Brad and I finally got the call that we have been waiting 2 months for. We got the house! Brad and I had our hopes set high on a home out at West Beach that a family friend had privately for sale. The owner of the house was really great to work with. We had to jump through a ton of hoops to get through the home buying process....pay stubs, letters from our employers saying that our jobs were stable in this economy, credit report mistakes and fixes, bank statements, our family budget, home insurance quotes, home inspection appraisal........all while the wedding planning was going on! It was nuts. It all paid off in the end. We received a grant to purchase our very first home. Brad and I signed about 100 pages of documents.....signing our life away and making the biggest purchase both of us have ever made before. It was so amazing.
Here is a picture of us signing the last page!
Luckily Brad's dad Barry works for the title company and helped us with all of the documents. We couldn't have done it without him! We are so excited! I can't wait to have a house warming party and invite everyone over to come and see our new home!
The following weekend Brad and I went to my girlfriend Robin's Grad party in Anacortes to celebrate her BA! She is going to make such a wonderful school teacher. She has worked so hard to get her BA and I am so proud of her. Here is a picture of Robin and I going out dancing in Oak Harbor. I just did a Rosie the Riviter photoshoot for the radio station and I didn't want to waste the fun hairstyle. We had so much fun that night. About a month after this picture was taken, I met Brad :)
Traffic was nuts getting there so we were a little late. Our tickets were super pricey and our seats weren't as good as I hoped they would be, especially for what we paid for them. We were totally cramped in our seats and we couldn't move at all. On top of that, Dane Cook wasn't as funny as we hoped he would be. We both love watching his live specials on TV, but we were both disappointed with his performance. It was funny, but not the typical Dane Cook funny. Oh well. At least we got to dress up for something fun, spend some time together, and get out of town. 
This is the second time Todd has given us tickets. Todd was the umpire for home plate so we had the best seats to watch him in action. Every now and then he'd give Brad a gesture to say hi which made Brad smile. Here is a picture of Brad holding Todd in the palm of his hand :)
Todd could get us 4 tickets so we took Brian and Jenn with us to the game. I think Brian is stuffing his face with BBQ Pork sandwich in this picture. 
I ate a ton of garlic fries and smelt so bad for days, but it was 
Everyone snacked on lunch that my mom made while Brad and I opened up the many many gifts that we received. It would take forever to list them all, but I'll list what I can :) My Grandma Snow White's gift was probably my favorite. She hand crocheted a table cloth for our home. I felt really special to get one since I was the only grandkid that she had ever made one for. When I was in Saskatoon visiting for my cousin Mitchy's wedding she was actually working on it then.....little did I know that at that point Brad had bought my ring and my grandma knew so she started to make me one. Its so special. 
My Aunt Audrey hand made a beautiful wedding quilt....yes I cried. It was so pretty. I gave my Cousin Russ a kiss to pass to my Aunt Audrey when he got home. 
We received a ton of gift cards from Bed, Bath, and Beyond....which I love, Walmart, Target, Home Depot, Macy's and people contributed to our honeymoon registry which allowed us to pay for our airline tickets in full for our honeymoon to Hawaii! We received beautiful artwork, kitchen items, a very creative date night basket with blankets...popcorn...mike n ikes, honeymoon basket with his and her towels....magazine for our flight to Hawaii.....games to play on our honeymoon, a tent so that we can go camping, and so much more. My mother in law bought a beautiful Another one of our really neat gifts was from my coworker Diane, she bought Brad and I a really nice grill. Brad is really excited about it.....I am too.....now he can cook me dinner :) 
Brad and I are so grateful for the wonderful friends and family. I'm hoping to send out thank you cards soon with a wedding photo. I haven't gotten them yet, but I will very soon :) 
The only thing we forgot to do before we left is take the latches off of the 30 buttons downt he bottom of my wedding dress, it was really funny because Brad has such big fingers. Eventutally it worked and then.......
From there we went straight to the Grand Willow to start getting ready. It all went really fast. Right after I put my dress and veil on it was time for pictures. We did the reveal outside. Brad was faced in the other direction and i came up behind him. I love that look that he gives me. I'll never ever get tired of it. We did a few shots outside and people started to arrive so we rushed inside. I feel like we didn't get any pictures so I was sort of bummed. I hope we got a few really great shots. Next thing I know Dad was ready to walk me down the aisle. It was perfect. I walked down the staris to a version of Canon in D in electric guitar. I couldn't get the smile off of my face. Everyone who I love was there to support us. It was beautiful. Marc did an amazing job as our minister. My bridesmaids looked stunning. Their dresses were sooooo pretty. I opted out for the ugly poofy sleeves dress :) Our little flower girls looked so adorable in their little dresses. I can't wait to see the video of the wedding so that I can see what they looked like when they walked down the aisle, everyone said it was super cute because Audrey went back and picked up the petals she dropped. Brad and I wrote our own vows....he truly amazed me with the words of love to me. I've never been so happy. I tried to keep it together while I recited my vows, but it was so hard :) I think he like it though. As we were saying I do, I handed him a piece of carved drift wood that said "I DO".....when brad told me that he loved me I found a piece of drift wood on the beach that said, "Brad loves Nikki" When we had our first big fight I found another one that said, " Always Kiss me Goodnight." When he proposed he gave me one that said, "I want to grow old with you." SO it seemed appropriate to carve one for him. I hope he liked it. After wards it was pretty much a blur....we talked to.....everyone, smiled a lot, and danced. Dinner was good, our cake was yummy, my flowers were perfect. Our first dance was a little tough since brad had three broken toes...ha ha ha. My dance with my dad was really special, he kept the song a surprise from me. All in all, it was.......PERFECT. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful husband, family, and friends. I am so happy to be MRS. TESCH!!!!!!!!
Afterwards Becky and I scrambled to get ready for the Rehearsal and the dinner. The rehearsal went so well, the music was in order, everyone knew where to stand and what to do, and things were set up at the grand willow so I could see the decorations. It was perfect. Just how I always pictured it. 
I made shirts for the kids too, they were super cute. 
Afterwards we went to Johnny Carinos for dinner for yummy italian food. I made bride and groom favor boxes for the night with m&m's they looked really cute on the tables. I'm glad I spent the time to make them, it was a really cute touch. 
We even had Bride and Groom Pimp cups. I couldn't help myself, they were so fun, I had to get them! 
Everyone had a great time and I was super tired so Brandy, Becky, Sister, and I came back to our apartment and stayed the night. It was a lot of fun to hang out with my girls. Brad stayed at Wil's house. I didn't want to see him the night before the wedding. 
Gen, Tara and I at my folks house before the party
The Girls: Tara, Sister, Gen, Becky, Brandy, Me, Robin, Great Aunt Anne, and Aunt Nancy, my mom was there too!
Aunt Nancy, Great Aunt Anne, and Sister eating dinner at the rockfish grill
Singing Nancy Sinatra, These boots.
My Best friend Becky and I at the Corner
