I swear I haven't forgotten to blog, life has just been hectic, and amazing all at once. I believe I left off in the beginning of November, talking about how stoked I was to go to my Fiance's family reunion! That's right, my fiance!!! More on that in a few paragraphs:)
So, reunion was packed full of fun events. We were located in the center of Burnsville, NC (which is just the daintiest little town:) We stayed in the Nu Wray Inn, which used to be a Bed and Breakfast. Any-who, we had tons of fun playing games like "minute to win it", "cupcake wars" and "family feud" that were a cluster blast! 30 of Phil's family all in one place makes for a little crazy time. Since pictures are worth a thousand words, I'll just have to upload some so that you can see how nuts some of this was:)
As you can see, I continued to play with my camera and I shot a pic through sunglasses:) The boys were all playing a friendly game of football in the center of town, which basically happened to be our front yard)
These are the boys afterwards, eager to go in and eat dinner:)
So, for the real New Year's eve we went to the newly weds (Sean and Cali) home for a little get together. It was such a drama-free perfect night to bring in the New year! We truly have the best friends there is:) We ALL got a little toasted:) Example- The monkey faces explain themselves...
This was 3rd generation cooking night aka Italian night (since I'm the only italian there lol, I made the menu and executed it... with lots of laughs help) We made baked ziti (beef, veggie and plain ol' cheese) Delish!
The grass up here was not like crappy FL grass, it was somehow... musical? I was just trying to capture all of the moments, and then I was going to attempt to figure this one out lol...
This little angel is Miss Abigail. She is cousin Stephanie's baby. She is one month old here and such a sweetie pie and a very good and quiet baby:)
During this 5 day trip I took tons over 600 pictures and tried to find my inner photographer again. She's been locked up since school started and it was amazing to get to mess around with my big lens and really capture the family and scenery:) This is one of our twin nieces, Elizabeth. The leaves in her hair were from playing in the pile her and her favorite Uncle Phil made... They decided to jump in and kick them around everywhere and have a blast! (He's going to be such a good daddy someday)
Ahhh Cupcake Wars... Cousin Emma and I were a team and our cupcakes won over the judges! We were given certain ingredients to make our amazing cupcakes out of... We chose a chocolate cake with a blackberry compote in the center topped with a cream cheese/ agave nectar frosting with ground cloves on top. It sounds like a mouthful of flavors and they surprisingly went very well together:) We were proud!
As you can see, I continued to play with my camera and I shot a pic through sunglasses:) The boys were all playing a friendly game of football in the center of town, which basically happened to be our front yard)
These are the boys afterwards, eager to go in and eat dinner:)
Our other niece Rebekah, also modeled some leaves for me:)
As well as jumping in the leaves on with her sister:) They had way too much fun being 6 year olds!
Showing me what she picked from the garden:)
One of my favorite pictures of the reunion is when Phil bit the bullet and held the tiny baby. He was so natural, but so scared since she was little. Ahhh a glimpse of the future!
Now on to my favorite part of the season, Christmas Eve! For Christmas Eve dinner, we were at my parents house with Mom, Dad, Jen, Grandpa, great Aunt "J" and both Grandma's. Phillip barely ate (weird for him... he's usually a pig big eater)... Something was up. Nonetheless, I shook it off and focused on my dinner. Afterwards, I heard him talking to my mom about maybe going to see Christmas lights. So, naturally, I chimed in. I told him that we absolutely should, since we hadn't all season. Mom suggested Largo Central Park aka the Choo choo train park (we used to go ride the trains there when we were little and they always have an awesome light display). We were walking around Largo Central with everyone and their mother, and Phil said, "Why don't we go off on our own path..." I went along with it and we proceeded to sit on a bench and just chit chat. All of a sudden he sprung the a question to me that I actually had no idea of the answer... He said, "Do you know what happened 28 years ago today?" Peoples birthdays started trailing through my head and finally I answered, "ummmmmm nope." LOL ( I really had no clue). So we stood up, still wondering the answer, he turned me to face him and told me...
"28 years ago today, your Dad asked your Mom to marry him... and tonight, I'm going to carry on that tradition by asking you to marry me." In shock I watched him, in slow motion it seemed, get down on one knee and continue,
"Briana Nicole DeCresie, will you marry me?"
The most amazing ring was opened up in front of me and I of course said yes! I was like a kid in a candy shop, I couldn't keep the smile off my face. I didn't cry, I just couldn't stop being excited! He took a picture of us to commemorate the moment and it is now my favorite picture in the world. My sister #pic-stitched it for me:)
We proceeded to go to his parents house to show and tell and my parents showed up with grandma and we had a nice little get together to celebrate the night. His sisters came home from church with the girls and we continued to celebrate. We are tentatively planning on October 4th, 2014, so that I have time to finish school and then devote all of my time to wedding planning! EEK!!!
After the celebrating, we went to Pasadena Community Church with our friends for the 11pm service. It was nice to be around friends that can share in the joy and excitement of our big day:) After church we headed to the Dockerty's for a 2am Christmas breakfast! I love my friends:) Over all, a very blessed Christmas!
Lyndsey and Derek had the first annual Ugly Christmas Sweater Party... I kinda think the above picture says it all:)
The weekend after Christmas, we camped out at Redneck Yacht Club to see boobs skanks the big beer can drop at Midnight... the only thing was, it wasn't actually new years eve... anyways, we had a blast riding the four wheelers and camping!
Lyndsey and I bringing in the new year:)
Ohhhh, In other news, I just finished my 5th quarter of school today and I will now be getting a week long break and then start 6th quarter:) October can't come fast enough, graduation is right around the corner! But, while I'm waiting, I've decided to try to make a healthier me and loose a couple LB's:) We shall see how long I keep it up for but I have a wedding dress to fit in to next year:)))))
That's all I have for now! I promise I won't take as long to update next time:)
