Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

<a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54487/333/A51515EBB88826D736B26C926E4EA90C.png" style="border: 0 !important; background: transparent;" /></a>I can not believe that Christmas is already almost here! This year has flown by. I did not realize how long it would take to get my Christmas shopping done either! We have done a lot of shopping but are still not done.

After Thanksgiving, I could not wait to get the Christmas Tree up! Terry and I spent Black Friday doing that and then Terry had a big birthday that Sunday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TERRY!

After we got our tree up in the house, we decided we should get a tree for our front porch too.

We went to my mom's house when she was decorating and I took a piece of her gold ribbon. I could not help but put it on Roxie's little sweater when we got home.... Isn't she cute! :) We have been talking about adopting a little sister for Roxie~ I am not sure if she would like that or not!


MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!

Home Sweet Home

Our house hunt is finally over! Terry and I moved into our home a little over a week ago and we love it! We painted our bedroom and have started really trying to make it our own. There is not really any work that needs to be done, we just need to get some more decorations.

Here is one thing we did. Our bedroom was purple and now we have painted it blue to match our comforter.

BEFORE:




AFTER:

(Becca and Julia, if you are reading does this look familiar? :)

Roxie is really starting to like having more space. She was a little scared at first, but now she is starting to feel more like it is her home too. Here she is in her bed.

Terry and I worked out in the yard on Sunday! That was so much fun... :) just kidding. It really felt good to get it accomplished, but did not feel good while we were working on it. Terry mowed the yard while I raked. We have a Chinese Chesnut Tree and it drops these hugs prickly things. I had a hard time raking them, I think we ended up mowing over quite a few.

Here are some of the awful chesnuts:

It is hard to believe that it is already fall and starting to get cold. I am excited for Halloween and really excited for Christmas. I am trying to get us in the Fall spirit. I bought us a couple of Mums to decorate our front porch a little. I am ready to decorate the pumpkins, but I am waiting until closer to Halloween. I really wish I could do this like Martha Stewart:

Here are our outdoor Halloween decorations so far:

Love ~ Terry and Lindsey Stevens

Looking for a House

Terry and I are house hunting and it has been a fun and also long process. We both know that when we find the one we are meant to be in it will all work out the way it is supposed to. I just really hope it happens sooner than later!

Not too much has happened recently. One of Terry's friends Brandon just got married. Terry, me, Jon, Missy, LaRue, Cagney and Laura just spent the weekend in Pigeon Forge for the wedding. We stayed in a Cabin and had a great time. It is nice to have a long weekend.

It is hard to believe that our wedding was almost 4 months ago already! This summer has flown by. I am actually really missing looking at wedding stuff and getting it all pulled together. I think I will try to start blogging about cute wedding ideas, decorations, etc. to get my obsession with wedding stuff out. :)

Maybe I will have more to talk about soon!!

Love ~ From the Stevens

Summer!

I have not been very good at blogging, and I can not believe it is already almost the end of July! Terry will be taking the bar exam next week. I feel like we have been waiting for this for so long. He is studying hard, and by the end of next week I am sure he will feel relieved.
GOOD LUCK TERRY!!!

We are house hunting right now. It is very exciting trying to find a house we both like! We have looked at many houses, but have not found one yet, hopefully we will soon. I would love to post that we have found a house to move into! Right now we are in the apartment Terry lived in during law school, and it really cozy and feels like home to us, so we are pretty happy here.

I never got to post any pictures of our honeymoon, so here are a few random ones:



Here we are at the Dole Pineapple Plantation.

Here is a ranch that we went to that had a movie tour. We saw locations where movies and TV shows such as "Lost" have been filmed. Here we are at a "Jurassic Park" location.



We also went on a hike to a waterfall. Terry actually swam up to the waterfall. I did not realize how large my sunglasses are on my face. haha
When we were in Kaui, we went on a NaPali Coast Tour. We rode on a Lifeguard raft boat all up the coast and it was gorgeous. The water was windex blue, and the waterfalls and rock formations were so pretty.


This past weekend Terry and I kept Brian, one of the triplets, overnight. We had so much fun with him. We went to the park, and then the next morning took him to the Farmer's Market in Market Square. He pointed out every dog we passed at the Market. He is full of personality. Here he is getting ready to leave on Saturday, and here is Terry putting him in his car seat.




I say this everytime, but hopfully I will post more often, or maybe Terry will!!


Love ~ From the Stevens

We are Married!!!

It has been forever since I have posted. I think I have good reason though. :) Terry and I are married!!! It seems like we planned the wedding for so long, I can not believe that is has already happened.

All I could do the week before the wedding was check every website that had the forecast on it. The week started out with a slim chance of rain, but by Friday we were at a 70% chance of rain. I just wanted to be able to get through the ceremony with clear skies.

All the bridesmaids and I got our hair done and just tried to relax and enjoy the wedding day. We were getting ready for the wedding and the sun was shining. Terry and I had a beautiful sunny ceremony filled with many friends and family.
Here are some pictures of the some of the bridesmaids before the wedding:

During the reception the wind started blowing and the rain came. We did have a tent thankfully. We had so much fun, and when I think back on the day I feel like it went faster than any day I have ever had.

When I get the pictures from the photographer I will put some on here.

After the wedding Terry and I headed to HAWAII! It was such a great trip. We flew to Oahu for 4 days and then to Kaui for 4 days. We layed around on the beach, went to the pool, and also did some site seeing.

I guess our next big thing will be finding a house! :) Stayed tuned for that adventure!

Catching Up Some

I have been a horrible blogger recently! Terry and I are 10 days (well 9 tomorrow) away from the wedding. CRAZY!! Terry will be graduating from Law School on Friday, and we are 11 (or 10)days away from our Hawaii trip. YAY!

I will try to catch up on what all has gone on. We have finalized all the decorations, flowers and information at Magnolia Manor. I have gotten my hair practiced on, will FINALLY have my dress next Tuesday and have finalized all with the catering. It is really about here which is still hard to believe.

I can not wait for the wedding. I am so excited about next Friday and Saturday. I also can not wait to have all of our friends and family together. If you can not tell, I am just a little excited. I feel like my days are now creeping by.

I had my bachellorette party last weekend. It was hosted by Mrs. Ashley Smith (Hood). She did a wonderful job and I had so much fun.

Below from the top left is Renee, Emily G., Julia, Rebecca, Allison,

Bottom row from left Ashley, Mattye, Me, Lauren and Emily H.

Here are Rebecca and Julia playing American Idol Karaoke! :)

Terry will have his party this weekend, but I will not be able to post about that, maybe he will. :)

A Week in Review

I think throughout the week sometimes about things I could blog about, but I always seem to end up catching up on the weekends. I have really gotten into American Idol this season, for example, and am always wanting to write about who I think is going home each week. I think Danny Gokey, Chris Allen and of course Adam Lambert are very good! I can not wait to see who wins.

Here is a little bit of what went on this week.


On Thursday of last week Renee brought the triplets down to Kingston. I just love seeing them, they are so much fun and each have their own different personality. They are all beginning to talk more and more and it is adorable to hear them.


This is the adorable Bralee. Her smile is so sweet.



This is Joseph. He just laughed and laughed on Thursday. I love the look on his face in this picture.















This is Brian. He is full of energy, and is
beocming such a great little talker.






On Saturday, Terry and I had our engagement pictures made. I can not wait to see how they turned out. I hope they come out well. We took them at Magnolia Manor, where the wedding will be, and then some other places in Lenoir City that our photographer had picked out for us. We really did have a lot of fun. ( Well I did, and Terry seemed to have fun :). Because of the massive rain we had on Friday our feet were so muddy after the pictures. I had on heels and kept sinking in the mud. That part was pretty disgusting.


On Sunday we headed to Terry's grandmother's in Crossville with his parents. I love going to Crossville to see his family. We went to his grandmothers pond and fished for a little while. It was a fun and relaxing day. This is the pond. It is very pretty on her property.

This is Zachary. He is Terry's little cousin. He was so excited about seeing the cows today, but ended up enjoying fishing. He is a cutie.

And... here is Terry. Neither one of us caught anything. His cousin Shirley and her husband Bob did though. It was such a pretty day today!

Wedding Shower

Today I had a wedding shower given by Terry's family. It was a beautiful day and I feel so blessed to have shared it with many of my friends and family. The wedding is only SIX weeks away, and having the shower today really reinforced that. Terry's family is amazing and I feel so lucky to be able to be a part of that soon. They truly are wonderful. Here are the great shower hosts.




Rebecca lives in Georgia now, but I got to see her today and that was great too. She and I have been friends since we were very young. She is so sweet.



Here is Julia! She and I lived together for 3 years in college. :) She was the first person I met when I went to UT. Thanks for making the bow bouquet today!!


This is Emily Houston. I think she made friends with all of Terry's family today. :) She is definitely a people person, and a blast to have around.

And.... here is sweet Becca. She and I lived together for 2 years in college. Becca, you are wonderful! Thanks for being the photographer at the shower!

Julia made a "bow bouquet" for my rehearsal in May. It looks like Emily got a hold of it at the shower. :)

I will have to get a picture of all of my bridesmaids soon. Renee and Ashley why did we not get a picture together? :)

Rebecca's sister Ellen wrote down all of the gifts for me today. Thanks Ellen!

Back in high school, my mom got Terry and I these leather bracelets with the word "believe" on them. (I think we saw them in People magazine, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston had them :) I wrote with a sharpie on the inside of his, and he wrote on mine. I still have my bracelet, and throughout the years we have gotten different decorations with the word believe on them. Here is one I got today at the shower.


Today was so much fun! Here are the Dailey girls, my sister (the maid of honor) and myself.

New Camera!

So, I have not been doing a very good job of posting recently, but I did get a new digital camera for my birthday so maybe that will encourage me to start posting more. Not too much has really gone on since my last post.

I have been co-chairing the Gallery Walk for the First Friday of the Dogwood Arts Festival. Friday night (April 3) I rode the trolley around Knoxville while the event was going on to help in case anyone had any questions about the festival. My wonderful friend Ashley volunteered to ride with me, and we really had a good time. (Thanks Ash!) We had dinner with Allison, who works with Dogwood, and also works at the Hilton with me, and then hung out for a little while after the event.

Now, on with the wedding talk.....

I have another fitting for my dress this week, and Terry and I will be meeting with the caterer the following week to go over the final menu and the cake! The bridesmaid dresses came in this week, but I have not been able to see them yet. Sweet Becca (one of my bridesmaids) called me and said she was really happy with them, so that makes me very excited to see them.

Today was gorgeous so Terry and I had a chance to test out my new camera. Thanks to my mom, we were able to get a couple of pictures taken.


















Tonight Terry and I went to dinner with his friend Grae and Grae's girlfriend Allison. Then we went bowling. I have not been bowling in SO LONG. We had a lot of fun. Here is a blurry picture of Terry bowling. You have to give me some credit, I just got the camera last night, so I am still learning. :)

Seven Weeks

Lindsey let me know that we are seven weeks from the wedding, as of last Saturday. She also told me that is the same amount of time passed since Valentine's day. This put things in perspective.

Marriage is just around the corner. I am excited and amazed that our 7 year relationship will be made "official" so soon. I am so glad and lucky.

Roxie (my dog) is still waiting to be asked to be the flower girl. She keeps asking, but I tell her to ask Lindsey.

One Year Ago Today!

One year ago today, Terry asked me to marry him! No, there is no significance to St. Patrick's Day, I get that question a lot.

Terry asked me to marry him by the lake in Kingston. When we first started to get to know each other, I was playing softball at the park and he was playing basketball with his friends. We talked every once in a while when we would see each other there, and then began talking some on the phone. Since that was the place where it all began, Terry decided that is where he would ask me. I obviously said yes!

Right after we got engaged, we headed to the Biltmore. I had never been before. It was a lot of fun and GORGEOUS. I have some pictures of Terry and I from that trip, but for some reason can not find them right now. We toured the Biltmore, and shopped around some. I went straight to the book store to buy the latest wedding magazine.




I was on spring break when we got engaged, and in my sorority we have a candlelight ceremony to reveal to the chapter who is engaged. I lived with 2 of my sorority sisters and had to keep a secret for 6 days. It was SO hard. At sorority meeting we all stood in a circle and sang "Going to the Chapel," and passed around a candle. If you are the one who is engaged, then you are supposed to blow out the candle. I was so nervous and both of my roommates (Becca and Julia) were right beside me. I blew out the candle and then they all found out. Julia got Terry and I a cookie cake to celebrate.



I can not believe it was a year ago! It has been a very fun, exciting year.