Fireproof

Last night Tim, Carrie, Tori and I went and saw the new movie Fireproof. Totally EXCEEDED my expectations. I must admit it was hard for me to take Kirk Cameron seriously after watching him for years as a heartthrob on growing pains and then making a guest appearance on Full House as the "cool older Cousin." (yes....I was a fan as a child) and so you know...he will be at Marcus Point in December, and I plan on attending! :) Anyways...back to the movie...
I...the emotional basket case that I am...was crying probably before the movie even really started. It just took me back to my parents divorce and, now that I'm older, I understand more and can see just how hard it was for them. Especially now that I'm married myself. (even if I've only been married a month) For me...back then...I would lay in bed every night and PRAY that God would allow them to divorce. I was so tired of the constant yelling, fighting and screaming. I was tired of carrying my little brother out of the house and driving around town so he could get some sleep in before school the next morning. I know it was wrong of me to pray this way, but I was young and had no clue how serious marriage is...until I became married myself. There is a part in the movie where kirk's dad tells him, "marriage isn't about feelings, it's a decision." That was one of the things that Darren (my preacher) told us over and over and over in our marriage counseling. It's not the only thing, but it's a major thing that has stuck with me. I believe that with my whole heart. Sure...Marriage is hard. Sure...at times, one if not both people will want out. But this is a decision that is made in front of God, Family, and close friends. This is a decision that you stick with...for better and for worse right?! Those are the vows you make right? I'm not sure many of you know..but Tim and I wanted our marriage to be different..to be special...we wanted our vows to be sacred, our own, and to be something to us, that in our Hard times, we could be reminded of what we said to each other and how important it was at that time in our lives that we were together. Here's a copy of my vows...if I had Tim's I'd post his too...


I Brandi take you my Tim to be my husband. I give you myself and take you as mine; this will never change from this moment in time. Years will pass by and we will grow old, but I will always love you, no matter what in life may come. Life may come easy or hard and seasons will change, but together we will look up because our Jesus Reigns. Rain will fall down, the sun will shine bright, and through hot summer days and cold winter nights, when autumn leaves fall down and spring flowers cover the ground, I will love only one more than you. My Jesus is number one and my Tim is number two. I promise to love through sick and health, week and old, among family and friends, when our babies are young and our children have grown, to leaving home with kids of their own. My Tim you are the love of my life, through wealth and abundance or just scraping by let’s remember to put our faith in Jesus Most High. I promise through all things in life, that today I take you as my Husband and I will be your wife.

I truly believe that in 50 years from now, I will be able to look at these vows and remember that when I was 25, I wrote these for the man I will spend the rest of my life with, no matter what my "feelings"are. We made this decision together and with our Faith in God, we will stay together forever!

to Blessed to be Stressed...

Due to the economy being so sucky right now, last week I was layed off from my job. It was the most horrible thing for anyone to go through. To even think for a second that your mortgage may not be payed is the most difficult thing I think. I left work afterwards because well...I was WAY to upset to stay there and finish out the day. I called Tim on the way home and cried and cried and cried...and he simply said, "baby it will be ok, we'll figure something out"
Well that day he ran into someone who works for Navy Federal (Tim works for Greenhut who is building the big branch on Nine Mile, so he knows practically everyone out there) Anyways...he said for Tim to bring in my resume the next day and he will get me an interview. It's amazing how God works...Here I am, I've been trying to get job with Navy Federal for about 2 years now, filling out numerous online applications, watching all my friends get hired on...and then BAM! Right when I'm needing a job the most, the opportunity becomes available. They called me that same day and I had an interview 2 day's later. The night of my interview, I was offered the job. Which is $2 more an hour than I was making! SO in one week, I lost my job, but gained one much better! God is SO GOOD!!!

new pictures

So I finally have some professional pictures to put up....since I've already posted a million pictures, I'll only post a few more. (in no particular order)

Time to tell the story...

Finally time to tell MY wedding story....*deep breath*...and here goes.

Let me start by saying that our wedding from the very beginning was going to be the most cost efficient yet fun wedding of all time! We knew what we wanted and what we had to spend...which ended up being around $2000, and everything started to fall into place. I found my dress at David's Bridal 2 day's after we got engaged. The dress ended up being $230 total. It was the first dress I picked out, the first one I tried on and it fit perfect. I didn't need any alterations whatsoever on it.

I guess the wedding stress really started on the Wednesday before my wedding. I took a half day off work because this was the day I had arranged for my flowers to arrive. I ordered wholesale flowers and decided to attempt to make the bouquets myself. Anyways...I arrived home around 11:30 or so and there were my flowers, lying on my front porch. Needless to say 168 flowers come in a HUGE box. SO I do what most girls do, I dropped my stuff inside the front door and dragged the box into my house. When I opened the box, I could NOT believe my eyes. Inside were probably the most beautiful flowers I'd ever seen in my life. Not only were they gorgeous, but they were still alive! I immediately started panicking...I had not imagined that the flowers would be as big as they were...so now I had nothing to put them in to preserve them. Tim made something to go over our bathtub the night before for me, which would've been perfect and worked for 2 of the boxes of flowers...but I still had 2 huge boxes left. Anyways...my mom came to the rescue with about 8 5 gallon buckets and she helped me trim the flowers and put them in water. I was incredibly worried all night about those stinkin flowers because Tim does not like our thermostat to be below 78 F. Our house that week reached a record 73...great I know!
The next night was my "bachelorette party." We (the girls in my party) and mine and Tim's mom met at the Oar House for dinner which is my all time favorite restaurant and enjoyed some miller lites, and fried pickles. After dinner we came back to my house, where I opened some presents full of lengerie and drank some wine. When that was done...we started on our bouquets. We were sooo impressed with how WONDERFUL they turned out! (if you ever need a florist...you can now call me and carrie...we will come to the rescue) haha! But seriously...I LOVED my flowers. We added the ribbon the next day...so ignore the lack of ribbon around the stems.
Friday I took the day off work. I took the girls in my party out and we all got pedicures and a couple of us got our nails done. It was so nice to sit in there and just gossip, laugh, and catch up on each other's lives. I realized after those couple day's that I have got some of the best girlfriends ever. Even if we don't see each other often enough, everytime we get together, it's like no time has passed. Friday Night we headed out to the park for our Rehearsal which ended up being different than we expected because our pavillion was having another wedding so picked a spot down by the water and improved. It turned out great! After the rehearsal and the wonderful dinner at Triggers restaurant, we went to Carries and worked on Boutonnieres. (sp?) It was fun to sit around a table with some great girls, and laugh as we figured out exactly what they are supposed to look like. We conquered those too!

Saturday, I woke up around 5:30 I think with about a million things running through my head...I'm not sure if I was nervous yet...but definately thinking that I would forget something. When Carrie rolled over and realized I was awake that early, she thought I was crazy...but I just talked her little head off until she woke up and kept me company. :) My mom arrived around 7:00 with Tyler (my brother) and Chasitie (his girlfriend) She was a HUGE help in getting us all ready. She's amazing with makeup and really helped alot in the hair department. After Carrie finished up...I seriously thought I would cry...she looked AMAZING. I almost thought for a second we were going to HER wedding. :) We left Carrie's around 9:30 or so, and headed to my preacher's house. Which is where the rest of my side of the wedding party met us to finish getting ready. They live approx. 10 minutes from Big Lagoon, and have a huge house, so it worked out great!
Arriving at the site...I started to FINALLY get nervous. Not that it was a bad thing. I've just never had wedding jitters before. To finally feel my heart speed racing was the best feeling ever. When Tyler came to get me at game time...I just started to smile. I don't think that smile left my face the whole time. (even when I almost tripped on my dress going up the steps) yes I'm a clutz. When I saw Tim at the other end of the aisle....I knew that God had answered all my prayers. I just let out the huge sigh of relief...all was done. I knew that this was the moment I had been stressing over the past 9 months...if anything went wrong now, then I wouldn't be able to prevent it. I could finally ENJOY my wedding. When Tyler and I arrived at the alter and he handed me off to my future husband, I started crying. To be honest, I'm surprised I didn't start crying that morning. But tears just started falling. My preacher Darren (my friend) is such an amazing person. The words he said to describe mine and Tim's relationship was the best words I've ever heard. He knows us so well, that he could just speak and the right words flowed from him. The way he said that we were built for each other.That we were made for each other in order to help each other grow stronger, to grow more christlike, to raise a family in the church. God knew what he was doing...as he always has and always will. Tim and I decided to write our own vows (which is something our preacher has never let anyone do) when Darren held up our vows for us to read to each other, there was such peace as I read my words to him. I knew that what we were saying to each other truly comes from God. We know that we will mess up, that there will be times when we just simply won't get along...but we will look up to God for strength, direction, guidence, and with that, our marriage will prevail. I'm so lucky...(and so is Tim).

Looking back at the wedding and describing to others what the day was like, I tell them:
I really don't remember much...I didn't get to speak to very many people at the wedding...I couldn't tell you who all was there...Heck even my dad and his side of the family left before the reception began. But what I remember is this...I shared a dance with the one person God made for me with all my friends and family members smiling and taking pictures. I shared a day with my best girlfriends that mean more than the world to me. I saw a friend who I hadn't seen in years and when we hugged, I could feel God smiling (he knew I wanted her there.) My DJ was a youth pastor I had when I was younger and just him being there was amazing, but the fact that he DJ'd my wedding for FREE was a blessing in and of itself. My photographer was a friend of a friend who is trying to get into the photography business and needed pictures for his portolio...let me tell you...he was EVERYWHERE taking pictures of everything and everyone (also for FREE.) It was HOT...but the breeze felt great! The day was beautiful without a cloud in the sky.
Even though there were people there to ruin my day (and even tried with their snotty comments), and the food ran out before my wedding party could eat (which is what happens when people don't RSVP), and even though the daquiri machines were low and the alcohol ran out (besides the champagne which was strictly for the wedding party)...I can honestly say that was the best wedding I've been to. Not because it was mine. But because we ...in the process of paying for our wedding, bought a home, had money for a honeymoon, did not take out a loan, and even had money to buy our newest babies when we got back, we did the whole thing ourselves. I handmade the fans/programs, I handmade all the invitations, the flowers were made at my home, our ringbearer carried a conch shell for the rings and our flower girls carried seashell windchimes that I made. I am so incredibly glad that I did all this. It made the experience mean so much to everyone involved.
We can go to bed at night without a doubt in our minds that God was with us on our day.
I'm so blessed.

Meet...

SIMON AND PAISLEY....

(but ignore the sleepyheads...we were TIRED from staying up all night with the pups. )

these are our new puppies...they are 8 week's old as of yesterday and are a HANDFUL! They are both Chocolate labs and are brother and sister. We love them so much already!

You can call me Mrs Hadden

I'm Married! AND....we have 2 new additions to our little family. I will post pictures of our babies as soon as I find my camera cord.

Here's some pictures from the wedding though...

The wedding party!

First dance...

finally husband and wife...
kissing the bride...
cake smashers...
getting dressed...
I'll hopefully have tons more REAL soon! :)

FAIRBANK, ALASKA

Yep...you read it right...this post will be about Alaska! For most people in Pensacola, not only are we immune to the hot weather and are comfortable with it, we couldn't imagine being in a place where it gets colder than 45 degrees. Well that's the weather in Fairbanks...Right now. In the middle of August. Here it's lower 90's...there it's lower 40s. Anyways...why am I writing this...

Because I found out last night that My Baby Brother got a full ride scholarship to play basketball at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks!! Crazy I know...But I'm so excited for him!

where did the past 9 months go!?!

I can not believe that in 3 weeks and 3 days I will be MARRIED!! It seems like just yesterday that Tim and I met . It's amazing how I can go back to that day and remember everything..from what we were wearing to what I ate for dinner to our first kiss. I am so blessed that God put such a wonderful person in my life. I really am so excited to become Brandi Hadden.


Here's a little sample of what all will be included in our big day...








I'm so blessed to have so many people willing to take a full Saturday and help. A few girls from my work (my boss included) has taken on full responsibility of decorating the whole ceremony and reception site. Since it's all in the same place, it shouldn't be too difficult, but I'm so grateful that they are doing this for me! Our wedding will be held at Big Lagoon State Park so we wanted everyone to feel very comfortable. We are aiming for a laid back picnic type wedding with a beach flair.


This past weekend Carrie threw Tim and I our couple's shower and it was so much fun! We all dressed in 80s and rocked the house down! :)



here's some pictures...
this is Tim and I and our Cake (how awesome is that cake?!?!)


Here's all the girls all dressed up!!


here's all the guys dressed up! (can you spot Tim in his mullet) hilarious!!! I literally laughed at him all night long!!





We had so much fun all night! We played name that tune (in which I suck at), voted on best dressed, and then opened presents!! Thanks Carrie for a great time!! Tim and I now have enough food to last us through the rest of this year. :)





After the party, we decided it would be fun to go sing karaoke dressed in our 80s gear! Here's Tori and me Jamming out to something fun I'm sure!!!



I'm hoping that this month flies by...I have so much stuffed left to do before the wedding it's crazy though!! The week of the wedding I will be pretty much a big ball of stress...here's my list:

• pack for the honeymoon (8 days in Destin)
• pack for the wedding day (since I'm staying at Carrie's house the night before)
• pray that the flowers arrive on Wednesday so I can get them all in water (yes I ordered my own flowers....yes I know...I'm crazy!)
• Prepare 11 boutonnieres, 5 corsages, 7 bouquets, and 2 pomander balls. GOOD LORD HELP ME!! (I just realized how much that is) Good thing I ordered 168 flowers. :)
• have my bachelorette/lingerie party
• I have to work the Friday before my wedding b/c we have a stupid show going on sale...which means my mom will have to go pick up my cakes

oh man...please pray for me. The bad thing is that the majority of this stuff will have to wait until Thursday night. Anywho...Let me just say I can't wait until I can walk down the aisle and know it's all over with.

HomeOwners!!

Yay!! Tomorrow is going to be probably the biggest day of our life..(besides our wedding day of course.) We are going in at 9:30 to sign papers on our first home. I'm beyond ecstatic!





Here are some pictures... This is the front of our home...the red will definately be painted a different color in the next couple of months. AND We'll eventually close in the garage WAY later down the road.
This is our living room/dining room...LOVE the hardwood floors and how open everything is.
This is our kitchen area. Small but cozy...and everything is brand new...including granate countertops.
This is our back yard and shed. The yard is so big. I'm excited to get a puppy so he can romp around back there.

another close up of the kitchen.


I'm so excited! I just can't wit to get in there and put furniture in and light up our fireplace. It's all way overwhelming but in a fantastic way!!

GUESS WHO'S MOVING!??!?

I recieved a call this morning from my lendor that our Loan was processed and ACCEPTED!! Woohoo!!! So our closing date is set and we're moving in next FRIDAY!!!

Finally GOOD news!!

Well we FINALLY found a house and are in the process of buying it. It's the cutest little house and I'm so excited! Our offer was excepted on Tuesday, we went to the bank yesterday to fill out all the paperwork and get an appraisal on the way, and we have our home inspection today!! I'm sooo ready to move in already! Our closing date is set for June 27th but could be sooner. It all depends on how everything goes with the loan stuff. YAY For US!!!

days go by...

This past week has been a whirlwind. As soon as I thought things would get better, everything got a lot worse!

We put an offer on a house (for the second time) and found out a week later that we were outbid yet again so the search continues. Let me tell you, house buying is a very Stressful thing. If I wasn't getting married to the man of my dreams in 3 months, I would totally live in an apartment for the rest of my life.

Saturday a week ago, I had to give my dog up for adoption. It was a very very very sad day but I had no option. My mom accidentally let him out of the house while I was at the beach and he bit a little boy on a bike. (Most of you know the extremes I've dealt with, with this dog) and since this was my 3rd offense...even though he hasn't bitten before, it was either I get sued and pay a Lot of $$$ for his nasty behavior, or I give him up. I keep telling myself its for the better, especially with Tim and I getting married and one day having children. If he were to bite one of my kids the situation would be way worse. SO...Tim and I have spent the last week mourning our "loss." Tim promised that when we FINALLY get into a house that we can get a new sweet puppy that will be good with kids. The problem with Bandit was that he was a mixed breed, and had some Rot Weiler in him. Rotweiler + Labrador = disastor. Part of him wanted to be sweet and friendly while the other part needed to protect everything around him. He seriously had something wrong upstairs..and it jsut got worse the bigger he got.

Anyways...we're still hunting for homes so keep us in your prayers that we find something soon. We want to get into something before the wedding that way we won't have to worry about getting everything moved in and can just concentrate on us after the wedding.

that's all for now....

4 and a half more months....

Ok so this whole wedding planning thing is seriously harder than it sounds. It seems like everyday there are new things to do and pay for. And our wedding is Seriously cheap compared to others. I honestly don't know how others can afford it. I think our most expensive thing in the wedding is the photographer and that's under $2,000. So even that is a good deal if you ask me. Of course the WHOLE wedding budget is coming from mine and Tim's pockets so that definately plays a role in the pricing department. Anywhoo...I just can't wait to be Brandi Hadden.

On to more important things. Tim and I found a house! We are planning on putting in an offer sometime next week. I'm sooo Excited! I really didn't think this day would ever arrive where we actually found a home we could afford without breaking the bank and actually moving on with the process. Of course, this goes without saying that we still have to make an actual offer, so I can't gaurantee that the house is ours...but it's still exciting. hopefully this time next month we will be moving in! The house is exactly 4 minutes or so from my mom's house and about 10 minutes from Tim's parents house...and that's exactly what we wanted. Plus it's directly across the street from the elementary school Tim and I both went so the school district couldn't get any better. It's a small home...but that's ok. When we walked in, we both immediately fell in love with it. It's 3 bedroom 1 and a half bath and is on half an acre. Which is a Must! Plus it has a nice wooden deck on the back of the house so it's ready for our first barbque! AND the best part, the half bath is where the washer and dryer is located. I was really excited about that. That means that we won't have to worry about lugging in clothes hampers from outside to inside every time we need to wash clothes. And the Half bath is connected to the master bath, so if we have guests over, they can easily access the shower. Seriously..it's perfect for Tim and I. I just can't wait until we find out if it's really going to be ours. I'm so ready to have our own place.

Other than that...everything is going rather well. We decided to move our wedding from the church to outdoors. For more than one reason...not only is it $300 cheaper, but it really suits our personalities. We are definately beach people so that's where we want it to be. I'm super excited about it. It's really going to be more of a barbque with a wedding than anything. Nothing too fancy...just everyone getting together and enjoying the whole idea of growing up together. Plus...Tim and I will be uniting as one in the process.

Week-day blues...

OK...where to start. Seems like weekends when I have tons of stuff to write about, I forget and other weekends I find time somewhere in my schedule to blog. (except for now, I'm at work)
2 weeks ago me and Tim went to Alan Jackson at the wharf! It was so much fun! Tim actually won the tickets on the radio, so they weren't great seats, but he definitely puts on a better show than I was expecting. He has so many hits out that he couldn't even sing all the verses on some of them. And he sang the whole time with no stopping for 2 hours straight. It was great! Anyways...This past weekend, I had to work Friday and Saturday b/c of Monster Trucks :( and Tim worked on the house all weekend totally re-doing my bedroom. And I thought I would have to work Sunday too, but I got a call around 2 saying I could have the day off! That was a great blessing. It gets so tiring working 2 jobs, especially when one of the jobs is around 50-55 hours a week. So instead of work, I met Carrie at my cousins house so we could label invitations for my very first Bridal Shower. I'm so excited!! It's really starting to feel like I'm getting married now that we're really starting to plan. I mean, don't get me wrong It felt real when we got engaged, but 10x more real now! Speaking of weddings, I'm excited about Robbie's wedding this weekend. I've known this boy since we were in elementary school, so it's definitely exciting to see him with the one person God made for him. I love Tiffany to death too, she's such a sweet person! Man there are SOOO many weddings (or planning) going on right now. It's so crazy to see all these people that you've known since teenage years getting hitched. It so surreal to know that we're all growing up and that it's going by so fast. Soon we'll all be having babies and going to our 10 year reunion. Hopefully not in that order seeing as how our 10 year reunion is in less than 4 years from now. ahh!

OK I'm done rambling....have a great week!

HOUSES HOUSES AND MORE HOUSES

So Tim and I went to a first time homebuyers seminar last night and finally got pre-qualified for a house! While it was exciting to finally be getting our "feet wet" it sucks at the same time. We learned last night that we make too much combined to be qualified for the first time homebuyers grant. That sucks!! I told Tim that maybe I should just quit my job and then he could support me, but he didn't like that idea too much. :)

We're still eligible for first time homebuyer loans and what not, but it's so aggrivating that they have all this money out there and we can't get it. Anyways. At least now we know what we can get approved for and what we can afford. So in the next 3-5 months we will be HOMEOWNERS!! yay!!!