My Dress is Finally in...

I received a call yesterday that my dress is finally in... A whole month and a half later than they said!!! I get to try it on, MY DRESS for the first time tomorrow. I am soooo EXCITED! I was starting to get Antsy. What a relief!

Another Shower...

This past weekend David and I headed to GR for Angie's Baby Shower. Jessie, Patty, Jacqueline, and I did a great job coordinating seeing that we are all so far away from each other. The shower turned out Beautiful and I know that Angie really enjoyed it! Pretty soon us Burch girls are going to be Shower planning experts. Stay tuned for our upcoming shower idea website!!! (that was a joke)Below are some photos of baby Charlotte's shower...

Table Setting

Name that baby game

Name that baby game

Baby Bingo!

Prizes! (GC's to Target and Starbucks)

Center pieces

Cheesecake bar

Adorable Stationary Favors

Soon to be Charlotte's Mommy and Daddy!!

The Big Day...

Only 87 more days til our wedding! Can you believe it??

Home, Sick!!

Today was the first time David has EVER called in sick to work. He has had a mild cough for the last couple weeks and in the past couple days it seems to be getting worse. (going to see the Dr. at 6:30 tonight) Last night he bought a bottle of Vicks cough syrup and he thinks it made him feel worse. Almost like he's hungover, with the shakes and dizziness. Here is a cute photo of my poor babies home sick!

Tis The Season

I wish weekends lasted longer. We had such a nice, calm, fun weekend. Saturday Rachael came to town to visit. David, Steve, Rachael, and I took a trip to twelve oaks mall to browse, went to Olive Garden for dinner and came home and drank some wine and attempted teaching Rachael the hustle. Boy was that funny! Today, David and I brought in our Christmas tree from the garage, turned on the Christmas music and decorated. (Our first Christmas, in our new home). We only decorated so early because for the next 4 weekends we are too busy. It was so nice just to be able to be home and relax all weekend. We needed it! Here is a nice pic of our 9' Christmas tree. It looks huge in such a small living room.

Davids Bridal...

As most of you already know, I was a little irritated with the customer service provided by Davids Bridal about a month ago. But after today, I have totally changed my mind and remembered that just because one person was having a bad day or just isn't very smart, doesn't mean that the whole company is stupid.

(I know this, I work in Customer Service ;))

Anyhow, I just called DB to confirm our dress orders and everyone has paid for their dresses, or at least half. I also placed an order for all of the girls jewelry. I am just so excited to see everyone all dressed up on our special day. Now we just have to find a cute little dress for Helena that isn't too expensive. The flower Girl dress that I picked out for Brianna and Helena is WAY too big for Helena. Please let me know if you know of any reasonable dress places.

The customer service I received by Lindsay at Davids Bridal in Ann Arbor today was above and beyond. Next time I get a nasty customer service agent I will remember to ask for someone else or just ask for Lindsay.

So much to do soooo little time...

My week consists of non-stop to do's. Today and tomorrow hopefully I can get some laundry done. Thursday, I have a dentist appointment back in Pinckney and will hopefully be able to visit with Leslie for a bit before heading to work. Friday poor Chewee is getting Neutered. This weekend we have a financial advisor coming to the house. We have company coming this weekend to get some Long overdue dance lessons. That's right, I am teaching Rachael (David's cousin, my soon to be cousin n' law) the hustle so she can join the fellow hustlers at our wedding. We are going to maybe make some recipes out of the Hungry Girl cook book, share some wine, and do the hustle all night until she gets it right. :)

For the rest of the weekend I need to shop for some baby shower game prizes and come up with a couple of shower games to get the party started!!! Any prize/game ideas are welcome...

Covenant O'Love

This past weekend, Julie and I spent time at the Covenant Love Retreat at St John's in Plymouth MI. To be honest, we were both a little nervous, not because of the content of the retreat, but because of the fact that we were spending it with other couples that we didn't know. Not to long into the day, we met a nice young couple and began chatting. Instantly, the ice was broken and we found ourselves laughing and having a good time. The speakers that they had arranged were very informative and they did a very good job of keeping our attention. I can honestly say that there wasn't a dull speaker and at no time did I feel like I was going to fall asleep.

The thing that I liked most about the presentations was that Julie and I could relate to everything they were saying and we both listened with open minds to advise on how to make our relationship stronger. We felt that the information we received will not only help us with our marriage preparation, but give us direction once we get married. They presented many situations that you don't think about on a daily basis having an effect on a marriage. Julie and I took in all that information and are a stronger couple because of it.

I cannot say that I enjoyed one presentation more than the other, but I did feel the presentation regarding the effects of prayer in marriage was one of the most important. We were told that over half of all marriages end in divorce (not a bad thing for Ryan, being a divorce lawyer), but we were also told that only 1 in 15000 couples that pray together regularly end in divorce. I'm sure that Julie and I aren't always going to see eye to eye our entire lives, but if we can learn to understand each other better and pray together about things that effect our marriage, there is no doubt in my mind that we will have a very happy life together.

Overall, though very tiring, we thought it was a very beneficial weekend and we recommend it to any couple that is planning on getting married. Regardless of Religion, a marriage preparation retreat like Covenant Love will only help build a relationship stronger than it already is. For us, it was fun, informative, and very eventful. It also provided us with many laughs.

Another part of the weekend that I enjoyed was when I once again received the sacrament of reconciliation. Unfortunately, we spent a small amount of time laughing at this guy wearing an old green structure sweater that was stretched out and two sizes to small on him.

DB

Covenant Love...

This past weekend David and I attended Covenant Love (A marriage preparation program) required to be married at St. Johns. David was a little more excited than I was to attend. I on the other hand was very nervous. I thought, What if I am the only one not Catholic? I also have a bit of anxiety when it comes to group activities in front of people I do not know or maybe just not yet comfortable around.

When we arrived to the retreat center Saturday morning, we quickly met another cute couple around our age. Ryan, a divorce lawyer and Erika, a kindergarten teacher. When the retreat started with an ice breaker within the tables, we had already gotten to know each other as much as we could and were instantly joking around and laughing. I must say, if we hadn't sat at the same table I don't think our experience would have been as great as it was. Oh yeah, and to my relief Erica was not yet Catholic either...

Covenant Love expects you to end the weekend with tremendous confidence in God for a happy and holy marriage, a more profound understanding of the necessary work involved in marriage, and of course a deeper love for each other. David and I believe that Covenant Love did for us what they promised and more.

There were quite a few speakers there with very different backgrounds, (ie.. finance, natural family planning, counselors, to name a few) and they were all very informative and interesting. But I would have to say, my favorite part of the whole weekend was couple prayer. Even though, at first it felt silly and I was very nervous to pray together. I think the only way I can describe my feelings was that it brought feelings to my heart that I never knew I had. We held each others hands and looked into each others eyes while another couple read the husband prayer and then the wife prayer and I kid you not, before they even started to speak my eyes were welling with tears. By the time they were finished I had tears rolling down my face and into my shirt. But it was definitely a good cry and even though I was embarrassed IT FELT GREAT!!! I am reconsidering wearing makeup on our wedding day... LOL!

I have new found feelings for David I never new existed and I love him more and more everyday. We highly recommend engaged couples going on a Covenant Love retreat. We also believe that once we get married we will more than likely attend other retreats for newly weds and retreats down the road.

Am I a Bridezilla?

It is 1250 AM and I am wide awake. I just finished transferring the guest list into a Word document for our designer. Making sure I had everyones formal names correct for the outside envelopes and informal names for the inside... Ugh this is hard work. Especially when some names can have so many different spellings. I hope I didn't screw anybodys name up. Some are sensitive about that kind of thing.
David and I also finished up our worksheet for Covenant Love this weekend. It had all kinds of questions on it. One in particular being... " What new thing(s) have you learned about your future spouse while planning your wedding?" Of course I answer with something positive like.. "I have learned that David is willing and ready to help out with ANYTHING, even girly wedding ideas." What do you think David's answer was??? It went something like this... "I have learned that Julie is not always in a good mood." LOL, at first I thought it was funny, and then I thought the first thing that comes to your mind is something negative about me? Am I entitled to have bad moods?? I hope he doesn't think I am a bridezilla!

Busy Busy Busy...

Today and tomorrow David and I are busy dotting our i's and crossing our t's on the guest list. Our designer is in the process of putting our invites together and needs our list done by tomorrow. YIKES!
We won't be blogging much in the next few days as we are going to our last marriage prep this weekend called Covenant Love. This is an all weekend event that starts Saturday morning at 8:00 am sharp and ends Sunday at 1:00. Can't wait to tell you about it.

Have a great weekend!

Hungry Girl

Thanks to Rachael, I am now addicted to the Hungry Girl Website. I signed up for their Daily Newsletter and everyday I get new Tips & Tricks on how to make healthier decisions and what I should and should not eat. Once I get more familiar with this site, I will have plenty to blog about. I cannot wait to buy the Hungry Girl Book!

Downer Shower

I know I am back tracking a bit but I wanted to share with you a bit about the Downer side shower. Below is a picture of our beautiful shower cake. Our WONDERFUL friend Betty worked so hard on all night, the night before the shower. She had been working on the cake since Thursday that week and her little one was playing and accidentally knocked the cake to the floor at around 9pm Saturday night, just hours away from the shower. Poor Betty! It turned out Beautiful anyway!

Our shower turned our absolutely perfect. We played a game we called pass the coin, which basically was a pre-written story about a bride and groom planning a wedding with very little time. Each time the words LEFT or RIGHT were read, you had to pass the coin in that direction. When the story was finished the last person with the coin won the gift basket in the center of their table. (we played this within each table)

Each one of my bridesmaids made themed gift baskets for the centerpieces at each table. Having 8 bridesmaids we had a couple extra gift baskets to give away as door prizes. Everyone really seemed to love the gift baskets. We had a movie night basket, a Starbucks Coffee basket, Victoria's Secret basket, a Yankee Candle basket, Wine and Cheese basket, a Spaghetti night basket, Bath and Body, and a Fall themed basket. The girls did such a beautiful job!

We also had a 50/50 raffle which turned out better than we imagined. Leslie sold the tickets for $1 a piece or 6 for $5. Most people bought 6 tickets. My aunt Doris won the 50/50 and we each got $80.00... I bet my Aunt is glad she showed up!!!

At the end of the shower my mom surprised us with a gift/game that she didn't tell anyone about. She later told me that it was a game they did for her when she got married. It was a letter to the bride and groom that went a little something like this.

Dear Julie, You are entering a new ERA. There will come a THYME in your marriage when you find "David" is not always MR. CLEAN, but don't send out the S.O.S. because he might VANISH. "David" will always bring you CHEER and you will find him to be your white DOVE. When you are together you will find JOY, so remember your PLEDGE and give him your ALL. To "Julie" and "David" the Best of Luck & Good Fortune in the years to come. And may "David" always be your HONEY.

Now this was not the story my mom read for us but very similar. The one my mom read used mainly cleaning supplies. She would read a little and as soon as the words in caps locks came up she handed us a gift... We got Era laundry detergent a jar of Thyme (spice), a container of Mr Clean Wipes, a box of SOS pads, and so on.... Everyone loved this game and asks where she came up with it. So here it is, get creative and write your own letter to the bride and groom!

Thank You to everyone that attended and to those of you who helped out!

Another Exciting Addition

Friday October 24th was a very special day for the Burch Family. We happily welcomed Matthew Richard. Patty and Chucks FIRST Grandbaby. Davids First nephew. Jeff and Jacqueline are very lucky to have such a beautiful healthy baby boy. We can't wait to see him again. He's such and Angel!!

Introducing Chewee, Chewski, Cheweemagee

Chewee is finally starting to catch on. After a few rough weeks of waking up at 6 am to stinky surprises, Chewee has learned to actually bark or whimper when its time to go outside. For a while there we were beginning to wonder how in the world we were going to stop Chewee from pooping in his cage over night. A few weeks ago I happened to stumble upon this site www.housebreakingmypuppy.com and it has been our lifesaver. Chewee was a totally different puppy in less than a week. I highly recommend this site for new puppy owners. 4 weeks ago you could not get Chewee to go in his crate for ANYTHING, not even a few treats. Now, you tell him to get in his bed and he runs right in his crate. Chewee is a very smart puppy and extremely cute may I add!! We love him very much and can't wait to teach him new tricks!!!

Figuring this out...Finally!

Our blog is currently under construction.