Lots to do!!!

We are getting married in 195 days! So I only have 194 days to get everything done! Wow there's a lot to do!

So far I have:
Booked the church
Booked the reception hall
Booked the caterer
Booked the cake decorator
Bought my dress!!!!!
Picked a color theme
Put together the guest list
Designed my invitations (though I haven't seen a sample yet)
Bought our Unity Candle


Still to do:
Send save the date cards
Choose bridesmaid dresses
Pick reception music
Make bouquets
Choose a cake design
Choose flower arrangements
Choose wedding music
Decide on decorations
Write our vows
Buy a house

Oh, I know I am forgetting so many many things, but this is just so much fun!!!

My Man

Mike and I celebrated our 2 year dating anniversary on March 12. We both had the day off work so we took advantage of that by checking out a reception hall and some houses. We spent the afternoon relaxing and at night he took me out to Logan's for dinner. We celebrated by actually ordering desert!!!

Saturday I arranged to take Mike shooting with some good friends. We really enjoy the tv show NCIS and Mike has recently been making comments about wishing he knew how to handle guns. I have some great friends who are quite the gun experts. I asked Mike if he could pick me up on his way to my house Saturday but when he got there I led him to the back field where Mark was waiting with a grand selection of guns! We had a blast (thanks to our great teachers!) and now Mike is wanting to buy a handgun for protection and a gun for shooting clay pigeons.

Big news!!!

Mike took me ice-skating yesterday. For a few weeks now he's been talking about going ice-skating and we were both free yesterday afternoon so off we went. We decided to go downtown to Rosa Parks Circle. It was only Mike's second time skating and it has been a while since I have ice-skated. It took us a few rounds to get used to it and before we knew it we were skating like pros! (Yeah right...but we can dream!) It was the absolute perfect day for skating, 40 degrees, blue skies and sunny. Our ankles were getting sore so we decided to take a break.

One neat thing about Rosa Parks Circle is that they have an outdoor sound system so there is music going that we can skate to. As we are taking our rest, our song came on the radio! I looked at Mike and we were like, it's our song!!! So of course we had to skate to it.

So off we went...some of the ice was melting a bit so we avoided those areas around the edges. Mike steered me closer and closer to the center ice, I finally asked why we in the center because we were skating in a line instead of a circle. He said, I'm ready for another break, let's stop here a minute. Okay, so we stopped. Look over there, there's snowflakes in the window! Mike pointed to a building behind me. I turned back to him and he said, I think God's trying to tell me something, and proceeded to get down on one knee! Melissa, will you marry me? YES!

A lady there was nice enough to take our picture. We decided to stop skating and walk around downtown so we could start making plans. We are very excited to start planning the wedding and can't wait to get married!!!

Right after he popped the question!


On our walk downtown

My beautiful perfect engagement ring!!!

Bluetree

I won tickets from a local radio station to see the band Bluetree in concert. Mike and I thought it sounded like a good concert so we decided to go. We only knew one of their songs, but thought that they were really good and had a great stage presence. Brenda, this video is for you :)

Valentine's Day

I saw these cookies and thought they were the neatest looking cookies I'd ever seen! I knew I just had to make them and I knew Mike would love them! Heather came over one night and we whipped them together. Surprisingly, they were much easier to make than I'd anticipated and they were fun to make too! It was my first time working with fondant and I can't wait to work with it again. Here's the link for the recipe if you'd like to give it a try!
Mike and I had decided that we really weren't going to do much giftwise for Valentine's Day, or so I thought... I didn't spend much on him, but I did put thought into his gift. Considering that we didn't really celebrate Valentine's Day last year, this was kind of our first Valentine's Day. We spent the afternoon together and then he made my favorite, Chicken Alfredo, for dinner. He also gave me this absolutely beautiful necklace, which matches my promise ring he gave me last year.

Thanks for a wonderful day Mike, I love you!


(P.S. This is my hand, not a wrinkly chest ;))

Auto Show Toyota Performers

Mike and I went to North American International Auto Show in Detriot a few weeks ago. It was my first time going, and we had a blast! It was really neat to look at all the concept cars, and the newest production cars. There were all kinds of things to look at and lots of neat cars! My "dream" car--2011 Ford Mustang Convertible, 50th Anniversary Edition

Mike's "dream" car--Dodge Viper!

Me, in my more realistic "dream" vehicle--2010 Jeep Grand Cheerokee

Mike, in his more realistic "dream" truck--2010 Dodge Ram

Me and my dream man ;)

The Toyota display had this group of performers, Mike and I thought they were really neat, I think you'll enjoy them also!

Virginia

In January, Mike, his parents, and I went down to Virginia for a weekend. His family has some friends who live down there and the men had planned a trip to go deep sea fishing on Monday. His Mom and I went along to just relax and spend time with the ladies!

We left on Friday afternoon, and drove until about 10 before stopping overnight at a hotel. Saturday morning, we got up early and drove to Mike's cousins, Chad and Kathi's house in Pennsylvania. We spent a few hours visiting with them before continuing on our way to Virginia. We arrived in Woodbridge around dinner time and joined everyone for dinner to celebrate Dave's birthday. We don't have a Cheeseburger in Paradise around here, but I definitely recommend stopping there if you ever get a chance!

Sunday was spent relaxing and enjoying time with eachother. We went to church with Dave and Nancy and they had a special luncheon at their church so we stayed for that. The men left for Virginia beach in the early afternoon, so that left us ladies to enjoy the afternoon! We relaxed at night in the hot-tub and then watched a movie.

Monday morning we went to Quantico. Dave was in the military so they have access to the base, and Nancy was able to show us around. It was especially neat because Mike and I love to watch NCIS and many of the shows are based around Quantico. Then we went to Ikea. It was my first time going there and it was such an incredible store! I could spend all day browsing there (we did spend a lot of time there!) I got some great deals, and some really neat ideas for when I have a house! We went out for lunch and then hit a few more stores. The men got back around the same time we did and we left to head back to Michigan around dinner time. We drove until 10 before stopping at a hotel, and then continued back to reality on Tuesday. It was great to get away for a weekend and not have to worry about work, and just be able to relax!

The snow on the trees in Pennsylvania was absolutely beautiful!
Mike's Mom and I by the memorial statue outside Quantico
Some history of Quantico

The NCIS building

A helicopter...it flew around most of the time we were there, but we also got to see it land and take off again!

Griffin's Game

Mike and I went to Griffin's game on New Year's Eve...It was a pretty active game, even though the Griffin's lost pretty badly to the Hamilton Bulldogs. I think the final score was 7-3 or something like that. We didn't see the end of the game because we left during the 3rd quarter to go to a friend's house for a party.

Can you tell there were lots of fights? :)

Final Christmas Event :)

The Saturday after Christmas, we had our Christmas time with Mike's family. It actually worked out quite well with my family on Christmas Eve, his extended family on Christmas, and his family afterwards; it was much less stressful than trying to cram everything into 1 day!

Tyler and Jen opening their present from Mike and I--a fondue pot with some goodies to make in it! (Sorry, the pictures are so dark, the lighting wasn't good on this side of the room!)

Mike's Dad with his gift from me, a laptop cooling station. It was perfect because Mike gave him a laptop bag, so he is all set!

Throughout the month of December, I secretly stole Mike's Mom's recipes, typed them up, returned them and stole some more! I printed them up and put them in a binder for her, so now her recipes are organized and she can find them real quick!

Mike (wearing his other new shirt from me!) opening the first season of Chuck, a present from me.

Mike found this HUGE stocking and filled it to the brim with all kinds of neat gifts for me! It was a lot of fun opening up all the gifts!

Christmas Day

On Christmas Day, Mike and his parents came to my house for dinner with my family and I. We had a good time together. After dinner, we hung out at my house for a while and then headed back to Mike's house. From there we went to Mike's Grandma's house for his extended family Christmas party. We had a nice dinner, everyone brings something and it makes for a great meal. After dinner, we opened presents from Grandma and then played Bingo. She buys gifts all year, anything from dish clothes, to sweatshirts, to kid's books, to kitchen knives, for great prices and uses them as prizes for Bingo. When you get a Bingo, you get to choose a gift, and there are a TON to choose from...you never know what you'll be opening! It's a ton of fun!

The sisters opening their presents (Mike's mom is on the far right).

Mike (notice he's wearing one of the shirts I gave him for Christmas) opening his present from Grandma...with some help from Brooke!

The enormous mountain of Bingo presents!

Brielle "playing" Bingo...isn't she adorable?