200 Days!!!!

It is hard to believe that 200 days from now, Justin and I will be married! With 2010 just around the corner (um two days!), it's hard to decide if the wedding is coming fast or not. Part of me can't believe we are already half way through our engagement. However, the other side feels like 200 days is an eternity. Either way the new year brings in a huge list of wedding to-dos! First on that list is finishing up and sending out our save the dates. They are coming along great (thanks Steph!) and we are so excited to send them out! We will also be taking another round of engagement pictures in January which should be a blast. Anyways that is pretty much all for now... Just some quick notes to give everyone some news I know you have been craving :) and more importantly I wanted to try out blogging from my brand new itouch! I will post later about our engaged Christmas. Enjoy the last little bit of 2009 before we all welcome in 2010!!!

WHITE SATURDAY

Our rather unsuccessful Black Friday was followed up by an extremely successful White Saturday (yes I came up with that all on my own and yes it is a fabulous name!). My wonderful mother/wedding planner set up a Saturday full of wedding errands. Early Saturday morning Justin, my mom and I drove down (in the pouring rain!) to meet with a potential caterer. Although I am not a huge fan of chicken, potatoes and salad at 10 or so in the morning the food was pretty great! Not to mention, Bernardo was awesome. And he reminded me of Franc so bonus on that. I mean really it was hard to understand a word that came out of his mouth, but what we did get loud and clear was the awesome deal he was giving us. So after our meeting we have (I'm going to list these because it makes me feel even more accomplished):
-dinner
-appetizers
-coffee, tea, lemonade and water bar
-bartenders
-servers
-linens
-chair covers and sashes
-all the dinnerware including champagne and wine glasses
-a cake!!
-and my very own Franc who promises to give me the wedding of my dreams :)

As if that isn't enough to make you Justin and Britt fans excited, I also bought my dress on White Saturday!! Justin dropped my mom and me off at dress store #1 (no peeking for him!) and I put dress numero uno back on once again. I could not get that dress out of my head and then when you throw in a black friday discount, we were sold! I'm so excited!!! Although my actual dress doesn't come in until May (happy birthday to me?) Sandra said I can come in any time to try on the sample. I think I may take you up on that Sandra, once or twice.

I keep forgetting to mention that we will be taking an official holiday break from the wedding party members of the week. We want everyone to feel special and so we have decided to wait to finish introducing the rest of our awesome wedding party until after the holidays. So keep your eye out for that come January 2010 (yikes!).

Have a wonderful week!!!

BLACK FRIDAY

Justin and I decided to brave the stores a bit on Black Friday. It was mostly completely unsuccessful, but still fun. In case you weren't already aware, Justin and I are embarking on this new life with basically nothing to our names. We both went through college with a full and futon mattress and nothing else. So we decided to check out some furniture warehouses in hopes we would find some great deals. What we found is that we most likely will be sleeping and eating on the floor our first year of marriage :)

We also went to the Ducks game which was a blast since it was my first game of the season the Ducks actually won!

Friday night we went over to Fashion Island and we had my ring cleaned. Its so sparkly! We also finally were able to celebrate our four year anniversary since I was on my deathbed on our actual anniversary :). After a very yummy dinner we snuck around Roger's Gardens to take our first holiday pictures of the season! I can't wait for Christmas (especially since I am already done with my shopping).

Football, Food, Family, and Fiance!

I always say my three favorite things about Thanksgiving are the food, football and family (the three "f"s if you will). And this year there was a special edition and limited only "F," Fiance!! Not only was this my first Thanksgiving with a fiance, but it was also our first Thanksgiving that we spent together! This was our fifth Thanksgiving being a couple, but we have never actually seen each other on Thanksgiving before so it was pretty special getting to spend the whole day together. Actually, we were able to spend over four straight days together during this holiday break which was awesome, but weird since that never happens anymore. We barely have time to talk to each other each day let alone see each other on consecutive days!

On Thanksgiving Eve, my dad's company took everyone to Six Flags. Those rides are crazy! We had a blast although we were missing our thrill loving family member Kyle :(.

It was so much fun, even though my poor mom had to still wake up early the next morning to put on a fabulous Thanksgiving for us. She always does such a great job with not only the food, but with the whole presentation of the meal. My mom has always been so good at making holidays special and I sure hope it has rubbed off on me for my future home and family. I'm taking really good notes this year since it is my last holiday season as a single lady!


Justin and I were in charge of these beauties

My fifth graders' tree of thanks

It was a wonderful Thanksgiving and we all had so much to be thankful for. I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Wedding Party Member of the Week #8

This week we are so excited to announce our first groomsman.....

Kyle!!

Kyle (aka Brandon, B. Kyle or MxRacer) is most importantly, my little brother! I will say that I have not always been thrilled about having brothers (especially accident prone ones like mine). I have always been slightly intrigued by the thought of being an only child :) However, I must say God blessed me with two pretty amazing brothers.

Kyle is the "middle child" in our family and even though he is a spitting image of my dad, he definitely sticks out next to me and Cameron. Kyle and I could not be more different from each other in looks and personality. Of course he was blessed with the beautiful olive skin, thick hair that grows like a weed and dimples (darn him!). Besides looks, our biggest difference is his laidbackness vs. my not so laidbackness. Thank goodness we have Kyle in the family to calm us hotheads down.

As we grow up and luckily grow closer to each other I have found we do have quite a few sibling similarities. For example, we are both hilarious (in my humble opinion). Although Kyle barely gets a word in edgewise with the rest of the family around, when he does, boy is he funny. He seriously has the best sense of humor and is always good for a great laugh. He also has one of the most genuine laughs ever, which in itself can make anyone crack up.

Also me and Kyle are both math geniuses (also in my humble opinion). Kyle is probably a little teeny bit better than me at math (OK I admitted it!), but we both do have the ability to disgust people with our love for anything math. Kyle is currently attending Embry Riddle in Florida on his way to becoming a very talented engineer. Kyle promises to support me and Justin's humble teaching salary family when he becomes rich and successful....I told you he is a great brother! Also Kyle and I both love sports. He is a huge SC and Charger fan and of course hates all the right teams.

Also neither of us are "morning people"

And finally, Kyle and I were both adorable little children. Proof you say? For your viewing pleasure:

Told you I wasn't thrilled :)

Then I became the best big sister ever!

We also both have weird sleeping habits....and our parents love to blackmail us

We also both changed our career paths....although mine was not by choice

We all miss Kyle so much and can't wait for him to come home!!! And of course I cannot wait for him to stand next to my future hubby and keep him steady as he promises to spend forever with me (Lord knows Justin will need the moral support)!! Love you brother!! Oh and yes ladies....he is single!

THE SKY IS FALLING!

Well actually we just have real wedding updates...what?! you say. YES! we say! We have had a pretty eventful week in wedding planning so I guess I will just go in chronological order.....Last Sunday my whole family walked in the Save A Life Walk in Balboa Park to raise money for suicide prevention. Any time I get to spend time with my family is wonderful, and raising money for a great cause is BONUS! (not to mention doing the cupid shuffle and cha cha slide with my adorable cousins DOUBLE BONUS!). Our team, Team Joey, actually ended up winning the award for the largest group!!!

My grandparents rock! What champs!
Anywho after the walk we went dress shopping!! It was such a blast, although a tad stressful because my wonderful audience was too nice to actually admit they didn't like a dress on me. I was so surprised at how many dresses I really liked. I thought the decision would have been much easier, wrong wrong wrong. I ended up falling in love with the very first dress I put on. Apparently, this is very common. I'm guessing its because us girls dream our whole lives of wearing a perfect white Cinderella dress so that first one EVER can be pretty special. It was a very successful day, we were able to find some great dresses and determine what would be the best style for me and what doesn't look so hot. I am so thankful for my little audience you were so loving, gracious and patient through day one of dress shopping. Thank you!

Yes in case you were wondering my strategy WAS to look as bad as possible in order to find the dress that could make me beautiful anyways :) However, how beautiful is my entourage! Love you all!

Around the dress shopping day one extravaganza, Justin and I finalized our honeymoon plans and BOOKED IT! We are so excited!!! My amazing parents generously donated some of their airline miles to pay for our plane tickets. Also, Justin and I were able to find, after quite the search, the perfect resort for a great deal. It is an all-inclusive which was a top priority for us and it is right in the heart of Cancun, Mexico overlooking the Caribbean Sea. It looks so beautiful and relaxing and has some amazing reviews. We cannot wait!

Wednesday was a holiday for us all. Thank you Veterans!!! You guys rock!! We spent the day shopping again for THE dress. We weren't too impressed with the stores we went to, and I was ready to go back and just get my first dress. However, as I was driving home Friday my mom called and told me about a little store right here in T-town that she had heard great things about. So we hopped in the car and spent our Friday night falling in love with two more dresses (thank goodness I was not this indecisive about the groom). We left excited, but also a tad stressed. Why is this so much harder than I thought it would be?! I'm still trying to rationalize with myself and others why I should get to wear more than one dress on our wedding day. Anyone else agree? I mean who made up the rule you only get to wear one wedding dress in your whole life?!! A man I'm sure! So the next day I dragged my wonderful MOH to the store and we again spent way too long trying on one dress than the other trying to find some way to decide which one is the ONE. Although no purchase was made, I am happy to report that I think I know which one is IT. However, none of us thought it was a good idea to rush in to this decision so we are giving ourselves a couple days to think things through (and hopefully not change my mind). So hopefully I will be able to report very soon that I have my wedding dress!

Oh yes there is more....we got our engagment pictures back!!! Can I just say we are so blessed to have Mark Frapwell as our photographer. He rocks! We absolutely love our pictures! Here is a sneak peek of some of our favorites:





Have a wonderful week and keep your eye out for Wedding Party Member of the Week #8.

WPMW #7

Okay our blog-followers…it’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for…the first official announcement of the bridesmaids and groomsmen! Yes, this is Justin, and I am going to announce a BRIDESMAID!!!

First of all, I need to apologize for the tardiness of this post. There was some kind of a miscommunication between Brittany and I. I thought we were taking two weeks off to really build the suspense, but apparently I was supposed to post this LAST week! Oops! My bad!

So here it is…drumroll please….Brittany Joye and Justin Shives would like to proudly announce....our first bridesmaid….BRIANNA SHIVES!!!



Brianna is one of my what seems like thousands of sisters. She actually turns 18 in a couple weeks so watch out! She is taken, however, by her 1st big-brother-approved boyfriend, Taylor.



Brianna is a die-hard Ducks fan. I’m her favorite brother, because I’m simply the best, but honestly, it’s probably because I let her use my season tickets all the time! Don’t tell Taylor, but she honestly thinks she’s going to marry Ryan Getzlaf. Brittany got close to Brianna at all these Ducks games from when Britt was a Power Player. GO DUCKS. P.S. Getzlaf and the boys need to pick it up…



I coached Brianna for two years at Tustin High School, and I made her captain of the team. I could have gotten a lot of crap for that from other players (“You just picked her, because she’s your sister!”), but they didn’t complain, because they knew she would be a great captain. That’s Brianna for you! If she puts her mind to something and dedicates herself, she can do anything. It must be those awesome Shives’ genes!



Brianna is currently taking classes at IVC as she searches for a career. Brittany and I are so excited about her being a bridesmaid in the wedding. Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for next week’s WPMW!

God bless.

Justin and Brittany

Happy Holiday Kickoff!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween weekend. I personally view Halloween as the official kickoff to the holiday season (which for some reason this year makes me cringe a little). As if wedding planning, work and life in general aren't enough to think about, hellllooooo holidays. However, Halloween was fabulous and relaxing so hopefully that is a sign of what's to come. Anywho, I promise this site is for wedding planning and not for me to just run my mouth (?) without any interruptions. Although the updates have been few and far between, I swear they will pick up soon. We should have our first round of engagement pictures within the next week or two for your viewing pleasure. We are also in the final stages of honeymoon planning (woohoo!). And most importantly, I am hoping to have another kickoff of sorts this weekend with my first dress shopping experience (woohoo again!). Also, we took a short WPMW break last week before we officially kickoff the rest of the wedding party this week. Justin will be posting soon with our first bridesmaid....yes he is doing a bridesmaid and you will have to wait in suspense to see why :) In other non wedding, but VERY important news, the Save a Life Walk is this weekend in San Diego. Please sign up and join my family's team in memory of my cousin Joey. It is FREE to walk and its a wonderful cause! If you can't make it to the walk, we are also raising funds for the organization so let me know if you want to sponsor our team! Here is the website with all of the information: http://savealifewalk.kintera.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=308363
AND....(no I'm not done!) My school is in a competition to win $20,000! We are currently ranked 16th and there are only a couple more days to vote. All you have to do is go to http://santarosaacademy.org/ and click on the "vote now" at the top. Its super easy and also FREE! Ok now I'm done! If you are still reading, thank you! And if you actually ever return to this site, thank you thank you!!

Our bride and groom and Charger pumpkins!

One pregnancy away from a marriage

Today is the official nine month mark until the big day! Nine months seems like a long time, I mean a baby is made in that amount of time, but getting in to single digits is a little scary. Wedding plans have been in serious halt mode for the past couple of weeks. Life has been keeping us seriously busy, with little time to talk to each other or sleep (you know all those unimportant things)...but in hopes things don't slow down, we are going to have to start squeezing in some major planning time.

We did take time this weekend to enjoy each other, family and friends and it was awesome! Yesterday we spent the day at Disneyland with Farand and Erin. It was a blast, although the evening ended on a slight sour note thanks to the stupid yankees. Today my family celebrated my mom's birthday with a very nice brunch on the beach and our annual trip to Bates Nut Farm. Somehow despite a weekend full of fall festivities, the 90 degree heat prevented me from feeling the full autumn effect. Oh well, I still get to go to bed tonight knowing that I don't have to live in stupid butt cold New York with all those lame fans. I will take California any day of the week! Have a great week everyone and don't forget to check out Justin's post on this weeks' featured Wedding Party Member!



The frustrated birthday girl :) love you mom!

Missing one :(

Wedding Party Member of the Week #6

This week we are proud to announce the first member of the wedding party from the groom’s side, our third and final ring bearer…..

PATRICK!!



Patrick is my nephew, my sister Chandra and brother in-law, Zach’s son. He is in 1st grade and next month (November 18) he will turn 7. He lives with his parents and younger brother, Josh in Grand Junction, Colorado, but they’re actually moving to Wyoming on Thursday! Crazy! They will be the only cool thing in Wyoming, and make up probably half of the state’s population.

Patrick likes fast cars, motorcycles and dirtbikes (which means he’ll get along great with the boys in Britt’s family!) as well as all the “Superheroes,” like Spiderman (actually Black Spidey), Hulk, and Iron Man. He’s also taking up after his uncle and starting to play soccer! Patrick is an awesome little dude, and we are so excited about having him in our wedding. Enjoy, and thanks for reading!

God Bless,

Brittany and Justin

Wedding Party Member of the Week #5

This week we are thrilled to introduce our third and final flower girl....

Chloe!!!!

Chloe is my cousin Jamie and her husband Dave's youngest daughter. Let's just say we were all ecstatic when we found out Jamie was finally having another girl. Jamie and Dave were beginning to create their own football team :). Of course Chloe has not exactly filled the girly girl role, but boy she couldn't get any more adorable if she tried. She is such a perfect addition to their beautiful family. She has so much personality and as one of my own personal subjects I know that she is also extremely photogenic...that is if you can get her to sit still, but you can't blame the girl! She has to keep up with her older brothers and sister! We are so excited to have Chloe by our side next July! Now please sit back and enjoy the adorableness of Chloe and also a bit of my sweet photography skills :)




And now a few for some of my biggest fans :)

Wedding Party Member of the Week #4

We can't wait to introduce you to the WPMW.....so without further adieu (drum roll please)

Jake!

Jake is my Uncle Michael and Aunt Marie's oldest son. He just celebrated his third birthday and boy was it a party! Complete with life-size Jake cut-outs and many musical performances by Jake with his new guitars, everyone was rockin'. I must say that I could not be prouder to call this kid my cousin. Not only does he put on shows like the best of us, but his love for anything musical is just amazing! We know he will be a wonderful ring bearer, although we may not be able to get him down the aisle without a guitar, but that doesn't bother us :) In fact we might prefer it!

I have so many darn pictures of this adorable kid so please sit back and enjoy!