Things About Me.

I'm trying to write 30 different posts about myself for my kids. This one marks the third one that I've completed. Baby steps.

List 20 random facts about yourself.

20. I feel like drinks are easier to taste and more enjoyable with less ice. Sweet tea, iced coffee, pop, water... all of it better a bit closer to room temperature. My husband is the exact opposite. He gets extra ice for his drinks and I want very little in mine.

19. I love planning our family vacations. So much. Especially the Disney ones. Which are very few and far between. BUT. I'm always making mental notes for our next one. I'd love to do it for a living someday for other families!

18. My Hogwarts house is Hufflepuff. My patronus is a wild boar. My Ilvermorny house is Thunderbird. Just in case you were wondering. (And yes, I'd love to hear yours! If you don't know them yet then I highly suggest you sign up at Pottermore.com and find out after taking a few short quizzes about yourself.)

17. It's pretty easy for me to be optimistic about things -- especially when it comes to starting new things. I've definitely got to work on the finishing all the things part...

16. On the other side of that same coin, I can be a pretty melancholy to downright dark and twisty person sometimes, too. Two things that don't quite seem cohesive (being both optimistic & melancholy) but somehow they coexist just perfectly to make me, me. In the dark and twisty moments I am lucky to have some great and strong and wonderful people in my corner to help put things into proper perspective.

15. I don't really believe in coincidence. I really do think things happen for a reason. And one particular thing I feel so strongly about that it makes me choked up is that I know that the timing of my dad leaving my life and my husband entering into my life is so much more than mere coincidence.

14. I connect strongly through music. Whenever a significant moment in life takes place you can guarantee I've put a playlist together for it. When I watch a TV show or movie and I hear a song that they placed perfectly to evoke emotion I have to find that song right away.

13. If it were up to me, I think I'd love a ton of kids. There is something so magical and so holy about giving birth. Something so wonderful about creating life and getting to know and raise these kids. It's nice to have a husband who keeps me in check... we certainly can't afford a bunch of kids and I don't know if I have the patience or sanity required for any more kids. But, if it were up to me, I'd be barefoot and pregnant and at home raising them myself. THIS COMING FROM SOMEONE WHO IDENTIFIES AS A DEEPLY FEMINIST PERSON! I don't find those two things (motherhood & feminism) as mutually exclusive, either.

12. I'm a cradle Catholic. I've always loved being Catholic and was so fortunate to grow up going to a church that felt like home. Equally lucky to have found that in Illinois for the time we lived there. The last few years I felt disconnected from the Church and so glad to be back now. I've been helping my sister teach Sunday school this year and it's been a huge balm in my faith life. I really like our new church and look forward to the day it feels like home.

11. I love soundtracks. And more than anything else these days my favorite thing is to listen to the scores from movies or tv shows. I have so many favorite composers (Carter Burwell, John Williams, Hans Zimmer, Howard Shore, Danny Elfman, Alexandre Desplat, James Newton Howard, James Horner, Alan Silverstri...) and there is something so peaceful about listening to musical compositions with no words. The background music to my life is often "The Twilight Saga: New Moon (Film Score)" station or "Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince (Film Score)" station on Pandora at home.

10. If I had to pick my favorite Disney princess it would likely depend on my mood BUT. If I had to give one favorite it would be Ariel. For so many reasons. The entire movie is brilliant and the music is untouchable. Jodi Benson and Howard Ashman working together made real magic. And I love how brave and sure Ariel is.

09. I have a 2 year-old son and I'm still breastfeeding him. And he shows no signs that he's ready to give it up either. I nurse him first thing in the morning, right before he goes to bed, and occasionally once or twice throughout the day. There are times he asks for "milkies" and I'll tell him no. If it were up to him we'd still nurse much more often throughout the day. But to be honest: I'm getting a little burnt out. Or maybe just stuck in the wrong mindset about it: I'm a little tired of sharing my body. The plan I have in mind is to quit on his terms. I've never nursed a kid this long before so we'll see how it pans out.

08. My sisters have always been my confidants. I've always told them everything for as long as I can remember. I lean heavily upon them. When I'm upset or excited or really anything, they are the first people I want to talk to. When they hurt, I hurt. When we're not okay, I'm not okay. We haven't lived in the same city for some time now and I'll always feel a bit incomplete until we're all back together for good.

07. My teams: Chicago Cubs, Dallas Cowboys, and Memphis Grizzlies.

06. Trenta iced coffee with 3 pumps of caramel - no ice, no classic, no cream. That's my Starbucks order. I come home and add my own cream. And it'll last me a couple days. And I love it. The trenta size is giant and I swear it's the size that tastes the best with the right coffee to syrup ratio. I know. I'm a weirdo. My favorite barista works at night & knows my order so I frequent the same store around the same time of day a few times a week and it's something I just love.

05. I really want to have a vow renewal. Intimate with a focus on the vows and inclusion of our children. I feel like even though I was conscious of this at the time, weddings are still such a production. It's so easy for the focus of the day to slip. I don't have much to regret about how we celebrated our big day -- it was such a great, happy, wonderful, beautiful day -- but I often look back and wish it had been a bit more intimate. Not to mention, Tony and I are - in many ways - two completely changed people from that day seven & a half years ago. Our experiences (and especially becoming parents) has transformed us deeply and I'd like to honor who we are now. To acknowledge that change and come back together all over again. I think it's beautiful to promise ourselves to each other all over again and to be able to include our children this time.

04. I want to go on more adventures. The furthest I've been is to Riviera Maya, Mexico and Ontario, Canada. Both were awesome experiences. I'd love to explore the United States so much more than I have and would love to visit Belgium someday. Jerusalem would be another truly amazing place to visit.

03. I am a crier and I am a hugger. Shaking hands feels cold. Also I can not watch Moana or Coco without crying.

02. I am frugal pretty much to a fault.

01. I'll forever be sad that both Nsync and The Civil Wars disbanded. 

Baby 3.0: 38 Weeks & Counting...

So here we are, 38 weeks pregnant. All along I've thought I would have had Crosby by now! I thought since baby #1 came one week early and that baby #2 came two weeks early that baby #3 would be three weeks early and keep with the pattern. But now we're inside the two week mark to my due date and it has me wondering... what if this kid actually waits until my due date - or beyond?!

38+ weeks along in my third pregnancy... 12 days to go until my due date! But who's counting?

I am feeling: Surprisingly I feel pretty great still! I really think a lot of that is due to the fact that with two little ones to keep up with all day/everyday I just haven't had much of a choice otherwise! It's kept me busy and moving and focused on other things. Sleep is not perfect BUT it's still great. I pee all.the.time these days. My appetite isn't huge these days or rather it comes and goes. What else?

Baby's size: He's the size of a spaghetti squash! Although I can't know for sure yet, he is likely to be somewhere around 7 pounds by now & over 19.5 inches long. You can tell he's running out of room, still, because when he moves around you can see every bit of it.

{L to R} 38 weeks pregnant with Presley (Feb 2012), Molly (June 2014), and Crosby (September 2016)

Cravings: Things that have been sounding especially delicious: a DQ Reese's blizzard with extra Reese's, Lebanese/Mediterranean/Greek food, and so many Italian dishes sound delicious, too. We've been doing really well when it comes to eating at home lately but I did cave and headed to Cedar's Restaurant for my favorite dish after my appointment last week. I told the guys working there hopefully they wouldn't see me for a while - because that would mean I'd had my baby - but looks like I might need to make another stop there after my appointment Wednesday!

High of the week: Watching the Cowboys play again this week!!! And they played awesome which culminated in them beating the Redskins. Afterwards we headed to Blake & Kaitlyn's wedding which was so beautiful! Unfortunately the girls and I couldn't stay long because Molly decided that jumping and sitting in puddles seemed like a great idea so she was filthy! We headed home early for bath time!  One thing I absolutely LOVE about weddings is that they're so beautiful and the love is often tangible. It reminds me exactly why I fell in love with Tony and left me feeling incredibly grateful to be married to my best friend and the man who is my partner in this life.

We also had a meeting at Presley's preschool earlier in the week to hear more about their vision for the four-year-old's this year and it was just perfect! After the meeting I felt so confident in our choice to send Presley to school and felt even better about our choice in school. I know she's exactly where she needs to be! Several times in the meeting I got teary-eyed because I was so moved by the sentiments shared by those in charge there. So thankful for Hope Preschool!

Low of the week: I will take it as a huge win that I can't think of a low for this week!!! I'll go out on a limb and say that it was probably the fact that Crosby still isn't here yet! I know there is no rush - but I'm ready and I kinda wish he was, too!

What I'm excited about: Seeing Crosby's face. I can't imagine what he looks like I can't wait to see him and hold him! Even if it doesn't happen some time in the immediate future, my due date is only 12 days away! Can you tell this is a mantra I'm hanging onto these days?! I'm also excited about finishing up my hospital bag. I know... I know... should've been totally done already but procrastinators gotta procrastinate! It's 90% put together as of now but it'll be so nice to pack it completely and zip it up and be done with it. I'm also excited that Presley's new booster seat comes in this week! Once it comes in I think we'll go ahead and install it in the way back of the van, move Molly over to Presley's old seat, and go ahead and install Crosby's seat!!!! I can't wait! It'll make everything all the more real.

That's it for this week! I'm waiting on pins & needles for my next appointment and hoping that maybe this is the week we'll get to meet our baby boy!!!

Tony & Ali 5-ever

Five years ago today Tony and I were still reeling from one of the biggest days of our life.

When people talk about the happiest day of their lives they often mention the birth of their children... which I am always a little envious when they truly feel that way. That day is always so intertwined with pain and struggle and exhaustion for me. I always think about our wedding day when the topic of "best day ever" comes up. I felt so much joy and peace on that day, it was amazing. Things went wrong but all negative feelings just bounced right off of me. I had a hundred reasons to be anxious but I was excited and truly happy. My dad was missing from such a huge day of my life and I expected to feel especially empty but instead of that I felt loved and cherished by everyone present. I loved everything about marrying Tony and would do it again every year if I could. We had such a fun time with our friends and family that night! And then we headed off to Walt Disney World in all our wedded bliss.

And since then life has been amazing and absolutely crazy. We were surprised not even two months after our wedding to find out we were expecting and that began an entirely new chapter of our lives. Or really, it would just completely change life as we knew it.

It truly has not stopped or slowed down since. We came home from our honeymoon to our apartment in Silvis which we would end up moving from in the next coming months to the tiny Moline house. That's the house we brought baby Presley home to... the house we became a family in! We stayed there for around two years when we up and moved back to Memphis and lived with friends until we found our home. The Duggan family expanded just after buying our home and we brought Molly home here in 2014 not long after our third anniversary. Life here since then has been crazy and beautiful and full of laughs and tears.

Here we are, five years post-wedding, and we're staring the reality of becoming a family of five directly in the face. Never in a million years did I envision this exact life for us all those years ago. I hoped and dreamed and always thought of what could be, but the reality is so much better. Maybe not every moment of every day... because that crap is hard! (Especially parenting a strong willed child!) But the challenges certainly causes you to grow in the best ways.

One goal for this next year of marriage is to finally use our fondue pot. Yes... this is a serious goal. I'd like to get rid of so much of the unnecessary crap in our life - both the physical stuff as well as the baggage you can't touch.

Dear Lord,
Continue to help us protect our hearts, our love, our marriage, our family
Guide us down the path You have set for us and to put each other first along the way
Teach us how to react with kindness and patience and understanding to each other and those around us and how to grow from the experience when we get it wrong
Thank you for granting courage and grace and mercy in the face of personal adversity 
Help us to remember that as beautiful as looking back is, to live in the now and to always look forward to the future You hold for us
I look forward to the surprises of year six of our marriage and finding ways to make it even better than the last
Thank you for sending me a partner for the ride, please help me to love him the way You love us.

Remember we used to dance

And everyone wanted to be

you and me

I want to be too

What was I saying?

I took my wedding ring and diamond earrings to Kay's to be cleaned today and - of course - I couldn't find the paperwork for my earrings. The woman was so sweet and patient and combed the super-old looking computer system to find the purchase slip while I was trying and failing to corral both kids. It made me think back to when we bought the jewelry.

It was the beginning of 2010 and we had just been engaged a few months. When Tony originally bought my engagement ring he got a gift certificate where you spend a certain amount of money and you get a certain amount back... I don't remember the specifics. Anyways, long story short, we went in to buy our wedding bands and picked out some tiny diamond earrings for me that would end up being free after purchasing our bands. Sweet! You really can't beat free, especially when you're saving to pay for a wedding. Plus, I'd never had diamond earrings before, so this was exciting! When we pointed out the tiny set of earrings, the saleswoman said, "Oh no! You don't want those! The diamonds are practically black!" When we assured her that those were in fact the earrings we wanted, she still tried to talk us out of them and kept dissing the diamonds. It irritated me so much back then and for some reason it still irritates me today. Maybe it's because I didn't speak up and tell the woman I was happy to have them and that I thought they were beautiful (and that she should shut the hell up).

While I was recalling this memory in my head today at the jewelry store, the kind and patient woman helping me handed back my earrings after inspecting and cleaning them. Then she leaned over and whispered to me, "It's time to get some bigger earrings, dear." WHAT is wrong with people?? Why can't I just be happy with what I have? Do you think I would be happy with gigantic diamond earrings? SURE. But guess what? I am happy with tiny diamond earrings, too!

Tony and I were literally just talking last night about how more money/more problems is so true. I am able to stay home with the kids because ONE: it is our choice/what we want to do and TWO: we live within our means. We cut back where we need to. Do we make bad decisions with our money from time to time? Yep. Are we perfect? Nope. But we opt not to have cable. We don't have the best internet in the world. Or really the best anything. We intentionally don't have car payments. We don't pay interest on credit cards. We saved up for our upcoming family vacation. We're not hardcore Dave Ramsey people -- I wish we were -- and we have a LOT to learn about making wiser decisions with our money, but we pay our bills and we take care of our family's needs and so many wants.

We want to move to a place in our lives where we can save more, give back more, and do more (for ourselves, for our kids, for others, etc). Once the kids are in school it will be nice for both of us to work and make money but I know these babies of mine will only be little and home for a limited amount of time and we intend to make the most of it. I remember feeling SO OVERWHELMED staying home with Presley in the early days and wish the days away until I could work and be in the adult world on a regular basis again. (#mommyconfession) And now that I see how fleeting these days come and go I see that this is just a season in our life!!! One that I am enjoying.

Is there a point to all of this? Not really. I do this thing with my daughter all the time... if she starts complaining about having to brush her teeth before bed I remind her that some people don't have clean water or a toothbrush. It helps her to be happy and grateful for the things we have. So, just do that every once in a while in order to stay grounded.

Our Wedding Video!

So, a couple of weeks ago, one of the groomsmen in our wedding asked if I had the video of us dancing into the reception.  After all was said and done, I ended up uploading our wedding video online and watched it for the first time in a long time.  It was such a happy day and I'm so glad I get to relive it over and over. 

Though I have a physical copy of the video, I wanted to put all the links together in my blog in case I wanted to come back and watch them again on here to enjoy all the embarrassing moments (us dancing in, the amount of times I try to clink glasses with people during the toasts only to get left hanging, some of the toasts [HAHA]...) and of course all the best parts (the mass, our first kiss, the rest of the toasts, everything!) and relive the day in general.  Remembering how special the day was makes me want to get married over and over again.

Anyways, so there are the moments if you want to catch any.  After three years of marriage I can say that this one day was just that - one day in our lives.  A great and beautiful day... but just one single day.  I'm thankful for that fun wedding day (and night!) but I am glad to have grown so much since then as a person and in our marriage as it has been tested and will continue to be tested over the many (many!) years we will be married.  I am thankful for all the milestones and special days we have had since our wedding.  And I am thankful to have a partner who is worth all of it.

Currently x20 {link up}

Linking up with Harvesting Kale for Currently.
The prompts this week {watching, learning, considering, needing, changing}

WATCHING:  We got to see two of our awesome friends become parents together this week and might I say I am pretty darn excited about that!  Chris & Kristen brought Baby Everett into the world on Wednesday.  It's gonna be so great to have Everett & Molly so close in proximity as well as age, too, with them being three months apart.  And then next week we get to watch two more friends get married as well.  I can't wait to see Tyler & Marsha tie the knot next weekend!!!
(It's been a long time coming to see Tony's best friends settle their crazy butts down and it is nice to see!) 

LEARNING:  Why forgiveness or just letting things go is so important.  And really, it takes too much energy to hold onto resenting someone or hating certain things.  It feels so good to move on into the light.  I love the saying that goes something like this:  

Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.

CONSIDERING: Writing a blog post about sexual assault and including personal anecdotes.  To do so would obviously mean I would be sharing some sensitive material - which is fine with me - but I'm not sure how it would be received.  I do think it's something important to shed some light on and doing so would show the alarming amount of women this happens to as well as the different forms of sexual assault.  I'm also considering including other folks' personal stories pertaining to the topic - if you know anyone who would like to anonymously be part of the upcoming post, please send them my way. 

NEEDING:  To save money for a new range.  Ours is just awful and I have my eye on a beautiful one at Siano Appliances (where my mother-in-law works).  I cannot wait to replace ours!!!  It's pretty old - still in working condition - but we acquired it in a state of disrepair.  Doable, but certainly not loveable. I can't wait to blog about it and share before and after photos when the time comes. 

CHANGING:  Thought I was going to be drastically changing my hair sometime soon-ish... but now I'm not sure.  I made it through the hot, hot summer with long hair - why would I want to cut it short for the coldy-cold months?  I don't know.  I still consider cutting my hair.  And my big sister is due to give hers a chop soon so maybe that will push me to cut mine after I see how cute hers is and how much she loves it.

(I really love the Jennifer Lawrence short hair cut on the top left.)

Aside from all that fun - I am really looking forward to some upcoming projects we are planning on in the next few months.  We are going to replace the faucets in our bathroom, the guest bathroom, and the kitchen along with the light fixtures in both bathrooms as well.  We really need shoe moulding along the entire house but in not sure we are ready for that project just yet.  Another fun project will include mounting a small TV in our kitchen!  It's not something we would normally do but the folks who lived here before left some pretty awful holes and marks on the wall where one was previously mounted (and hastily removed I am guessing) and this way we will be able to cover that up. It'll be nice to watch something while cooking, too!

It's so funny these projects are something fun to look forward to in addition to being something I like to talk about.  It is interesting how life changes you over time!  I'll leave you with some photos of our everyday shenanigans.

Anniversary, visitors, shopping, big girl beds, & Memorial Day!

Since I last wrote....

• Tony & I celebrated 3 years of marriage!  How did we celebrate?  Mexican take-out (because that's what I was "craving" and my husband is my best friend) along with my favorite flowers - carnations - from my husband along with several scratch-off tickets (what a fun idea)! 
• I still haven't written about my sisters coming in town or our housewarming party.  I failed big time when it came to documenting the party - I was too busy having fun and seriously didn't take a single picture!  Not of our friends, family, or the food.  Bummer.  But it's definitely a good thing that we were too busy enjoying ourselves.
• Did some shopping at Old Navy.  I flipping love that store and shopping their online deals, too.
• Finally got a humungous area rug for our living room, thanks to recommendations from my favorite twin-cousin, Breanne!
• Presley now sleeps in a big girl (toddler) bed rather than her crib.  I am so proud of her but my mommy heart breaks a little bit that the crib is officially not her bed anymore.  I now completely understand the way in which it is hard for parents to let go of these little things as our kids get older.

It's crazy to think that our wedding was already three years ago.  I can't believe how jam-packed the last three years have been.  To recap, three years ago we lived in our first apartment in Silvis, Illinois.  Since then, we found out I was pregnant with Presley, moved into a small slab rental house in Moline, brought Presley home, Tony lost his job, I worked at a zoo, I found out I was pregnant, Tony got a job in Memphis, and we bought a home.  So we've lived in three different houses (four if you include the months spent living with Chris & Kristen!) and have been almost all the way through two pregnancies.  I can't believe I actually thought life was going to slow down after the wedding... big HA-HA on me.

I'm seriously lucky to be married to Tony and to be going through all the crazies with him.  I can hardly believe the two people we are today are the two people holding hands up on that altar 3 years ago; we've changed as individuals and our relationship has changed, too.  I love our life and where we are headed as a family and cannot wait to make even more memories with my husband and kid(s).

Alright, alright... enough with the mushy mushy.

As I mentioned, my sisters were in town last weekend and we have a blast.  My nephew, Matthew, was born back in April (April Fools Day to be exact!) so everybody was in town to celebrate his baptism.  It was the first time that we were all able to get together - siblings, significant others, kids - since maybe Anne Marie's baptism?  (I might be making that up... but I really can't think of a time since then!)

This one is from Anne Marie's baptism - fall 2012

This one is from Matthew's baptism - summer 2014

I love getting all of us together - the more is seriously the merrier with them.  It makes everybody separating and going back to our regular lives that much more sucky!  I still hope to live in the same town someday and if we could wrangle Breanne & Dustin, too, that would just be perfect.  In the time frame that we had family in town, we also threw a housewarming party so that our friends and family could come see the new place and help break it in.  We also celebrated Bobby's birthday!  (The only pictures I took during the party happened while we sang him happy birthday.)

My mother-in-law took this one of Tony feeding Presley some dirt cake!

It was really nice having everybody over and since it was a potluck, we got to taste some pretty FANTASTIC food.  I had my first Oreo ball and holy moly... am I addicted!!!  We had a taco bar and I decided to do tacos in a bag to make clean up easier!

While my sisters were in town we spent all day Sunday together for the baptism and party afterwards and just got some time to hang out - which was nice and very much appreciated.  Jonathan and Ashley (my little sister & her fiance) left Sunday afternoon around the time Anne Marie was getting up from her nap.  Amanda and Tony blew bubbles for those two for such a long time and they acted like it was the most fun they ever had!

 

We had dinner over at our house with Amanda & John (my big sister & brother-in-law), Caroline & Greg (John's brother & his wife who live in the Memphis area), Pamela (John's sister who lives in Chicago), & the newly baptized baby boys (Matthew & his cousin, Noah) and that was a lot of fun!

Then we woke up Monday morning and headed to the Memphis Zoo.  Man oh man, did we have a good time there.  I feel like that was the smoothest trip to the zoo I maybe have ever had, which is crazy considering there were 5 adults + 1 pregnant lady (yes... I consider myself somewhat of a subspecies at this point), 2 newborns, & 2 toddlers in tow.  The weather was great, the kids cooperated, the food was good (but overpriced), and thank goodness there was water to play in!  We came home for a quick nap time and then had dinner together at Huey's before the Nashville folks took off to head back home.

Tony's first time holding Matthew & Matthew started crying!

 

Me & the girlies after dinner :)

You're probably wondering why in the world I am mentioning a shopping trip to Old Navy.  Well, I am so excited because it's another summer which means another set of flag shirts!  And this time around we bought four for the first time... which is very sweet and surreal.  I can't wait to get a family photo in them.  Tony also got some khakis & pants for work that were over $10 off each plus shopping was free, we had 20% off, and had $50 in gift cards to spend.  (We bought the Old Navy gift cards from Kroger, got $10 off, and 4x the gas rewards!)  All in all, it was a fun purchase for me because I love great deals.  And shopping.

Speaking of shopping and good deals?  We got an area rug for our living room.  The floor is wood laminate and I desperately missed having carpeted floors.  It's a big 8' x 12' area rug we got from Lowes - thanks to Breanne for the recommendation - and even best?  It's a commercial cut so it was CHEAP!  I believe it was $79 (unheard of!) and we had 10% off on top of it, so it came out to $71 or so.  It's black, white, and gray so it gives the room a bit of personality & depth, too!

And finally... there is the fact that my baby girl is in her big girl bed now.  One random day after she woke up from naptime in her crib, it struck me how big she looked in her crib.  It's not that she didn't fit in there anymore and she wasn't being rowdy in there whatsoever... it just looked like she deserved to give her big girl bed a try already.  So I put the mattress on the toddler bed from her crib and she was FLOORED!!!!  As I said, she had just gotten up from a 2 hour nap, and she went and immediately laid on her new bed and played there for a long time!  I asked her if she wanted to sleep there later that night and she said yes... I made sure to ask if she wanted to sleep in her crib and she gave an enthusiastic no!  So we took apart the crib and moved it to Molly's room.  Phew.  I have been on pins and needles about it for the last few naptimes and bedtimes, but we have one awesome girl who is seemingly unfazed by the new change!  Presley used to go right to sleep at bedtime and naptime, but for the past few weeks (even when she slept in her crib), she has taken a while to wind down.  In her big girl bed, that is still true, but it seems to take less time for her to fall asleep lately! Which I am nothing but happy about.  To our knowledge, she's been staying in her bed really well too.  I think she was way more ready for this than I thought she was!

Now we'll just need to buy a new crib mattress for Miss Molly.  Since we plan on having her in our room in her bassinet for a while, there is no real rush.  Though, I know myself fairly well, and I'm sure we'll be purchasing it sooner rather than later just for peace of mind!

To top it all off, we had a great Memorial Day Weekend with our friends.  We went swimming, played out in the sun, ate some delicious food, and laughed a whole lot.  Of course it wouldn't be complete without a little drama (like our A/C going out for 24 hours) but all ended well!

Hope everybody had an awesome weekend!

Marriage Monday: Wedding Day ABC's {Part Two}

Eeek.  Sorry I have been so late on posting for Marriage Monday the past few weeks!  Better late than never??  Here is part two of our Wedding Day ABC's!

{Part One if you missed it!}

Newlyweds

First picture after being announced!

One of my favorite gifts from our gift opening :) Matching pillow cases!

On our way to DISNEY!!!!

 
Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue
My "something old" and "something blue" was the promise ring Tony gave me for Christmas in 2006.  It is a beautiful ring with normal diamonds and a gorgeous blue diamond right in the middle!  I love it so much and was so happy to wear it on our wedding day on my right hand.  My "something new" was my earrings & my bracelet and my "something borrowed" was the bouquet charm from my sister's wedding that was a picture of our dad!

Programs
I made our programs and man... they were such a pain in the BUTT!  I made our programs into fans and at the time I was so set on having fans that the process of putting them together was almost fun... looking back, I shouldn't have wasted my stinkin' time!!!  Here is a picture of the program so you get the general idea.  The stick that turned it into a fan has since fallen off...

Quickie

Stealing a quick moment for just the two of us!

Rings

Bling bling!

Shoes
Tony, the groomsmen (and I believe my father-in-law, too?), & I all wore TOMs for the wedding!  One of the best decisions I could have made!!!  They were covered up most of the time by my dress but even if they had showed the whole time I wouldn't have cared - they were comfortable and adorable!  Not only that, but I adore the aspect of giving back that the company holds and therefore it was really a no-brainer!!!

Too bad so sad for me I ruined these beauties a few days later when we got stuck in a huge downpour at Disney!!!

Tuxes
As I mentioned before, we went through Ducky's for the tuxedos!

The guys wore black vests & had red ties & pocket squares! Tony went with all white underneath.

Bobby (our ring bearer) wore a red vest and black bow tie!

My father-in-law (who you can see in the background) and my Uncle Jeff (who escorted me down the aisle) wore black vests & black ties.

Our handsome ushers (my future brother-in-law & my awesome cousins) matched the groomsmen.

Here is a better picture of Tony's vest - it had a paisley print on it that we both loved!

Unique
Well, one unique thing we did was smash the cake in our younger siblings faces!  When it was time to cut the cake, we told our best men and maid/matron of honor to come to the cake table so that they would be in the pictures.  But really, we were doing it so that instead of smashing it in each others faces, we could surprise them by turning on them!  It was hilarious and definitely got a roar out of the rest of our guests!!!!  HILARIOUS!  We got the idea from my aunt and uncle who did the same thing at their wedding 20+ years ago.  I was shaking the entire time just before we did it and nearly chickened out!!  I told Tony, "I absolutely can't do that to Ashley!"  So we decided to smash cakes in the other siblings face instead of our own.  I'm not gonna lie, I loved getting Sean in the face!  It wouldn't have been nearly as funny if they hadn't been such good sports about it.

We also gave our wedding party sunglasses to wear into the reception and most of us ended up wearing them all night!  Which was awesome.

Vows 
We had pretty traditional vows.  I just had an overwhelming feeling that there really was something amazing about repeating words that people have been vowing to one another for years and years.  You can check out our vows here.

Wedding Woes
Oh man.  There were a few.  For example, our photographer was separated from us somehow on the way from the wedding to the reception so she wasn't able to get any pictures of our entrance!  Bummer!  You guys already know about our cake mishap.  Let's see.  Oh, another fun one is the fact that you may not know yet... the morning of our wedding day the girls and I went to get our nails done at a salon.  It was the most relaxed I had felt in weeks, probably!!!  It was wonderful.  Until I went to the bathroom and realized I was so relaxed that I had STARTED MY PERIOD.  Oh my gee.  Who does this happen to?!  Me, apparently.  So there was that.  Oh, and then there was the fact that Tony got so drunk that he passed out on our bathroom floor and puked in a flowerpot on the way out of the reception.  Our flowers were wrong.  I forgot my toss bouquet for the reception at the ceremony.  Having to set up our reception hall the morning OF the wedding because of a mistake on our wedding hall's part.  Oh and something I feel awful about TO THIS DAY??  Towards the end of the line, apparently, we ran out of food!  In addition, we didn't have enough tables and chairs for everyone who showed up!  {I am thinking there were people who changed their mind without letting us know.}  It's all small stuff in the end... but sheesh.

RemiX
One of our hilarious best friends/best men decided to turn our reception into a karaoke bar for a song (or two) and it was pretty great.

You May Now Kiss the Bride

First KISS!

Zzz, the End

One of the last photos of the evening!  Some of us definitely look like we're ready to pass out...

Still exhausted at Disney World on our third day.  Exhausted from planning, from the wedding week, from the WEDDING, and from being on the go at Disney!!!  I literally dozed off right in the middle of Epcot!

Hope you enjoyed these posts because I sure as heck did!  Come back here and let me know if you decide to recap your wedding with these fun ABCs!