Our Honeymoon

Here are a few pictures of our honeymoon. We went to Frankenmuth for 4 days. We had a lot more pictures however somehow they were erased from my camera. So on the last day we went around and tried to recreate the pictures we had taken.


The Front of the Inn.


This was our room . I loved the tub!


My hunky husband on our balchoney


Me and my rose. What a beautiful bride I was this morning! YIKES!




We did go on a horse and buggy ride just not his one. Our horse was black but like I said we lost those pictures.

These are just a few shots I thought were pretty:








This was the last picture taken right before we left.

Can I please tell you how much I love being married. It is funny because I know it has only been 11 days but we are having a lot of fun. I feel much more relaxed now that I am not planning a wedding and I feel like we can just enjoy each other. I love beign a MRS!

Ode, to a Cuncussion

My head is in a fog,
I keep forgetting what I was going to say,
I fear I might throw up,
what an awful day!

My brain is floating high,
My body is not in sink,
My timing is all off,
I was going to say that..... I think!

My emotions are all crazy,
I cry at a drop of a hat,
one minuet I am happy,
The next I am crying because I am fat!

This pounding head is hurting,
My speech is all slurred,
I want to just go to sleep,
HELP I cannot see the road, everything is blurred!

I can't wait till this is over,
I am tired of feeling sick,
I am tired of sounding stupid,
and acting like a............DORK!!

House Update

OH MY! we had our house inspection today (or atleast what we could) and we discovered thereis major leaking inthe plumbing under the house. so much so that thye coudl not even check the well and septic system because there was not enough water pressure to fill them. we sat and talked about it for a while and decided that if we felt like we just had to have this house we woudl spend the money on the plumbing and many other issues that need to be fixed however we do tno feel that it is really worth it.

As it stands now we are going to back and square one and will be looking at other houses.

Wish us luck!

A Tricky Time

I know I have written in a while however there has been a lot going on... let me update you....

Sickness: I went to the Doctor and had blood drawn because I was so tired all the time. They found out that my blood pressure is very high and that my white blood cell counts were up, so they put me on antibiotics. and after that I went and got more blood drawn and they were still elevated so... they said to wait and come back in so again a week later (after already feeling like a human pin cushion) I got them redrawn and they were very high again so they knew there was an infection some where but they did not know where. In the mean time she put me on a water pill and potassium to help my blood pressure. Now those of you that know my family know that we have weak bladders as it is (Shawna is the worst) but let me tell you I have never in my life peed as much as I am now! So anyway they took a chest X-ray and did a urine culture and come to find out I have a extreme urinary and bladder infection. which I had no signs of except for a sore back. So now I am taking 4 pills every morning but I can feel my energy picking up and wanting to actually do things instead of just wanting to go lay down every night after I get home. I have to go back 2 weeks after I finish the antibiotics and give more blood to keep if that took care of the problem.

House: OK so here is what is happening with our new home. We had to put 1000.00 down as earnet money (I think that is what it is called) but we were told we would be getting it back, So we did not have that much saved so we took it out of our wedding fund. I figured that since we would be getting it back in early October that would be fine. Well now the mortgage company tells us that we did not qualify for the 100.00 dollars down program so that 1000 that we gave we will not be getting back but instead it will be used toward the closing costs!!!! WE ARE NOW GOING TO BE 1000.00 SHORT FOR THE WEDDING! So please pray that we can squeeze the money out some where. It is not like we are a couple that spends a lot of money. We are I think very financially responsible we have no credit cards and we are trying to keep it that way until we get our loans paid off. But now I do not know what the heck we are going to do. Prayer would be VERY helpful!

Wedding: So I took an early afternoon on Monday and I hit the jackpot. I love meijer in DeWitt. I found my shoes, the bridesmaid earrings and the present for Sophia. I have everything done for my girls now if we were as lucky for the men. we ordered our cake and it was so good we had a hard time picking. we decided to go with Cherry chunk, Pumpkin and vanilla (for those unadventurous people)

So that is where every thing stands! Sorry it took so long to get a post up but I hope you understand why now.

NEW house

so it is offical I am a new home owner! We have the cutiest little 1,477 square foot home on Taft road. I am so excited to be back in st. johns! I cannot wait, it just feels better to be closer and in familar place where not everyone knows who you are and everyones business is their own. And my mom is most excited because my children will be going to East Olive.

We will be closing in the begining of october and moving in then! I know.... crazy I will be going on my last month of wedding planning and moving all at once. but it is so owrth it I am so excited!

I will be calling everyone after we set a weeknd to have a pinting party! I know evrone LOVES to paint!

THE REALITY!

Do you see this!? Only three months until the big day! I have so many mixed emotions about this I am not sure what to do! I am so scared that I am not going to be able to get everything done. I am so excited to have the huge party and tons of fun. I am SUPER excited to spend the rest of my life with the greatest man alive. and Last but no least I feel so blessed to be finally at this point in my life.

MAN TIME FLIES!

Cow Bell Hell

So here is where everything stands.

I am looking for small cowbells rather then the regular bells for the reception. I think it woudl be cute because of Joels work! Well there is not suck thing as a cheap cowbell these days! LOL You would think that I was asking for something in
14K gold!

The brides maids dresses came in and they are better then I expected. I love the color and they have really looked nice on everyone that I have seen them on.

The flowers are being done. My best friend Monica's mom is doing them for us. She is doing a great job I love when has been done. I am not going to post pictures because I want people to be surprised.

The groomsmen are finally getting in and get their measurements. This has been very frustrating because Joel has not done his either. so you can be my guest when you see him to remind him over and over until it gets done.

I am STILL looking for wedding shoes and brides maid jewelry. I do not think that I can do gold now because after seeing the dress I think gold jewelry will not look ok so I am thinking pearls.

I am everyday being reminded how much I love Joel. I have been pretty sick lately (going to the Dr. today to find out why) and he has been so sweet. I am totally stressed out and tired ALL the time and have been getting bad headaches and he woke up early this morning and rubbed my back and to try and help my cramping I am getting in it. Do not get me wrong we have our moments, Most of which are my fault, but we get through them and love each other just as much as we did before. I am amazed at how much I am learning about the "idea of love" I had created all these years of being single, and what real love truly is. And all though the picture "perfect" ideal of love may look better from the out side. The real love feels better then I ever thought it could.

Engagement Announcement

Mr. and Mrs. Michael Munger of St. Johns announce the engagement of
their daughter Elissa Kay to Joel Ryan, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Randal
Ryan of Maple Rapids. The bride is a graduate of St. Johns High
School and Lansing Community College. She is currently the Director
of the Adventure Club Childcare Center in St. Johns. The groom, a
graduate of Fulton High School is currently employed by Schneider
Dairy in Fowler. A November 7th, 2009 wedding is planned.

Pictures!

Ok so if you want to see a few of our engagement pictures then you can go to Linettecrosby.com and click on Joel and Elissa. These are a few of our pictures. There are more however I wanted to see them so bad that linette was kind enough to work really hard and get these out for me. Now I am not sure how we are going to go about getting them for family to pick though but I know there will be a way. It might just take a bit of time.

Tagged

Shawna tagged me so now it ismy turn but what happens when you do nto have 8 friends to tag? Oh well it will give me something to do beyond work.

8 things I am looking forward to:
1. Being Mrs. Ryan
2. Wearing my beautiful dress
3. Seeing baby Max
4. Being a mommy myself
5. Getting the bathroom redone
6. Going to houghton lake as much a s humanly possiable this summer
7. Getting our engagement pictures done
8. Getting weight loss surgury

8 things I did yesterday:
1. Worked
2. Met with our photographer
3. Went grocery shopping
4. Starting making Sophias hair piece for the wedding
5. Gave away my lilly bulbs to a friend of joels bulbs
6. Had frozen pizza for dinner
7. tried to make pearl hair pins for myself
8. Watched the movie Role Modles

8 Things I wish I could do:
1. move 5 months along faster
2. get pregant now
3. work from home
4. not worry abotu money
5. be a wedding planner
6. find wedding shoes
7. stop people that should not be having babies from having them
8. SELL MY HOUSE!

8 TV Shows:
1. American Idol (well now I have to find some thing else)
2. Family Guy
3. Trama Life in the ER
4. Bridezillas
5. House hunters
6. Moving up
7. Family Feud
8. Sports (when Joel has the remote)
I like reality TV!

I do nto have 8 friends to tag sorry the buck sotps here!

Wedding Shoes

Ok so the wedding shoe search has been exhausting. First of all, I want flats so that I can wear them all night, they need to be ivory or an off white color to match my dress and I wanted some this will pearls or beads to add some glam. I have not found a thing ... until yesterday. these are the shoes that I have fallen in love with...



I They come in a bone color that looks perfect the only dilemma I am having is that they are 109.00! They are by designer Jeffery Campbell. Now I need some advice from those that have had to buy wedding shoes... is that WAY too much to spend for the perfect shoe, or should my search continue? I have looked online and have not found anything I have been in love with and these just do it for me, but am I being ridiculous?

The BEST weekend

I had a great weekend this weekend so I thought it would be a nice thing to share. First of all Joel forgot our 6 month anniversary. he says he didn't but I know he did. SO he surprised me a Saturday to took me to Clara's in Lansing. It was very nice and he let me get what ever I wanted. needless to say thougth it will not be a place we go very often because it was very expensive. Then we went to the meridian mall and looked around for the endless search for wedding shoes. Still no luck.

On Sunday we went to the Lawn mower races in Maple rapids. Now I do not know who I have never been to one of these but I had a blast. really it is all about sitting around drinking and watching these lawn mowers going really fast. it was super4 fun and all the money that they get each week goes to a different charity. this week was Ele's place. the next race is on the 7th of June and it is 5.00 per car! and tons of fun!

Prayer Requests

So I know I do not post a lot. But there are a few things that we have made decision on that I wanted to let everyone know. We are going to have our bathroom redone. It took us a while to get there (me being a little tight with money... I wonder who I take after ....MOM)but I feel that it will be necessary to get that stuff done before the house will sell.

I also have a few prayer requests that I would like to ask for:

1. for the house to get sold as fast a possible but also for continued peace in my heart about living where we do.

2. that we are making the right decision with the bathroom and guidance with that.

3. My job and how some employees are making it miserable for me and patience with that and to remain the better person.

4. That my nephew will finish cooking and be born already! This has been the longest pregancy EVER!

5. and last but not least that this next months fly by to the weeding and everythgin goes smoothly and as planned.. I cannot wait to be Mrs. Ryan!


that is the only update I have sorry my life is so borning. It si bound to get much more exciting as the day comes closer!

WE ARE LISTED!

Our house is now up for sale! If you got century 21 and type in MLS# 189289 you will see it. I think he did a pretty good job making it look nice. He did not however put any pictures of the bathroom on... Huh I wonder why. But if you go on you can see the changes we have made by painting.

UPDATE

Ok so here it our new plan of action. We spent this past weekend working our butts off cleaning the house, taking down trees, trimming bushes, putting up new lights inside and out. Just trying to make the house look very welcoming. Today at 1:00 we are meeting wiht a reailtor and seeing if it is possibale for us to put the house up on the market wiht them. My one worry is that the house is really not worth what Joel paied for it the the peopel who sold it to him really took him for a ride. I will let you know how it goes and hopfully be posting before and after pictures as soon as I find the cord to my camera!

FRUSTRATED!

As most of you know I am not a big fan of living in the house we live or in the villiage that we live in. Well, we thought that maybe we coudl make the house more liviable by redoing the bathroom and kitchen and maybe then we could stay there for a little bit longer at least until the market gets turned around and we may have a better chance of selling the house. We got an awesome quote from my cousin Jason Heibeck. (if you are remodeling he is the man to call) and we were all gun-ho about it. I was finially starting to think that I might make it here for a while and not go crazy..... well that is all in the crapper now! We went to see what we could get as far as a loan and well the answer is we could either get a personal loan at 12% interest for five years and pay 250 a month or we could refinaince and try to sell it to the secondary market for $83,000. THE HOUSE WILL NEVER BE WORTH THAT MUCH! So we are again back to square one and I fell like I am losing it. I am getting very depressed lilving where I am and I just do not know what to do. I feel aweful for wasting Jasons time and am working up the courage to tell him the news and I feel bad about not liking Maple Rapids. (Becuase it is where Joel has grown up) but I have to admit that I am probly the most unhappy I have ever been. This is a time in my life that I am supposed to feel over joyed right? I just don't, I feel stuck in a home and town I do not want to be in. It is a good thing that I love Joel with all my heart because I would have been up and gone about a month ago!

I do not know what to do and I need some advice! I do not want to hear stick it out! I am seriouse I truly feel like I am losing my mind and I do not know how long "sticking it out" will work.

As Requested!

I was informed this weekend by an Aunt who will remain unnamed that I do not post on here enough. I guess my life is not as exciting as I thought it would be. Also my dear mother told me that I have a lot of spelling errors. But let me tell you that if spell check doe snot catch it then I won't either. Everyone who knows me well knows that I am not a great speller.

So a update, Over spring break I got quite a bit of stuff done. on Monday mom and Sophia and I went to "Weddings by Nicole" and ordered my linens for the head, Dj, Cake, gift and food tables. We also found beautiful table runners that are 15 inches wide and are a champagne gold color. Then we decided to look for flower girl dresses and went to Burlington Coat Factory. Let me tell you if you know anyone that is getting married suggest for them to go there. Sophia tried on at least 15 dresses (which she of course loved) and we found the prefect dress for only 30 dollars! It is beautiful Ivory and gold. This picture shows it in pink but I cannot find the one is my colors but you get the hint



Ok so that is all for now I will be getting more pictures and putting them on soon of the house after painting (what a difference that made!) and our new puppy!

So I hope everyone is happy and that I have not spelled too many things wrong!

Home sweet Home

Here are the pictures of the house I promised!



Entry Way:



Living Room:





Dinning Area:



Kitchen:





Bathroom:





Guest Room:



Master Bedroom:







Laundry Room



Please Do keep in mind that we are still in the process for finding a place for things so I am sorry for the mess!
Now do you see why we need some updates? It is a good little house it just need some TLC!

Making Some Changes

Joel and I have been talking about what we want to do about the house. NO one has even looked at it and I doubt anyone will. Maple Rapids is not exactly a place people actually want to move to (unless they grew up there) and there is a lot of updating that needs to be done. I plan on posting some picture soon so you can all see what I mean.

So we have discussed it and have decided to contact some contractors and see how much it would cost to get everything done that we want or even if it can be done to a 1970's manufactured home.

The First list includes:
All new bathroom
New Kitchen Cabinets and counter tops
Moving the back door to a new location so that we can have a bigger kitchen
New flooring through out the house (green and yellow shag is just not doing it for me)
Seeing about getting the wood paneling covered or taken down and dry wall put up. Fixing the ceilings
Fix Front Porch

The larger Ideas that might have to wait a bit are:
New windows
New siding
New roof
A Deck on back
Pave a driveway
New Garage

If it is in our budget I would also like to hire someone to paint. I hate painting and I am not good at it at all. But hat is something that I know I can do not my own and will save me some money to do on my own. I will just have to have some help.

So I am alitte worried because I do not know how to go about getting the money and this is really sadly enough the first "Big" money thing I have ever done. I guess the first step will be to get some quotes. And then go to the bank and see what we can do.

So if anyone knows of any good contractors that are decently priced please let me know. And if I am doing the process Wong let me know should I see what money I can get first? And Pray that we can get it done soon because I am going crazy in that place.

At a Stand Still

Nothing really new has been happening with the wedding and I feel bad because I have not been able to put any updates on here. So it won't be much but here are a few minor updates.

We have picked out our wedding bands (we both have expensive taste!)




Monica, Gina Erin, and I went on Friday and ordered dresses. I am very excited about them. They are going to look beautiful on everyone and the color is just beautiful! I will not have a picture of the color but this is the dress: go to Moonlightbridal.com and search 8860.

Othere then that there are really no updates it is driving me crazy because I feel like there is nothing more that I can do at this time. But trust me i know it is bound to get busy fast and then I will probly have a hard time writing beecause I do nto have time but I will do my best!

The Topper

Ok so here it is the final decision. All ordered and int he mail. We will just use the middle 4 inch "R" for the top of our cake. It is the brushed Gold which is good because all the other gold ones I had found where shinny gold and that is not what I want. So I think this will look really nice.

My maid of Honor Monica is looking into getting the guest table linens made by the girl who did her curtins. So far it sounds promising and I will get a good deal. I plan on renting the other linens form weddings by Nicole so far I have been very impressed with their willingness to help and explain things to me. They are wonderful.. If you have heard anything about them let me know.

So one of the biggest things I am afraid of now is forgetting something important. I have had dreams about it, LOTS lately but I know everything will be fine. It may be because I have been watching wedding shows any time I can (which is not often because sports usually win out on our TV) But I am so scared to be Bridzilla that I think that I might have to have some wine in the morning to make me not worry and stress. I know I will not be mean but I might worry myself sick. I know everyone has something go wrong but I have waited so long for this day I want it ti be as perfect as possible. We have wonderful family behind us on both sides so I am sure they will not let anything that they can help go wrong. But still the worry is there. Is that normal for all brides?

Wedding Count Down

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A Plus Size Bride

Joel and I now have a membership to Snap Fitness here in St. Johns. Now as all of you know I am not the most athletic person and working out is not a fun thing to me. I am not one of those people that go to the gym for fun and love sweating. I hate sweating and my idea of fun is gardening, watching a movie or just sitting in the sun reading. I enjoy walking so I spend most of my time walking on the tread mill and then do a few weights but always feel embarrassed as the super workout girl next to me is running and I am speed walking. But now that I am getting married I feel like people are expecting me to loose weight ( I keep getting asked by my mom and grandma if we are still going to the gym) ... well news flash.. probably not going to happen. I might tone up a little and loose a few pounds but I am not going to stress myself out trying to loose weight while trying to plan a wedding. I am finding out that there a lots of things that need to be "plus sized" that I did not realize. A Garter for instance, they do no come in all sizes I have to hunt down a plus size one to fit my thunder thighs that I have been blessed with.

I guess what bugs me the most about brides that try to loose weight before their wedding is that they are not doing it for the right reasons. They are not doing it for health issues but they are doing it for vanity. I feel that Joel fell in love with me when I am this size and he is not expecting me to be smaller when he marries me. I am a true blue believer that being beautiful and sexy is all in how you carry and present yourself. Even the skinny of skinniest people can be ugly even on their wedding day.

So to those of you who want to see skinny mini Elissa on November 7th... do not hold your breath, because trust me you will pass out waiting!

CHEESY TOPPERS

I have been thinking about the cake a lot lately and what I want it to look like. I think I have a pretty good Idea however I was looking for a topper and I just thought I would show you some of the options they now give us blushing brides to choose from:



The cheep looking straw collection. But I think that the fake glass pumpkins adds just the right touch.

Then there is the ever popular, couple getting it on, on top of their wedding cake! I do not think it is necessary to show what you planning on doing your wedding night!


And even though Joel works with cows, I do not want to be compared to one on my wedding cake! This gives "All fat and wide" a new meaning!


And Last but not least, the groom running from his bride and the bride catching him any way possible, there are a million different versions of these, from the bride catching him with a fishing pole to dragging him away by the collar from his TV. Now need I remind you that even though this is a funny joke, it is the man who usually asks right? No one made him do it so please, why do they always act like it is a awful life sentence?

So with all these wonderful options what is a girl to do? I think I will stick with the simple and stylish monogram. I think that will work the best for us.

Lets Try This Again!

Ok so now lets see if I can give this another try and actually be able to write and enjoy sharing our information with everyone.

So where were we? My dress is already in (4 to 6 months my foot) I went and tried it on and it fit perfect! I am only going to have to pay for a bussle! YEAH! I have booked everything now I have the DJ the food and hall and the church. the only thing I am having trouble with is finding linens to fit the tables. See the hall has 3x8 tables and I want to push two of those tables together and make 6x8 tables so that it feels more like a square table seating. The only problem is is that no linen places make them that size so I am going to have to buy one for each table and have a seam down the middle! I don't' want that so unless I can find someone that is willing to sew 25 ivory 8x10 foot table clothes (for a low cost)I do not know what I am going to do! If anyone has any ideas let me know!

I am all moved in. Unpacked however is a different story. I hate it. I got he kitchen done but after I get home from work I have no desire to do anything. We are going to be having a house warming party over Memorial Day weekend (if you got this blog sent to you then you are invited. More details will be coming) so I figure that I have to have ti all done by then no later!

Ok so keep checking in I will try my hardest to keep everyone posted and updated on our new journey.