A White Christmas

It has only snowed on Christmas 6x in the past 111 years in Dallas, Texas!!! My mom likes to think that Nannie and G-daddy asked for it on our behalf to make this Christmas (as hard as it was) magical... Until last year when I was in France, I have never in my entire life had a Christmas Eve in Dallas... we always go to Abilene, so this year was extremely different and bittersweet at times. We did the 4pm Watermark service before the blizzard like weather! I was dumb and wore a cute dress and light leather jacket- neither of which were warm... even the Watermark Greeter said she didn't know how I was going to make it to the car without freezing haha!



We then came back and had homemade sangria punch, fresh cookies, and a HUGE meal! So huge that I took a 30 minute power nap while the rest of the clan went and did the 12 Days of Christmas... When they got back we opened gifts, had dessert, and started to watch The Holiday but fell asleep 15 minutes in...

The next morning, Logan and I woke up to WHITE!!!!!!! We went over to my mom's after our own little gift exchange at the townhome and did stockings and had breakfast. I wore my new FAVORITE gift (my comfy sweatshirt dress and leggings from Ann Taylor Loft... I have worn it every single day except 1 that I can recall since I got it!!!)

My camera battery died right after the above pic so I will have to add in pics from my Dad's later... we headed over to Coppell in the ice and I must admit it was nice not to have to drive 3.5 hours on Christmas day from Abilene... so that was a plus! We got to open gifts all morning and Logan almost peed himself b/c my Dad and Kelley got us a sound system for our new TV!!! So fun and unexpected! Then we did a huge lunch, took Caleb to the airport to go to France (he got on First Class poor thing... ha!) and did more presents.... Then we did a late night movie- Sherlock Holmes which I LOVED despite sitting on the edge of the 3rd row from the front and straining my neck for 2 hours...

On the 26th we headed to Abilene for Christmas with my aunt, uncle, and cousins... had a ton of fun visiting with them although it was kind of sad at the same time. We saw Its Complicated which I LOVED and brought us all comic relief!

Movies left to see: Nine, Avatar (3D), Brothers... will try to find time this weekend! Can't wait for Lovely Bones either but I want to read the book first!

2009 was a HUGE YEAR for me... I cannot believe NYE 2010 is tonight! Headed to funky town with my college besties... I'm sure I will take tons of pics :) Literally ALL of the Dream Team is married now... crazy what a year can do!

Logan is 26!

So since Christmas is around the corner and Logan will get lots of "things" I thought it would be fun to just go do something fun for his birthday. Saturday afternoon I told him we actually had to go pick up his present and I gave him an address... so when we pulled up to the NYLO hotel he was shocked and so surprised!!! I had already packed his bags, his gift, and a bottle of champagne in the back seat! The only thing wrong with this place is that it doesn't belong in Plano, it belongs in Downtown Dallas or NYC!!! It was awesome... very modern-loft feel with a ton of original artwork from local Dallas artists... check out some pics below :)




This right here was our awesome room! No overhead lighting, just lamps!



After we checked in, we got dressed and ready for dinner at Jaspers which is at the Shops at Legacy which was amazinggggggggg! We dropped more bones on dinner than we did on the hotel room haha but it was worth it! Plus, it was less than 3 minutes away from our hotel so that was a plus! We walked around b/c it was all lit up with Christmas lights and really romantic! My recommendation for Jaspers- well the steaks are unreal, thats a given... but the CALAMARI was to die for!!! So next time you go there, just keep that in mind!



After dinner we ran down to the Angelika to see "Up in the Air" and both left disappointed... Logan didn't like the message and I didn't like the ending... Wah wahhhhhh... But overall, it was a successful "mini" vacation ...

Can you believe its Christmas this week??? We are going to have a very different one this year (first time EVER to not be in Abilene on Christmas Eve) and change is sometimes hard... but we still do have lots to celebrate and sometimes making new traditions can be fun...but boy will I miss my G-daddy! However, he gets to celebrate WITH the birthday boy... I am sure that kicks every Christmas celebration down here on Earth's butt!

Merry Christmas everyone! God bless you, your families, and your 2010!

Le Honeymoooooon

So we have finally reached the end of me catching up on all the wedding festivities!

I did want to briefly explain what the "I Do" journal was... I actually got it in 2004 as a birthday present. I was in Papyrus one day with my mom and remembered when I turned 16 at church camp, they asked us to write a letter to our husbands to outline what we were looking for, a vow to purity before marriage, etc. I still had my letter and thought... how cool would it be if I kept a journal for my husband? So in 2004 I started writing in it... I would write down scriptures, song lyrics, and thoughts... Even in my loneliest times, I could write letters to my husband telling him I was thinking about him and praying for him. Then, once I met Logan I charted our relationship (freakishly early on!!! luckily it worked out... haha!) It was so neat to have our prayer requests in there for him moving to the US, finding a job, our trip to France and how I thought he could propose, all the way to our engagement. I would stick in little mementos such as airplane tickets, Mavs game ticket stubs, and pictures from our dates. I wrote my last entry at the hair salon right before I headed to the church on our wedding day. I ended up giving this to Logan on our wedding night and he took it with us to read on the honeymoon.

I hope to pass this tradition on to my little Stella someday... I have made so many plans about having a little girl, I hope it happens!!! haha :)

Okay so now onto the honeymoon... We went to Playa del Carmen and it was FABULOUS!!! We ended up paying a small fee for a room upgrade so that our balcony would actually look onto the beach! I had no idea that you can literally see Cozumel from the beach in Playa. The weather forecast on my iphone was rainy ALL WEEK LONG... luckily we had 4 straight days of sunshine followed by 2 days of rain and later a hurricane, the day after we left!!! haha- so on those days we went to the in-house Blockbuster (AKA Logans DREAM come true!!!) and rented some movies and raided our mini fridge. (its all inclusive, so no extra charge) PS I would NOT recommend watching ALPHA DOG on your honeymoon... I mean I thought I could stomach it since I would get to watch Justin Timberlake for 2 hours, but NO! It was highly disturbing and opposite of romantic. On another rainy day, we went into town and had bracelets made by a street vendor that said Mr. and Mrs. Misegades :) I wore mine for weeks AFTER we got home to remind me of the trip.

Logan loved the dramatic shift in me on the honeymoon... he thought I was cooler and more laid back than he had ever seen me. NO To Do Lists in sight and he didnt really know how to handle it... the biggest decision I wanted to make was where and what time did we want to eat! They had 7 great restaurants on site (I ate 5 steaks that week, no lie!) and 5th Ave was walking distance from our hotel and included all the bars and touristy type shops. I have since turned back into Mrs. Type A but a less extreme version :) So I guess I am quasi- cool now!

The couples massage was my favorite thing we did all week! Logan was scarred in the past from a Swedish massage that ended in tears... so he was skeptical, but pleasantly surprised and loved it! My second favorite thing was the 4 course dinner on the beach at moonlight... SO romantic!!! It was like a scene from the Bachelor but I didnt have to worry about not getting a rose! We had a violinist come during appetizers and I did not want the night to end.

It was a much needed trip to paradise after the stress that incurred leading up to the wedding.

Thats all I've got... Logans 26th is on Saturday and next week is Christmas! I cant wait :) I love this time of year...

The Day I became A MISEGADES!

So I just wanted to give everyone a run down of the wedding day since I am still getting caught up! After this all I have is the honeymoon and then I can be back on track :)

The night before the wedding I couldnt sleep- I was so wired and anxious- I was up until 3am crying with Logan on the phone about how important it was that I fall asleep so I would be rested and pretty and I just couldnt!!! I used to get this way before gymnastics meets and poor Logan thought I was having cold feet or something! Man, I put him through the ringer... So that was a bit stressful seeing as I had to get up at 7am the next morning to shower and get my stuff together for 9am pedi breakfast with my bmaids... So basically I got 4 hours of sleep and ran off of straight adrenaline! No one that I know ever experienced this so I must be a freak haha!

It was UGLY weather that morning... dark and rainy and I was tired and emotional, but everyone kept telling me it was good luck and sure enough by the time we left pedis it was blue skies and gorgeous 65 degree weather!

We had hair and makeup (and mimosas) at The Blue Room next and in order to wake my face up, Heather made me do an "excercise." She said they do this to models for 6am shoots to wake them up and put color in their face... we filled a metal bowl FULL of ice cold water AND ice cubes and I had to hold my face under that for as long as I could and repeat 4x! It worked but it was painful! (Can't you tell by the look on my face!)

NOW time for the stressful story... we got to the church and all the bridesmaids looked gorgeous and I was just lolligagging around until Sarah Kate was done photographing the boys before I put my dress on... THEN when it was time to get dressed I realized I did NOT have my shoes... Yes, Miss Type-A-Organized forgot her perfectly coordinating wedding shoes!!! I threw my car keys at Morgan Stallings and asked her to go to my townhome and get them from my closet! Little did I know what would transpire...

So I take pictures in Erin Graceys bronze Manolo Blahniks (not too shabby if I had to swap shoes) and poor Morgan is taking forever and misses all the pre-wedding photos with the house party... Everyone kept telling me it was traffic and I was really confused b/c my place is pretty close to the church... Sure enough I was behind the doors listening to Jesu Joy of Mans Desiring and probably 1/2 of the bridesmaids had walked down when Sarah Kate pops her head in and orders me to kick off my shoes NOW! So I kick off the $$$$ shoes and she chunks my precious shoes at me, takes a picture for documentation, and disappears. Literally 30 seconds later I hear THE MUSIC come on and its SHOW TIME! Talk about CLOSE CALLS!!!

In case you want to know the REAL story... there was NO traffic... Morgan actually got into a car wreck in my apt complex! She hit a guy who was driving his FRIENDS RENTAL car and she felt awful... My mom made the executive decision to not tell me until the day I got back from our honeymoon but the entire wedding party knew... They kept a great secret for me.. and let me just tell you what a crazy time we have had with the insurance company who consistently asked me where I WAS at the time of the accident... I said about to WALK DOWN THE AISLE AT MY WEDDING! haha... The other guys starting lying and claiming neck injuries, etc. and Morgan and I battled it out with Geico and State Farm for a solid couple of weeks but its OVER and now its just an incredibly off the wall wedding story haha! AND the best part- neither of us had to pay our deductible... we arent sure how that happened since it was $992 of damage, but we arent complaining!

Now the ceremony... Logans wedding ring was a surprise and I engraved Pour Toujours 10-30-09 in it which means "Forever" in French and of course, our wedding date! It was officiated by Logans dad and their good family friend/ one of our mentors Lorenzo Monge from France. We had French and English alternating at different parts of the ceremony. Our vows were actually based off of the vows Sheri (Logans mom) wrote for their wedding and the benediction prayer has been read at each of Logan's siblings weddings so far... pretty special! We also had the beautiful vocals of Mason and Christine as they sang The Prayer which has always given me chills and Revelation Song while we took communion. They knocked it out of the park!

The reception was beautiful at Delaney Vineyards! We had each pair of groomsmen/ bridesmaids dance in to a song. We told them their song not more than 10 minutes before the reception! It was really cute... we served All American Cuisine and French Cuisine to fit the theme- mac and cheese, cheeseburger sliders AND crepes :) It was yummy! The cake was amazing- I found these cute personalized cake toppers that were painted like my dress/ his tux (you cant really tell from this pic) from Etsy! Then we danced it up- Logan got hoisted in the air, Rachel caught the bouquet after jumping in front of my sister haha, Caleb caught the garter, and we sang the XO song Shades.

Our last dance was my favorite. I got this idea from a friend of mine and what I did was surprise Logan and asked the DJ to clear out the room so that him and I could share our last dance alone- It was just us and the photographer in the big empty room...it was so romantic and so nice to just focus on each other and reflect on the evening.

Then we left in the infamous 1939 Cadillac... so classy!!!! On the way to the car (luckily I was prepared) the Luther boys tackled Logan and shoved none other than his favorite NUTELLA down his pants. We are talking it got EVERYWHERE!!!! Luckily they steered clear from my dress! So that mess was fun and SO romantic to clean up!

And in a flash, that was it and the months of planning and 1 sheet of paper later, we were MARRIED!!! What a whirlwind, still feels like a blur. I am so very lucky :)