The Wedding Buzz

Even though I'm already Mrs. Peter B. Smith, I am still blessed enough to be able to plan TWO weddings!  We have planned our marriage date and two of the wedding dates to be very meaningful for us!  They are all within a day of a significant event.  We are so blessed to be able to have the wedding of our dreams on the beach in beautiful Riviera Maya, Mexico at an AMAZING resort!

Our Mexico wedding is PLANNED (except we are deciding between photographers).  I think this entire process has been incredible.  It's fun to plan so many details and close my eyes and imagine what it will all be like on June 2nd.  Pete has been very involved too which has been wonderful!  This is OUR wedding and we want it to be a day that not only we will never forget but a trip/memories that our friends and family will never forget!

We are also having another "wedding" or more like a reception in Michigan that I have just started to plan!  My mom's side of the family and Peter's entire family are from Michigan so we wanted to be able to celebrate with everyone who couldn't make it to Mexico.  I thought that I would be tired of planning after the destination wedding planning was complete over Christmas but I'm so excited!  The Michigan reception will be at golf club right near Lake Michigan the day after my birthday :)

I am feeling extra blessed to be able to celebrate our marriage so many times with loved ones.  Texas, Mexico and Michigan.  We couldn't be happier.  Added bonus: they are all near water which I LOVE!

In addition to my wedding planning, my best friend is getting married this year too so we are working on her wedding as well!  It's such an exciting time in both of our lives and it's fun that we are able to have our weddings within a month of each other, plan showers, have bachelorette parties and go through this fun chapter of our lives together!  What a  busy year!  Maybe a year from now I'll be blogging about planning for a baby :)

Under The Texas Sky

We finally did it!  We went on our first camping trip as husband and wife.  Ahh, the joys of camping.  It's so humbling to be in nature.  We went to Livingston Lake in Livingston, TX which is about an hour and a half NE of Houston and an hour and a half from where we live in Beaumont.  Pete did a great job researching possible camping sites.  Turns out, the best idea is to go north because otherwise you're camping in Texas/Louisiana territory aka alligator territory.  Ick.  No thank you!

All we need is our permit and it will just be our little family alone in the wilderness for 2 days!  That's Bosco hanging out of the window :)

Ready to find our campsite!  The lady asked if we wanted a spot near the lake or a more secluded area.  We went with a more secluded area mainly because we have a water loving puppy and he would be soaked the entire trip.  Our little area was nice and quiet with a few other campers who only stayed 1 day here and there.

Before

After!

One of the places we registered for our wedding was at REI (an outdoor store).  Luckily, we were able to have a camping themed wedding shower where we received all of our camping equipment that made this weekend possible!  Thank you to our family and friends who helped send us off well prepared on our trip :)

The first night was wonderful.  We didn't get a big fire going because all of the wood was wet or slowly drying but we had a small one and fired up the grill to make dinner.  Bosco was tied to the picnic table with a ridiculously long lead and he kept getting caught around the table, tree stumps and the post we hung our lantern on.  He was also pretty busy being counterproductive with the fire.  Pete had some sticks to push the wood around and fuel the fire and Bosco would take them and start playing with them and chewing on them :) 

Mr. Bird drying off his wings

Bosco is pretty abrupt when he is excited or has new surroundings.  He scared this guy away.  We are already disrupting nature.

It was pretty foggy our first morning when we woke up and started our hike.  It was actually very beautiful but I don't think my camera captured it.  We also found a few cool birds that I took far too many picture of.  Of course.

My boys being curious

I spent a little too much time with these clovers.  It brought back some childhood memories when I would explore outside and spend far too much time looking for a four leaf clover!!

Haha, why this bench was so tall, I have no clue.

He was my absolute favorite!!  There was a man trying to take pictures of him from a distance with a fancy camera.  His daughters and his dad were pretty close trying to feed the ducks.  When the dad with the camera came over, it was adorable, the girls screamed with excitement "Daddy!  Daddy!!  We are feeding the ducks!"  Haha.  They had no clue he was taking pictures of a much bigger bird and trying not to scare it away.

It wasn't too long before Bosco Jones found the water and was let loose.

Bosco really is such a joy in our lives.  He, like any dog, is happy all of the time and so childlike.  The simplest things are so enjoyable for him.  I would say one of the best parts about this camping trip is knowing that our dog is a camping dog.  He enjoys the outdoors just as much as we do.  Thank God for that blessing otherwise our trip would have been very complicated!

Make a choice.  Ball or stick.

Hey mom!  Just sitting on Dad's sleeping bag even though I have my own comforter.  

We love our sleeping bags and backpacks!

4-5 person tent fits 2 people and a dog wonderfully with so much extra room!

All in all we had a wonderful trip.  We had a great big fire that we sat in front of all night.  I re-read the book Animal Farm and Pete was able to read some of his books for school and his favorite entrepreneurship magazine!  

The most relaxed person in the world!

We learned our dog is perfectly well behaved outdoors and what we'll need to bring on our next trip.  I'm so happy we were able to go and spend some time enjoying some of God's masterpiece and get away for a weekend!   We would like to thank EVERYONE who helped make this trip possible by giving us wonderful shower gifts (tent, camping kitchen, grill, sleeping bags, backpacks, utensils, tarps, etc)  We love and appreciate everything!

Our First Christmas as Husband & Wife!

The car is packed and we are ready for a fun road trip!

Bosco and Winston on their favorite blankey.  They have no idea how long this trip will be.  Poor guys.

Reindeer Monica is flying us home for the holidays!

This holiday season has been very interesting!  We are beyond blessed to have families that love us so much and want to spend as much time with us possible. Our families are in Michigan and Colorado so we have been in both states already!  Luckily our families are supportive and understanding of our travel plans and wanting to spend as much time with everyone as we can.  It's been wonderful so far!  Step one was driving to Michigan with the gifts and our little ones!  We left after dinner and drove through the night...it was a 17 hour trip which wasn't too bad.  Winston started going bananas around hour 9 for a couple of hours and kept us wide awake.  Thanks Winny.

Boys playing an xbox snowboarding game

Cute!

Ashton!  Our little cousin :)

Meeeeeelia!

The most complicated game ever.  Title: Puerto Rico

We made it to Michigan!  Pete's parents greeted all of the 4 boys and the wives with a lot of fun signs!  Luckily both of our families are REALLY into games so immediately the brothers started playing games when we got home.  We have put a lot of baby time in playing with little cousins and nieces.  AND we have another baby niece on the way due in April and a niece or nephew due in March!!  In Michigan we have my mom's side of the family and Pete's family so we have a lot of people to see.  Not to mention we both have a lot of friends from Whirlpool etc here.    We had some snow here when we arrived so our puppy was beyond happy.  He likes to chase snowballs.  Next stop Colorado to see my Daddy's side of the family!!!

Amy has baby Greenlaw in there...due March 6th!  We are excited to have a new niece or nephew :)

Drew spotted Santa!

Lots of snow came while we were here which was wonderful!

We love the mountaints!

This is Pete's "what are you taking a picture of me for" face!  Quality time :)

We had a great time in Colorado.  Of course vacations are never long enough but we are so thankful for the time we had there.  And we are back to Michigan!

Bosco and his cousin Amelia!  Cutest little Christmas baby ever!

Christmas Eve with the Smith family is Christmas this year!!!  Mom and the boys loved their gifts from us!  My favorite thing is to watch everyone else open presents...I forgot to open 4 of mine until a few hours later because I was watching everyone's reactions :)

Super excited for this gift!  It was really heavy and I had already opened everything I asked for.  I LOVE surprised.  And Christmas antlers :)

I told Mom Smith last year that I wanted a red stand mixer!!  Since we registered for our wedding I have been going back and forth between red and silver or chrome.  It's been months of me going back and forth so I hadn't actually registered for anything yet but when I opened this, it was absolutely PERFECT!!!  I'm glad someone made up my mind for me.  Plus I forgot how much I wanted a red one last year :)  I cannot wait to start cooking when we get back to Texas and Pete already is talking about buying me some attachments for more cooking fun!

Marcus had a surprise gift!!  Hooray!  It was wrapped in a keyboard box so he ripped off the wrapping paper and everyone laughed.  Then TA-DA!  New snowboard and some boots for Amelia to play with.

This says it all.  Jesus is the reason for the season.  And I can be happy because Jesus was born because that means I can see my Daddy again in heaven!

Love the lakes in Michigan.

Heaven is a little closer in a home by the water.

My precious cousins Makenzy and Madison!  

They love Peter!  We learned a lot about children's toys this year.  I had no clue what a DS was and two of the kids got those.  This is Madi teaching Pete about her new leap frog.  It was pretty funny, she would try to show Pete how to play a game and once she got to the 4th step she would get hungry and want a cucumber.  Apparently she did this about 3 times haha

Playing hide and go seek with Pete.  Great hiding place in the shower.  Their reaction is priceless when they found him everytime.  Just shock and excitement.  It's so precious to see the genuine joy and innocence of children.

It wouldn't be a family get together without Great Grandma leading a game of cards :)

All in all we are having such a wonderful first Christmas as husband and wife.  Our vacation isn't quite over yet.  Pete went shooting today with one of his groomsmen and my cousin Nick and his girlfriend Mercedes.  We had a camping themed shower yesterday with the families.  We are now very well on our way to becoming a camping couple.  We have a few more friends to see, many more games to play and some quality family time ahead of us.  We are just so happy to be surrounded by such love for us, our marriage and wonderful stories about my Daddy after such a heartbreaking year.  Happy Holidays to all!