Planning a Wedding...

So many of you reading this blog have experienced planning a wedding so nothing I say will be new. But I thought it would be fun to document some of my journey with a top 10 list of things to remember when planning a wedding:

#10: If you can find someone you trust to plan everything - let them! Adam's mom is taking care of just about everything in Arizona. She calls me when she has questions and then takes care of it. Its been WONDERFUL! Its so nice not to have to stress out about planning two events.

#9: Find free (cheap) things. After asking a few people, I found out that our Stake has chocolate fountains and anyone can use them. SWEET! Do you know how expensive those things are to rent?

#8: Take a classic and make it uniquely yours. I had been struggling with what to serve at the open house in Boise. Well I decided to do chocolate fountains but I didn't want to do the same thing that everyone does so we are having a chocolate fountain, caramel fountain and peanut butter fountain. Yeah, who knew? Turns out you can run just about anything thru a fountain!

#7: Use your family and friends as your #1 resource. My aunt is the wedding coordinator in her church and she just happens to have a beverage fountain. Another aunt has a "lemon" (one of those like you see at the fair) and she's going to do homeade lemonade for us. An old roommate does graphic design and offered to help us with the invitations. Another roommate does flowers and will help arrange them in Boise. Let people know what you are planning and you'll be surprised at what you find - it makes those details so much more special too.

#6: Go to a Bridal Show. I didn't know what to expect and was afraid it would be a waste of time. However it was a GREAT resource. I go to try lots of cakes all in one spot and many of the vendors gave the attendants coupons. While the only thing I ended up using from show was my "cupcake lady". It was worth it. I never would have found her otherwise and she's great. Very very good prices and she'll make as many flavors as I want.


#5: Be flexible. Pick a few things that are the most important to you and focus your time, money and effort on just those things. Not everything will be "perfect" but if the important things are you can be more flexible with everything else? What was my number #1? My dress. I got really really really lucky and the dress I had saw on the internet and loved was in the store and in my size. Here is what it looks like:OK - thats not me in it and this picture is ivory... but you get the idea. It was the lace around the bottom that made me fall in love!

#4 - Carry a small notebook in your purse and write down EVERYTHING. Colors, reception ideas, internet sites, stores to check out, list of people to invite (with space for addresses as you get them), prices for decorations, food etc. Its great to have everything in one place and have it always handy.

#3 - If your fiance has an opinion on something listen. Adam always says "whatever you want is fine" and "I just want you to have everything the way you want". So on the RARE occasion he actually has an opinion I try to listen. When we were trying to pick our reception site in Boise I had said we should do it at the church building where we go to church and where we met.... Well Adam kept saying "are you sure?" Finally I gave in and looked at the church building closer to his house. We went with his suggestion-I think we made the right choice.

#2 - Continue to have a life. Don't let the wedding consume you. Talk about things other than the wedding with your friends. Stay interested in their lives too.

#1 - HAVE FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If anyone has any other advice feel free to comment!

THE BEST CHRISTMAS EVER!!!

I can't imagine a better Christmas. It was filled with tons of family and friends. Our annual Heck women's Christmas party was bigger than ever with over 30 of us attending. My mom's family even had a great surprise when my uncle who lives in Alaska showed up unexpectedly at our Christmas party - there were lots of tears and smiles- a moment I'll treasure forever. And of course one of my favorite Christmas traditions - Grandma Heck's breakfast.

However this Christmas was extra special because it was my first Christmas with Adam - my future eternal companion. Since many people reading this blog don't know our story, I'm gonna share some highlights of our first few months together:


How We Met

In the summer of 2007, they "invited" those of us who weren't students to leave the Boise Idaho University Stake... so my roommates and I obeyed and began attending the Boise Idaho 7th Ward. It was a very small (OK small can't even begin to describe it!) but the Bishopric was awesome (I actually work with the Bishop) and we were all given great opportunities to serve. That's where Adam and I first met. However neither of us were interested initially. We both had interest elsewhere and it took a few months for things to properly align before we made it to our first date.

Our First Date
Actually we probably need more of a background leading up to the first date. It seems both of us have differing stories on who liked who first. I am convinced Adam was interested in me first and he thinks the opposite. I guess it doesn't really matter now, because since we both thought the other was interested I guess it made us interested ourselves. So that's how our first date came to be, Adam thought I liked him and after "Operation Pumpkin" (see posting in October) he decided he was right and that he better take me out. Good thing he did!

So on October 19th we had our first date. We went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse where we waited for a table for over an hour - if Adam hadn't had a gift certificate I am sure we would have left. Afterwards he suggested we go Salsa dancing. We had a good time - well most of the time was a good time. Adam was a great dancer, but wasn't the best "protector". I got hit on by this short girl. She kept trying to get me on the floor and all but dragged me out there. I kept turning around to look at Adam with a look of "PLEASE SAVE ME" but all he did was laugh! I can't believe I even gave him a second chance after that one. Adam actually knew what he was doing on the dance floor and we had a lot of fun - even when his watch got tangled up in my hair and I almost finished the night off bald! We had some great laughs on that date.

The Proposal

Everyone always wants to know "how did he propose?" Well, it just kinda happened. We were just talking and basically decided we wanted to get married and he said "well I guess I should ask you then?" and I responded "probably" (not thinking he meant right then) and he said "I know this isn't romantic or anything, but will you marry me?" I of course said yes! The next step was picking out the ring, and we thought maybe he could surprise me then and ask me. Well, that didn't work so well either. Adam ordered the ring on the Internet and it happened to show up while we were in Oregon for Christmas. When we got back, Adam walked inside first, saw the package and put his computer on top so I wouldn't see it. Dan, Adam's roommate didn't know what was going on and later said, "hey yeah, I saw your 'terrorist' package came in" (it had shipped from the middle east). Well, I whipped around and looked obviously excited. So Adam made me wait a whole 15 minutes before he gave in and gave it to me. And here it is! I LOVE it!

Nutcracker

Ever since I've moved to Boise I have wanted to go to the Nutcracker and finally this year I made it!

If you haven't ever been to a ballet or seen the Nutcracker, I highly recommend it, it was a great way to bring in the holidays. The music is great and there is some incredible dancing!

It was the first time that Mary, Adam or I had ever been to the ballet so that made it extra special and fun!

Turkey Trot- Gobble Gobble!

The Turkey Trot is soooooooo fun! Its not your typical race where the winner is the first to cross the finish line. Its a 4 person relay team where the winner is the team who comes closest to their overall predicted time. Each person runs 2 miles and there are no watches or timers allowed on the course or by spectators.

This year our team was Emily, Mary, Dan and myself. It was pretty chilly that day but the rain mostly stayed away so it wasn't too bad. We didn't even come close to winning, but we had fun!

Oh and the best part our team name "One of us has a crush on Tom Brady" - can you guess which one??

Broncos vs. Aggies - Should this even be allowed?

OK, so going into this game I had no doubt that BSU would win, and although they are also my Alma mater, I had to stick with my first and foremost and don the USU gear. I had every hope that USU would make some kind of a showing - after all, when we were there two years ago it wasn't horrible, and although USU hadn't won a game all year, they had come close several times.

Well I was wrong... USU got slaughtered! It was disgusting. Well at least the weather was good! Especially for Logan in November!