The Wedding

Well, it's official, I am now Ashley Nicole Snavely. The wedding was absolutely beautiful and I couldn't have asked for a more fun and creative time. And the bonus? I have my wonderful Chad as my husband for the rest of our lives. To start, you can't get much better than a wedding on the beach at sunset. The only thing I wish I could have changed was the cold wind that kicked up out of nowhere an hour before the wedding started. Then, Chad, being the creative person that he is, built our "alter" in 45 minutes. We had an official hitching post, since our wedding was a western/beach theme. Everything was so beautiful. Unfortunately, my dad got lost and didn't make it to the ceremony. He didn't make it until we were almost done with photos, the sun had already gone down. We just couldn't wait for him. It hurt that he wasn't there, but there wasn't much that I could have done about it, so I moved on and enjoyed the rest of my wedding. Luckily, he wasn't going to be walking me down the aisle (I did that by myself-it's more dramatic), so I didn't have to wait for him or find somebody to replace him. I'll say one thing though, our cakes were a lot of fun. I say "cakes" because we had three. Wedding cakes are expensive, so we went to Save Mart and ordered three half sheets. One was decorated in a hawaiian theme with sandals. It said "We met on the beach...". Our second cake was decorated in a woodsy theme with a four-wheel drive vehicle, saying "We got engaged in the woods...". Our third cake was a wedding design with swans that said "And joined together forever March 28, 2009". We added a humorous cake topper with the bride dragging the groom by the collar of his jacket, Chad just loved that.
Oh, and I nailed him with the cake!

Chad and I are both enjoying married life, although it really doesn't feel like much has changed for us. After all, we've essentially been married for over a year already. Ever since we started planning for Dakota. By the way, she wore the dress I was blessed in as a baby, for the wedding, it was so cute! But everything was so wonderful, we both enjoyed ourselves a lot. Our "honeymoon" was spent at the Sea Venture Resort. It's a beautiful place, right off the beach. We had a private spa right on our balcony, chocolate dipped-strawberries, and rose petals in our room. We were supposed to receive a complimentary bottle of champagne as well, but the guy at the front desk wasn't that helpful and we didn't get it until we checked out and told them all the trouble we had with him. They sent us a free night's stay with everything that we didn't get this time. You can bet we'll use that as soon as we get a chance to go again, when it's just us.

Dakota is doing well, she now has two teeth!! Her other bottom tooth came in the day we arrived in Pismo (the 26th). She's now enjoying teething biscuits, although we watch her very carefully to be sure she doesn't bite a piece off and choke. I can hardly believe she's six months old now, she's getting too big too fast. My baby girl is slowly becoming my big girl, and I'm not sure I like it. She's to the point of almost crawling. She can lift herself off the floor, but she hasn't got the concept of moving in coordinated movements yet. It won't take her long though. I'd say, give her another three weeks, and she'll be all over the place. The cats are going to have to get used to her being mobile, they won't just be able to move three feet away anymore.
Well, this may be my last post for a little while, we're temporarily going to be getting rid of our internet. Money right now is extremely tight, and although I may not always agree, internet is a luxury, not a necessity, so we're cutting it out of our budget for awhile. Not easy, but necessary at the moment.
So, until next time, take care, we'll be in touch!