I Milked A Cow!

Okay, so I've been gone almost a month with the wedding, honeymoon, and Indiana reception.  You'd probably think that I'd first blog about one of those things.  You'd be wrong.  ;)  I probably won't be doing a whole lot of blogging about the wedding and honeymoon here (I'm going to be posting all of that on my wedding blog instead).  If you'd like to read about those things, you should scoot on over to my other blog: http://taragettingmarried.blogspot.com. 

Anywho, back to what I want to blog about.  I MILKED A COW!  It was awesome.  For those of you who don't know, I love cows.  I spent my high school years dairy judging and I have spent lots of time visiting cows.  However, I've never had the opportunity to milk one (not for lack of want!).  

Well, my sister's boyfriend finally gave me the opportunity on Saturday night.  

I milked her using the milking machine and by hand.  Well, actually I milked one cow (Millie) using the machine, and one cow (Tugs) by hand.  :)  And then, for good measure, I bottle fed a week old calf!

And, of course, Philip thought it would be hilarious if I posed as one of the cows.  Since I was in such a good mood, I obliged.  ;)

And, there you have it.  I'm a happy camper!  If I lived closer, I'd definitely be milking the cows more often!  :)

Engagement Photos

Okay, I know I'm supposed to be keeping my wedding stuff to the wedding blog, but I am really excited about this! We got our engagement photos done on Saturday and the photographer posted 12 photos from our engagement photo shoot on Facebook. I absolutely love them. :) Here is a sneak peek:

Again, our photographer only put 12 photos up on Facebook... these are just my favorites of the photos he put up. He told me that there should be about 40 to 50 photos on the disc that he sends us... which means you'll probably have to see more engagement photos on my blog in another week!

If you are in the Denver area and are looking for a photographer, I definitely recommend Lucas McDonough. He has reasonable prices and he does an amazing job. :) You can see more here or here.

Wedding Website!

Okay, I haven't been posting a lot lately. This is mostly because most of what I have been doing is wedding planning. I'm sure that people would get tired of just hearing about my wedding plans... but, I still want to write about what I'm doing. So, I have started a wedding blog: http://taragettingmarried.blogspot.com/. Please check it out!

I plan to do a lot of DIY stuff for my wedding, so I will hopefully be able to give others some ideas.

Also, if you're curious, we also have a wedding website through theknot.com. It is: http://www.theknot.com/ourwedding/Ketcham&Buch.

Wedding Updates!

Hello to all. I have not been able to blog as much as I would like recently. As I have said before, wedding planning takes up a lot of time. I have no idea how some couples do this in such a short amount of time. I would be pulling my hair out!

I have hopefully found a venue. I am SUPER excited about it. I have not received the final okay on it yet (from the venue), but I am keeping my fingers crossed (you can too!). It is Chickies Rock Park in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It is absolutely beautiful.
Am I right or am I right?? It's gorgeous. And, it's incredibly convenient. It's right in Lancaster (where many of Philip's family lives). There are hotels, bars, restaurants, etc., right in the area. I fell in love with it immediately. I think it will be perfect! :)

Also, for convenience sake, Philip and I will be getting legally married on September 24, 2010... a full year before our real wedding ceremony. In Colorado, it is incredibly easy and convenient to get married. It will mean that we will get some excellent tax breaks which will allow us to pay for the real wedding. :) And, that means I can be added to Philip's insurance sooner. We do not want to take away from our actual ceremony with friends and family, so we are not going to exchange rings and I will not be changing my name yet. We are just doing the legal part. But, we are doing it on the same day as our wedding so that there will never be any question as to the date of our anniversary. :)

I am really excited about doing this because it means we can have whoever we want do our actual ceremony in Pennsylvania (since the ceremony does not have to be legal)... so, we can have a friend or relative do the ceremony. I think it would be more meaningful that way. So, any friends interested in performing our wedding ceremony, please let us know! I already have some ideas for it. And, I'm really excited! :D

I think that's about all for now. We have decided some other details, but I don't want to give it all away... it'd be nice for there to be some surprises at our wedding! :)

He liked it so much, he put a ring on it. ;)

That's right! I am officially engaged to my best friend. :)

I've received an abundance of congratulatory wishes. My mom is ECSTATIC. haha Then again, what does that make me? What is ecstatic times a thousand? :)

Right after the well wishes, I have also received many questions of "How did he do it?" Well, Saturday afternoon, we had a cookout in the backyard. It's only like the second time that Philip has been able to use his enormous, fancy, new grill. :) He made regular hamburgers and hot dogs for himself and veggie dogs for me. And, I made slaw and macaroni and cheese. We played with the dogs while waiting for the food to finish. And then we sat outside and had a wonderful meal.

Afterward, we cleaned up and I sprawled out on the couch. Philip took Cody for a walk to get the mail. When get got back, I was still sprawled out on the couch. He came over to the back of the couch. I asked him what came in the mail. He put the open box with the ring on it on the back of the couch and said, "This did." I opened my eyes and was shocked to see a ring. :) Then he asked me to marry him. I, of course, said yes. :)

We will be getting married next fall. Probably in Pennsylvania where most of Philip's family is located. Since this all happened on Saturday, I have realized that I know nothing about planning a wedding. Yep. It's going to be a lot more work than I originally thought. But, it will be wonderful. :)

And, I'm super excited because my mom and sister will be coming to Colorado this fall/winter to help me pick out a dress! YAY! It's one of the things I am really looking forward to regarding the wedding. That and marrying the most wonderful man in the world. :D

Random Life...

My weight loss program isn't going so hot. I've stayed pretty much the same weight. I'm noticing that I look and feel better though, so at least I've got that.

This weather is going to drive me crazy. I don't know whether I love it or I hate it. It's insane because it's in the 70s in February. February is winter. It should not be 70 degrees until at least April. At least. Probably not until May or June. At least I got to see snow twice this winter. Damn early spring. That groundhog was so wrong. Even if it isn't supposed to be like this, it is so nice!

We went hiking on Sunday. We went to Joe's Uncle Joe's property at South Mountain. We took all 4 dogs because they don't have to be on leashes there. They just walk a little big ahead of Joe and I. They had a wonderful time. We hiked to the waterfall and then Joe and I had lunch. There was still ice on the water around the edges (even though it was in the 70s), but that didn't stop Cody, Daly, and Jippy from jumping in (of course Jack stayed out of that cold water! He wouldn't have jumped in if it were warm!). Jippy stopped after one time, but Cody and Daly just kept going back in. Cody kept trying to get the huge chunks of ice (like he normally does with sticks that we throw in the water). It was really cute. Joe tried to help him get a big piece with a stick, but then Cody just became more interested in the stick than the ice. He's adorable. Anyway, we hiked back to the road after a while.

I don't know if I blogged about this yet, but my hours have been rearranged at work and now I only work 7:30 to 5:30 Monday through Thursday and I have a 3 day weekend. It is so wonderful. I can actually get things done around the house! This Friday, I will be devoting less time to cleaning and organizing the house (as I have done the past 2 Fridays), and instead, I will be working some more on my book. News about the book: our computer crashed last week and I lost all that I had typed up about the book. No, I didn't have it backed up anywhere. However, I do have a handwritten version of all of my notes and outlines. :)

Also, I don't think I blogged about this either. Joe and I have talked about getting married. I know, we're insane. Don't worry; it will still be a while. We've just decided that whenever it happens, we are now ready for it. We want to take several days off work and rent a cabin in the mountains. A cabin big enough for a lot of people. We're going to invite our closest relatives and friends (definitely no more than 50 people, but probably closer to 30). Anyone who would like to stay at the cabin is welcome to. We'll spend a few days hanging out, then have a very small ceremony on our anniversary (September 23). Then after that, we'll have a reception and hang out for a while and then kick everyone out so that we can have a short honeymoon. :)

So far, we are thinking probably 2011. We have our vacation for this year planned (KOREA in less than a month!!!) and we are planning on going to Rome next year, but we have no vacation plans so far for 2011. So, don't make any plans for September 23, 2011. It's quite possible that you'll be attending our wedding. :) Of course, Joe still has to officially ask me to marry him. But that is just a minor detail. lol :) With plans for 2011, I don't think there is any real hurry. It's still 2.5 years away!