This and that

Remember how in this post I said that my mom is making my wedding dress?

Well, when I was home this past weekend we had a little thrift store journey where I found a dress that fit....but was very big (meaning made me look very wide) and in need of some adjustments in several areas...cutting and re-sewing in others. We left the store with out it.

After I came back to Lexington, my mom called with an idea....to possibly combine the dress that she is working on and use part of the dress that I found to make a new dress for my wedding.

My mom went back to the store to see if the dress was even still there. It was in someone's elses hands!! Ahhh. But then she put it back and my mom grabbed it and bought it, where it was 25% off the listed price! since it had been in the store so long!

The dress? Oh, here's a picture....see how big (poofy) it is?
+ other pictures from home:






In other news, I'm starting to be a big ball of stress...less than two months left to go and so much left to do! Ahhh. Jesse reassured me last night that things will be okay. Take a deep breath and start on that to-do list....

And we did see Harry Potter pt. 2 on Wednesday July 20th for our date...(first ever date in a movie theater with him!) Even though I'm not a super, super crazy H.P. fan I really liked the movie and I've read some of the books. Any way, it was good and I might have cried just a little bit.



Ok, here's a video that will (hopefully) brighten your day:


My favorite quotes?
-the brain is like a wrinkled bag of skin filled with warm water, veins, and thought muscles
-the probe probes the brobe
-leave the pea be

Enjoy! And happy Thursday.

(All pictures taken by my sister!)

Update

I travelled home to Columbus this weekend (Jesse didn't go because he had work to catch up on) to try on my wedding dress! My mom is putting a lot of effort into making it and it will be beautiful...though I can't gain any weight!

I'm starting the process of getting my passport for our honeymoon! Jesse just needs to renew his, but I have a few more papers in order to apply for mine. Where are we going you ask...?

Rome, Italy!!

I'm so excited to marry my love and then honeymoon with him in Rome!

Here are some places that we hope to visit while we're there:












(Photos from National Geographic and Google).

Heat Index

Today in Ohio, it's hot.



(Updates coming soon about the latest adventures.)

He's handsome and he's mine

in exactly...

3 months from today!!

Let Freedom Ring!

"Love your country. Your country is the land where your parents sleep, where is spoken that language in which the chosen of your heart, blushing, whispered the first word of love; it is the home that God has given you that by striving to perfect yourselves therein you may prepare to ascend to him." Giuseppe Mazzini



"All we have of freedom, all we use or know -This our fathers bought for us long and long ago." Rudyard Kipling

I hope you had a great weekend! Mine was spent with Jesse and my family- watching fireworks, picnicing, and spending time together.

Two in One

Happy Birthday to my dear sweet sister!

(Photo shamelessly taken off my mom's blog)

And......

Happy Father's day to my dad!

Cute

To everybody who commented on my last post about my engagement story...

Thank you!!

You're very kind and I'm very excited. My days (and nights) have been busy thinking about and planning (with Jesse's help of course) our wedding.

Oh, we have a date(!!):
Saturday October 8th in the Columbus, Ohio Temple.
We're having a late morning sealing and then reception after.

116 days!

********************
And here's a text that made me love him even more, but it might make you sick. I'd apologize for sharing it, but I'm not sorry:

Jesse: "Ohh, you're so sweet"
Me: "Sweet like honey or sweet like sugar?"
Jesse: "Like honey because you're the bee's knees :)"
Me: "Aww, since you're the cat's meow what does that make you?"
(I was going to say ..."tuna?" but I didn't cause that would have been kind of mean)
Jesse: "Catnip because I'm irresistable :)"
Me" "haha true, true you are irresistable"

********************
I love that finace of mine!

(Jesse was told by a mutal friend that we're like 80 year olds with those nicknames).

Any questions?

Jesse's Girl

I had been wanting to go to the Arboretum to look at all the new plantings for a long while, but Jesse kept saying we would go later. (Jesse is a horticulturist at the arboretum...not sure if I mentioned that or not).

So, on Wednesday June 1st...he said we would go out to dinner and then would take a walk through the Arboretum where he would show me all the new plants. I was excited, not even suspecting what was in store!

Before this, I had been a little concerned because driving home from my parent's house over Memorial Day, he was really, really quiet- which was so unusual for him. I asked him about it twice before and he said he was just thinking...

So we went out to dinner on Wednesday at an Italian restaurant here in Lexington. It was very good food! I brought up his quietness one more time and asked him was he was thinking about- his answer was "stuff". I pushed it a little further with, "what stuff?" He said: "I'll tell you later" and he laughed. He seemed fine after that.

We finished up dinner and drove to the arboretum. We held hands as we walked and he pointed out all the new plantings over the arboretum since the last time I had been there. He had done a lot of work and it looked beautiful! At the garden area, we ate a few strawberries and a raspberry each.

Then we went to the rose garden. The arboretum has thousands of roses which are beautiful and smell heavenly. He showed me several of them and pointed out the names as I admired each of them.

A few minutes later, we walked over to the rose arbor which was filled with climbing roses. We sat on a bench, holding hands and talking for about 15 minutes.

Jesse then got really quiet...I was starting to get just a little concerned again...

when he says:

"Natasha, I have a question to ask you..."
"Ok"
"but you can't cry until after I'm finished..." and right then I knew it was coming!

Then he got up off the bench and down on one knee and took something out of his pocket and told me that he doesn't have much, but everything he has is mine...and...

"Will you marry me?"

"Yes!!! Yes, I will"

and then we kissed.

Inside the box was this:



Afterward we sat and smiled and laughed and talked about plans and held hands.

And that's the story I'll tell for the rest of my life when someone asks how my husband proposed to me!

I've been a bad blogger this month

Only 3 posts for the month of May?

What?!

I know, so bad.

In my defense, I have been busy with other things. Good things- very good things, so don't judge too harshly.

Here's a little recap (sorry...no pictures because I'm at work):

1. This past Saturday I moved into a new apartment.
2. Jesse and I did some important shopping.
3. Said new apartment doesn't have internet. Thusly also related to the lack of posting (and pictures).
4. Jesse and I will be going home to see my parents this weekend for Memorial Day. I'm so excited!!
5. I've almost unpacked all my boxes.
6. Jesse is so good at Clue. He beat me 7 times, but he let me beat him twice in a row last night (and then I let him win once!)
7. He's so kind.
8. I sure love him!
9. I'm so grateful to call him mine.
10. I miss him when I'm at work.

Sorry for the overflow of emotion in this post.

Have a happy Wednesday!

My Weekend

I had a busy, but fun weekend.

My weekend started on Friday night when I went to help Jesse at The Arboretum.

The Kentucky Children's Garden (different post with pictures coming soon!) is opening this coming Saturday, May 14th and he still had lots of work to do before it opens. I wanted to spend time with him, so I offered to go help.

We unwrapped (about 75?!) ferns and trees that had just arrived that day (they were a retirement present for one of his co-workers), dug up plants and put them in containers so they could be planted in the children's garden on Monday, rode in a golf cart, ate freshly picked strawberries from his plants, held hands, and enjoyed each others company. I arrived about 6:30 and we left at about 9pm and went to Subway for dinner.


Then on Saturday morning, some members of our branch helped tear down a dilapidated shed for a sister in a different ward.


Hard at work. (I helped too, I just stopped to take pictures).

Bringing down a side


When we were done it looked like this:

The whole group (Jesse and I are both in this picture, btw)

We got there at 9am and by 10:45 we were at Steak n' Shake enjoying pancakes. Many hands make light work!

Ok, that was part one of my Saturday....

Part two of my Saturday consisted of a two-part date with Jesse.

After we finished tearing down the shed, Jesse had to go pick up some things for the Arboretum. The plan was that he would pick me up at 2pm when we would do something fun and then eat dinner.

About 12:30pm I got a text from him asking if we could change the time to 3pm- which was fine by me. Then about 1:30 he called asking if I was ready for a crazy afternoon and could we switch it back to 2 pm- the missionaries had called asking if he could go teach with them (which he wanted to do) but he also wanted time for our date.

So, he picked me up at 2pm and we went mini-golfing at a Bible themed golf course.


It started raining about 3pm so we sat inside until the rain let up, then played again. I beat him three out of four games. It must have just been beginners luck!

We got done around 4:30, he dropped me off and then went to meet with the missionaries.
After the discussion he would pick me up again at 7pm for dinner and we also wanted to take some plants to a member of our branch presidency who is ill.

Around 6:45pm I got another text asking if we could change it to 7:30 since the discussion was going over.

He arrived before 7:30 and then we were off to Walmart for the plants. We picked up an Endless Summer hydrangea, a tomato plant, and a card. Then went to dinner at Fazoli's.

After dinner we drove to Georgetown and dropped off the plants and card- we were hoping to visit, but all the lights were out so we just left them on the porch. On the drive back, we got some more hand holding in, which is always a bonus! :)

It was a really good, but busy weekend!

To my Mama

Dear Mama,

Thank you for teaching me almost everything I know.

(The lighting is shabby in this picture, but it is the most recent one I have of my mom and I).

Thank you for letting my cry on your shoulder and telling me everything would be okay. Thank you for trusting me enough to let me be my own person (even though I know I caused you grief through my stubbornness). Thank you for reading to me and for having wonderful books in our home so we could explore the world. Thank you for teaching me how to cook and bake. Thank you (and Papa) for taking us on family outings, so we could be together. Thank your for living by example. Thank you for teaching me the gospel. Thank you for giving up working so you could be home for B. and I when we got home from school and for all the important times in our lives. Thank for being my best friend, and most of all thank you for loving me. I hope to be half as good a mother as you are.

Happy Mother's Day. I love you!