Homeowners!!!

Just grabbing a quick minute at work tonight! We are all moved in (as of 2 weeks today!) and really enjoying this new domesticated bliss!!! Our lives currently revolve around unpacking, decorating, getting reaquainted with Mr Lilly the cat, and the Olympics! We are loving every minute of it!!! No internet yet though! Have the hook up but no laptops (both are on the mend). I don't even mind the longer commute. Probably b/c I miss all the traffic since I am always going the opposite way! Am really loving the George Bush Highway! Great scenery! It is so quiet out in Garland, except for the train that goes through randomly at night, but getting used to it. And we are very spoiled by the snow cone stand that we can literally walk to! Love Bahama Bucks!!!

Life is oh so sweet! :)

The right place at the right time!

Soooo.....my husband is in Cali on business and I did not want to stay at the apartment by myself! So I drove to Arlington to see my parents and spend the night there! Daddy usually takes us out to eat and last night was no different! We went to a little local place called Jay Jay Cafe...think comfort food kinda like Black Eyed Pea. Well our little waitress was taking our order and was mentioning her new ferret. Of course my ears perked up at that and mentioned that I too have a ferret! She told us she acquired hers the day before after reading on Craig's List that a lady was going to go release her in the park if no one adopted her within 12 hours! We were all horrified to hear that!! I told the waitress Lynne thank goodness I didn't see that add or we'd be 1 ferret richer! My dad kinda snorted when I said that (I am notorious for bringing random animals home. I think the count in my lifetime is 7??) So long story short, Lynne said she was trying to find a cage for her new ferret, and she could not afford any of the ones listed online. Well lo and behold we have a extra giant 4 story cage in our garage that we are trying to find a home for! Sierra is pretty content in her 2 story cage right now. And I KNEW that Andrew would be overjoyed to hear that he wouldn't have to drag a giant cage that we don't even need to the new house! We had recently been discussing what to do with it! So my dad and I hosed it off when we got home and took it over to her apartment (like 5 minutes from my parents house mind you). I made a few dollars and she got a great deal on a ferret cage! It worked out! It was neat that we sat at that certain booth at that certain restaurant!!! Husband was very happy to hear about my business deal. Then I hosed Sierra's cage down too for good measure. She is all ready for the big move to Garland in a couple weeks!

Husband and Wife Finally!!!!!

We are married and it is wonderful and fabulous!!!!! The wedding was seriously everything I could have every hoped for and more!!!! I've had this vision since we started planning and it by far surpassed my wildest dreams!!!! We had such a fun and special day!!!! Honeymoon was also wonderful! We did so many excursions and stayed very busy, and were exhausted when we got home! Of course we had to stop by the house on the way home from the airport and were so suprised as to how much they had completed on it!!! We will be closing next week "they say"! I keep reliving our special day and wish I could snap my fingers and be back their with all our family and friends. But I am soooo excited about what is to come for my HUSBAND and I!!!!!

Latest house pic and many wedding pics following...all jumbled in order of course!

A few thoughts from tonight

As I sit here a little more than 3 weeks from the big day, I can't help but get so overwhelmed about how much love and generosity is being poured upon us. I have never in my life had so much attention on me! I am just at a lost for words sometimes! From the thoughtful, hand picked gifts to the personalized cards and hand written messages inside them! I just love every bit of it!!! My mom got me a nice pink and white card box so I have a place to put all our cards! It is filling up pretty fast!

I thought we had been spoiled with the first 2 showers! Then we had the last 2 and we seriously have everything we will ever need!!! And THEN.....I came over to my parents tonight to discuss some wedding details only to find a huge stack of packages and gift bags! Even more presents!!! Gifts from people who will not be able to make it to the wedding and gifts from people who have already been to showers and have sent us another gift!!! WOW!

Andrew came over tonight to eat dinner with us and I'm so glad he did so we could open all the fun stuff together! I want to list a few highlights from tonight that really affected me...

• Susan Petry- A dear friend of my parents who watched my sister and I alot growing up. Well she made Andrew and I a GORGEOUS quilt! I mean she hand made it!!! And then personalized it with our names and wedding date! I can't even imagine how long she has been working on it! It is so beautiful and I can't wait to cuddle up in it!
• Peggy Nix- She helped give one of my showers. She is a close friend of my parents! She sent us 2 flatware sets, a steak knife set, and the serving set that goes with our couture flatware! WOW!
• Porky- Best friend Erin's (who i've known since our births 2 months apart) Aunt sent us these beautiful wooden salad servers! I was so suprised!
• Ruth Currie- Dad's coworker...she sent us a cappuccino maker!!! It is so neat, you just add all the milk and espresso and pop it on the stove and 4 minutes later...a cappuccino! So cool!
• My Aunt Linda and Uncle Russ- She included a very personal card detailing a trip to the Galleria with me and my parents when I was a baby. She mentioned that they went to look around in a Tiffany and Co. store and apparently I was crying. So the Tiffany's ladies made me a rattle out of a Tiffany's box and I was fine the rest of the day. (My mom informed me that she still has the "rattle" somewhere) Well, we opened the package to find a HUGE "Tiffany Blue" box with Tiffany and Co. on it!! Oh my gosh, I have never had anything from there ever! Inside the box was a stunning crystal bowl! We will have a very special place in our house for it!
• Molly and Hunter Simon- My favoritest patient (and now friend) ever! I took care of Molly for several weeks while she was on bedrest with twins baby Sosie and baby Hunter. It was such a pleasure taking care of her, and she only made my nights brighter! She delivered last November and we have managed to stay in touch. I was so suprised to find a package from them tonight! We now have an awesome crate and barrel ice bucket, tongs, and wine cooler!!! So neat and so generous!

And there is so much more I would have to write for days to list it all! I spent the other night in my old room (where all of the gifts are living for now) sitting smack dab in the center of a sea of boxes and gift bags. I went through each and every one "playing" with all our kitchen stuff, setting up place settings, looking through cookbooks, etc. I even have a neat recipe holder that I got from one of the showers. Everybody in attendance brought a couple of recipes from home and they were filed away in my new recipe holder! I hadn't really had a chance to look through it yet. When I did I was so amazed at how many different types of things people had contributed! I can't wait to "try" to cook them all!!!

We are just so lucky to have these special people in our lives. It's so neat to think that our whole house will literally be filled with special things that whenever we look at them we will think "Remember when ____ gave us this for our wedding present!" We will treasure these wonderful gifts, but even more so treasure these wonderful family and friends who are gift enough!

I guess I'm just a little emotional since it's getting so close!!!

I only have 6 shifts left until I'm off for 28 days!!! Those 28 days will be jam packed with wedding preperation, the wedding itself, the honeymoon, and a couple days to get settled when we get back! But b/c of how our scheduling works I only have to take 3 weeks of PTO, so it works out great! I get 4 weeks off for the price of 3! Perks of being a nurse and working 3 nights a week!

I have been having alot of back pain lately so I mentioned it to my OBGYN at my appointment last week. Turns out there is a 5 cm cyst growing in my R ovary! :( He immediatly changed my BC, and I will be going back the week of my wedding to have it measured again! This makes me very nervous! He doesn't want me traveling with it that big since there is a risk of it rupturing and bleeding! But we will just cross that bridge when we get to it, doesn't make any sense to freak out now. I'll just freak out the week of the wedding b/c I'm sure I'll already be freaking out that week! j/k

Prayers would be greatly appreciated!!!

Got to get back to picking songs for the slideshow!!!!

Happy Nurse's Week!!!

That's right, Happy Nurse's Week to all my favorite RN's out there!

Time is ticking down...the "big day" is now next month!!! It feels so weird to say that! I had my routine dental appt last week and bad news! My bridge that I've had for 7 yrs is on the outs! Long story short, it is compromising the health of my permanent teeth so this morning I had my first appt towards getting a new and updated bridge. I also jumped on a chance to whiten my teeth! This is my one and only short at whitening since you can't really whiten fake teeth! So I had 3 rounds of whitening (painful and awkward!) and then was numbed all over the top of my mouth. He then proceeded to literally break and drill the bridge out of my jaw! Oh it felt so weird! Thank goodness for novacaine! So after my new molds he put in some temporary veneers for the time being and in 2 weeks I'll have a brand new state of the art bridge! My teeth are so nice and white now, just in time for the wedding! This is pretty much robbing my savings account as each tooth is $947 and I need 4!!! :(

The house went from this one week...

To this a week later!!!!

The house looks like a HOUSE!!!!!!

My bridal portraits were really fun and easy and I can't wait to get them back next week. It was surreal to get all dressed up in the dress with hair in makeup in full effect! My practice bouquet that Betty made was gorgeous!!!!!

Trial Run hair

2 Year Anniversary Dinner @ Melting Pot!!! SO GOOD!!!!!

Snips and Snails, and Puppy Dog Tails...

That's right it's a boy!!! Baby BOY Herrell is on his way! We found out last week that Aaron and Worth will be having a boy! We are so excited for them! We went out and celebrated at P. F. Changs! I can't wait to meet him in October!

April Showers

Well I had my first 2 showers and they were FANTASTIC!!! So much fun! I tried to enjoy and savor every second but they went by too fast! I'm guessing that is pretty much how the wedding is going to go! I have just been so overwhelmed by the outpouring of people who want to help and do so much for us! Here are some of my favorite pics in reverse order...sorry!

With my sister and Erin and Megan at the 2nd shower

With the mom's

After getting back from the first shower! WOW!!!

Mr Lilly helped and inspected every present himself.

The apron says Mrs. Herrell!

These sweet girls' mom used to babysit me when I was little, and I used to babysit them when they were tiny. They made Andrew and I a beautiful collage!

Coffeemaker! Andrew's fave present!

Fabulous foursome at this first shower!

With the sweet hostesses of the first shower

The awesome cake!

They have really started the house now! It is all ready for the slab to be poured and they are supposedly doing that today!!! We stopped by last week to check out the progress! It was a very stormy night!

pointing to the spray painted 1805 - our address!