Getting Settled, Wedding Photos, Little Lantern Photography

Our first few weeks together have been great. I love cleaning house and cooking (ask me again in ten years and that may change, but right now I'm good :) and hanging out with my husband when he gets home from work. Work for Mike has been slow, and then all of a sudden got extremely busy. They'll be moving to a bigger building, still in Newport Beach, by the end of the month. Hopefully he'll also find a niche to work and progress in the company over time. He's great at listening, working hard and making people feel valued and they've definitely noticed that.

I got over my cold fairly quickly, I think it was just my body needing a few days to recover from the wedding and honeymoon rush. It took me a few days to get comfortable being on my own in the apartment while Mike is at work, but I think I'm managing. It's hard to feel productive when you don't have a set schedule each day and don't have to get out of your pajamas... all day. I've managed to make it to the gym, clean, cook, make my 8th grade syllabus for work, organize the gifts we got, and we stay out of trouble with a trip to Disneyland here and there since it's so close, and watching the show "The First 48" on Netflix. We got hooked on the honeymoon when we were cooling off in the hotel room and can't stop watching. Also, I've discovered that since there are a lot of Vietnamese natives that live around here, I'm sorry but there are also SO many bad drivers. For instance, today I saw someone reversing in the middle of an intersection because the light turned from green to yellow. I've also gotten my first (and hopefully last) parking ticket - stupid street sweeper schedule - and am getting used to our neighbors. A few of the people on our street don't have storage spaces, so they take all of the parking space on the street and use their vans full of stuff to park there. Crazy.

Other exciting events include: several times a day, someone nearby plays "La Cucaracha" on a loud car horn; a guy walks around honking a bicycle horn from 2 to 6 or 7 PM selling ice cream; and last week a transformer blew up behind another apartment building and caught several trash cans and trees on fire. I went to the gym, took a hot shower while we still had hot water, and did some grocery shopping until the power came back on. Exciting times! Mom & Dad Burr came over one evening and we made tacos and Terri's famous beans. Yay company!

Last weekend we hung out at my parents' house for a day since they were gone to Nevada for Dad's birthday (He has the same birthday as Terri! Small world :). Junior (Mom's cat) really missed us and was super cuddly. We spent some time at Mike & Diana Gwynn's wedding reception in the evening and then headed back to the apartment.

This week we went to Disneyland, and yesterday all of the Burrs got together at David & Terri's and went out to a local barbecue eatery in Chino called Dickey's Barbecue Pit. The food there is YUM and the meat falls off the bone. Yum yum yum. It was nice to see family after getting used to being on our own.

Yesterday I worked all day on our photography website and got it up and running! It still needs work, but at least we have a portfolio going. Check it out!! The Little Lantern Photography

And, if you have a Facebook profile, "Like" us! Facebook: The Little Lantern Photography

I've been working my butt off editing our wedding photos... it's been SO FUN!! I'm so happy with how they turned out. So far we just have the temple ones edited, and haven't even gotten started on the ring ceremony and reception. Every time I see a photo of my parents and my sister and I, I get weepy. :sigh: Need to visit!!! We'll be visiting my parents this weekend for Father's Day since I'll already be out there for Laura's baby shower. Yay! Here are just a few of our photos. The complete album is here. We'll hopefully be making a private password-access album for families so you can download the full-quality photos for printing.

Wedding Highlights 5.28.11

We're officially Da Burrs now! Our internet network says so. In this post I'm going to use some photos that were tagged of us on Facebook from Kevin Phair and others. When we get our pictures back and edit them, then we'll post later with some of our favorites, including an album for family to see.

Sarah Hays did an amazing job on my wedding hair and on my bridesmaids' hair. If you need ANYthing (cut, color, style) her # is 805-501-7754. I could hardly sleep the night before, and Ozzy woke me up at 4:45 AM, so that was that. Once my hair was done I REALLY felt like a bride. Mike picked me up and we headed to the temple. If it weren't for Cameron and Laura being our escorts and helping us find where to go, we would've had a confusing time, but they were such a big help. We were sealed in room ten, which I had never seen before. Usually when you come with a group to do sealings you go to the main floor with a hallway of rooms in a pinkish shade. This one was bright white. Brother Dean (he loves the single adults and remembered me) said some awesome stuff about Jesus Christ and families, and beforehand he asked me if there were some really great people waiting outside the temple for us and I said yes (it hit really close to home). He said we'll be so blessed for taking this important step. I of course bawled my eyes out.

Finally after the schedule running 1.5 hours late and having to wait for the couples ahead of us, we made our grand exit and it felt great. Sorry again for everyone that had to wait so long, it was the only hitch the day came with.

The grand exit from the LA temple

My amazing family

After pictures, everyone took off and Sister McClellan helped us get some awesome shots around the temple. She really helped the whole photo experience run smoothly even when we were crunched for time. Then we were off straight to the venue. My Dad walked me down the aisle and we had a really nice ring ceremony. 

A Dad's greatest joy, getting to walk his daughter down the aisle

Exchanging rings

Happy recessional

We then took more photos while guests had appetizers and socialized, then made our grand entrance doing a silly dance (and saw how the candy table was EMPTY. So glad I did that, it was a big hit). Then we had our first dance to Dean Martin's "Kiss" which was a nice touch with regards to the Spencer family. Michael danced with his mom, then I danced with my dad. At first he couldn't speak and just held me to his cheek. I couldn't help but want to cry more.

My Daddy and I

The rest of the night is kind of a blur. Dinner, trying to say hello to everyone (sorry we missed some of you!), toasts, money dance, cake cutting, dancing, getaway. During the toasts my sister made me cry, and my Dad made me cry big time when he said I looked like Claudia (Carchia) Spencer (his mom who passed when I was a few months old but got to hold me) and Granny Pauline (Whetstine) on my Mom's side. I'll always treasure that. The red velvet cake tasted great, the little that we got, but my parents had the top layer saved which was spice cake with cream cheese and raspberry filling, so we're waiting maybe a month to take care of that, not a year. haha. I'm also glad we did the money dance and we were both so shocked at the amount of gifts we received - you all have helped us stay in the black! We're humbled by the amazing friends we have in all places. Before we knew it we were making our getaway - to me it seemed like only 9 PM but it was actually after 10. Crazy. Brother Walden let us borrow his classic Mustang convertible, which was awesome. Vroom vrooooooom! Thank you all again for sharing our memorable day.

Yum. Skiff's cake

My niece Sydney caught the bouquet. We reminded Daniel he's a bit too old for her.

I always want to make my Dad proud. Love you Dad!

Almost Mr and Mrs Burr Time...

This past week I went to Ashley Beckstrom's goodbye party at Brunswick where we saw Selena Gomez bowling with a friend. Stuff like that hardly ever happens to me so it was kind of fun to watch everyone go up to her and ask for her autograph. I mean, what celebrity comes to Simi?! Yep.

The guest count has been finalized!!! I also had my last day of work on Thursday, YEAH! No more telling the 15-year-old to stop picking his nose ten times a day (literally). One thing I'll really miss is the dogs and cats pestering me for attention when I'm working. So stinkin cute. On Friday my Mom helped me load up the Yukon and take the remaining furniture to the apartment, so that's officially done. Now it's just the little things here and there I have to decide to take or leave. I also had two job interviews, one was eh, the other more promising, so we'll see. I try to look at it like good interview experience, so I can get better and better and find a job that's a good fit for me (and I for them). Friday night Michael and I ate a nice dinner at Acapulco and saw 'Bridesmaids' (language/sexuality warning), it was hilarious.

The weekend was filled with Chick Fil-A, Target, relaxing, and watching 'Pirates 4.' I had my doubts and they were proved right: while it was entertaining, exciting, had its funny moments, it was just another sequel. Pirates 1: awesome. 2: okay, cool. 3: eh, ok. 4: eh, ok... please don't make any more. They're mediocre now. Two stars tops. And, Penelope Cruz can't act. I just didn't completely buy her character.

We're so glad and amazed that our wedding is less than a week away. If I had to wait any more I'd be going stir-crazy (though I'm doing that already). To all of the Spencers and extended family on the Spencer side, my parents are having a brunch at the house on Sunday after the wedding, hope you can make it! I'll be cleaning house and such all week.

Wedding To-do List:
Finalize & pay for cake
Finalize rehearsal dinner menu
Press dress
Clean ring
Pedicure with the girls
Enjoy the day as much as possible!

Realizing I'm leaving home and my parents will be "empty-nesters" has made me very nostalgic. I plan on letting them know how much I love them and how I want to keep being a good daughter even though I was a brat (as most kids can be). I still am bratty (Allyson has always been the angel, haha), but try to be better. I love them so much and am so grateful for my family! I'm glad that when Mike and I are married, any drama from the past will be past and we'll enjoy building the first foundational blocks of our marriage together. We have Burr, McFadden, and Spencer family close by and are close enough to my parents to visit often. And, call me crazy, but I can hardly wait to start having kids, lol. I know I know, the immensity of the responsibility and parenthood will be huge, but it's all worth it to have a little bundle of joy of our own and be together forever. Laura and Cameron have shown me that, and my own family experiences and Michael's Dad have as well. I know my parents will be thrilled to be grandparents and have a little baby to play with :P

The next week I update this, I'll be Mrs. Burr :) See you then!

Event Updates

Because I love having a blog, I'll keep this strictly about events and happenings in our lives instead of any personal anecdotes since drama seems to follow that sort of thing. <3 

Last Saturday, April 9th, was my bridal shower. A lot of fun ladies came, including my aunts and some old friends from high school. Being around them made me realize how many awesome people I have in my life. Several drove from long distances so thank you publicly for giving of your time! Especially my two prego friends for making the trip. I was able to see a lot of family, and it made me even more excited for the wedding because I'll be able to see even more all together after many years, including some I don't remember or haven't yet met.

Last Wednesday I was hired as an essay rater for a mainstream standardized test company. Woohoo! God is already blessing Michael and I in our step forward in becoming a family. We were unsure when I'd find any sort of work, and He's blessing us early. I'll begin training in the next few weeks so by the time we're married I can start working from home.

Michael officially started living in the OC apartment two weeks ago and he loves it. Our neighbors are friendly and the building owners are great, not to mention his commute to work is a breeze. On the drive from Simi, my desk was a little roughed up on the trailer and the drawers broke off :\ Hopefully we can fix it. General Conference that weekend was awesome, as always. I'm grateful to be a member of such an awesome and true church.

I'm sooo close to being done with graduate school! All I have to do is finalize my chapters, put it all together, make my presentation poster and participate in a colloquium next month. It feels really good. Everything wedding-wise is coming together - finalized music, flowers, cake. Next is hair. It feels great to realize how close it is :)

Baseball season started! Go Dodgers! Viva Los Doyers! We're going to a game soon with my parents :)

Mama hummer feeding her babies outside of our living room window

My amazing sister and I

Opening gifts

Good sports during bridal shower games :)

The fabulous layout and 1/10 of the plethora of balloons

Don't rock the boat, baby.

Update for the rest of this past week:

The family I tutor for Wednesday evenings is SO great. I love that the mom, who is a stay at home mom, is so involved with her kids' school and fund-raising activities. The kids are smart and very polite and have adorable orange/blonde hair. She reminds me of my mom. I also hope to instill morals and values into my kids that will make their lives better and do all I can for them <3 We're so excited to have kids! But I know we need to get settled first (don't worry ;P haha).

My sister and I set the date for my bridal shower: April 9th! Ladies, mark your calendars :) I'm dying to plan things myself, but I know the girls are excited to do that, so I just forwarded them some fun ideas. I'm so grateful for a sister who takes time off of work to share this special time with me.

Michael and I have been job hunting for me a lot this weekend, so I have a lot to apply for. I know I'll find a job, I just really hope it's one I feel fulfilled by and look forward to going to every day. I've worked this hard to get this far, it's time I start to move on up.

This weekend was the last session of our Sunday school class about Strengthening Marriage, so I'll be visiting Chino more again and Michael won't have to drive so much.  The Lukes, who taught the class, were also released today as the YSA Ward Advisors. You two will be missed! The class was fantastic, thank you.

I organized a baby shower for Vasty Pearson on Saturday and it was awesome. I love event planning - another future side hobby perhaps. We also took a few memorable photos beforehand :)

Ashley Jensen and I are so proud of our diaper cake! <3

She got the CUTEST diaper bag from her neighbor who makes them and sells them on Etsy: Twirlybirdbaby.etsy.com

Michael and I have also been apartment hunting and are close to finding something within our means and closer to his work. I know it'll be a HUGE relief for him to not have to drive 2+ hours every day to and from Newport Beach. I can't wait for him to have that relief and to have our own first place!! We're extremely excited to start our lives together, being able to see each other every day (!!) and share and support each other's dreams.

Here are some fun photos I took of things that caught my eye. I love bird houses and unique-looking perspectives.

Hummingbirds hatching outside the family room window

One of my mom's bird houses

Top section of a bird feeder

THAT was stressful.

Michael and I had a great weekend and I miss him a ton already. After church and our meeting with the Bishop on Sunday, we drove out to my Uncle Greg's house to hang out with some of the Spencer family and watch the last half of the Super Bowl. It was awesome! I mean the football was fun to watch, but most of all I loved spending time with family like that. It was so nice to chat and joke with my Aunts and Uncles and Mom and Dad. And boy, was the meat GOOD.

After hashing out a few invitation preferences amongst my family later that night, we finally agreed on an invitation! Now we just have to finalize the meal choices we need to put on the RSVP card. We're hoping we can get steak, chicken, and salmon, not just two, so we'll see what happens. As soon as that's sorted out then we can order the invitations! So exciting.

On Monday after work I went over to "Sunnyside" Elementary School (I'm putting an alias because it isn't nice to talk trash...) and tried to speak with the principal about permissions for my research. My thesis is focused on the benefits of and participant perspectives of an after-school program, not the school itself, so I don't know why this lady said no, but she didn't even meet with me to discuss anything and was blunt in her e-mail. She didn't give any reason WHY, just "no" and suggested I inquire into a different school. Wow. My heart dropped to the floor when I read her e-mail because my research is centered around this program. Luckily there are two other sites that have this program and I'm meeting with another principal today who is much more research-welcoming and understanding of ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE. Hear that, Sunnyside? Excellence. Something I guess you don't like? :raspberry:

I'll feel better once I have the signatures in my hand. ANYWAYS.

After the unsuccessful meeting, Michael and I had lunch and then registered at Target for the wedding. At first we were unsure of things to scan and how much things were, etc. But then we got the hang of it: see it, like it, scan it. Here it is! Next weekend: Macy's. That way everyone has a lot to choose from.

We also went to Home Goods and got something for our centerpieces which we're extremely jazzed about. I don't want to spill the beans because I want people to be surprised, so I'll leave it at that. Our wedding is going to be so rad! I'm excited just to enjoy the day and more importantly, marry an amazing guy.

Registries... dun dun dunnn.

I had my first class of my last graduate semester on Tuesday. It's pretty straightforward with what's due when. I stress about it anyway. Can't wait to be DONE :)

The weekdays are good because I get to help out around the house after work, but not as much as I'd like to. For instance, we need to vacuum but it's hard when there's a bunch of dogs around. Mom is taking Granny Jean to Orange County to stay with Aunt Pam and Uncle Mike for a bit before she goes back to Minden, so we'll be able to clean after that. We're FINALLY getting the stamps we ordered in the mail so the save-the-dates will be mailed Monday or Tuesday.

I jumped the gun a little bit on our registries, haha. The plan is to register at 2 places: Target and Macy's. That way we can have affordable stuff and necessities at Target, and dinnerware and nicer stuff at Macy's. However, my sis got me into Crate&Barrel, which is also nicer, so I made a small selection of cool things we'd like. However, the main registries will still be at Target and Macy's, we just haven't made them yet. It'll take a lot of willpower for me to not make them online before Mike and I can make it to a store together. lol.

Crate&Barrel Registry #: 4655472. Take a look! I love their stuff. Note: Main registries to come soon.

Here are some unedited Jimmy, Liz and Brynlee pictures. Sooo pretty! I'm editing this weekend so I'll post more.

Dress, Cake, Save the Date

I asked Liz and Jimmy Cuillard if I could borrow their awesome little family for some pictures and they let me meet up with them Sunday after church. We got some NICE shots just as the sun was setting. I'll post them soon.

I got my dress on Saturday from David's Bridal! It's the perfect mix of elegant and romantic. There was one other dress I reeeeeally liked, but it didn't have enough poof, although it was gorgeous. If I could have two dresses (crazy), I would've gotten it. Oh well. I felt a little stressed when I put on the garment top under the dress to show my mom and sister where the alterations needed to be; at first they were like "uhhhhh, ok." But after the alterations manager found a good material for the top and pinned it in place, they really liked it. Whew. I prefer modest over tube top ANY day.

Sunday we met with Skiff and had a cake tasting, bringing along Allyson and Peter for fun. We're very happy they don't use fondant much at all and stick with buttercream. Plus they're not as expensive as I thought, even with the design we want, so we'll probably go with them. Our cake is going to be a memorable and unique piece of the reception.

Living at home with two old dogs is stressful, more so for my mom. Cookie (our springer spaniel) is on her last legs and even though Dad doesn't want to admit it, I really think it's time we let her go. She's just not happy. Princess is my Grandma Jean's dog and she's a boxer. Sometimes her back legs can't support her so she just falls. And, my family is concerned about taking care of Granny Jean, and it can be emotionally taxing. We want her to know she's not a burden and to feel welcome. Everyone gets old, and it's no fun. You just have to find the reasons to be happy.

I REALLY appreciated my mom opening up to me and talking for a bit last night. We don't often have one-on-one open chats and I love when we do, even if part of it is a sore subject. She let me know that me moving on with my life and finding ways to be happy is the right thing to do: marrying Mike, moving out on our own, finding my own career. Despite the hardships at home (and I let her know Allyson and I are here for the family no matter what), life goes on. This is going to be my most nostalgic and bittersweet year yet.

Today we're going to finalize the paper and colors for our save-the-date's and print the darn things! Finally. If we like them how they come out, we'll send them out as they are. Otherwise we also had an idea to add a patterned background paper to glue to the back. I can't wait to just get them out :)

Weekend Bliss

I'm excited to drive out to Chino this weekend and spend time with my love!! The weeks always seem long until I get to see him.

I'm finally on the up-and-up after being sick all week, hooray! I spent my time sleeping, watching tv, sleeping, making a cd of possible first-dance songs, and more sleep (though not enough).

My Aunt Pam caught some photos of the proposal so here's a good one I wanted to share...

And, here's an unedited shot from the wedding Michael and I shot last weekend...

Eye-Opener

Today before Michael went back to Chino, we saw 'Tangled' at the Regal. Pretty darn cute, Disney. I liked how Regal was so dead on a Monday evening, it was awesome.

When we were leaving I refilled my soda and the girl at the concessions stand complimented me on my ring. She was so nice and genuine about it, I talked with her a little more before we left. Ever since then I've been deeply struck by something I've thought about a lot over the years.

People in the church (and throughout the world) get engaged ALL of the time. For some reason I expected the fairytale of it to happen to me at any moment when I was 19 (wow, naive). It hasn't happened until now and I'm almost 25. I kept trying to remind myself that everyone has their own story, but I wasn't very convincing. When my relationships were struggling, I looked at these engaged couples with envy and jealousy, so much that I had a hard time being happy for them. What a brat. It wasn't until I actually went to a bridal shower or two and talked with these girls that I could calm down: they deserved it, they were good people, they loved somebody and they wanted to be with them forever and make that commitment, good for them.

So here I am, engaged and truly happy about it, and this girl in concessions talks to me and is nice to me about it just because. And it really struck me how much I want to be like her. I've been stuck wasting my time fighting off feelings of envy not specifically directed at the people who get married, but at the situation that I didn't have. I'm definitely recognizing people who are just like I was (not happy for 'the engaged') because they don't talk to me about it, or don't talk to me at all. For the first time ever, I'm happy and I'm not showing it as much. I want to, but I'm not because I want to be considerate of those people. However it's a big downer that that envy is there. I'm not saying I'm completely cured myself, I'm saying I'm still working on something I've wanted to get rid of for a long time and just be happy for people, and I wish more people would try to do that too. I'm also saying I'd have a few more friends, closer friends, if they'd take down the same wall and be happy with me.

Fun continues

I bought a sudoku book that says it has 'medium' puzzles. They sure are supremely puzzling to me.

We booked the honeymoon: Hawaii! Thank you Dad for covering the airfare with your frequent flier miles. Just imagining it seems so surreal. Being on our own somewhere new. Weeeeeeeird. But very very exciting!

I'm hoping a lot of people will come to the wedding. How many should you expect after you make a list? I've heard cut off a third, cut the list in half... so what is best? I'm worried it'll be over capacity, and also worried it'll be under our minimum requirement. There's always a few people who don't respond and leave you in the dark (awesome).

I can feel my arteries clogging after eating some amazing macaroni and cheese.

You guys will like our save-the-dates.

Planning

I'm trying to get the majority of planning done before my last Masters class starts. It's fun, and naturally runs stressful if meetings run long. I went with my dad to talk to Green Acres today because I remember them catering a wedding and it tasted great. However, they're over $1000 more expensive than a country club's catering because they want gratuity. That realization wasn't the painful part - it was waiting through a sales pitch from a guy that asked us for every single detail "in case" he'd provide tables and linens (which he wouldn't because we told him the venue does). It's useful for future reference and helping my friends but attention to detail is important - if the client says they don't want/need it, they don't.

Because we're having the reception at a venue for my family instead of a church building, cost isn't very low. However, I WILL save over $1k on the florist because I'm getting help from church members, we're having friends do photography and hair, and we're making the invitations and save-the-dates ourselves. It helps to have a fiance who is also a designer :)

Engagement Story

I thought it would be fun to start one of these since a few of my married friends have one :) I've gotten a few people asking how Michael proposed, so here it goes.

Because of things he had said before, I already estimated it to be between Christmas and new year's eve. Back in August he took me ring shopping just to see what I liked, and we found an awesome setting, soooo we got it! I knew it was coming before the end of the year at least. On Christmas Day I drove with my parents, my sister and her husband to my Aunt Pam and Uncle Mike's house in Lake Forest for the day. Michael met us there after he finished with work. After a little while I went with him to his car to get his camera. He told me later that while he was moving stuff out of the way in the car, he was worried I had seen him put the ring box into his camera bag, but I just thought he was moving all the masses of stuff he leaves in there out of the way. He gave me a silly grin while he was doing this, but I still didn't suspect a thing, haha.

After taking a few pictures of my sister and I to frame for my dad, the family went to the living room to open a few gifts. After talking for a bit, we moved back into the family room next to the kitchen and Mike started announcing, "I need all of the family in here, I have one more gift to give!" Judging by the way he was nervously pacing back and forth until everyone finally came back into the room, I was wondering "Is this it? This has to be it... what else could this be?" and Allyson (my sister) says "Oh boy..." haha. Then Mike shared with everyone how we've known each other for five years, but I was either dating someone or had gone to Santa Barbara for school and he had moved to Fresno. After both of us moving back to Simi and he knew I was available, he took his chance and wasn't going to let it pass by (awwwwww) and asked if I would spend the rest of my life with him. I said, "And forever too, right?" and he says "Of course." :)

We hugged :) and my Aunt Pam may have gotten a good picture or two of the moment because she ran out of the room during Mike's whole spiel to get her camera, haha. It felt so surreal actually having the ring on my finger and seeing the faces of my sister and my parents. My sister cried! So that made me cry. My aunt and my mom got teary-eyed so I hugged them to make sure they were okay. Mom says "I'm not ready to let you leave!" and Dad gave us hugs and shook Mike's hand (he had asked permission a few months ago while they had men-bonding time waxing Mike's car). It's pretty bittersweet for my family because I'm the youngest of two, the last to leave the nest, and I love my mom and dad a ton. I know for a fact I'll cry at the wedding, ring ceremony, AND reception, just you watch.

Thank you so much to everyone who has wished us well and celebrated with us! We couldn't be happier to take this next step in our lives together :) I LOVE YOU BABE!