Rusty aka Chubs

As many of you know I have to cutest.dog.ever. He is a Yorkie Schnauzer mix and he is 3 years old. He is as sweet as can be and a super snuggler.
However, Rusty has officially decided that he is going to sleep all day and play all night, because when we are gone during the day, he has no one to play with... so instead of playing with all of his toys that his mom so graciously spoiled him with, he naps. Then after napping all day, he wants to wake his mom up every night at 3 am since we got back from the honeymoon... (aka 3 weeks). So, Brandon and I had the idea to take Rusty for a little exercise at 9pm, after dinner, to ya know "wind him down" or as I prefer "wear his butt out." So we took him for a little jog if you will. Somewhere between 1.5-2 miles. Nothing crazy... even though every other street was a hill, good for his little quads :) He was struggling to keep up by the end so we decided to turn in for the night, in hopes that he would sleep through the night.

Needless to say he was a little worn out:

And he almost made it to get loved on.... but...

He decided he was thirsty :)

What a hard life.

The BIG day

First, and Foremost....
I want to apologize for being so slack on my blogging. it has been a CRAZY BUSY month, but so wonderful all at the same time.

Back to the good stuff-a brief yet beautiful and somewhat choppy rendition:

The wedding went off without a hitch. Every bit of the day was amazing. I spent the morning with my sisters and mom. It was nice to have some quite relax time before everyone got there. Our wonderful hairdresser and makeup artist got there at 10 and started with my mom. She did my mom's hair and makeup-- she looked stunning. Then Holly, our ridiculously awesome photographer got to Mandy's around noon. Then Sabrina started on me while Holly got some awesome photos of my dress, garter, rings, and such. All of my bridesmaids started showing up around 12:30 and they all got ready in the sitting area of Mandy's room. It was so wonderful to see all of my supportive, loving friends and family getting ready together. There was a very cheerful and uplifting aura about the whole day.
After everyone was done getting ready we made a couple of toast, and headed to the church. The music selection (Ludacris) was excellent... danced the whole way there. I was so happy to be marrying my best friend. The guys took pictures, the girls took pictures, the families took pictures, B and I took an AWESOME picture I can't wait to see it!
and then--- it was 5:50 my bridesmaids left, and my Dad came to get me the most special ten minutes of my life. My daddy helped me put my shoes on, held my hand down the stairs, told me how lucky I was to have a man that loves me like Brandon does, and that he was so proud of me. It is the most cherished memory I have with my dad thus far.
Then Liz and Meaghan came and got us and we stood in front of the shut doors....

chiming of the hour---longest 3 notes of my life

The doors open... lost my breath

*saw my soon to be husband
*heard my dad's voice(have no idea what he said besides slow down)
*caught my breath

Haven't.Stopped.Smiling

When I finally reached Brandon, which seemed like a decade-hence my dad telling me to slow down, I felt like everything was right in my world.
He looked so handsome, genuine, and perfect for me.
Our pastor was crying, which is so touching, because he was just as happy to be there as we were to have him there. Then we followed him up the stairs... and in true Jessie fashion- I almost tripped. SO WHAT DO I DO? Oh only what I do best... improvise. I hand B my bouquet grabbed my dress and marched up those steps like I owned the place.
Then came the sermon... the most beautiful sermon I've heard (biased or not) Jeff did an amazing job at really honing in on who Brandon and I are and how we compliment each other. It was really beautiful. Our vows fit us perfect.
Then Brandon almost put the ring on the wrong finger, hee hee, because I tricked him. I put my engagement band on my right hand so he could put my band on directly onto my left hand. So that was cute and comical.
Then they announced us... enter Citadel guys... Who did AWESOME!
Pictures
Pictures
Brandon read the most amazingly heartfelt letter to me, I cried my eyeballs out.
Pictures
Reception- So much fun I wish I had a video of everything that happened because my memory can't store everything I want it to.
Got to see my long lost best friend Jessica Lodge, which is so awesome that she came. I'm a lucky girl to have such wonderful friends.

The toasts were so great. I wish I had them so I could frame them... I've turned into a sentimental pack rat its terrible. The cake was... DELISH
A special thanks to my hubby for not smushing cake in my face! :) Love you babe!
bouquet toss
garter toss
dancing
dancing
(still no eating)

Then everyone saw us off and we got in our car and drove...


around the block. To come back and take more PICTURES!! YAY!
(Seriously yay, hence the previous statement about sentimental pack rat)

Then we drove off for real, went to our hotel room, and...

drum roll

went out! We had to see our family and friends one last time for a good hoo ra! SO many of them drove or flew from so far away we really wanted to go spend some extra time with them.
We got in around 2am and crashed. Our flight left for our honeymoon at 9am so Mandy(the best sissy eva) drove us to the airport where we began our journey to Motego bay... (to come later obvi)

I know that everyone wants to see pictures, but since I didn't take any, I am going to put Holly's link so you can go to her blog if you'd like.

Love you all, thank you for being such a blessing in our lives,
J and B

p.s. the link isn't working so here is the website: http://hollygraciano.com/blog

July 4th and Dad's Birthday

This past weekend, all of the kids and Dad went to the beach to celebrate his birthday. The kids being- Mandy, Will, Brandon, Mike, Becky, me and Kara. We absolutely had a blast. Mandy, Becky, and Daddy got there on Friday. Will, Brandon, and I got there on Saturday, and Mike and Kara came down on Sunday.
We layed on the beach ALL DAY Sunday, and it was amazing, packed, but amazing all at the same time. The girls enjoyed a few pina coladas, while the guys enjoyed their beers. Mandy and Will made everyone lunch AND brought it down to us! Needless to say it was a good day with some much needed QT with the family. Before packing up and heading back to the hotel room though... Dad had the great idea of going parasailing. I agreed even though I thought I might die on the way out to the boat.
AGREEING WAS A GOOD DECISION. It was a blast! Brandon and I can't wait to do it in Jamaica. Hopefully we will see more sea creatures than jellyfish-which Mandy thought were coconuts. (Love you Mand)




Anyhow... after parasailing we all got ready and went to PF Changs... one word as Will would say DERISHOUS. All in all the weekend was great... and I definitely plan on encouraging a yearly beach trip-because those are the kind of memories you can't make twice.




And for your viewing pleasure--- a photo montage

Getting Started...

With the wedding swiftly approaching, I have found myself slipping away. By this I mean from friends, family, and just life in general. My wonderful sister and I have appointments booked almost everyday for the planning of the big day. I don't know what I would do without her. She is such a phenomenal person through and through, I am so blessed to have her as a sister. So Mandy, if and when you read this-thanks... just for being awesome. With that being said neither of us have had much time to spend with friends and family. We have not been able to keep in touch with distant friends and family as much as we both like to, and I think it is beginning to get to both of us...



I digress,
With all of the excitement, fun, tears of joy and stress, I have officially decided to start blogging-

A) Because I like to super stalk peoples blogs, yes even strangers
B) So that our family and friends can keep track of our lives and hopefully experience some of what Brandon and I are experiencing as we are about to embark on a beautiful and blessed journey of marriage
C) So you can all part take in the excitement, fun, tears of joy and stress that we are experiencing and...
D) Because I think it looks like fun

So I hope you enjoy following The Coates 24/7 Bliss blog, whether we know you, or not. And please do not hesitate to give advice... I'm definitely a newbie at this.

P.S. PTL there is spell check