2008 - Year of the "I DO"

Well, I attempted to start blogging in 2007 right around the time when Steve and I got engaged. Didn't turn out so great! So 2008 has officially come and gone since my last post - oops! - I pinky-swear promise to be a better blogger in '09. I suppose after this entry I will already have blogged more in 2009 than I did in 2008...that's a start right?!

To re-cap 2008 in a nutshell...WEDDING! 2008 was a whirlwind year of planning, planning, and more planning culminating on sunny July 19th when we vowed to love each other through thick and thin for as long as we both shall live! July 19th, 2008 was the most amazing day of our lives. Now 8 months later we still find ourselves reflecting, laughing and comparing notes on the day!

We were so blessed to have had family and friends from all over the states (Wisconsin, Texas, Minnesota, Tennessee, to name a few!) fly out and show their support and love for us. Words can't begin to express our gratitude. It was amazing to see so many people we loved from so many of our life stages...college, high school, elementary school...come together.

Here are a few pictures from the day!

Portland's Street Car

Amazing Women! Thankful to have them in my life!
Sarah, Jessica, Jamie, Ashley

Steven and "The Men"!



Family!

The end of 2008 marked another great first for us - our first Christmas together (physically)! It's hard to believe that we've been together for 6 Christmas's now and because our families are so far apart we've always gone our separate ways. This year we took two weeks and flew to Appleton and then San Antonio. Despite many, many delayed or canceled flights, all worked out in the end and we had an amazing time with each of our families. It was really special to share the holidays together with each others' families.

That pretty much brings us to 2009 and while there are many details of 2008 missing...this post is long enough! I promise to be better this year. Until then,

C & S

Sunny Texas!

It is Thursday July 12th and I'm just about to pack up and head back to Portland after spending a week in sunny San Antonio with my family :(

It has been so awesome and I'm so bummed to leave.

Steve was here for the first 4 days and we had such a great time! My parents , sister and aunt and uncle have been so great and have made our engagement really special. My mom threw a mini engagement party for us. You can check out some pictures on picasa and video of Steve's mad cork popping skills on youtube!

We also spent a lazy afternoon floating down the Comal River and I tried on wedding dresses for the first time with my mom, aunt and sister yikes!

I can't believe this trip is almost over...

We're Engaged!

Yes, Steve and I are officially taking the plunge!

This weekend we took a side trip to Crater Lake on our way to a friend's wedding in Grants Pass. We'd been wanting to see Crater Lake ever since we moved out here, but it is about a 4.5 hour drive from Portland, so we just hadn't made the time until now.

It was sooo beautiful, really breathtaking and I couldn't have imagined a more perfect day!

We hiked around a little, stopped for drinks at the lodge and then towards the end of the day Steve and I stopped to sit and look out over the lake before hitting the road again. That's when he popped the question! Little Parker was even there for the big moment! ;) We are so excited and hope all of our friends will be able to make it out for our big day. We're hoping for something next summer, preferably July. We'll keep you all posted!