I have only posted about 2 showers that we have had--one at Nesselrod on the New and the other a surprise shower thrown by Erin and our third grade classes. Well we have also had 6 other showers! That's right 6. What can I say we are loved and very blessed! Here's a quick rundown of the 6 showers I have not mentioned already.
1) Lingerie Shower given by Erin and my cousin Patti. Bless their hearts they seached everywhere to find a place to have the shower that had a room with a door that could be closed. Mainly in part because this was a joint shower. My friend Lisa who is getting married 2 weeks after me is extremely shy and will blush at just about anything. So of course they knew that Lisa would probably be red faced the entire night. Luckily they were able to book a room at the Farm House in Christiansburg. I love this place! Several people had prior engagments and couldn't make it and we missed them very much! The girls did a great job with the shower. We had blast..I won't go into much detail but here are a few highlights of the night: a game that involved pantyhose, a carrot, and a milk carton, panties ranging from very skimpy to very large, handcuffs that got stuck on me, sexy lingerie, and cartoon love coupons which could possibly be labled as cartoon porn. (Lisa's words not mine!)
2) Bridal Brunch given by my great aunt and 2 cousins on my dad's side of the family. This was mainly for my bridesmaids, aunts, our moms, and grandmas. This was a girls only event. Everything was very nice. We drove to Galax to my cousin's home where we chatted and had 4 different types of quiche ( Ihope I spelled that right...).
3) Church shower--This was given by the women at the church where I grew up attending and have recently started going back again because Justin likes it. It reminds him of his church back home. He's very traditional so my church fits him. I love it there too b/c it's home and the people are family--literaly b/c I'm related to 1/2 of the members and the ones I'm not technically related to I love like family. They have supported me, prayed for me, and loved me since I was a baby. Anyway...back to the shower. We had a nice potluck dinner after church and then Justin and I opened our gifts. We got lots of really nice things--some off our registry and some not. We almost have all of our Fiestaware place settings! I think we are only one short. One special gift I got caught me off guard. Erin H. came to this shower b/c she couldn't make it my first shower at Nesslerod b/c her sweet Brenna was being dedicated at church. She had asked me earlier at school for my engagment picture cd. I had no clue what she was up to but she had a calendar made for us with all of our engagement pics. The calendar also includes our families b.days, anniversaries, our first date, and when we got engaged. The second part of her gift however is what got me. I recognized the box as soon as I saw it. Let me back track a couple of years to when Erin got married--around Christmas after Erin and Jonathan got married she had told us at work that she wanted to find a first christmas ornament for their tree. Well we draw names at work so we don't have to spend a fortune buying everyone a gift. Well Susan got Erin's name. So of couse Momma Susan had been listening to Erin and picked out a beautiful Christmas tree ornament for Erin. Erin of course freaked out when she opened it and now it means even more to her since we lost Momma Susan last summer to breast cancer. So when I opened Erin's gift it was the exact same ornament that Susan had ordered her 2 years early. I don't know why I got so emotional when I opened it but I just started crying and it took me awhile to calm down. I think at that moment I realized how much I had missed Susan this year and how much I wanted to share my happiness with her. She would have loved Justin and I wish he would have gotten to know her because she was a wonderful friend and "momma" to all of her "daughters" at work. So a special thank you to Erin for the ornament b/c not only will I think of one of my best friends when I see it on my tree each year but I'll remember Momma Susan too. ok...let me dry my tears so I can finish this blog!
4) My school shower--our school doesn't do anything really fancy for weddings or babies but they do honor us which I think is really sweet. Since Lisa and I are both getting married we had another joint shower! :) I'm so happy to be sharing this time with one of best friends! The "Sunshine Comittee" at work brings a cake and sweets for us to munch on thoughout the day and people bring gifts in and leave for us. I feel so blessed to work with such wonderful people. We received so many nice gifts and lots of giftcards! I brought everything home so Justin and I could open them together. :) I hate to hog everything when it's his day too.
5)Miller cookout. Of course the Miller side had to have their turn in celebrating our upcoming marriage too! I think we hit all sides of my family and his family is going to celebrate after the wedding. Anyway, so a few of my dad's cousins decided to have a mini family reunion/cookout/wedding shower for us. We had the party at Don and Becky Straley's house in Eggleston. They have a big house with a large yard on a farm. The perfect setting for a cookout! We had such a good time catching up with each other--some of the people I only see once a year if that! It seems like the only time we ever get together anymore is at a funeral. It was nice to see everyone for a happy occasion for once. We really appreciate all the nice gifts and giftcards we received there! We are truly loved.
6) Last but not least, Justin's office threw us a shower. It was supposed to be a surprise. However, Justin being the snoop that he is saw it on a calendar. I then let Carrie Beth know (one of the girls he works with who was planning it). So then they think he doesn't know I'm coming--but he really does--but I play along that he doesn't know I'll be there--until after the shower they we came clean that he knew about me. What we didn't know was that his brother, Josh, had arranged for one of his best friends from back home to come in for the shower to surprise him. Justin and I both were very shocked to see Daniel walk through the door! We were also very surprised to find out that the people Justin works with had gone together and given us $500. Wow! Yes! $500! See Justin had not hidden the fact that he really really really wanted a big screen tv. So their original plan was to buy us a tv. However, they know that Justin is rather picky and would probably want to pick it out himself so they decided to just give us the cash so he could pick it out himself. So that's exactly what we did. Justin, Josh, Daniel, and me all headed to Wal-Mart to the electronics section. It didn't take him long to find the one he wanted since he had been researching them online for about a month! We left there with a 42" Vizio LCD HD 1080 something blah blah blah....I know nothing about what these letters or numbers mean. All I know is that right now I'm sitting on my couch watching a very nice big screen tv! :)
So that sums up the 6 showers we have had so far. Right now Justin is having his "bachelor's day" with most of his groomsmen. They spent the day fishing, grilling out, and are now playing poker until who knows when! Fishing, eating, and poker--Justin's favorite things. I'm just happy he's not getting drunk and having half naked girls crawl all over him since that's what most guys seem to do for their bachelor parties! I really do have a great guy and I count my blessings everyday. I've waited a long time for my prince but he's finally here and I couldn't be happier!
Oh and good news! I have my dress--but that's a another saga! Hopefully I'll have my portraits taken this coming week! I have lots more to write but I'm tired of staring at my computer screen! Here are a few pics from a few of our showers to close out this extremely long blog! Guess that's what I get for waiting so long to post! I'll try to do better from now on! Enjoy the pics:
This is an apron my Grandma made me for the Miller shower.
Church shower: Justin's mom Vicky, Justin, Me, and my mom Liz
Me crying over the Christmas ornament
Bridal Bruch in Galax
Paige, me, and Erin
I told you I got stuck!
The carrot game....
The two brides!
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