Where does the time go?

I have found a few minutes to sit down and catch up on what has been going on in the McCarty/Parks House.  My sister, Heather, and I keep saying we need to document everything in our lives because there may come that day when we don't remember and can't pass it off to our loved ones.  Heather is much, much better at keeping up on the Pinasco happenings, I'm still working on it. 

Time seems to be flying since I've been back at work.  This is our fourth week in school already and I can already tell that I love my new school site and class.  Things are going so well that I feel like I need to pinch myself to make sure that this is really my life.  I knew I wanted to be a teacher so I could provide students with a similar education like I had when I was growing up.  Now I know a lot of things have changed in education since then, but being able to provide students with an environment that is energetic and nurturing and fun all while learning will never change.  I feel like this is finally my year after five years of teaching.

Brett and I have finally booked our honeymoon.  I am so excited!  We will begin our honeymoon Disney style!  When I first tell people that we are going to Disneyland for a few days after our wedding, they look at me like I'm crazy!  What can I say, I love that place.  Then I tell them not to worry because there is more than just Disneyland for a few days.  We will be staying in the park at the Paradise Pier Hotel and hit the rides for two days.  I have always wanted to go when they are having Mickey's Halloween Party and I am super excited that we have tickets to join in the festivities! 

After leaving Disneyland we will fly down for a tropical, adult honeymoon.  We will be staying in Cancun, Mexico at the Excellence Playa Mujeres for a week.  Brett gets his tropical vacation!  The resort we are staying at is an all inclusive, adults only resort.  I'm so looking forward to doing absolutely nothing!  I just want to lie by some cool water in the hot sun and sleep!  Another exciting thing about the room we will be staying in is that it is a swim up suite.  I can't wait to check that out! 

Wedding plans are finally in full swing.  Checking tonight we only have 39 days left to go!   The barn is just about finished on the inside being lined with redwood, pumpkins are starting to turn from green to orange, sunflowers are all starting to take off and the corn we planted is starting to really stretch toward the sky.  My parents have done so much work trying to get ready for our special day.  I just can't thank them enough for all their patience and dedication with Brett and me. 

On August 13 Heather, Allie, Courtney, Jo, Tami and Patti all hosted my first bridal shower.  It was such a beautiful day and could not have turned out more lovely.  Heather gets my style and kept things simple and elegant.  Food was phenomenal!  Jo spent countless hours in the kitchen preparing the meal.  My favorite was the meringue cup with fresh berries and vanilla whipped cream.  Yummy!  Everything went off without a hitch and all of their hard work paid off. 

Beautiful table before the guests arrived.

They know I love sweets!

Cutie pie Lauren, our flower girl.

Posing for a picture with Heather

Patti's famous strawberry lemonade, my favorite!

My mom with baby Olivia Grace

Yiayia and my two bridesmaids Courtney and Allie.

Katie came all the way from Escalon!

The Donald girls with Olivia

My Auntie Patty

My Chico girls!  Love them!

One of my BFF's since childhood, Stephanie.

Livvy

The gifts!

The food!

And more gifts!

Ashley, Laura and Katie put together my rehearsal dinner bouquet.

I finally had my first dress fitting last Saturday.  I've had my dress for over a year now, but finally made the appointment for all the alterations.   My bridesmaids Heather, Allie and Courtney were there along with my mom, Jo and Livvy.  It was the first time all the girls tried on their dresses with their shoes.  I am so happy with the way everything has turned out so far.  Since we are all on the shorter side the dresses needed to have several inches, about 7-8 inches to be exact, taken off the bottom so they hit at the knee.  No more hobbit dresses on you short girls anymore! 

I can't wait for us to go back later in September to see all the alterations and for Heather to learn how to bustle my dress.  Our day is fast approaching and Brett will be home soon.  I can't wait!

Butterflies

Things sure have been busy over in our neck of the woods.  We've been spending almost every spare moment helping my parents get things in order for our wedding.  It will be here in two more months and I know they are just going to fly by!

Yesterday I drove to Sacramento to pick Brett up from the airport.  Usually the trips to drop him off are full of anxiety for me.  It seems like I'm always worried about getting through traffic and to the airport on time along with squeezing in every last second I can with him.  It just makes me feel all jumbled inside.  But yesterday he flew home and will be here for less than a week.  On my way to the airport I was thinking of all the many things that will be happening  in our lives in the near future.  I wasn't feeling my typical stressed out self, but more anxious for the good things that are about to happen.  I wasn't worried about traffic  I was just totally focused on enjoying the songs on the radio. 

Today was my 28th birthday.  I can't believe another year has gone by.  Isn't it amazing how much can change in our lives in a year?  I took some time today, while checking on my pumpkins at my parents house, and thought about where I was one year ago.   This past year was definitely a trying time for me.  Being laid off from teaching for three months was one of my lowest points.  It totally turned my routine upside down, and left me feeling incredibly lost.  But, the low times have definitely been outweighed by better, much better memories.   My family has been so blessed this year with so many good changes like the birth of baby Olivia Grace, getting back to work, and starting new traditions.  I wouldn't have wanted things to work out any other way. 

Tomorrow is the first day of school for my 5th year teaching.  Back in 6th grade again, but a new school site.  It is funny how the first day of school is so nerve wracking for everyone.  Sometimes I think I'm more nervous than many of the students.  I have all these expectations in my students and in myself.  Feelings like finally this year my class will be perfectly behaved, I will perfectly please all parents and be the most perfect teacher there ever was in 6th grade.  Anxious again.  A good anxious, but still the feeling of the unknown.  You know the one when you have butterflies dancing in your stomach...it is a good feeling. 
With all the things happening in the next few months I don't think these butterflies will relax for a while. 

A Tahoe 4th!

This year we all, everyone but Brett, headed up the mountain for the 4th.  Weather forecasters were calling for multiple days of triple digit heat down in the valley, so the cool mountain air was of much relief.  We spent one entire day basking in the sun at Kiva Beach, chosen for its dog friendliness.  We lugged three kids, two dogs, ice chests, chairs and other beach equipment from the small parking lot down to the wide beach.  We scouted out the surroundings and settled in to the perfect location. 

Ben and the kids kept busy building sand castles and taking quick dips in the cool mountain water.  Lauren loved playing in the shallow areas along the beach and Lucca had fun running back and forth from the lapping water, to the mess of blankets and towels. 

Tina, who is very timid around the water, enjoyed laying under the shade of our beach umbrella and watching all the other doggies that passed by.  My dad and Allie even took a walk trying to find some tennis balls, Tina's favorite to play with.  They returned from the general store at Camp Richardson with three hacky sack balls.  Finally I felt relaxed enough to let Tina off her leash to pay with a ball.  She had fun, but always made sure to keep plenty of distance from the water. 

Mimi, who is much braver than Tina, took a few short trips into the water.  She'll swim, but I'm not sure if she completely enjoys it.  I think she had more fun barking at the passing dogs from her beach blanket. 

On the 4th, we headed over to the Donald's cabin for a BBQ and some cornhole.  After playing cornhole at a friends birthday party a few years ago, we have been totally hooked on the outdoor game.  Ben brought his homemade cornhole boards and corn bags Heather made.  We all enjoyed playing together.  The parents had a good game that was pretty competitive.  Donna finally scored the winning three points with her "holer". 

Claire, Lucca, Lauren and Olivia were all decked out in their red, white and blue attire.  They were all so adorable.  They paraded around the backyard with their "whirligigs" just being kids. 

As the sun was setting, and the mosquitoes were having us for dinner, we called it a night to head back to the cabin we were staying.  On the drive home we could see the South Shore Fireworks over the lake.  It was an all American day! 

Next update will include my cousin Jeff's homecoming BBQ and updates of our backyard garden. 

Engagement Pictures

We just got the pictures from our engagement session taken by  Aaron Draper of Draper Photography.  We had them taken at Lake Gill, a small irrigation lake that is owned by Borra Winery.  My parents are good friends with Mike and Gina and they allowed us to hang out and take our pictures there.  It was hard to get shots of us by the water because the sun, but we did have some fun in the vineyard and around their place.  It was so hot the evening we took our pictures with the temperature pushing triple digits.  Poor Brett was melting!   Here are a few that I was able to take from our disk. 

We Have Pumpkins!

Last weekend was a busy weekend.  On Saturday my mom and I went down to pick up our invitations from The Paper Habit in Modesto.  The outer envelopes were printed and ready to go.  We had the addresses printed in script to match the font on the invitation itself.  Kathy, the lady who works at The Paper Habit, is so nice and helpful.  Now the next step to finishing the invitations is to have my mom hand write in calligraphy the inner envelopes.  We have about four weeks until the invitations need to be assembled and sent out.   I'm hoping to have everything finished before I go back to work on August 1st. 

We finally found a dress for my mom for our big day.  It will fit her nicely and it is such a relief to have something picked out.  She tried on several dresses and finally found one that didn't show too much "old lady cleavage" as she calls it.  We ordered her dress in Kahlua, which  is a chocolate brown.  It ties at the waist with a black belt of flowers.  Everything will tie in nicely with the bridesmaids dresses. 

We also headed over to the bridal store where I bought my dress to order my wedding veils.  Yes that is plural.  If you are wondering, you will just have to wait and see at the wedding!

Sunday morning we spent getting the pumpkin beds ready.  We decided to border the back lawn with pumpkins to give some distance between the guests and the sunflowers.  We planted over 120 plants of many different varieties from "Jack Be Little," to several different white and orange varieties.  I need well over 200 mini pumpkins to use during our wedding reception.  They will be used for name cards to be tied to.  I hope we have enough!  We are also going to use pumpkins to line the aisle for our wedding ceremony.  We are going to have pumpkins everywhere!!  At the end of the day we were so sunburned and tired.  Good thing we have a month before the sunflowers will be planted. 

While my mom and I were busy planting the pumpkins and getting other garden beds ready, my dad was working on putting in the new window/door into my old bedroom.  They tore out almost the entire wall to put in a french door and window.  Wow, what a difference.  My poor old room used to be so cold and dark.  Now the new doors will let so much more light into the space. 

Heather was also out at the parents and brought the kids.  They played in the pool and boy did that cold water feel good on my burned skin!  Lauren helped me plant some white zinnias in the front triangle by the driveway.  We didn't quite have enough to finish, so we need to work on that this week.  While planting the flowers, we uncovered a buried treasure!   One of Lucca's metal tractors was buried in the flower bed.  I mean it was down there!!  We are not quite sure how long it had been down there, but we cleaned it off and he had fun playing with his "new" toy. 

On Monday I picked our first large batch of veggies from our garden.  I took a picture and sent it to Brett.  I'm sure he wishes he was home to enjoy it all.  This week I will be grilling up lots of fresh home grown veggies for dinner!

This weekend we are heading to South Lake Tahoe for the 4th of July!  We are all so excited to relax and hang out together.  Mimi and Tina will be joining us too and I'm super excited to take them to one of the dog beaches near Camp Richardson.  I'll make sure to take some pictures. 

Next month I need to start working on wedding programs, seating cards, menus and favors.  All before school starts!! 

Happy 4th everyone!

~Nikki

Weekend Warriors

Well the countdown has begun.  We have 23 more weekends until the big day.  Since we decided to have our wedding and reception at my parents home, we will be spending almost every weekend until October 1st helping my parents get ready.  On Saturday and Sunday Brett and I helped my mom, dad and Allie clear the area for the bar and try to get things organized.   It is an amazing workout! 

While cleaning up the barn, my dad discovered some small bird nests in the rafters.  Inside the nests he found some very small blue bird eggs which we saved.  I didn't get a chance to take pictures of all that we did and  I have made a mental note to keep my phone close at hand so I am able to document all our progress. 

My mom and I have planned so much and we are all excited to see how everything will come together in the end. 

And We're Blogging!!

I have finally joined the blogger craze and set up a blog for Brett and me!!   Right now we have a lot of interesting things going on in our lives from getting to know the newest members of the family, to teaching, crafting, and last but definitely not least, wedding planning.  Check back often for new updates and pictures. 

~Nikki