sinking in

Yes. It is sinking in. Today Wes left for his weekend-long bachelor party/camping extravaganza. Tomorrow night my sister is putting on my bachelorette party. I started this blog with the intention to record sweet memories of my engagement, as I knew it would be a chaotic part of our lives. I cannot believe there is only one week left of being "engaged", calling Wes my fiance, and bumming off the parents.

Although a bit nervous, I am excited to be starting this new chapter of life. Better yet, I like to think of it as an adventure. Wes and I love a good adventure. If marriage is an adventure, well then, I've got the best partner in crime a girl could ask for.

the small things

Life has been ridiculously crazy busy. So busy that I am literally taking what feels like my first deep breath of the last 24 hours. Yes those 24 hours include my sleep, which has also been infiltrated by stress and nightmares. The photographer not showing up to the wedding. Forgetting to go to work. Losing my homework. You name it, I've stress-dreamt it in the last 24 hours. No fun.

After spending a sleepless night having terrible dreams, going to work all day, rushing to school, and cranking out massive amounts of homework until the midnight hours, I'm just now realizing what people mean when they say I'm nuts for trying to plan a wedding while working and going to school.

I write this not for pity, but rather to remind myself of the importance of enjoying the small things. Like the other night. Wes and I enjoyed our first meal on our beautiful new patio table (compliments of the wonderful in-laws). Hamburgers, corn on the cob, beautiful weather, and Billie Holliday quietly singing to us in the background. A simple, yet perfect night. It is the small things like this that make life so totally worth it.

Even with his mouth full of cow, he's still such a cutie

(erg....or should I say stud?)

Silly boy.

camping 2010

Camping is one of my all time favorite things to do. So many of my childhood memories revolve around camping with the Griswalds (aka my family). This last weekend, I had the pleasure of taking my first ever Bryant camping trip. I overpacked my bag as always, left my make-up behind, and enjoyed a weekend in lot G15 of South Beach with my soon-to-be in-laws!

Here a some highlights of our trip.....

Endless badminton games. Wes was convinced he was going to school me. I humbly defeated him 21-7. Booya!

Creating our world-famous Bryant Biker Gang!

Biking over this bridge on a 1-speed Schwinn.

Don't underestimate this sucker, it's harder than it looks!

Going to the Rogue Brewery. Can you believe it?!?!? Bryants go out to eat while camping. This is a big DeBow no-no. I guess Bryants forget about that "roughing it and toughing it" camping mentality when they're camping with Martha Stewart (aka Melinda)

Sarah and I learned that we married into the wrong family. None of blood Bryants like playing games! Looks like Sarah and I have many two-person game nights ahead of us...

Overall the trip was absolutely wonderful.

It trips like these that make me more and more excited to be a Bryant.

domestic bliss

Inside the card my mom got me for my bridal shower it said, "Let the domestic bliss begin". If this picture below doesn't perfectly portray "domestic bliss", well then I don't know what does...

Let me explain the situation. It was the 4th of July. We signed up to bring cheesecake bars to the party we'd later be attending in Independence (what a great city to celebrate 4th of July, eh?) Anyways, minutes before baking I spilled my mom's boiling hot coffee all over Wes. Of course it happened to the 1 day of the entire year that Wes wore a white shirt. Into the wash it quickly went. As you can tell from the photo, I kindly provided Wes with a new shirt, complete with a homemade V-cut and a set of pre-teen Lindsay Lohans. Perfect! To top off the baking attire, I provided him with the floral print apron my aunt made me for my bridal shower.

And in no time ladies and gentleman, my man was domesticated, striking poses with the mixer and baking like a pro. Watch out Martha Stewart!

I couldn't help but think to myself, "Let the domestic bliss begin!"

Dear Pollen....

Dear Pollen,

Please go away. You make Wes' life (and subsequently mine) absolutely miserable. Let me give you an example.

Last night, after finishing my mother-load of a research project, I had the brilliant idea of celebrating with Wes over ice cream a nice sweet trip to the park. My favorite childhood park to be precise. I unexpectedly even happened to have a blanket in the trunk. Perfect. Yes, it was like a scene directly out of those ridiculous chick flicks that I somehow get sucked into. TWO bites into my ice cream, I look up and there's poor Wes. Sniffling nose. Watering eyes.

For the sake of Wes' health and sanity, I decided to ditch our picture-perfect park date. We headed home and enjoyed our ice cream indoors.

So there you have it pollen, please go away. We really don't like you.

Sincerely,

McKenzie (& Wes)

blessed

Just this last Saturday my wonderful aunties hosted my very first bridal shower. This event marked the first time Wes really freaked out and reminded me, "Holy crap....we're getting married". Yeah buddy, glad you're now just figuring this out. I'm kidding.

Although the gifts were of course wonderful and will all be so helpful in getting our marriage off to a great start, I can honestly say that far beyond the gifts, I came to a serious realization......

I AM SO INCREDIBLY BLESSED.

Here's just a few reasons.

a. I have a truly amazing family. Although a bit large and crazy, they are truly the greatest.

b. I am marrying into yet another truly amazing family.

c. From my EB baby days to now, I have been surrounded by so many amazing women who loved and cared for me through it all.

So ladies, of course thank you not only for the gifts, but more importantly for making me feel so loved and cherished. I cannot say it enough, I am so incredibly blessed.

san diego

A couple of weeks ago Wes and I took a wonderful road trip to San Diego to attend a friend's wedding. I originally had marvelous plans to blog all about the trip, but well....let's face it, school, work and wedding planning pretty much took over my life these last few weeks and I literally haven't had a spare minute to blog. Overall, the trip was truly amazing and it was nice to get away from Eugene where life gets consumed by homework, coaching soccer, and planning our own wedding.

Here's some highlights and funny moments of the trip....

1.Wes is seriously the funnest boy to road trip with. He's got some serious air guitar skills. Check it out!

2. We made a trip to the USS Midway to kill time before the wedding. I was a bit hesitant about this trip since I'm not a history buff and know nothing about the navy and/or planes. Wes had a ball and surprisingly I did too. Thankfully the headsets had a kids version of the audio tour, which made me a happy camper. Check out these audio tour nerds!

3. Saturday evening....WEDDING TIME. My curls were moody and my high heels severely uncomfortable, but the wedding was beautiful. The pastor was a bit strange, convincing us that macho-man Kelly was capable of crushing Tristen's ring. I'm convinced Kelly must've gone to each pre-marital counseling session with a wife beater and a wicked sweet mustache. I mean how else did the pastor get this idea of macho man Kelly? The reception was equally as fun and the Oregonians showed those San Diego-ans how real people party. Red cups and all!

4. Our hotel room at the golf course had crazy short counters. Being the engineers were are, we rearranged the furniture and made a three-in-one room....bathroom meets kitchen meets office. Sweeeeeeeet!

5. On the way home, we decided to follow the crowd and stick with Walt and Sarah and Dan and Jared. My little 'Rolla got the best gas mileage of the 3 cars. Driving behind Walt and Sarah, we caught them getting a bit lovey dovey at times. We made a traditional stop at In-N-Out. And we of course stopped at a million rest stops. Ironically, unlike the normal group of people who spend a few minutes at the rest stop, we'd always stay a bit longer so Rockhound Dan could gather some nice rocks. Here's Dan showing off his newest additions to his collection!

Well folks, there you have it. Although it was a quick trip that lacked surfing and our traditional venture into Mexico, it was fun and stress-free to say the least. Congratulations Kelly and Tristen!

Here's just a few more photos...