A Missouri Christmas and Reception

   After the big party on New Year's Eve at my parent's house, Jason and I began the drive to Missouri to celebrate Christmas and have a small wedding reception with his family. We started out about noon on New Years Day and drove thru...

and

Our Wedding Reception - Dec. 29 Part II

(Click here for Part I)

 

Our Wedding Reception - Dec. 29 Part I

*Under Construction*

I apologize, but it appears that I have lost this original post. (Feel free to mourn with me!) Unfortunately I have not backed up my blog to an external hard drive, so I am hoping to re-create this post in the near future. And I hope to obtain and external hard drive for the purpose of backing up my blog posts in the future!

A Wedding Reception Thru the Eyes of A Child

All of the following photos are courtesy of photographer Esther U. She did an amazing job and I can't thank her enough! I would highly recommend her photography services to anyone!

Sam: "Is it time to eat yet?"

After the Wedding - Part II

Some of the island on our way out to scuba dive.

 People are living in these half-built homes. They build as they have the money.

After the Wedding - Part I

This photo was actually taken on Day 2 of our trip, I believe, but I didn't have it when I wrote that post.

 We had 3 days left in Jamaica after our wedding  (you can catch up on that here - Our Wedding - Dec. 6). Here are the rest of the photos, not in any particular order.

Our Wedding - Dec. 6

Our Wedding Trip - Day 4

   Day 4 - Thursday - the new day for our wedding! We weren't getting married until 3pm, so we decided to enjoy some of the extra-curricular activities that the resort offered. First we got ourselves signed up for the morning snorkeling trip. While waiting for that time to roll around, I decided to take a spin on water-skis out on the ocean! It was the perfect morning for it!

Unfortunately, people are not allowed to ride in the boat, so Jason had to stay on the beach.

Our Wedding Trip - Day 3

   On Wednesday, the day we were originally supposed to get married, we instead got to wonder around and relax on the beach.

He didn't like that I wouldn't let him wear his sunglasses for the photo.

Something I can't comprehend about my husband: he blinks in every photo because the flash hurts his eyes and wears sunglasses because the sun is to

Our Wedding Trip - Day 2

   After spending the first day of our Jamaica trip in Golden, CO, we finally got our flight out of Denver at midnight, Monday night. We flew non-stop to Miami, Florida, where we arrived about 5:30am. We tried sleeping on the floor in the airport, but it was pretty uncomfortable. I think we flew out of Miami about 7am and got into Jamaica around 8:30 Tuesday morning. We were both tired and in need of a shower.
   We checked in with the Sandals office at the airport in Jamaica and then waited for our ride to the resort. When the bus (more like mini-van) driver picked us up and found out which resort we were going to, he said, "Oh! You could've just run across the runway. It's literally right over there. But I wouldn't recommend crossing the runway!" After the 5 minute ride out of the airport and around the runway, we were at the Sandals Montego Bay Resort. And the runway is very literally right behind the resort! At first, planes roaring past all day was a little annoying, but you kind of got used to it and didn't notice it after a day or so. And they didn't roar past at night, so that was nice. Anyways, let me get back to my story.
   We were driven straight to the resort, the weather was lovely, and someone was there to greet us with moist towels and a glass of water. There was a person there to take our luggage, a person to take us to reception to check in, and another person to take us to a little reception room to get our wedding book of information. It was about 10:00am Tuesday morning at this time and the first thing the guy in the reception room says is, "Can I get you anything to drink from the bar?" I think I said something about it being a little early and he replied, "This is Jamaica at a Sandals resort, mon! There is no such thing as time!"

Welcome to Sandals Resort, Montego Bay, Jamaica!!!

It was at this point in our trip that Jason found out that he had a new favorite drink for the week: rum punch.

Our Wedding Trip - Day 1

   Jason and I were leaving for Jamaica for our wedding and honeymoon on a Monday morning. Our flight was supposed to leave at 7:50am. The night before, we were discussing what time we needed to leave, what time to get up, and what we needed to make sure and take. (Passports, wedding rings, wedding dress, and suit were among the most important things on the list!) It was about 10:00pm that night when we were discussing these things. Jason was in the midst of packing and I was in the midst of repairing the tile in the bathtub. We both agreed that we needed to get to the airport about an hour to an hour and a half before our flight. Thus, we agreed to leave about 5:30-6:00am. So I set my alarm for 5:00am, planning for that to give me enough time to put the finishing touches on the grout and get myself ready to go, and then I went to bed.
   My alarm woke me up at 5:00am as it was supposed to. I go and finish the grouting, finish a few dishes in the kitchen, and go to get myself ready. That is when I look at the clock and see that it is 5:52am. I run out to the living room where Jason was fast asleep on the couch and tell him to wake up, it's almost 6! He jumps up and tears around getting ready and takes all the luggage out to the car. I lock up the house and off we go, leaving our place about 6:15am. That is when reality set in. The reality that it takes a minimum of 2 hours to get to the airport. Both of us have made the drive many times, but for some reason, neither one of us realized our miscalculation the night before. So needless to say, we booked it down the road.
   Even though we made record time, our time of arrival at the airport was exactly 7:50am. We went to the check-in counter and were told the

Celebrating the End of 25 Years as a Spinster

The Saturday before Jason and I left for our wedding trip, my friend Brittany hosted a bachelorette party for me.

 The theme was pink... 

...chocolate....

A Tropical Shower

In mid-October, I went back home to Virginia to attend a bridal shower that my sisters hosted for me. It was a tropical themed shower.

It was by far the most beautiful and elegant shower I have ever attended!!

Miss Rachel made this delicious looking towel cake.

Jul and L. did such a lovely job on the table decorations!

Peewee, Sally, Rachel, Miriam, and Katie all helped put together this delicious buffet of food!

Miss Rachel made these delicious cookies! (The "W" signifies my last name to be.)

Thanks to all of my sisters, the decorations and food for the Tropical Shower were beautiful as well as delicious!!! There were also other people there besides myself to enjoy this lovely event:

Some good friends and former co-workers, Aunt Ruthie, Joy, and Brenda.

My paternal Grandma and Great-Aunt Kathleen.

Two of my neices, Hannah and Marie.

My neice, Susannah, and my sister, Katie.

The youngest attendees were my neices Sylvia and Rachel.

Thanks to everyone there, I got some great gifts, however not all of them will be shown nor mentioned for modesty's sake.

L. made this lovely card basket for me to use at my receptions.

My family all got together and gave me a high-quality, stainless steel cooking set.

This would be the when the un-pictured gifts were opened.
My poor nephew, Sam, was just there to enjoy the food and blow out the candles at the end of the party, but I do believe he was scarred for life.

Hannah is signing my wedding scrapbook that my future mother-in-law gave to me.

My sister, L., came up to help with, and attend, the party. That was a surprise to me, as she did not tell anyone that she was coming.

At the end of an evening which set me well on the way to being a married woman.