Our First Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Mike and I are spending our first Thanksgiving together as a married couple. We are also baking our first turkey together. Neither one of us has ever made a turkey before. Here is a fabulous video of how to prepare your turkey. This is how we prepared ours... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxjFqtfJlMs.

Here we are preparing the turkey...

We are married now!

We had a magical wedding day today. We decided to get married on the balcony of our cabin with the Smokies in the background. Our beautiful cake was delivered on time, our minister did a wonderful job, the weather was perfect, the reception was fabulous, and we got some great photos! Everyone who was at the wedding can be seen in the photo below. We are on our honeymoon now and we are going to be posting more photos.

Fall Wedding Cookies

My brother brought fall cookie cutters in town to make cookies for the wedding. What better way to celebrate a fall wedding! Less than two days left!

Look at the acorns. My brother put so much detail into these little wondrous cookies!


~ Lori

Mike's iTunes and Casino Dollar Dash

After having so much fun participating in the Kruckemeyer and Kohn Diamond Dash Scavenger Hunt, we decided it would be fun to design our own scavenger hunts for each other. Below are pictures from the scavenger hunt I designed for Mike.

First he had to translate a passage from Spanish to English that led him to the mailbox. In the mailbox, there was a rubix cube with a case and combination lock. The code for the combination lock was hidden in the rubix cube. The next clue was hidden in a plant outside that led him to the southern most window in the house. I wrote with window crayons "Go to the darkest room of the house and look for the stars. Hint: Turn off the light." In the bathroom, I had glow in the dark stars on top of the mirror that told him to look for Walt under the sink. There was a Walt Disney puzzle that he had to work for the next clue, which was on the back of the puzzle. The clue led him to the final destination, which was underneath his pillow where the toothfairy left an iTunes gift card and money for a night at the casino!

Finally, a house (rented) but still our home

We'll be moved in by September 1st! We will post pictures of the inside soon.

Sneak peek of the cake

The cake has been chosen and we are ordering it through Smoky Mountain Cakes. Although we don't want to show you the entire cake because it would spoil the fun, below is a sneak peek of what it will look like. :) Look at the cool butterfly! It is going to be a beautiful and yummy cake. We will have photos of it after the wedding and we will post them on here. Smooth buttercream icing/traditional white cake/blue roses/white butterflies...

Invitations to be sent soon!

We finally chose some invitations and we are going to print them at home. They are white with swirly hearts! I tried my best to find blue and/or blue & brown ones, but I didn't find any I liked, so we decided on basic white invitations.

The flowers have been chosen

I chose the flowers for my bouquet. I found these at Joann Fabric & Craft Store. I still need to find some kind of blue flowers that are smaller and would be appropriate for the men to wear. It might look sorta funny for a guy to wear a huge daisy! Any blue flower suggestions out there?

 ~ Lori

Vision of Utopia

We went to New Harmony, Indiana today so we could check out art galleries.  While there, we stopped at the Visitor Center and I noticed a wall with words in large text, "What's your vision of Utopia?".   A cup of pencils sat next to the wall and I knew right away exactly what I wanted to write.  I placed Lori's hand on the wall and began to trace an outline around the edges of her fingers.  I then placed mine on top of where her hand was and traced an outline of my hand.  Hand in Hand Forever!  Can you imagine anything greater?

- Mike

Spring 2010 Photos

Today was a beautiful day so we decided to take photos.

Ah, dresses and accessories!

I think I finally found just the dress for me. It is very affordable, elegant, beautiful, and I think Mike will love it! :) After the third day of shopping, I think I will order this one. My mom and aunt will take my measurements sometime this week so I can order the dress. It will be custom made.

I found the perfect shoes today too. I went to the Shoe Carnival today where they literally have hundreds of shoes and found nothing. Then I went to Payless where they have about 1/20th the amount of shoes compared to Shoe Carnival, and found a fabulous, yet affordable pair of shoes.

I also went to the Jewelry and Handbag Warehouse in Henderson, KY today to shop for jewelry. I got a necklace, earrings, and a crystal headpiece. Can't wait to wear them and the dress, although I am more excited about the "marrying Mike" part of the wedding. I can't wait to say "I do."

I am thinking about wearing light blue fingernail polish on our wedding day too. I'll have to post a photo of what the polish looks like.


Chobits wedding by ~princessmoony on deviantART

- Lori

Red Velvet Cake

For the first time ever, I made a cake from scratch and not just any cake either. I made red velvet cake for Lori because it's her favorite. I spent a couple hours looking up videos on how to make it.

Above is what the table looked like right after the cakes were put in the oven.  While the cakes were baking, I started making the cream cheese frosting from scratch.

Above is the finished product.  Initially, I was interested in making our wedding cake but after experiencing all that goes into it, I doubt I would have the time to put one together.

Below is a short video with a few clips Lori took while I made her cake.

- Mike

Gerbera Daisy Boquet

My bouquet will be handmade with blue gerbera daisies, small white flowers (haven't decided which flower), a brown ribbon, and some bling. When it's finished, I'll post a photo!

~ Lori

A blue gerbera daisy:

Wedding Colors

Sky blue and chocolate brown have been chosen as our wedding colors.

Above the Clouds

We will be getting married in Gatlinburg, Tennessee in October. We found the perfect cabin in Gatlinburg. We will be staying there from October 1st through October 8th. Equipped with a hot tub on the deck, wireless internet, a pool table, a jacuzzi, and a full kitchen, we will feel like we are above the clouds! Here is a photo of the inside of the cabin we will be staying in:

We have a date!

After agonizing hours of deciding on the perfect date for our wedding, we decided on 10-2-10. We wanted to get married in Gatlinburg, Tennessee and our first choice was New Year's Eve because that marks the anniversary of when we met. Then we thought about the inclement weather that may occur during that time of year in the mountains so we decided on October. Our first thought was 10-10-10! How cool is that. Unfortunately, it is quite difficult to get that day as it is filled up most places by now. Instead of going through the hassle of finding an opening for that day, we decided on 10-2-10. It has a nice ring to it also! We will be married creekside, by a waterfall, or in the national park. We are still deciding on this one. Hopefully the fall weather will cooperate and the leaves will be turning red, orange, and yellow.

Fall into some Color by *IrishGirl72 on deviantART