The New Ring

I LOVED my ring. It was my dream ring. I loved everything about it. The unique design, the shape of the stone, everything. Well maybe not everything. I began to notice that my center stone was looking really foggy all of a sudden. So, I would take it in to get cleaned pretty frequently and I kept being told that it was just dirty and cleaning would fix it but it kept happening. Colin knows the manager at another Kay's and when wewent to get it cleared there last time he actually noticed something wrong with the stone. We had all intention of going in to Kay's today and getting the same exact style, just a new ring that maybe wouldn't have any issues that mine did. Of course, my two options were either a clearer stone that was half the size of mine or one that was even worse than mine. I of course did not want to do that. In the end we chose to get the ring that Colin was actually going to get until for some reason he chose not to. Funny thing is, he actually likes this one more. Anyway, basically we got a new ring that shouldn't have any issues and even got my wedding band for free because of all the issues. I think in the end things will work out better this way so that way I'm not constantly worrying about it or having to take it in to soak in their cleaner for 30 minutes. It was so difficult giving them my ring that Colin proposed with but like his mom said, I would rather have a different ringthat wasn't defective than my original ring that was. So that's the store on the new ring. I miss mine but am glad things got figured out and I do love my new one :)

[the wedding band]

[the engagement ring]

Will it ever get here?!

So here I am with 512 days left to go until I marry the man of my dreams and I am already being impatient! I guess that is what I get for planning the whole thing in a month! Well not really the whole thing but pretty darn close. Church, reception hall, caterer, string trio, cake, photographer, dress, bridesmaids dresses/ color are all done. That leaves....dj, videographer, and flowers! I thought no way could I get everything done in time to get married this June and I definitely proved myself wrong! Now I'm waiting over a year, very impatiently I might add. There have definitely been some rough patches with friends and family with this whole wedding planning going on but in the end I think it will be great! For more wedding details check out our wedding website- www.mywedding.com/colindanielle


Tomorrow I finally get to go home to St. Louis to enjoy lunch with some great friends and then have a great Scentsy party. If you are by chance in the St. Louis area, check it out! It is the T.A.L.K. of the Town Expo at Helfers Pastries & Deli on January 29th 7-9 and January 30th 2-4! There will be 10 different vendors there along with some great door prizes. It should be a great time!

School is somewhat flying by. I can't believe that I am in my last semester of my junior year, I'm engaged to be married, and am about to enter the real world. When did this happen?! I feel like I was just a junior in high school and now here I am preparing to graduate college. I still love every second of what I do. I can't wait to actually start doing it and actually see my bank account go up instead of constantly down :)

Well y'all that is all for now. Colin is off working nights and I am cleaning the house, packing my bags, doing homework before I head off for the weekend. Until next time....

[the color]


[the reception hall]

The Big Day

23

Colin and I have decided on our big day- June 23, 2012.

To some, this may seem like any other day to most people but to us, it means everything. Love, friendship, forever.

It also means a lot to both of our families. The same weekend Colin and I will be saying "I do" his parents will be celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary. Not only that, my grandparents would be celebrating their 63rd wedding anniversary, my aunt and uncle their 40th wedding anniversary and my mom and stepdad will be celebrating their 17th wedding anniversary. Needless to say, fate?

Any day that we would have chose to get married would have been a special day but this just makes it that much more special. It is story we can tell and maybe even something that could be passed down through the family. It may be 541 days away, but I can't wait!

The Wedding Party

Best Man
Josh Jungermann- friend of the groom
Dustin Byrne- friend of the groom

Maid of Honor
Emily Miller- friend of the bride

Groomsmen
Dallas Fletchall- friend of the groom
Tyler Campbell- cousin of the groom
Darren Humphrey- friend of the groom
Andrew Lanham- brother of the bride

Bridesmaids
Nicole Lanham- sister of the bride
Caitlin Helfer- sister of the bride
Taryn Peacock- friend of the bride
Lauren Jungermann- friend of the bride
Morgan Campbell- sister of the groom

Goin to the chapel...

and we're going to get MARRIED! That's right, you read correctly. I'M GETTING MARRIED!

Hard to believe that soon I will be graduating college and then I will be Danielle Campbell. wow. Plans have already started and man, weddings are stressful and very expensive. Some people always ask how you know the one is "THE one". Well, I can say that I knew Colin was the one since we had only been dating about a month. Maybe even less than that. I just knew. He treated me just the way my dad always has which is something I knew I wanted in a guy. Sure, I had been in love before and thought that they were the one but with Colin it has been so different. It isn't just love, it's friendship. He makes me laugh more than anyone I know. He makes me smile and makes me so happy in general. We both want to same thing in our lives and both have the same taste. Sure, we have disagreements but in all honesty I don't know if we have ever really had one that was so significant that made me stop and think, "am I with the right person?" All of this made my decision really easy when Colin decided to pop the question.

Colin and I had been talking about marriage for quite a while and had even gone shopping for rings. I had no idea when or if it would actually happen but if it did, Colin wanted to know what kind of ring I liked. A few weeks ago Colin drove to St. Louis to talk to both of my parents and apparently my dad was easier than my mom! Two days later, he popped the question! We were at home getting ready to leave for a Christmas party. I had gone in to the bathroom to brush my hair and teeth before we left and when I came back out Colin was down on one knee in the bathroom. Apparently, he had the ring with him all day and was waiting for the right time but he wanted me to have it before we left for the party so I guess he just ran out of time! Needless to say, I said YES! Once we got to the party his parents were really excited and have already started introducing me as their daughter in law.

I am still trying to figure out plans. having winter break with no school has definitely helped out a lot! So far we have the church where the ceremony will take place and the date. So for those of you (you know who you are) that need to know when and where, May 19, 2012 at St. Andrew Catholic Church in Holts Summit, MO. Probably around 2pm. Unfortunately we will be having a full catholic mass which was something we at first didn't want but in order to get married in a catholic church and the one that we really love that is what we have to do. Since it will be in the spring, I think I have decided black dresses with bright watermelon colored flowers. My neice- Kyleigh and nephew- Chase will be the flower girl and ring bearer. For the bridesmaids- Emily will be the maid of honor then I have Nicole- my sister in law, Caite- my sister, Lauren, Taryn, and Morgan- Colin's sister. For the groomsmen- Josh- Colin's best friend will be the best man, Dustin- Colin's friend, Dallas- Colin's friend, Tyler- Colin's cousin, Darren "Hump"- Colin's friend, and Drew- my brother. I have no clue who I will have for the guestbook or to pass out programs but I do know that I want to have a really neat guest book. I want to take our engagement pictures and make that into a guest book. For instance, have a picture on one side and then the lines for people to sign on the other. I think that will be something really cool to have and look back on. Of course I would love to have the wonderful Emily Southerland do my wedding pictures but it looks like she will only be able to do the engagement pictures, hopefully. I have always figured she would be the one to do my wedding pictures and now that she is not I am so lost. I mean people are asking $3-4,000 just for wedding pictures! I'm sorry but there is NO WAY! *sigh* oh well, everything will eventually get figured out. We have narrowed down the reception to two places and I guess how much flowers are and how much pictures are really depends on how much we spend on the reception.

I think that is all that has been going on so far. I'll update as plans get further along. And you're welcome Jackie, Emily, & Julia :)

Kyleigh Renee

My adorable neice was born on November 4th at 5:58 am. My sister in law had gone in to the hospital the night before and planned on getting induced that next morning. Well Kyleigh didn't want to wait that long. Before they could even give her pitocin, her water broke. Imagine my surprise when I was woken up extremely early in the morning to have found out she was already here! She wasn't supposed to arrive until later that evening. I was so happy and so surprised. What a great experience it has been to have a neice. No one know, including my brother and sister, whether it was a boy or a girl. I secretly wanted a girl and am so happy to have her! Big brother Chase is doing great and loves his baby sister!

Introducing Jack & Blue!

How I managed to forget to blog about these two cuties I have no idea! back when Colin first got the house we already had Buzz, my little shih tzu. Colin has always wanted a lab and I said that once we got settled in the house that we should start looking. So we did and finally we ended up at an animal shelter in Fulton. They weren't open so all we could see were the dogs that were free to run around in the yard that was fenced in. First Colin noticed Jack who is a black lab and at the time was about 5 months old. He was so cute jumping all around. You could tell that he was just so happy to see us. Then I saw Blue a blue tick. He was only 3 months at the time and while Jack was going crazy little Blue was just trying to reach the fence to get a little attention and when he didn't he would just go fall asleep by the gate. Since the shelter was closed we finally decided to leave. I was heart broken leaving them there and I of course convinced Colin to go back that same night and take the dogs a treat :) I was hooked. The next morning we got up as soon as they opened and went to go see the dogs. Colin wanted Jack and I wanted Blue. Colin INSISTED that we were only leaving there with one and because the thought of leaving either one of them there scared me to death I obviously started crying. Colin caved. We left that day with both Jack and Blue. Let me tell you, I wish I had known what I was getting into. First Buzz hated them then came the potty traning, and now they are big and just want to run around like crazy. Though I do have to say they are great dogs. They love absolutely everyone and are such fun to be around. Colin is started our fence tomorrow so finally the boys can have all the yard to themselves! They are just going to love it! Anyway, I just wanted to introduce my precious boys to you all. Have a good day!
toodles!

[me & Blue]

[jack playing in the river]