Decisions.. Decisions..

one completed side, notice the stick handle!

The Brides Bouquet for my sister-in-laws wedding is so close to being finished, and the box of paper flowers I had collected is just about empty, but seriously! just when I thought I was going to be finished with hers... I run out of aqua roses! So I'm back at it! Making more paper roses for her bouquet! But it seems to be going a whole lot quicker this time! I'm not sure if it's because I'm watching Once Upon A Time through it or if it's because I just know what I'm doing this time around.

Collecting ideas for her bouquet, I stumbled on one I saw that had a stick handle, so literally on Saturday I took Fenny on a walk so I could pick up sticks a the Masonic thats right behind our house! I probably looked a little ridiculous to those driving by, with my head down, picking up and tossing back "ugly" sticks! ha, Oh the things we do! But I found a collection of "perfect" sticks, got them home, soaked them in soapy water and sat on the porch sanding and pulling of the skin of these sticks I had collected. And the handle looks great! I'm just stumbling now on the idea for how to embellish it! Of course we knew we wanted to continue with the rustic look and use burlap, but because of the sticks we wanted to pull out the aqua, so luckily I already owned aqua burlap from making a bow for our Summer door Wreath, and I just snipped a little off and glued it down! But now I'm stuck deciding between a twine wrap/bow or pearl ended push pins. Oh the struggles!

Silver or Gold?

So because I'm just that much closer to finishing hers! I'm deciding which filler color to do in the bridesmaid bouquets. I've yet to start even making the flowers for those yet, but I'm sure I'll begin those soon enough! First we had to make sure she didn't want to change the paper for the bouquets, due to the dress color possibly changing. But we're settled now on the colors of paper, I've just got to decide between gold or silver babies breath as the fillers. I'm thinking I like the gold! I think it looks nicer than the silver. But I also think I should really begin the bridesmaid bouquets before I go completely settling on my decision. I do have some time to spare, thankfully!

Outside of the wedding details! Binx has discovered the screen door! And goes crazy about climbing it! It's his new thing. He pretty much drives me crazy but it's super funny, well until we have to buy a new screen door!

Please ignore my husbands work boots!

The cat is crazy! I'm not sure what else to say about him! 

Also school started back up again, but so far so good. The online class is a little out of the ordinary, but nothing I can't handle.. as long as I stay on top of getting the work done! I think I'll only have one "physically" tough class, as far as work load. But my Saturday AM class might be pretty draining! Oh well two more quarters after this one and I'm done! I just now have to decide where I want to work, and what exactly what it is I want to do for the rest of my life! And find a job in it! Oh you know, the grown up stuff! 

Another Lyons Wedding

So a lot has happened, and eventually one day I'll take the time to post about it all, but I wanna take the time to post about how excited I am about my sister-in-law getting married in the spring! And due to her getting married I've been given the task to make her bouquets. 1 Bride and 5 Bridesmaid bouquets as well as all the boutonnieres, all of which require paper flowers. So this will be my journey in making them! I'm beyond thrilled with the opportunity, and hope you can all spread the news about the bouquets! 

And here's the process so far:

The Inspiration

The practice flowers

Actual bouquet flowers

Box of goodies!

In good times and the not so happy times...

It’s been quite some time since I’ve posted anything, and for that I apologize. Things have just been extra crazy with packing and moving, as well as continuing the norm of school, church and family. Well good news is, we're all moved in. And I love it! I'm so thankful for God's blessings through this move. We had the opportunity to move in 2 weeks early and financially reduced our rent by $400 for the month of August! It was a blessing that we weren't even praying for! Let me just tell you how amazing my God is! Also, on the day we moved in it took us only 6 hours to get everything moved out of the apartment and into the house! It was a lot of work but such an awesome thing, sleeping in our new home.

And just in time too, just two days later we got the call we were dreading to hear, yet we knew it'd be approaching us soon. Daniel's dad called to let us know that Grandma had passed away. As a wife, I had know idea what to say or what to do, so I said nothing it just seemed safer. It was a long morning before we were able to get more sleep, figure out what was going on, pack and get on the road. The long road to Michigan. 

We've been here about 2 or 3 days depending how you look at it. And although there is sadness, it has been a lot of fun. Family somehow just makes everything all better. We've been out in the boat, shopping. Daniel has gone fishing, which I want to get to do, and golfing. And today we got to go to a Detroit Tigers game, I got fried and they lost. However, we were there when they traded 4 players. So it sure was something to watch a Detroit player (Jackson) walk off the field in the middle of the game. I also got a little burnt, speaking sarcastically of course!

Us at the Tigers game

We're all dreading Saturday, but know that God is our comfort in all times of mourning. We prayed Grandma would either be healed or that God would take her peacefully, and he decided to take her peacefully. 

I'm glad I got the opportunity to make it up here for all this, even if it isn't the best of times for the Lyons family. But I love this family and wouldn't want to be anywhere else than with my husband during this tough time. 

Grandma and Dad at Our Wedding

I'd rather be fishing

Lately things have been really busy, and things have been really tight. But it's always nice when you can take a day and slow down for a little bit. I'm in the middle of finals with only a week left of classes, boy oh boy how excited I am to be done for a few weeks. I'm not so looking forward to the smaller paychecks, but you can't have everything!

Yesterday we took the boat out and went fishing. Which I have been really looking forward too, it doesn't take much to persuade me to go out on the boat. So when his dad asked if we'd want to go with a young couple from his job, I absolutely wanted to go! We had a lot of fun and I caught my first fish of the season! 

Please excuse the hair, the wind does wonders to it. 

Nothing much but a little croaker, which we later used for bait. Poor little guy! 

Really I took the day learning how to cast properly (I always seem to catch the line on my finger.) Fresh water reels are just a little different than salt water.. or at least the ones I'm used to fishing with. So trying to figure that out was interesting, especially when you're with my husband who insists on teasing me profusely. But once I figured out what was the best way for me to cast, I was golden.. I even caught a skate, stinky little buggers which cause me to have to cut my line cause we couldn't get the hook out of his mouth. It was still a lot of fun!

We got to see the Sunset which is always a beautiful sight, with the reflection of the sky on the water.

There's just something so awesome about the way God just paints a sky and that no man can recreate his creation! Not even a photo captures all of its beauty. It's just awesome!

I stopped fishing after my line had to be cut, which was fine, because it was getting a little later in the evening and the water got a little bit more choppy. Which caused me to feel a little motion sick, so we headed in... about 15 minutes after heading in, wouldn't you know it, the engine locked! OH BOY! 

Thank goodness for SeaTow! An hour and $500 later we docked and went home! 

These lights would be SeaTow, towing us in!

It was an awesome and adventurous evening! And I praise God for his hand of protection and safety over us last night. I've watched way too many episodes of "I shouldn't be alive." 

My Handsome husband and I

Our Little Family

We recently gained a new baby to our family! Binx, our sweet little Orange Tabby Cat. He is 8 weeks old. I don't know how long I have been asking Daniel for a sweet little kitten, but it's been long before we got married. I used to not like cats too much but then I met Kitty, Daniel's dad's cat. And I found a whole new love for cats. So I was overjoyed when I was told I could have one. A little mishap occurred with the first kitten we tried getting and Daniel felt really bad so it was pretty easy to convince him to get a kitten here, a little more local. So I checked out craigslist and contacted a lady and here he is!

Our sweet little boy Binx. I sure have fallen in love with this little guy! And Daniel loves him too! I can't say that I love him more than Fenny, but I do love him an awful lot! I love my mornings with this little guy before I leave for school or work, he makes it really tough to want to leave at all.

I can't imagine what it's going to be like when we actually have a human baby! Eek! Of course that's years away! And I'm not rushing anything! 

Southern Apple Dumplings

I promised a few that I'd post this easy recipe on my blog so here it is!

Ingredients:

• 1 Apple
• 1 8-count tube of crescent rolls
• 1 stick melted butter
• 3/4 cups of sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 
• 1 1/2 tablespoon flour
• 6 oz Mountain Dew or Sprite

Directions:

1. Core and peel apple into eight slices. 
2. Open can of crescent rolls and unroll. Place one apple slice on the wide end of one crescent and roll it up in the crescent.
3. Place into a greased 8×8 (or 9×9) pan. 
4. In a small bowl combine melted butter, sugar, cinnamon, and flour and mix until just combined.
5. Spoon over each crescent.
6. Pour Mountain Dew into empty space in the middle of pan (NOT over the crescents).
7. Bake at 350 degrees F for 35 to 40 minutes or until crescents are golden brown.
8. Serve warm with fresh whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
9. Try to eat just one!

Well wishes and wedded bliss

I have officially been married 7 days! I'm finally Mrs Daniel Lyons. Wow how quickly time went! And I've been enjoying every minute with my husband. I can't say that I'm not a tad excited for him to go to work again, but I do enjoy being with him. 

Our wedding was beautiful and turned out so much better than I could have imagined. God blessed us with just enough chairs and plenty of cupcakes! But everyone was so right, the day goes by so quickly. So here area few teaser photos and maybe someday I'll post more.

I couldn't have dreamt of marrying a better man.

 Everyday we have woken up, open our Bibles, read and the prayed together. Its my favorite part of the day. Just starting our day with God and with my husband. It's a routine I'm glad we started.

I'm also slowly trying to get into the routine of cooking, I made breakfast everyday on our honeymoon. I've made sloppy joes, tacos and his favorite shrimp linguine (I kept it pretty simple since technically we are still on our honeymoon). But tonight I added a little dessert which was spectacular!
Southern Apple Dumplings!

They're super easy and will be made again I'm sure!

Well that's it for now, mostly because by posting something on here, my husband keeps looking at me like I should be sitting next to him (which I'm currently not doing). 

These boots

Recently I bought myself two new pairs of boots! And believe me when I say.. I surely could wear them All the time! I understand that they're pretty popular right now! And rightfully so! I love rocking them! Sometime last year I really started collecting scarves, this year it's been colored or textured tights! I feel like I'm always wearing tights, a scarf and these boots! There is just something so amazing about them!

I know it's silly to write a blog entry about a pair of boots. But I was really in a blogging mood. Probably because I'm so tired, and yet I have to be at mentoring tonight at 9, so it is my way of keeping myself awake! Easy to say I will be sipping coffee tonight! Lucky for me in a few minutes I'll be heading to target with Daniel to register for gifts! Starbucks is calling my name!
Can I tell you how much life has changed? Seriously.. a year ago I hadn't even met Daniel yet! Its crazy how when we let God take control how he can just speed you along in life! In 65 days I'll be saying I do to my best friend! But not only to my best friend, but to a life full of serving God and people. That's what marrying Daniel means! And I cannot wait! I cannot wait to look back this time next year and see where God has taken our lives together!! So here's to the future, and the boots I'll be wearing!

72 days and counting...

Well basically, it's 72 days until I say "I do." What's crazy is we still don't have a location. We've done our research and still no where! We're currently waiting on Bible World Church to let us know about using their church, but it's been like a roller coaster with them. I'm anxious but trying so hard to stay relaxed. Not having a location means we haven't sent out the invitations, meaning I have no idea who is coming. Like I said I'm trying so very hard to stay relaxed, but I mean it's 72 days away. Daniel basically doesn't know how anxious I am about it, because he has surely been taking his time with calling and finding out if we can or cannot.

I have however made an appointment to have my dress fitted, tomorrow morning! And I'm very excited about it!
I've also been collecting a lot of stuff for the wedding causing my guest room to look like a bomb exploded. I've got candle sticks, apothecary jars, vintage coke bottles, ribbon, flowers.. you name it, I've basically got it!

 Ties for the Boys! From left to right;

Lucas, Mark, Eric, Justin, Nathan and Daniel.

 The Apothecary Jars, flowers for the mothers, and our unity cord.

Bridesmaids bouquets

I love my colors and what I have visioned in my head for our Big Day. But I really am over the amount of time it takes to really think through all this. It's been a chore for sure. I'm just at the point of wanting to just be married. If I didn't want to wear my dress so bad, I'd probably just ask Daniel if we could just do a really small one at Pastors with just our families. But I'm sure that'd upset people and both Daniel and I are people pleasers... I guess that makes us great for ministry.. I think.

Regardless, I know God has his hand in this. I know he is probably just testing my patience. My whole wedding has been an adventure really. But it'll be beautiful, and 10 years from now the only people who will remember it will be Daniel and I. I love Daniel and I wouldn't trade any of this stress, knowing that the stress means I'm going to be with my best friend for the rest of my life!