Nothing like waiting until the last minute...

It was August 20th. 8 days before THE big day. 8 days before we would be sharing our special day with 25 of our closest family and friends. One problem: we had no idea where we would be saying "I Do".

Yep, that's right, we had no clue where we were going to have the wedding one week before the big day. We knew we wanted to have it somewhere in Rocky Mountain National Park but we just had to pick the perfect spot. The lovely park rangers gave us a list of about 20 spots that we would be allowed to use for the ceremony. Bobby wanted to look at about 3 of them and choose, I wanted to look at all 20. Twice.

We got in the car, took the 90 minute drive to discuss our plans and there we were. Spot number 1, then 2, then 3...all the way to 20. After 8 hours of searching, we had our wedding spot. We headed home and that was it!

Not so much. I woke up the next day and completely changed my mind about the spot. Something just didn't feel right. We then drove back to the park to check out the 2 spots that we liked and the new decision was made.

I am so happy that Bobby was so willing to give me exactly what I wanted for our wedding day! I couldn't be happier with the spot that we picked!

Here are a few pictures from our actual wedding location and a few other possible spots.

This one just didn't do it for me. No grass, no water, no go.

This lake was where we originally thought we would have the ceremony.

Patient, patient Bobby

One of the first spots we chose

The view from the first spot

The "aisle" that I walked down to meet my groom

The actual wedding spot!

"Hey, take my picture - see how I look on this rock"

Perfection!

Never in a million years did I think that we would be having our wedding in Colorado. Never in a million years did I think that it would be so perfect!

Hello HGTV, it's me, Meghan!

Many of you should know by now that I LOVE...okay, I am OBSESSED with HGTV. Some may say it's an unhealthy obsession, but if my walls could talk, they would disagree.

This love affair with HGTV started about 2 years ago and only got worse when we bought our first house. When we moved into this house, we made a list of about 100 projects, 99 of which we could totally do on our own.

After painting and redecorating came the big stuff. The first big thing on our list was our deck...ahhh, the deck. I always thought I wanted a deck and I loved it when we first moved in, until we started to notice how bad it really was. At only 4 years old, this deck was ready to retire. Add the cheapest wood you can find (thanks previous homeowners) + 300 days of direct sunlight and you get a splitting, splintering, rotting deck.

After much convincing from our neighbors, Jeremy & Tenicia, I knew that we could take down the deck and then pour a stamped concrete patio on our own. This would take some determination and serious help from a few neighbors!

90 degrees, taking apart the deck

Maybe not the best attire for deck removal, but it was so damn hot! I had to bring out the Adidas soccer sandals from 1999.

Bobby and the jack-hammer. Those stairs were brutal! Jeremy and his son Tru made sure that Bobby was doing it right!

Don't mind the gigantic concrete truck and the pump truck taking up the entire road!

Smoothing out the concrete

The pump truck getting the concrete to the back yard! That pump truck was money well spent!

The almost finished product - it still has the releasing powder on it from the stamps.

This is what happened about 8 hours later. Hail storm at 11:00pm that night. The concrete would not be dry for 24 hours...

Bobby and I ran out there in the middle of the night to cover as much as possible. We only had 3 tarps which didn't even cover a quarter of the patio! We had to rip open 30 contractor bags and lay them all over the patio! The hail only lasted about 20 minutes, but it sure did leave it's mark.

There are a few mark's on the patio but only we know that it was from a gigantic hail storm! I like to tell myself that it gives the patio character!

A beautiful day in the neighborhood...

Who knew that living on a cul-de-sac could be so much fun?! I sure as hell didn't! We got very lucky when we moved into our new house last year by meeting some amazing neighbors!

Here are a few pictures from a couple fun weekends with the gang.

Bobby on a 6 year olds go-kart.

Me, Dominika, Trisha and Tenicia

Bobby and Tru are racing. He is 6 years old...

Tenicia, Dominika and me

Happy Birthday Tenicia!

Go Rockies!

Ahhhhh, summer. It doesn't get much better than the summer in Colorado. This was my first Rockies game with Sarah!

I think I may have eaten nachos with extra cheese AND dippin' dots. It's a game, you have to eat like that or it's just a sin. Yum!

Great seats!

Meg and Sarah

My bridal "thing" - July 25th, 2009

Here is how the conversation went...

Meghan: "Please don't make me have a bridal shower"
Liz: "You have to have a bridal shower, you are getting married"
Meghan: "No"
Liz: "Oh well"

Here are the pictures from my bridal lunch/party/get-together/hang out session. Not a bridal shower!

The host - aka, my best friend, Elizabeth

The proud momma

Thank goodness for Liz!

The gang watching me open presents. Awkward...

A few very close "family" members! Barb and Phyllis have been around since the day I was born and Katie has been around since we moved to Peters Township about 10 years ago. Great people!

I don't even know what to say...

Host one and host two (Janet and Elizabeth)

Even my cousin Logan made it to the party - ladies man!

Tim's family - his sister Tracy and mom, Donna with me and my mother.

My other family ~ mother-in -law and sister-in-law

I am so thankful for all of the amazing people that I have in my life! Some that have been there from day one, all of them will hopefully be in my life forever!

Thank you all for an amazing Bridal get-together!

Sooooooon...

What a whirlwind!! The past 2 months have come and gone, all in the blink of an eye! I have SO much to post that I honestly don't even know where to begin.

I am going to hop to it tomorrow so get ready for lots and lots of pictures!

Everything is better with a picture - especially of my little man, Porter!

What a difference a year makes...

July 4th, 2009 - Hanging out with our neighbors watching some fireworks!

July 4th, 2008 - Getting engaged?!!!

Roughin' it...

Yes, you read that correctly. Roughin' it. As in Camping...in the mountains...with no cell phone or Internet service...for 36 hours.

I loved every minute of it! Okay so it rained, and by rained I mean spilled large buckets of water from the sky throughout the night BUT we had a trailer. Thank the lord for that trailer! Brent and Jana were nice enough to ask us to come along for a weekend in Vail. Bobby said "yes", me...not so much. There was a little convincing but I am so glad that we went!

Yes, we had a trailer with a bathroom, shower, kitchen and beds but who is keeping track. I went camping!

There were a few hiccups along the way but nothing that 4 adults and 3 dogs couldn't handle. Yes, all the dogs were there, Tino, Diezel and Porter. Diezel is a wild man and Porter tries so hard to keep up but he loves his nap-time. Diezel was not giving Porter his nap-time...

We started at about 9,000 feet and went up to 10,500 for some better views!

This is what we saw when we arrived at our campsite - amazing!

Me taking 500 pictures of Porter in the side mirror of the Jeep

This is what we saw driving up the mountain!

Aspens

Amazing view from the trailer

My first camping trip!

Brent and Bobby after a long ride in the rain

This is what Porter and Diezel did for 24 hours straight...nonstop

The sky was gorgeous!

Best buddies

Our Camp site (thank heavens for that trailer!)

We went up a little higher on the quad (10,500 feet up)

Look at me - down and dirty on a quad with no makeup!

Brent took Tino for a ride and he loved it!

We were all searching for Porter as we were packing up the cars getting ready to head home. Somehow he snuck his way into Brent and Jana's truck to take a nap.

Diezel is to much for him I guess!

Some of the views on the way back down

A few amazing homes in Vail