Thank You, Thank You, (Thank you...thank you)

There is a reason why I have waited until Wednesday to write my weekly weekend report. My back aches, my head aches, and last but not least, my fingers (especially the right ring finger) aches. So THIS is what a wedding does to you, eh?! :)

On Friday, Michael and I attended our second marriage counseling session with Dr. Bill Buker. Our test results have yet to come in due to a very odd circumstance. They were mailed in a timely fashion but the postman had Bill Buker down as being deceased so the test scores were returned to their origin. When Bill called the post office and heard the news, he was a bit taken aback and let them know that he was very much alive. We meet again this Friday and will hopefully receive the results then.

After the session we dropped by my apartment, scooped up Thumbs (ok, let's be honest, part of my backache is due to "scooping up" Thumbs-HA!) and drove home to Fort Smith. Michael's parents were already there so the 6 of us sat down to a nice dinner.

Saturday morning we woke up to some pretty monstrous claps of thunder. What's a wedding shower without a true shower? The weather cleared up pretty quickly and it was off to Ann Edward's house. I was very nervous driving there because we had only heard from people letting us know they would not be attending the shower. Not to mention, 13 of the guests were hostesses. No, you did not read that wrong, I actually said 13. (Let's take a brief moment to allow that astronomical number to sink in.....) Anywho, I worried for nothing because there was a great turnout! I enjoyed myself immensely and Michael enjoyed leaving immensely. :) It was wonderful seeing old friends, school teachers, etc. And while this might sound trite, we got a lot of AWESOME stuff! WOOHOO!

After the shower the 4 of us drove back home, exhausted from small talk. We ate a quick lunch and Michael proceeded to take a nice nap. The girls got back in the car to exchange a few duplicates and look for more reception decorations. It was an extremely long day that ended at Calico County (yeeeehaw). I tell you what, there is nothing in life (exhaustion, anxiety, etc.) that a batch of fried okra can't fix!

Michael's parents left Sunday morning and after having some Geno's pizza, we took off as well. I was very proud of us, we got back to my apartment and immediately put away all of our gifts. It was a daunting task but we enjoyed it--it is crazy to see all of these cool gadgets and realize they are all ours!

I wish I could say "and so ended another great weekend" but it kept going. I spent several hours on Monday and Tuesday writing thank you notes (I believe it ended up being 60 total) for the gifts from Saturday. My mom also drove up to help clean the apartment since Kaitlin moved out this past weekend. It was very sad to come back to an empty place and not see Kait or George. It was a great 1.5 years living together and Michael will have some big shoes to fill (even bigger than his typical size 12s)!

Mom also helped with the invitations and envelopes. That task, my friends, blew me away. I was thinking "Oh, how long can it take to stamp, stuff, and lick a few hundred envelopes?" 5 hours is the answer. It was ridiculous! Leslie was kind enough to address all of them for us as a wedding gift and I can't even imagine how long THAT task must have taken. It really felt like the envelopes were multiplying at an exponential rate.

This post is also multiplying at an exponential rate so I will go ahead and end it (as well as the suffering). One last detail: Mom and I went to a seamstress yesterday afternoon to have my dress altered and bustled. I was so happy, we got to the place (never been there before) and it turned out to be the same lady who altered my bridesmaid's dress for Leslie's wedding. I thought she'd gone out of business but she'd only moved to a new location--HOOORAY!

We are going to Grand Lake this weekend with Kait and Stephen so my next post should not even include the word "wedding" and it BETTER not include the word "shower" (I'm praying for a sunny weekend). Until then... :)