CAST your vote!!!

with the success and safety of our little one...we (well, more like i) haha...decided on a whim to do a gender reveal party. i was searching ideas online, and since the date that we wanted it was so close to the election, we decided to have an "election" themed gender reveal party. i took the idea and replicated it with my own little touches. thank you to this website for the awesome idea. we can't wait to find out whether we're having a boy or a girl!!!! our ultrasound will be this upcoming thursday.

my CYSTer

so...i'm back to blogging seeing that i have a little time on my hands. i recently had surgery on october 9 to remove a dermoid cyst that they found in one of my ovaries...only complication, is that i'm also pregnant at the time. praise the Lord that both the baby & i are safe...thank you to my doctors and nurses that took such good care of me, and of course, to all the prayer warriors out there that continued to lift me up in prayer during the whole procedure. they found it the day of my first ultrasound. i had to get a secondary (more in depth) ultrasound two days later, and then an MRI. it was pretty crazy, my doctor still couldn't fathom how i didn't feel the cyst, seeing it was 10.5" in size..yes, that's inches...not cm, but i had no pain, and my periods were always regular. during the surgery, i was awake the whole time...they had to deflate it before they removed it, but my only option was to remove it for the safety of myself & the baby. now baby has lots of room to grow. i lost 6-7 lbs upon returning home from the hospital, post-surgery & recover. the pictures are a picture of what the cyst looks like...pretty gnarly!!! that's actually my left ovary and my fallopian tube!!!!! 

bachelorette party weekend

what a wonderful weekend i had with the girls....my sister did an AMAZING job with everything. everything i could've wanted to do, we did. thanks sister for listening. it was great.

first, went to check in residence marriott in downtown and decorated the room. then meeting the girls there where we walked to den's dragon for dinner. the rain started pouring, it was hilarious...i couldn't help but just laugh and smile knowing what a memorable weekend this was going to be, running in my heels...what could be better! haha. we dried off inside, had a round of blue dolphin shots courtesy of adam (hahaha...so great!) and then dinner. DELICIOUS!!! the waiter jonathan was cool...even had ice cream with a candle (too bad they don't have a bachelorette song....) and a drink of grape vodka, sweet & sour, and something else....

then back to the hotel... (praise GOD it stopped raining)...then just hung out @ the hotel. we played games...pin the bowtie on eli, toiler paper dress, what the bride wore, and 2 truths & a lie. it was great getting to know each other....and they each shared their fondest memory with me...i am so blessed with wonderful friends. then we talked till about 3 in the morning...

the next day...i woke up early and snuck out of the room to have continental breakfast, and talk to eli on his way to work. the continental breakfast was so yummy....i got time to reflect and some quality time with the Lord to reflect. ven & chelsea joined me later, then my sister. after, we checked out and headed back to my house to get ready for the winery. we drove up to temecula to wiens cellar for wine tasting. some girls went home, and the rest of us had dinner at choices buffet in pala casino.

what a wonderful night....now, going to spend a day with the family and getting massages with my sister, and watching "in time" later..a great end to a wonderful weekend.

wrapping & more wrapping...

now that the giveaways are stuffed...we have to wrap. it's my attention to detail that does me in, but i know they'll be worth it in the end. first, we had to cut wrapping paper....we have our two colors, silver & aqua blue, then cutting. we're still in the process, but currently taking a break from wrapping. it definitely gets tedious after a while. i think we have about 100 left to go..."just keep swimming, just keep swimming.."

giveaways...

time for giveaways now...my whole family including my dad and my sister's boyfriend, ryan, all worked together to stuff the giveaway into the boxes. with all the teamwork, it didn't take us too long to do it. maybe about 2 hours all together. a lot of components into making it, just like with the invitations. thanks to my mom and sister to putting the boxes together though. they've been working the whole week assembling 300 boxes for giveaways. what are the giveaways..i guess you'll just have to wait until the wedding to see. hehe.

flowers...

so it seems eli & i have most of our vendors picked and made deposits...the only thing left to confirm is flowers and the wedding cake. today i met with jocelyn, a friend of the family, to discuss flowers. it was so awesome getting to hear her opinion and also get to see the kids again...noah, hannah, micah, and eli (elijah). so hopefully it will all come together and that will be booked soon. it's coming together......

6 months and counting....

wow, it's hard to believe and eli & i have six months left until our wedding....whoa!!!! it's amazing. i'm sooooo excited and looking forward to our new life together as man & wife. no nervousness yet, but we'll see as we closer to the date. haha. our last premarital class was last night. had a blast not only talking about the last chapter of the book...soulmates...but we chatted about movies (scary movies), games, our wedding, and about dogs. still so much to do....but the class definitely allowed me to be able to communicate with eli better. :)

p.s. to alexis & michael, your wedding is tomorrow!!!! so exciting!!!! may the Lord continue bless you tonight, tomorrow, and forever.

the first day...

so i wanted to do a wedding website, but i figured that this would be possibly better...so we'll see how it goes with this wedding blog. i (ara) will probably do most, if not all of the posting on this, as eli is barely on his computer, but you'll never know...he can surprise you. haha. we've already done so much for the wedding already and haven't really posted anything up...so i will be backtracking on our timeline thus far...so you can see how we've progressed. too bad there's no way i could change the time on this...haha. it's still in the works...so bear with me on this...thanks!!!

ooohhhhh....i did find a way to change the dates on this....yay!!!! (as of 11:30 am) 

premarital class #7

technically tonight is the last class since we're done watching all the dvds...the topic of the night was "are you and your partner soulmates?" it's a very fitting end to our class.....what makes us soulmates is not how well we get along or how much alike we are, but how we are connected to the very depth of our souls, through our spiritual bond with the Jesus Christ. and of course, i couldn't leave without taking pictures...so here is our group....so blessed to have met these wonderful couples and i just pray that the Lord continues to work in each of their relationships, not only leading up to the wedding, but everyday after that. and for kyle & kristina, they were so great and wonderful!!! thanks for opening up your home to us each thursday night and for being real. p.s. thanks also for all the yummy cookies. hehe. pictured below from L to R: eli, ara, corey, christina, alexis, michael, nikki, and anthony

premarital class #7

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tonight was our one-on-one with kyle & kristina. it went really awesome!!! and we talked about the breakthrough that eli & i had the week before (totally based around the whole gender gap breakdown). the topic for the night is "do you know how to fight a good fight?" eli & i had a lot of moments were we just looked @ each other and just smiled because we could totally relate to some of the other couples. after class, we went over to christina's house and had a game night. it was awesome getting to hang out with all of us as a group. the girls talked about their weddings (of course...hehe) and our progress with it...invitations, guest list, etc. while the guys stayed in the kitchen and talked guy stuff...haha. after, we played taboo, girls vs. guys, where the girls totally demolished the guys. it's a valiant effort. it was definitely a busy day for me and eli....2 cake tastings, kayaking, our one-on-one, and game night...woohooo!!!

"ashley claire's" tasting

our 5th cake tasting...and i think this will be our last...haha...we already had another earlier this morning, and this was our second. unfortunately, my camera fell into the water (we tipped over) while kayaking, hence, no pictures for this one. the design that the baker, susan, thought of was the best thus far...thinking of thus i didn't even come up with, but loved. she said she could make any cake that we wanted...so many options...it's going to take a while to make up our mind. eli was definitely going into a sugar coma after this one...

"euro pastry & chocolate fountain" tasting

our 4th cake tasting...two days after cute cakes. we went early in the morning before we went kayaking..way to work it off!!! haha. chef urs was really professional...and brought up some aspects about our cake that we've never thought of before. the cakes were DELICIOUS!! (i think our top contender so far...), but the design is something that may need work....hmmm...taste vs. design....i think i'll go w/ taste. hehe....if we pick this bakery...it will be a duo mousse (vanilla & chocolate combined, but not really like marble), and a white cake w/ strawberry filling and a mango mousse...something totally different, but yummy as well. it'll be a surprise though which one we choose...you'll just have to wait & see...hehe.

videographer - booked!

tonight we signed our contract with our videographer. we kinda knew from our first meeting with him that he would be the one that would do our wedding, but wanted to keep our options open due to pricing...but in the end, we went with kristian roque cinematography. he is awesome and is the recommendation for weddings at grand tradition estate. we are looking forward to working with him, and even more excited on what he has in store for the wedding day. woohoo!!!

"cute cakes" tasting

eli had two weeks off, and i got somewhat of a vacation...my last two days of work, i had off..so i had two weeks where i got four days off each. this was our 3rd cake tasting (our 1st one w/ grove pastry shop, and our 2nd one w/ cake indulgence). they had so much variety of cakes...and the fillings were even more varied.....if we end up choosing them, we will have a deep south chocolate cake w/ strawberry-rasberry filling and country pear w/ cream cheese and a buttercream icing. yummy!!! we were stuffed. to think we were trying to fit all cake tastings in a day!!! whoa!

premarital class #6

christina brought some really yummy cupcakes for us during this class. yum!!!! "have you bridged the gender gap?" is the topic for tonight. it was a very insightful discussion and eli & i had a lot to think and talk about after the class was over...

guest list - updated

on the way to disneyland, eli & i talked about our guest list. we haven't really discussed it in a while, and knew we had to get going on who we wanted to be at our wedding or not. it's still not 100% completed, but we're working on it. trying to get save the dates out soon, and currently working on invitation invites.

premarital class #5

we're all complete tonight...tonight we talked about "can you say what you mean and understand what you hear?" hmmm, this is something on communication and i know eli & i need to work on this....i guess the answer to the question would be sometimes...haha

fabrics & such

both eli & i had the day off so we went with my mom to the l.a. fashion district to get some fabric for our linens & drapery. we browsed for a little bit, then got a steal deal at ben textile. so, i can't wait to see how they all turn out. it'll totally save us plenty of money....!!!! afterwards, i took my mom & eli to eat at roscoe's for the first time. i think i hyped it up for eli too much, he only thought it was ok.

premarital class #4

we brought sushi over this week...even though it was cinco de mayo (oops..i totally forgot). corey & christina couldn't make tonight. : / this week's topic is: "have you developed the habit of happiness?" i know that this is something i struggle with, and i tend to get frustrated so much more easier than eli does. hopefully reading this chapter and applying it in my life will help me to live a happier life, not only with myself, my relationship with eli, but with all those around me.

premarital class #3

the topic of the night..."can you identify your love style?" i already know that my top two are words of affirmation and quality time and for eli, it's physical touch...but it's amazing how you still impart your own love style (language) on your significant other wanting that for yourself and vice versa...when they don't even respond to it that well...hmmm, something to think about....