Last night was my first Bridal Shower and it was a
blast! It was with my future in-laws. My soon to be sisters-in-law Jen and
Heather planned the whole thing with some assistance from Zach’s sister Kris
and his mom DaWanda. It was an awesome party!
First off, the invitations! They are amazing!!
Just see for yourself:
As you can gather from the cutesy poem, the theme
was recipes. One thing Zach and I really enjoy doing together is cooking, and I
am so excited to try out all the recipes we received!! But more on that later..
There were a total of eleven guest. Both our moms:
Zach’s mom DaWanda and my Stepmom Lisa. My soon to be sisters-in-law: Heather,
Jen, Kris, and Kristin. My future niece Lauren. My soon to be Aunt Kelly and future cousins Shelby and
Rachel. And Jen’s sister-in-law Birgitte who I have met on several family
occasion it just felt right to invite her as well!
We had a great selection of treats. A few of Zach’s
and my favorites: Ice-cream, mint brownies, cheesecake with chocolate syrup and crushed up oreos for toppings, and chocolate covered strawberries. Mmmm. The decorations
were white and yellow balloons, yellow sunflower like flowers, and assortment
of yellow and green fruits (inspired by our wedding colors). I’m sorry I didn’t
take picture of that to show you!
We had a few fun and simple games. My favorite kind.
Haha. Kris had prepared three jars of chocolate kisses for everyone to guess
how many were inside. The winners were Kelly, Shelby, and Kristin. We have a
few close runner ups, which made it exciting. The second game was writing date
night ideas on sticks. I received some pretty creative and interesting suggestions..
The last game had some pre-party preparations.
Heather had Zach and I individually answer a questioner of “He Said/ She Said” Everyone
made their guess of what they thought was right and after Heather reveled Zach’s
answers which I confirmed or corrected. ;) haha. Here’s my answers below:
This part of the shower was really fun. It was fun
giving some back story to each of the responses, and like to do that
here too.. with a little bit more details. Because it’s fun! :)
Zach was the first to say “I love you” It was week
after we officially started dating (established boyfriend/ girlfriend status)
while we were having a picnic at the park. He admitted out loud he love me and
that he would do anything to make me happy.. and I believed him. However I wasn’t
quite ready to say it back. I wasn’t really sure what Love was and didn’t want
to say it back until I really knew. At the time the “L” word seem really big
and honestly really scary to say. Now, however, I don’t think the word is big
enough to describe my feelings for him. :) Even after I realized I was in love
him, I wasn’t sure when or where to say it. At the time that seemed important.
It was about four months after he said it that I finally found the courage and opportunity
to say it back. :)
Questions number two. Who initiated the first
date? That would be him, though I did hint at it, a lot. Haha. But he was the
one who actually did the asking. It was few days in advance. We were at church
in between classes. He asked me if I liked Christmas lights and told me of
special light exhibit called “Winter Wonderland” at the Kearns Olympic Oval. It
was one of the drive through light places that the lights flicker with the
music. It was beautiful. At the bridal shower Zach’s mom chimed in saying she
remembers when he got home that night how happy he was and knew I was the one.
She didn’t say anything at the time, because how Rachel explained it, “You don’t
want to jinx it.” Haha. :) I had a really good feeling that night too. It just
felt different. I knew he was genuinely interested in getting to know me and
going out on more dates, and I felt the same. :) Though, it took two months for
us to schedule a second date… but more on that later.
“I wear the pants in the relationship” This saying
I sort of understood before receiving this survey from Heather, but I googled
it just to be sure, so I could make the correct assessment. This is what I
found: “To ‘wear the pants’ means that person a makes most of the decision in
the relationship.” I thought about it and concluded Zach wears the pants. The
girls at the shower were shocked! I explained that I felt he wore the pants
because if it were me, we’d be married already. That got a good laugh. December
2016, about a year after our first date, I realized Zach had a different time
table of when we would get married than I had. We had a serious talk about the
subject. I found myself at a brief crossroad: Do I continue down this path with
Zach toward marriage, or end it here and now. I say “brief crossroad” because
it was literally a brief moment. I had a thought come to me that confirmed to
me this path with Zach is where I belonged.. so I stayed. It was a life changing
moment and I admit the wait hasn’t always been easy, but it’s been worth it. :)
I respect Zach’s choice to become more established and in a place where he felt
ready to take the next step. I am so proud of him for finishing school and
beginning his career. :)
Next: “I take longer to get ready” well, that’s
obviously me. No further explanation needed. “I am the better driver” we both
agreed him. I honestly don’t like to drive. I’m terrible with directions and
other drivers on the road make me nervous. I drive because I have to. Whenever
we go somewhere together he drives.
“I am the better cook.” For this we both said me,
simply because I’ve had more experience. Neither one of us really feels we are
good cooks (especially compared to our fathers, both are great cooks) but we
manage. Also, as I stated at the beginning of this post, we really enjoy cooking
together. :)
“I initiated our first kiss.” This one is sort of
debatable, but Zach and I both gave him credit for initiating our first kiss. It
was after our third official date, after we established/ changed our
relationship status to boyfriend/girlfriend. He walked me to the door and we
had the typically awkward end of the night door drop off. The week before at
the end of our second date I thought to kiss him, but chickened out and kissed
him on the cheek instead. This night of our third date, he initiated the kiss when he
said, “So, now that we’ve established boyfriend (pointing to himself)
girlfriend (pointed to me)… you’re gonna have to help me out here..” It was so
cute, and we both wanted to, so I went in for it. When I explained this to the
girls at the shower they think credit should go to me. Haha. I let out the secret
that it was both our first kiss, which got a huge “Awww” and the comment “and
each other’s last!” It’s true, I was thirty
when I had my first kiss, a fact in the past I might have been embarrassed about,
but there’s something special about having only kissed one man. I know I feel
special being the only girl he’s ever kissed. :)
“I was the first to bring up marriage.” Zach and I
both agreed that was me. I remember it was brought up briefly that first month
we started dating. I remember saying I won’t be dating him if I didn’t think it
could end in marriage. That’s just fact. It was about six months later in
September 2016 I flat out asked him if he wanted to marry me someday. To which he
said yes, someday he would. That’s when “if” turned into a matter of “when”. :)
I’m gonna skip down “I am more patient.” It seems
more fitting to explaining that here. Obviously we concluded that is me. From
the moment we first decided to get married (September 2016) it took about
another year (August 2017) for an actual real proposal. I admit I was getting
to the point I was going to have to re-think my life’s choices. Haha. But even before
that wait I demonstrated patients when I waited two months from our first date
to our second date. I did ask him out during that time, but it didn’t work out
with his schedule. Though he declined, he assured me he did want to go out
again. I’m glad I got the courage to ask him out because he knew that I was
also interested in going out again and seeing if there was anything there.
I hope anyone whose decided to read this blog
entry is having as much fun reading it as I am having writing it. Haha. This
list is fun, but perhaps boring that Zach and I agree to almost all of it, so
now on to a few we disagreed on…
“I’m the funny one” we had conflicting answers in
which we said the other. When Heather said he said I was the funny one I
replied “Aw! He thinks I’m funny!” haha. I’m glad he thinks I’m funny. I know
he’s funny, he already does dad jokes, which are of course a must for our
future kids.
“I give better back rubs” we both again said each
other. I still think it’s him, especially learning from his sister there’s a routine
their dad used to do when they were kids. She even gave me a small sample. Its awesome.
I can’t believe he’s been holding out on me. Haha.
“I met the future in-laws first.” We disagree on
this one as well. We both say ourselves. It depends on how you look at it. If
we’re talking parents.. well.. it overlapped a little. I met his dad first,
then he met both mine, then I met his mom. So he completed first with the
parents, but when I thought about it I was first. I met his twin brother Matt
first the night we met. I actually met Matt before Zach. Matt was actually is the
one to introduce us to each other. :)
“I spend more money” We both said me. Especially as
of late. I guess engagement does that to a girl, I caught myself spending more
money the last several months saying I need new things. Dress, shoes, jewelry,
etc. haha. He says I spend more because I make more. Soon that will change when
he starts his new full time job in his chosen field. ;) Have I mention how
proud I am of him? Seriously though, he’s accomplished so much that last year.
:)
“I’m the early bird.” This one is tough because
neither one of us is really an early bird, but we both concluded I am the
earlier bird. Haha. I thought I didn’t like mornings, but he really doesn’t
like mornings. Haha.
Last, “I’m more romantic.” We both said him. In
reflecting on our relationship I recalled times he has gotten me flowers, he even made
me a candy gram for our one year couple anniversary, and he says the sweetest
things. Sigh. Man… I need to step up my game!! Haha. :)
Now to the showering of gifts. I was… I mean we…
we were so spoiled. Zach and I got some great stuff! The first gift I opened was
from Birgitte. She explained her favorite meals are the ones you don’t have to
clean up after. I laughed when I open the package and saw paper plates, paper
cups, paper bowls, and ziplock bags. Hilarious! I love it!!
Kelly, Shelby, and Rachel (as well as Sandy, Jill,
Ashley, and other Sarah.. who were unable to make it) got me kitchen towels,
wash clothes, oven mites, multi-color bowls, and drinking glasses. They also
included recipe cards for Chicken Mexican Dip, Easy Meatloaf, Sour Cream Banana
Bread, and Peach Cobbler. Mmm.
When I opened Lisa’s gift I was able to guess the recipe
by the ingredients and crockpot. I exclaimed “I was hoping you’d pick this one!”
I am so excited to make Crockpot Mac and Cheese. It is one of my favorite
dishes! Mmm!!! DaWanda got us an Instant Pot with cooking book. I’ve never used
one before, but I’ve hear amazing things about them. I’m excited!
Kristin got us popped corn, cookie sheet with
couple cutters, and a board game ticket to ride.. because train ride meals are
the best. Or something like that. :) Heather got us Cuisinart Pot and
ingredients to her family’s favorite Taco Soup recipe. It sounds absolutely delicious!
Kris got us desert fixings- brown pan and mix, muffin tin with silicone muffin
cups, mixes, and batter dispenser. Jen got us a silicone mat, cookie scoop, and
chocolate chips for chocolate chip cookie recipe. I think Zach and I are going
to have lots of fun in the kitchen!
At the end of the opening gifts portion of the party
Aunt Kelly informed me she had a game she likes to play at bridal showers where
she writes down the things the soon to be bride say that describe/ predict how the first night
will go. Her list was hysterical! (blush)
Zach visited at the end of the shower, which I’d
have to say was my favorite part. It was really fun showing him the gifts and
recipes we are going to try out, and telling him how the games went. He laughed
at the Date Ideas, Kelly’s list, and my summary of the survey results. It was a
really great night, and super fun first bridal shower. I admit one thing I’ve
been looking forward to the most were the bridal showers. They are so much
fun!! Thank you everyone who came last night and for welcoming me into your family! And a special thank you to those who planned it! It was so great! I am one spoiled bride to be!! :D
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