Our First Christmas

It was wonderful to have Brad in my life to share the holidays with. I experienced things I have never done before with both of our wonderful families and truly had a white Christmas! It snowed like crazy, it was beautiful, but really annoying to drive in, we got stuck a few times. With the Tesch family, we went Christmas tree hunting, I got to see the joy of little ones opening up Christmas presents, and share different family traditions on Christmas Eve. We received such wonderful gifts from his family including customized Tesch Seahawks T-shirts, pretty smelly lotion, books, a really cool magazine subscription ( its right up my alley....all about organizing......its awesome!) and so much more!With my family, it was so nice to bring someone home for the holidays where we had warm homemade cinnamon buns for breakfast, opened our stockings (my grandma in Newfoundland made Brad one), opening presents and being lazy all day in our PJs until it was prime rib time. My parents gave us wonderful gifts such as a GPS system so we won't get lost anymore, matching valets to go next to our beds to charge our phones and put our jewlery on, Seahawks gear, they made the last payment on our TV that we bought together and so much more. We also recieved a wonderful gift from my sweet godchild Veronica.....a cute picture of her along with a ticket stub letting us know that she'll be my flower girl at our wedding along with my Aunt Nancy, Uncle Brian, and my new cousin baby Maurice who I haven't met yet! I am so excited!

Before we went over to my folks place we celebrated Christmas at our apartment...which is somehting else I have never done. It was wonderful. Brad wrapped all of the presents for me, he said it took him a while, but everything was beautiful. It was exciting to see Brad open his gifts and see him smile. He bought me a beautiful Tiffany and Co. necklace and braclet, I have wanted one for years.....it was perfect. He bought me a yoga mat so I can workout at home, a really cool makeup bag, new fuzzy slippers......he came up with great ideas and truly made this one of the best Christmas I have ever had. I bought him stuff like books that he wanted, Seahawks gear, a book about his great grandmother with a written note from his Grandma Jacoba, and the best of all...a motorcycle. I kept it a secret from everyone, it was so hard not to tell anyone....but I wanted everyone to believe Wil's story of how the bike was already sold. Some people bought it, while others didn't. I'm just happy that Brad has a safer bike than the one he had. I'm hoping he'll buy a seat for the bike so we can go to Oyster Run together next year and take long bike rides together. I'm really excited to make so many more happy memories with him.

This year has been such a blessing in my life. I have found the one whom I was meant to love for the rest of my life, I have been accepted with open arms to my new extended family, I have a beautiful step daughter whose smile lights up my life, I have become best friends with my parents, I have beautiful nieces and nephew who I get to watch grow up, and I have reignited my faith in God. I prayed for so long for my happily ever after and I am so blessed to have recieved it.

Dinner

I was invited to go to dinner at the Living Word church with Mom Tesch and Jenn. They had a wonderful dinner planned with food, singing, stories, and giveaways. There were so many people that I didn't even get to sit with them.

Bummer. We had a great time anyways :)

Tree!!!!!

Since I was born and lived oversees my entire life, I have grown up with a fake Christmas tree. I like them, you don't have to pay for a new one, mine already has christmas lights on it, they are clean, and are easy to put away. I grew up with one, so I am use to having one. This year Brad and I tagged along with the Tesch fam to pick out their Christmas tree. I had no idea there we so many differnt kinds to chose from and how much fun it was to pick out the perfect tree. Once we found the perfect tree, Marc cut me off a piece of the stump. It was really thoughtful. I'm going to make a Christmas tree ornament out of it.

Christmas Surprise

Last night Brad had night shift with his work. I really hate being at home when he's not there. The house seems so big and lonely without him and sometimes I get scared at night. He protects me from intruders, bears, and people with pamplets :) So instead of staying home last night I stayed the night with my coworker Diane. Diane and I have been friends for about 7 years now. We talk about everyhting together, she gives me advice....I consider her to be my other mother and best friend. Last night she taught me how to sew. I cut out a pattern, pinned, and sewed on the machine. Let me tell you, sewing isn't as easy as it looks, its a lot of prep work. I am making a surprise for my mom. It's very hard to buy my mom things since she is the woman who has everything. This present is very clever. I won't spill the beans about it since my mom reads my blog, you'll have to wait and see :)

12th Man

Brad and I went to the Hawks game thanks to tickets given to us by his buddy Josh Rowley. The stadium was so loud, blue and green everywhere....supporting our local team being the best 12th man we could be :) This is is our second game that we've gone to together. It was such a beautiful day, we had such a great time....other than the fact that the Hawks lost :(

Welcome Home

My girlfriend Sam went on her first deployment with the Navy to Afgahnistan. She is a Prowler Pilot. I was really excited for her to get back. She was my girlfriend who listened to me complain, we did craft projects together, watched chick flicks together, went to parties....we've had some really great times together. Since her family isn't here, my family adopted her. My dad hated when he went from base to base and missed his family around the holidays. Sometime having a homecooked meal by mom, even if its not your mom, makes you feel at home and loved. My parents have "adopted" tons of military people around the holidays. My dad and I made signs and waited for her to fly the plane into base. It was really neat. They prowlers did a fly over, landed then, came right up to the hanger we were in. The top of the jet popped off and there she was....it was straight out of Top Gun.....she has such a cool job. We both teared up because we're girls and it was a really emotional moment for us as friends. She was so happy to see someone she knew and loves. I am so proud of her and for fighting for my freedom and for the freedom of our country. I am so happy she is home safe. I love you Sam.....P.S. I'm sorry I killed some of your plants while you were gone :) ha ha ha!

My True North

Brad has been itching to get a new tattoo since it had been a while since his last one. We finally had a little bit of fun money to spend, so he was really excited to go. I brought Brad's ideas to American Traditions Tattoo in Oak Harbor to see if they could draw up an idea of the two tattoos Brad wanted. The first tattoo was the Cadillac symbol in remembrance of Grandpa Tesch. The old Cadillac symbol had a crown on it, so Brad wanted that old school look incorporated into it. It also had ducks on it, which really isn't Brad, so I recommended that he turn the Cadillac symbol into a family tree and use stars instead of ducks. Grandma and Grandpa Tesch on top, then Barry and Debbie, then Marc, Brad and Jenn. She drew it up and it looked just the way he pictured. We were in the tattoo parlor for about 4 1/2 hours. She was such a perfectionist. Making all of the colors so vibrant and making it look so detailed. She was amazing to watch, such a great artist. She even put rust onto the tattoo to give it the old school flavor.....really neat.

Brad's second tattoo went on his ring finger. His wedding ring has been beat up so bad from work and he couldn't wear it to the gym because it bothered him when he lifted weights. I drew it when he asked me to marry him and he loved it. It means North Star....which of coarse is me :) It took no time for her to tattoo it since it was so small, but you should have seen Brad's face....it looked like it hurt really bad. He told me that it was worth the pain. It was really funny to see such a big guy make that face. He's so damn adorable.

He loves me so much and that makes me so happy. I'll get a tattoo after the wedding, I promised my dad I would wait :)

Wedding Cake

On November 22nd....(I know I'm way behind on my blogs) Myself, Mom Tesch, Jenn, Grace, Ezra and Audrey traveled to the boondocks of Custer, WA to meet our cake lady Mechaelle. I looked everywhere to find affordable cakes. I got price quotes anywhere from $300 to $500 for the cake that we wanted. Even grocery stores wanted $400 for very simple cakes. Jenn used Mechaelle at her wedding and said she was very reasonable and has yummy cakes. She was soooooo right. She had a ton of cake photos for us to look at, different flavor options, different ideas. And on top of that she was really nice and so much fun to talk to. It was so much fun hanging out with my new family and spending time with the kiddos. Here's what Brad and I decided on with the help of our families (we all taste tested the samples she made):

Brides Cake:
White Chiffon Cake with Raspberry buttercream filling and White Butter cream frosting. The cake will be three tiers with ivory flowers in between the tiers. Each tier will have ivory ribbon on the bottom of each layer and the icing will have loose swirls on each layer piped in with icing.....its the cake of my dreams and more and for only $180.00!

Grooms Cake:

Vanilla and chocolate marbel cake with carmel butter cream filling and butter cream frosting. The cake will be a sports fan cake with the Seahawks and Mariners combined. Its going to be a really fun cake, it was all Brad's idea....its so perfect for him. I can't wait to see it! His cake will cost $100.00.