Ka-Ching

I feel like every day lately is just filled with some exciting news (though nothing tops the news of my dear nephew being born). Here are just a few things that have happened since my last post that have made the last couple days just fantastic:

*I finally got around to returning some of the few straggling wedding gifts that needed to be returned. We now have gift cards to just about any shop in town.

*We finally found a TV stand that we both love that will work for the size of TV we hope to get on Black Friday.

*The a fore mentioned TV stand is less than we were anticipating, so now we can use the remaining amount of gift cards to get a decent dresser. We've been using one that I got for cheap at D.I. It looks really cute, but it's barely functional. The drawers are a constant balancing act. I have had my toes smashed more than once because the drawers refuse to stay in. Thus- I am SO excited for a new dresser.

*This weekend is my weekend off of work. That in itself is really great...but my parents are heading to Michigan to meet that adorable little nephew of mine, so I get to go home and hang out with Camille and Tanner for the weekend. We are going to have a blast. It's definitely making this week drag by though! Can't wait to go home!

*We officially get to go home for Thanksgiving AND Christmas. We were both able to work it out so we have Thursday through Sunday off for Thanksgiving and the week before Christmas off. I really didn't think there was any way I could get more than a couple days off for Christmas. At one point it was even looking like I would have to work on Christmas Day, so I was really really pleased that my boss was able to work out the schedule so that I could have that week off.

*Our car is getting closer to fixed every day! My best friend's brother was able to take it into his work today to look at it and he's got it narrowed down to what he thinks it is. He fixed it up today and wants me to drive it around tomorrow to see if it runs like it's supposed to. If not, he knows for sure what it is and will be able to fix it pretty easily. The end of the car troubles is finally in sight!

*Along those same lines, my best friend happens to have an extra car right now that she is trying to sell. She was nice enough to let me use it until my car is fixed so Luke or I don't have to attempt riding a bike to work/school. She's a lifesaver!

*One of the guests staying at the hotel tonight decided to surprise me by bringing me back a steak and potatoes after he finished eating at Ruby Rivers. Mmmmm. So good. Some people are just so nice!

*We got our furnace fixed yesterday! This morning was heaven; waking up to a warm house instead of a freezing cold one. It's a lot easier to find the motivation to get out of bed when you are certain you can make it to the shower without freezing to death.

*Luke's mom and sister (and maybe aunt?) are coming into town tomorrow to take us to dinner. A girl that I work with was sweet enough to volunteer to cover for me for a couple of hours so that I can join them. :)

*I had Monday and Tuesday off and was able to find a place for every single box that we had out in the guest bedroom. Now there are officially NO boxes in site until you open up any of our closets. It actually feels like we have a second bedroom now!

*Okay---and now the final news, that I am SO SO SO excited for. It took a while to convince Luke to let me make this purchase. We were able to combine all of our Bed, Bath & Beyond gift cards and it ended up costing hardly anything once we used our 20% off coupon. Isn't it gorgeous?! I just love it so much. We ended up having to order it in because they didn't have it in stock, but it should be coming late this week or early next week. I have wanted one of these for SO long, I can't believe we will actually have one so soon! Man, I can't wait!


Needless to say, the last two days have been very busy, but SO great. I just love when the good things just keep piling on. It makes the stinky things a lot easier to deal with in a cheerful manner. It sure makes it a lot easier to count your blessings when they are more obvious than a slap in the face.

I'm Ashamed

Yes. I know. I have skipped right over blogging about some of the most important times of my life; preparing for my wedding, my actual wedding, the honeymoon, and getting used to married life. It was all so hectic and flew by so fast that I never even thought about blogging! But here's a brief (or not so brief) recap:

So our engagement was six months long. Everyone said it would drag by, and I guess in some ways it did, but for the most part it did not seem long enough! I am still amazed at the amount of planning that goes into weddings! I don't know how people that have to plan the actual ceremony on top of everything else do it! I'm sure I didn't even see half of the hard work that went into it either. I know my dad worked hard all spring and summer long to get the backyard looking great. I can't even begin to tell you how many hours him and the rest of my family put into putting flowers in, pulling weeds, cleaning things out, bringing things in, putting things up, pulling things down, and on and on. I know it was a huge sacrifice of time that went into this and I am incredibly grateful that I was blessed with a family that loves me enough to work that hard for me. My mom was especially amazing. I've never been very good at picturing things...so picking things out for the reception was really hard for me. Luckily, my mom is amazing at pulling all sorts of things together and making them look fantastic. My Aunt Debie, Aunt Tammi, and my cousins Larkin and Savannah also helped a ton! Debie and Savannah helped my mom a lot with the decorations at the reception and put a lot of work into making our shed not stick out like a sore thumb. Tammi and Larkin took on the HUGE job of the food at the reception. They made who knows how many cookies and delegated the making of even more to other family members. I've gotten so many compliments one how great the food was and how cute it was displayed. I seriously loved EVERYTHING about the reception. And there is no way it would have looked that good if I had been calling all the shots. My mother-in-law did a fantastic job at the luncheon as well. Texas Roadhouse catered, which is mine and Luke's very favorite place to eat, so that was great. She did a great job of making the gym into a perfect luncheon. Luke's older sister, Margaret, was our photography and did a really good job of capturing some priceless moments. Our pictures are seriously amazing. Luke's friend James did a really good job of putting together a picture slide show/video to show at the luncheon. I am so lucky to have such great family and friends that stepped in when they were needed and did all they could to make sure that my wedding day was perfect. Special shout-out to Camille and Tanner who helped my mom and my dad with all of the things they had to do to get ready for the wedding. I know things got a lot stressful at times but they were always (or almost always) happy to help and fun to be around. They're great.

One of my very favorite parts of the wedding was how much family was able to come! The family reunion for my Dad's side was the week before my wedding (which my parents were also in charge of! Talk about busy people!), so TONS of family were able to work out their schedule so that they could stay for the wedding. This meant so much to me. My family is the most important thing to me and my wedding day wouldn't have been nearly as great without having some of the most important people there with me. The sealing room was PACKED. Such a great reminder of how much Luke and I are loved. I have such a huge family that I don't get to talk to everyone as much as I would like, but I really love all of them and appreciate the sacrifices many made so that they could be there to support me.

I would be in the wrong to not mention mine and Luke's friends as well. They came from ALL over to be there. One even came up from California just so he could be there for our wedding day. We had another friend make a 2 hour detour from her trip home just so that she could be there for the sealing. I can't even begin to describe how much I love our friends. They are the greatest friends you can imagine. I know that neither one of us would be the people we are today without their support. They're not the kind of friends that I can ever imagine living without.

I know that I am failing to mention SO many people that did a great deal to help with the wedding. If I mentioned everyone that helped, this blog would be never ending. I really appreciate everyone's love and support. You all mean the world to me!

(At this point I would like to thank Blogger for automatically saving my drafts. I accidentally just exited out and about died until I realized this was all saved)

We went to Disneyland for our honeymoon. It was a surprise for me until we got up to the gate to get on. Luke knows me much too well. I LOVE rollercoasters...and warmth. We stayed at a Holiday Inn about a block away from the park, so we were able to walk there in about five minutes. It was perfect. The hotel gave us a free upgrade when they found out we were on our honeymoon and our room was AMAZING. The hotel staff was really great. It was the best week ever. Disneyland really does cast a magical spell. It was the perfect honeymoon. Luke did really good at getting things set up so that they would be perfect for us.

About a week before we left for Idaho, we FINALLY found an apartment that both of us loved. We had already had one apartment slip between our fingers, so we were so relieved when we got the final notice that the apartment was ours! It's a cute little 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom apartment about a mile from campus. One of the main reasons that I have put off blogging since we got home from the honeymoon is because I wanted to post pictures of our place. Sadly, that is still not going to happen in this post. It's VERY close though. We actually were able to get everything unpacked and put away faster than I expected....but we still don't have a real tv stand or dresser. We are getting both of those this weekend (hopefully) so I will post pictures soon I promise!

Now for some very exciting news....I am an aunt :) I have the most adorable little nephew. Logan Bradley Couch. You can't even imagine how much I love him. I have watched every video that my mom has sent of him at least 5 times. He's SO cute. SO SO SO cute. He's so alert for a newborn! I've always felt like most newborns look a bit....squished and alien-y. Not this little guy though! He's got the cutest chubby cheeks and does not look even a little squished or alien-y. I'll admit I'm already mad for the little man and I haven't even met him yet. That's really the only downer about the whole thing is I don't get to meet him until Christmas time. But you bet I'll cherish every second that I get to be with him!

That is all for now. I'll try to be better about blogging more often. It might prove to be difficult. Married life is turning out to be incredibly busy, but I will try :)