Gobble Gobble Week

This week, I finally get to take a break away from my studies at school and be home with the family. It's about 3 to 4 hours between where I go to school and where home is, so I don't always get to come home when I want to. This week, I am staying with Colton and his grandparents in Loveland. It is really an adorable little town, if I do say so. It's fairly quiet, but definitely busy enough to keep a girl happy. We are thinking of getting an apartment out here once we have a steadier source of income. Until that happens, we are kind of squatting at the Hugo Grandparent house for a bit. Grandma doesn't seem to mind it that much, but Grandpa is still a little iffy about the whole thing.

One of my favorite times of the year is Thanksgiving. Not just for the food (although that is an exceptionally good reason to love Thanksgiving!), but also because of the message behind it. Family has always been a really important thing to me, even if we don't necessarily get along all the time, and Thanksgiving is a time to get together and enjoy one another's company and enjoy a great meal too. I am going to my parents' house on Wednesday and staying there through Thursday and having the Hugo celebration on Saturday. They moved the date so I would be able to attend both families. I do feel bad that they had to move things around, but it does work out so nicely.

Image via Kaboose

Usually we will set the table with sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, fresh rolls, fruit salad, a multitude of dressings, and of course the long awaited Thanksgiving turkey. Dessert is filled with pumpkin pie, apple pie, rum pie, chocolate pie, ice cream, cobbler, and maybe even a layered dish. It makes me hungry just thinking about it! Money has never been something easy for anyone on either side of the family, but when it comes to holidays it doesn't matter as much as long as the main point is celebrated.

It will be sad when it is over, but I am happy that there will always be that time of year where family can all come together and celebrate the joys of being together and having each other in our lives.

Baby Blues... Or Maybe Pinks?

You would not believe the craziness that comes with expecting a new baby in the family. Did I forget to mention that? Yes, I am an expectant mother. Feel free to cheer and applaud in your free time! I know there are some people out there who frown heavily upon babies being born out of wedlock (my own parents, just to name a couple), however I think it will all turn out just fine considering how my due date is in April and the wedding is at the end of July. It's going to be a very busy 2012, that's for sure!

The craziest thing has started happening in just the last couple of weeks. I can feel him/her moving around. It's such a different feeling than what I'm used to! Granted, Colton and I did have a baby back in 2010 that we gave up for adoption so we could go to school and give ourselves and her the greatest lives possible. But this time we are opting to keep it and be parents. We don't know whether it will be a boy or a girl yet, but I've got my fingers crossed for a boy. Colton has always really wanted a girl. We will find out over Thanksgiving though! It should be an exciting time. I'm already 4 months in, so we should be getting close.

We told Colton's dad and stepmom as well as his step-siblings. They are the only ones though. Because of they way they reacted to the wedding and our relationship in general, we are waiting until we know the gender before we tell his mom and stepdad and my parents. It's going to be a bit of a bumpy ride when that finally happens...

I'm so nervous!! Not just for telling our families, but for the actual baby. Being born, raising it, getting to know the kind of person it will end up being. Will I be a good mother? I certainly hope so. This is one of the few times that I allow myself to stay outside of my comfort zone for a long time and am happy about it. As for names? We aren't 100% certain about things yet, but we do know that if it is a boy his middle name will be Colton after his father. It's sort of a family tradition on his side that the first-born boy gets his father's first name as a middle name. I like the name Samuel for a first name, but you never really know for sure until you see them. If it's a girl, I like the name Leah. Colton likes Ashley. Again, we have no idea what to do if it's a girl. It will all get figured out though. It always does.

We already have basic supplies (crib, carseat, stroller), but there's still a lot more that needs to be done before we can be ready to take care of this baby. We can't exactly get clothes until we know the sex of the baby, but that's alright.

Regardless of the troubles that are certain to come, I'm very excited for this baby and to start a family with the only man I've ever really loved. I can't wait!

Image via Hiren

Technical Difficulties

It looks like a few wardrobe issues are going to force me to change my entire look for the wedding after all. I was hoping it wouldn't come to this... I had to cancel the order for my wedding dress. Awful, I know. But! It's not all bad news. I did place an order for a new one along with matching shoes. I love shoe shopping! These are the ever so beautiful shoes I ended up getting for my new gown.

Image via 6pm

Aren't they just adorable? I ordered my new dress from Dressily Me, which is in my personal opinion the absolute best place to buy a dress for a bride on a budget. I managed to find this one for just $130. It is a taffeta, A-line style dress with a dropped neckline. It's strapless and as I don't want to show too much skin, I also ordered a cute little lace jacket with short sleeves that will go perfectly with the overall ensemble. Both of those plus a veil and shipping ended up costing me a mere $207, which is how much my original dress alone would have costed me from this site. It's a steal, I know. A lot of people think it is a total scam site, but believe me when I tell you this is an incredible website to get a fabulous dress from. I can't even believe I lucked out on such a great deal!

I'm going to dweeb out a little right now and just ooze dress and shoe excitement. It is a custom fit dress with a lace up back and a beautiful bead pattern along the bodice and slightly down the skirt. Generally, I don't like beads or anything flashy on wedding dresses. I always planned for a simple white, ballgown type of look. But when I saw this one, I just fell in love with it. It isn't exactly what I imagined, but it is pretty dang close. They say it will take anywhere up to about 2 months to ship out, but some reviews have said it can come in as soon as 3 weeks and be absolutely beautiful, so I have no idea what to expect.

As for those beautiful little shoes I mentioned earlier, they are a white satin shoe with a peep toe design to compliment the 4" heel. I wanted to wear flats for the comfort factor, but these ones just make me squeal when I look at them. Yes, I do still have the other ones that I talked about a couple of weeks ago. They might be more for the evening reception depending on how my little piggies feel about hugging heels for about 6 hours. The best part about these? They were only $15 with free shipping and handling. Most shoes you find like this cost at the absolute least around $45. Someone out there must love me to be presenting all the fabulous deals. Oh! I almost forgot to mention that I ordered them from a little site called 6pm. It's basically a site that gives you fantastic deals on brand shoes. Love it!

That is my latest update I suppose. I will be posting more later, don't you worry about that! I'm debating putting up pictures of my dress once it arrives, but we may have to wait until after the wedding so my dear Mr. Colton Fiance won't start snooping and see something he shouldn't. Ta!