I left my heart in Moab

So I got to go to Moab last weekend for the FIRST TIME EVER! A bunch of people from church were going and Chase and I decided to join them. :)
Pretty much everyone got there Friday night around...9:00pm I think? But, of course, that was the ONE night Chase had to work until around 7:00!! So, we drove to Price and stayed the night there and woke up bright and early (5:30am) Saturday morning to make it to Moab in time for breakfast, even though Chases dad had already made us a wonderful oatmeal breakfast, and the first sermon.


Robert Marshall, our...part-time pastor helper guy from church, came with his family and he spoke about how God has a plan for all of us and that he is good and does not mean us harm, even if bad things happen. It was a very applicable topic since pretty much everyone there was dealing with big, life-changing decisions ie: marriage, children, careers, school etc. etc. And we got to sing around the campfire too! It was a very uplifting and rejuvinating weekend!


So, Saturday, we had our "talk" from pastor Robert and breakfast and then it was just free time until the evening. There was a group going mountain biking, a group going rock climbing and some staying back at the camp site and some going hiking so I decided to go hiking! I hiked up to the delicate arch, which I had NEVER SEEN! And Sunday we had another talk and then more free time and then you could leave whenever! :) Chase went rock climbing and I went into town to see some cool Moabian stores. Got a t-shirt and a cool necklace and some mom's day presents. :)

here are some pictures!!
Below is a pic of Nathan and Melissa cooking!! They were our awesome super duper gourmet camping chefs!! They made eggs, french toast, bacon, hash browns, green beans, potatoes, grilled some awesome hot dogs, chicken, brats, DELICIOUS DUTCH OVEN BROWNIES AND PEACH COBBLER!!

Remember when...

Hey hey hey!

I finally got the ONLY pictures taken of Chases proposal! :D They were taken by Laurie's brother, Jayme. There is a music stand pretty much perfectly in the way but it's okay. :) I love the pictures!

PS Chase is pretty upset he didn't think to have it recorded....so no one has to get on his case about it....if any of the 4 people that look at this blog were thinking of getting on his case about it.... :)

Stuff is happening...

So. I may have already discussed this with some of you but I am planning on getting my bridals done and I wasn't sure if I wanted to get them done before the wedding, risk getting my dress dirty and put pictures up at the reception oooooorrrr wait until after the wedding, not have any bridal pictures to show off at the reception but keep my dress clean! So, I asked people and then I thought I should talk to my seamstress just because she knows fabrics and would know how difficult getting stains out and such would be. She basically said what everyone else told me but I'm glad I talked to her! :)



So, I am going to take my bridals up in the canyon...somewhere...and bring a big sheet/plastic/tarp to sit on/kneel on/stand on/layon and she said that we could probably clean as we go with the right dirt remover spray stuff and that it would mostly be the bottom hem, obviously and that getting it cleaned before the wedding shouldn't be too difficult. SO, I have my bridal pictures May 2nd! :) SOOOOOOO excited!! :D







AND, I have my ENGAGEMENT PICTURES this weekend. :) I am so so freaking excited for the following reasons:

1)I haven't bought any new clothes so, if God blesses me with the money, I am going to buy a new outfit

2)The weather is supposed to be BEAUTIFUL,

3)My friend MEGAN is taking them and she is an AMAZING photographer & she is going to get to experiment with us!! Not scientifically just pictorally. *shout out to my MEGAN* AND THEN I get to be on her blog!!! :D



AND THEN I get to go print them, after a couple of weeks, and start making my guest book! :)



What else is going on...OH! I am house sitting for the music pastor at church and he has these two ADORABLE doggies! I will get some pictures (and maybe a video) of them up here! One doesn't sleep and nudges me all night and the other looks like an ewok (sp? anyone? anyone?)



Haven't decided on flowers for the weddin' just yet...but the florist says that Amarylis flowers are hard to come by in the summer :( So, probably go with lame 'ol daisies. *SIGH*....aaaannnnd over it. :D



OH! Wedding food. I WAS going to do a potluck/picnic type thing, since that's what baptists and Nortons are good at, but Chase decided he didn't like that idea...pretty last minute I might add... He says I was mad at him for having an opinion when really I'm just surprised...most grooms wouldn't really care...but WHATEVER! I'm the one marrying him I guess. haha!



And I need to get some pictures of the new apartment up!! I need to go get my camera this weekend! :( Wish me luck with THAT! :D



Bye ya'll

UPDATES COMING SOON...

Hello all!!



Here are topics that I want to and plan to blog about sometime in the near future!



Christmas (waiting to get pictures off of my camera)

Apartment (waiting to get it all put together to take pictures to get off of camera)

Wedding Dress (waiting for dress fitting to see what my seamstress says about it)

All over Wedding update (Just waiting to not be lazy.)

bye!!

Bridal photos!!

Hello everyone!!

SO (I have recently realized that this is my go-to for starting blogs) I had another dress fitting and I am finally going to stop putting up pictures of my dress, apparently it bothers some people because they want to be surprised or something!! Weirdos!! :D

So, I had the seamstress re-do the detailing on my dress and now it looks COMPLETELY different! So, those of you that have looked at my dress pictures...well, you ain't seen nothin'!! It's all different, I may as well have bought a different dress all together!! HA! Okay, not THAT different.

Anywho, she was happy to re-do everything...because I paid her...and she had to take out the dress a bit anyway(she got a little take-in happy at the last fitting.) So, she had already taken it out somewhat and re-done the detailing on the sash. I wish she had waited for my opinion kind of. It's pretty much what I was picturing but the color is just a LITTLE more green than I would have asked for BUT it's a lot closer to what I wanted than before. It's different shades/variations of teal/aqua/turquoise/seafoam. She just needs to change out a couple of small flowers to match. SO the next dress fitting it should be all ready to go!

Changes being made to the dress for next fitting:
--bustle
--hem (approx 1/4in)
--take it out a little in the waist
--take it in a little in the bust
--switch out a couple of the smaller flowers

AND VOILA! MY WEDDING DRESS!!

I also spoke with her about cleaning the dress

sidenote: for those of you who I hadn't asked about this, I was worried about taking my bridal pictures before the wedding because I want to take them up in the canyon and I was afraid of my dress getting way dirty. SO I was considering taking them after the wedding :P but my seamstress said that the material shouldn't be that difficult to clean as we go and then just to get it steam-cleaned before the wedding. :)

so...I have my bridal pictures scheduled for may 2nd!! :D

So, since I decided not to put up any pictures of MY dress I have posted some pictures that are kinda funny and not as pretty as my dress. :D

DISCLAIMER:
I do apologize if anyone likes any of these dresses. I do not mean to offend anyone...they're...uh...just not my style.........

I can appreciate this one...it's very 'the king and I'

This is pretty much what I was picturing when I typed "ugly wedding dress" into google...

Wedding flowers much?

Hello my blog-lovery friends!!

So, I have moved on to flowers. That is maybe the one fun thing I have left to plan.

As far as flowers go I've never been much into them/known much about them. I mean, I LOVE flowers but never really took the time to learn anything about them or names or ANYTHING at all. So, when I realized I get to pick out flowers for the wedding I was pretty much completely lost and kind of overwhelmed! So I did was any overwhelmed American does while bored at work needing information, I googled!! I googled flower information or something like that and got some information about flowers...imagine that!

I wrote down just the first ones I saw that I liked in the slightest but they only showed pictures of them in single or small bunches, not bouquets so the ones I wrote down, once I saw them on in bouquets, are not all still necessarily on the list...

here is the original flower list:

Amaryllis

Casablance Lily

Gergera Daisy/daisy

Freesia

Rose

Gardenia

Orchid

Stephanotis

Hydrangea

Here are the revisions to the original list:

Amaryllis - love

casablanca lily - don't like it in a bouquet

Gerber daisy - love

Freesia - don't like in a bouquet

Rose - too fancy

Gardenia - didn't like in bouquet

Orchid - LOVE but didn't like in bouquet and didn't flow with my weddin'

Stephanotis - didn't like in bouquet

Hydrangea - didn't like in bouquet

Before I started my research on flowers I was leaning towards lilies, I thought they were elegant and classic but not TOO elegant or classic haha, whatever that means. But seeing them in the bouquet...eh.

I also want everything to flow which is why I didn't really like the rose option, too fancy for my totally rad outdoorsy picnicy summer wedding! and I like them in red but red wouldn't flow AT ALL.

Most of them were eliminated in the bouquet round...lily, freesia, gardenia, orchid, stephanotis, hydrangea. They were pretty with just a few of them but I couldn't really see me carrying a completely circular bouquet (like the stephanotis) or a cone-shaped bouquet (like the freesia) and I love orchids but I can't picture a carrying bouquet looking all that great. I've tried to see it in my mind, laying them over the arm or something but, alas, it looks weird everytime.

Here is the completely revised list
Amaryllis

Daisy

(I may keep the first list to go back to for when we meet with our florist but for now, it's really just down to these two.)

I've always liked daisies, I have liked them less as I've grown up though just because they seem kind of childish...simple...and they're kinda weeds aren't they? I've had people suggest daisies before or just a bunch of wild flowers, which totally goes with my "theme" but I wanted something a little more elegant than wild flowers, a little more put together, ya know? So I looked up daisy bouquets, just to see what would happen, and was pleasantly surprised! :


I think this is a SUPER DUPER cute bouquet AND it's not ugly or too crazy but still kind of special I think. :)

Then I moved on to amaryllis and was again pleasantly surprised, since I had never even heard of this flower. :) I found a few bouquets I liked with this one! (side note: do NOT like the pearly handle on the first picture below...nope)

AND....

DA DA DAAAAAAA!

it's a pretty turquoise. Now, I don't know if I like having my flowers blue, white is very pretty and classic and I think colored, especially artificially colored, might be a bit tacky? cheesy? cheap-looking?......agree? disagree? let me know.

So, there is is. Meeting with a florist next week sometime, keep ya updated. Leave opinions! I'll listen!...unless you're a random blog-reader and I don't know you..then I probably won't listen...unless you're a florist...then I might....even if I don't know you...okay...

Weddin' dress blues

Hey all!

I know I know: two blogs in one day?! What is wrong with this girl?!
I am feeling way sick and have 43 minutes left of work, just trying to make it through.

And I honestly want some ladies opinions on this! I mean, I THINK I know what I should do but...I'm scared so maybe I'm just looking for encouragment lol

SO!!!
I think you have all seen the beautiful pictures of my beautiful dress (put some pictures at the bottom), and I DO love it as is, HOWEVER...the more I think about it the more I want the flowers on it to be just the same blue color and the sash brown with blue embroidery.

So, I DO like the flowers all different colors and that IS what I asked the seamstress to do but I regret my decision and I have a dress fitting with her March 7th in a few weeks and I want to ask her if she will redo it. I mean, of course I would pay her for her extra work, duh! And I will absolutely be willing to take it as is if she doesn't think it's wise to put the dress through more work but it IS MY WEDDING dress and if I'm willing to put forth the money and wait for it then I think it wouldn't hurt to ask and it IS her job to try, or atleast to consider, doing the alterations I'd like...ya know? But I still feel kinda bad because she's put so much work into it already and I really do like it, I just wanted something different than what I originally thought...

I mean, she probably won't be able to do anything about the sash, she's already sewn it on...and I'm wishing I had worked up the courage to ask her this earlier but I can't hurt to ASK, right?

What do you girls think??? Should I just let it go? Or should I ask her about the dress? Encourgment!

Eager Bride!

So. Chase and I have about 4 months until we get married.

On one hand it's like: WOOHOO! ONLY 4 MONTHS!! and on the other hand it's: oh man! 4 whole stinkin' months!

We are both SO SO SO excited to get married to eachother!! We're freaking excited to be our own family and to have our own little apartment (and of course for the honeymoon ;) and I'm super excited to be Rachel NORTON!! :) Everyone says it will go by so fast and I'm sure 4 months from now it will seem like it has gone by fast but right now, to me, it feels like it will be FOREVER! and it's an exciting anticipation but it's also just kind of annoying.

Which is why we have considered just getting our immediate families together and our best friends and going to the court house and just DOING IT! And up until it actually was MY wedding...well, I had always told myself that I wanted a small wedding, or atleast wouldn't mind one, but now that it IS my wedding and it's ME and MY fiance and MY special day, I realize that I really do want the big wedding with the big dress and food and dancing and ALL my friends and family there! It's expensive and stressful but I really think it will be worth it on that day. :) And I know, no matter how much he suggests eloping, Chase really wants this wedding too.

We've also thought about eloping and just having the wedding we're planning as more of a reception...but after thinking about praying about that one I realized that I want my friends and family there for the real thing. AND I want Gregg to marry us (my old friend/pastor). It would be so so special. Walking down the isle after all this anticipation, it's all going to be worth it.

SO. Just pray for us, those of you that pray, that we will be patient and enjoy this wedding planning time we have. :)

YAY WEDDINGS AND MARRIAGE!!

Marriage Log: APARTMENT FOUND!!

Hello! I know I haven't blogged in a while but Breana's hair blog inspired me!!

So, Chase was living with his brother and sister-in-law in a nice 3 level town house in Holladay but the landlord is nuts and the place was a bit too expensive for what it was worth, some might say. SO. Chase and I began looking for an apartment :) I have never been apartment hunting before! So it was exciting to get to go with my future husband!!

I went on Craigslist and found a ton of places within our price range but...well, let's just say that you can't choose a place primarily on the pictures/info off of the internet...which I wasn't planning on doing, which is good...really really good. Anyhoo, I made lists of the places I liked and made appointments at almost all of them to go see.

The first place was the back end of a house...it was as good as a back end of a house could be except that they probably could have cleared out all the stuff they were storing there and dusted/vacuumed/put tile where the kitchen was/put the toilet against a standing wall instead of the shower curtain etc. etc. Sufficed to say, we did not take that one...

Then we saw a 700sqft apartment that was pretty alright but, alas, the neighborhood was kinda shady and they didn't allow pets which was kind of a downer.

Then we saw a teeny tiny newly remodeled place (a couple actually) which we were considering but we need storage space for our 3 bikes and work out equipment! And room to use our excersize videos!!

ANYWAY! We, eventually found a nice-sized, well-kept, storage-included apartment on the second story in a big complex. :) It has a pool and little gym. It isn't huge but bigger than what we've seen(and for less money), it has these nice TALL windows so lots of light gets in (*thumbs up*), it has a storage unit on the patio, it allows pets, it's in a fine neighborhood, AND you can accent the walls :D Also, it's much closer to work so we will probably ride our bikes when it's warm. The thing that bothers me most is that you have to go through the bedroom to get to the bathroom, which may be good since it will force us to keep the bedroom picked up. Also, there isn't much storage space in the kitchen which doesn't bother me now because we don't really have anything yet but once we get married I think it will bother me more... we'll see.

The REALLY annoying thing is that I don't get to move in all the way for another 5 months!! LAME!! But Chase will move in now. So, I'm planning on just moving in my furniture stuff, since I don't really use it at my house, and then moving in the rest of my stuff later. :)

here are some pics of the complex.

RIVERBEND

as relaxing as it is charming

a Thanksgiving-palooza!!

Hello all!!! Here I am blogging again. It's been sooooooooooo long, I know! Since Halloween pretty much. *sigh* I just haven't had much to say. BUT now I have Thanksgiving to blog about! :)

SO. Thanksgiving. The day of giving thanks. This was an especially fun Thanksgiving because it was Chase's and mine first Thanksgiving as an engaged couple and last Thanksgiving not being married! And his parents and brother and sister-in-law came over! So it was 10 people! The Nortons and the Gregorys! Two seperate families that would soon become one! *sigh* (CAN'T WAIT!)

So, it was me and Chase, Chases parents, Nathan and Breana, my parents and my two brothers! Nicely paired off haha! My mom took care of the Thanksgiving staple food. ie: turkey, cranberry whatever-form-it-takes-on-varying-from-year-to-year, stuffing, mashed potatoes, condiments etc. And then everyone made/bought something for the dinner! (well, I didn't...but I'm the baby...so I don't have to...right? Spoiled, I know!) The Nortons all together brought everything else... Chase made pot stickers (His specialty! It seemed a bit strange but they were the first to go. *shrug*) And I know Breana made awesome spinach dip (even with the substiution of which we do not speak) and Chase's mom Karen made her Norton salad (it is eaten at every Norton gathering I'm pretty sure. It has BACON in it!)

So, all in all it was a totally delicious, fun and full-of-family holiday!! :D