Engagement

Seems like it has been forever since I haven't posted anything, oh wait it has.

Since my last post I have been very busy. Michael and I received our engagement pictures, which we were very pleased to see. Striegler Photography is the one who took the photos. Michael and Bryan are friends from college and he takes wonderful pictures.

We spent two hours with Bryan and his wife Ashley taking pictures around the University of Arkansas campus. It was a lot of fun and we got 191 great pictures. It is very hard to go through them now and pick the best. Our favorite includes about 40 of the pictures. I decided to only place a few of those on here for your entertainment.

Goodbye San Diego Hello Arkansas

The last few days of my San Diego trip were fun and very busy. My hotel was in the downtown area and it overlooked the bay. I could have stayed on my balcony all day and watched the boats come and go. One afternoon I had a few hours to kill so I walked down the boardwalk area to an aircraft carrier. The boardwalk had tons of shops and food places to stop into. I got Michael some hot sauce at a place that only sold hot sauces. The area was all about the military. They had statues and tributes to the military around the aircraft carrier.

View from my hotel room

Me and Bob Hope

Can't tell if she had anything under

Friday morning I left San Diego bright and early to fly to Arkansas. I was so excited. Michael and I had tons of things to do; a wedding, our engagement pictures, cake tasting, and I got to see my cousin's new baby. Friday night we went to the Bride's parent's house for a cookout. It was tons of fun. Michael got to spend some time with his friends who he hadn't seen in a long time.

Saturday morning, we got up early early in the morning to go have our engagement pictures taken. I will write more on this later, once we get some pictures to show everyone. Saturday was Brad and Jodie's wedding. Michael was an usher and looked so handsome in his tux. The wedding was beautiful and the reception was extremely fun. Everyone danced and hung out until almost midnight. I wish I had taken my camera to the wedding, but I am sure other people have good pictures from the party.

Sunday was the day I was looking forward to all week. The day I got to meet the newest addition to my family, Ava Elizabeth Grady. She is the sweetest baby ever. Aden loves his baby sister, he would love her more if he still got all the attention, but he does love her. I brought him a present to make him feel special, a monkey with a baby monkey on it. Michael and I took Aden to my church picnic. They had a big slide and bounce around. He loved playing. Here are some pictures of baby Ava and Aden playing. Aden is going to have tons of girlfriends when he is older. When I dropped him back off at the house he gave me a big hug and told me he loved me. Melt her heart. He knows how to work the ladies already.

Me and baby Ava
He was giving her a kiss
Michael thought I was going to break her
He looks scared but he kept going back up
He had so much fun!

San Diego

This week I am hanging out in San Diego. I am out here for a work trip but I have been trying to do some fun things too. I arrived early Sunday morning expecting to have a sunny day at the beach. Boy was I ever wrong. Someone should have told me that it was June gloom. I didn't come to California alone, a girl I work with came out early too. We decided to try and make the best of the cloudy, cold day and we went to the San Diego Zoo.

The zoo was enormous and it is found in the middle of downtown San Diego. We walked all over the place, and I actually think we got to see every animal in the entire park. I will say, I believe we saw some animals two or three times due to the fact we kept getting lost. They have tons of different creatures but my favorites were definitely the baby tigers and the pandas. The baby tigers were fun to watch, because they were very playful. They were chasing each other all over the place. The pandas were cool, well because they are pandas. I am glad we decided to take the nasty afternoon and turn it into a great day.
Monday, I went to our San Diego office. I had not been to this office yet so it was kind of like starting a new job, walking around getting to know faces to the people I have spoken with on the phone a hundred times. I hate being two hours behind the world. I am up at 4:30, hungry by 10:00 and ready to go home by 3:00 everyday. Last night we went and had sushi for dinner. I was so excited about fresh fish, plus by the time we got there I was so hungry I wanted to eat everything on the menu. The place we went was called Station Sushi and it was right off the beach. So, of course, right after dinner we decided to go down to the beach. This was day two of no sun but the beach is the beach and it made me happy. I was so impressed there were people in the water surfing and the water was cold and so was the temperature outside. Even though there was no sun it was still pretty outside.
Tomorrow is the beginning of our tradeshow downtown. I am excited mainly because we are staying right by the marina. Today shows hope for a sunny evening which I plan of spending watching a high school all star baseball game. Maybe the sun will be out tomorrow too. Crossed Fingers.

Baby Ava

Well, as of 12:51AM Tuesday morning, my family has welcomed the newest addition to their family. She is a beautiful healthy baby girl named Ava Elizabeth Grady. Ava weighed in at 8lbs and 13oz. She has dark hair and dark eyes, very pretty. This is the second child for my cousin Kelly. Her and her husband, James, already have a 2 and a half year old little handful or I mean little boy. I spoke with Aden this morning and he was VERY excited to be a big brother, or at least that's what he told me on the phone. I have included a few pictures courteous of my mother. I can't wait to meet Ava in person in a few weeks!

Mexico Vacation

Last week Michael and I went to Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. First, no we are not sick with the swine flu. Second, we had a blast.

We left Tuesday morning and arrived at the Cancun International airport by lunchtime. We got off the plane expecting to see lots of people in customs and it was empty. Michael and I were the only people in customs. We walked straight through. We were stopped to have our temperature taken before we could leave. Our ride was easy to spot with bright orange shirts. It took about 40 minutes to arrive at our hotel.

We expected that everyone else would already be at the resort, so as soon as we arrived, we got changed into our swimsuits and headed for the beach. The beach was beautiful, cool white sand and clear aqua blue waters. The first thing Michael and I did was jump into the ocean. It was a perfect lukewarm temperature. After laying outside for a little while without seeing anyone from our group, we decided to go and find out the rooms of all the other guests. Well after calling everyone, Michael called back to the front desk and found out that no one else had arrived to the resort yet. Everyone finally arrived at the resort later that evening. Flight problems and huge delays due to fog apparently kept the planes on the ground.

Michael and I got up early the next morning and took a walk along the beach. Our beach was a private beach, so no locals were allowed. In one direction down the beach were tons of other resorts and in the other direction was absolutely nothing. We chose to take a walk towards nothing. It was a perfect morning to wander. We took the new camera and got tons of great pictures.

The resort had tons of fun activities planned everyday, for instance; beach volleyball, kayaking, water polo, trampoline, etc. We definitely did as many activities as we could. One day we went on a catamaran boat to the reef where we got to swim for a little while. Our guide was very nice and very good at steering the boat. The resort also had a fantastic spa. I personally went there twice. Michael and I went once together and had a couples massage. It was so relaxing and enjoyable I went back later in the week and had a chocolate wrap done.

Michael, his brother Brad, Floyd, and I decided one day to be very adventurous and try scuba diving. Yes, yes as hard as that is to believe...I went scuba diving. I will admit, I was in a panic the entire time we were in the ocean. First we had training in the swimming pool. That was scary and I could stand up in the swimming pool, but they trained us for everything that could go wrong underwater. Then they took us about a 10 minute boat ride out into the ocean and threw all the equipment on us and said jump into the water. I know that it does not sound scary but it was a little rough in the water and when you are are wearing equipment that weighs as much as you do then it becomes scary. It got better once I started down the line. The only problem I had once we were at the bottom was that I was like a rock. I had to swim up then if I stopped kicking my feet I would sink straight down. We saw lots of colorful fish and the coral was beautiful.

The whole reason everyone was in Mexico was to see Brad and Jaren get married. They had a Oceanside beach ceremony. The waves breaking and the sunset were a perfect scene for the wedding. The ceremony was short and sweet and the party started as soon as they kissed. Jaren was a beautiful bride and Brad was smiling ear to ear. To see the ceremony from beginning to end including the after party, see the links at the bottom of the page.

We ate lots of wonderful food. The last day Michael and Brad went deep sea fishing. I did not go due to the high winds and rough water, but the boys caught 21 fish including a sailfish, Mahi Mahi, a shark and yellow tailed jack. Even though I did not go I still got to enjoy the fish. Michael was allowed to bring the Mahi Mahi back to the hotel where they prepared it for us to have for dinner Saturday night. It was the best tasting Mahi Mahi I have ever eaten. The hotel cooked it to perfection.

We left Sunday afternoon, which was very sad. I could have stayed on the beach for another week. I have included two links to the photos I have uploaded to Google photos. There were 945 photos, so I did not want to have to pick only a few to show on the blog.

Mexico Pictures Album 1

Mexico Pictures Album 2

And the planning Begins...

Over the last few weeks, I have started to do some planning. Michael and I have officially decided on a date, which is June 5, 2010. We will be getting married (that is still weird to say) in Fort Smith, Arkansas. It is my hometown. We are going to get married at my church, Goddard United Methodist Church. I am very excited about the church, it is so beautiful and wonderful. The reception hall is being booked today, and it will be at Golden Living/Venture or as everyone in Fort Smith knows it, Beverly Enterprises. I think I have decided the colors will be Navy Blue and Carolina Blue (baby blue).

Michael and I picked our wedding party the other night they are as followed:
Bridesmaids:
Megan Wright-Maid of Honor
Veronica Slack-Matron of Honor
Laura Lyons Bryant
Kelly Allen Grady
Peggy Cosgrove

Groomsmen:
Zack Taylor-Best Man
Chris Skrocki
Steven Sperry
Steve MacDonnell
James Olander

Ushers:
Brad Reagan
Brian Penton
Eric Mallard
Brad Sperry

The decision was difficult, mainly because we didn't want to have everyone standing at the front of the church with us. Keeping the numbers down on bridesmaids and groomsmen were especially difficult for Michael. He wanted everyone. I kept joking that I didn't know enough ladies to keep up with everyone he wanted.

My Easter Surprise!

Michael had a nice Easter surprise for me today. When I got back from taking Megan to the airport, Michael told me I could go on a Easter Egg Hunt or as I will call it, The Treasure Hunt. He did not give me any clues except that it was jewelry. I proceeded to the Master Bedroom and starting hunting, through a box, the dresser, and finally the night stand. In the bottom drawer of the night stand I found a little square box with a really big surprise inside. Michael then asked me if I would marry him, which of course my answer was yes. Here are a few pictures of my new ring, but trust me the pictures don't do it justice.