trips, jobs & plans, Oh My!

Hello there!!

It's been awhile since my last post, but a lot has gone on!

-Michael and I had a wonderful photographer/new friend take our engagement photos!
-We took a trip to Charleston with Michael's Aunt Sam & Nana!
-I obtained a new job (which I start tomorrow ;))

And the biggest news being that we decided on a different plan for our wedding.

This "different plan" came along while we were on our Charleston trip. We both knew that having money for our future is more important than having money for our wedding that will only last a day. I'm not the kind of girl who exaggerates things out, so I knew that a big wedding isn't something that I am in dire need of. Marrying my best friend is the most important thing to me. Our plans now included our very immediate family, a lake house, and some vows. We believe we can still have our wedding and everything that goes along with it just in a smaller scale.


Engagement Photos!

My Fave! ;)













These AMAZING photos were taken by Miss EmilieCarol of EmilieCarol Photography!
If anyone is looking for someone who will take all of there ideas and make them come true then look no further than her! She is so friendly and easy to get along with, I am so blessed to have her shooting our wedding next year! Thanks again Emilie! You're the best!


Charleston Trip!

Michael and I spent three wonderful days with his Aunt and Nana in Charleston! We visited Middleton Place, Yorktown, Market Street, The beach, a yummy cupcake place, and of course Tanger outlets ;) It's always good to have a mini vacation with your soon to be family!

Middleton Place:










Cupcakes!:





Yorktown:





Such a GREAT trip! Can't wait to go back!!



New Job!

Well I had an interview on Wednesday and tomorrow I have a trial run to see how I like it and what all the job requires. That's all I'll say for now ;)

Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for more!


With love and a lot of new things,

Faith and Fear,

Recently I have been thinking about writing what I was feeling, especially about Michael being in the Army and on becoming an Army wife. So here it goes!

When I first met Michael I already knew he was leaving in August for basic training, I had read it on his FaceBook page before our first date. I guess I was just waiting on him to bring it up before I did, and since then it has been on my mind non-stop. I believe God knows that I am strong enough to be an Army wife and that is why he put Michael in my path. But I am scared, I'm terrified, nervous, happy, and excited all at the same time. In 70 days Michael will leave for S.C to start his basic training for the Army, he will train for 9 weeks and 4 days and then Graduate! (I cannot wait to see him then! :)) After spending a week with his family and friends, he will leave for AIT which will last 9 months, 3 weeks and 4 days. Our wedding has been planned for July 2013 and then we are moving to wherever the Army sends us! But what happens if he gets deployed as soon as we get married? What if i'm left alone for a year? These are the kind of questions that I won't know the answer to until the beginning of July...next year! Every big detail of our wedding has already been taking care of because I want him here for all of it. We have picked our date, our venue, DJ, photographer, and food that we want. We have also worked on projects together so we have something else that he has been a part of.
I am ready to start this journey together, I know that God has our lives in his hands and will only give us what we can handle. I pray that we will be able to have the wedding of our dreams and that we will be able to be stationed somewhere together and not apart.

with faith and a sprinkle of fear,

DIY banner!

Ever since Michael and I got engaged, I have been on a DIY non-stop kick!
I love crafting and was blessed with creativity running through my veins!
I want our wedding to be different but with a good twist and I know that by doing a lot of it myself it will but a different spin on it.

The first idea that came to me was by the cute name and date banners that I have seen through browsing pinterest. Then I thought, how easy would that be? Time consuming but very easy!

Below is the finished project(cute? right?!)

I will list the steps it took to complete this project and the materials I used:



Supplies needed:
-Yard or less of canvas (you can find it at any fabric store, I purchased mine for $4)
-Paint
-Sewing machine (if you have one)
-Stencils (also easy to find at a craft store)

Directions:

1. Trace a pendant shape onto a piece of paper



2. Cut the pendant shapes out of canvas (I cut six for the mr & mrs)



3. Place stencils and then paint them onto canvas



4. Sew around the pendant (optional)



5. Fold top of pendant down and sew



6. Thread through ribbon, a dowel rod, or anything of your choosing!




Voila! You're finished!

The paint dries very fast on the canvas which is a plus!


This was my first DIY blog post, I hope you enjoyed it!

Love&DIY,

accomplishment,

Hello!

So far in the wedding planning we have gotten a lot accomplished! (hints the title ;)


We have our date... :) (very few people know it, but we are waiting a little bit to announce it)

We have our venue!

We have an amazing photographer that I cannot wait to meet in person! (we actually won our wedding photography by entering a contest and will have our engagement pictures taken the beginning of July!)

We have registered at Target, Belk and Walmart.

I have found a dress!

We have picked out colors, as well as what type of wedding we would like to have.

A draft of our guest list has been made, and we have let all members of the bridal party know their duties.

And we have started making some props, and gathering different things for our wedding!

We are so excited to get this show on the road and get married!!

Stay tuned for some DIY projects we have done!

With love and holy matrimony,

May the "4th" be with you,

We're Engaged!!

On May the 4th, Michael had a very special day planned for us :) We started out eating an early breakfast at cracker barrel (my favorite ;)), Then when we got in the car to leave he told me he was going to blindfold me! I was scared to death! We drove down the road for about 15 minutes and ended up at the Biltmore House! We got to tour the house, and then we went to the gardens and walked around for about 15 minutes. I could tell something was up when he pulled me to a part of the garden we had already walked through. He took me under a flowered gazebo and turned me around to face him. He told me that the months we have spent together have been the best in his life, that no one has ever come close to the way I make him feel. He promised that he would provide me with the best life he possibly could and would make everywhere we go a home :) He then got down on one knee and asked me to be his wife :) Of course I said yes! So now we are engaged to be married July 2013 :)Right now he is scheduled to leave in August of this year and will get a two week break at christmas, after that I won't see him again until the 20th of July. I am definitely not looking forward to being without him, but I know that being with him forever is going to be the best thing ever! Be sure to follow my blog for wedding plans to come!! :)

The Bling Bling ;)




may the fourth be with you ;)
lots of love,

Lately;

Right after I wrote my last post, my health went downhill and fast.
Sunday night the 25th, I was backing out of Michaels driveway and heard a pop in my back, not thinking anything about it I went on. Tuesday when I woke up my back was killing me and I felt nauseous all day. Michael took me to lunch and I ate three french fries and drank a coke but that was it. I ended up having to go to work to do some mobile stuff and could hardly stand or sit while I was there. After we left the mall my sister wanted to do Irelann's first birthday pictures, so we met outside. Apparently we were both having our off days because they did not go so well.... Michael drove me home and when I got there my mom could tell something was wrong. I took a muscle relaxer and laid down on the couch to rest. I fell asleep for about two hours and when I woke up I felt even more nauseous than before, my mom gave me a nausea medication and then I ended up vomiting not even two minutes after. My fever was 104 and I couldn't stop shaking and shivering. I was out of it. For the next two days I laid in my bed and barely ate anything. Thursday night I went to work pale and with a fever of 103, no one would come in and work for me and so I had to stay all night. I wasen't able to drive to work because I was so lightheaded and dizzy, so my brother drove me to work in my car and Michael drove me home. My mom said I was grey when I got home and the only thing I remember about that night is laying on the floor at the mall not being able to hardly walk or stand. The next morning Michael took me to the doctor since my mom thought it couldn't wait any longer. The doctor took one look at me and told me to go to the emergency room since there was nothing they could do for me. I started freaking out! I have never been to the ER before because i'm never sick! I rarely go to the doctor! When we got to the ER they triaged me and it was barely even five minutes before I was in a room. They started giving me fluids because I was severly dehydrated. My heartrate wouldnt go below 140 and my fever was 103. They took blood, did a strep test, and made me give a urine sample. We had been at the ER for about five hours and then the doctor finally came into the room with the results...
The strep test ended up being positive and I had a very very bad kidney infection. My white blood cell count was elevated to 14,000 when normally it's supposed to be 8,000! My body was doing everything it could to keep me alive and fight of the infections. They gave me tylenol to try and get my fever to go down, but it wasen't working. They ended up admitting me for observation overnight :( One night ended up turning into three! I got no sleep and ended up being stuck with a needle everynight I was there :/ Now i'm finally almost back to normal, I'm working at least 32 hours a week and trying to get back to my old self. I went to the doctor for a check up and he told me that I was very sick. That's scary hearing that! If I would have waited any longer, the infection could have gotten into my blood stream and it could have been lethal. Knowing how sick I was scares the crap outta me! I am glad that they caught it in time and I am almost back to being myself. Michael stayed with me everynight, and was at my becking call for everything I needed. I know without a doubt I am marrying this handsome, caring, loving man :)

In the ER:



After having to stay ANOTHER night in the hospital:




Love&Prayers
through sickness and in health <3

Anywhere with you,

There are so many things in my life that have changed in just a few months! The past doesn't matter to me anymore, but it has made me everything I am today. It has shown me what was unhealthy, what was unneeded, and what I should look for the future, and let's just say I am happier than I have ever been in my entire life and it has only been six weeks! So I guess this is where I should get into the introductions :)
My name is Kelsey Reagan and I am 6 months shy of turning 21 ;) I graduated high school in June of 2009 and started the community college here in Asheville. I went for a year and had some family issues so I stopped. I am working on going back so no worries on that! It is a work in progress ;) Most people call me Kels, it's not my favorite but I have gotten used to it. I am currently living in Candler which is right outside of Asheville, North Carolina. I live with my parents, my younger brother and sister. My siblings and I are very close in age except for my older sister Courtney. She is four years older than I, my brother is 14 months younger and my sister is a little over 2 years younger than I am. Last year my sister had a little girl who she named Irelann who is the light of our family! My parents have been married for almost 27 years and have been in love ever since. We have had our ups and downs but we are closer than ever these days. Kenan and Amos are my four legged brothers and they are seriously the sweetest dogs in the world! I am currently employed as a photographer at The Picture People. I have worked there for almost three years and I am constantly reminded everyday why I love it! I am the happiest I have ever been these past few weeks and one of those reasons is because of someone who just recently came into my life :) God has great timing! Well let's just say perfect?!
His name is Michael Xavier Sons and I have never thought I would feel the way I do about anyone, the way I do about him :) He was put in my path for a reason and that reason is because he is my soul mate. Sometimes in your life there are just things that you know, and this was for sure one of them. He has a kind heart, a smile that makes me melt, and he has such a good head on his shoulders. He is exactly the person I see myself spending the rest of my life with and that is exactly what we are doing! :) One of the reasons I have made this blog was to keep track of our countdown and to write down our future plans :) I never thought I would be talking or heck, even thinking about planning a wedding but I am, and it's happening!! He is set to sign his life away with the Army on August 13th of this year, the next time I will see him after that will be when he graduates from basic training in October of 2012 and then he will start AIT on the 10/29. He gets two weeks at Christmas and then the next time I see him after that we will be saying I DO! ;) We have just a little over 480 days to go! Tomorrow it will be 16 months until our big day!
I can't wait! Michael if you happen to read this, please know that I love you. Please know that I promise you forever, and I will go wherever the good Lord takes us :)

My handsome boy :)




As for now this is all I got ;)
-big plans ahead ;)