Twenty Twelve was a big year in our family... We became a family! Colton and I got engaged in the last week of Twenty Eleven, we were married on March 3, 2012.. and We welcomed and wonderful new baby boy into our lives on June 17, 2012. With all the new exciting things going on... it was so easy to blog! After we got settled in our happy new lives, I got lazy!

But that is not to say that Twenty Thirteen was not just as excited and huge for our family! We had a lot of wonderful moments.. including celebrating Jaxon's FIRST birthday, my parents moved across the country to Virginia, we found out were expecting baby number TWO, I miscarried, and we decided to take the plunge and follow our family to Virginia!!!

I am so excited for the rest of our lives as a family. We learn and grow so much every year, and I cannot believe I didn't take more notes on our experiences in Twenty Thirteen. But, I did get a lot of pictures! so pardon me while I share a years worth of memories in one post!!

If you haven't seen the Lorax, we did a Lorax party for Jaxon's first Birthday. He has ALWAYS loved that movie. Thank goodness for Pinterest! I think it turned out so cute! We used striped straws and yarn for the truffula trees on the smash cake and the cupcakes. I then made large trees for the tables out of washi tape and feathers. 

We did it at our apartments pool with a Barbecue. We just had close friends and family. It was really fun! Jaxon loved his little floaty. And he has always loved the pool, thank goodness... because in AZ it is a must!! 

Then of course, my sister Whitney got married!! So Jaxon and I went to North Carolina for the wedding!

 It wasn't long after we got back that I started to think I was pregnant. I have always been terrible with keep track of my cycles... but it had been a while and my face was breaking out like crazy!! So we took a test.. and much to our surprise I was expecting!! However, after 2 or 3 weeks of trying to get the baby on the ultrasound, doctors determined that the pregnancy was not successful. After weeks of waiting for my body to miscarry on its own, I had a D&C in December. I would have been 12-13 weeks at the time.

But at least we got some nice family pictures....

Just weeks after my surgery... we decided to move to Virginia!! So we packed out bags, quite our jobs, and off we were! So we never ended up spending a Christmas alone! In fact, we got to see my brother Brock who has been in the Marines since he turned 18 in July.

Thank You's

Of course, I do plan on sending out formal thank you's... they aren't in my budget right now :/

So enjoy a digital copy in the mean time!

And of course, all the credit goes to my very talented brother @tysonfrenchphotography

UTAH!

It has been a really long time since I blogged, but I am a newly wed! Colton and I are about to leave toward Utah for our long awaited Utah reception! I hope the weather is nice, but either way we are both super excited to see our friends and family!

We are having a second baby shower up there as well AND my maternity shoot! All in one day, crazy right? We like to keep people busy I guess... All this craziness added to a constant movement in my belly, is really getting Colton and I excited about the up and coming arrival of Jaxon! I am now 28 weeks pregnant, and starting to be ready to have this baby out of me! We have the car seat in the car, we are ready to go!

Its almost baby time! (:

But in other news, not to brag or anything. Being married is great! SOO much fun! We are defiantly not in the best situation right now with money and living arrangements, but we make it work, and we really do have a blast being together!

The Wedding!

AHH! We made it! Who would have thought? Colton and I are ACTUALLY married. This is about to be the longest blog post... ever. Or at least by me, haha.

So, I stopped all blogging before the wedding (except that cute post Colton put up about loving his life haha) so now I have a lot of ground to cover. Monday before the wedding = official crunch time. Which you would think with ALL the family coming into town that week that would mean more helping hands and a little less stress.. not really. If any of you reading this know my mother.. she would NEVER let anyone come into her house when it wasn't spotless. Which is admirable and I actually kind of steal that trait from her (lucky me), but on top of planning a wedding we are trying to do spring cleaning? Crazy right.

Then Monday night rolls around... no freaking bridesmaid dresses. Seriously? so they shipped out on the 17th and are no where to be found. I think if anything, those bridesmaids dresses are responsible for bridezilla! I have never been more frustrated as I was on the phone with USPS. This is my official sponsor for UPS because USPS customer service is AWEFUL! It took almost 35 minutes just to get to an actual human being rather then the recording saying "I'm sorry, I don't understand what you are saying.."

Tuesday was my last full day at work. Obviously I personally didn't get much done for the wedding that day other than a spray tan with Colton. But the work didn't stop, my mother and brother plugged away and away at cooking desserts, getting centerpieces, and finishing the back drop for the ceremony.

Wednesday the Yates family arrives (my mother sister). The last half of the week I got off work at 1pm, which actually turned into about 12 because I was so anxious to be off I could barely stand one more hour. Directly after work Colton and I had a list of stuff to do. We had to go to the fabric store and get lace, I had to get my nails done, and after we met up with family to get some grocery shopping done. That night my aunt did my hair (which desperately needed to happen by the way!) She gave me the same haircut I have gotten for 5 years it feels like and we dyed it a very dark brown. (I am very happy Colton likes darker hair because I have always liked my hair darker.. and people always talk me into highlights and what not... they just aren't me I guess!)

Thursday rolls around and I am still stressed but I am getting very excited! My grandparents drove down from Utah, my Aunt Carrie came in from California, Kenzie flight came in Thursday night, and Colton's family arrived that night as well. It was all dandy and exciting.

Except I'm sorry, NO BRIDESMAID DRESSES! AHHH!! And I find out one of my bridesmaid isn't even going to make it to the wedding! I literally spent 4 hours that day finding replacement bridesmaid dresses. Which for a pregnant lady, 4 hours at the mall... is like a year. We finally found 2 cute yellow dresses (not exactly the yellow I was aiming for.. but I think they worked out well..) at forever 21 for $20 a piece. SWEET! Come home to change before going to meet Colton's family... andddd they bridesmaids dresses (the original) came in the mail. HALLELUJAH! you would think.. they are totally not even yellow. They are some sad excuse for champagne, and they don't even fit the girls. I guess in a way it is kind of a good thing we found something else to work.

I met Colton's aunt, grandmother, cousin and brother that night. They really are sweet people.

FRIDAY! Oh my goodness only one day left. That day came and went so quickly I can hardly remember the details. But we did have ALL of Colton's family join MY family at the house for some of my grandpa's famous tacos. 45 people, 1 house, crazy night! And I must say I am glad everyone got along. My family can be a lot to handle, as any I'm sure. And the LAST thing I wanted to deal with the day before my wedding was in-law drama.

THE BIG DAY! <3
Can I just say, I was very disappointed when my mother didn't want me to have an early afternoon wedding, because I wanted the beautiful sun! But, even with the ceremony starting at 4, I didn't have time to pee!
8:30 sharp Whitney, Kenzie, Maddie and I went to the salon to get our make-up done. We were probably done there around 11am and spent the next 2 hours getting everyones hair beautiful, which can take some time with only 2 straighteners, one curling iron, and 2 bathrooms.
1:00 bridal shoot. Which I am again going to brag about how talented my brother is as a photographer. They turned out better than I could have imagined. And as you go through them, I hope you can see we had a lot of fun taking them.
After the shoot we had just enough time to get some water and head straight for the ceremony.

If I gave you a play by play of the ceremony, we would be here all day (if we aren't already) but the most important thing is that it was beautiful. Makinlie one of our flower girls (and I guess my niece) was a little upset about walking down the aisle, but other than that no one tripped and it went smoothly. Colton and I especially enjoyed the bishop including the 3 things we love most about each other. It gave us something to hold onto and made it much more personal.

In the 2 hours between the ceremony and the reception we had family over for pizza and while they enjoy a classic American meal, Colton and I rushed to get our pictures done. Again good job Tyson. And off to the reception we went.

At the reception, I spent most of the time sitting, which I don't know if that is typical, but my feet hurt! The desserts turned out great and everyone was so sweet. My favorite highlights from the reception..

A couple of my mothers friends from work got Colton and I a 1 night stay at a hotel in Phoenix. Which is about the coolest thing ever because we had no where to stay that night anyways :/

Colton shoved the entire cake in my face LITERALLY. So I guess there goes that tradition of eating the top layer at your first anniversary.

Our groomsmen and bridesmaids not only went crazy on our car.. they  CONDOMED it. We are STILL finding condoms...

And like I mentioned before.. we got to end the night with a peaceful hotel stay in Phoenix. But not without Chipotle, because I hadn't eaten ALL day. So yes, I ended my wedding day with a burrito.

AND WE LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER! (followed by a crazy baby shower filled sunday! All you need to know about that is my belly is 11 toilet paper squares huge haha)

Enjoy some pictures... If you want more... check Facebook or my brothers photography blog at tysonfrenchphotography.blogspot.com