Day 90: Disney Magic

I am probably one of the biggest fans of Disney that I know.  I have several Disney movies memorized, I know random Disney trivia, and I work at the Disney Store because- well, I just love Disney stuff!  So when Andy suggested we honeymoon at Disney- it only further assured me that God had made this wonderful man especially for me because he, too, has a soft spot for Disney (and he knows how much I love Disney and strives to make me as happy as possible... he's so wonderful isn't he?? :D)

So Saturday the 15th (which was 90 days til our wedding! :D) we set out for a full day of Disney awesomeness.  Since we had done the 4 day dream pass (special offer Disney did for Florida residents through May 25), we were able to use the money we spent on those to upgrade to an annual pass.  We were unsure of doing it at first, but when we looked at the price for a 5 day park hopper ticket, and how much it would cost us to upgrade our 4DDP- it only ended up being about $40 extra to upgrade to come back all year... needless to say, we are now Disney annual passholders.  :D

We spent most of our day at Disney's Hollywood Studios or as Andy and I still call it- MGM.  We were a little upset because Aerosmith Rock 'n' Rollercoaster was down for refurbishment, but we did get to enjoy classics like the Great Movie Ride, Star Tours, and a new favorite, Toy Story Mania- which is an awesome 3D shooter game.  I lost....miserably.  :/  But we also got to see some really cool stuff on the Studio Backlot Tour and in the One Man's Dream exhibit chronicling the life and work of Walter Elias Disney.  I'll post those pictures to my Facebook, because this is the wedding blog- so I need to get to the two real reasons for this post.

In honor of being Annual Passholders- we decided to go ahead and park hop.  We left MGM and went ahead and parked at Magic Kingdom then took the monorail over to Epcot instead (MK was open the latest so we figured we'd park there to save time when we were tired).  We went there with really only two intentions- 1) to ride Figment because that's one of my very favorite Disney rides and 2) to go over to the World Showcase to pick up something for the wedding. We went to a small pavillion in Germany called the Glaskunst.  We had passed by it on our last trip to Disney and saw something we knew we had to come back for: toasting glasses.  We went back and forth between two sets, but finally decided that one set was just better suited for us. So we got these:

Yeah- totally rockin' right?!  That's what we thought anyway.

After we had completed both of our Epcot missions, we got on the monorail again- and then made an impromptu decision that instead of going straight over to Magic Kingdom, we were going to browse one of the resorts we had in mind for our honeymoon.  So we hopped on the resort monorail rather than the Express one to the Magic Kingdom and hit up the Contemporary.  Let me just tell you all- wow.  We had seen the pictures online, but nothing compared to actually seeing the inside, we were AMAZED! It was so pretty and the view was impeccable.  When we decide to book too, we will get an amazing discount due to the fact that we're annual passholders (better than my cast member discount- and no we can't do both...blah).  But after we hopped back on the monorail to go to the Ticketing & Transport Center for MK (I always take the ferry over... I'm really weird like that), we were even more excited for the next 90 days to just fly by!


We ended our day at the Magic Kingdom. We didn't get to do a whole lot since the park closed at 11pm, and most of the rides had wait times that went right up to when the park closed, so we just soaked in the scenery- did the Monsters Inc. Laugh Factory, got turkey legs, and did the Buzz Lightyear shooty game for a rematch to Toy Story Mania(lost again. worse than the first time...ugh).
Overall though, it was a pretty successful day in wedding planning.  Oh- and I got great ideas for the Disney Guest Room, but that's another blog for another day.  :)

Day 94: the wedding party

So I've decided each time I post- I will post day number it is until we get married- today, it is 94 days, therefore Day 94.  :) because that sounds better than 94 days to me.

Now- I know that the wedding is supposed to be all about the bride- but I really want to give a little blurb about each of the people who will be standing with us on our wedding day.

I really struggled to pick the people on my side, since I have so many friends that I want to be involved- but at the end of the day, I couldn't see myself asking people to be in my wedding that had never met my soon-to-be husband, and so I wanted people that knew both of us and who support Andy and me (together, not just individually). I'll also include short blurbs about the people Andy picked- because they are all pretty special to me too.

Maid of Honor: Hannah Vaughn (aka Twin H)
I don't think anyone who knows me well would be surprised by the fact that Hannah is my maid-of-honor.  Hannah and I have had a very special relationship since we met almost 4 years ago (wow... now that's just weird).  We became incredibly fast friends, and earned ourselves the nicknames of the "ASL twins" amongst our fellow colleagues at John A. Logan College.  We shared everything with each other- and when we moved in separate directions, it was hard on us both.  But thanks to wonderful mothers and airplanes, we've been able to remain just as close.  When I first started talking to Andy- Hannah wanted to get to know him better before I made any serious decisions about dating him (she had met him one other time when she came to visit me briefly).  Over my graduation weekend, they hit it off quite well.  Twin gave her stamp of approval... twice (once when she gave her blessing for us to date, and then he asked for her blessing before asking for my hand in marriage) and has told me how much she loves having Andy around, not because he makes me happy- but because he points me towards being holy. And that's truly a 'maid' that deserves some honor.  ;)

Bridesmaids:

Amber Peavyhouse
Amber is Andy's sister-in-law, and probably one of the biggest supporters from the get go, even before I knew her who she was.  The first time I met Amber was when she invited me to stay at her house on Christmas Eve because Andy had told her that I didn't have any family in the area, was probably going to be alone that Christmas. "I don't think anyone should have to wake up by themselves on Christmas," she said to me and insisted I stay with her, her husband, and her children at Andy's parent's house on Christmas Eve.  I agreed (crazy? yeah I know), which then led to meeting the family in chunks so I wouldn't be overwhelmed on Christmas, and realizing how much Andy's family reminded me of my own.  Amber has been a big comfort and support through some negativity by people that mean the world to me, and she has been just like another big sister for me. I admire her for so many reasons, and she is such a shining example in my life of a Godly mother, wife, and woman.

Katie Silverman
I met Katie at church and we have been singing together in the 20/30 service for a while.  I loooove Katie's style and her ability to cheer me up even when she doesn't realize it.  Katie was one of the first ones to giggle and get giddy when Andy and I started talking, and she has been such a wonderful friend to me and Andy.  She is a wonderful encouragement in my life and I'm so excited that she'll be standing up with me when Andy and I get married.

Ellen Lynch
I met Ellen also while singing in the 20/30 service at church.  Conversations with Ellen usually start the same way: something about shoes.  But her intuition of Andy's feeling "smitten like a kitten" towards me before we started dating was something that deepened my love for Ellen and our friendship.  She and Katie are also like big sisters towards me in the family that is the 20/30 worship band, and she has been so great to me.


Morgan Routh
Sadly enough, I don't have any pictures of Morgan (yet!!) but she is Andy's younger cousin, and someone who I love incredibly.  When I came to the Peavyhouse family for Christmas- I was cautious around Morgan.  She's 13, and incredibly close to her cousin.  I could see the way she looked at Andy was the same way I look at my cousin Aaron- like a brother.  And knowing how defensive and protective I am of Aaron, I didn't want to force her approval of me- I wanted to earn it (Oh, how desperately I wanted to earn it!!!)  My realization of Morgan's approval of me came sometime around the end of February, beginning of March.  I had started coming to the middle school/high school youth night where Andy leads worship (practicing that whole "support my potential-future-husband's ministry" thing at the time now the word 'potential' has been stricken from that role... heheheh).  Morgan came up to me and started talking to me before the middle school group started, and we talked for a good 20 minutes.  You can ask Andy to see what my faced looked like for the rest of the night because I was beaming and I just kept saying "she's my fend (that's my nephew's word for "friend)."

And now...

The Guys

Best Man: Steve Peavyhouse

Andy's dad is hilarious.  I love his sense of humor and he is a great picture of what I have to look forward to in 20-30 years.  He is a wonderful man of God who could not be more proud of his family and what God is doing in their lives.  He has provided Andy and I with wonderful counsel and the relationship between the two of them is one that brings me great joy.

Groomsmen:

Matt Peavyhouse

Matt's approval of me did not come as easy as his wife's or his children's.  As Andy's big brother, he was very cautious of me, as he wanted to make sure that I was going to be good for Andy and that I would be someone he could tolerate in the years to come.  But- as time passed, Matt's approval finally did come in his own twisted sort of way (he shared all the embarrassing stories and said that he will continue to call me Reemy- a name that Aunt Pam accidentally called me when Andy and I were first talking- simply because he can), I'm very excited he'll be standing up with us, showing his support.

Jeremy Silverman

I don't think I've ever met anyone quite as hilarious as Jeremy Silverman.  Not only has he been a huge blessing to Andy, but Jeremy especially since Andy and I started dating- he's been a a great encourager in my life as well.  Jeremy is one of our many musically talented friends, and he gives his all in everything he does, which is what makes him such a great friend to Andy and me.

Angel Rojas

Angel is another one of Andy's best friends that Andy and I love hanging out with, along with his wife Tara (who will be providing our wedding photography, otherwise- she probably would have been a bridesmaid... because she's awesome).  But we really enjoy spending time with them, as they are hilariously sarcastic and incredibly strong people (and I don't mean that in a physical way... I mean they very well could be but this is more as in their character). So Angel will be reppin' the Rojas crew- while Tara will be taking the pictures to prove it. :)

Jody Baglin

It wouldn't be too far off to say that Jody is probably one of the most unique people in our wedding party.  Most people would be intimidated by Jody's appearance, but underneath his rock 'n' roll style is a lovable teddy bear of a man.  Strange? Quite so, but then again, most of our friends are.  But Jody's loyalty is almost unmatched and he has always been there for us, that he's almost like a big brother to me.

So there it is- to all the people who I love that are not included, I'm very sorry.  My intention was not to hurt anyone, because I probably could have had about 12 people standing up with me, but to me- it would have meant more to have the people who support Andy and I jointly standing with us, rather than people who are standing up with me- handing me over to a guy they've only talked to once, if that.

and the countdown begins

*When I finally sat down for the process of starting this blog- it was 100 days til Andy and I get married (now it's 99- but I'm very ADD, so I'm pretty proud of myself- especially since I started it so late). *

I started this blog because I had a friend of mine ask me when I was going to start a wedding-specific blog, and I was really unsure of whether or not I would.  For starters, I already had one blog that I am hardly ever on, and I was already in the process of wedding planning and hadn't really thought of picking it up halfway through with a blog.  But after she had asked me, it really got me to start thinking about how unique this process will be for me.  Because I'm not just an ordinary bride.

You see, if you didn't know already, my fiancé is an associate music pastor/ AV/Tech director at our church.  Yes- you read that right: pastor.  In just under 100 days, I will be a pastor's wife.  And if you don't know what that entails, it's pretty much like taking on a full-time, unpaid job that has no retirement.

I would love for you to follow with me as I learn the joys and struggles of my wedding planning and what it means to be a pastor's wife.  Maybe you know someone who may be in my shoes too- or maybe you're there yourself!  I have a few friends that I know are heading down this road, and I'm scared/excited to be part of a very unique group of women because I know that it's not an easy task to take on. I have seen many strong, wonderful women of God struggle with this role and label- and I know that while it will be challenging, I'm ready to go where God has called me- to my future husband's side as his support.

So stay tuned for more info and details over the next 100 days- I'm sure it will be very entertaining! :)