Up, Up, and Away

This Wednesday was definitely a day to remember!

My mom bid on a hot air balloon ride package at an auction a while back, but had totally forgotten to use it. The family is down in Oceanside, (San Diego Area), at a beach house for the week, and she thought it would be a perfect place to use it. My dad has a huge fear of heights, along with Krista's fiance, and mine. It would take a lot for our guys to take us, so lucky for us, my mom asked us to go with her!

We left the boys at home and headed off a couple hours before sunset to the meeting spot of the balloon company. We parked in a Del Mar shopping center and waited for our pick-up to take us to the launch site. At 5:15 a van with a trailer attached pulled up, carrying with it, the hot air balloon and basket.

Once we got to the launch site, Krista started to get a little nervous. They laid out the balloon on the ground, and started fans to inflate it. The basket was attached but on its side. It all happened pretty fast. The pilot called 2 couples over and they climbed in while the basket was still on its side. A moment later the basket was right-side-up and he yelled for us to climb in.

In a matter of seconds we were 400 feet in the air. The ride was incredibly smooth. You wouldn't know you were so high in the air, in just a wicker basket. We flew in the air up to 7000 feet, over Del Mar and Rancho Santa Fe, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It was an amazing experience. They served champagne throughout the ride, and although it was so fun to be with my mom and sister, it would have been very romantic to be with my fiance.

If you ever have the chance, this is something you should do. It was unbelievable and somewhat surreal to be that high. Overall, it was a perfect day!!

Engagement Photos

We finally got the CD back from all our engagement photos. The first time I looked through them, I wasn't that excited. I wasn't stoked about the way I looked or the funny faces we made on so many pictures. It took me a little while to get used to them, and now I love them!!

Our photographers are Ariel & Josh Green of Anika London Media. They were so fun to work with. They managed to get a few shots with us and our 3 crazy dogs! I can't wait until our wedding! Only 51 days to go!

Check out their website! They travel all over for weddings.

www.anikalondonmedia.com

You can find us under clients if you want to check out all 580 photos of our session.

Best Bridal Shower Ever!!

I've gotten so behind in blogging with all this wedding and moving stuff, but I have to tell you about my bridal shower.

My Zehnder Aunts organized a perfect bridal shower. I'm not much for games, but we did one game, organized by Danelle, where Ben had pre-recorded answers to questions on DVD. Then at the shower, I was asked the same questions to see how well I knew him. I was sitting there, kind of nervous. "How much do I really know about him?" I knew more than I thought I would. I hesitated on all the same questions he hesitated on, and I knew more than one of his smart ass answers.

The shower favors and decorations were absolutely adorable. My Aunt Kathy painted little pots in the colors of my wedding, with "Anna + Ben 8-1-09" on them. They are so cute, I'm trying to find a way to incorporate them into other wedding things.





There were so many people at my bridal shower. My new sister-in-laws and their girls, all of my family, and my some of my friends who could make the trip from SoCal. I had so many gifts, I didn't know if the present opening was ever going to end. The only complaint I had, was that I didn't have a chance to really talk to everyone at the shower. There were so many people and not enough time.

Thank you everyone for the beautiful bridal shower!

Flashback 3 years

It has been a crazy couple of weeks, and I have not had a moment to blog. Between baseball games, bridal showers, and thank-you notes, I have not had a minute to breath.

I'll give you an update on the last couple of weeks, but first a little flashback to when Ben and I met. I was reminded of this as we finished out another year teaching together. I was the new teacher at school and a little nervous to be at my first staff meeting. Another newbie and I sat in the second row together, eager to show our enthusiasum for getting involved. It hadn't been but a minute or two when a gorgeous guy (Ben), walked up and asked if anyone was sitting next to me. We exchanged notes for the entire staff meeting, like school kids.

I'm sitting there thinking, "Could it be this easy to meet an attractive, single guy, that works with kids?" In the next couple of days of teacher in-service, I found every opportunity to talk to the cute Activities Director. I couldn't tell if he knew I was shamelessly firting with him or not. But it did take him another three weeks before he asked me on a date....and I think it may have even been his roommate Mike who asked me for him.

Ben and I had what I would like to call, the WORST first date ever. We planned to do dinner and a movie. We had decided on a movie time at the place right around my house, so the planner I am, went to the theater earlier in the day to get tickets. Ben was supposed to pick me up at 6pm and at 6:20 I still hadn't heard from him. I thought for sure I'd been stood up when he finally called to say he was running late. At this point we only had 45 minutes or less to eat dinner before the movie started.

I knew we were in a rush, but I don't know that Ben looked up from his salad once. He was looking down, shoveling food in his mouth, in between one word answers to my questions. Can we say "awkward"? We ended up making it to the movie, but we may as well have been sitting in separate theaters. There was no hand holding, no leaning in, and definitely no hand on the knee. I knew he must have been nervous, but I wondered where Mr. Confidence from the first day we met had gone. Needless to say, I wanted to avoid the awkward good night kiss, and had him drop me off in front of the building. (He still gives me a bad time about it)

Ben's says it couldn't have been that bad of a date.....I did go on a second. I could tell he was a great guy under it all, but I seriously contemplated avoiding him after that day. Here we are three years later, and very much in love. Less than 60 days to the wedding!

New Baby Cousin Ryan

This weekend in Elk Grove was not only super productive in terms of wedding stuff, but really fun!

I got to visit with my cousin Kelly and meet her new baby Ryan!

He is absolutely adorable and makes the cutest noises when he sleeps!

I'm sure Kelly was exhausted after only 10 days with a new baby, but took some time out of her day to catch up with Krista and I, and give us the tour of her new home and baby's room.

So hats off to Kelly who looks great, and doing well as a new mom to a beautiful baby boy!

An Amazing Man!

I flew home on Friday....by myself, to surprise my mom on Mother's Day. Ben had a baseball game on Saturday and wasn't able to come up with me. It's only been a couple of days, but I miss him like crazy!

He knew I was a little bummed to leave him and the babies (Lola, Deuce, and DUI). I was unpacking my suitcase when I got to the house, and inside was a present from Ben. A cute bracelet from one of my favorite jewelry companies.

Ben always does sweet things like this, and I feel so lucky to have such a wonderful man in my life!

Mother's Day!!

It's hard when you live so far from your mom......luckily we still get to see each other often. My mom was asking us to come up from San Diego for Mother's Day. I didn't know if I could swing it after all the things that have been happening in the last few weeks, with the dance show, Disneyland performances, taking college classes, and planning for the wedding.

Needless to say, I didn't want to miss a Mother's Day with my mom...or grandmothers. Krista surprised my mom by flying in on Thursday night, and I surprised her by flying in on Friday night. It was fun keeping it a secret, even though she was giving us a bad time about not coming.

We had a BBQ with the Zehnder family on Saturday night, and then today we did our 2nd annual Mother's Day wine tasting in Plymouth with my parents and Grandma Marie and Grandpa Wayne.

I love our new tradition and can't wait for many more years with all of the new family coming into our lives with 2 new marriages in the next year. It's awesome to have such a wonderful family and a mom who has been there for me through every hard time and happy moment!

Happy Mother's Day!