Friday, February 19, 2010

Our Life As We Know It...

Ever since I moved in, we have been working on the house. Clay bought his grandma's house and it is definitely a fixer upper! We need to level the house, then put up new walls, new floors, new everything. The exciting part about it all is that we get to plan exactly how we want everything to be done...almost like building a new house. So far, Clay and some awesome friends and family have torn down walls that needed to go and have made a floor plan of our future home. The most important room on these plans is the HUGE closet that Clay layed out for me...I can't wait! As of now, all of my clothes are on hanging racks in our living/bedroom =) Another exciting aspect is the oversize pantry! Besides these two things, everything else is pretty standard. Our next project is leveling the house and hopefully it can be marked off the list when the weather is better. I will be posting pictures soon of the house now so you can see the transformation first hand during the remodeling process. More stories to come...

Our Vegas Wedding...How It All Happened!




We decided to get married in Vegas on Wednesday, December 9, 2009 and were married by the 13th! I loved everything about our engagement and how we went about saying our vows. It started when I was invited to work for my Aunt Vickie at the "Cowboy Christmas" for the NFR. Clay told me not to be surprised if he showed up there so we could get married. Needless to say...I agreed and said let's go!

When I arrived in Vegas, I went straight to the Paris Hotel/Casino to plan the wedding. My bridal consultant's name was Elizabeth and she was perfect!! It was so easy to plan all of the details from the music to the flowers. I wouldn't have changed anything about the experience.

All of my family and friends were blowing up my phone when they received there voicemails or messages about our marital plans. I took care of notifying everyone on Wednesday and Thursday and was a little sad that we didn't give everyone notice to plan a last minute trip to Vegas. I was so shocked to hear back from several of our friends and find out that they we buying tickets to head our way!! We were blessed to have close to 10 of our friends join us on our special day.

Before everyone arrived in Vegas, I had four nights to enjoy single life! My cousin, aunts and I had four bachelorrette parties and enjoyed every minute of it. I have so many special memories from those nights spent with my family!

On Saturday, most of our friends were arriving and I was ecstatic to finally see everyone! Once they got there we went straight to enjoying Vegas life. That night we went out for yet another, and the final, bachelorrette/bachelor party. We almost forgot to go to the court house to get our marriage certificate, but at the last minute remembered and got in the first taxi...destination- Las Vegas Courthouse!
We have the best pcitures from signing our marriage certificates thanks to our friends that were with us! It was such a special experience!!

Sunday morning, I woke up to Clay, who snuck in our room, telling me to get up and get dressed to have an early breakfast before we said our vows. We enjoyed some hot eggs and pancakes along with coffee...yummm so good! We parted out ways and knew we wouldn't see each other until they opened the big double doors in the chapel.

I got ready in our hotel room with help from some of my dearest friends. I did my own hair and make-up and Em did the finishing touches. We left about an hour before the ceremony and walked through the passageway to the Paris Chapel. Me and the girls went to our personal room to prepare for the ceremony and talk to the pastor who was conducting the service.

At 2:00 on Sunday, December 13th, 2009, two double doors opened on cue with me walking through them to my soon to be husband. Jake, Clay's cousin, walked me down the aisle and gave me away. We said our vows and our lives were changed from that moment! We celebrated afterwards at Margaritville with our friends and had a great time!

We came home and were greeted by friends and family that weren't able to make it to Vegas. Soon after, I moved from College Station into my new home with Clay. I have loved every minute of it and can't wait to see what happens next. We planned a reception for all of those who couldn't make it to our wedding on February 6, 2010 and it was beautiful. It took place at The Palladium in Waco, Texas and with the help from friends and family it was decorated so beautifully with a vintage vegas theme.

We are ready for things to settle down a little so we can get back to reality, but we have enjoyed every minute of our little fantasy engagement/wedding! More stories to come...