{Ales Family} Surviving One Temper Tantrum at a Time

Family Updates

2011-11-25T13:23:00.001-08:00

I'm working on an update, as I can through out the day. It's coming soon!

Fred Updates!

2011-03-22T13:59:00.000-07:00

I always do have good, really good intentions of keeping our little spot on the 'net updated.

Really I do.

Super fantastic intentions even! But alas, my intentions don't lead to fruition very often.

Today, naptime (well, let's face it... it's "hang out in your room" time for Fred), is available. The house is (mostly) tidy, and I have a wee bit of time to share some updates on our bundle of energy.

Yep, that would be Fred.Sometimes known as an "unstoppable force" or "unending ball of energy". Yeah... good times are always happening here. Especially when the "unstoppable force" is not even remotely interested in going to his room for quiet time.

But, he is amazing and so so so much fun to be with. Here are a few "Fred-ism" that are too fantastic not to share:

Fred has recently "discovered" his nipples... but is convinced that his belly button is also one of them. He'll argue with you for the better part of an hour. But, if you ask him to show you his belly button, he gets it right every time. (And, for the record, no we don't ask him to show us his nips.)
Fred has fallen in love with dinosaurs. Big time. Loves them almost as much as he loves his cars.
Fred loves to play this little game with us... and he thinks it's HILARIOUS. He'll ask for milk, and then as I am just a second from pouring it, will say "No... Juice!". So, I'll ask him if it's juice he wants. He says yes... and so I get it out and start getting his cup ready (juice = 4/5 water+1/5 juice), and he'll change his mind wanting milk. This can go on and on for ever.
He does the same thing with "movies". It normally starts out with wanting to watch Wal-Yee (Wall-E), and then to Cars, and then to Dinosaurs (Land Before Time, or We're Back!), and finally back to Wal-Yee... and it continues on.
Fred LOVES to color. (Mommy LOVES that Crayola makes washable crayons and markers that only work on their special paper. The walls have been spared - so far!)
Fred LOVES music, dancing, and singing. He also really enjoys pounding on the piano.
Fred continues to love reading books and looking at pictures. (Yay! for the DVD system called "Your Baby Can Read!" I believe it works)

Freddy is TWO!

2010-12-20T21:35:00.000-08:00

Oh my stars and bananas... I've been playing a LOT of slide shows in my mind covering the last two years.

I keep asking Steve all kinds of reminicent questions, and he shrugs or just smiles at me.

I often wonder what this little man will do in the coming year.

He sure has changed ours in the last two...

Here's a brief update on his "accomplishments":

Freddy can count to 15 (though he has no clue what the numbers are or mean. It's more like the words to a song for him)
Freddy is putting together strings of 2-5 words into sentences.
Freddy loves to sing.
Freddy enjoys dancing!
Freddy totally digs music.
Right now, Freddy can't do anything without a wheeled toy (plane, train, or car) in his hand. (including eating dinner, sleeping, going grocery shopping, and bathing)
Freddy LOVES to ride bicycles, tricycles, big wheels, scooters, and his Elmo Mobile. Unfortunately, though he is persuasive (to the older kids who let him take their wheeled objects), he isn't big enough to ride most of them.
Fred's most recent toy facination is trains... mostly Thomas the Train, but he loves our IKEA set too.
Freddy loves being outside. He loves walks ("want walk") and playing in our backyard ("want to play 'oussside'").
Freddy will ask you to tickle him by coming up to you, starting to giggle, and saying "tickle tickle".
Freddy is not into climbing on things (Yay for furniture) or play ground climber things (boo! for not burning more energy!)
Freddy loves to run (Wun Mommy Wun!)
When asked if he is "Mommy's Baby", he'll say... No! Red's Baby or ... Baby Red!
Fred has a very definite idea of where "his" seat is on our couch. Generally it's where anyone else is sitting.
Fred LOVES his Daddy (the feeling is mutual) and will often go trolloping upstairs to wake him up.
Freddy is accomplished in the art of saying "Peas", "Tank Eww", and "Wekome". Sometimes all in the same string of words. :)
Freddy's favorite foods are hot dogs, apples, bananas, lasagna, yogurt, cheese sticks, oatmeal squares (cereal), steak, french fries, sliced carrots, baked potato chips, and popcorn.
Fred wakes up around 7:30am each morning, takes a two hour nap each day (or at least he remains in his room for two hours), and goes to bed at 7:30ish each night.
Fred still loves to "read" books and have books read to him.
Fred can identify most pets, farm and jungle animals.... and can tell you what noises they make too.
Freddy is can identify family members in photos, and will either point to them if you ask him where they are, or will point to them and tell you who they are.
Freddy rocks at airplane flights (most of the time - 'cause Mommy knows how he rolls), and has taken almost 15 round trip flights in his whopping 2 years of age.
Freddy has our bedtime routine down pat... right down to hugs, kisses, and noses. (Noses are a thing that just Steve and I do with him. Basically it's eskimo kisses x 3.)
When coming out of "time out" (yes, it's not all rainbows and butterflies here... we have stinky diapers and all to deal with), Freddy will pat your head when saying sorry. We're still trying to figure out where the head patting thing came from.
Fred loves to sing "Ginkle Ginkle" (Twinkle Twinkle little Star) while grocery shopping with mommy.
Fred took a gymnastics class. It was more of an organized chaos class to me.

With all of that being said, Fred really is a great child and I consider myself blessed to be his mommy!

Fred-ism's and an Update!

2010-10-31T12:29:00.000-07:00

Obviously, I don't do well with keeping this blog updated.

Quite honestly, I stink at updating any of my blogs. Facebook has become my resource.

But, I am working to get better!

So, with that in mind... here's what our gorgous 22 month old son has been up to and saying...

Fred-isms:

No!
No Mama No!
NOOOO!!!!
MINE!!!
We go now, Momma! NOW!
Want wo!
Wok! (walk)
Owwwww-side (when we wants to go out and play)
Waa Up (Want up!) - Usually said when he wants to see what I'm working on in our kitchen.
Waa Down (Want Down!)
MINE!! (Wait... did I already say that one? Well, it's heard more often than anything else!)
Mik (Milk)
Jooos (Juice or Water - really... we cut his juice with water, so it doesn't matter!)
Tank Ewww (Thank you)
Ess Ewww (Bless you)
Eckome (Welcome)
Peas (Please)
Wassat (Whats that?)
NighNigh (night night)
Nap
No Nap
Nack (snack)
Cheese
Tinky (yep... stinky... otherwise known as... "I have a present in my pants!")

Fred started gymnastics this month at our city rec center, and has a blast. It's really more organized chaos, but his teacher is amazing with the patience of Job! I'm told that it's normal for him to run around like a mad man, and that he'll get used to things. We'll see. He is great though at walking like a bear, jumping off of steps, walking on a balance beam (with me holding his hands), at playing with the ropes, and jumping on a trampoline (it's one of those little trampolines).

Fred is VERY into cars at the moment. We have them strewn all over the house. He loves bicycles, tricycles, and scooters and has been seen trying to "borrow" them from other kids at the park and as we pass their houses when we take walks. I've learned that if I put him down for his nap with a car, he won't sleep a wink. He'll stay there talking and playing with his car for his entire nap time. He also likes watching airplanes and trains. The lights on police cars, ambulances and fire trucks make his day. It's great (for him) that we live across the street from the fire station!

He's also into puzzles and continues to enjoy interactive books. He surprises me each day with how great he is with his puzzles! He recognizes matching colors and shapes; usually putting the right puzzle piece into the slot at the first try. He also very much enjoys his lego's. We recently moved into the Duplo lego stage (one step smaller). Steve and Fred have a good time building towers.

With the Texas summer heat finally cooling off, we've been trying to spend a few hours outside each day. Fred loves playing at the park, taking walks, and playing with balls of all kinds. He tries to throw them forwards, but they end up going behind him. A former co-worker gave us a set of small soccer goals, and Fred's been learning to get the ball into the goal. Currently, he thinks the goals are more of a fashion accessory than a sporting net. CUTE!

When we go on our walks, I try to mentally check out of what I have going on, and focus on seeing the world as Fred is. Everything is interesting to him, including gum stuck to the road, ant hills (which are VERY dangerous in Texas), frogs, ducks, turtles, ants, dragonflies, dogs, cats, and any other creature we come across. He LOVES to lay and roll around in the grass!

Fred's current favorite foods are hot dogs (don't try and cut it up for him - he'll get quite angry with you!), macaroni and cheese, steak, chicken tenders, roasted broccoli or cauliflower (really! I was surprised too!), apples, scrambled eggs, pork chops, blueberries (his favorite!!), bananas, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, carrot sticks, quesadillas and yogurt. He, most times, has quite the exploring palate!

If I'm ever in a pinch and need him to entertain himself, popcorn is ALWAYS a sure fire bet. He'll sit and eat almost a full bag if I'd let him.

Music remains an important part of our days. Fred will dance his little heart out if I have the right music on (my music, but not Steve's. :) ) He knows most of the alphabet song and we hear him singing the phrase "Now I know my ABC's" off and on. He's great at songs with actions attached, and I have a lot of fun singing them with him. He LOVES "The Wheels on the Bus" song, especially when it comes to the babies on the buss and their waa, waa, waaa's!

When he's being fussy, or ornery (Hmm I wonder who he got that trait from?), when we're out and about, if I sing one of our silly songs to him, he'll sing with me. I find it quite endearing and love it. Of course, people look at me like I'm strange, but I'm used to it and don't care. Besides, it's not like I'm singing loud enough for the whole store to hear me.

I try to have some kind of art time with Fred at least once, preferably twice a week. Look for a video (hopefully) later this week with our Thanksigiving craft! He loves coloring with his crayons!

In other news, Steve and I are keeping busy! Fred fills my days, and keeping him on a schedule has made a huge difference in our house! I look forward (as I'm sure ALL mothers do) to nap time at noon, and bed time at 7:30pm. I don't so much look forward to the morning wake-ups as they range from 6am on forward. But, I do look forward to opening Fred's bedroom door and hearing his happy "Hi Momma!" each morning as I go in to get him.

Steve and I both have new phones which allows us to post photos from our phones directly onto Flickr and our video's to our "family" station on YouTube.com. Be sure to check out the updates at http://www.youtube.com/AlesFamily and see what Fred has us up to now!

Fred's 18 Month Update...

2010-06-20T18:55:00.000-07:00

I can't believe he's 18 months old already! I know that the days have not gone by any faster than they did in previous years, but it sure seems like it's going faster!

Fred has his 18 month check-up this past Friday. He's 34" tall, has a 19" circumference, and weighs 29 pounds 14 ounces. He's off the chart (or greater than 95th percentile) for his height, 90th for his head, and 75th for his weight - perfectly healthy measurements for our guy!

His vocabulary has increased and now includes words or sayings such as... night-night, shoe, go, we-go, more, drink, cup, dance, water, and Oma (german for grandma). He understands a whole lot more than we realize too. :)

Fred started swimming lessons this past week. They aren't going brilliantly but I think that is because his class is from 7 to 730pm each week night. 730pm is his bed-time. So, as you can imagine, it's been a challenge. However, Fred absolutely loves playing in water. So, the community pool, our neighborhood splash park, and our sprinklers in the back yard are all great sources of fun for him.

Fred has also discovered (and so have I) the fun of a show on cable called Backyardigans. It's full of music and imagination. Fred just digs the music and will dance to it on a regular basis. I love to watch him dance - it is just pure happiness.

Steve is definitely Fred's favorite parent, but he definitely loves me too. Steve is Fred's jungle gym and climbing tree. It's very easy and obvious to see the love that little guy has for his father.

I'm so glad that Steve is such an amazing dad to our son. He is patient, firm, loving, and strong for us all - without him I would not be the mommy I am either!

Love,
Heather

We've added a few more video's on You Tube, and photos to Flickr.

Freddy Updates

2010-04-10T17:53:00.001-07:00

So far... here is a list of words Freddy recognizably says:

Mama

Dada

Nose

Eye

Elmo
Tickle

Bye-Bye

Circle

Bubble

Freddy loves to read books, play with cars, and balls. His favorite place to be is outside, with our without shoes.

Fred's favorite foods are: macaroni and cheese, cheese, raisins, dried cranberries, berries of all kinds but especially blueberries, other fruits, oatmeal, yogurt (plain, with honey, and with fruit), all kinds of beans, potatoes, cheese its, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, dried cereals, marshmallows, rice, beef jerkey, spaghetti, and granola bars.

So far he does not like meat, green beans, fresh tomatoes, and cream sauces.

Easter Monkey!

2010-03-31T05:26:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter from our little Easter Monkey!

Steve and I have been busily updating the our YouTube channel with Freddy movies and our Flickr account with Freddy photos. Be sure to visit them to see his budding cute-ness! The links are over on the right hand sidebar.

Freddy had his 15 month check up last week. He's on target or above target for all of his developmental milestones. He weighed in at 27 pounds, is 35" tall and his head measures in at 19". This puts him in the 75th percentile for weight, and 95th percentile for height and head. Perfect measurements. There's not an ounce of fat on his belly - he's a bony tall kid!

New Photos and Two new Video's

2009-04-01T05:43:00.001-07:00

Last night, I was able to upload new Fred photos here and two new movies here. I'm working on my video editing skills... we have a few really cute video's that we want to share. However, Fred's "junk" is showing and we're trying to keep it off of the internet.

I'll also edit the photos today turning them the right direction, etc.

Ales TV

2009-03-19T20:38:00.000-07:00

Man, technology is AMAZING! Seriously, incredibly amazing.

We now have an Ales Family station on YouTube. I'll try and keep it updated with video's for your enjoyment. Please know that since Fred is our first child, everything he does is interesting to us, so there will be all kinds of "stupid" movies posted.

And yes, I sing stupid, stupid songs all the time. It's a good thing Fred is small and won't remember much of what I sing!

Enjoy!

~heather

Fred: Month Three

2009-03-19T13:14:00.001-07:00

Dear Fred,

Holy crap man - you're three months old. Your dad and I were just talking about how it seems like you just joined our family only yesterday, but that it also felt like you have been with us forever (and that would be true too, but is a different discussion for a different day).

I've become wiser this past month and have started to keep a bullet list of what's happening. You know my brain is getting slower due to lack of sleep! :)

Lots and lots of new things happened for you during your third month - some minor and some major.

Probably the most exciting thing for me, is that you have started to sleep more at night. This is an incredible accomplishment and feat! I didnt realize how wonderful I would feel after only just 5 or 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep! Shazam! I actually think I might be able to really handle being a mommy! YAY! Your naps during the day have started to cut back, and that's fantastic because you sleep more at night! YAY! YAY! YAY! Your Daddy learned that if he puts you into bed with him (on the other side of our King sized bed) in the room where he keeps it really dark and cool, you will sleep all day long with him. This of course brought much frustration over the next few days as your sleep schedule was off. It has however gotten back on track.

A definietly not so exciting for me is that I went back to work and you began your time at daycare. After a bit of research, referrals and opinion gathering, we chose the center where you would go while I'm at work. Though it's a center and not an in-home care person, they're wonderful to you and love you. The sweet ladies there love to hold and love on you. I'm often told that they parade you about because you're just so sweet and cute! You go to them three and a half days each week.

An exciting thing for you is that Wednesday afternoons are Aunt Kimmy and Freddy time. Your Aunt Kim so loves having this special time each week to spend with you. She loves you and loves to love on you! She absolutely adores it when you fall asleep laying on her, or in her arms. I'm glad that she lives close enough and has the time available to spend with you! It benefits us all!

Another great and exciting thing for you is that one day each week is your Daddy day! You get to spend all day long with Daddy while I am at work. So far, you and your Dad have gone on a few fieldtrips (Dad has a great appreciation for the work it takes to get things outside of the house done when you're along for the trip), and have taken lots of walks around our neighborhood.

Not so exciting and wonderful is that you got your first cold. Well, we (the doctor and I) thought it was just a cold - and perhaps it was. You had a little dry cough - no drainage, just a constant dry cough. Then, you started getting a wet cough and your eyes started to have some discharge so the pediatrician thought it would be best to get you on an eye antibiotic. Your eyes cleared up lickety split, but your cough remained. The doctor wanted to see you on a checkup because RSV and a bronchial infection are going around. Well, you didn't have either one of those but because your cough remained they decided it would be best to get you onto an oral antibiotic. It's working brilliantly for you and your cough has gone away. We have a few more days left, until it's gone. Lets keep our fingers crossed that it stays away!

A somewhat exciting thing for you, well for us all really, is that you started taking larger bottles (6-8 ounces) and are having a bit of cereal in your bottle each morning. You, my dear son, are a great eater. No one can doubt that! In fact, when I talked to the pediatrician and she asked how much you were eating, she thought it was too much. Then, she checked you out and realized why you eat so much. You're a fast growing boy! You've maintained the same growth pattern and schedule since birth and have grown 2 inches and 2 pounds again this month! That brings you to 27-1/2" inches tall and weighing in at almost 15 pounds! Most of the clothes you're wearing now are sized at 3-6 months (for one piece play/sleep outfits). Your legs are long but your waist remains slim. As such, your pants are sized 0-3 months, and we wear long socks with them so that you're kept covered and warm.

Another fun development for you this month is that you will make noises (I call it talking) to me. I've always sung silly songs to you and have talked to you in regular words, not in baby talk. Recently, you've started to talk back to me or with me when I'm singing to you. It's such fun - our first duets!

As for more exciting things that Daddy and I are noticing in you...

You are becoming more interested in people now. You'll watch us and what we're doing - or at least you're looking in the direction of where we are.
You're starting to become more interested in toys.
You still detest tummy time. Sorry dude, you're going to have to go through it each day. We'll chalk it up to tough love. :)
You have finally started to stay in your swing and enjoy it! This is a huge thing for me, as it allows me time to do things without holding you (which I do love to do!!).
You coo and make other sweet baby noises without any provication on my part. I so love to listen to you prattle on for no reason at all!
You're learning that the long bendy things attached to your body are hands and arms and that by moving them you can make other things move. Your body is an amazing thing!
You've started to wiggle yourself about which normally means you're moving in your crib from one end to another. Or you could be turning your body around so that your head is at the foot of your bed.
Bathtime remains your favorite time. Except, of course, when you're having mommy and daddy snuggling in bed time.

You are growing so darn fast, little Fred. At times when I'm holding you, I'll tell my heart and brain to remember this moments because it won't be long before you don't want to be held or cuddled. You'll be up and running about before I know it.

Fred-let, you are one of the greatest loves of my life. Though I may be exhausted or frustrated at times, I wouldn't change a moment of the last 3 months for anything. There is nothing I would rather be doing than spending time with you and watching you learn about yourself and the crazy world we live in!

Love you!
Mommy

Fred: Month Two

2009-02-17T17:10:00.000-08:00

Dear Fred,

I can't believe it's been two months since you entered into this crazy world! Two months. I know I'm going to say that every month, and I really do mean it. I'm amazed at how quickly time flies.

You've started drinking more formula before you go to bed. You've started to be more active with us. I think you're finally starting to recognize our voices. Maybe not necessarily as your parents, but definitely as the most heard voices around.

You've gone from hating baths to loving them.

You rolled over for the first time. I think it was a fluke because you really, really hate "tummy" time and I had you propped up on a pillow. You haven't done it very much since!

You flew on your first airplane and flirted with your first flight attendants. You met your Grandpa Beste, Uncle Scott, Aunt Bekki, Uncle Shaun and your Beste/Price cousins. And, you learned the fine art of high pitched screaming (and your Father thinks it was from them). I was really worried about how you would do on your first flight, but true to your (already developing) character, you behaved like a perfect angel.

You saw the Gulf of Mexico, by way of South Padre Island. You were able to take part in a Beste tradition of road trips for absolutely no reason other than "why not?". You also watched (well, slept through) the Super Bowl while Grandpa Beste and I enjoyed the commercials. It should also be noted that you gave me a wonderful delight at the end of the game - a boy fountain in my face. It was entertaining to everyone around I might add.

You also flew to California and met some of the Dempsey and Ales side of our family! You met your Grandpa Russ, and Grandma Jill. You met your namesake, your Great-Grandpa Fred Dempsey and Great-Grandma Joyce Dempsey. We were also able to visit with your Great-Grandpa Charlie Ales and your Great-Grandma Muriel Ales! On our way to Fort Bragg we visited with Aunt Lindy and Uncle Dave (on the Ales side).

You got to see the gorgeous Mendocino Coast and the beautiful Pacific Ocean.

So many things have changed in our life since you joined us. We don't sleep as much. We defintely drink a lot more caffeine. Simple things amaze us. Tiny things entertain us. Childrens toys have changed over the last 30+ years.

Lots of changes. So very many things. And we wouldn't change it, or you, for anything.

I've gotten to spend every single day of your first two months with you. It's a time I will treasure forever.

Daddy and I "invested" in a FLIP camera and have had such fun taking short video's of you! Here's a fun one of you cooing and making baby noises as you play:

Love you!

Mommy

Fred's First Trip

2009-02-05T20:52:00.000-08:00

My parents (Heather's parents - Don and Mary) live in South Texas, and the flight is only 80 minutes or so. With that in mind, I took Fred down to visit. It was also a GREAT way to test out how he will handle flights. We want to take him to California to meet his paternal extended family but worry about having "that" baby on flights that screams from take off to landing.

Fortunately for us, he was a champion traveler! He didn't peep a bit during either flight, and it made it so much easier for me! What a relief!

Fred experienced a few firsts while down south:

- His first ocean and beach

- His first flight

- His first "real" smile

- His first van ride.

- His first Super Bowl (and this also gave Mommy her first... potty fountain. Niiiice)

- His first interaction with cousins and their noises ... lots of noises.

- His first blessing (from his dad, grandfather, and uncle)

- His first un-assisted and un-propped turn over (he went from his tummy to his back).

We're hoping to get to California soon - possibly as soon as next week! YIKES! Oh the joys of Steve's rotating days off. We are planning on me going back to work on the 18th, so time is running out.

After our California trip, our next trip will hopefully be to Portland, Oregon to see Grandma Sheri, Great-Grandma Linette, Great-Grandpa Cash, and Great-Great-Grandma June... and of course all of the great family who live there!

Fred: Month One

2009-01-21T21:09:00.000-08:00

Over the years, I've read many blogs. On one in particular blog, the author writes a letter to her daughter each month. I love the concept behind it, documenting the changes, milestones, etc and the post being a letter to her child. I want to incorporate the same into our blog. Thus, each month (hopefully on, or close to our children's birthday date) I will write a letter to them. As this blog/site is also a family journal it seems appropriate to me to share it here.

Dear Fred:

Hi! It's your mom. Yes, the one in whose body you grew for 9 months and 3 weeks. That would be me. That would also be the same body you stretched out, and the same armpits and hips you loved to put your feet and hands into for hours on end. Hola! and Hello! Welcome to this fine place called Earth! We're thrilled that you've finally joined us, and that you're here!

You arrived on December 17, 2008 at 12:23pm at Baylor Grapevine hospital in Grapevine, Texas and you were delivered by Doctor Thomas Vaughn. Your arrival was by way of scheduled c-section - not necessarily by choice, but certainly by no arguement on my part. You weighed in at 9 pounds even and were 21 1/4 inches long. You had a full head of hair - and what a big head it was; 14 inches! In fact, it was noticeable enough that the doctors commented about your head size when they went in to get you out.

Your dad, that would be the tall hairy guy you see all the time, was with me in the delivery room and was the very first person to really hold you. He's loved you since the first time he saw you on an ultrasound in my belly, but between you and me, I know he fell in love with you as soon as he laid eyes on you. He was (and still is) pretty excited that you're part of our world. Your Oma (that would be my mom) was waiting to hear about your arrival in the hospital waiting room. She was SO eager to see your gorgeous face - and take oodles of pictures (that's what she does!)

Each time I met with the sonographer to see you while you were still growing, I would leave with a different idea of what you would look like when it was time for you to join us. The first time I laid eyes on you, I was instantly in love with you - more than I ever thought possible. Dr. Vaughn lifted you up over the curtain so I could peek at you before they cleaned you off - and my heart soured. You had the two characteristics I thought you would surely have - lots of hair and pinch-ey cheeks.

We stayed in the hospital for a few days, and once we had the okie doke from all of the doctors (Dr. Vaughn for me and Dr. Creary for you) we went home on Saturday, December 27th. I was so ready to get you home - and your Dad was too! In fact, he was at the hospital close to 5am - which was before visiting hours even started. We had you dressed into your going home outfit and ready to go long before we had the official release from the doctors.

I'll never forget getting you loaded into your car seat, and then loaded into the car. It was so surreal - terrifying and exciting at the same time!

Oma was waiting at our house for us, and took photos of us getting you out of the car and into the house. It was so nice to have you home. We loved on you as much as we could and then let you sleep. We were very blessed to have Oma stay with us for the first bit as we got acclimated to having you with us. Your Dad and I had so many questions, and worries. We worried about whether you were eating enough, pooping enough, sleeping enough, breathing right, how to care for your umbilical cord, bathing you and your circumscision. Oh boy, we were worried parents (don't worry - all new parents are). Oma settled our fears and let us know that we were doing everything right, and that all was good.

Soon it was time for her to return back to her home, and we dropped her off at the airport. I'll admit that I cried when I left her in the terminal. It's a big scary thing - being 100% responsible for someone so perfect and tiny. But, she assured me that I would be able to do it and that she was just a phone call (or a short flight) away.

Off to being 100% parents for your Dad and I!

You have changed our lives in so many ways - and in many completely unexpected ways. I didn't realize how much love my heart could hold - and how much my life would change once you came into our home. Loving you at the hospital was one thing, but loving you at home was something completely different.

Your sleeping schedule was, and still is, much like how you were in my tummy. You sleep all day long and party all night. I can distinctly recall having conversations with friends about you being wide awake in my tummy at 2 and 3am. They would tease me that you were preparing me for your arrival. Boy were they right! You are a night owl! Your sleeping patterns have changed and varied from the very start. However, at the moment, we're working on creating a sleeping pattern for you, and creating a bed time ritual. We'll see how well it works out...

During the day, I try to keep you awake for 3-4 hour stretches (or longer if possible) and then let you nap for an hour or two. Then, at 9pm calm everything down at home. We go upstairs and chill out for a bit reading stories and hanging out in your room. Some days I give you a warm bath, but mostly we just chill out. Then I get you into your jammies (if you're not already in them) and swaddle you tightly (really, you love it). I then turn out the lights, and we sit in the rocker for a bit while we talk about our day, say your prayers, and then I sing to you for a bit. In the end, whether you're asleep or not, it's into your crib you go!

You're a champion eater! You started eating 2 ounces every two hours, and now you eat 4-6 ounces every 4-6 hours. WOW! You have not ever thrown up and we're hoping it stays that way!

For being only a month old, you sure have changed our lives drastically - and I wouldn't have it any other way!

Love you,

Mommy

P.S. I've been trying to write this letter since the 17th of January. And, here it is... the 27th of January and I've finally finished it. Goodness gracious!

Four Weeks!

2009-01-14T16:23:00.000-08:00

It's now been 4 weeks since Fred joined our world! I can't imagine a better way to celebrate my birthday than with him celebrating his 4 week arrival anniversary! The love we have for him continues to grow to levels which amaze us. As far as his progression, he's right on target with his development. Here are the things which I can immediately remember:

~ Fred doesn't fight as much when it comes to bath time. Up until today, he would scream bloody murder when he was put into the water. Today he didn't give me a fight and just enjoyed it for the short time it took to get him clean. He also didn't fight me when it came to 'lubing him up' (lotioning his body). That may be because I made sure the lotion was extra warm (Relax - I warm it in my hands).

~ Fred is starting to sleep a bit more. However, he also fights sleep. I am SO grateful when he finally does fall to sleep and either try to catch up on my own sleep or get a few things done around the house.

~ Fred has been a bit congested this week. We purchased a humidifier for his room, and have learned the fine art of suctioning out his nose. He absolutely hates having his nose suctioned, but it's important to get it out. Did you know they have Baby Vicks now? AND... the whole baby pharmeceutical market is nuts! There's a million different baby nasal saline drops, and cold items.

~ Fred has started to enjoy Tummy Time more. Whew!

~ It is commonly believed that we've seen Fred's first smile. I am not totally believing it, as it was not to Steve or I, but to our good friend Jeff. Aaaack! I so deserve the first smile. With that in mind, I have (in my mind) gotten a few real smiles out of him. It's either that or he has a LOT of gas when we're playing. :)

~ Fred has started to scoot himself forward when he's on his back. In weeks past, we'd put him onto his back in his crib for bed, and he would be in the very same spot when we would go to get him later. Now, we often find him in new and interesting spots.

~ Fred has started holding up his head for longer periods of time and is much steadier. Not to worry, we still give him the proper neck and head support!

I'm working to upload more Freddy photos to our Flickr account. You can find them by clicking on Freddy's Photo's over on the right side bar under Photos. I have cropped and resized the photos to be 4"x6" so that they're easier for you to view or reprint if you would like.

Here are a few more short movies for your viewing pleasure. They're just silly videos, but I hope you enjoy them!

The first one cracks me up. It is SO typical Fred. He'll be calm and chilled out. Then, out of no where, we'll hear a couple of coughs and then a yell. As soon as we look at him, he's back to beig calm and chilled out! Fred's in his "chillaxing" aka vibrating seat.

Here's another one. I tried to get him to smile, but he would have none of it. The look on his face makes me think he's wanting to tell me to get the camera out of his face. I remind myself of my father, making up songs that are completely ridiculous in hopes that they'll my child smile. I need to work harder at the smile thing - this song definitely isn't it. However, it does make Steve and I laugh!

I'll be updating our site on Saturday, with Fred's one month photos and letter!

Three Weeks Old

2009-01-07T12:01:00.000-08:00

WOW... three weeks already?!? It seems like so much longer, but looking at the calendar I know it can't be true!

Today Freddy had his second PKU test (it's a Texas thing), and was NOT happy with the pin prick they had to do on his foot to draw blood. Poor dude!

Let's see, what to report on for this week's development and news...

Fred doesn't scream at diaper changes so much anymore. I think he's starting to figure out that it's better to have his bum changed than to hang out in a messy diaper.

Fred does the funniest action with his mouth/face when he's hungry. It reminds us of a baby tiger or lion knawing on food. He does it when he wants his bottle or pacifier. I'm going to try and get it on video - it's hilarious!

He belches. Oh boy does the kid belch. Usually it's when he's getting up from a nap, or down playing. It is LOUD. I think he learned it from his dad.

His poop has started to stink. So much for non-stinky diapers. Bring on the air freshener!

People stop me all the time to make sure I know how beautiful, gorgeous, adorable and cute he is. As if I didn't already know!

He's drinking/eating 5-6 bottles a day, each one being 4 ounces. Except for the bottle we put him down with at the end of the night - that bottle is 6 ounces. Our pediatrician shared that he should be eating an ounce for each hour he sleeps. So, if he takes a 4 ounce bottle, he should shortly afterwards sleep for 4 hours. Our son - not so much!

While Fred had his first night of sleeping for 6 straight hours earlier this week, it did not last. Our kid does not like sleeping at night. He's definitely a night owl. We're (I'm) working hard at keeping him up during the day so that he'll sleep at night. Everyonce in a while he might sleep for 4 or more hours, but it's normally sometime after 6 or 7am. Niiiice.

I think that's it for Freddy updates this week! Make it a good one!

Freddy Videos #1

2009-01-06T18:32:00.001-08:00

I'm sure most of you will not enjoy these, but I know that Grandpa Russ, Grandma Jill and Oma (my mom), and the others totally will! They're silly and have no point at all. They're even mostly just of the baby being a baby - nothing new or exciting!

Enjoy!

December 29, 2008

December 30, 2008

I have one more to share and will take another one tonight to celebrate his 3 week mark!

Freddy's Two Week Checkup

2008-12-31T17:13:00.000-08:00

This is a very detailed message intended for Fred's grandparents, but anyone is welcome.

Today is two weeks from Fred's arrival into this world! WOW... 14 days... it seems so fast already! I can totally imagine how some parents say that the time flies by from when they're babies! YIKES!

Today was also Fred's two week check up with the pediatrician and everything is dandy. He weighed in at 9lbs, 3 ounces, which is just under a pound gained since his last appointment a few days after we were released from the hospital, and he is now 22 1/4" long. That puts him into the 75% for is weight, height, and head size. I think that's probably a good thing, but I really don't know or understand the whole % thing for growth. His jaundice is gone (he had slight jaundice), his umbilical cord stump has come off (and has healed into what looks like an 'innie') and his 'circ' has healed (and the nurse even complimented him on it - should I be happy that nurses notice this part of his anatomy??!!?). As long as the pediatrician is happy and says we're doing the right thing and he's happy - we're happy.

Fred is eating about 5 times a day, and between 3 and 4 ounces each time. His sleeping schedule is backwards, and we're going to begin working on a few suggestions from his pediatrician (i.e,. working with him to keep him up longer, etc). His diapers are right on schedule and everything is moving as it should.

His hair is definitely dark blonde - which means I win! Woo Hoo! (Mom and I debated as to whether his hair was dark brown like Steve's or dark blonde like mine - and Grandpa Russ's.) It's the ONLY thing I can take any credit for being right about. His eye color is still undetermined but we suspect they'll be blue or hazel. His eyelashes are currently blonde, as are his eye brows.

Fred definitely resembles the Ales/Dempsey side of our family. He has an adorable dimple in his chin like his Dad, Uncle Thomas, and Grandpa Russ. He is fussy and likes things done his way like his Daddy too.

We've had a few diaper episodes which I'm sure you'll find humerous - at least I do! One, is that I seem to have a knack for changing his diaper mid "movement". We've often referred to it as his playdough machine. Gross I know, but what do you expect from my family?

The other funny thing is that Steve had the joy of experiencing boy fountains - if you know what I mean. Of course, this means I got the joy of finding the stream path and getting it all cleaned up. Steve did a nice job of getting what he noticed, but he's a man... seriously he couldn't see it all. At least Fred missed the wall - that's something to be happy for!

Steve somehow managed to pull his back last night around 3:30am - after I had put the baby together at 2am. So, I'm running on little to no sleep which is great training for when Steve goes back to work on the 5th. Of course, we'll get Fred into his schedules and patterns just in time for me to go back to work and him into daycare which will pull it all off again. Great - something wonderful to look forward to (said incredibly sarcastically!).

Two weeks. Gosh. Two whole weeks! We find new things about him every day to love and remember. We've both commented on how much we love his facial expressions and little personality. I can't wait to see what his progress is at his next check up!

Story Time with Dad

2008-12-29T16:43:00.001-08:00

Story Time with Dad
Originally uploaded by heather_ales

This photo just warms my heart!

I love reading - and always have. One of the attributes I'd really like to pass down to our son is a love of books and reading. So, it's really no surprise that I've been buying childrens books for Fred.

While I was pregnant, I asked Steve to read to the baby so that the baby would get used to his voice. And, you could tell a difference in the babies movements when he was being read to - you really could! It was so tender!

Anywho... today Steve started reading to Fred. I had asked my mom earlier what we should/could do to entertain him while he's awake. After chuckling for a moment, she gave us a few ideas, one of which is to read to him. Fred really seemed to enjoy it.

Independence... Parental Independence that is!

2008-12-27T22:36:00.000-08:00

UGH! My mom is leaving us in the morning to return to her home and in South Texas. I truly don't know what we would have done without here here to guide us and help us out with the first 10 days of Fred's life! Seriously!

She has talked us down off of so many ledges, and has let us know that the little things are completely normal. (Yes, his umbilical cord is supposed to look like that, or do that, or fall off like that. etc, etc etc.) Who knew that two grown adults (that would be Steve and I in case there is any question) would be so worried about being responsible for one little tiny person?

It's really kind of funny. I've baby sat oodles of children in my lifetime. I've bathed dozens of newborn infants. I've made hundreds of bottles and have changed countless diapers (explosive ones even). Why is it that when it comes to doing the same for my own child I get all flustered? In any case, Mom has been an incredible help to us, and we're truly grateful!

Thanks for being so awesome, Mom! You're an amazing woman and I seriously count myself blessed to be able to call you my mother!

ETA: 12:46pm 12/28 - I admit it. I bawled like a baby as I left my mom to walk through security today at the airport. I didn't realize it would be so hard to have her go!

A Whole Week Old Already? How can it be so?

2008-12-24T15:03:00.000-08:00

I realized today, that our son is now a whole week old. How is it possible that just 7 days ago our entire life changed in every way? Every.Single.Way?

I used to inwardly chuckle at people who would talk about how their lives started to revolve around their children once they arrived into their family. Now I totally understand.

Yesterday, mother was sharing some of the horror stories that my sister has faced while working in a trauma ER at a local hospital in south Texas (basically on the border of Mexico). Many of the worst cases are actually problems or accidents that have occurred in Mexico and are brought to her hospital in the US by ambulance. It is incredibly heart wrenching to hear these stories, especially ones involving new babies or small infants.

I had to ask my mother to stop sharing the stories and let her know I just didn't want to hear them anymore. It was too easy to imagine Freddy being in that situation and it was making me an emotional basket case.

I would do anything to protect him - and I'm absolutely sure Steve would do the same.

Just a week ago our lives completely changed. Completely. Totally. No doubt about it. 100% different now.

And I wouldn't have it any other way.

Fred - Day 5 Update!

2008-12-22T18:17:00.000-08:00

How is it possible that Fred is already 5 days old? (Side note, I can't believe I am one of those people talking about how 5 days is SO long, or SO short... sheeeesh!) He's doing great and we're all acclimating to each other's schedules. Here are the updates on Fred so far...

- He slept through most of the night last night like a champion. YAY!

- He holds his head up and likes to watch us. It's the first thing that amazes my (Heather's) mother. He's so young and has incredible neck/head strength. (By the way, we're still giving him the applicable and necessary support to his head/neck. We've just noticed that he holds his head up on his own too)

- Fred has super, super strong legs. It's the other thing that amazes my mother.

- He's quiet if I sing to him, even if he's in a fussy mood. That so, seriously, warms my heart!

- Yesterday, as we were having our family photos taken, Fred was in need of a diaper change. While in the process of changing his diaper, he decided he wasn't done and started to have an explosive "poopy" without a diaper on. ICK. The photos of it are HILARIOUS though.

- He loves to have his Daddy cuddle with him. It's adorable to watch!

- Fred, by far, prefers to sleep on his side than on his back . He'll sleep for at least an extra hour or two if we put him down on his side (with supporters, not on his own) than he does if we put him down on his back.

I realize that these aren't particularly noteworthy items, and that everyones children/babies do these things eventually. However, Fred is the first grandchild for on Steve's side, and these things (as minute as they are) are exciting to his grandparents. So, we'll continue to share them with everyone. :)

We are doing Christmas cards, and are waiting for them to finish being printed. They'll be late, but they'll be sent. :)

Fred - Day 3 Update

2008-12-19T06:02:00.000-08:00

Three days old already - wow! It's amazing how much has happened, and yet so much has not! Here are some updates on Fred so far:

He's an eating maniac. Lately, he's eating 2 ounces every two hours. The nurses think it's a lot. I don't know what a lot is, but Steve's already commenting on our grocery budget. :)

Fred has started to hold his head up! He loves to peer around and see what's going on around him. Steve and I both love to see him with both eyes open.

Steve likes to call him Popeye because he usually only opens one eye or the other as if to say... "do I really want to wake up?". He has beautiful eyes when he opens them both up though!

The pediatrician said he has a touch of jaundice. It's nothing to worry about because he's a few days old at this point.

He's discovering his hands, and sucking his fingers and thumb. It's funny to watch because he'll sometimes poke himself in the eye, and then get this shocked look on his face as if to say "what is that poking me in my eye?" Of course, we laugh though we shouldn't.

Fred is a little Houdini. We burrito wrap/swaddle him as the nurses have shown us (and if we don't, he pulls out his pacifier). No matter how tight we wrap him, he always manages to find a way to get his right arm out. It's a fun challenge for us to see how long we can keep it in and a challenge for Fred to see how long it takes him to get it out.

He grips onto his pacifier (when his arm escapes) and pulls it out. Of course, then he is upset that his pacifier is gone from his mouth and he cries. Silly boy!

Steve says he's just plain blinded by Fred's cuteness. In fact, he's been here early every morning, even before the Pediatrician has made his rounds, so that he can be with the baby. (He goes home to sleep and let me sleep without snoring.) I must admit, it is the coolest thing to watch Steve with the baby. The love I have for both of them is growing by leaps and bounds each hour.

I've added some new photos to our Flickr for your viewing pleasure. They're

Fred - Day 2 Update

2008-12-18T23:57:00.000-08:00

It's hard for me to believe that our son has been in our lives (and not just in my hips and arm pits) for just under two days now. He's such a cute little guy - and I am totally in love with him. Here are a few things that have happened in his whopping 42 (or so) hours of life:

His PKU screening went just fine.

He passed his hearing tests with flying colors.

He was circumcised (owwww!)

He met with his pediatrician twice - and is doing delightfully.

He loves the nook of his daddy's armpit and often sticks his head into it when he's being fed (strange but true).

He can suck down two ounces in 5 minutes and not barf a bit of it up.

He's not terribly fond of burping, but when he does it - it's LOUD and clear!

He's a good, sound sleeper during the day, but wakes up and stays up - wide awake - for a few hours around 9pm.

For one so small, he has stolen all of our hearts!

That's about it. I'll load some photos later today! We sure love the little guy!

Ladies and Gentleman... We proudly present.... Frederic Russell Ales!

2008-12-17T21:08:00.000-08:00

He's here! He's here!

Our son, who we have chosen to name Frederic

Russell, has entered into our wild and crazy world! He was delivered at 12:23 pm this afternoon. He weighed in at 9 pounds even, and 21 1/4 inches. His lungs are working LOUD and clear! He shared his disgust for being removed from his warm bath for about 30 minutes after his arrival! We've learned that he doesn't have an in between point for crying - it's either a sweet little gurgle or a loud and clear cry. :) He is quite the charmer and many nurses have commented on how gorgeous he is (of course, I completely agree!)

Freddy has a load of hair. I think it's dark blonde and my mother thinks it's a dark dark brown. Steve is undecided - probably wise so that he doesn't lose any

points. His fingers are long (piano lessons will definitely be part of his future!), and his feet are huge. The nurses put him into this HUGE baby Christmas stocking and put a red hat on his head. It is so darn cute!

We chose Frederic after Steve's grandfather on his maternal side. Grandpa Fred has played a huge role in Steve's life and has been quite influential. Russell is the traditional (or so it seems) name in Steve's family too. It's Steve's middle name, his father's middle name, and his grandfather's middle name. And now, the tradition has been passed onto our son - and will be the 4th generation to carry the Russell middle name.

Steve has really taken to playing Dad! He's adorable with the baby - absolutely adorable! So far, he's taken all of the diaper changes, and is all over doing the bottle and diaper tracking. It's so sweet to see him interact with the baby, and I can tell he is completely and totally enamored by him.

I'm in the process of loading a bunch of photos to Flickr at the moment - but they haven't yet been edited. I think you'll agree that our son is quite a lovely little man!

Edited to Add: The hospital wifi goes down for patients at midnight, so the photos weren't uploaded until Thursday. You can find them by clicking here.

Edited again to Add: My mother just sent me the photo below. She's learning how to do digi-scrapping from my sister, Bekki. Thanks Mom!

He's almost here!

2008-12-16T02:03:00.000-08:00

I can't believe the day is finally here. Tommorrow at noon, our son is scheduled to arrive into this crazy world at Baylor-Grapevine Hospital in Grapevine, Texas. We'll be there through Saturday when I'm told we'll be released to come home. (Visitors are welcome at the hospital on Thursday and Friday.)

Holy cow... has it been a long ride or what? I knew I was pregnant from the start (as in 2 or 3 days from the start of my missed cycle), so the last 40 weeks (or so) seem to be dragging on forever - especially the last 4 or so.

I can't wait to see what this little guy looks like. Wait... he probably won't be so little. From what I understand of the Ales side of our family, he's right on target for being a little toddler. At last measurement, the doctor predicts he'll weigh anywhere from 10-11 pounds. The sonogram technicians are flipping sides between 9 pounds and 11 pounds (two different sonogram techs). I'm told Steve was a big baby at 11 pounds 3 ounces - so it looks like our son is following in his father's (big) footprints. The only thing I know for sure is that his hands seem to be most comfortable in my hip bones and his feet in my arm pits. It.is.not.comfortable. His size is a huge contributor as to why my doctor has recommended I have a c-section. The other reasons are due to my own "female" issues, of which I'll spare you the details.

The nursery is set up and ready to be used by the baby. The linens have been washed in perfume free baby friendly wash detergent and fabric softener. All of his clothes (save a load or two) are clean, folded, and put away. His car seat has been installed and waiting for him for a few months - you can't be too prepared you know!

My mother, the saint she is, is scheduled to fly in this afternoon to help us out for a bit. I'm looking forward to having her here. There is no one in this world who knows what it takes to get me moving and onto the path of recovery.

The freezers are stocked with food - Steve says too much food. I've been working dilligently to make sure that I had enough meals stockpiled so that when the bean arrived I wouldn't feel stressed about getting dinner onto the table. Mission accomplished - that's for sure!

Names? You want to know his name? Well, we've been flipping around 3 different names for months now. I think Steve and I both have our favorites. The only common denominator is what his middle name will be... Russell - it's an Ales tradition you know. Steve loves to give people a hard time (his mother mostly) when they ask what our sons name will be. One thing I can guarantee is that his name is NOT going to be Oscar, Winter, Fall, Pale, Ginger, or Cosmo Ezekial. We'll know his name for sure when he arrives. We'll be sure to share his name once he get's here tommorrow.

This hasn't been an easy pregnancy for me, as you may likely know (though not as difficult as others have had to go through - I know I am blessed). Among other things, with my anemia, I've had to have loads of transfusions. This has been an interesting experience for me as the treatment center I go to for the transfusions is also where cancer patients go for their chemo treatments. How grateful I am that I've not had to have chemo treatments and that I have my health and that overall, my body is holding up quite well.

I can't believe that tommorrow is it! Our next post will include photos of our son! Holy cow... it's already here!

Dear Baby...

2008-12-16T01:51:00.000-08:00

Dear Baby,

Hi, it's your mom. We met for the first time about 9 months ago, but you probably don't remember. That's okay; it's etched into my mind forever. I’ve thought about writing you a letter for a really long time and with some inspiration from a blogger, I’m doing it. Nevermind that it's the day before your birth - seeing as how you've decided that staying in my belly and starting the multiple "middle of the night wake Mommy up's" should start before you ever come out - is the way to start out your life.

First, I want to say what a wild ride you've put your dad and I through these past months. It seems like I've seen more doctors this year than I have in the entirety of my life. I tell you this, not to make you feel bad, but to show you how much we've been worrying and caring for your arrival into this crazy world. Your dad has been stressing out about your arrival and getting giddy about it from the start. I mean, most dads care, but so much of what I've read says that guys just don't "feel" the pregnancy until the baby is actually out! Not your dad, he's a good one. You're going to love him so much; it actually scares me a bit. Unfortunately, his soft spot for you is already so big; I can see it may cause issues between the two of us in the future. We've vowed not to fight in front of you, though, so hopefully you won't even know! A word of warning: playing the two of us against each other may seem like the best way to get something you want (and it may work a time or two), but I'm a quick learner and I guarantee you won't be wanting to do that after too long. It's for your own happiness, I promise!

I cannot believe you are inside of me right now (despite the fact that your hands are in my hip bones and your feet are lodged in my arm pits... on all sides). I am so scared that I won't take good enough care of you. I know other moms do it with flying colors, but I really don't know how cut out I am for this! When you can count to 10, you'll know how many diapers we had to change in a day. Yep, it's a lot. Add this to the feeding, burping, learning, teaching, reading, comforting, not comforting, putting down, picking up...I'm going to try my best, but I can guarantee there will be times when you will want more from me. There's a lot of patience involved in the whole “having a baby thing" and I'm going to be honest, it's not my strongest personality trait. In fact, I'd say it's probably at the bottom of the list. I'm told you will teach me this throughout my time as your mom, I really hope so. I need a lesson.

I want you to know that I am going to mess a lot of stuff up with you during your lifetime. I will try to know what's best and steer you in the right direction, but I make a lot of mistakes. I hope you will love me anyway. I promise to try my best to make home a place where you want to be. When I was getting into my "independent years," I wanted to be as far away from home as possible and I don't want you guys to feel like that. I have thought long and hard about what will make home a place you always want to be. This will be a very large goal for me during your lifetime, we'll see what happens. I also want to have the kind of relationship with you where you know you can always count on me to be there...no matter what. In truth, I haven't even seen your face and I already know there isn't a thing on this planet I wouldn't do for you (within reason, clearly I'm not going to help you score drugs or something like that). If you are ever in a bind, I hope you'll respect, love and trust me and your dad enough to let us know. It will be a great moment in parenthood for us when you guys call us to get you out of a situation that you're not comfortable in. Just know, we always will. That's what parents do.

A word of warning: If you plan on playing practical jokes, do it to your dad, not your mom (again, I'm a quick learner...I'm just sayin').

If I had to guess, I'd say you're about a 36 hours away from meeting us. I am not prepared. I have done everything I can think of to make myself feel like I'm ready, but I'm not. I'm going to need a lot of help from a lot of people. At first, I'm going to be depending on your dad and my mom.

Your maternal grandparents, Oma and Papa, love you so much already. I think we'll be visiting them quite a bit because they're so close. I have a pretty awesome family so you'll be sure to have TONS of attention from this group. I talk to your Oma almost every day to make sure things are “right” and that I’m getting everything taken care of that I should I know she is so excited she is to hold you! Who can blame her? I think sometimes I might have to fight her to get you back. Though you’re not the first, she's been looking forward to being a grandma for a lot of years(you're the 10th grandchild by the way!). I pray my brothers and sister will be great uncles/aunt to you. Hopefully, when you can't reach out to your dad and I, you will feel comfortable going to them. You'll probably have thousands of memories of your cousin Addison and friend Johnny Sarlo. You guys are pretty close in age and I can imagine you'll be great friends growing up. You’ll also get to meet and be loved by my biological mom, Sheri, and her awesome family. She is so over the moon excited about you joining our family! There are so many people are going to love you unconditionally, like me and dad will. You can always count on them. They're your family. I have so many great memories of my childhood with my family, I promise to try to make the same experience come to fruition for you.

Your paternal grandparents (who don’t have names yet – you’ll get to pick them), and that side of the family, are also totally in love with you already. Almost everyone lives in Northern California, so they won’t be around much in the beginning. But, we’ll work hard to make sure you get to visit them at least once a year - hopefully much more than that. You’re the first grandbaby for your Dad’s parents. They’re all pretty excited about it too. I know that when we go to visit, it will be a struggle for me to have any time with you. That’s okay though. You’ll be going home with me and your Dad so we’ll be able to make up for it. I really believe that you’ll be comfortable around them and going to them for help. I’m sure you’ll be very familiar with your Uncle Thomas because he lives so close to us (but be careful – he’s almost guaranteed to get you into some kind of fun trouble!). Your Aunt Kimberlee does too, but she’s really busy with life right now.

On a final note, I want to tell you what a blessing you are to me. I am going to do my best to take in all the small moments with you so I can share the details with you later. I look forward to all the firsts (steps, words, teeth, days of school, school plays) and I can't wait to encourage your talents. I will take an excessive amount of photos of you throughout your years; I hope you'll love me in spite of this! I can't wait to meet your teachers, go on field trips, meet your future friends, see you dressed in your scout uniforms, meet your future spouses and be grandma to your babies. You have changed my life forever. I will not be the same person I was before you came into my life. Of this, I am positive. I'm ready for the changes. I'm ready for the laughs and I'm ready for the tears. I promise that, no matter what, I will try to be the best mom in the entire world. I won't be, but I will get up every day trying my hardest. You are my proudest accomplishment. I still can't believe your dad and I made you. No two people on the entire planet could have come together to create you, just us. Let's be a happy family. I want this more than I have ever wanted anything in my existence.

I love you in places I've never loved before...in places I didn't know existed.

Love, Mom

Whoops... I forgot to share.....

2008-11-23T20:04:00.001-08:00

Dude, I'm a slacker! Sorry!

I'm off of House Arrest, and the Bean is still growing within. Growing is the key word. He's HUGE! At the last measurement, he weighed in at 7 pounds, 2 ounces. I think the doctor might be off when he said that our baby would weigh 10 pounds if he came 2 weeks early. Seriously. I think that he'll be closer to 11!

Fortunately, I'm not putting on weight, he's just growing. He's so out of space, and I'm so out of Tylenol. He's quite active despite me not drinking caffeine.

I haven't had any strange craving lately. I do so want to eat ice cream, but it makes me sick. Oh so very sick. I still love celery with peanut butter. Almonds. Cheese and crackers. There's nothing strange - at least in my mind.

We're just ready for him to join us! The nursery is ready. The sheets are clean. His clothes have been laundered. His carseat has been installed (and my niece Addison even tested it out and the matching stroller). The bottles have been washed, and a can of formula purchased (just in case I can't BF). My wonderful friend, Cara, had a lovely baby shower for us and my coworkers surprised me with a fabulous shower too. We have been blessed with quite a few wonderful gifts that will definitely be quite handy!

I think thats about it. I'm on the weekly appointment tour now. I've decided to try and pin my OB down on a delivery date at this weeks appointment. That will definitely give me something to look forward to, and something to focus on. Fortunately with having a c-section we can pick a date to have him arrive - and hope that it's going to be the date that it happens. Though, should my water break I wouldn't knock him coming sooner!

House Arrest... day 1.5

2008-11-04T11:45:00.001-08:00

Well I just got back from the perinatologist. The baby is fine! That is, if you consider that he weighs 6lbs 8oz and has 8 weeks left to grow fine. Holy Hannah... they weren't kidding when they said I'd have a 10lb baby if they took him 2 weeks early. YOWZERS!!

I'm fine too. The specialists think the pain is mostly due to the endometriosis I've had for years. Endometriosis isn't just on your ovaries and female organs. It can develop other places too. Like on my intestines. And.. since every organ in my body has been moved to make room for the baby, everything is a new spot and is being stretched... there's lots of pain. yay.

There's nothing that can be done about the pain other than to take Tylenol... my new best friend. Seriously. I have a bottle of it upstairs, downstairs, in the car, and at my desk. No, I'm not overdosing and I am keeping VERY good track of when I take it. The specialist also said that drinking Diet Coke wouldn't be a cause and that I can resume drinking whatever my "normal" is. But... to be safe I'm keeping up with drinking water and very much limiting my soda intake.

Updates.... Shmupdates....

2008-10-19T04:23:00.000-07:00

We're down to the "every two weeks" appointments now. Every.Two.Weeks.I.Get.Weighed.

Ugh! I gained more than I had expected, but with the flight to San Jose and water retention I suppose it wasn't bad.

I've been looking forward to having a small little baby. There are so many cute little newborn sized clothes. However, this week, we received a huge shock. I asked the doctor if he had any predictions as to how much the bean would way at his delivery/arrival. Care to guess?

If I deliver two weeks ahead of schedule.... the doctor believes that he'll weigh between 9 and 10 pounds. I guess I just "grow 'em" big. My coworkers like to tease me that he'll walk out of the hospital.

I guess I should be thrilled that the bean is so large. Over the last week or so I've had more strangers and friends "love" on my belly. Everyone says I'm all belly - that's better than the opposite, right?

Till next week....

Ode to {Wedding} Joy...

2008-10-06T19:39:00.000-07:00

We made it! Our travels were fairly uneventful, the GPS system on our phones worked as best as it could (Sprint isn't an uber popular carrier in Northern California), and the weather was perfect... at least for the wedding.

During our trip, we noticed a few things...

In California, coffee is served 24/7... everywhere. There were coffee places on every corner - in every town! And... they were ALWAYS busy regardless of whether it was 6am, noon, or 11pm.
Jack-in-the-Box is to California what Sonic is to Texas. (and dangit, there wasn't a Sonic anywhere to be found!)
Wal-marts and Targets are much better in Texas (no offense to anyone in California!)
It's cool to own an orchard in California - and decorate it in southwestern style better than any home I've seen in Texas (or Oklahoma, or Arkansas!).
It's cool to own a ranch in California too! It's even cooler if you're a girl.
Fish tacos are better in California (no offense to anyone in Texas!)
A 2400 square foot house in Texas really is HUGE when compared to homes in California.
Water tends to retain in one's legs and ankles during flights from Texas to California and vice versa. Ugh... hugely... absolutely massively. Elephant trunks...
The San Jose airport has free WiFi - despite the "pay as you go" internet connections all over the place. Friends... it pays to read the window clings and posters!
60 degrees in California is completely, 100% different than 60 degrees in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas.
California would be a great place to live. (no offense to anyone in Texas)

We had an awesome time! Steve was able to catch up with a lot of family members he hadn't seen since his accident (or before) and I was able to meet oodles of awesome family members I had not yet met. It was brilliant to see Nicole and meet her incredible new family. They are so wonderful to her, and love her for the great and wonderful woman she is. We're just tickled that she's happy and has found such an incredibly kind and generous man to build her life with (not that she had to marry him to do it... but you get what I mean). Seriously though... I had so very many people pull me aside and share wonderful - incredible even - things about Matt and his family. As far as my personal experience with them, I found them to be kind, generous and incredibly hospitable!

The wedding itself was beautiful! It rained all day on Friday, and the weather called for more of the same all day Saturday. However, as weathermen often are, the weather predictions were off. It rained for a few hours Saturday morning and that was it. A large dark cloud loomed over the reception for a while, but it brought some welcome shade. Nicole came riding to the wedding (from the side of the house - not to the wedding literally) on a gorgeous horse, and had an entertaining time dismounting. The flower girl was absolutely precious and a pure joy to hear - mind you we were focused on the bride and groom. The wedding decor was simple and elegant, absolutely perfect. The food was tasty, and there was plenty to be had by all. There were even a group of gentlemen available to walk you to your car (or other mode of transportation) so you didn't have to walk on your own in the night's darkness.

I've uploaded the photos I took to a Flickr album so that you're able to access them if you like. They are unedited, so don't expect anything fabulous. :) To view it, click here.

74 Days...

2008-10-03T00:06:00.000-07:00

Oh my stars.... 74 days until the bean arrives! Or, at least there's 74 days until the date the my OBGYN has said we'll have the c-section on. WOW... how time has flown right on by. There's still so much to do, but yet... we'd be completely okay if he came tommorrow! The only major thing we have to still purchase is the car seat - everything else we can make do with what we have on had.

My mom is going to come out (THANK YOU!) for the delivery and my father will be joining us a bit later for Christmas. Oh how excited I am to have the Bean here for Christmas! I'm thinking that Santa will need to come visit us this year for holiday photos - our dude won't be making any mall trips this year!

I had a check up today, and by the grace of God I only gained 1 pound. Holy miracle of miracles. However, I failed the one-hour glucose test and did the three-hour one today. That was pure hell. HELL I tell ya! All is well and the baby is right on target as far as his growth. He has been quite active as of late. His favorite times to get his groove on are late afternoon and eeeaaaarrrly morning - like 2 and 3am. I think he's trying to get us onto his feeding schedule already!

We're heading to Chico this weekend for Nickie's wedding and I am so looking forward to meeting a bunch more of Steve's family members! I'm more excited for Nickie to be marrying her beau, and I've been remembering the day I married Steve-o. What a great day it was! It's amazing to me how long we've been married, yet it's been such a short time!

2008-09-01T14:23:00.000-07:00

Checking In and Getting Ready...

2008-08-26T04:32:00.000-07:00

Gosh... who knew that getting ready for our baby would be so much? So much fun! So much work! So much... so much! :)

The nursery room has about a dozen or so boxes that I need to clear out so that Steve can get it painted. I want it all painted - he wants to only paint the bottom portion. We'll see who wins. My vote is me. New Baby = New paint! :)

Yes, we've started our baby registry. Eventually we'll have them set up at Babies-R-Us, Target and Wal-Mart. Right now there's one at Babies-R-Us and one at Target, but the latter hasn't been completed yet. Reality is that we live SOOOO close to Wal-mart that I think we'll likely do most of our regular baby shopping there (even though everywhere else has adorable boy clothes!).

The bean? Oh you mean you really wanted a bean update? :) He's growing like a weed. As a result my belly is growing like mad. I am going to be huge when this little guy arrives - no laughing at me when you see me! :) He loves to move around and surely will be an acrobat once he joins us. My team at work loves to watch my belly for his movement. We've found he really doesn't like meetings - especially ones with unpleasantness discussed!

The doctor is planning for a c-section. I think it's because Steve was a big baby. That and... with our due date being so close to Christmas he probably doesn't want his holiday disturbed with our new addition. I can understand where he's coming from and it will be interesting to see how our bean's arrival pans out.

20 Weeks Down... 20 to Go

2008-07-27T12:55:00.000-07:00

Yesterday marked our halfway point! In exactly 20 weeks from yesterday (or 5 months... however you want to look at it) we should have our new baby in our arms! Yikes! It seems like forever away and also RIGHT around the corner! Are we ready? Will we be ready? No... :)

The baby nursery and color scheme has been selected. We're going with a vintage airplane theme with light blue, dark blue, red and white colors. The nursery walls will soon be painted. The bottom 1/2 of the walls will be dark blue and the upper 1/2 will be light blue. A white chair rail will be between the two colors (which is already up and in that room anyway).

Why the theme? Well, I love all things vintage and well loved. It's rather difficult to have a vintage baby nursery when it's a boy... unless you go the vintage airplane route!! Additionally, my father's father (thus my grandfather) was an artist for the WWII airplanes. As a result we have some incredible pieces that my father has kept over the years (his brother has a few sets too). I've always been a huge fan of family and family tradition and especially in carrying on traditions. So, this seems like an appropriate way to add our son into many of our family traditions. Here is a photo of the nursery decor:

We aren't going with the cheesy lamps, wall hangings, mobile, etc... We are going with the crib set, the curtains, and the changing table cushion cover though. And I got it for SUCH a steal! All of the nursery furniture will be black (we already have some of it) and we've started to fill our registry due to the various requests from family out of the area.

I have a very visible 'baby bump' which cannot be entirely blamed on gas anymore - though the gas definitely attributes to it's size! Many of my clothes no longer fit, and I've started finding creative work wardrobe selections. There's only so much I can do though, you know?

Steve is full on excited and is getting geared up for his 'Baby Daddy' days. He thinks he'll be able to watch the baby all day long while I work, and then go to work himself at night. I'm waiting for reality to knock on the door for him. Theres no way he's going to be able to pull off both, and do them both well. If I go back to work, I would prefer to see our child in some kind of childcare, at least for half of the day, so that Steve can come home and get the quality sleep he will so desperately need. We'll see how it all ends up going down. :)

Poll Results....

2008-07-13T10:22:00.000-07:00

So many of you were on the same wavelength as me - we were thinking GIRL!

However, according to the sonogram technician.... it's a BOY! I interrogated him a few different ways to make sure he knew what he was talking about and that there couldn't possibly be any confusion. He is 100% POSITIVE that our bean is a boy.

I'm 100% positive that I'm waiting to decorate the nursery until my doctor tells me it's a boy. :)

So, to answer a few questions.... we have a few names we're thinking about. My family has oodles more they'd love to suggest. If our bean does turn out a girl, some of the names we've been thinking about are:

Isabella Lynette
Isabella Jane
Elizabeth Lynette

However, since all of the signs are pointing to BOY.... we're thinking about some of the following names (and some of the "suggestions" are):

James Russell
Frederic Russell
Eric Russell
Jordan Russell
Wutang Lee
Ollie Oxen

The nursery decor (if we continue on the path we're currently on) will be in light blue, sage green, a light tan with a vintage airplane theme. My grandfather, Raymond Francis Beste, painted artwork on planes during WWII. I've always loved the pieces my father has collected, and I hope to get high end scans of them so that we can have copies of them in our sons room.

That's about it for this installment.... I'm not disappointed. Instead of planning a trip to Paris, we're going to plan a trip to Belgium. The most important thing is that our baby is healthy - and healthy it definitely is. He's growing like mad, and my baby bump has made it's official appearance.

New Knowledge...

2008-07-06T17:31:00.000-07:00

I took the opportunity to fly down to South Texas and visit my parents in their new house, and my sister and family. I had a great time, caught up on oodles of sleep, and ate hordes of delicious food (Mom - you ROCK the cooking game!). While there, I also was able to find out what the sex of our baby. My sister is an ER Trauma Nurse and is friends with the sonographer on staff. Well, he told her that since he was on call that if he was called in, and if I wanted to come in, he would give trying to find out the gender of our baby a shot. We now have a gender. So, for fun, before announcing it to the world, here's a little blogger poll - what do you think the gender of our bean is? No fair, if I've talked to you and have already spilled the news!

Heme Iron IV Transfusions

2008-07-05T07:13:00.000-07:00

For anyone who knows me, it's no surprise that with this pregnancy, my anemia has taken on a whole new low level. My doctors have been increasingly worried with where my iron levels/stores are and even with trying different supplements, brands, and types, my iron levels continued to drop.

After meeting with the Hematologist, I had my first prenatal intravenous iron transfusion last Tuesday. Yuck. It is a 4-6 hour process. They started me on a saline drip, added a Benadryl drip, and then when that was done, added the heme-iron bag. My arms still hurt and ache. I haven't felt any changes yet, but the doctor said it would take about two weeks for my iron stores to bulk up. The bruises that I have are INCREDIBLE! When I called Bekki (my RN sister) to ask her about the arm pain and bruising, she told me it was completely normal. I'll go back on the 15th for another treatment. Sitting in the treatment room with the other patients was an incredibly humbling experience.

I walked into the treatment room thinking about all of the things I needed to get accomplished at home, and at work, and other things that I just had pressing on my mind. For those of you who don't know, most hematologists (blood doctors) are also oncologists (lots of blood borne cancers), so the majority of the other patients who are there for treatment are going through chemotherapy. While it's obvious that they are quite exhausted, tired, and sore, they are kind, uncomplaining, and peaceful. The things which were pressing on my mind in the beginning were suddenly so minor when placed in comparison to where each of these other sweet patients lives must surely be. When I left 4 hours later, I had a much greater appreciation for my life and my current health status.

While I really haven't noticed any problems being overwhelmingly tired (anemia side effect), the doctors all said that the transfusion should help with my energy level. My iron stores were really really low, so I probably won't notice it for 10 days, or right before my next transfusion. I honestly can't imagine having more energy. I work 10-12 hours a day, so it's not surprising that I'm tired when I get home. I'm pregnant - aren't all pregnant women tired? It will be very interesting to see how my body reacts!

Ultrasound #3!

2008-06-20T05:00:00.000-07:00

A few days ago, I had my 12 week appointment. This appointment was for some genetic chromosome testing (standard nowadays - it's nothing unusual so don't freak out), and to do an ultrasound to check for neck fluid and other items.

Everything was fine, or exactly as it should be for our baby bean.

You'll notice the bean jumping around. It had the hiccups something fierce! If you look closely you can see it's jaw moving towards the later of the hiccups - cute!

Ultrasound #2!

2008-06-11T06:58:00.001-07:00

We were fortunate enough to get to have another ultrasound. So, here you go! Check out our bean's nubs for arms and it's little sprouts for legs!

I think our bean is already somewhat of a performer! Notice how it's quiet and calm and then all of a sudden is squiggling and moving about?

And Baby Makes Three...

2008-06-11T06:45:00.000-07:00

Yes, it is true. Steve and I are expecting our first child - aka our Baby Bean. Our bundle of joy will join our family sometime in December. Technically, the due date is December 27th, but my doctor has requested I have a c-section, so with any luck we'll have our Christmas gift in time for Christmas.

So far, things have been fairly smooth sailing. I haven't had a lot of morning sickness or nausea. I have been exhausted like never before. I think I've slept more in the last three months than I did in the last year!

We're both excited and nervous to begin this new chapter in our lives and marraige!

Stay tuned for our ultrasounds, baby photos, and changes we're making to the house as we prepare for our new child!

Our First Ultrasound!

2008-05-15T06:51:00.000-07:00

Here's our very first ultrasound! Check out the heartbeat! Our bean is 6 weeks and 5 days old!

Steve's first comment was that the baby looked like a monster! Nice. He's also started calling me "BBC" or 'Baby Bean Carrier'. He later edited that to be BBC Mach I. I thought he was implying that I am as big as a space shuttle or some other space vehicle. He later explained that no, I'm carrying a baby, and when I carry our next one (NEXT?? Can we make it through this one first?!), I'll be called BBC Mach II.

I think we're going to have to talk about this one.

March 2007

2007-03-09T04:49:00.000-08:00

It looks like we may have found a house. Holy Happiness of America! We'll have to wait and see how far we go in pursuing this one though. I love the house and it's a great size for us (and our potential future family). It needs a bit of work, but it's nothing that must be done immediately. We'll have the luxury of taking our time and doing things the way we want them done. There are lots of things which we could look forward to with this house.

In other news, we're both working. My (Heather) client was purchased by another company so my team will be without a job. However, I was hired by a different client so I'll still have a job. I'll start working with the new team some time in May. It's relieving to know I have a job though!

Heather's youngest brother, Scott, and Steve's step mother, Jill, will both celebrate birthdays this month. Happy Birthday to You.... BOTH! :)

February 2007

2007-02-19T05:03:00.000-08:00

Ahhh the month of looooove! It stinks when Valentines Day falls on a weekday. Well, it does for us anyway. Trying to arrange anything with both of our crazy work schedules makes it nearly impossible. We ended up going out to dinner the weekend before. SO very glad we did! We didn't have to struggle with any crowds and were able to just enjoy our meal and each other.

It looks like the construction on the projects they're doing here on Marshall Creek Road are going to be getting underway rather quickly. Great. That means we need to quickly decide what our course of action and plan is going to be. Are we going to stay in our current home (and likely stay here for a very long time) and deal with the masses of traffic on our street - or will we look for a house in a new location? Hard decisions.

Personally, I was in the "staying for a long time" mode. That is, until it took me nearly 20 minutes to back out of our driveway one morning and go to work. It can be SO crazy at times. I can only imagine what traffic will be like when the elementary school expansion is finished, the high school, stadium, and athletic complex are finished, and the additional housing development is completed.

You see, currently we have about 2,500 cars a day which travel our street (thank goodness for traffic surveys). They're mostly parents taking their children to and from elementary school, people trying to get in or out of Trophy Club, or folks wanting to get to Wal-Mart. Our street is one of three ways to get in or out of Trophy Club. It also has Wal-Mart on one end, and an elementary school on the other.

They are prediciting traffic to increase to at least 5,500 cars a day... ON our street. It possibly wouldn't be so bad if we didn's live on the street, and perhaps on a street that connects to it. But, if it's busy now, it's going to be a royal nightmare later.

We've been house hunting (I honestly think it's a hobby of Steves) on and off for quite a while. We've found houses we liked, didn't like, HATED, and loved. But, the time was never right for us to do anything about them, or we just couldn't make up our minds.

I guess we'll just wait and see what happens.

In other news, I (Heather) started working part-time at a scrapbook store in Colleyville, called The Scrapbook Pad. I'm planning to work only a few days a week. It's a GREAT store, with incredible new owners. Jeanie's vision for the store is very inspiring and I can't wait to be part of it. One of the plans for me is to be the the Friday night Crop Hostess. I think I can swing it. :)

January 2007

2007-02-01T11:00:00.000-08:00

December 2006

2007-01-01T11:00:00.000-08:00

November 2006

2006-12-01T11:01:00.000-08:00

Another Quarterly Update (and then some....)

2006-10-30T12:23:00.000-08:00

Here I am again... almost November without an update to our family blog. Here's what I can remember happening!

July 2006

The first weekend of the month had I (Heather) traveled to McAllen, Texas to visit my sister and her family. I came back with a 3rd degree sunburn. Talk about suffering. The following week was purely miserable!

Later in the month we (Steve and I) had another of our "dentist dates". We've actually ended up seeing the dentist on the same date, only a few minutes away from each other for all of our recent appointment. We don't even try to schedule it that way - it just happens!

I had an eye exam, and got new glasses in July too!

The last weekend of the month had Heather traveling out to Salt Lake City for a short Rowley family reunion. Steve had to work, so he stayed home! :)

August 2006

We (Steve and I) traveled to Ohio to visit with friends. I wanted to show Steve the places, foods, and things i had grown to love in Ohio. Boy... we ate a LOT of food! It's a good thing I don't live there anymore, I would never have lost any weight!

September 2006

October 2006

2006 - 3rd Quarter Update

2006-10-16T08:15:00.000-07:00

It's amazing how much working in the corporate world impacts my life. Where else would I refer to the last 3 months of our life as the 3rd Quarter? Too funny!

Anyway... onto the updates!

June 2006

Continued...

I forgot to mention that we finally settled on interior paint colors for the kitchen, living room, and entry way. It's an open floorplan so they all had to be the same colors. We went with a light caramel/hot chocolate. It's a really light warm neutral color. Steve and Thomas worked together and got it finished. I must admit - it looks great!

July 2006

August 2006

Went to Ohio

September 2006

Another Quarterly Update...

2006-06-28T10:59:00.000-07:00

Seriously, I have GOT to get better at this! I told Bekki that she needed to set up a Blog so I could keep up with the kids (Ainsley is JUST about to start walking!!!), and their new house (they're building!) - and I can't even keep up with mine!

Okay, so here's the update from where I left off last (March 2006)...

April 2006

At last update, I was hot on the employment search. I located a position with First American, and started my time with them in April. There really wasn't anything earth shattering or terribly exciting that happened during the rest of the month. April was pretty much loaded with setting (and resettting) budgets, getting used to the commute to my new job (90 minutes EACH way... on a good traffic round), and figuring out how everything was going to work for us.

May 2006

Steve turned 33 on the 3rd. A small group of us (Steve, Tom, my friend Daryl, and myself) went to dinner at Salt Grass (yum!) and celebrated both Steve & Tom's birthday (Tom's day was 4/28). I also had a small BBQ at the house for him on the 7th with his friends and their families.

My darling niece, Arissa, turned 5 on the 15th.

Steve and I went with a group of friends to see David Copperfield perform on the 16th. Great show. Incredible tricks (illusions.. whatever), Awesome seats. Would I do it again? Maybe if we had another fun group to go with, but not just for us (we're not really into magic shows, KWIM?).

My office relocated to Westlake, TX on the 26th. YAY! It turned my commute into about 6 minutes each way. LOVE it! I've turned my commute time into overtime for the most part. Definitely more financially beneficial!

Steve's granfather, Fred, turned 85 during the month and the family had a big birthday bash for him. Unfortunately, due to Steve's work schedule we weren't able to attend. I didn't want to go without him, so I went to the Rowley family reunion in Utah over Memorial Day weekend instead. I had a GREAT time catching up with the family who came on my mother's side. I also got to hang out with my bro, Rob and his friends. GREAT time. can't wait to head back out to UT and have another fun weekend with Rob. He's such a super stud - and his roommate is pretty dang happenin' too!

June 2006

Wow... June was LOADED with activities from beginning to end!

Sheri (my birthmom) turned 50 on the 12th - Can you believe it?? She looks ubertastic! I wasn't able to attend her party because it was the very same weekend as Chris & Cara's wedding.

Talk about a busy weekend! Between attending GASC (Great American Scrapbook Convention) in Arlington, and the wedding on Saturday - I was so exhausted! Monday came way too soon! The Sarlo/Claiborne wedding was beautiful though!

The following weekend, we traveled to California to attend Kimberlee's high school graduation and to bring her back with us. We were able to stop in and visit with Grandma Joyce and Grandmpa Fred - and bring them WAY past due wedding photos! We spent a few minutes at Glass Beach, and had dinner at Round Table Pizza (Tom & Steve's favorite pizza place - or so I hear). Kim graduated on Saturday, June 17th. It was a LONG graduation, but her class was lots larger than mine. After graduation, we all loaded into the Explorer and Russ (their dad) drove us to San Francisco to the airport. By an amazing feat (and huge miracle) we were all able to land seats on that flight and get home in one shot.

Since then, it's been going full force getting Kim settled in and ready for school. Actually, it's a matter of getting her testing done so she can get into a school. So between that, the normal relocation adjustments, shopping for girl stuff, and getting Texi-fied, I've been running around like crazy.

Steve and I celebrated our 8 Monthiversary on the 22nd. We didn't do anything special except spend time together.

I think that's about it from Casa Ales. I'll try to update more often!

Love,
Heather & Steve

Catching Up.... (aka a short review of 2006)

2006-03-07T12:32:00.000-08:00

I realized that it has been almost 2 months since I last posted to our family blog! YIKES! Here's a quick catch-up and I'll try to be more dilligent about posting more often.

JANUARY 2006

January came and left without a hitch. We celebrated our first New Years Eve together at home. We also celebrated the 2nd anniversary of my 29th birthday on the 14th with Thomas (Steve's brother).

FEBRUARY 2006

In February we watched the Super Bowl at the home of our friends, the Penders. I traveled (without Steve) to Las Vegas to attend the Craft and Hobby Association (CHA) winter tradeshow. I was set to travel to Fort Smith, Arkansas to attend a crop (it's a scrapbooking thing), but my flight was cancelled due to the ice storms we had. We celebrated Valentines day together, and had a lovely time. Steve and I also had our first dental date together on the 21st. Steve was scheduled to have the post for his implant put in, and I was scheduled to have a double root canal (talk about FUN date!). Due to complications (tooth roots) Steve didn't end up having the post put in, and will instead wear a permanent bridge. Steve isn't thrilled with the situation, but it's the next best possible solution. February also brought Steve changing his work schedule hours. Instead of working the 10pm - 830am shift, he switched to the 8pm - 630am shift. What kind of impact does this have overall? Not much in the grand scheme. But, for me, it means that Steve needs to leave the house by 730pm each night, so I need to have dinner on the table no later than 630pm (sometimes as late as 7pm) each night. It sometimes poses a problem because I don't get off from work until 530pm. Another interesting piece of his work schedule is that when he's coming home I'm trying to get ready for work. But, as with most of our challenges, we rise to the occasion and work it out.

MARCH 2006

Not much has happened in March; we're only 6 days in. however, we managed to make a quick trip to visit family. Thomas came along too. It was a great visit, and we're glad we were able to make it. It was awesome to see Donna and her new son, Alexander.

March also bring some not so happy news. My department at First Horizon Home Loan Corporation is being decentralized. As a result, my last day here will be March 15th. The good news (there has to be a silver lining somewhere, right?) is that I did receive a nice severance package. I'm hot on the job search trail, but am going to enjoy however long the break from working is. Steve and I have been talking about painting various rooms in the house, in addition to getting the garage cleaned out. So, I'll have some time to get all of that accomplished. I also have at least one closet full of clothes that I'd like to sell on eBay, and I'll be using my off time to get that done too... because.....

Steve's sister Kimberlee will be moving to Texas to join our family in June! So, the closet in what will be her room has to be cleared out. :)

I think thats our 2006 in a nutshell so far. I'll work on getting some photos posted for you to enjoy. We're working out the adjustments that being a newly married couple brings. We're also really enjoying spending the time we have together.

Love,
~heather and steve

Talk about taking forever to post...

2006-01-16T21:24:00.000-08:00

I can't believe how long it's been since I posted. Things have been going well, nothing earth shattering to report or share. Our Christmas was very sweet - the perfect Christmas for a newlywed couple. We spent Christmas Day hanging out, and then had a bunch of people over for dinner. It was nice to have a houseful of people, just like I would have had if I was home with my family.

It was strange not being with my parents and at least one sibling for Christmas. It was my first Christmas away from 'home'. Kind of sad actually. But, I got through it, and kept myself busy.

We received a LOT of awesome gifts this year. Something new for me, was gift baskets from Harry David. COLOR me in LOVE. OH.MY.GOSH! The Moose Munch popcorn is my all-time favorite thing. Actually, it's a tie between the popcorn and pears. They were SO good! I decided I HAD to find out how to make caramel popcorn like Harry David. I made a batch - and it was mighty tasty. It wasn't the same as Harry David, but it was good. Steve ate plenty. I ate plenty. My office ate plenty. Steve's co-workers ate plenty. It's good stuff, but definitely make once a year stuff. TOOO good to have all the time.

New Years was spent at home. We don't know a lot of people yet, so we stayed in together. It was sweet, and I was asleep (I know you're shocked) by 11:30. Steve was wonderful and woke me up at midnight to kiss me and then put me back to bed. He's such a stud!

Hmmm other than that, there's not a whole lot to chat about. I celebrated the "anniversary of my 29th" birthday on the 14th. As my gift, Steve's helping me pay for a trip to CHA-Las Vegas at the end of the month. It's a HUGE hobby and craft tradeshow. It's THE show to go to each year (although they have another one in the summer) and all of the manufacturers release their latest and greatest products in hopes that retailers will buy them to sell in their stores. I can't wait. It is SO much fun - and I get to see the girls I get to design with. It is a BLAST!!! I can't believe that in 14 days - I'll be in VEGAS!!!

I managed to get a Texas drivers license with my new married name. Man, that is a HUGE major MONDO deal. Who knew that getting a Texas license was such a big deal and that changing your name would make it an even bigger deal. Butm after the DNA test, background check, and promisig our first born child - I now own a Texas State Drivers Permit. A permit you ask?? Yes, in Texas you don't get your actual license at the BMV (or DMV, or DPS... whatever). They have to MAIL it to you. Yes, mail it to you. So, in 3-4 weeks, I'll have it in my hands and will find out how stupid and silly my license photo turned out. Thrilling isn't it?

We're not getting any rain in Texas. In California, it's ALL rain. Steve's Dad's house got flooded - it's pretty much a total disaster. They have water damage in every room, and the new wood floors are warped beyond repair. Man, that sucks. Why can't we get rain here?? I'd love that!

Some of you have emailed asking where you can find some of my design work. I have a seperate blog (www.heatherales.blogspot.com) where I post and ramble about my creative work, projects, and other garbage. You're more than welcome to check it out, if you're interested.

I think thats all for now. We're doing well. We're trying to eat healthier. We're trying to not eat too much sugar (we'd be better if I would stop making cookies, and other fun sweet treats). We're trying to not eat out so much (we're doing great there), and keep the house clean (not doing so well there - but we're getting better!!!). Ahhh lots of things to work on!! :)

All our Love,
Heather (& Steve)

2005 in Review

2005-12-29T05:05:00.000-08:00

Loved this idea when another friend posted it on her blog... and she borrowed it from a different friends blog too. Looks like a great way to wrap up 2005!

JANUARY
1. Did you have a new year's resolution this year?: I had several - job, art, personal - and I managed to fulfill most of them.
2. Who kissed you at midnight?: No one... I was actually at home with my roommate (Steve had to work!).
3. Did it snow where you live?: I can't remember - I think it was cold though.
4. Have you ever been to Times Square to watch the ball drop?: No, but it's officially become one of my "dreams".

FEBRUARY
1. Who was your valentine?: Steve!
2. What did your valentine get you?: Nada! Well, he did take me to dinner, I guess that will have to count. (He has been instructed that going forward, SOME sign of preparation and valentine-y action IS required)
3. When you were little, did you buy valentines for your whole class?: Yep... but I think they required us to give one to everyone!

MARCH
1. Are you Irish? I think I am partially!
2. Did you wear green on St. Patty's Day?: Of course! I bruise way too easily to worry about getting pinched!
3. What did you do for St. Patty's Day?: I don't think I did anything special.

APRIL
1. Do you like the rain?: If I have someone fun to stay indoors with!
2. Did you play an April Fool's joke on anyone this year?: Hmmm I don't think so. If anything it would probably have been a prank on my mother.
3. Did you get tons of candy on Easter?: No... I ate lots of sugar free jello though!

MAY
1. What's your favorite kind of flower?: Pink Stargazer Lilies (but I love almost all flowers!)
2. Do you like the spring? Loooooove it! There's just something about everything starting new, flowers popping up, everything coming out green - gives me major mojo and SERIOUS energy!
3. Finish the phrase: "April showers bring...": seasonal allergies. (Thank you - Thank you very much!)
4. What would you think of as a spring color?: Pinks, Yellows, Blues

JUNE
1. What year did you graduate from school?: 1993 for High School.
2. Did you go on any vacations last June?: I think thats when Steve took me to California. I also went to a few scrapbooking conventions to teach at... not really vacation but definitely not work either

JULY
1. What did you do on the 4th of july? Went with Steve to JoAnne & Ken's house for a cookout with friends.
2. Did you go on any vacations during this month?: A few scrapbooking conventions to teach at... not really vacation but definitely not work either.

AUGUST
1. Did you do anything special to end off your summer?: Nope!
2. What was your favorite summer memory of '05?: Spending time with Steve and losing weight.
3. Did you go swimming a lot in the summer?: Not once!
4. Did you go to the beach a lot?: Ummmm I went to the beach in California, but it wasn't the typical beach! It was COLD!

SEPTEMBER
1. Did you attend school/college in '05?: Nope. Not unless you count CKU-A!
2. Who is/was your favorite teacher?: Loved my high school english/literature teacher Mr. Rubberneck Roberts. He taught me so much and was very influential.
3. Did you like fall better than summer?: Yes... I HATE summer. It's freakin' hot in Texas!

OCTOBER
1. What was your favorite halloween costume ever?: All the cool ones my mom would make for me.
2. What's your favorite candy?: Sweedish Fish and Haribo Gummy Bears
3. What did you dress up like this year? Nothing! Wait! I went to work as a hockey fan (any excuse to wear jeans on a non-Friday!)

NOVEMBER
1. Whose house did you go to for Thanksgiving?: No where! I stayed home and cooked an entire Thankgiving meal for our guests!
2. Do you like stuffing?: Mmmmm... YES!
3. What are you thankful for?: My health, my family, my friends, HUSBAND!!

DECEMBER
1. Do you celebrate Christmas?: YES!!! Christmas Day though is always very low-key. It's a casual day, focus is on comfort, family, and the reason for Christmas!
2. Have you ever been kissed under mistletoe?: Yes.
3. What did you want this year for christmas?: :-) Lets just say Santa delivered!4. What's the best present you ever got for christmas?: My husband, Steve!
5. Do you like cold weather?: It's better than HOT weather, but it seems like I'm ALWAYS cold! ALWAYS!
6. How would you rate your year on a scale of 1-10?: Started out with my birthday as about a 6, wrapping up as a perfect 10.

Two Months Down.... Eternity to Go!

2005-12-22T08:13:00.000-08:00

I can’t believe we’ve only been married for two months! It seems like so much longer! Maybe it’s because I’ve been SO busy. I don’t know. Wow... two months though! Here are a few of the lessons I’ve already learned.

Although Steve can manage to put the remote control in the same place when he’s finished watching TV, he can’t remember that the bowls do not go with the pots and pans.
If I need Steve to fill my gas tank, make him drive when I know the “get gas” light goes on. That’s my signal that I need gas. His signal is when it gets to a ¼ tank.
It’s easier to procrastinate when there are two of you.
While I love the snooze button, Steve hates it.
It’s not always a bad thing when the bed frame breaks (see yesterday’s post). I actually like having the bed not on a frame at all (Steve does too)!
He may tease me incessantly about it, but Steve loves my woobie too.
If I’m freezing (95% of the time) Steve is comfortable. If I’m hot – I must be sleeping.
Brussels sprouts (Steve’s favorite vegi) aren’t so bad.
PMS is not a good thing. I really have been getting MOODY!
My idea of organized is totally different from Steve’s.
Steve’s idea of budgeting is totally different from mine (but we’re working on it)!

I’m sure there are lots of other things I’ve learned over the last 60 or so days. But, for some reason, I can’t remember them.

Steve is a fantastic man! Each day, I realize something else that I love about him. He’s just so darn fantastic! I’m a lucky girl!

Love,
Heather (& Steve)

Newlyweds, Beds, and Temper Tantrums

2005-12-20T07:38:00.000-08:00

It happened. It finally freaking happened. Steve broke our bed.

I know what you’re thinking.

Dang newlyweds. Don’t be hatin’. You were there once too.

But, no.

It didn’t break during a wild, passionate, torrid, sweaty night of horizontal monkey jumbo.

It didn’t even happen during a WWE wrestling match.

It happened when my husband, in the fit of a temper tantrum because I didn’t want to fix waffles, eggs benedict, hickory smoked imported bacon, and freshly squeezed orange juice for dinner. I know it’s hard to imagine that I wouldn’t have the zing of energy come to me when he suggested this BASIC meal for dinner.

Apparently, homemade waffles and eggs (easy side up for Steve) just isn’t enough.

So, he thrust himself upon our bed with such gusto that the middle arm of the steel bed frame folded like a pocket knife.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen our bed is broken. Guess what we're getting for Christmas? Let the laughter begin…

Love,
~heather (and Steve too…)

P.S. The whole temper tantrum thing is a made up story. I don’t think either of us have ever had eggs benedict, or imported bacon. If he had the nerve to request such a meal after me working – we would MOST definitely be having a WWE wrestling throwdown. I doubt he would win.

But, the bed is broken. Steve was being silly and ….. the rest of the story is right.

32 Years to Celebrate!

2005-12-14T09:35:00.000-08:00

Countless disagreements
Moves - 26+
Automobiles (not including kid cars) - 18
Years of living overseas (15 of living in the US) - 17
Kids (Heather, Bekki, Robert & Scott + Donna & Cindy) - 6
Grandchildren (Arissa, Dylan, Michael, Rose, Alex & Ainsley) - 6
Son-in-Laws (Steve, Wes, Shaun & another Steve) - 4
32 Years of incredible happiness…… Priceless.

Today marks my parent’s 32nd wedding anniversary. Wouldn’t you know it’s on the 14th (my all-time favorite number)? Sadly, in our society, that’s a REALLY long time. From my view, my parents have on heck of a fantastic marriage. I know there have been times they didn’t get along, and that they didn’t want to be around each other (for a few hours anyway), but they’ve always been a team. They’re partners. They don’t make big changes without discussing it amongst themselves. The set the example for each other (sometimes that’s a good thing). They are each others support system. They each have their own roles, and independent duties, but they realize and recognize that each of them is half of their relationship. It doesn’t work if one is missing, you need both halves to have a whole - and that's how it should be. They really do love and respect each other. I think that's the key - Love & Respect.

I’m so grateful for my parents. Seriously grateful. As a teenager, I really despised my parents at times. When I matured, I realized that I was being stupid – my mom and dad rock. I am so blessed that they chose to add me to their family (I was the miracle child! Mom suddenly got pregnant after adopting me! Ha ha ha), and have treated me as one of their own. I was never treated any differently than any of the other kids (well, unless I deserved to be punished – and boy did I ever deserve it at times). I count my parents among my very best friends. If our (Steve &I) marriage is half as good as my parents – we’ll be incredibly happy and enormously successful.

Congratulations Mom & Dad! I love you both more than I can possibly share!

Love,
Heather (& Steve)

Christmas Time....

2005-12-13T03:26:00.000-08:00

I love Christmas time! I love the lights, the decorations, the general all around great holiday spirit. I love doing Secret Santa's for those in need, and Secret Santa Exchanges with friends and coworkers. I love putting up the Christmas Tree, watching Christmas movies (Love Actually, A Christmas Carol, etc, etc, etc) and listening to Christmas music! I love holiday baking, and the fun of holiday eating! I LOVE Christmas shopping for my family and friends - and I absolutely love making handmade gifts (but am absolutely wretched at actually finishing/mailing them out). I love making my own Christmas cards each year, and I love getting cards in return (they don't have to be handmade.

Here are a few glimpses of the Christmas spirit at our home. The three stockings hung on our mantel belong to (in order of appearance.. and age... ha ha ha) Steve, Heather, and Thomas (Steve's brother).

A little about our tree... When I lived in Ohio, a friend of mine had spent a Christmas (or two) decorating trees at Elder Beermans (department store like Dillards). He taught all about stringing lights onto each section of each branch so that there was LOTS of light all throughout the tree. He also taught me about filling in the tree with various other stuffers (we used grapevines, natural fronds, scrolly vines, and other natural stuff), and about putting ornaments into the middle of branches so that the tree looks more dimensional. Well, his analness definitely rubbed off on me. I LOVE my Christmas tree! It's loaded with stars of every kind and all sorts of other natural decorations. There are glass balls in red, gold, white, and clear - which are the colors of the tree. I love the various stars - and especially the straw ones. They remind me of the many, MANY Christmases we spent in Germany.

You'll notice that our tree doesn't have a topper. Thats because the one I had broke, and I know what I want, but haven't managed to find it yet. I've been to almost every local store, to every local craft store, and to all of the local home repair shoppes looking for it. Once I find it - I'll share that glorious news with you all. It's driving me crazy!

A few of my friends have shared their favorite tree ornaments. So, following in their footsteps, here are three of mine.

The first one is our "Our First Christmas" Ornament. My grandmother Linette gave it to us. It's beautiful!

The second one is actually two! It's two snowmen that Steve and I found found at a local gardening store. There's actually a third one that has Thomas's name on it, but I couldn't find it on our tree.

The third one is one of my favorite straw stars. I'll post later about why I love stars so much. Needless to say, the tree is loaded with ALL kinds of stars! Check out the fourth picture to catch a glimpse of what I'm talking about!

Here's hoping your home is starting to feel the holiday season!

Love,
Heather (& Steve)

All About Heather...

2005-12-01T10:47:00.000-08:00

So many of you have told us how you read our blog, and how you've gotten to know me through it, that I thought it would be fun to post this little questionnaire with my answers. I hope you all enjoy this glimpse into my reality... (or lack of). I'll adjust the questions and try to get Steve to share his information too...

All About Heather

Name: Legal: Heather Lynette Beste Ales. What I use: Heather Lynette Ales
Nicknames/Names you normally go by: Heather, HeatherBear (Steve ONLY!), SweetPea (Mom’s nick name for me), Happy Girl, PrincessDallas

Occupation: By Day: Auditor for Mortgage Company. By Night: Creative Designer / Scrapbooker.
Birth Date: January 14
Height: 5’4”
Weight: Wouldn’t you like to know?? J
Hair Style: Varies! Currently, it’s shorter than I’ve had it for years, and I usually wear it flipped up!
Hair Color: Varies (currently it’s a reddish brown hue). Naturally it’s a dark blonde
Eye Color: Blue and Gold
2 Favorite Colors: Red & Sage Green
2 Parts of your heritage: Biological: German/French/Irish Adopted: German, English, French.
2 Things that scare you: Being homeless, & being alone
2 of your everyday essentials: Burts Bees Lip Balm, Secret Platinum Deodorant!
2 Things that you are wearing right now: Cream Tights & a vintage 1972 skirt (Yeah for eBay!)
2 of your favorite bands or musical artists (at the moment): Bon Jovi (HOTTIE!!) & Allison Krauss (always a favorite!)
2 Favorite Songs at the Moment: “Have a Nice Day” (Bon Jovi) & “Since You Been Gone” (Kelly Clarkson)
2 Things you want in a relationship (other than true love): 1. Honesty 2. Respect
2 Truths: 1. I don’t take very good care of my body. 2. I’m blessed beyond belief.
2 Physical Things that appeal to you (in the opposite sex): Eyes & Smile
2 of your Favorite Hobbies: Paper crafts & cooking
2 Things you want really badly: Nikon D50 SLR Digital Camera & a good health guarantee for everyone I know (and for good measure - to be a better person.)
2 places you want to go on vacation: A tropical Island somewhere, anywhere visiting with family.
2 things you want to do before you die: Live my life as fully as possible & have my family realize how much I love them – and how important they are to me.
2 ways that you are stereotypically a chick: My love of all things sparkly and I love Chick Flicks!
2 Things that you are thinking about now: Man, I am so boring! AND what do I want to do this weekend?
2 Stores you Shop at: Target & Triple X Sex World....(HA! got ya!)
2 Favorite Magazines: Other than paper crafting ones… hmmm Oprah & Martha Stewart Living (or People magazine – I’m such an entertainment whore!)
2 Favorite Food Genres: Mexican and Oriental
2 Favorite Beverages: Water & Grape Isopure Protein
2 Favorite Desserts: Pumpkin Pie Custard from Sheridan’s & Brownies
2 Favorite ways to be Pampered: Pedicures and Massages
2 Favorite Movies: Love Actually and Sweet Home Alabama (told you I loved Chick Flicks!)

For these things I give thanks...

2005-11-24T20:57:00.000-08:00

(Third post - let's see if my post shows up this time!)

In the United States, we celebrate Thanksgiving Day today. It is a day set aside to give thanks for the blessings and things we have in our lives. It began hundreds of years ago with the Pilgrims who first came to our great country - having a feast with their new friends, the Amerian Indians, and giving thanks for their new home, community, religious freedoms and the opportunities now available to them.

I have so many things to give thanks for this season (and everyday for that matter). Here is a short list..

I have Steve. He is my husband. I am his wife. We are in love - and though it is new, it is ours.
Steve and I both have our health. While we both have our medical challenges, we are both healthy, mobile, and mentally coherent.
We have the freedom to choose our religious beliefs.
Steve and I both have fruitful jobs. Our employers may present challenges from time to time, but currently we are both gainfully employed.
We have a beautiful comfortable home (though the spare room is still loaded with boxes) that gives us shelter from the outside world.
We have all of our "needs" taken care of.
We live in a country which grants us so many freedoms.
We have LOTS and LOTS of family - who all love and support us in everything we do! They really do!
We have great friends who we enjoy spending time with - and who are there for us when/if an immediate need arises.
I'm thankful for the people I've met all over the world as I pursue my papercrafting love. I'm grateful for all of the students and now friends I've met over the course!
I'm grateful for a Father in Heaven who loves me (and Steve) despite my faults.
I'm SOOOOO thankful that my mother is such an incredible cook, and that she shared this talent and skill with me (see Mom, I did cook Thanksgiving Dinner this year! I have the photo to prove it!). I'm thankful that my family ate (normally) my creative concoctions - and that they continued to encourage me. I'm also VERY grateful that my parents allowed me the choice to take the years of cooking classes - and supported me financially through it.
I'm thankful for my mind (although crazed at times), body (although gravity has started to take effect... YIKES!), and strength (even though Steve can out strength me ... grrr).

I have SO much to be thankful for. I am a blessed girl, a girl who loves her husband, a girl who loves who loves her life...I will sleep well tonight.If you are reading this I hope your day was filled with gratitude.

Love,
~ heather (& Steve)

Our One Month-aversary

2005-11-22T22:36:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it's already here! Today marks the first month that we've been married. WOW! Time has seriously flown by! Steve was a SUPER stud and had flowers waiting for me when I got home from work - AND sweedish fish too (they're my addiction)! Here's a quick photo of my lovely suprise!

I'm SO glad I kept one of the silver vases we used as decorations for the open house! It was THE perfect size to arrange my flowers into.

Being married is an adjustment - but there's no one else I'd rather spend my time adjusting to! He's a great guy and he does sweet little things (that I sometimes fail to immediately notice) for me. For instance - I am ALWAYS cold (or so it seems). He set the heat in the house to turn up an hour before I get up in the morning so that the house would be warm when I am getting ready for work. He brings me a quilt when I'm watching TV - before I even think of getting up to get one for myself. He's SUCH a great guy!

Love,
Heather (& Steve)

It's the most edible time of the year....

2005-11-21T09:02:00.000-08:00

Ooooooh Thanksgiving is only a few days away! Wahoo! It's a FANTASTIC day, set aside for being a complete glutton - and enjoying every moment (and not counting the thousands of calories that you're ingesting) of it! This year, as Steve and I celebrate our first Thanksgiving as a married couple, we're having a few friends join us. Tom and his girlfriend, Stephanie, will be there. Melissa, Tim, and their daughter Phoebe will also join us. We might have a few more friends with us - and there will be PLENTY of food! There's going to be SO much food - I don't know how we're going to be able to handle ourselves! Here's a sneak peek at our menu...

20lb. Fresh Turkey

Homemade Stuffing

Mashed Potatoes with Homemade Turkey Gravy

Homemade Cranberry Sauce

Green Bean Casserole

Homemade Cream Style Corn

Homemade Sweet Potato Casserole

Homemade Rolls

Frog Eye Salad (Beste Family Tradition)

Homemade Pumpkin Pie

Homemade Pecan Pie (a Stephanie request)

Homemade Apple Pie

Homemade Choco Choco Chocolate Graham Pie (a Tom request)

Beste Christmas Cherry Bread (another Beste tradition)

Homemade Boysenberry Pie (a Steve request)

Oh the food will be delightfully plentiful! How do you store your leftovers? Are you a Food Saver user (we are!!)? Are you a use up your leftovers until everyone is sick of them family (we are too)?

Love,
Heather (& Steve)

.... and we said OK.

2005-11-17T08:42:00.000-08:00

A friend passed this great message onto me today. I've read it before, but it's one of those messages that I should probably read more often. It really does make me think about my beliefs, priorities, and standards - and just where do they fit into my everyday life?

In case you haven't read it before, here it is to share.

In light of the many perversions and jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke, it's not funny, and it’s intended to get you thinking.

Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her "How could God let something like this happen?" (Regarding the attacks on Sept. 11). Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response.

She said, "I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives.And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?"

In light of recent events...terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found recently) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK.

Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself.

And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about.

And we said OK.

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves. Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with "WE REAP WHAT WE SOW."

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says.

~ heather

Thank you to all of our Veterans (and Active Duty Service Men & Women!)

2005-11-11T10:23:00.000-08:00

Today is Veteran's Day. I am blessed to have a heritage rich in patriotic service. My father served as an officer in the United States Air Force for almost 30 years. My grandfather, James Cash, also served in the military. Steve, my husband, has also served in the National Guard. My cousin (kinda sorta) Chris Peterson recently returned from serving with the Army in Iraq.

How blessed we all are to have men and women, who are willing to put their lives on hold to (sometimes) leave our country - to defend it. To defend the freedoms and rights that so many of us take for granted. I consider myself blessed to have grown up as one of the millions of military brats.

Because of my father's career with the Air Force, I traveled the world.
Because of my father's career with the Air Force, I saw things that most others only read about in history books.
Because of my father's career with the Air Force, I have a different attitude about freedom - I've seen others live with out it.
Because of my father's career with the Air Force, I appreciate, and respect our government.
Because of my father's career with the Air Force, I pray for our service men and women - and for their families. I was one once too.
Because of my father's career with the Air Force, I am who I am today.

Please take a moment to thank a Veteran today! You may be who you are today without them.

Words of Wisdom from my little sister, Bekki

2005-11-10T13:56:00.000-08:00

My little sister Bekki (aka Crab, Boo-Boo, Becca, Rooba-Hoo, or whatever crazy name I came up with at the time) had a birthday yesterday. I'll never be able to forget how old she is, because she's only 9 months, 3 weeks, and 5 hours younger than I am. Today, as we were chatting about how she celebrated, about kids, and about life in general, she shared some sage advice with me.

Bekki and Shaun have been married for almost 5 years (it will be 5 years on December 21st). They now have 3 adorable children whom I adore (Arissa, Micheal, and Ainsley). Her words of wisdom are:

Get used to it.

Get over it.

It's not going to change.

How's that for a happy thought? I wasn't complaining about the adjustments involved with married life, I was simply telling her the fun stories about things we've experienced. One of these days, I'll make Steve sit down and post an update to our blog. But, until he does, you get to have the fun of MY side! Here are a few of the "fun" stories I shared with Bekki-Boo:

Why is it that we can have two bins to put dirty clothes into, but Steve doesn't seem interested in using either of them?
Why is it that I bought a shower organizer (the kind that hang over the shower door) that has hooks on the back to dry our towels from, and he hangs his towel over his clean hanging clothes in our closet?
I woke up early the other day, and it was one of his off days. I have a process each morning after I wake up. I get up (sometimes before my alarm, sometimes when the alarm wakes me up, and sometimes after hitting snooze a few times on the alarm), go potty, and then I stumble over to my computer and check my email accounts, bank accounts, and friends blogs. Steve was awake before I got up and was in super spaz mode. Doesn't he understand that in my world it is 6am, and I'm not coherent yet?

Married life IS good. It's only been two weeks (well two weeks and 5 days to be precise), but I think we're adjusting okay so far. I hear that the first year is the year of adjustments, and that we should expect a bit of difficulty as we adjust to living with each other and how we each operate. I would have thought that dating for more than a year would teach us everything we need to know about each other - but thats what I get for doing my own thinking, eh?

It's a good thing we love each other!

~heather (& Steve)

Traditions, Holidays, Recipes & Love

2005-11-08T08:44:00.000-08:00

Traditions have always been special to me. There's something about traditions that bring family and friends closer together. Typically, we see traditions occur more around the holdiays than in normal, everyday life - but they're fun to have nonetheless.

Yesterday, I spent a bit of time chatting with my sweet Aunt Carolyn yesterday. After our call, I started thinking about the importance of the simple everyday traditions. My Aunt Carolyn rocks my world. She came into my life as my babysitter when we lived in Illinois. Later, she continued in my life when she married my Uncle Ernest and became my Aunt. Over the years, I have in turn, babysat her children - and they've babysat (well kind of) my darling neice Arissa. Someday, when my family starts to grow (No, we're not pregnant! No, we're not trying! ) they'll have the opportunity to babysit our children. Something so simple, and service rendering has become a tradition of sorts in my life.

Caroline asked me what Steve and I still needed for our new home/life. In reality, we don't need anything. We're both very fortunate, and we've both had our own homes. The things we registered for were either to replace the things that needed replacing, or were items so that we could build 'our' collection versus mine and his.

What I would LOVE from everyone, is your favorite tradition. What is it? Is it personal, private, or a family tradition? Why is it your favorite? Here are a few traditions that I've come to love:

General Conference - It's not only a time to build your spirit, and to gain additional knowledge from our leaders and Prophet. I love to have homemade cinnamon rolls in the morning, and everyone's favorite lunch foods in teh afternoon. It gives us something additional to look forward too.
Celebration Plate - A few years ago, I made a "celebration" plate, and a matching booklet to record when it is used. I love to use this plate to serve celebratory stuff on every day celebrations, birthdays, cupcakes at work, promotions and anything else that's celebratory. I love that I can look back in the booklet to see when it was used, and remember all of the fun times I've had with friends, coworkers, and family.
Birthday Dinner - For as long as I can remember, when it's your birthday, you get to choose what the family has for dinner. Growing up, it's normally something that Mom makes. Sometimes as we got older, and everyone's schedule gets busy we would go out to eat. But, it's so fun knowing that on your day - you get to choose!
Thanksgiving Thankfullness - Whenever I'm home for THanksgiving, our family goes around the table during dinner sharing what they're thankful for. This coming year, as Steve and I celebrate our first Thanksgiving together, I'm looking forward to continuing this tradition. We have a few friends who we're having over for dinner, and I'm sending each of them 5 slips of paper on which they should write what they are thankful for. They'll go into a jar, and before we eat dinner, we'll take turns reading them out loud.
Birthday Wake-Up Calls - When I moved out of my parents home (over and over again) it's always fun to be woken up by your parents calling to tell you Happy Birthday. It reminds me that they love me enough to get up extra early (different time zones) and that they thought enough to call.

What are your favorite tried and true recipies? Are there special foods you have at certain holidays or events in your life? There are SO many of mine, but here are some of my favorite family foods:

Christmas Bread - Cherry Christmas Bread reminds me of the holidays with my family - and the fun silly things we've done.
Cranberry Salad - Again, another of Mom's DELICIOUS treats. Mom makes this YUMMY Cranberry Salad. It looks SO unusual - but it is SO yummy!
Party Chicken and/or Rice Casserole - Again from Mom's fantastic cooking skills! It's a SUPER simple recipe, but it reminds me of home everytime!

Please take a moment to email me your favorite tradition and/or recipe. I LOVE to cook, and having special recipes from each of you would be the bomb! You can email them to us at steveandheatherales at yahoo.com (use @ for at). I'll be glad to compile them and share them back with you all!

There's something about traditions, holidays, special recipes that just mean love to me.

Love,
~ heather (& Steve)

I married a Stud!

2005-11-04T08:37:00.000-08:00

Okay, so maybe he's not a stud to the rest of you - but he is to me! He woke me up this morning (it was the first of his days off) and asked me to get up (it was at least an hour earlier than I normally get up - and on a work day too!!!). I started questioning him as to what could be wrong.

Me: What time is it?
Steve: It's only a little bit before you need to get up. (I guess he doesn't understand snooze buttons)
Me: Is the house on fire?
Steve: No, the house is fine.
Me: Are you okay?
Steve: I'm fine. I'm okay. There's nothing wrong.
Me: Why do you want me to get up?
Steve: Just trust me.
My thoughts: Okay, so it's WAY early in the morning, and he's asking for TRUST??

So, I get up, and he leads me into the kitchen. He had prepared everything to make me breakfast! He asks, "Do you want scrambled eggs plain or with cheese?". Awww how sweet. How could be I be cranky so early in the morning when he has gone out of his way to make me a nice, and absolutely delightful breakfast?? So, I sat at the table trying to locate my coherence, while he made us breakfast.

While we were eating, I asked him what made him decide to make breakfast for me. His answer was "well, I read that I need to invest in the things that matter - and I want us to have a long happy marraige." How freaking sweet!!! (He's been reading my copy of Steven Covey's 'Seven Habits of Highly Effective People'. I don't think I've actually ever read the whole thing - so he's gotten MAJOR points from me!!)

I am so lucky! I married a wonderful man! He's [normally] thoughtful and wonderful. He took awesome care of me yesterday while I was recovering from my dentist appointment and the procedures I had to endure (I'm a dental wuss!)

And of course - I'm assuming that the breakfast mess will be cleaned up when I get home!

Love,
~heather

The photos are ready!!!

2005-11-02T13:31:00.000-08:00

Melissa let me know that our photos are ready to be picked up and I couldn't wait! I begged her to send me a few photos to tide me over! Here's one to share! I can't wait to see the rest of them!!

How time flies...

2005-11-01T11:04:00.000-08:00

It's hard to realize that we've been married for a week now - well over a week actually! All of the family and company has returned to their homes. I'm working on unpacking, getting my studio situated, and setting up 'house'. We're trying to settle into "married life" and get things like chores, responsibilities, and our budget situated. It's nice that the wedding is over and now we can continue on with our lives together.

It's been fun finding storage spaces for the items we recieved as wedding gifts. It's been really fun using each item for the first time. Saturday morning, I made breakfast for Steve, Tom, & Andrew (Tom's friend and soon to be roommate) with our new wafflemaker. Yesterday, I made Garlic Chicken in our new crockpot. We used our new Food Saver to freeze some of the left over vegetables from the open house (I put them in soup kits!), and I can't wait to break into them later! We've had such fun going and buying the little things we needed for our home (a new phone - WAHOO!, etc) with the gift cards and money we've recieved. It has been SO fun - and INCREDIBLY appreciated!

It's even been fun to sit down and write the Thank You cards to everyone for our gifts. It's been great to reminisce and realize how generous our benefactors are! No, our cards haven't gone postal yet. We're waiting to send them until we can include one of our wedding photos - especially for our friends and family who were not able to make it to our wedding. So, look in your mailbox early next week! We should have the photos back in the next few days. By the time we have a few printed up and get the cards going postal it will be Thursday or maybe even Friday of this week! Oh fun tasks, fun tasks!

It's interesting though; part of me (in my crazy mind) is saying "now what?" I've been so focused on wedding plans for the last few months and it was hard to see past the wedding. Well now we're there. I guess we should make plans for the "what", eh?

Before I end today's post, a few have asked what my married name will be. My name will be Heather Ales (so, yes I'm having to change everything .... what fun... blah). My legal name however will be Heather Lynette Beste Ales. No, I'm not hypenating Beste Ales. I'm moving Beste into a second middle name spot. I'm rather attached to my name - I wasn't born with it you know. And it (they) chose me. My name is an important part of who I am. The new name, that's been added to it (Ales) is also an important part of who I now am, and more importantly where my life is and is going.

Love,
~ heather

It's Officially Official! We're Married!

2005-10-25T20:44:00.000-07:00

Well, it's done! We're married! Saturday was a perfect day. The weather was AWESOME! It wasn't hot, and it wasn't cold. The sun shined all day, and there wasn't a cloud in sight. Everything else went perfectly according to plan and we wouldn't change a thing.

Well, maybe one thing. We're happy newlyweds, but we're both sick as dogs. I don't know what happened. I don't know how we both got sick. I can understand getting sick for myself - I was way stressed, not getting enough sleep, and I had oodles of things on my mind. And I'm sure Steve had lots of things going on too - but even he will admit that he wasn't as stressed out as I was. Regardless - we're both icky sicky. I ended up calling into work today (and even after i got up, dressed, and ready to go) because I felt so bad. Unfortunately, my doctor (Betty Chung-Grasty, MD - if you live in the DFW area and need a doc - she rocks) couldn't get me in today, but she can see me first thing tommorrow morning at 8:30am. I think Steve might piggy back and come with me. Whatever I have - he has too. So, lets get this thing knocked out once and for all!

Okay, back to the wedding. Seriously, everything was perfect. It was SO awesome having Jill, Sheri, Linette, Kimberlee, Bekki and Mom here to get all of the food and everything ready. I really utilized them to the absolute maximum. It was VERY cool having Joyce and Nicole here too. I really really enjoyed getting to know Nicole and spending time with her at Billy Bob's with Steve. She is a HOOT! It was great to have my brothers (Rob and Scott) here, and Tom was uber helpful with getting things situated Saturday morning. I really enjoyed having Russ here, and I KNOW Steve did too. Russ helped Steve fix the fence (I think it was the fence anyway... I really have no clue what they did out there).

Jeff was awesome and video recorded the wedding, and Joann was the ideal assistant to our photographer, Melissa. She also handled cutting the wedding cake for us. Heather B. and her husband Jack were fantastic at passing out the wedding programs and at taking background photos of everything at the wedding and through out the day. Pat H. really helped my mom and the other ladies in the kitched during the open house - and I don't know what we would have done without her.

I know there were lots of others who helped out - I'm terribly sorry if I forgot to mention you by name. My mind is still reeling from it all. We had a fantastic day - and it wouldn't have been the same without everyone who was there.

I'm going to try and post photos as I can.

Love,
Heather (& Steve)

Almost there....

2005-10-21T05:11:00.000-07:00

So, here I am... at the countdown to my wedding. Literally it's only hours away. I am beyond excited to be marrying Steve. He is such a fantastic guy - and he's so cute too! I really am incredibly blessed to be marrying such a stud. I love him - and I know he loves me! Wahoo!

Wow.... I can't believe that tommorrow is our wedding day. It's going to be fantastic - and I'm not going to let anything bother me. Even the things that don't go according to plan. Does every bride say that - but in retrospect realizes that wasn't how they acted? Well, my PLAN is to not let anything get to me. We'll see how it goes!

Our family members have started to arrive. Jill, Kimberlee, and Russ arrived EARLY (like 1am early) on Thursday morning. Sheri & Bekki (with baby Ainsley) arrived Thursday afternoon and Linette arrived that afternoon. My parents are en-route and Nicole, Joyce, & Robert all arrive this afternoon. We are going to have a FULL house. But, it's going to be fantastic.

Family is THE most important thing to me. For those of you who don't know, I'm adopted. It's been the biggest blessing in my life. Sheri, my birthmother, found me 4 years ago and we've been working to cultivate and develop a relationship between the two of us. Her mother, Linette, is a doll and they were both able to come be with us for the wedding. I'm thrilled to be adding the Ales family to my big honkin huge family ring. Seriously - I LOVE to be around family. Tom (Steve's brother) usually comes over at least each Sunday afternoon and we have a big dinner (normally it includes Toms roomates or friends) and I LOVE it.

Note to self (and future brides for generations to come...)

2005-10-19T10:15:00.000-07:00

Today's magic word is.... drum roll please... ELOPE. Yes, you read it correctly - ELOPE! Save yourself the time, stress, and money. Save your sanity, your hair, your nails, and mental capabilities by ELOPING. I know that people may get upset because they won't "see" you get married - but really - it's only one day - and seriously everyone will get over it. You'll be fine. You can always hire a photographer to take photos of your elopement - and you'll love it.

Okay, onto better things! Everything is pretty much done - or as done as it is going to get. Yep, I've decided if it isn't done now - it just doesn't need to be done. End of story. There are a few miscellaneous items that will get finished, but they are super simple and minor. So, if they don't get done - I don't care.

Happy thoughts.... in one week, all of the stress will be gone! Actually in only 4 days the stress will be gone and I will be sleeping in peaceful slumber (well, as long as I fall asleep before Steve - rumor is that he snores!). I really am THRILLED to be getting married, and to the fantastically awesome man that Steve is. And, I think all brides go through this stage - so I'm completely normal, right?? :)

Love you all. I really can't wait to spend time with our families. It really will be fun!
~heather

It's Official! I'm exhausted!! :)

2005-10-16T19:37:00.000-07:00

With only 5 full days remaining until our wedding day, it's no suprise that I am completely exhausted! Here are a few updates:

Steve finished tiling and grouting the master bathroom. He's ahead of the Ales traditional home repair schedule (set by his father, Russ) by at least two years. I am beyond thrilled. It gives me peace to know that I can go potty in the master bath and not have to walk to the other side of the house to do my "business."
The house is IMMACULATE! Thank you Christa, Pat, and Krista. They were a true Godsend! Saturday morning at 7am Christa and I started cleaning. We were soon joined by Pat and then by Krista (with her two darling kiddos). We scrubbed baseboards, scrubbed floors, washed windows, killed dozens of spiders, destroyed full cobweb communities, among many other tasks. The house looks great. I tried to put the fear of God into Steve about not messing it up. But, I don't think he can help himself. It comes naturally. This, is sure to be my biggest challenge in our marraige.
The photo mat (which guests will sign in lieu of a guest book) has finally been finished, and I have it in my hot hands. It really did turn out well.
The wedding program has been designed and now I only need to get it printed out. We've added a nice piece of vellum to the design. I'm not going to worry about cutting, folding, and assembling them until later this week. That will give the family arriving, something to do when they ask "what they can do to help."
The Proclaimation also arrived. We're passing them out at the wedding. They're going to be rolled and tied with red ribbon. That's also something I'm not worrying about accomplishing until later this week. It's a brainless task that we can do while we're chatting Thursday.
My pantry has been moved, and everything has been put away in the pantry over at Steve's. We won't be needing to do ANY grocery shopping for some time. It's amazing what you find when you clean things out! We are packed solid. I'll take a picture later. My mother should be beyond pleased.
I picked up my dress and the crinoline. They're hanging in the spare room at home and are ready to be worn. I need to remember to set out my shoes, underclothing, and pearl jewelry to wear on our wedding day too.
Moving my studio is in full effect. I can't believe how much stuff I have. It's incredible really. I'm having a "contest" on my personal blog (www.princessdallas.typepad.com) to see who can guess how many boxes it will take to get everything moved out. I had over 3o when I moved it all in - and I know my collection has grown since then. Significantly. This ought to be highly interesting!!
The smoking area for our smoking guests has been created, but not finished. I wanted a place outside where our smoking family/guests could go to 'git-er-done' but not do it in our home.
The front flower garden has been lined, covered, mulched, monkey grass planted. We purchased a few potted mums and I'll get them put into pots tommorrow (or Tuesday). It turned out really nice.

I think that is everything. I am completely exhausted. I got bit by a bug on Saturday, and my bite started to swell pretty big. So, I tool a benedryl to take care of it. I forgot that benedryl knocks me completely out. I managed to sleep right through church today. I am SO blaming it on the drugs. I really did intend to be there today!

~heather

Wanted: Constructive Criticism

2005-10-11T05:23:00.000-07:00

Last night I worked on the wedding flowers. The only flowers we're going to bring to the wedding will be the bridal bouquet, boutennieres, and corsages. The 'lower rose garden' should be in full bloom - and we can't decorate anyway. So, why stress about it?

Here is where I stopped on the bridal bouquet. What do you think? Do I need more... Something? I haven't finished the stems off (with ribbon and more pearls), so it can easily be adjusted. Please share your thoughts with me! There really is a lot of "bling" in it with large ivory pearls, and oodles of Swarovski crystals. The only flowers are dark red hydrangeas and white stephanotis with more pearl centers.
The boutennierres are simple. Here's a photo of them too. This morning, Christa suggested I add some of the red to them. What do you think?

I am SO tired!

2005-10-10T13:17:00.000-07:00

This weekend was fairly productive. I stayed up ALL night Friday night unpacking what I had at Steve's house and doing some cleaning. I think I finally crashed at 8:30am! The house looked FANTASTIC when I was finished, but as it goes - it didn't last long. But, at least everything is unpacked!! It was a huge accomplishment for me and I'm sure Steve is thrilled that my stuff is taking over the house! :)

Other than that, I didn't do a stitch of wedding anything. In fact, I forgot to go and pick up my dress from the bridal shoppe! The seamstress had to do a few more alterations and I'll get it sometime this week.

Everything else is going smoothly - or so I think. I'm sure it's only 10 days until the storm rush of wedding plans arrives. We only have 12 days left until the wedding - so everyone hold onto your hats, it could either be a smooth or bumpy ride!

My Co-Workers Rock!

2005-10-06T07:06:00.000-07:00

Today, when I came into the office, I had an ADORABLE gift bag sitting on my desk! How FUN!! It was our first wedding gift (not to be confused with our first engagement gift from Joanne! It was THE yummiest box of chocolates! Seriously addicting, but INCREDIBLY tasty)! Sweet Theresa gave us 2 of the most important movies we (well, honestly, I added them to the registry. I know you're shocked that Steve wasn't dying to own these flicks!) registered for - 'Dirty Dancing' (the SPECIAL edition - and girls, let me know when you want to come over for a girls night in!!), and 'How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days' (you know it ends well... and it's awesome!!). After I was done dancing in my cube over the happiness of them, Gale brought me another bag!! HAPPY DAY! She and her darling husband (whom she gushes about on a regular basis) gave us the AWESOME blender that we've been DYING for from Target. It's THE coolest smoothie blender! You can make your smoothie right in the cup (it comes with it) instead of in a regular blender, and putting it into a cup (and thus having to wash the blender part.... FYI - we don't enjoy washing dishes!!). SOOOO thrilled! My coworkers ROCK! I'll take photos of them later and post for your viewing pleasure!! Thanks girls!!!

So much done.... so much left to do!

2005-10-05T22:15:00.000-07:00

Wow... we're down to 17 days remaining until the wedding! YIKES!!! It's creeping up faster than I thought! Here's a photo of me playing with my hairdo and my veil. I still haven't settled on how I'm going to wear my hair. Oh well, I'm sure it will be fine on "the day!"

We have SO many things that are finished, but there are still so many things left to do! Today, I was able to use one of my floating holidays at work - and since Steve was off too, we went and got some of the most important things squared away. For instance, we got our marraige license (note to Denton County residents, don't try to use the Justice of the Peace in Roanoke on the 1st or 3rd Wednesday of the month. They don't do marraige licenses on those days, and the office is full of ticked off people waiting for their court hearing...). We also went and talked to Steve's State Farm office to get everything lined up for my car once we're married. Fun, Fun, Fun!

Everything seems to be going smoothly other than that. My Aunt Kathleen, who lives in Farmington, NM (where my parents live) may come to the wedding with my parents. It would be lovely to have her here with us also!

Steve and I went and checked out the hotel (MicroTel) I had booked for our family and guests to stay in. We're thinking about changing the location, but we haven't set our minds on it yet. So, currently, if we've made hotel reservations for you - you're still at the Microtel.

A few fun pictures

2005-10-03T19:03:00.000-07:00

A few of you have emailed me asking for photos of the "wedding items". Ask, and you shall recieve! Here is a photo of our cake topper. I really love that we can use our topper with our home decor, rather than a figurine. It's about 5" tall and 4" wide. It has a silver lustre finish to it - and will perfectly compliment our wedding cake! And... yes, the "A" is for Ales. (C'mon Joanie - what did you really think it was for?? Love you!)

Here is a photograph of my tiara (taken when I got it in the mail. I wondered if my hair would work with this style of tiara - I think it does! The tiara has pearls in the center sections, with rhinestones along the top and bottom. It is basically a "bun holder" and is not adjustable. My hair (of course) will be much tidier than in the photo, but it gives you an idea of what it will look like. Can you tell where my real hair and the hair piece begins?? It's amazing that my hair matches so well. Color me happy!

AACK! All will BE well.... Eventually

2005-10-03T09:15:00.000-07:00

Oh the fun of planning weddings. Sometimes it's a blast, sometimes it's a royal pain in the keester!

So, Saturday Steve and I stop by to check the mail. What do we find? A small stack of our wedding invitations had been returned to us. My first thought was... "What the HECK??" We soon realized (thanks to the obvious label from our handy USPS) that we needed an additional $0.12 stamp on the envelope for "hand canceling". I had taken a mock up of our invite (with the silver slide), with stuffers and everything, to my local Post Office to weigh everything and make sure that all we needed was the standard $0.37 stamp. The sweet PO clerk verified that we would be fine with a regular (although cute) postage stamp. Ladies and Gentleman, she was wrong!

The problem with the invitations (and I didn't think about it prior to mailing them) is that with the invitation facing the address (or front of the envelope), the pressure of being sorted through the postage machine could possibly jam the envelope in the machine because of the silver ribbon slide. Which, apparently happened because more than a few people have commented that their invitation arrived in one piece and looking fabulous - but that the envelope was either trashed or the slide was through the envelope.

So, if you haven't gotten your invitation yet, please don't think we slighted you. We really do want you at our wedding, and your invitation will be remailed today (with a $0.12 stamp on it). Interestingly enough though, the invites that got returned to us were mailed to California, Arizona, and Utah. The rest of the invitations appear to have gone through fine - or perhaps we haven't gotten them back yet.

Until the next disaster,
~heather

All is well...

2005-09-30T11:22:00.000-07:00

The invitations have started getting delivered - we recieved our first phone call confirming it! Steve - ever the wonderstud - got them to the post office yesterday and the first recipients have reportedly gotten theirs! So, the RSVP numbers should start rolling in....

You know, all things considered, planning is going quite well for our wedding. I've received numerous compliments and comments about doing the wedding "by myself." Because my family doesn't live in the area, and I haven't lived in the DFW metroplex for very long (just over 3 years) I don't have a lot of tight friends. We don't have the money to hire a professional, and with the experience I've gained by planning activities and other socials, I didn't even think about hiring someone. Sometimes, I wish we had.

But overall, things are right on target, and everything should run quite smoothly for our wedding. The only things we really have left to do are:

Flowers (Bridal boquet, Grooms Bout., Toss Boquet,Corsages, and guys bouts)
Wedding Program (designed, but not all of the details are carved in yet)
Thank You cards (also designed, but not printed yet - no I'm not making them. Thats too much work for my tight schedule).
Clean Steve's house (thanks to a few awesome friends, this will be done on Oct. 15th)
Verify/Finalize wedding music - we are hoping to have a violinist and cellist play. If not, we'll use a CD.
Order photo mat for Open House. We're going to invite our guests to sign a large photo mat instead of having a guest book. Inside it, we'll have an 8x10 photo of us, and we'll display it in our home. Fun ide! Thanks to Michelle F.H. for doing it at her wedding.

Everything else is done... I think.

Our attire is squared away (picking up my dress tommorrow morning. Steve's suit is done (and boy does he look GOOD in it!). I do need to take his shirt to be dry cleaned, but thats nothing big.
The botanical garden is reserved.
The invitations have gone postal.
Rings have been purchased and are here.
Plane tickets have been purchased and hotel accomodations reserved.
Decorations for the open house (not much... really it's going to be simple - like we want it) have been aquired.
Menu for the open house has been decided. Now I need to make the master grocery/purchasing list and get that done.

The only major items we have to get done, which aren't directly wedding related are:

Unpacking my storage unit stuff.
Move my papercrafting studio over to Steve's and keep it organized/tidy. (this could be an incredibly huge task!!)
Move my bedroom over to Steve's (this can't happen until a few days before the wedding anyway... so I'm just playing it easy..)
Get the cars cleaned.
Clean up Steve's front flower garden (yeah! for mulch!!)

Am I missing something? I think everything is squared away... what did you forget for your wedding?

Mission Accomplished: Invitations have gone postal

2005-09-29T01:41:00.000-07:00

Wahoo! Another major task marked off of the "To Do" list. And thankfully, all of the players came through and the announcements are finished! They are going postal in a few hours (yes, it is 3:41am here). Here are a few pics of the mess I had going on, on Steve's dining room table. Steve was a super stud and helped as much as he could. I really really appreciated his help - it took more time than I thought it would!

Engagement Photos are IN!!

2005-09-28T13:27:00.000-07:00

Okay happy wedding info readers... our engagement photos have arrived! Here are a few of my favorites for your viewing pleasure! Melissa really did a great job with them (and for those of you in the DFW area, she is available for your photography needs too)!

WOW..... 28 days left until our wedding

2005-09-25T22:48:00.000-07:00

I was SO prepared to be productive this weekend. But, then Hurricane Rita decided to threaten us. Not just us, but our gas supply. So, my weekend with Heather B. fell through. Actually I cancelled it. I didn't want to have to worry about finding somewhere to buy gas for my car when every single gas station I passed on my way to work on Friday (and on my way home too!) was out of gasoline.

My plan included getting the invitations assembled (but the printer had other ideas), and getting my flowers done. I did manage to get most of the flower shopping finished (don't forget I'm doing silk flowers instead of live), but I didn't get any of the actual arranging done. I think I'm going to stray from my original design and am going to include red hydrangeas in my bridal bouquet. The corsages and bouts will still have roses and I think my bridal bouquet will have rose too, but I'm adding hydrangeas.

Christa and I went over to Steve's to check out how the house was going to have to be laid out for the open house, and with her help we managed to get a few other things done too.

Otherwise, the wedding plans are still in FULL motion and going full stream ahead. We're seriously thinking about having a violinist and cellist play at the wedding instead of using the Knot's wedding CD. It would be absolutely LOVELY I think! I'll let you know how that pans out.

Mom and I have been finalizing the Open House menu, and getting the grocery lists ready (we're list people). Everything that will be used to decorate for the open house has been purchased. Now, I need to get my stuff from storage unpacked - and then get the open house stuff set up. My sweet friend Krista and Christa (my roommate) have agreed to come over to Steve's with me the Saturday before the wedding to scour the house. It will be spick and span for the wedding, and Steve is on STRICT orders to not mess ANYTHING up.

tomorrow we pick up Steve's suit (seriously, he's HOT in it!) and Saturday I pick up my dress from the seamstress (or as the suit dude tells me, they're Tailors - not seamstresses. It's an insult to call a tailor a seamstress... okay. whatever. Sorry to offend.... blah!). My veil and tiara should be here any day, and I have my shoes. So, we're both set to go.

Does anyone have any wedding program examples? I know I can do a Google search on wedding programs, but I wonder what you've done that was uber cool, or saw that was just plain neat.

The only major things left to do are:

~ GET THE INVITATIONS OUT! Could I make this any more bold?? They'll be in the mail on Tuesday though, so keep your eyes open. (Side note - they're being mailed in red envelopes. When I designed the inviations, I didnt think about finding lined envelopes or envelopes that were thicker than 24lb. Everything showed right through the white envel0pes, so I switched to red. I know it's not proper - but you'll get over it.) I have all of the supplies to get the invitations assembled, so thats what Steve and I will end up doing Monday night after everything else is done. We're going to get the photos back from the photographer tomorrow evening, and they'll be printed and in the invitations by Tuesday!

~ Get the master bathroom tile finished (This would be a Steve project. He's been otherwise occupied over the last few weeks helping me out, so I can't give him TOO much grief. But, it HAS to get done this week. If not, I'm going to do it myself - and that won't be a pretty thing.

~ Get the flowers done. (that would be 1 bridal bouquet, 8 or 9 corsages and 6 bouts. I am SO feeling a movie night coming on!).

~ Get the cake ordered (I've been working on this for what seems like FOREVER! But, I think I might have found someone who can do exactly what I want in a cake - will keep you posted!)

~ Get the front garden covered with mulch, and hang new flowering plants on the plant hooks. (Mulch is THE best at covering up stuff! Note to self: even Martha utilizes mulch!)

~ Get the wedding program written and printed.

~ We're going to have copies of the proclamation for wedding attendee's. So, they should soon be here and they'll need to be rolled and have the wedding ribbon tied around them.

Okay, what am I forgetting????? HELP!

The future Mrs. Ales...

2005-09-22T22:09:00.000-07:00

My nameplate on my desk at work has been upgraded! What a fun! Thanks ladies!

More great news!

2005-09-22T21:39:00.000-07:00

Grandma Cash is coming to the wedding too! Wahoo! I'm so excited that she'll be able to make it! We're going to have oodles of family with us - and it can't start off any better than that!

Shoes, Shoes, and MORE Shoes!

2005-09-22T13:31:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I admit it. I love shoes. Make that flip-flops. I adore them. I love how you can find fun sparkly ones. I love how society has made flip flops more acceptable in the business environment. I love that they're not just for wearing around the swimming pool anymore or in the shower. THey're just fun - and COMFORTABLE. I have them with sequins. I have them with turquoise beaded on them. I have them plain. I have them with rhinestones. I have them with flowers. I have them with ribbon - and I love them all.

A co-worker bought me a pair of bridal flipflops as a gift. I HAVE to wear them on my wedding day - they are SO me.

Admittedly, Steve hates flip flops. Actually, he hates it when I wear them. They don't have any support for your feet, and the noises that emit when I wear them is irritating. I tried to make a deal with him though. He's been working on tiling the master bathroom for a while now. Make that 5 or 6 (or 7 or 8) months. I've been bugging him to finish it and it hasn't happened yet. Months ago, he used to joke (before we were engaged) that if I was lucky, he'd finish it up as a wedding present (har de har har). I told him that if he finished the bathroom up, I'd stop wearing flip flops for the rest of the year. I even changed that to not wearing flip flops for a full calendar year - from the time he finished it. But, alas - the tiling remains unfinished. However, I've been promised that it will be done sometime within the next week or so.

Saying I love you...

2005-09-22T10:15:00.000-07:00

Warning: Mushy content in today’s post!

So, this morning on my way into work, I was listening to a Pop Radio Station, and they were playing a re-made version of “More than Words” originally by the group Extreme. Normally, I don’t listen to the words, I just bop along with the tune and drive along. For some reason, today, I listened to the words – and started to cry. Here are the words that stuck out the most to me:

Saying I love you, is not the words I want to hear from you
It's not that I want you not to say, but if you only knew
How easy it would be to show me how you feel.
More than words is all you have to do to make it real
Then you wouldn't have to say that you love me
’Cuz I'd already know.

Steve is SO fantastic. He tells me he loves me, and he also does things to show me that he loves me. I am SO lucky and blessed to have him in my life – and to be his wife (in only one month from today!!). He does the most amazing things for me, and he goes out of his way (in a HUGE way) to do things for me. For instance, he’s been driving over to my storage unit and getting truck loads of my stuff from the storage unit – and bringing it to his house. AND he’s been doing it for a few weeks. He finished it all up yesterday with help from his brother – when it was Steve’s day off from work.

Steve does so many things for me. He puts together furniture, he starts to paint my studio, he goes to the health food store and buys me a case of my protein drink. He doesn’t laugh (too hard) when I’m having an emotional moment, and he lets me bawl when I slam my finger into the garage door – and he takes care of me. He snuggles with me, and naps with me. He calls me his "Heatherbear" (and I LOVE it!!). He’s one heck of a great guy – and I love him more than my words show too.

I am THE luckiest girl in the world!

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes!

2005-09-18T15:52:00.000-07:00

Okay, so the plan has changed again. Here's how our wedding day is going to "go down."

We're going to get married at the Fort Worth Botanical Garden at 11:30am. Afterwards (and after we're done taking photos) at 1:30pm we are having an open house at Steves (well by then it will be our home) home from 1:30 - 4:00pm. What we're doing after that, is up in the air.

Something tells me that everyone will not be hungry for dinner after the Open House, so going to dinner would be silly. SO, we might just go down to the stockyards and have dinner down there - OR we might do something completely different.

All I know is that anything could change without a moments notice! :)

Our Open House will be simple. My awesome mother is a fantastic cook! And, she taught me everything I know (well between her and all of the cooking classes I've taken anyway! ). She is bringing her awesome and famous Strawberry Punch (this stuff is SOOO yummy!) , sweet/sour meatballs, and her party chicken/pork. With that we'll have mini quiches, ham roll-ups, vegetables and dip, cheese balls, other dips, crackers, maybe a fruit try and dip. We'll definitely have the traditional mints, nuts (although the nuts could be my family...) and cake.

We're not going to any major expense (flowers, white lights, more photos of us) to decorate. The Open House will be comfy and cozy!

More Happy News!!!

2005-09-16T15:58:00.000-07:00

So, my awesome brother, Robert is coming to the wedding also! My other incredible brother, Scott, is checking with his place of employment to see if he can come also! FANTASTIC!! We're going to have a lot of family - which is really what Steve and I want! Family is super important to us, an we are absolutely thrilled to have them join us! So.... family wise we will have...

From Steves Family
~ Dad & Stepmother, Russ & Jill
~ Sister, Kimberlee
~ Brother, Thomas
~ Sister, Nichole
~ Grandmother, Joyce

Heathers Family
~ Mom & Dad, Mary & Don
~ Sister & new Niece, Bekki & Ainsley
~ Brother, Robert
~ Brother, Scott (hopefully)
~ Birthmother, Sheri
~ Aunt, Candy (hopefully)

Yeah! LOTS of family! This is going to be awesome!

Wedding Day plans....

2005-09-15T13:42:00.000-07:00

Oh the fun of planning... it really IS fun, but man, trying to navigate through everyone's arrival/departure schedules and make sure that they get to have some fun while they're here -- AND get all of the wedding stuff done too, can be a challenge! We have so many family members come into town, and they've never been to the area so I feel like I need to show them part of Texas. AND I'm going to make it fun. So... here's my idea of our wedding day itenerary.. well an outline anyway...

1. Wedding
2. Wedding Photos
3. Wedding Dinner (well late lunch) 2:30 (or whenever we get to the restaurant) - 4pm.
4. Change clothes @ Steve's house (and/or everyone meet back there)
5. Fort Worth Stockyards and attend the rodeo. (Tee Hee! I'm going to get Bride and Groom T-shirts made for steve and I to wear. And of course, I WILL wear my veil and tiara! What a GREAT excuse!! And we all know that I'm a princess! )
6. Get everyone home - and Steve and I will SPLIT for the night.... WAAHOOOOO!

Whaddathink??

Invitations and Announcements (and UBER good news!)

2005-09-15T10:47:00.000-07:00

Well, anyone that knows me would know that I love to design. It's just fun to doodle out and then make my doodle. Such is the case of our wedding invitations and announcements. I've created 4 (yes FOUR) different announcements/invitations just for our wedding. I can't make up my mind on them. I think I've narrowed it down to one design, but now I need to decide if I want the print done via thermography (think embossing) or if the cost is too great - do it on my laser printer at home. I know I want something VERY simple and casual. I think i've achieved it! Now, I need to decide if we are going to include a photo with the invitations and announcements and if I want to use the same design for both the invitations and the announcements. Decisions, decisions, decisions! So, if you haven't gathered from the post... yes, I'm making the announcements and invitations too! :)

UBER Good News: Steve got a call from his mother last night. It looks like his sister Nicole and Grandmother Depsey will be able to come for the wedding! Wahooo! I'm so excited! I had the chance to meet Grandmother Dempsey, but not his sister Nicole! I also talked to Sheri (my birth mother) and it looks like my Aunt Cindy (her sister) may be in Austin the following week, and might be able to come a few days early to attend the wedding. Fantastic! I'm absolutely THRILLED!

Man, the expenses!!!

2005-09-14T10:27:00.000-07:00

WOW.... You know. I definitely did not have a realistic view of how much it costs to have a wedding. I thought (at least in my happy little mind) that they were relatively inexpensive. And, mine should cost a LOT less than the average wedding. But, even with cutting corners, and expenses - it's expensive! It's the little things like getting a marriage license, your wedding attire, postage for invitations and announcements, travel arrangements and accomodations (that's a HUGE chunk) ... slowly it all adds up! Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled to be getting married. I'm SO excited to begin my life with such an incredible man - but the costs!! No wonder people elope! And don't misunderstand, I'm excited, estatic even, that we're able to have our families come. They are the most important people we want there. SO, even though it's going to cost us - we're happy to do it.

Taking time to smell (actually arrange) the roses

2005-09-13T11:20:00.000-07:00

So, brilliant me decided to do all of our wedding flowers myself. Yes, I am directly related to Einstien, and Mr. Bean too. Of course, I'm thinking I'll do them myself because it will be SO much cheaper. (Which is true.) So, last night, I start searching around local craft stores for the floral choices I'll have at my disposal. I know I want my bouquet to have red roses, white stephanotis with pearl centers, and LOTS of Swarovski white crystals. I think that is all that will be in any of the arrangements. I don't think I want any greenery. I just want red, white, and bling. Hmmm... that sounds almost kind of patriotic! :) I can't find a photo of exactly what I want my bouquet to look like, but here are a few photos with the pieces I want to incorporate into it.

The first photo is basically my bouquet except that it will be in red, and will have crystals and the stephanotis in it too. SO, really the only thing you can get from the photo is the shape of the arrangement and the roses. :)

The second is an example of the stephanotis with pearl centers. I really like the pearls along the stems too. Very pretty!

The third photo is of a bouquet with pearls (imagine the pearls are crystals) in it, but the example is TOTALLY not of the arrangement I'm going to have. See, you have to envision all of my ideas!! :)

What do you think?

We're IN!

2005-09-13T11:18:00.000-07:00

We have officially gotten the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens for our wedding site! Wooohooo! It is such a beautiful site, I can't wait to see it on our wedding day! We'll be married on the south end of the area, in the Lower Rose Garden. The fall roses are supposed to be blooming the end of September through the beginning of November - so we should be in FULL bloom! Yeah!

Rings and Resizing

2005-09-12T13:31:00.000-07:00

My ring flew off of my hand this weekend. When I got sized, and resized (a few months later) they asssured me that my knuckles would not shrink, and that a size 5 would be fine. Okay, fast forward another month (or so) to this weekend. The ring has been turning around on my finger for a few days (I've only had it for just over a week!). I was demonstrating how it would not fall off by flailing my hand about. Whoops! Off the ring came! Steve and I had talked about having it sized when we have the wedding band soldered to the ring. So, I think I'm going to get one of those sizer thing-a-ma-jigs to put onto it.

I'm worried about having it sized. When I get pregnant (in a few years) and my hands swell, won't it be a problem then? I don't plan on losing much more weight. Maybe another 10 or 15 lbs, but I don't want to lose much more than that. I need some padding to my body! My bones are starting to stick out!

Comments, Comments Everywhere!

2005-09-12T13:27:00.000-07:00

I love it! Oodles of comments! Thanks Michelle, Alice and the other Heather B! Michelle, we're waiting to honeymoon - probably until March. We've decided to take a trip each year halfway between our birthday's (March) for our birthdays! Alice, thank you for the cake information! I think we might use them for the ring ceremony/reception next year! Beautiful work! Heather B - what would I do without you? Flounder of course! We do have a minister and believe it or not, we're playing a music cd (The Knot wedding music compilation) for and during the wedding. If you're going flower shopping with me, then we must have everything covered! You ladies ROCK!

What's left to do....

2005-09-12T11:00:00.000-07:00

So, now that we've had a productive weekend (wahooo!), here's what I think I have left to accomplish:

Invitations to Wedding
Marriage Announcements (to be sent out after we're married)
Flowers (I think I've set my mind on silk so that we can use them again for the ring ceremony and reception - and so that I can keep my bouquet forever!)
Steve's Attire (black suit, white shirt, red tie and hanky!)
Family Dinner arrangements
Finish Wedding Registries
Get Engagement pictures done (LOVE Melissa's work! She did our bluebonnet photos too!)
Schedule Wedding Photographer (Melissa again!)
Order small wedding cake for family dinner.
Marriage License (How could I forget??)

Am I missing anything???

Wedding Location: FOUND!! (hopefully!)

2005-09-12T10:59:00.000-07:00

Something else we accomplished this weekend.... scoping out the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens! We went and viewed all 8 (yes 8!!) of the gardens, and selected our top three. After emailing with the event director, it looks like our first choice, the Lower Rose Garden, is available!! We won't know whether the wedding will be there or not for about a week. But, keep your fingers crossed! It's BEAUTIFUL!!

Check it out! Fort Worth Botanical Gardens, Lower Rose Garden.

My Challenge: Finding the Perfect Dress

2005-09-12T10:53:00.000-07:00

When planning a wedding in only 6 weeks, many of the normal tasks must be completed on a highly accelerated schedule. For instance, finding a wedding dress. Normally, a bride will take weeks, months, even years to select the perfect dress for her wedding. Now, I've always had an idea of what I wanted in my perfect dress. I've always envisioned myself in a white, empire waisted, short sleeved, scooped neckline, floor length gown. The bodice and sleeves would be beaded with thousands of brilliant Swarovski crystals, and it would be a gown fit for a princess - and certainly any bride! My dress most certainly would not have any lace, lace frills, bows, lace inlets, flowers, hearts, or pearls. See, I'm not particular at all!

However, upon visiting 9 of the bridal shoppes located in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, I soon came to realize that I was the only one with my vision. Of the 9 shoppes, 7 of them did not have a single dress with short sleeves. I'm in the middle of a sleeveless/strapless dress revolution. I started calling shoppes to see if they even had something like what I was looking for (or even a dress with short sleeves at all) when we went to the 8th store. The 8th shoppe had a few dresses, and one was absolutely beautiful - but, it just wasn't me. Before we gave up, we found a shoppe that was only about a mile from my house that carried bridal dresses (www.lynnesbridal.com). It's a TINY, hole in the wall place, but they had a room (about the size of my cubicle at work) that had bridal dresses. We found one that was empire waisted, and another one that Christa thought was beautiful - but I thought it was way too small (size 12). I humored her, and we took both dresses into the dressing room. She had me try on the empire waisted dress. Most brides know the moment they see themselves in the dress that it is the dress for thier wedding. This was not one of those moments. Suddenly, I felt pregnant. It was a lovely dress - if I wanted to have a vintage (think of the movie Emma) wedding. Soooo NOT me. We laughed and I put the next dress on.

This was the dress. It is not what I had in mind at all. But, once I had it on - it was perfect for me. And shock of shocks... the size 12 fit. It fit me. ME. IT FIT ME! I almost cried! This formerly BBW (big beautiful woman) was going to get married in a size 12 dress (and not to rub it in but wedding dresses are normally 2 sizes bigger than your normal size I am not a size 10, but one can always dream right?) Well, it fit except for a few minor alterations that will be done - I am 5'4" you know. It's a lovely dress. The bodice is embroidered with swirls. It's beaded with pearls in the shape of flowers (I recind the pearls and flowers comment from the first paragraph above). It's floor length and has a chapel length train that will bustle with in only one place. It has short sleeves, and a scoop neck. The back is lower than I would have liked, but it looks great and I'll have an insert created for our ring ceremony/wedding reception next year so that I feel more comfortable. It's a fabulous dress and I can't wait to wear it for OUR special day!

I looked ALL weekend to find a photo online of it (the tags are gone from the dress) but couldn't find one. Which I suppose is a good thing. Steve isn't going to see it until our wedding day, and even though he doesn't comment (something in common with most of you!) he reads the blogs (mine and ours) religiously.

~ heather

Here's the official plan...

2005-09-08T10:39:00.000-07:00

Okay, so it's decided. Here's how it's going to work...

We're getting married on Saturday, October 22nd at 11:30 in the morning. We're going to have a VERY small wedding with only family and close friends in attendance. After our wedding, we'll go have photographs taken at the Dallas Botanical Gardens and Arboretum. Then we'll have a family dinner.

Next year, on October 28, 2006, we will have a ring ceremony and wedding celebration (reception) for all of our friends and family. It's important to Steve and I that everyone feel included in our special celebration!

Please be sure to mark October 28th, 2006 on your calendar! We would love it if you could join us in celebrating!

The word is out....

2005-09-06T19:42:00.000-07:00

The word is slowly getting out! Yeah for technology! Well, we knew the first question we were going to be asked would be "Have you set a date?". And, we didn't have an answer until last night. As crazy as this is, and as wild as it's going to get, we've decided on October 22, 2005. Yes, that's right, 2005. Yes, we know it's in 6 weeks. Yes, we are out of our minds. But, yes we're happy.

It will be a small wedding. VERY small wedding. We're getting married in a small room, and it may end up only being family. As much as we love you all, it's most important to us that we have our parents there. We are going to try and make sure that all of our parents are there (go blended families!). We will have a reception, but it will also be small and not fancy. We're looking at gettting married at 11:30 am, and then having a light lunch (read: sandwich fixings/salads/chips/vegi tray) kind of reception. There won't be any alcohol, but there will be an incredibly awesome punch!! We'd love to have you join us for the reception, and it's going to be very short, but nice.

We're hoping to get announcements out quickly (well with only 6 weeks, it's going to be quick!). Please make sure I have your mailing address. You can email it directly to me at hbeste@yahoo.com or to us at steveandheatherales@yahoo.com.

Love,
~heather

Yes, you heard right!

2005-08-28T19:39:00.000-07:00

Chances are, that if you're here, you've heard the news that we're getting married. We're excited, and we're also excited that you're excited for us. This will definitely be a new chapter in both of our lives and is something that we're looking forward to experiencing for the first time.

In the coming months, this will be our central information site. We'll post about the wedding details, plans, upcoming events, location, etc. This will be the place to answer your questions about our wedding! If you have a question and it isn't answered here, please leave a comment and we'll be sure to get the answer. Chances are, someone else has the same question, and it will be helpful to everyone if we get everything answered - for all of our sakes! :)

Will Baby Ales be a boy or a girl?
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