WEDDING FUN...

LOVE FILLS THE MOMENT AND THE MOMENT BEGINS ETERNITY.

JULY 8th, 2011

Our entire family came together a few days before the wedding!  I was able to have a girls night 2 nights before the wedding.  We stayed in one of the gorgeous 2 room Marriott Villas.  My nieces really enjoyed my Mom and Step-fathers swimming pool every chance they got.  The night before the wedding we had a family dinner at my Mom and Step-fathers house.  It was great to see so many people gathered together becoming one big family!  Some of us were able to watch the video that Brian made.  He took pictures from our computers and scanned a lot of pictures (I did quite a lot of scanning actually).  He put them together by age going back and forth between us (5 of him then 5 of me).  He added great music and I believe it was around 25 minutes long.  This video was played on repeat during our wedding reception but of course without the music due to us having a DJ.

The wedding day was absolutely wonderful!  The heat was not so great. I am thankful for everyone who put up with the heat during pictures outside the Temple.  The ring ceremony was beautiful.  Walking down the aisle with my Dad and Step-Dad will be a moment forever in my heart.  My brother-in-law made it short and sweet.  He made me cry, smile, and laugh.  That is when you know it was great! The reception was a total blast.  I can't even go over it all in words.  I will just have to post some pics.

The wedding night and the next night, Brian and I stayed at the Marriott Villas that I mentioned earlier.  The day after the wedding, Brian and I met with family to open gifts.  Later that night we met with my Dad to look at some of my Grandfather Morgan's things.  He sadly passed away 6 days before the wedding.  We sat and talked about my Grandfather and all the good memories of him growing up!  The next day was Sunday.  Brian and I went to church with his Mom then left on our honeymoon.  We went to Flagstaff and it was nice and cool.  We went from 110 degrees to 70 degrees or less.  It was gorgeous.  I would be writing for a long time if I wrote everything that has been going on since just before we got married.  We have been married for almost 3 months and oh boy....I love my husband very much!!

Four of my nieces. Totally adorable!

Mesa LDS Temple. This is where Brian and I got married.

After we got married. Picture of loved ones who were able to attend either inside the Temple or waiting for us outside.

This is beautiful.

Our wedding rings. Bands of eternity!

Of course I had to wear flip flops (at least they were white), they had lots of bling. ;) I had a diamond rhinestone toe ring, french pedicure (full set french fingernails), and my something blue was an anklet with blue rhinestones and a heart dangling down!

My niece Rebekah took this. I love that she did everything in black and white except for my eyes!

Again with the black and white except for my eyes!

The tables at my reception. They were not completely done yet. We had little cards with poems about ringing the bell if they wanted us to kiss. I also made all those centerpieces!! :)

My handsome husband. I think I did a good job picking out all the guys vests, ties, and all the flowers! Brian looks slick. ;)

A memory vase I found that we had at our reception. It is in honor of Brian's father.  He passed away 6 years ago. We had a memory table set up in his honor. The vase says: In loving Memory, these flowers bloom as a symbol of a life and love remembered.

Here is the vase again filled with white roses. There was also a shadow box with pictures and his obituary. A photo album made by Brian's Mom was on the table as well.

Our unity candle. It's a great picture showing one of the tables and our uplighting in the background.

Another good picture of our unity candle. If you haven't noticed, our colors were maroon and white and our theme was hearts!

My funny bridesmaids were trying to balance their bouquets on their palms. I don't know where my Matron of Honor was (my oldest sister).

The entire wedding party. (4 Bridesmaids, Matron of Honor, 4 Flower girls which were my nieces, 3 Groomsmen, and Best Man!) The arch is where the ring ceremony was. The chairs were moved back to the tables and after the pictures the arch was removed.  Soon after, the reception started and that area was the dance floor!

It's all about the BRIDE!!!

My brother Guy and I!  He is seriously funny. My siblings and I are always doing something goofy. Oh, my bouquet was my dream bouquet. It had Casablanca Lillies, Ruby Red roses, baby's breath, and greens.  It was wrapped in white satin ribbon and had satin buttons all the way down the ribbon. It smelled amazing!

This is priceless. My Dad is on my right side and my Step-Dad is on my left.

My Mom and I!

A close up of our cake. I put this ribbon together.  I glued the 'Happily Ever After' ribbon to the maroon ribbon and brought it to the bakery!  If you look close above the ribbon you can see the little hearts in the frosting. They did a lot of detailing to my liking.

I wanted a yummy drink at the reception. This is what I asked for and I got it.  The Country Club took care of everything.  It is lime sherbet and 7up!!  Love it.

Our amazing wedding cake!

Brian and I got these napkins made. They were either passed out when glasses were filled for the toasts or when the cake was served. They were probably used for the cake.

We are so cute. Brian and I during our first dance. Me in my flip flops and Brian was only wearing socks. I didn't even notice until I saw this picture.

These are 2 of my nieces picking up rose petals after the ring ceremony. I love the black and white with only certain things colored. My niece did that to several pictures and they are amazing.

A close up of some flowers on our wedding cake. I picked out all the flowers for the cake and brought them to the bakery. I tried to get them to match. I found some that looked like my lillies and found some maroon lillies. There are several others that really tie it all together! The cake tasted amazing though and I didn't have anything to do with that. ;)

A close up of our cake topper. I spent a lot of time finding the perfect stuff.  I found this and knew. It is gorgeous in every way. The internet can be great. Our cake knife, server, guest book, pen, card holder, and 2 champagne flutes all match the cake topper material/style. I was lucky to find them all!

We also got a sheet cake to serve to guests first. It was so pretty. I love the maroon hearts on the top. On the sides there are also the little white hearts.

Fantastic picture of the unity candle after it got dark and the lights were turned down.

This was our first dance as husband and wife! I love this picture because it shows the screen in the background playing Brian's video that he made. Toward the end this picture comes up. I had this saying typed at the top of our wedding announcement.  'Love fills the moment and the moment begins eternity'.

Aubrey and Rebekah. They are my two oldest nieces. They crack me up. They put the napkins from the reception table around their heads. Gangsta!

Taken just outside the Temple not long after we got married. Such happiness and love! He is a piece of me that was missing. It's amazing how good it feels to truly be in love and be loved!! :)

Next time around I will post a bit about our honeymoon.  We went site seeing and saw some cool things! We also went to Las Vegas over Labor Day weekend.  I know I am really behind.  I will try to catch up. 

FINALLY...

I am finally writing a blog post!  Yes, I realize the last one was back in February.  Life has been a bit crazy.  The last semester of college was hard but rewarding.  I worked harder than I ever thought I would have to.  I loved my internship and I learned an incredible amount.  The end of the semester was a shock on so many levels.  I made it through though with a 4.0 GPA.  I graduated in Phi Alpha Honors Society (Social Work National Honors Society).  I also graduated Magna Cum Laude!!  Walking across that stage felt incredible.  It was hard to imagine that three years of college had come to an end and I had my degree.  I can now say that I graduated from Arizona State University and I have a degree in Social Work! 

My graduation announcement

My Phi Alpha Medallion. The front says Phi Alpha Honors Society. It is sitting on my cap.

 The back says April E. Morgan, Arizona State University, 2011

About to leave for graduation.  I'm wearing my gown, Phi Alpha medallion, and honors cords from graduating Magna Cum Laude.

This time I remembered to put on my cap and tassel.

My Mom in the hall at my graduation pointing to my name on the Dean's List.

 

My Phi Alpha National Honor Society Certificate

Needs no words other than perfect.  :)

My official diploma!  It arrived a few weeks ago.

This is the diploma holder that I was given when I crossed the stage at graduation. It was empty then.

It is no longer empty!!

It was SO worth it!

Since graduation it has been just as busy.  Just a different kind of busy.  I have been looking for a job and Brian is doing a paid internship!  I as well as happy helpers have been very busy getting ready for the big day.  It has been stressful yet incredibly fun and rewarding!  We are getting married in 9 days!  The past 14 months with Brian have been wonderful.  Knowing that we have eternity to look forward to gives me a peaceful/calming feeling.  I love my dress so much and I am glad it is done being altered.  It was hard to imagine it being done when I bought it.  It was sleeveless then.  I had a good time with Brian getting his and the guy's tuxes picked out.  It will be great to see so much family next week!  It is a rare thing for all of us to be together.  I had a fantastic bridal shower a few weeks ago.  My family, friends, and future in laws are so thoughtful.  I was going to post pictures but several of them are pictures of me holding different articles of lingerie that I was given.  I don't want Brian to see them yet of course!

Our wedding announcement photo

I dyed my hair brown soon after our announcement photo. It is MUCH better brown. I do not miss the red one bit!

The front of our wedding announcement photo

The inside of our wedding announcement photo

 Family, wedding, ring ceremony, reception, beautiful hotel, more time with family, and then the next week we will be on our honeymoon.  Cool temperatures, horseback riding, and time with my HUSBAND!!  Thank you all for helping me along the difficult road to get here.  My happiness!  The future April E. McCoy. :)  I promise not to wait so long between updates.  Wedding photos will be posted ASAP.

Out with the old, in with the new...

If anyone of you know someone that is looking for a wedding dress I am selling my old dress. It is associated with two engagements that fell to pieces and I didn't want that to be any part of Brian and I's relationship. My mom and I went to go look at wedding dresses and I found the perfect one. It was so great to have that experience with my mom. I now have a dress that doesn't have long sleeves (long sleeves with a July wedding, not fun), this dress is light weight and full of bling! It already fits me almost perfectly and only a few alterations need to be made. I also got one of those head band tiaras that is going to look great with my veil. Anyway, I am trying to sell my old wedding dress and here is the link to what I set up on craigslist:

http://phoenix.craigslist.org/evl/clo/2215320962.html

Brian and I had a great first Valentine's Day. I had to work 12 hours at my internship but when I got home there was a dozen hot pink roses with the most romantic, heartfelt card for me. He also had dinner ready and sparkling cider! Tonight we are going to the Suns game too! He is the best! I can't wait until next Valentine's Day because Brian will be my husband! The wedding plans are coming along well and all my family has been excited planning their trip out here. I can't wait!!

Stages of Adoption Grief...

Check out my latest monthly blog post on Blessing In A Basket. I talk about the stages of Grief a birthmother may go through after placing her baby for adoption. Again, I do a monthly post about the emotional/mental aspects of adoption on this blog. You can get to it by clicking on 'Ashley's BIB Blog' under 'my favorite sites' or get to it by clicking on the link below. This experience has been very rewarding for me and I am honored that Ashley Mitchell has asked me to do this even though I have not graduated yet! What do you all think?

http://www.blessings-inabasket.blogspot.com/

Soda Can Incident...

So I had a soda can incident the night before school started a few weeks ago. Brian was running an errand and I got his diet Dr. Pepper to put in the fridge. It was one of those big cases from Costco. I put some in the fridge and was going to put the rest in the cabinets above the fridge. Well there was something in the way and I tried to move it with my left hand while holding the soda case with my right hand. The sodas all fell out and hit me in the head, eye, and nose. I actually even passed out on the floor. I came to probably in just a few minutes and saw badly dented soda cans all over the floor along with my blood. My nose was bleeding like crazy. I knew it was broken. It still looks pretty bad and hurts like crazy if touched. I went to urgent care and they told me to go to the ER because of a possible head injury and me being on blood thinners. I thought that was a little extreme but I went and they did a CT of my head. Of course it was fine and the doctor put 4 steri strips on my nose to close the wound. I have an indention where a can hit my nose and it is still black/red. Here are a few pics. I decided to do this blog because I am avoiding doing my homework that I am behind on. Six days of migraines and vomiting caused me to miss a week of internship and school. That will put you behind really fast. :(

You can click on pictures to make them larger.

Swollen Nose:

Black eye was starting to form:

Winter Break...

I had a full and busy winter break. I go back to school on Tuesday and back to my internship on Wednesday. This is my last semester and commencement is May 13th! I got very sick for about 3-4 weeks but I didn't let it slow me down. I have been doing a study for the National Institute of Health on migraine headaches. I have done 4 phone interviews so far and still have a few more left. They ask just about everything you can think of about my health including mental and physical. They also ask about my family history. It has been very interesting.

Brian and I are sending out Engagement Announcements! It's a little different but it was a spur of the moment kind of thing that we thought would be fun. The picture was taken on our way to Sedona in mid December. We hit some snow and thought it was pretty so we took some pictures. We also amazingly got snow here in Mesa. It was incredible. It snowed pretty hard for about 10 minutes. Very unusual event for us. Brian and I have been trying to plan as much of the wedding stuff as possible because we are going to be so busy with school. We have booked the reception center. It is at a country club at a golf course. It has a big dance floor and the country club will cater it buffet style. We will have the ring ceremony there before the reception starts. It's been fun helping my bridal party (sisters and nieces) pick out dresses for the wedding! I found the best shoes for me and fun jewelry for my bridal party. The date is Friday July 8th.

Brian's Mom did something very nice. She flew us out to Utah to spend time with family the beginning of January. She was nice enough to let us spend a few days with my siblings and their families then we stayed at her house for a few days. We had a great time but oh man it was freezing. I took so many pictures but I will just include a few.

I want to remind you to check out the blog 'Blessings In A Basket'. I wrote a post titled 'Journaling'. You can get to it from my blog under 'My Favorite Sites' (click on Ashley's BIB Blog).

Snow in Mesa

Lexi wearing Uncle Brian's hat

Madison also wearing Uncle Brian's hat

Alli dancing for us

Alli and her Uncle Brian

Sierra and I being silly

Madison and Sierra with their Uncle Brian. All my nieces absolutely LOVE Brian. They can't stop talking about him. He loved them too.

Brian and I in front of the Salt Lake City Temple. Brian's Mom took us to Temple Square and it was beautiful. I love it there. We also went to two other Temples that day. I think it was about 10 degrees at that point.

Quote of the day: "Love fills the moment and the moment begins eternity". I think I would like to add this to our wedding announcement. Brian and I started working on it this weekend.