Life is Great...

Life is amazing. Life is great. What can I say? I'm ridiculously happy :)

So here's my update:
* I'm addicted... literally.. to wedding stuff. Not so much the stuff.. but the pictures! I love photography already as it is, so it's not surprising. I can't wait to start really planning stuff.
*My last final for school is Thursday morning! Hollar! Then, I just want to work as much as I can to make money before the next semester is over.
*Christmas is next week.. my favorite Holiday. 1) Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior was born this day. 2) Family time :)
*My 21st birthday is 44 days away.. :)
*I'm going to begin researching venues for the wedding reception this week.. any ideas? Let me know!
* I get to see my babies this weekend!!! :)
*Family situation is getting better.. I just wish my mom would snap out of her funk!

Wedding Quote of the Week:
"Planning a wedding is like coloring when you're 4: There's no right or wrong way to do it. And everyone will love it because they love you!" -Joel Daly (Bride Magazine)

Just some pics of ideas I love:

I will def be having a candy bar!

Cute hair idea.
Def love the idea of sparklers instead of rice or bubbles or whatever else.
My bridesmaid cards :)
Love these centerpiece ideas:

Pick One!!!!

So these are three options that me fiance and I are considering for our engagement. We want to be sensible with the money, especially in this economy, and have the best day of our lives. If we could plan for the future, that would be a bonus too. So take a look and vote on your favorite! Thanks for the input!

Option #1: Would be to spend our whole budget on a large extravagant wedding ceremony and reception. This option would use all of our budget but would help give us our "fairytale" wedding.
Option #2: To have a family dinner and have Pastor Bill perform a small ceremony at one of the houses. Be married and start our lives together. Then have a reception a few months later. This option would save the money from the church and possible other formalities from option #1. But it would also allow us to save, hopefully, half of our wedding budget for a house.
Option #3: To go to Reno or Tahoe to elope with a few family and friends. Then spend our wedding money on a down payment on a house/condo. This option would allow us to spend most of our money on our future, but the guestlist would be limited. And all of our family and friends may not be there.

So those are the three options we were considering. If you can think of any other options, let us know. We would love your feedback on this issue! We are just barely starting the planning phase but both of these items will help in continuing the plans.
<3

*Planning?*

So I think this is a question on EVERY bride-to-be's mind: "How do I get quality EVERYTHING for a cheaper price?"

My parents are giving me a good budget. But I would like to save some of the money for after the wedding and put it down on a house. So I may tweak some things to cut the cost. But how else do you guys cut the cost down? I don't want to blow 10k on a wedding!??! But I still want my princess wedding :)

Any websites you'd recommend? Ideas? What'd you guys do? Help :)

Thanks!

Soon i'll post some pics and ideas of what we're thinking.. <3

I'm Engaged!!!!!!!!!

I'm Engaged!!!!!!!

December has always been my favorite month.. but now it is for obvious reasons! So here's the scoop!
We woke up this morning (Matt stayed the night at my house because we went out to the city last night with friends, no we don't live together, not until marriage:) exhausted from the previous nights adventures. Got up, get dressed and ready for the last Cal Bears football game of the season :( Meaning no more Zack Follet, no more Felders, no more Alex Mack.. cause they're all graduating this year. Sigh. Anywase, went to the game with Matt's dad (like usual.. it's a Saturday ritual). Everything was fun, great weather, and we won 48-7.

After the game we said goodbye to Matt's dad and then headed to our way. I thought we were going to Beka's recital but Matt decided to take a detour to Indian Rock in Berkeley. For those who have never been, I highly recommend it.. it's gorgeous. These pics are just a little proof.. I've loved it since he took me there when we first started dating.It has a view of all of the bay.. Sf, Oakland, richmond, the hills, etc. I've been trying to go for awhile but the weather has been too crummy. So we go there and just relax, cuddle, and small chat. It was really getting crowded though so we climbed down and went to the car.

We get to the car and he says he has a present for me. He hands over a black photo album. I open it and we start looking through it together. It had all of the pics from when we first started dating to now in it. So as we go down memory lane, we talk about each one of the pictures. lol. Then we get to the end and there's a bunch of blank pages so I kiss him and thank him for the gift. He says "That's not all.. I left the blank pages in the back so we can fill it up. I want to have many more memories with you.. (pulls out the ring) Samantha Middle Name, Last Name. Will you marry me?" I said yes.. of course, I even think I said it before he was done lol. And then he said some more romantic stuff and my eyes got teary.

After that we went to our favorite Italian resteraunt for dinner. These pics are funny cause one is of me so excited.. the other is him like "Oh my goodness whatd i get myself into?" kinda pose! lol. hilarious.

And I'm so excited. I love him to death. I cannot wait to spend the rest of my life with him. I cannot wait to start planning our wedding :) and of course sharing it with all of you... So our story just begins!

*Thanksgiving Update*

"You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them."

So this Holiday season has def. started to a great start. The Thanksgiving festivities went great!!! We had about 40 people at our house for Thanksgiving. All of those 40 people were immediate family.. and we were even missing some! So we had our house full, to say the least. It was FUN, drama free, and a blessing. My family has been through a Lot these past few years.. so it was amazing (and only God's grace could do this..) to see our family actually come together, despite all our differences, and have fun. I hope this is the way things are from now on!!! Unforunately, I had to leave the gathering at my house at around 4pm.

Matt and I then drove down to Monterey for his brother and sister-in-laws house. I love going there. The city itself is just gorgeous, it's next to the ocean (yes, I LOVE the ocean), and his brother's family is so chill and down to earth. There were about 18 people at their house. We ate outside.. which is always fun! (not to mention Deb is totally a cute version of Martha Stewart so it looked like something you would see in a magazine!) We stayed the night at the friend's house down the street. Then woke up the next morning and had sort of a lazy morning with the family. It was a relaxing.. but fun weekend. Matt's nieces (Katee & Cassi) are adorable and fun. They're growing up so fast!!! Hopefully not too fast though, cause I'm going to need some flower girls soon! lol. :) So all in all it was a great weekend.

Sorry I'm a little late posting everything.. I'll include some pics! But all in all.. Thank God because I'm truly blessed to have such a wonderful family! He's amazing!

Changes!!

My, Oh, My! This holiday season has definetly brought some major changes. I guess I'll start with the bad because the good def. outweighs it... so here I go!

#1: My younger brother Juan (15) has gone to live in Visalia. He now lives in a group home. For those of you who don't know.. this has been sort of coming for a long time. He was adopted when he was five years old. He has never really gotten over that fact and somehow (even to this day) thinks the grass in greener on the other side. But he's wrong and has no idea how wrong he is. So things have gotten crazy lately, his behavior has escalated, there's been some little violence, and it was just the best (and only) thing for my parents to do. I think he will do fine there. It's a group home who's goal is to get the kids independent, be financially stable, and learn rules and regulations. The sad part about the kids in the home is almost all of them don't have families waiting for them, they don't have anyone else to turn to..hints why they're there. Then there's Juan who has a great family waiting for him at home. So that's the bad news. I don't know how long he will stay there or anything like that but it's been rough so keep us all in your prayers still!

#2: One of my best friends Michelle and I went to lunch sometime last week and as we were leaving we drove by this bridal store. This wedding dress and bridesmaid dress was in the window. We HAD to stop. They're gorgeous! The wedding dress (which wasn't actually my focal point, surprisingly) was a little under $1,000. But the Bridesmaid dress, which I love, were like $150 or something. I love the bridesmaid dresses.. when the time is right I want to take this pic and run with it. See what colors they have, sizes, etc. I'm more excited to find those dresses than I am my own! :)

#3: I found a job.. maybe two!!! I am a certified Medical Assistant and have been since Feb. of last year. I did my internship with an Ob/Gyn Dr (Loved it!) but unfortunately they didn't have any positions for me so I moved on. I moved to Family Practice who was Dr Ashby, she is a brilliant lady, a little rude sometimes, but great teacher. I was there for like 3 months. I loved it but we had a little bit of difficulty trying to get a pay raise. So I left to a Pediatric office. I was at the Pediatric Office for about 3 months when tragedy struck in my life. I had to take 1 wk off work due to funeral arrangements and such.. The Pediatric office cut my hours and I've been jobless ever since. So about a week ago I got a call from Dr. Ashby and long story short.. I'm working there a few days a week.. until more hours open up for me! I'm excited to be doing Medical Assisting again because I love it. I'm doing my pre-nursing still so it totally makes sense! I also have a receptionist job at the new Brentwood Massage Envy. So I'm going to try and work all of this in together so I can make some bank :)

*This is a pic of "the Girls" from my MA class last Feb.* <3>