it.

Another busy day!

Finished another term today. I am so glad that this one is done. I really enjoyed the classes though, but I felt like the term just dragged on and on. Hopefully another 4.0 is on the way.

I was looking at stuff for the wedding... again... still.... and I think I found the shoes that I really like, the shoes that I am going to get.

This is really close to the one I had in my dream. The closest that I have seen yet. They are only $40.00 too. I was expecting my shoes to be more expensive. I expect that I am going to order them in the next month. About the same time that I order my dress. Speaking of dress... here is the web address for my dress.

http://www.romanticgowns.com/Collection/product-page.asp?q=Wedding+Dress&SKU=Natalie&i=79544234277

Picture that with a hunter green sash. I am excited. About 4.5 months to go.

I picked the flowers for the bridal bouquets, boutonnieres, and for the bridesmaids. Surprisingly there are going to be no roses. Lots of green ivy, and lots of purple and blue flowers. I am going to have Lavender Freesia, Hydrangea, and Delphinium. They are going to be really purple and blue, with all the green. It is going to be beautiful. I can't wait to see them. And for my bouquet, the toss bouquet, three hairpieces for the girls and four boutonnieres, it was all under 200!!!! I am excited. Now I just need to start getting everything else.

White Freesia

Lavender Freesia

Delphinium

Hydrangea

Finally got to see some of our engagement pictures. They are so cute. Even though I only saw about 5 of them. I can't wait to see the rest and order some for family. We had to change the wedding date from the 20th of March to the 13th because the church was booked that day. Just means that we are one week closer to getting married!

Well, the day was going fairly well today, until I found out that I can't book our church for the wedding. Someone else already has it booked. I was totally bummed. Now I am in panic mode to find a new place that I like that is very inexpensive and that is not an LDS building. Any suggestions would be great.

Did my work out today. This is now day 5. I didn't do it yesterday because I want Sundays to be the Lord's day. I don't know though, Mondays are pretty busy with class. We'll just play it by ear. My body feels really weak at the moment... But I know it is in my best interest.

Sunday!

The sermon today was awesome. We talked about Paul and how funny he is. He definitely had a sense of humor.
Now I have made banana bread, had some very ripe bananas, and am cleaning up to have a family game night with Charles parents and sister. We haven't had a game night for a long time, I am looking forward to it.
146 days to wedding, and I am starting to get a little stressed. Still soooo much to do and get. Just need to find the time and money to do so. I know that God will help to bring it all together.

My First Blog

I have never done this blog thing before, but I hear it is a great way to keep friends and family informed of daily, weekly or monthly news.

It is now 147 days to the wedding. That is just under 5 months. So much to do still. We just got engagement pictures done on Thursday the 22nd. They are going to be so cute. I had a bunch taken with my boys so I can decide if I want them in the picture that is sent out with the invitations.

I have two weeks left in this school term. Another term down, and another term closer to graduation. I am excited for school to be over. Hopefully, wedding will be done, school will be done, that we will be able to talk about expanding our family with a new little one.