3 more weeks..

Time has flown like crazy. it seems like just a few months ago frankie got down on one knee on my front door step, and asked me to marry him. well, over 11 months has passed, and we’re almost to the big day. !!!

we have been extremely blessed during this engagement. so many things have happened that have just been, amazing. plain and simple.

for one, our venue. we’re getting married at black gold golf club in yorba linda. it is absolutely beautiful, and everything i’ve dreamed of. outside ceremony, inside reception. ahh i just cant wait. it's all so perfect.

frankies grandmother sadly moved out to bakersfield with her son. well, being an older lady and all, and moving into someone elses house, she didn’t need the things in hers anymore. so, we pretty much got everything she had. coffee table, end tables, dining room table, a beautiful hutch, and many other appliances for kitchen and etc..

huge blessing.

my grandparents were able to give us a very decent amount of money, just because they wanted to help out.

huge blessing.

my mom and other close friends and family threw me an amazingly beautiful bridal shower. everything was perfect.

we just recently (as in THIS WEEKEND recently) moved everything into our new apartment :) the great story about this, is that it is the one we wanted the most out of all the apartments we looked at. everything was perfect, we absolutely LOVED it..but there was nothing available. yes there were 1 or 2 other apartments available we could have taken elsewhere, but we decided we were going to hold out, and wait until august 1st to see if something would be available at the end of the month (which would have been a hassle). well, less than a week later, i get a call saying that someone cancelled, and there is an apartment available for us. praise the Lord. i was almost crying i was so happy. God is good.

in our apartment, we have a separate room for a washer and dryer. well, we don’t have one. we weren’t stressing too much about it, we figured if anything i could just go to my parents house to do laundry until we have enough saved up to buy our own. well, my grandma calls me one day, and says that they are all of a sudden looking into buying a new washer and dryer, and offered us theirs. praise.the.Lord. these things are only a few years old, the style i've always wanted, great brand, and, even if they were older or, something i didn't "necessarily want..we would still have our own washer and dryer.

everything is falling into place. there's 3 more weeks until the wedding, we have some minor (but major at the same time) things to do. but it will eventually get done.

I was actually just thinking today, when i first got engaged i would think "dang, i'm getting married in a year...6 months...4 months..." and today hit me, "holy crap. i'm getting MARRIED in 3. weeks..married..THREE WEEKS!!"

both of our bachelor and bachelorette parties are next weekend, our final meeting at our venue is the following week, the week after that is the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner, and 3 days after that....well, we'll be gettin hitched.

God has been so good to us, and i truely can't wait to see what else He has in store.

i can't wait for it all<3

[great] changes.

Well, a huge huge huge [glorious] change will be going on in my life, starting in about a week!

*drum roll please*

.....................

I GOT A NEW JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hallelujah.

Those of you that know my job I have now (I work at Stater Bros.), you know that I'm constantly working nights, always work sundays (I've been there almost 3 years and still can't manage to give me a sunday off like I've requested), few hours recently, aand my store manager is pretty much a jerk. Honestly, it's not the worst thing ever, I shouldn't have been complaining because, hey, at least I have a job...But I am getting married in 3 and a half months, and, "ok honey I'll be home at 11 to make you dinner"...won't be cuttin' it for me.

Ever since I got engaged I've been praying by at least the time I'm married I'll have a new job where I don't have to work nights and not on sundays. This new job is literally a huge blessing from the Lord, and He pretty much slapped me in the face with this job and just handed it to me.

I have a Starbucks right next door to my work, and me being the addict that I am, go in consistently. All the employees know me by name. [don't judge me.] When I had my braces on, the manager knew my whole situation as far as my work paying for them through insurance so, I was pretty much stuck there. She had said 2 or 3 times, "When you get those braces off girl you can come work with us!" I would just always reply with "yess definitely!" not really taking her seriously.

Well last Tuesday I went in before class, and here is how our conversation went:

"Hey you got your braces off!!"

"Yessss I'm freee!"

"Now you can come work over here!"

"haha I know!"

"Ok well let me know when!"

She was completely serious.

So, the next day I went in and I talked to her, got some more information on what she was looking for and the job itself. She said she was looking for someone who can work 40 hours a week, and looking to moving up the ladder and being promoted. (ok, wow, perfect). I mentioned how I'm always working nights and when I get married, I honestly can't be working those shifts. She said that's not a problem at all because she would want me working during the day anyways because of my personality. (another awesome plus). She said every time I came in I was so bubbly and happy, and loved that. She said when I first start she WILL schedule me nights, only because I need to ease my way into things, and also know how to close, also if she started me off mornings I'd probably go home crying every day, haha. But in 3-4 weeks, I'll be working during the day. (amazing.) I asked if I started prior to August if I would be able to get at least 2 weeks off for my wedding and honeymoon, she said that wouldn't be a problem at all. (score). She wanted to do a formal interview on monday, so we pretty much ended things there.

Monday rolled around, and I went in [on my lunch for stater brothers ;) ] and not only did she ask me the typical interview questions, but she told me they're able to match what I'm making at Stater Bros. So I'll be making the same amount of money, plus tips, and no union fees like I have now. (oh and did I mention free drinks? shooot what more can an addict ask for?) Can you say praise the Lord? She told me she definitely wanted to hire me, and asked if I wanted time to think about it. I chuckled a little, and said no, that this is honestly just a huge answered prayer for me.

SO. I put my 2 weeks in with Staters, and man did it feel good. I've been there for almost 3 years, and I just can not wait to get out of there. It's going to be weird, because I've been there so long. I'm definitely going to miss my co-workers, they're the best. But good thing I'm just next door ;)

The Lord totally blessed me with this job, and I can't thank Him enough. I'm so excited to start working and see what else the Lord has for me :)

__________________________________________

Pray

Until

Something

Happens

Engagement Pictures

Last Sunday, Frankie and I had our engagement photos taken. Our amazing photographer Ashley Horne took us out to a golf course in Corona, where we took pictures on nearby railroad tracks, on the field, and in a small little gazebo we found. Then we went up the road a bit to a beautiful yellow flower field, with a long road next to it.

Ashley is so much fun to shoot with, and we had a blast with her. We can't wait to work with her more on our wedding day. Here's just a sample of her amazing work from our shoot, definitely more to come soon :)

2010, in pictures.

So for the past two years my good friend Blythe, has done a recap of the year, in photos. And I've always thought it was pretty awesome. I wanted to do it last year but never got around to it. So this year, I wanted to make it a point to do it...enjoy :)

.:january:.

My first car :)

.:february:.

Valentines Day Party

the big 21

.:march:.

skydiving

bungee jumping

.:april:.

the Miller wedding

.:may:.

Elyse's college graduation

natalie's high school graduation

.:june:.

i got baptized

...along with some friends

the san diego zoo

.:july:.

the Palermo wedding

the orange balloon for the first time!

.:august:.

the Nelson wedding

i got engaged!!!

he did great work ;)

.:september:.

lets make a deal!

(unfortunately the only picture we got of the day)

baby shower #1

baby shower #2

.:october:.

jack johnson!!!!!

.:november:.

womans dinner.

*diamonds are a girls best friend*

kaylas 20th birthday

.:december:.

ugly sweater night

christmas lights

im getting married !!

First of all, I wasn't expecting this at all! Whenever me and Frankie had talked about getting married, it had always been 2-3 years away...well SURPRISE!!

Throughout our whole relationship, when Frankie would drop me off at night, (or even sometimes when he wouldn't see me during the day), he would sometimes text me a couple minutes after I'm in the house and say, "hey I think I dropped something on your porch, can you go look for me." So I would go downstairs only to find a little note he wrote me, or a rose, or something cute like that. He would do this every now and then so obviously after a while of him "dropping things", I caught on to it...It was our 2 year anniversary, and he took me to San Diego all day. It was great. Really nice, walking around doing different things together. Coronado Island, Gaslamp District..anyway..He dropped me off at home and we said goodnight..I was upstairs talking to my mom when about 5 minutes later he calls, and says he thinks he dropped his wallet and asks if I can go check for him..I go downstairs, expecting to find a small letter, or something of that sort. I open the door only to find him standing there. With vases behind him filled with rose pedals and floating candles, and a big bouquet of roses. I was so surprised to see HIM there, let alone candles and roses..I still wasn't expecting anything, I just though figured he was being cute because it was our anniversary..he gave me a hug, and started talking:

"I promised you a year ago I would marry you. When I told you I loved you I told you I didn't want to be with anyone else but you, and the thought of you with anyone else makes me nauseated." Got down on one knee..."Danielle will you marry me?"

ohmygoodness!!

Like I said I had no idea what was going on, until he said "I promised you a year ago I would marry you.." I started getting teary eyed. The whole time he was talking, all that was going through my head was, "oh my gosh. what is he doing is he proposing what is he doing oh my gosh oh my gosh !!!" After I said yes (of course!), I started balling. I was in complete shock. (4 days later, I'm still in shock.) I can't believe I'm getting married!! Not only that, but I'm getting married in less than a year!!! August 21, 2011 is our date<3

His mom, sister, and brother-in-law were hiding behind my chimney the whole time, my parents were crouched up at the top of the stairs. We all celebrated after..

The way he proposed was perfect. It was sweet, romantic, just, perfect. The ring is beautiful. A 1 karat Tacori ring. Amazing.

We used to always talk about how we cant wait to plan things for our wedding. Can't wait to do thiiis and can't wait to do thaaat. It's going to be so weird actually legitimately PLANNING these things we've been talking and dreaming about.

I love you Frankie Nilon, and I cant wait to spend the rest of my life with you as your wife, starting August 21, 2011<3