One Last Party Before The Big Day!

In late November Chase and I had our final wedding shower. We decided to have our showers early in order to miss the hustle of the holidays and to give us a bit of a break before the wedding day when the wedding prep and the small details are sure to take up more of everyone's attention. 

This last shower was a monogram party and it was hosted by my best friend and my maid of honor Katie. Let me tell you a little bit about Katie. She is crazy, beautiful, insightful, loving, creative, and an all around amazing human being. We were connected at the hip when we lived in the same town during middle school. When our parent's jobs moved us to different states we still kept up our friendship through high school, college, and now our young adulthood years. I love being able to just fall right back into easy conversation when I see her every few months and I am so lucky to have a girl like her standing by my side on my wedding day. 

Katie came down the night before the shower and we spent the night prepping in the kitchen and decorating my parent's house. It was so much fun to see all of the ideas that her and her mom had planned out for the shower. I just cannot get over how creative and awesome they are. The next morning we woke up early and finished baking and setting everything up. 

Chase did not attend this shower. It was girls only, and boy was it fun! We mingled, laughed, played a few hilarious shower games, and then opened gifts. I was incredibly thankful for all the love and support that the ladies at the shower showed me and Chase. They come from all walks of life and their advice and encouragement is top notch. We got lucky having these people in our lives. Also, it was so fun seeing my last name as Smith. I am looking forward to having it be official in just under two months from now. 

Sara Smith…double S! 

The spread for the shower

One of our gifts was a chalkboard to keep our wedding countdown on. 

Promoting our wedding hashtag. 

Cute letters that Katie made for us. 

My favorite sign of the day. 

So true! 

Some of the "winter wonderland" shower decorations. 

Rainbow fruit cups. 

Bride and Groom oreos. 

Mini apple pies.

Chocolate raspberry cupcakes. 

Sugar cookies stacked and decorated to look like little wedding cakes.
They were my favorite! 

My monogrammed boots for the monogram shower. Such a sweet gift from my sweet mama. 

My beautiful mom. Geez I love her. 

My best friend and maid of honor Katie. 

A cute surprise gift from my future mother-in-law.

Playing a game where I had to guess Chase's answers to a series of questions.
If I got one wrong I had to eat a tootsie roll. I got 7/16 wrong.
So this is me attempting to eat 7 tootsie rolls. It was fun but really gross. 

The wonderful ladies that I love so much. 

Bad picture of me, but a wonderful picture of my fantastic bridesmaid Michele. 

Half of my wedding party! 

Chase and I after the party. I cannot wait to be his better half.

The countdown is on y'all. 51 days until the big "I Do". Its getting down to the wire and the details are starting to creep up on us all. Chase and I don't mind though. The impending crazy means that its getting closer to us becoming husband and wife. Its been a long journey (over 6 years) and we are ready to make it official! 

S & C

So Much To Be Thankful For

Oh the season of thankfulness. I am not quite sure why we don't celebrate being thankful for our surroundings more than one day out of the year, but I am glad that the day is in the calendar. Thanksgiving for my family and for Chase's family is all about the food and the fellowship. We are not huge Black Friday shoppers (in fact Chase and I have never participated in Black Friday). Instead we think that family and making memories not surrounding consumerism should be the focus of this great holiday. We may not be married just yet, but this year we were able to practice how we are going to balance the holiday season with not only our own separate families, but also with us as our own family.

This year Chase and I celebrated three different thanksgivings. A week before the official thanksgiving holiday Chase and I had our own thanksgiving dinner. We made a scaled down sized meal and enjoyed each other's company. It was the perfect little celebration for our little future family unit. Then on thanksgiving we celebrated at Chase's house. My own parents came over and joined in on the fun as well. We had a great time and we are both so thankful that we have families who love one another and support us in our life adventures together. The day after thanksgiving we celebrated with my family. It was a day filled with food, chinese checkers, and family photos. One thing that I love about my family is how much we laugh together. I always love going home.

I only took photos during my own family's thanksgiving celebration. I kicked myself later when I realized I forgot to document the other celebrations. I really need to get better at this. I am losing my touch. My camera misses me.

Family Photo Time

Chase in all of his No Shave November glory 

My sister and her two amazing children

Papa Amy and Ida Mae

Chase and I realizing that our wedding is a little over 2 months away

We have too many things to mention that we are thankful for this year. The blessings that we have received have been beyond anything we ever imagined. This next year is going to be one of the best years of our lives and we cannot wait until next thanksgiving when we are able to celebrate it as husband and wife. We give thanks to our family, to our friends, to one another, and to the Creator above. Life is good and we are ever thankful. 

S &C