One Year Ago Today...

Joseph and I got engaged! We could not be happier!! One of the first postings of this blog tells the story of how it all happened! I LOVE YOU JOSEPH!

Christmas Decorations

Joseph is not related to Clark Griswold, but he does have the same type of thinking when it comes to Christmas! He is my "sparky"! If it was up to him we would have a huge Christmas tree in the middle of our living room and 250 light strands would cover every inch of the exterior house!!!

Instead, we have a beautiful decorated Christmas tree perfectly framed by our front windows! Our lights line the trim work around the house and give out a beautiful glow to the neighborhood. The Okerlund house is very festive filled with snowflakes (thanks to Grandma Williams), nativity scene (thanks Mom Jill), snow people (thanks Mom Carol), and a small wooded area of charlie brown trees!

Our big tree is the second tree we put up this year. We originally had a smaller tree up but really Joseph wanted a taller one! My parents haven't used their tall tree the past couple of years so they let us use it! Of course we had to put that tree up right away and it really fits the room nicely(thanks Mom & Pappa Mutz)!

Our house is very beautifully decorated and yet we won't be spending Christmas here! We are traveling to Colorado to be with family! BUT we can not wait till the time comes when we get to host Christmas here! We were able to host dinner for Joseph's Aunt Susie and Uncle Jack! We enjoyed it and can't wait for future gatherings here at the Okerlund's!


Following are pictures of our decorated house and holiday cookies which I made!

First Holiday Party of the Season

Last night we had our first Holiday Gathering at our wonderful neighbors house - Sarah and John! We enjoyed meeting new people and watching the children decorate holiday cookies! We were the only couple there with no kids - and we enjoyed every bit of it! I enjoyed holding little Riley most of the night (Joseph say's I held her too long and I will start to have crazy ideas of having kids!). Joseph was amazed at the crafts kids can make and all the advanced toys they have today! Boy - Will I have my hands full when we do have kids as Joseph is a big kid himself!

We throughly enjoyed ourselves and are blessed to have great neighbors! We are sad to find out they will be transfering to Rhode Island for John's job. We hope to continuue our friendship with them and look forward to the many great times we do get to cherish with them before they leave.

November

November flew by so fast....We traveled to Colorado Twice (total of 32plus hours in the car!) One time we drove for my brother's surprise party! He was so shocked and made the trip worthwhile! His party was November 1st and everyone had fun singing karaoke all night! While we were there Joseph golfed and I went to see Obama! Following are pictures of our trip:

The second time we drove was for Thanksgiving! I love Thanksgiving because you get to spend lots of valuable time with family! Joseph's brother Jason and his lovely wife Melanie hosted Thanksgiving this year. The food and company was great! We were entertained after dinner by our two nieces. Before we came back to Oklahoma we celebrate Joseph's birthday with his family! Following are pictures of our thanksgiving trip:

Besides all the traveling we have started to decorate for Christmas! I love Christmas because of the decorating! I love all the twinkling little lights! Once the house is complete I will get pictures up for all to see!

As for our house projects, they haven't been worked on!!!! Life has been crazy driving here and there, and doing this and that, and everything else we just have decided to wait till things calm down. After all it is just Joseph and I and really there is no hurry to get it done. I would rather get it down right than done fast!

October Projects and Other Misc. Stuff

We have had a busy month! Besides celebrating Jospeh's Birthday we have been working on the bathroom shower, using our new grill (Thanks Nathan, Jackie, and Jack!)decorating the house, setting up the rest of bedroom furniture, and well fixing Joseph's Dodge! Here are a few pictures:

Joseph's Birthday!

Joseph had a Birthday week filled with celebrations almost nightly! Here is a list of the few events that took place:

-Played Phase 10
-Bowled
-Went out for dinner and drinks with friends
-Played Wii Mario Kart all weekend long!
-Opened gift on Wednesday night (Golf statue)
-Opened gift on Friday night (Wii Mario Kart)
-Had homemade Lasagna
-Made the Birthday Boy French Toast at 5:09 in the Morning!
-Had homemade coconut cream pie
-Grilled a chicken

He had a great week! Following are pictures for all of you to enjoy!

Overdue Update

We are finally settled! We are no longer living with misc. boxes around the house and the office is finally picked up and organized! Now that the house is taken care of we can concentrate on other things such as our "blog" and well the master bathroom shower! Hopefully we will accomplish both of these soon:

Our goals:

1) Finish installing the bathroom shower before Christmas!
2) Keep up on a weekly blog to family and friends

Pretty much we have failed on both accounts but plan to hit things hard in November. Joseph has been working on the shower on the weekends and I am not letting him start another project until this one is complete. OR SHOULD I SAY I am trying NOT to let Joseph start another project until this one is complete. I will say Joseph likes to demolish things! - He is a pro on that! He is a perfectionist on finessing things too, it just takes him a long time! Hun - I love you and am so glad you are a handy man!

As for the blog updates, nothing to blame here - just me! I have been wanting to wait until I received some wedding pictures before I posted anything, but that seems like it may be till Christmas before we get any pictures as our photographer is in Pueblo and well we are in OKC....

Anyway, following are some wedding pictures I have collected from people. Enjoy!

Rehearsal:

Wedding:

Misc. Photobooth Pictures:

The Day After:

Family Visiting

Once we had everything moved in from the truck, we were able to have some fun! I know my Mom and Dad wanted to see more of Edmond and Oklahoma City. After all, that is where their baby girl will be living soon! They couldn't get over how red the soil is there!

Jill and Tony (Joseph's Mom and Step-Dad) drove out to Oklahoma to see our house and have some fun around OKC too! We all piled in Joseph's Dodge and headed out to see the sites!

We are so blessed to have great parents who help us move and give us support! Thank you!

The Big Move!

About a month ago, My parents and I loaded up the Penske truck and drove out to Oklahoma to my New Home with Joseph! Below are pictures of our Home Sweet Home!

Engagment Photos

On July 3rd we went up to the Broadmoor and took our engagement pictures! We had such a great time and I can not wait till we see all the photo's our photographer Catherine took! We almost cancelled taking them due the weather, but the evening ended up being perfect! It was nice for Joseph and I to have some romantic cuddle time! Joseph thought it was more like a make-out session with poparotsy following us (laugh - I love him so much!)!

We thought we would share some of the photo's my pappa took! Enjoy!

Everything Happens for a Reason

I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. There are many times when people do not realize things happen for a reason and they concentrate on that closed door (or what they left behind). What they don't realize is they need to stop focusing on that closed door (or what they have left behind) and see what they have now. Everyone would be surprised - as everything happens for a reason and everyone is better off because of it.

Lately it seems like so much is changing in Joseph and my life. I truly believe everything happens for a reason and we will be better because of it. For one - Joseph and I will be together and he is my Best Friend! How great is that! Everything else will just fall into place!

Support

I must say Joseph and I have been blessed to have so much support during the planning of our wedding! We would like to thank all of our family and good friends as everyone has played a very special role in our lives. From our family to our friends, new and old each of you has touched our lives in some significant way, shaping us as individuals. As we get prepared to celebrate the joining of our hearts and our souls, we would like to thank you all for your love, support, and friendship over the years. We are so blessed to have such a strong support system.

We would especially like to thank our parents for giving us life, love, and opportunity, and for ALWAYS supporting us wherever our dreams have taken us.

Thank You

Wedding Progress

The wedding planning has gone a lot smoother than what I anticipated. One would think it would be challenging getting everyone together as I Live in Monument, Joseph living in Edmond (Oklahoma), and family living in Pueblo. It is not that challenging to get everyone together, but challenging to go full steam ahead after you have done 14 hours of straight wedding planning! I think the words "BURNT OUT" can sum up our few wedding weekends.

What we have left to do:
Not much! We have been plowing away at full strength since the day of the engagement! We have just finished our marriage prep classes and our meeting with Father Ben. We can officially get married!

As for the planning aspects, I would say we have little things to do....like Register..THANK GOODNESS FOR THE INTERNET!!!

We also have other small logistics to think about such as music, the layout of the hall, etc. But other than that things are progressing along smoothly!


Thank goodness for the Internet!!!

Our Engagement

Joseph was very romantic about the whole engagement! Although, he wanted to give me the ring as soon as I picked him up at the airport on December 21st, he waited as he had a spectacular plan on asking me on December 22nd!

The week of December 10th I was telling Joseph that I wanted to get my nails done for the holidays and was stressing on where and when I would get them done as all places on the 22nd would be very busy. He said, "Babe don't worry about it, I don't want you to stress over this. I will make the appointment. Please don't worry." The week of December 17th I kept asking if he had my appointment made, he said yes..but would never tell me where. During that same week Joseph also told me he left his watch at the Broadmoor the weekend before (Pulte's Holiday party took place the weekend before, and Joseph was very sick). At that moment I actually started thinking he made the appointment at the Broadmoor.

On December 22nd he told me my nail appointment was at 2:00pm down south somewhere. At around 1:30pm we started driving to the appointment. He took the North Academy exit and I thought, hum maybe we are going to a nail place and he really did leave his watch behind at the Broadmoor. He also said we should pick me up something to eat since we didn't eat lunch. I told him I would be fine and could wait an hour. He replied back that I should so I scarfed down a Wendy's hamburger.

We arrived at Middleton Salon at 2:00pm and as I was getting checked in for my appointment the lady started telling me what services Joseph had scheduled for me for: massage, pedicure, and end with a manicure!!! What a TREAT! He left me at the spa and picked me up at 5:00pm. Our next steps were to pick up his watch and head to Pueblo...... or so I thought....

As we were pulling into the Broadmoor Joseph puts on his watch and says, "Oh look I found my watch!" I surprisingly said, "Oh so we don't need to go to the Broadmoor now!" He had the biggest smile on is face and replied back, "yes, we are staying the night here!" He then asked me to look in the glove department to pull out the valet paperwork and I gave him a hard time saying these were last weeks, but he convinced me otherwise. Needless to say I was excited to be back at the Broadmoor. I thought he was making up from last week as my Holiday party was the weekend before and Joseph was really sick. I was ready to get grab the bags and he said everything was already in the room.

As soon we walked into the room there were two dozen red roses on the table and my long formal brown dress nicely displayed with the right pair of shoes and jewelry! He told me we had dinner reservations at 8:00pm at the Penrose room (the only Five Star Restaurant in town) with live music and dancing. I was not expecting all of this. While I was being pampered at the spa, Joseph was busy going back to my place to get the dress, shoes, etc. and checking us into the Broadmoor.
We had a wonderful dinner at the Penrose room. Once again, I simply thought Joseph was making things up from last weekend and he kept his promise on taking me out for a night of dinner and dancing!

After dinner and dancing we crossed back over the bridge (we were staying at the Broadmoor West)and went into this nook where a fireplace and fountain was. It was a cold night and we were getting warm by the fire. He told me to look at the Christmas tree as something was there for me! There I found a Broadmoor ornament. My St. Nick gift in which he delayed giving me! He then pointed again and told me to look harder....there I found a little red stocking. He asked me to bring it over to the fireplace. Joseph got down on his knee and proposed,

"I don't have anything romantic to say....but I will be the best husband you could ask for if you will be my wife!"

I automatically replied, "What do you think?" He didn't like that answer and questioned it back to me once more, "Will you Marry Me?' I then replied "OF COURSE!" He still wasn't satisfied with my response and he then asked me, "Where is the YES?"..... I then giggled and said "YES I will marry you and be your wife!!!" )I guess I needed to practice my part!) At that moment the gorgeous radiant cut ring came out of the stocking and I started crying, it was so beautiful!!!

It was great night full of surprises! After the proposal we called our family and
shared the great news!