Things About Us.

Hello all. We've been happily married f0r just over a month and it's been awesome! We've learned so much about each other and about making a life together. In the spirit of learning new things about me and Richard, we felt we would share some things YOU might not know about US. :)

1. The first real lesson learned in our marriage is Weinerschnitzel everyday is no good. Just because fast food is cheap (and delicious) does not mean it will make you (or your tummy) happy...
2. Our two new favorite shows are Ghost Adventures (Travel Channel) and Whale Wars (Animal Planet...thanks Stewart). We watch them obsessively.
3. We have the names of our future children picked out already.
3. We've discovered Epic Pet Wars. (iPhone app. Check it out.)
4. Richard is precisely 10 inches taller than Erika.
5. We try to be fashionable, but we can never stop buying dead men's clothes and elementary school mascot shirts at the DI.
6. Erika can never make up her mind. If it weren't for Richard we would have died of starvation long ago.
7. We both drive our dream car (except neither of them are the right color.)
8. In 3 days we each have a 20 page paper due. We are awesome at procrastination.
9. We've made the long journey to Yogurtland and back.
10. Richard is so strong he cracked his Tungsten ring.
11. Richard gets mad because Erika leaves all the cupboards and drawers open. She is getting better.
12. Richard designed Erika's ring all by himself. She didn't even get a chance to peek at it until he proposed.
13. He tells her he loves her a thousand times a day.
14. The first time Richard came over to meet her family, her little brother shot him multiple times with his marshmallow gun.
15. Erika got REALLY excited when she learned about Hogwarts Land.
16. We are excited to move into our teeny apartment in a few weeks.
17. Erika's love for shopping has resurfaced upon moving to Las Vegas. Richard tried so hard to suppress it...
18. After dating for some time we decided we should get married. Then we moved to opposite sides of the world for 4 months.
19. We both miss actually having a summer vacation.
20. We LOVE being so close to family in Vegas. The heat, not so much...
21. We are so lucky to be able to go to the temple; by ourselves and with our friends.
22. Midnight Pomegranate is our favorite.
23. We love Yasuko, our pizza lady.
24. It rained on our wedding day...but we have amazing pictures! (They will be posted. I know I am SO SLOW.)
25. We love the gospel, each other, and our families. We couldn't be more blessed.

THE BEST SHOW EVER!

Okay, so Erika and I went to a Sherwood show last night and it was AMAZING! At first we were having our doubts. They were as follows:
1. This venue is small and pretty ghetto.
2. There aren't very many people here, maybe there won't be enough energy to make it a good show.
3. The first opening band was the worst thing I had ever heard...I'm not even joking.
4. When Sherwood was setting up we were the only ones standing in the front....and almost the only ones in the room.

But then! Sherwood started to play! And from the first song until the last it was FREAKING AWESOME!!!! Here is a video of end of For the Longest Time, which was the last song they played.



Richard wrote all this without me, so I decided I needed to put my two cents in too!

It was really something spectacular. Going through times of hardship when they acquired thousands of fans, my years of loyalty paid off with an intimate show, playing a lot of their old stuff, and a personal shout out from Dan. It was AWESOME!

I danced like a crazy person but had the time of my life! It made me realize just how grateful I am for these guys and their amazing music. I've taken for granted how I've grown up with them and how much I love their music.

At Tommy's request, I will now post about the worst band I have ever heard, which, interestingly enough, played before Sherwood. It is always darkest just before the dawn, right?

These were the quintessential garage band that should never, ever leave the garage. One looked like the fat Jack Black in the movie School of Rock and the other one looked like Chris Farley from Tommy Boy. The bass player looked pinched like a heroine addict and we didn't see much of the drummer, thankfully. Their music. Let's just put it this way, they had to skip one of their songs because they couldn't get it together, one included a 5 minute guitar solo that was so bad my ears were bleeding, and their final song was a tribute to 2Pac that lasted an unholy 10 minutes.

I'm pretty sure the only thing that could have redeemed that was the one and only Sherwood.

My homeboys...this is how awesome they are.

Update!

Hello all!

Just wanted to update kinda what's going on in our lives. This is my second to last week of work (yay!) and Richard is in class all day from 9 to 4 non-stop. The wedding plans are coming, although we are still trying to pull together all of the little things. Who knew that flowers would cause SO much drama!?

Things on my mind lately:

• Weather. I keep checking the extended forecast for the month of June (like the weather people are ever accurate anyways) and yesterday is gave us this picture for the 20th:

And today it gave us this picture:

So we'll just keep praying for the best!

• We can't wait to move to Las Vegas! I'm not sure exactly what our plans are, but it will be nice to finally have a summer! We are so lonely up here and we are excited to see Zach and Zaira again!

• I am really excited for Bridal+Richard pictures this weekend! It will be fun and we just got Richard's suit back from the tailors and it looks great! :)
  

• The real reason I am posting all of this is because my boss is gone, I'm done training my replacement, and I am SO bored!

• I also really want a pair of these shoes:

Not only are they eco-friendly, they look awesome. And on top of that, whenever you buy a pair of these shoes, the owner donates a pair to a child in need. Sweet! Not only am I satisfying my need for sweet awesome shoes, I am going to be helping a child with no shoes in a third world country. Blake Mycoskie is my hero and there should be more people like him in the world.

The end.

Wedding Day Dress!

Ta-da! The dress is finally done! I thought I'd share some pictures with you, since many of you have been waiting in utter anticipation. Wait no longer, the moment has come!




Here it is! Complete with my little shoes. (Ignore the messy room in the background. Those are all of the things we bought/received for out apartment that we never moved into.)


Again, this time with my eyes closed!

The back.

We are both very happy about it, as you can see.

Next up, Richard's suit coming tomorrow! :)

"Sometimes...

...things just don't work out the way you plan." - Harvey Bushkin, Heavyweights.

This is the story of my life, especially the last week or so. I found out today, the florist can't get a hold of any of the flowers that I wanted. None of them. Sad day. There are a number of things that haven't worked out...perfectly, but alas, there is still hope, for there are people who love me and are doing the best they can to make my day the most perfect day of all the days. :)

Thus, again it is time to count my many blessings.

I love Richard more every single day. Guess what he did for me? He bought me those shoes I couldn't buy myself. Isn't that what the best of friends do for each other? He does what I can't and reminds me that it's okay if I can't do everything by myself. And he thinks I'm pretty all the time.

I pick up my wedding dress on Saturday! The most anticipated of days for any girl.

I get my hair all prettied up tomorrow. I love that feeling, especially since I've let my hair become a curly ratted mess.


I have the best family-to-be and spending time with them this past weekend reminds me that there are other people who are thinking about me and Richard too, and I don't have to do all the stressing...I'm sure Kathryn has her fair share since me and Richard aren't exactly on the ball on many things...

Thanks Danielle for all of my frantic, daily advice seeking. Sometimes Richard just doesn't understand the importance of hair, jewelry, make-up, etc, etc, etc, and I can never decide what I want. She's had my back from day one and has been digging up little nuggets to make our wedding great all around!

I have a Mom who lives and breathes and works every minute of the day for me and my little sibs. It's been pretty stressful for a number of reasons for my family lately, and yet she dedicates time for my wedding every single day in the midst of potty training, cleaning, yard-working, shopping, and all the other "fun" things Mom's get to do. Thanks Mom.

I also have very supportive family. My Grandma is trying so hard to understand me (which is quite a feat for anyone, right?) so she can make the reception just how I've dreamed of.


I have so many things that I need to enjoy everyday that I don't and so many things to look forward to that I discount. Everyday is something to be lived, not simply endured. I love that the hardest times are sometimes when you learn the best things! :)

All is well! I'm getting married in 3 weeks! Yay!

THE SHOES!

I finally found the perfect shoes. I love them. But the saddest part is I can't bring myself to buy them...

$110.00 can buy a lot of things:

Gas 4 times.
Food for 2 months.
1 car payment.
4 cell phone bills.
110 chicken sandwiches from Wendy's.
1 pair of spectacular wedding shoes. Ouch.

Wedding Plans...

Okay, so I have begun planning in earnest. Now that I'm committing to all these things, I thought I might need a second opinion. If you see anything on here that is hideous and you are thinking I am out of my mind, please let me know. A combination of birth control pills and general stress has fried my brain. :)

Okay, firstly. The decorations I am really excited about. My grandma has done flowers for a long time and we decided to do the flowers ourselves. I have always wanted a simple theme, this is kinda what I am envisioning.



I love, love, love the jars of random arrangements of flowers!
This is what I want my bouquet to look like...I think.

Maybe this?
I've always been transfixed on two things, and now especially for my wedding: my hair and my shoes! I REALLY wanted to leave my hair down, but since my dress has a high collar, it would be sad if no one could see it. So I've been thinking something like this:

Or this:

But I really wanted something like this:

And the next step plaguing my mind is to veil or not to veil. I've already decided a short one is the best fit, but there are too many options. Maybe I should go without? Sorry about the creepy mannequin heads. Let's see:

This one is my very favorite (minus the feathers, ick) :

Or should I do something completely different?
Or...
And for shoes. These were the ones I was dying to have, but I can't find them ANYWHERE!

And these are pretty sweet:
But I will probably have to settle for something like this: (I know Richard is tall, these heels are for you, Grandma)

For the reception I am really excited about the theme! We are just doing a simple rustic backyard wedding party! I decided to have cupcakes instead of cake (except we will have a little one to appease my mother), and flowers and candles and grass. :) Although it stays light out super late, we are going to string up some lights and have lots of candles. I think it'll be sweet awesome.

Here is kinda what I am envisioning:




Obviously there are a thousand other things that I need advice on, but this would never get done. Expect a Part II. :)