The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!!!

One word,.....Christmaaaaaas!!!!! The absolute best time of the year, the best time spent with family, the most cheer and happiness all year all around! Oh how I do love everything CHRISTmas and everything about it! (putting Christ in the center) This has been the best send off holiday as being a 'single lady' before I dive into marriage :) and my new life with the new ways we will celebrate holidays between two families instead of one as Cody and I are our own little family. It is so difficult to realize that my mom will have a rough transition with that being a single parent, she is so close to Morgan and I. I hope she can ease into the transition well and doesn't feel like she is losing a daughter but is gaining a son! And we hope to live in Tennessee.

The rest of Christmas break from the last blog has been a whirlwind of fun adventures and memories for Cody and I and we have no kidding made the Chattanooga to Knoxville trip at least 15 times. We had to do that to appease both families, doctors visits, Christmas celebration traditions, and wedding planning. There is nothing like family!

Before I dive into Christmas I realized I never talked about Halloween! Somehow I skipped that! Well we celebrated Cody's first Halloween and had our cousin Nathan over and it was a blast. I am happy to say Cody liked Halloween! Especially when he realized we really get to eat candy ha! His parents never let him or his brothers participate in Halloween and I feel like he has been deprived! It was always such an awesome tradition for us Dyars and Beckers to all get together in the middle of the school year to have lots of fun and fulfill our hotdog and chili before trick-or-treating tradition! And lets not forget our post trick-or-treating candy auction! Anyways, this year on Halloween before we did anything, Cody and I drove to his house with my grandmother and mom and took save-the-date pictures! They were breathtaking! Along with the gorgeous scenery, Gigi's wonderful photography skills, and my moms directing, we ended up with 30 PERFECT pictures. It was so hard to choose which 3 I liked for the card! Since we have sent out the save-the-dates I will go ahead and show you guys. We have had a lot of trouble getting some save-the-dates to some people for some reason so if you haven't gotten it yet don't panic! We are still working it out!

Wonder Woman and Jason the ax murderer!

Sorry for the picture of a picture but here are two pics from our save-the-date session! I LOVE LOVE LOVE how they turned out!

All pictures were taken at Cody's families farm!

Ok, back to Christmas. So the whole month of December, every Monday Cody and I went to pre-marriage counseling with my preacher Ann. It was honestly one of the best experiences! We learned so much and brought up many many discussion topics with each other while working through the christian workbook Getting Ready for Marriage. We really enjoyed working and talking with Ann! I think that book is perfect for couples who don't date too long like most people or have trouble bringing up or discussing difficult issues. But for Cody and I, we have been dating for almost 5 years and we have experienced so many life situations together and we also talk about EVERYTHING! We are on the same page 99% of the time. The one benefit for dating as long as we have is we are able to know most of the books answers and know the answers to the questions about each other.

Another thing that has taken a large role in me and Cody's Christmas break this year is two dreadful words....JOB HUNT. Man, even knowing beforehand how challenging it is, I really don't think you understand until you go through it. Cody is the top priority right now for finding a job since he has graduated but I have been keeping my eyes open too. Cody has probably applied 50 times at least and has not gotten really anywhere. He is so positive and hopeful, it is hard to watch the whole process of the often disappointment. He has gotten one offer lately that will take into effect August which we are forever blessed for (if it does work out) but man we are about to be married and we can't be broke going into marriage! We need some kind of income!! I have to know it will all work out. Trust in the Lord!

One neat thing this Christmas that has become 'our thing' is watch every single Star Wars movie! I never really was into Star Wars growing up and never had an interest having watched bits and pieces of each movie. But Cody sat me down and had me watch all of Episode 1 and I was instantly hooked! We watched them backwards just so Cody could get me hooked to the series since the first 3 episodes are the most action packed but I am so glad we did it that way! It worked for me! I already knew Darth Vader was Lukes father, and Luke and Leia were siblings. I had known that for years.

So after our Star Wars marathon ended, it was time for all of the family Christmas's! The first Christmas we went to was my Nana's Christmas up in the smokies. We rented this 4 story cabin and oh my word  it was the most fun we have had ever! Each night we stayed up until 3 or 4 playing games and visiting together. Man I love my cousins! I am so blessed to be the oldest cousin and I do believe God gave me that role for a reason. I love pathing the path through life for everyone! I am also eternally blessed 70% of my cousins are within 4 years of age from me! On that Friday we all arrived to the cabin around 4:00pm and immediately explored every inch of that huge cabin! Oh we were in awe! Almost each person had a room (poor Edgar and Cody had to sleep on the broken pull-out couches) and aunt Jody and uncle Wade got the 'honeymoon suites' in the uppermost 4th floor since they like to go to bed early and we could go on the very very bottom floor and not bother them. The 3rd floor consisted of my Nana, Morgan, and Nathan. Mainly because Nana wanted to wake up and cook breakfast early. Oh and not to mention each person got their own bathroom! We were in heaven!  On the 2nd floor, was my Dad and Tonya, Nick and Laura, and me. On the 1st floor, the game floor was Cody and Edgar in their own separate rooms. (Nana fell completely through one of the couch beds because it was such poor quality. She was ok). One really neat thing we did this year as our annual Christmas practical prank was the penny trick! I got 300 pennies and distributed them out to each person (grand kid) and we hid them very well all throughout the 4 floors. And when I say everywhere, I mean everywhere. We hid them in the bathroom towels, pillow cases, toilet, food boxes, shoes, stockings, everywhere. The trick was the adults would see a penny randomly on something and think, "WOW! a penny!" and then as time goes on they find more and more and more and start to get freaked out. They of course eventually figured it out but seeing that process in their minds is one of the greatest Christmas gifts LOL! (last year was balloons)

So as everyone started piling in as they arrived we all played and had a great time in the 3rd floor icing cookies and watching the cartoon version of the Grinch who Stole Christmas since we did that every year as small children. We sang songs and acted crazy until bed time.

v

Cookie icing fun!!!

My plate (note the 'R')

Traditions

Main 3rd floor

2 hot tubs, one on 3rd floor, one on 2nd floor.

Nana, Uncle Wade, and Me. Great picture!

'Honeymoon suites' for Uncle Wade and Aunt Jody up there. 

My Nana! (She always is this happy) Nana always put so much time and effort into her Christmas to make sure it is perfect for us and she loves each and every one of us so much! Her love is definitely shown through her actions. Thank you Nana!

Nathan, Morgan, and Nana's rooms. 

Running up the stairs (I love stairs and this place had multiple multiple flights)

My room!

The stinky bathroom.

Running back up the stairs!!!

The quiet landing to the 2nd floor

The first floor, the game room. Us kids spent 90% of our time here. Foosball table behind me. (and Codys bed poor thing) Next year we will have our own room because #married lol. 

And last but not least our pool table! There was also a hanging swinging bench on one of the porches! So peaceful!

So on Saturday morning we woke up really really early to make it to the Applebarns breakfast and it didn't disappoint! We walked around the Christmas store and all us grandkids decided to get Nana cute little ornaments with our names on it as a thank you for everything.

My sweetheart and I outside the Applebarn. I love this picture! Photocreds to Aunt Jody and Nana!

A picture of the beautiful Smoky mountains as Cody and I are trying not to see our breakfast again as dad drives crazily back to the cabin. (sorry dad)

After breakfast, the kids head to Wonderworks to do their new rope course and I have to say, it was INCREDIBLE! I would definitely do it again over and over and over. We went through the 4 levels with ease with the 4th being the scariest but best! I've always loved stuff like that! I love anything active! After that we ate at the Old Mill and their portions were huge but delicious! Following that we arrived back at the cabin and wrapped Nana's ornaments for present opening Sunday morning. 

We didn't have any wrapping paper so we had to get creative. We used napkins and Tonya's colored markers. 

 Here we are at work on the presents. (The 1st and 2nd floor were the kids floor)

We challenged each other to pool and foosball (with me being the foosball champ, I had to re-state my title guys ;)) There were just enough people to play foosball AND pool simultaneously! In the picture above we had "settled down" and played a game of apples to apples. Nana has always been so cool! She will stick with us grandkids the whole time eating up every second of the fun :)

There became too many people on the floor so I got booted onto the couch behind them. (hey I really got the better deal, the couch was comfy and perfect for selfie stick angles;))

Apples-to-apples was SO MUCH FUN! We play in a funny way and I don't think we stop laughing once! 

Sweet Nana

Morgan and Edgar

As seen on my instagram, Cody got his very own grankids stocking this year because he is being welcomed officially into the family! a.k.a. we're engaged!

The next morning we woke up and ate Nana's famous sausage balls and opened presents. We had to be quick because we had to check out at noon. :'( tears. We left the cabin and headed to Cody's Nana's Christmas immediately in Chattanooga. 

Nana Wamacks Christmas, Codys Nana, was a lot of fun! We opened presents and played board games and ate delicious food! Their decorations were beautiful! And I do have to admit that Cody and I did fall asleep because we hadn't slept but 4 hours a night the past 3 nights from my Nana's Christmas. It was worth it though!

Cousin Will, Uncle Greg, Miles, and Cody (Amy and Kaden in the background)

Same people but Papa on the far left. I can't wait to officially be apart of this family!

The Christmas decorations!

For each Christmas Cody and I got our wedding registry gifts which we are so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so grateful for!

Next was Gigi's Christmas! It was one of the best ones we had ever had! It was so much fun and everyone was so happy! We had chili for dinner, read a Christmas Story play, watched the 'adults' open presents and watched Christmas movies until 1:00am! I'm not sure why but both of my families never sleep haha! The next morning we woke up early, opened presents, and ate delicious morning rice! Gigi got Cody and I some of the most beautiful, thoughtful gifts anyone has ever given us regarding our relationship and our upcoming marriage! Cody and I were amazed!

This was one beautiful thoughtful gift! Cody and I have started collecting ornaments for when we have our first married Christmas next year in our own place with our own tree! You have no idea how long we have been waiting for that. 

This was a exquisite box with our names engraved and our wedding date that holds our wedding rings! I am so blessed to be the first grandchild married! It is such a blessing and a special time! I can't wait until the actual wedding!

This is just a gorgeous picture of sweet Gigi and Granddad! They put so much time and effort into making sure we are all happy and their Christmas goes well! They will do ANYTHING for each one of us! What a precious gift to have them as my grandparents! 

The whole Becker fam adults (minus Gigi)

Sweet Ada! She is my buddy and ecstatic she will be my flower girl! She got these beenie boppers things and she loved playing with them together! She is my little buddy! Children are a blessing! I don't know what we all would have done if Aunt Steph and Uncle Pauls 5th child Ada was never born!

Aunt Steph and her new Iphone plastic case that we almost lost. Oh my.

Uncle Paul!

Granddad, me, and Cody.

Me and my beautiful mama!

Morgan, me, and cousin Katy. 

Look at this cute cute outfit Gigi got me! I love it so much! And notice the AWESOME shoes! I've always wanted cool shoes like these!

Aw!

All of our stockings all 'hung' in a row.

Getting ready to open the presents youngest to oldest waiting on the stairs. 

Dyar family children (can I include Cody)  :)

Sleepy 7:00am. That's what happens with younger kids :)

After breakfast we packed up and drove to the Raborn Christmas!

Part of our car traveling selfies as we made the Chatt-Knoxville trip 15 times. (This is the dog Max form the Grinch that I found and got at Hobby Lobby!) He's so soft!

Sorry it's sideways, the blog is having a glitch but notice the matching shirts! We never match and it makes me happy!

We arrived at the Raborn household, had sandwiches and saw the aunts, uncles, cousins, and second cousins!

Here is the Raborn family clan! So neat to be the absolute youngest on this side to see the cousins having kids! Little Kaden, Beau, and Grayton are so precious!

After dinner and presents (thank you so much Jamie and Miles) , Cody, Miles, and I made gingerbread houses! We actually had a really fun time! Miles' (my father-in-law) turned out the best! ;)

This was my little icicles gingerbread house!

After Raborn Christmas, I went to my house for Dyar Christmas. We celebrated the day after Christmas to accommodate my dad's schedule. We played board games, looked at Christmas lights, had fun, and ate sausage balls. It was such a bittersweet Christmas being the last one at my house, the last one with my dad (divorced parents life to a T), and the last Christmas I can or want to technically celebrate with my family without Cody. I can't wait to see our own new traditions next year! Sweet mom gave me some of our wedding registry gifts and some sweet thoughtful gifts. She always knows what we need and want! I got this awesome 3D printing pen that I have been dying to have! That is what I work with all of the time in my Materials Science Engineering classes so I am ecstatic! I have one of my own! !

Since we are in the process of moving houses, we don't have a tree and this is a wonderful substitute!

Some cool metal rod game!

Cody and I ended the Christmas celebrations with a Bonefish date night and Starbucks! Two of our favorite places! Look how handsome my sweetie is!

These are the gifts I got Cody! These are stockings for our own house one day and for next Christmas! I can't wait!!! I also painted that deer on the wood block! It was harder than it looks! It is a good compromise than having a real deer head in our bedroom I think;). 

This is the sweet gifts Cody got me!

I finally got my new monogrammed initials on something!! I have been waiting on this for a long time!! Thank you so much Cody!! Cody also got me the selfie stick! And it works! Third times the charm (dumb phone). 

This has been such a bittersweet Christmas break (more sweet than bitter) and I hate to see it go. I am leaving Christmas break knowing that I will never get another actual Christmas break like these during college EVER. When I start working (hopefully soon) I will never ever get a month off for Christmas and that makes me sad! Christmas means so much to me and all of the time spent with family. I will really miss it. I will have to get used to a few days off only. Here's to the absolute best Christmas ever!

Love,
Kayla Dyar (Raborn)
1-6-16

P.S.- 150 more days until the wedding!!!!!! :D
Active countdown on my instagram!

Thanksgiving, Finals, Cody's Graduation and more!

Hey everyone!! Long time no see!! Finals are now over and it is time for Christmas!!!!!!!!!

Let me just say finals were challenging but I conquered them all with a total of 3 hours of sleep each night. This semester has been one of the challenging yet, especially with my writing intensive class of 10 lab reports, 24 pages each, analyzing engineering x-ray diffraction data over and over and over. One of our classes had 2 reports, 8 presentations and a HUGE final project. My class has jumped through so many hoops to do well this semester and now I am rounding the corner of my last semester senior year. Now I await my final grades which are due this Tuesday.

Analyzing my x-ray diffraction data for my mile long lab reports

Studying feverishly for finals (I didn't move from this spot for 3 days)

Presentations galore!

I have gotten slightly better at public speaking!

More data analysis of XRD (I made this!)

Reverse engineering

The intricate parts right before it blew up. (Really!)

It has made a world of difference to have my sweet Cody here with me in the same city! That was the greatest gift the Lord could have given me. I may not be so lucky this next semester depending on where Cody gets a job. It is so scary thinking of the unknown of where and if I can get a job at the end of May and where Cody will get one and trying to get our jobs in the same place and then trying to get the apartments lined up which take half a year for a wait list. The next 5 months are so uncertain and to be honest a little bit scary hoping everything works out in time for the wedding less than six months away. I know God knows our plans and our path and has for all of our lives, we just have to trust in the Lord and cast our worries on him and just pray we listen correctly and make the choices he wills for us on our path. This past semester Cody was there to give me a hug on rough days, give me a billiards study break, bring me dinner when I have a huge test the next day, and most importantly just being there. It was so difficult for us the first 4 years being 6 hours away when those things were impossible and skype was the only option. Cody is amazing and takes such great care of me and really drove 30 minutes to my apartment and 30 minutes back multiple times just to give me a hug after a long day. He really is a keeper folks. He has my heart! <3

Before I get too far ahead of myself let me give a short recap on Thanksgiving. So for Thanksgiving we ate and ate and ate lol. We had such delicious food and catching up on life! I enjoyed staying up until 3:00am with Cody and his mom, cooking the Thanksgiving food, laughing and making memories. This year I decided to do something really brave, I made my dad's famous mashed potatoes all by myself! And they actually turned out well! I can happily say they were a success and I can finally pass down the family recipe. Next is to master my Nana's divine chocolate cake!

The famous mashed potato pot! (We made 6 pounds of it!)

So after finals were over Cody and I tied up loose ends in Knoxville, wrote and sent the save-the-dates for the wedding and all headed to Martin Tennessee for Cody's college graduation. I cannot believe in am engaged to a college graduate!! It was a little sad I wasn't able to graduate with him like high school but it was such an exciting special day. All of his hard work and effort has paid off and now he has a bachelors degree in History education! The future looks so bright!! College has not been nice to Cody or I so this was such a relief for Cody and a huge sense of freedom.

My heart was literally bursting with pride for this guy!

All 14 of his support group (family) celebrating with a yummy lunch with lots of fellowship. (I took this with my selfie stick Cody got me!!)

Cody getting his picture taken, walking with pride back to his seat.

Class of 700!

Me, Morgan, Granddad, Gigi, and Papa up top.

Nana, Mom, me anxiously waiting for it to start.

Jamie, Miles, Nana W. Nana D. mom, and me.

Me and sis!

What a support group! We love you Cody!!!

Oh and tonight Cody, me, Cody's dad, and Cody's grandparents saw Cody's mom's Christmas performance at their church and it was awesome!!! It really got me in the spirit of Christmas! Jamie sang beautifully and the whole performance was beautiful! 

The rest of Christmas break for Cody and I consists of half the time in Knoxville and half of the time in Chattanooga. This coming weekend is my Nana's Christmas in Gatlinburg with the Dyars and also Cody's Nana's Christmas the day after with the Wamacks. It should be an extremely fun weekend kicking off the Christmas festivities! I can't wait to see the craziness at my Nana's Christmas and new memories to make, and the good conversations with Cody's family and board games! 

This week Cody and I also start pre-marital counseling with my preacher Ann and we are ecstatic!! I cannot wait to prepare for marriage and start back on wedding planning!! Next post I will be talking about what wedding planning will take place this Christmas break and the Christmas festivities with my other grandparents and my immediate family. (and Cody's) It has been so interesting this Christmas working around the dynamics of being engaged. Its that fun/awkward stage where we are so close to marriage but we aren't married, so living arrangements are still separate but things are more flexible. It is so neat spending Christmas being engaged knowing that this time next year we will be husband and wife!!!!! :D 

So I will see everyone later, enjoy the holidays, keep the reason for the season in mind always because it is so easy to get lost in the hustle and bustle of the holiday to-do's and sometimes stresses. Spend time with family because family time always makes the heart happy and full at peace ready for the next year!! 

 Not one tree is the same! Just like people!

Happy Holidays everyone, I will be posting again very soon!!

Love,

Kayla Dyar (Raborn)

Wedding Countdown: 175 days!!! (5 months 21 days!!)

P.S.- Cody and I are on day 5 of our weight-loss kickoff challenge! (eating well, less, and working out) We lost 12-17 pounds this past summer and were unable to continue the trend over stressful school and are picking back up to finish the weight loss. I have a dress fitting early January and am slightly in a panic to reach my goals for then. 

Fall Break!

Hey everyone! It's fall break and I feel like I would like to update everyone with what's been going on since the start of school....since I have the extra 2 days to do major hw ;/. Plus I couldn't stay away from the blogging world, I found that I enjoy it so much and hope you enjoy reading about my adventures! (also I realized I would have posted every one of these pictures on instagram and that can be a problem, and annoying to some lol)

So after school started in August I realized it was as bad as I thought. I have really started to dislike college and I am very ready to graduate in May. A lot of my friends have been talking about grad school and I find that very funny because that is the last thing in the whole world I would EVER do willingly. I am currently taking 6 classes, 14 hours total and get on average 4 hours of sleep a night. It KILLS my body and makes it VERY difficult for weight loss. All of my classes are tough and require immense time outside of class. I sometimes feel like I am losing my mind. For the most part I don't enjoy my classes but I really like my biomaterials class. I think....    Well I enjoy the professor a lot, she is fantastic and it is wonderful to see someone teach a college class with it being their passion. Most of my professors are in it for the research. :( :( :(

Lately I have been attending lots and lots of job fairs and having phone interviews. I am looking at a multitude of companies from TVA, DENSO, ORNL, MARS, Colortech, to Eastman. It is really scary looking for a job and I always imagined this time in my life would never really come but it did and now it's scary.

Cody has been doing well, he is such a trooper. He has been having some SERIOUS senior-itus. He is so ready to graduate this December and I don't blame him! His student teaching has been good and he is a FANTASTIC teacher. I am so proud of him. I am also so glad that he enjoys it. It reconfirms his passion to coach and teach.

Between August and now nothing besides school and hw has really happened but I have found the good out of this semester and can proudly say I have made a friend! Since we are in almost all of the same classes we work on the projects and lab reports together and since the lab reports take 30+ hours, I will often go to her house to bounce back-and-forth ideas on a tricky software. Brianna has three cats and a dog. I have really cherished this friendship that has come out of this semester. She has such a sweet heart and is a lot of fun! This semester people-wise has been great! I am also really close with my other two friends Shelby and Candice. All three people are so so so different but I really care so much for each of them. I have known Shelby for many years and have had many classes together. She is a wonderful friend and listener. Candice is just the sweetest girl and is so spunky! She is wonderful to go to for advice and just recently got married herself. So I LOVE LOVE LOVE wedding talk together!

You will never hear me talk much about friends because I have always been the type of person who likes most people and get along with truly about every person but I don't usually trust people enough to let them in on my personal life or open up to. So it says a lot when I mention friends!

Anyways, this past weekend Cody and I got to experience many new 'firsts' together!!! Last Saturday I took Cody to his first corn maze, hay ride, pumpkin patch, and carved his first pumpkin! At first he wasn't fond of the maze especially since it was incredibly muddy but ended up enjoying it once he found out he got to take home a pumpkin. We went to Oaks Farm out in Sevierville TN and I highly suggest going there! My family has gone to corn mazes almost every year of my entire life and we have tried over 12 maze farms and Oaks Farm by far is the best! We got to swing, sit in our rocking chars, feed animals and race down HUGE slides! Here is a little collage of our trip:

First, Friday night I attended the Farragut High football game and was able to watch my Cody do what he loves, coach! A storm delay caused the game to start at 9:30pm instead of 7:00pm. But I enjoyed spending time with Cody as he got to 'show me off' as he says, to the other coaches ;)

(and note the coaches wife jacket i'm wearing!!!!:D)

It was very rainy and chilly but we managed to squeeze out a smile!

It was the coolest autumn sight when we first walked into the maze. It just puts you right into a fall mood. Pumpkin everything!! And look how tall the stalks were this year!

Don't let the smiles fool you, I barely got this picture because Cody HATES pictures and that makes me really sad. Pictures are everything to me. 

Since he didn't want anymore pictures (even though we had only taken 2 at this point, I took matters into my own hands. He WAS going to be in a picture.) And he ended up liking this one, go figure. 

I love doing fun things like corn mazes as yearly traditions.

Cody didn't mind taking pictures of me so I took advantage of the opportunity and he did a great job!! At times like this I really wish I had a selfie stick.

Isn't this just the cutest little pumpkin!?!

Here is the awesome pumpkin patch that was 2 acres long!!!!

We carved our pumpkins on Sunday afternoon and I couldn't help but show off my new initial!! ;) I am so sorry guys, but I am so excited and proud! Bear with me for the next year!

We tested out our pumpkins and I think Cody's vampire pumpkin takes the cake. 

To end that action-packed day, we got to visit and eat at our rehearsal dinner place, Calhouns on the River! I am very pleased with our choice and the view was exquisite! I enjoy date nights and date days more than anything in the world!

That whole last weekend I was blessed to be able to spend so much quality time with Cody and to say the least I think we will have the happiest marriage in the whole world. He is going to be such a fantastic husband and I just cherish the quiet times together chatting about our future and learning more and more about each other every day. He is my hero and my best friend. And I love doing everything together. He is such a neat person with such a neat personality and I love just driving in the car on semi-long car trips talking away. He is great company!

This morning I finally got my new glasses! I can see so much better! These will be the glasses I am wearing for the wedding so I hope they look good and blend into my face well!

I am so excited about them!!

 This Thursday, today, starts our fall break and Morgan and I took our anual Ijams nature center sister bonding time hike! There is nothing better than some sweet sister time to be able to talk, goof off, and have our little rants together about the same thing. I have really enjoyed being so close to my sister especially in the past 8 years. I'm so glad we are now truly best friends. We get each other. 

 We hiked every trail this time and this is my personal favorite, while Morgan's is two pictures down. It is so fun doing exercise and outdoorsy things together!

 There are so many beautiful things in God's world that just take your breath away!

 Like this for example, I could sit here all day. It is the most peaceful and serene thing to sit on the bench and just be. 

 I know it sounds crazy but I can envision Cody and I having a house like that one day with a beautiful view, lots of land, a few cows, and not too close to civilization but not too far. 

The swamp! This is where me, Morgan, and Nana got scary lost 10 years ago. We were lost for 5 hours in the dark! Worst thing ever! 

The rest of fall break will consist of Codys football game tomorrow night, a quick day trip to Chattanooga (for hair highlights), and lots and lots of hw. 

I hope everyone enjoyed reading this post as much as I did writing it! I will update back again after Christmas or who knows, maybe sooner! I love being able to keep friends and family updated!

Love, 

Kayla Dyar (Raborn)

10-15-2015

Dress Shopping!!

Hey guys I know I said I wouldn't be writing this semester really at all due to how much college stresses me but I just couldn't help it! I never got to tell you guys about finding my wedding dress! Isn't that like the best part of wedding planning! I couldn't leave you guys hanging on that until Christmas could I?

Well here is my pre-wedding shopping image trying to tame my crazy hair after a session of jumpfit! I have been trying to lose a little weight before the wedding to get my high school body back. Since May I have lost 15 pounds and really need to amp it up. I thought if I mentioned it, you guys could help keep me accountable. Losing weight is HARD guys, anyone who can accomplish this feat hats off to you! I plan on losing a total of 30 pounds. Anyways, Here in this picture I have such high hopes and excitement flooding through my mind. My mother-in-law Jamie, and her mom were driving up from Chattanooga for the event! I felt so much love that day! I had both grandmothers, my Mom, Morgan, Jamie and Nana. (Sorry I can't show you pictures of them, they are all pictured with me wearing the dress.)

We arrived at David's Bridal only to find that everyone else in the world wanted to buy their dress that day too. We checked in and waited. Thank goodness we actually had that time to wait because I was in wedding heaven and was literally hugging all of the dresses. They were all so pretty! I was able to scout out a collection of 6 dresses that I liked all before the sweet girl Kirsten came to help me try them on. There is so much apparatus that goes on under the dress. I had no idea! It's not just the dress but the corset, slip, A-line slip, and lots and lots of tulle (the puffy stuff). Oh and yeah while you have the corset thing on, you can't eat or breathe.....or move. I am NOT looking forward to that. So if you guys see me at the wedding laying on the floor not breathing please help me and explain why.

The first wedding dress I tried on I instantly loved. It was gorgeous! When I came out of the dressing room, seeing myself in the mirror for the first time in a wedding dress was such a surreal moment. I've never experienced something quite like it. I looked so beautiful that I actually turned around thinking I was seeing the girl behind me instead of my own reflection. Then it became real. At that moment I was going to be a bride in less than a year and I was actually wearing a dress that I would be wearing for my wedding day to marry the man of my dreams. That happiness right there is enough to move a mountain.

So the second dress I tried on was a 'Jessa Duggar dress' those of you who know me, I LOVE the Duggars, especially Jessa! She looked so stunning on her wedding day I HAD to try on a dress like hers to see what it looked like. Because why not!?! Seriously this is the only time, only day my whole life that I will be able to try on wedding dresses so why not enjoy. (it was actually sad at the end when it was over) did anyone else feel like that too? Well the Jessa Duggar dress didn't look quite as good on me as it did her but it was so cool trying one on!

But the third dress that I tried on was the one. Nothing had ever made me feel more beautiful and like the bride I always envisioned myself being. I knew the second I put the dress on. I absolutely can't wait for everyone to see! I wish so badly I could post a picture of the dress! But you'll have to find out at the wedding! ;)

This is my beaming look after trying on 9 wedding dresses and leaving with my dream dress on order. 

Shopping at David's Bridal was so cool and I am 95% happy with my experience and that is saying a lot. I am a tough critic. After I found the one I tried on the 6 others that I had pulled just to be sure and after confirmation of 'the one' I got to ring the David's Bridal victory bell for good luck! We ordered the dress and it is currently safely in my house where I can sneak upstairs and admire it every weekend. :)

I will be posting a fall blog soon to update everyone about school and I think everyone's favorite time of year and the festivities that follow. I knew it was time to create a blog post when my instagram posts were getting long. ;) guilty.

Love,

Kayla Dyar (Raborn)

10-12-15

P.S.- 235 more days until the wedding!!!! A little over 7 months!!! EEEKS :D