First Things First

Hi there! We're not always good about keeping in touch with people about what is going on in our lives, so I (Ashley) decided it was time to start keeping a blog and let our friends and family know what's new.
Lately the biggest thing keeping our attention is, of course, the wedding. We're both extremely excited that it is finally only three weeks away. We're scrambling to get things all figured out and paid for, but they're slowly coming together. I just hope that the weather cooperates and doesn't throw all our hard work and planning in the garbage. If it's anything like it was last week though, it will be gorgeous. The plan is to have a quick ceremony right at sunset, so hopefully we've estimated the time right. It's hard to know, so I did some exploring to find the average sunset time for our wedding day, and I came up with 7:21pm, so I hope 7:00pm will give us a beautiful backdrop. Our photographer, Aaron Rogers, came to talk to us Wednesday about what we're looking for by way of pictures, and he's got some amazing work in his portfolio. I know he'll give us everything we're looking for and more. We'll have to do some pictures before the ceremony, which means I'll be seen in my dress early, but I'm ok with that as long as they turn out the way we want them to. Chad is working so hard to get all the little things together, it's the only thing keeping him sane, I think (It's still not positive that he is sane to start with :) ). I'm busy making sure the decorations and outfits for the bridal party are all figured out. Decorations are easy, they're all planned, they just have to be paid for. Outfits, that's a different story. We were going to have everyone in black pants and a white shirt with black or white cowboy hats, but it's actually cheaper to have the girls in dresses. Our colors are currently up for discussion. I was going to have black/white/peach, but now we're probably going to have to change them to black/white/blues. It's not what I would have chosen (I think it's too common with a beach wedding), but I'll do what I must to keep the cost down. Ultimately the colors don't matter anyway. I still need to go shopping to find a dress for Dakota.
Speaking of Dakota, she is getting so big it amazes me. Today she finally figured out how to roll from her tummy onto her back again. She's twenty-two weeks old and growing way too fast for me. I want her to stay small and cuddly and baby.... I can't believe it's been five months already since she was born. We're finally getting her characteristics figured out. She's got my eyes and mouth, but looks a lot like Chad right now. But last month she was identical to me at five to six months old. She loves teddy bears, the blue and green elephants on her bouncer, and her purple elephant on her carseat. She loves to take a bath, and has five very strict rules about bedtime.
One: It is promptly started at 8:00pm with a bath.
Two: The bath water has to be the same temperature as Mom's baths, very warm but not hot.
Three: After the bath, a diaper and PJ's are put on immediately, no playing or dilly-dallying.
Four: A bottle is given as soon as clothes are on.
Five: After the bottle is empty it's time to be put in bed.
She falls asleep pretty quickly and usually without any fuss. Ever since she was one month old, she's been sleeping through the night. Right now she falls asleep by 8:45pm and wakes up between 7:00am and 9:00am, takes a diaper change and a bottle, and will usually go back to sleep until 11:00am. It's been wonderful. She is such a good and easy baby. I hope the next one is just like her. But first I have to talk Chad into having one more. He'd be happy with just one, but I want at least two. That way Dakota always has a playmate, and I can try for a boy.
Well, I think for now that's got us up to date. I'm going to try to update this once a week, but we'll see if things work out that way before the wedding is done. In the meantime, take care and feel free to give us a call at any time to chat!