Less Than A Week Away (The Groom's Perspective)

Well, as you can all see my darling Rebecca is a lot more adept at keeping up on this blog than I am. But, I was thinking about blogging today too, so here is goes.

Six days now, until I get to officially call Rebecca Mrs. Thompson. Seems like only yesterday we met, then not too long after that I proposed and here's the wedding day fast approaching. When we talked about having a spring wedding that seemed so far off, now here we are. There are a lot of last minute things to do, but to be honest (and maybe this is a guy thing) I'm not all that stressed out about any of it. Rebecca has been great about getting everything organized and there's a lot more to do on her end than mine. We have all the big things done. Caterer, musician, venue, Reverend, photographer, honeymoon.

Most of my family and friends are coming in from out of town and they've all made their plans and will be here. Both of us are really blessed with the riches of friends and family that love us both. The weather this time of year in Utah is a bit unpredictable. For instance tonight rain is moving in that may get cold enough to turn to snow on Wednesday. But, by Friday temperatures will be in the 50s with highs in the 60s expected for the wedding day. In Cozumel, the highs have been in the 80s. That will be nice.

The house is coming together. We have the upstairs pretty settled with a guest bedroom serving as wedding central right now. This weekend we bought some rugs and new comforter for the bedroom and we got them really cheap as Penney's had them all on sale. Only downer was Emma trying to eat our rug. I quickly put a stop to that. The downstairs has been slower to come together. Though I do now have an office set up and two guest bedrooms. Still a number of boxes to unpack there and things to put away. We've both realized we still need to get rid of things that we have too much of - glassware seems to be a biggie. Summer garage sale on the horizon!!! The house still needs some work. Minor items on the roof, leaky toliet, drywall in downstairs basement, fence, lots of painting. Plenty of items to spend our tax return money on and plenty to do over time. Need to buy a lawn mower and weed eater, too. I've avoided lawn work for nearly 20 years. I guess its time to get back out there again.

Rebecca bought me U2's latest album "No Line On the Horizon". They have a song called "Magnificent" and the chorus goes "Only love, only love can leave such a mark; But only love, only love can heal such a scar: Justified till we die, you and I will magnify, The Magnificant" Rebecca has healed my scars and makes me feel magnificant every day. Our journey through life has only just begun.

Please be safe in your travels this week. We are grateful all of you can be here this coming weekend for this glorius day and should you happen to see my parents with a blank look on their face on Sunday that's to be expected. They didn't think they would ever see their only son get married. But, then I met Rebecca and my world change forever...

See you all soon.

Less than a week!

I can't believe the time is here! In less than one week, we will be Mr. and Mrs. Scott Thompson. I'm so excited!

This is the exhausting part. The final details. Picking up the dress, the tuxes, making sure family and friends arrive safely and are comfortable. Doing the flowers, the centerpieces, packing for the honeymoon (woohoo, Cozumel!), arranging transportation, finalizing numbers, organizing payments to the vendors, getting everyone together for the rehearsal and dinner, and HAVING FUN!!!

We are so touched by the number of people who are traveling to be with us. It makes the day even more special to know that we are so rich with loving friends and family. We can't wait to see all of you.

Travel safely.

Kramba the Butterfly

My 7-year-old nephew, Chase, has been studying butterflies in school. As part of the class, the teacher had several caterpillars, and the class was able to watch the life cycle as they spun their chrysalis' and then hatched into butterflies. If students wanted, they could then take a butterfly home. Those that were not taken home were released on a warm day.

Chase was very excited to bring home his butterfly. He named it Kramba. My sister built a butterfly house for him, and Chase packed the butterfly with him all over the house, to the bedroom, the kithen, and the bathroom.

A day later, there was a death in my brother-in-law's family, and they needed to fly to South Dakota for the funeral. Sarah called, asking if Scott and I would take Kramba. Keep in mind, a butterfly's life span is only about a week, and they were going to be gone for 5 days. Chase is so sensitive, but we tried to explain that Kramba might not be alive when he got back. He understood.

I am happy to announce that Kramba the Butterfly survived his week at Aunt Becca's and is now back at home with Chase. Phew! I don't know why I felt so much pressure to keep that thing alive! Probably because I can't stand to see Chase hurt or upset.

Chase is planning on releasing the butterfly so it has a chance to fly.

Getting settled

We finally moved last Friday, after several weeks of delay and frustration. Now we're dealing with boxes and boxes, and trying to find room for everything. I think we have enough drinking glasses and mugs to quench the thirst of a small country.

Emma has adjusted very well, and seems thrilled to have her own yard, plus plenty of space to run around in the house. The kitties are adjusting more slowly, and seem quite nervous and insecure. I can't get them to come upstairs (except for the one night Olivia spent 4 hours howling outside our bedroom door.)

So now we're in high gear for the wedding. We need to meet with the vendors again to finalize the details, get the flowers ordered, and put together some packages. I have a final fitting for the dress, which, thanks to a talented seamstress and a corset in the back, may actually fit me. I'm still not showing the pregnancy, so I probably won't be very big when the wedding rolls around.

We are really looking forward to seeing everyone at the wedding. I know it will be an amazing day as we're surrounded by our closest friends and family. I can't wait!

Still homeless!

This is getting so frustrating! We closed 1 week ago today, and still don't have keys to the house! There is some holding company in Texas that needs to sign a document and fax it to be recorded. Apparently this is just too difficult for them to do! Scott and I have delayed movers (again), electrical work (again), and delivery of appliances (again). Our $2 storage unit will now cost us $200, as of this weekend.
Is this even legal? The selling agent has the contact information for the holding company, but isn't sharing it, so we don't even know who to call to complain.
Thankfully my parents are more than willing to let us stay there as long as we need to, but the holding company doesn't know that. What if we weren't lucky enough to have family or friends to live with? What if we were in a hotel?
This is just crazy!

It's a boy!!!

Wow! What an amazing day! I was starting to believe that I wasn't really pregnant. I mean, I still throw up, but I'm not showing at all, and haven't felt anything yet. It didn't quite seem real to me.
And then, there he was, on a 42" screen. This squirming, wiggling creature living inside of me. A beautiful son.(Or a strange looking alien, if we're being honest.) I think Scott and I were both bawling when she told us. I'm not sure that either of us ever thought this day would come. And then to see his face, his little hands and feet, his perfect heart beating. What a gift...

On the house front, I think we FINALLY get the key today!!! This has been so crazy! Seems like it's been one delay after another. We closed last Thursday, then were informed that we couldn't have the key because the bank wanted 3-5 days to look over the Settlement Statement. Whatever...

This coming weekend we'll be busy with the move, the bridal shower, and sharing the news of our sweet son.

Meet me in St. Louis...

Scott and I flew to St. Louis this past weekend to help his grandmother celebrate her 95th birthday!!! We met his parents and his sister and her family, and we all rented this huge house. It was so fun to spend some time with everyone, and a great chance for me to meet some of the extended family before the wedding. Unfortunately, Grandma won't be able to come out to Salt Lake in April, so Scott wanted to introduce us. She's a sweetheart, and I wish we'd had more time to get to know each other!

On the homefront, we're still waiting to find out if we can close on the house tomorrow! The bank switched title companies on us, and now we're waiting for the underwriter to verify that the bank has title to the house. So we haven't hired movers yet, but we're still hoping to be in the house by this weekend.

Emmy has been completely spoiled since we've been staying at my parent's. She doesn't have to be in her crate during the day, which means she's burning off a lot more energy and is much more manageable in the evenings. Grandma gives her lots of treats, and even let her sleep on the bed while Scott and I were in Missouri. She'll have a bit of readjusting to do when we get into the house!

The pregnancy seems to be going well. I still have some sickness, but less than I had a few weeks ago. At least we're headed in the right direction, and we find out the baby's gender next week! Can't wait!