It's Been A While...

...and my apologies for my lack of posting are sincere (to you two or three faithful readers!), but as you well know, things have been sort of busy.

First of all, I got married. YES, those grueling ten months of engagement have finally passed (looking back, rather quickly might I add) and we are officially husband and wife. Which means I'm officially a military wife. More on that later...

Second of all, I moved halfway across the country--to Enid, Oklahoma to be exact. We're living on base in his efficiency apartment until we make the trip out west to Tacoma sometime soon after Christmas.

The wedding, to us anyway, was so fun. I never wanted the night to end. Our band was above and beyond anything we could've hoped for (The Tony Howard Band- if you're getting married soon or know of anyone that is, I would HIGHLY recommend this band... they made the night!) We also were lucky enough to get a photobooth at the wedding, which was seemingly a little unconventional, but it turned out to be so fun. People loved it! (If you're getting married soon or know of anyone that is, I would HIGHLY recommend Oh Snap Photobooth... seriously...)

Okay, so enough advertisements for our vendors... highlights of the wedding include (but are not limited to):

Waking up to a torrential downpour the morning of the wedding before the sun came up and talking myself down from a breakdown because of it... "I knew this was coming" I told myself... "It's going to clear up by 1 pm..." (And it did...more or less...though the temperature was about 30 degrees cooler than it had been the day before) And then eating breakfast with friends who had come over that morning...

Hanging out in the fellowship hall at the Church with my bridesmaids and Kelley Kirker and her twin, Kristin Rochester (hair and make-up extraordinaires) for hours before the wedding, getting made up and eating little teeny sandwiches and just relaxing.

After my Dad gave me away and was making his way back to sit with my mom, he tripped over my veil and subsequently ripped it from my head. The pastor even laughed and whispered "That's okay..." My sister put it back in...backwards.... haha... and we proceded with the wedding, me having to put my money where my mouth was the day before: "I don't care if everything falls completely apart. We're getting married. And that's all that matters..." I had said...ha...

My subsequent father/daugher dance with my dad at the reception... we'd been practicing... and though he did step on my dress a time or two, he did a great job :)

Seeing my cousin Glen dance all night long with every girl on the dance floor, sometimes joined by my niece Lucy, both of whom were having the time of their lives.

Aaron, his dad and Tufik getting up on stage with the band to sing My Girl.... at times while harmonizing.... not too shabby

Hanging out with TONS of my old friends from college and high school and Aaron's friends from high school and college...

Running to the car at the end of the night, waving goodbye to everyone out of one door, and Aaron's pal Ben running up to the other side of the car to give us one more hug :)

Lowlights from the wedding.....

Absolutely none.

It was a perfect weekend to us and we could NOT be more appreciative to our family and friends who gave up their weekend to travel to Edisto and make it so special for us. We hope y'all had a blast and we miss you so much already!!

He's Done!

It's official... as of yesterday, October 7, 2008, Aaron is an Air Force C-17 Pilot!!! He had his check-ride yesterday and passed with flying colors, and today will be heading back over to Vance to make some final preparations before he heads to the Southeast on Monday to pick up his bride. He has worked so hard these last couple of years-- so many hours of studying, in simulators, making himself ready and able to be in command of such a big plane, and I could not be more proud of him. With everything else he's had to deal with (namely, dating, getting engaged to and being engaged to me) at the same time he was going through the most rigorous pilot training the world has to offer, he has done everything to the best of his abilities and become the best fiance AND pilot that a girl and this country could ask for.

Aaron in his class picture, standing with his training aircraft

The Last Days

These last couple of months have flown by so quickly -- and everyone told me they would but I didn't believe them. Now, here we are, 10 days from the wedding, 5 days from seeing eachother for the first time in months, less than a week from what will be one of the busiest weeks of our lives. I feel like I've tried to fit months of living into a couple of weeks so I can make sure to get all of the good stuff out of my last days with family and friends.

This weekend, Marcus and Emily and Marjorie, and Rachel and Adam and Punkin and Maybay came into town so that Rach and Em could come to my kitchen and linen shower. After the shower, all of the kids went to WPS for Homecoming... it was literally like stepping back in time. We took a stroll through the old S building and checked out each of the old classrooms. Of course we got there late so we didn't get to see a lot of the teachers we were hoping to see, but the little ones were able to play around where their parents spent most of their formative years, so that was fun...

Sunday, Rach and Emily and I drove over to Edisto to check out the beach house for the rehearsal dinner and it looked great... we were even able to sneak in a little lunch over at Folly Beach before dropping Rach off at home on James Island...

And then Monday, I got a day with "the guys"-- Marcus, Dad and I went hunting. I had been begging my dad to take me hunting and found out that he was taking my brother, so I piggybacked on their hunting trip. We hunted right outside of Statesboro, so we packed Dixie and Duke into the truck and made the trek down to South Georgia for a day of quail hunting. It was so fun... I'm glad we got to go before I leave.

With Rach and Mom at the kitchen and linen shower
With Dad and Marcus before we left for Statesboro
Me with our guide Dustin, looking for some birds
Little photo op mid-hunt
And after with some of our kill

Bachelorette Extravaganza 2008

This past weekend, my dear friends brought me on a whirlwind weekend in Atlanta to celebrate the soon-to-be death of my life as a single gal. Coming from many different places in many different cars to check in at the Westin on Friday night, the girls arrived tired, but all ready to celebrate.

The first present I got to open was in the form of my good pal Diana, who flew in to Atlanta in SECRET to surprise me, all the way from Missouri. I had NO idea she was coming but she had gotten there early on in the afternoon and checked into the hotel. The plan was working until Tucc and I arrived to check in and Edgar, the man working behind the counter, totally blew the surprise by saying in broken English "Oh, yes, Diana is already here...eehh..." And I said "No no no, my name is BECCA..." And when I saw his face, I knew something was up- I said to him "I think you blew it, Edgar." And in more of his broken English, he said "IIIIIIIIII still don't know what is going on...ha...so...."

It then turned into a fun game of who was going to be able to keep the joke going the longest, everyone denying the fact she was actually there until they could come up with a clever way for her to show her face.
While we were waiting on the others to arrive after Di had finally showed up at our hotel room door, Tucc, Diana and I grabbed a bite to eat at a cool Mexican place in town, courtesy of Kevin, the friendly Westin shuttle driver. Later in the night, after most had arrived, we hit a little restaurant/bar beside our hotel for a lowkey outting that turned out to be so fun. Saturday, we slept in, ate a brunch at the Flying Biscuit, shopped around a little across the street at the Lenox and then rested. 5pm started the lingerie shower portion and then dinner and DANCING... all night long. I never wanted it to end :)

All-in-all, I'd say it was a very successful bachelorette weekend and I'm pretty sure that everyone had some funny stories (and plenty of funny pictures) after all was said and done. Here are just a few of the PG rated shots from the weekend.



Here I am with Nan after the surprise...

Di was also able to surprise our pregnant friend JoBeth (we had a baby shower for her that Sunday, thrown by her sister Sally). Here's the first part of the group to arrive:

From left to right, Meg, Julie, JoBeth, me, Lorrie, Diana, Laura and Mary Neil

With Kel on our first night out...

And then with Lon...

The only present I can show in public was the mousepad Mary Neil got me (along with some other things) that had my favorite saying... I was very excited.

A few of my gifts before I opened them...

Our entire group...Michelle and I, just practicing for the big-time dancing we'd get to later in the night...

More of the gals-- Michelle, Lon, Julie, Jen, me, Tucc and Jaimie

It was so fun. You gals wanna do it again next weekend?? :)

When Your Brain Quits Working...

... The other day I was going to put a shirt in the dryer to dewrinkle it and when I was completing this mission, I realized that instead of placing it in the dryer, I started to place it in the toilet. An open toilet. Whaaaaaaaat?

And yesterday morning, I poured me a bowl of Kashi and right before I took a big bite, I realized that instead of adding milk to my bowl, I had filled it up with half and half. Whaaaaaaaaat?

Hhmmm....

This begs the question: What's happened to me?

Cypress Trees Plantation

When Mom and I drove over to Edisto and met with the folks at the reception place, I was able to take a few pictures... I wish they were better and did it justice, but alas, my photography skills aren't what they once were. Anyway, here's just a preview of where we'll be for the reception on October 18th--just seeing it got me so excited...

Here are the ladies taking a look around...the woman on the left lives there (must be nice!). It's a working soybean plantation... she said the property has been in her husband's family since the 1700's...yeesh... he must be old, huh?


Beyond those pretty trees is the creek

The beautiful driveway to the house

View around the side of the house...
I would NEVER LEAVE that swing if I lived there...


Let's hope no hurricane decides to attend the wedding as well... because if so, I've got a feeling this place may end up looking a LITTLE different than it did the day I was there :)

Worth It

Joan (that's my mom) and I have had a very productive couple of days. First of all, we got up early Monday morning and made the drive into town from the lake house to pick up my dress from the house in town. The two of us attempting to get the dress into the car without letting it touch anything and without wrinkling anything almost became our first tiff of the day... With one of us holding one coat hanger, one of us holding another coat hanger, one of us trying to go up this way, the other trying to go over this way, etc... we definitely both worked up a little sweat. Could've been the fact no airconditioner was on at the house and it was already about 95 degrees that day...Which leads me to my next highpoint of the day...

The weather. We got to Columbia on what was supposed to be (or so we thought) a relatively mild September day. The portrait shoot didn't begin until 4 and we had gotten there early enough to run by the Governor's Office to drop off a couple of things, grab Mary Neil and Lorrie to go to lunch with us AND go by the tax office so I could get a little reimbursement for selling my car, all to be done before heading over to Cline's for my hair appointment. After getting to the hair appointment 30 minutes early because we just wanted to be sitting down in some air conditioning, and therefore getting done with said hair appointment about 30 minutes early, we walked outside into a torrential downpour. Did I mention that my portrait was going to be taken outside? Which leads me to my third point...

The gnats. (Or as some of us liked to SO confidently call them during a mad game of Scattegories in college... "pnats"...ahem...anyway...) The portrait was taken [in a van] down by the river. (You Chris Farley fans will recognize that throwback and the fact that there was in fact no van involved) By the time I got outside in my dress and to my appointed spot on the tarp beside the river, my veil and dress were full-on gnat traps, and the sweat that had formed on my face combined with my make-up to form a nice little pasty gnat trap of their own. So the sweaty pasty face plus me constantly swatting at almost-invisible little bugs coincidentally ONLY around MY face, not to mention my constant fear that the granddaddy longleg who had tried to get fresh with me and make a fast move up the back of my dress was going to return for round 2 made for, at the very most, perhaps one useable picture for the portrait... Worth it. Or something.

Following that experience up with a roadtrip to Charleston that night and Edisto the next morning to meet with the wedding planner, the florist and the folks at the reception site, I'm one tired puppy. So I'm going to bed. But I'll rest easy knowing we're almost done with this planning NON-SENSE and we ARE in fact 32 days closer to finally being together. Phew...I can't wait.