Birthday Weekend!!

Wow what an incredibly fun past two holiday/birthday weeks!!

I am deep in the midst of my second summer class, a biology class at UT which is kind of controlling my life, but is very interesting! Working and going to school is such a challenge! For those who ask what I do for my job and are just as confused if not more after I explain, let me help clarify. I work for my major, Materials Science and Engineering department and doing research for a professor helping with x-ray diffraction. X-ray diffraction helps look at the crystal structure of materials (mainly powder and solids) to determine the properties of the material and help determine defects or the best material to use for certain objects. I help analyze data and create programs on the equipment along with altering the machine for the task at hand. With my degree I hope to go into industry and more specifically help develop stain-proof materials, water-proof materials or materials that go into prosthetics that your body can readily bond to.

Anyways, the past few weekends ago was the 4th of July and I had bought some 'gentle' fireworks for us to shoot off and let me tell you, 'gentle' fireworks are NOT gentle. We bought sparklers and the little things you throw on the ground that pop and with the sparklers I still think we have smoke in our lungs! The whole street was black with smoke, they had to have been defected and the poppers you throw on the ground shot pieces everywhere. We had pieces of firework blown at us flying at our legs, arms, and face no matter how far away you threw them. The package said nothing about it except not to eat them. I guess it was still a fun adventure to add to our memories hahaha.

The past weekend was Cody and I's birthday!!!! We are exactly a day apart. This was the first time we have every actually seen each other on our birthday's so it was an extra special occasion. (because of usual long-distance relationship). So I started his birthday bash with a surprise breakfast in bed from Chick-fil-a and a scavenger hunt around his house leading to his presents. I don't think he's ever done either so that's another first for us!:) So also on that Saturday, Cody's actual birthday, we had a family engagement/birthday party! We had 34 family members show up and it was an absolute fantastic success!!!! We had an absolute blast!!! Everyone pitched in to make it happen! I want to say a special thanks to Cody's parents Jamie and Miles for working every weekend from May to a few hours before the party to make sure the pool and everything was set up and functioning. My grandmother Gigi, Nana, aunt Jody, and Cody's grandmother brought delicious food and chairs while my mom brought everything together with beautiful beach themed decorations. We had Cody's brother, groomsman, and one of my bridesmaid come in from over 6 hours away each! We were so blessed to have the love and support that fun day! Cody and I were able to open some of our first wedding gifts that day and man were we excited!! Check out some of these awesome and thoughtful gifts!!:

Cody and I felt so grateful to have all the excitement and love around us!

My mom ordered this gorgeous unity candle holder for us and I have never seen such a thing! It will look so beautiful during our ceremony!

Look at this cute kitchen towel from my soon-to-be cousin-in-law!! I love this look!

One of the most meaningful gifts was from my aunt Jody. This bracelet is made from antique spoon handles and has three pearls on the top signifying Christ in the center of me and Cody's marriage as it should. I will be wearing this beauty on my wedding day! What a better symbol to show and remind myself on my wedding day, the reason for this all, the Lord!

Our future apartment, Lovell Crossing, will be so stylish with all of the 'R' items we have received. If anyone has noticed I am obsessed with monograms and initials. I love being able to show off my new initial!!!:)

I know this 'R' mug is backwards but in real life it isn't, thank you mirroring cameras lol. But seriously look how darling this is!!!

And last but most certainly not least of our party gifts are the ring bearer pillow and flower girl basket from my sweet mama! Aren't they the most precious things you have every seen!?! My cousin Ada and future nephew are going to be so cute!!!

I still cannot believe this is all real and this is my life, I have been waiting for this time of my life for a very very long time! I am so happy!!

So the next day, Sunday was my birthday! And Cody and I can officially say "We're feelin 22!!" Taylor Swift would be so proud. My birthday day was a fantastic day! For my cake we had Edible Arrangements which are chocolate dipped fresh fruits (for a healthy delicious twist) and mom decked out Nana's house with birthday decorations as seen below:

The rest of my birthday day was just as I requested, relaxing. With life being so busy there's not much time for that. I had breakfast in bed served to me by my mom and sister and went to my church, and finished homework, watched a movie, played board games, and one of my favorite things, star gazed in the tailgate of Cody's truck that night! Oh how magical and romantic! Cody also surprised me with a beautiful pair of earrings and a gorgeous bouquet of flowers:

Cody has fantastic taste!

This weekend was a lot of fun too! My cousin and my uncle ran a marathon because they are awesome and crazy, but I am so proud of their hard work and dedication. Today I got to run wedding hair trials!! Oh it looked beautiful! I am going for the half up half down look what do you think? (one side has a braid)

I am in love with this hair style and think I am going to go with it!

Cody and I have been doing fantastic with eating well and working out! We are into this new fitness craze called jumpfit! Wow it is the best way to exercise burning 1,000-1,600 calories an hour! I went to the early bird session this morning and got to see a beautiful sight of no one there to crowd the place lol!

This place is one of my favorite places! I've been doing backflips since I was 10!

Cody and I celebrated the end of our 14 hours-a-day work days with a date night at Cheddars! We really needed that! I love being with that guy so much, Cody is so fun and easy to talk to. He just gets me!

This past month alone has been so much fun and I can't wait for what the rest of this summer has to bring!

Love,

Kayla Dyar (Raborn)

7-19-15

P.S.- 321 days left until the wedding day!! Countdown is on my Instagram bio!!

Pretty Peonies

Hey everybody :)!!!!

I'm back again with more exciting updates of my crazy but awesome life! Let me start by saying... 11 months until the wedding!!!!! And how in the world is June already over! Wanna know the craziest part, well July 1st marked 1/2 way through the year 2015!!! How is that possible it was just January!

Thing's have been great with the almost newest Raborn couple on the block! I am about to start my second summer class this Monday which I am NOT looking forward to. But I will be one class closer to May 2016 graduation!!! Wahooo!!! Then 3 weeks later I get married! Oh my gosh life is moving so fast I love these new steps!

Cody and will be visiting our future place this Thursday to make a deposit for the wait list down payment! It's official! We will be living in the gorgeous Lovell Crossing apartments once we get married! It is 15 minutes from both grandparents, downtown, and oak ridge! Perfect!

Last weekend me, Cody, Morgan, mom, and Morgan's bf Edgar ran an inflatable 5k! It was an absolute blast and quite a fun challenge! There were 10, 3 story high inflatables we had to scale and slip and slide down. We even ran it in the pouring rain! (that was unexpected) here are some neat pics from the race:

Here is the metals they gave us along with a free soft shirt (not pictures)

While down in Chattanooga I was able to have my sweet mother-in-law cut my hair which I needed desperately, look at those long locks!!

Recently Cody and I have kicked it up a notch and have been going to jump fit at jumpjam!!! We burn 1,000-2,000 calories an hour!!!! We have been mixing it up with tennis, weight lifting, running, swimming, and this new thing called pure barre. Cody has lost a total of 19 pounds and I have lost a total of 14!!! yayayayayay! 

Along the lines of wedding planning, for those who love wedding planning, a.k.a. everybody, we have picked a florist and oh my goodness I am so so happy with her!!!! The company is called Melissa Floral Designs! I have designed my bouquet and it will have 20 peonies that are white and blush pink peonies, the bridesmaids will have fluffy bundles of baby's breath, the groomsmen will have a white rose and baby's breath, and Ada my 7 year old flower girl will have a baby's breath halo!! She is going to be sooo cute! The center pieces will be a surprise, I am really excited about that! And on the serving tables there will be baby's breath in burlap wrapped mason jars! Its going to be a dream come true! Oh my gosh you guys I am so excited!!

We have chose a DJ called Davis Sound and they will be awesome! I need some song suggestions desperately!! We have found a videographer who is just getting into the business but has amazing work! Cody has been the best accountant and researcher for us still! He amazes me so much and how much he wants to be involved and support me! I am so proud of him and how much he wants me to not be stressed. I am so lucky to have him, he is my best friend and I love spending time with him.

I am also scheduled in 2 weeks to have hair and makeup trials at a local salon!  I am looking for a half up half down hair look with lots of loose curls and a natural makeup look because for those who know me I don't wear make up hardly ever. It is a personal choice when I wake up everyday and honestly think I look beautiful just the way God made me, (I also get an extra 10 minutes of sleep).

The other day we ran into Belk for a little bit to add more to our registry and fix a few loose ends. I love the power of a scanner haha!

Look what we got in the mail!! Our "R" cake topper!!! :D It is beautiful! I can't believe in just 11 short months I will have a new last name!! (And our future kids will be last for everything in school)

And don't worry, despite the planning and chaos of summer life as a working engineering student, Cody and I have had time to relax, enjoy being together and continually building or relationship and ever-growing love! We found a new park by our house and swung into the cool night having a blast after my run! We found two swings we still fit in and pushed each other, yeah I know but we are still trying to stay a kid at heart. :) <3

(excuse the after run red face)

I still fit!! ;)

Our pre-walk selfie taken by Cody! I was VERY impressed! Fiance's first selfie!!

Have a good week everyone!!

With love,

Kayla Dyar (Raborn)

7-2-15

Photographers to Father's Day Weekend

This week/weekend has been so much fun!! My UT research job is going well, and we were able to fully register and find a photographer!!!

On National kiss day (Friday) I was able to have an AWESOME date night with my honey and saw Inside Out. It was a really good movie, even for "adults"! Right before we saw the movie we found and met with our wedding photographers!! We have officially chosen ST photography! They are some of the best photographers and the husband/wife team were incredible! We are blessed to have found them because for those who know me, I am crazy about pictures! That is definitely one of the more important aspects of wedding planning for me. The husband/wife photography team was neat to meet because they were such an amazing couple and loved each other and working together very much. It reminded me that there are still some good relationships/marriages in this world. Seeing the divorce rate...and firsthand witness of it.... I started to wonder if there were many good marriages left at all. So that was very encouraging and refreshing. I pray every night for Cody and I to have a God centered loving and caring relationship and marriage for forever. It's not achievable without the love, mercy, and guidance from the Lord!

I have finished all of my bridesmaids gifts and are planning on asking them in the near future!! My bridesmaids consist of: My cousin Hannah, my cousin Katy, my third cousin Mary Evelyn, and my good friend Kelly. With of course as you know my perfect maid of honor, Morgan!

Last Sunday night we were able to register at Target. And let me tell you, that is the funnest thing in the whole world! (I don't even care if 'funnest' isn't a word! It was that good! lol) It was already taking a risk to give me that much power in a Target store but I handled it well.....mostly. ;) I have to say, Cody is a wonderful shopping buddy....and anytime buddy! He has really been a trooper and actually it was so much fun taking him to register! He has so many great ideas and we are so organized (thanks to Cody!) we zip right through without having to make much changes later on.

Gosh I love Target

I have to add, while we were at Target, I found just the cutest dress that I couldn't pass up. What do you think?

First time for everything!

On Wednesday night after work we headed to Bed Bath and Beyond to register!! They were the best all around! Everything was so organized and they have EVERYTHING!! The best part was that due to work, we arrived at 8:30pm to only start scanning at 9:00...when the store closed!! So to say the least we were incredibly disappointed but the nice managers let us stay as long as we wanted!!! So at 10:30pm we finished up and gratefully handed the scanner back over. What a blessing! I am going to remember that forever!!!!

Photocreds to my handsome fiance

 (this is when we had the WHOLE store to ourselves)

We were also able to register at Belk later in the week and have chosen our everyday dishes, fine china, and silverware!!! We are the most thrilled about the silverware!! It is so amazing to see what similar taste Cody and I have in everything! We truly are compatible with everything! Every single decision and opinion we make/have is the exact same thing. Here is a sample of our silverware. The picture does not do it justice!

If anyone is wanting to take a peek at our registries, like I said we are registered for Bed Bath and Beyond, Target, and Belk; all you do is go to the websites and click registries and look it up under Cody Raborn or Kayla Dyar. We are thrilled about it!

The rest of the weekend we spent Father's Day all together and I was so happy my dad was able to fly up from Austin Texas (where we used to live a long time ago) and had a blast together! 

And I am happy to also say after 2 long years, a very very slow phone and a cracked screen later, I have finally gotten a new phone! It is a Droid Turbo! I have been pleased with it so far! Thank you dad for that much needed fantastic gift! The phone case is the adorable! 

The rest of the weekend was spent talking, laughing, watching formula one races on tv, eating Nana's delicious food, playing battleship and celebrating dad on this years Father's Day. (I am the continuing champ at battleship, I have won all four games played, sorry Nana). Cody was in Chattanooga most of the weekend celebrating his dad on Father's Day. It will be so nice once we're married to be able to spend these exciting times with families together!

Love the Future Bride,

Kayla Dyar (Raborn)

6/21/15

P.S.-We have been engaged for over 2 months now! Time is flying!!

Plethora of Planning!

Hi All! I am LOVING this blog thing and am starting to get the hang of it! I just wanted to share a little bit of how the wedding planning is progressing and what's up with life right now.

First of all I want to say a little congratulations to Cody and I for losing some pesky pounds!!! I have lost 11 pounds total this summer and i'm soooo excited! I hope to reach my goal by October! I am planning on wedding dress shopping in August when I am a little closer to my goal weight! I am the most excited about that aspect of wedding planning and also very nervous. My biggest fear is I won't be able to find the perfect dress in a timely manner. To celebrate me and Cody's weight loss, we went on a really fun date-night he is so sweet!!

I am excited to officially say that our wedding ceremony will take place at my church, Ebeneezer United Methodist! It will be beautiful! We have met with Bradford catering and finalized the menu and also have cake tasted!! That is so much fun by the way! I have also designed my own cake, it is a beautiful ivory cake with edible lace, silver edible pearls, decedent ivory lace along the bottom of each three tiers with a delicious moist white cake and buttercream on the inside. The top tier will be boxed up and saved for our 1st anniversary. Man I can't believe that one day we will be married for a year! I can't wait, I have been waiting for this time of my life for a very long time. I wish I had pictures from these events but I'll have to take a rain check on that for next post when I can retrieve the pictures.

Wedding pictures will mainly take place in-between the ceremony and reception due to the mid-day heat of a June wedding. We are still struggling to find a good photographer, make-up artist, and DJ but have gotten many good suggestions. We have decided that everyone will have a name card at the reception with a nice dance floor in the middle of the room!

I have asked my sister to be my maid of honor and gave her a small little gift to ask her and to say the least I think she is ecstatic!! She has already helped so much and has given me actually really great ideas! I am counting on her to be by my side and help me through all of the decision making and fun which she has proved to already be perfect for! I am so blessed to have one of my best friends, my sister, to be my maid of honor. I also want to say a quick thanks to my mom who already has done so much for me in this process and I am so blessed to have your excitement and adventure in this process as we bounce ideas off of each other. This is going to be a blast! Wedding registry is this Friday!

This past weekend Cody and I were in Chattanooga getting ready for our family engagement party July 11th fixing the pool and landscaping. We worked so hard sweating in the sun working together as a family. Let me tell you one thing, I am going to really enjoy becoming a Raborn, I love my in-law's so much! What a true blessing!! I also learned how to drive a tractor to help clean the area, it was so cool! And of course my handsome honey workin away with me...

Jamie (my soon-to-be mother-in-law), Amy (my soon-to-be sister-in-law), and I also attended my soon-to-be cousin Ashley's baby shower! She is having a sweet little girl they are going to call Gray. The shower was so beautiful with gorgeous decorations celebrating the gift of new life. I can't wait to see the sweet new little Jones!

I also want to share that a few days ago on the way to the gym Cody and I saw the most beautiful rainbow! It was just amazing to see God's gift and promise to us!

On a get-your-butt-in-shape fun run at my grandparents house I got to witness a gorgeous sunset behind my grandparents house!

Also on another exciting note, we now have another Triple Crown Winner!! American Pharaoh has done the unthinkable and is the first horse in 37 years to win the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Belmont where I thought it couldn't be done again. For those who didn't know, my secret like and hobby is horses and I took lessons for almost 3 years. I LOVE horses and have been following the races for many many years. So celebrate for this victory!!

And lastly, Cody has been such the trooper with this massive wedding planning time and is very involved creating budget sheets, calling vendors, showing real enthusiasm, and negotiating with family members! I absolutely can't wait to call him my husband and I am glad we have all of this time to plan during our engagement, but I absolutely can't wait to be his wife! All the excitement and occasional frustrations of this wedding planning is fun, but the best part is getting closer and closer to being able to call the man of my dreams my husband! I can't wait to embark on life's journey's hand-in-hand. I am truly blessed! Life is good!

Kayla Dyar (Raborn)
6-8-15

On a cute note, a few days ago was national donut day so here's a little something to make you smile:

The beginning of our story captured by video

Our magical proposal story in 6 minutes!!!

First Days of Wedding Planning!!!

Hey all! I am excited to share with you little bits and pieces of our lives as we transition into newly-weds and years to come after! Cody proposed to me April 18th 2016 1 year and a little less than 2 months away from our wedding on June 4th 2016. It was the most magical proposal with that story to come later! Cody and I met and fell in love senior year of high school in a leadership class and dated for 5 years mostly long-distance, loving every second of our relationship! It is so wonderful to find your best friend, soulmate, and partner for life!! Cody is starting student teaching in the Fall here in Knoxville and I am finishing up my last year as a senior at UTK as a Materials Science Engineer!

I am creating this blog to show our kids one day and to document the entire wonderful wedding planning experience! Also to keep members of our family updated in our busy lives.

Through summer school and working, we have started planning our wedding piece-by-piece and have already gotten a lot done! We have found our PERFECT venue called The Reserve at BlueBird Hill in Farragut Tennessee! It has the best views in the entire world!! We couldn't have found anything more perfect!! It seats 150 people while we are inviting 180 and expecting 100 to show up. Here is a little sneak peak:

This is the outside of the actual building.

And the beautiful inside....

With the magnificent view!

We couldn't be happier with our decision! It was completely worth moving the wedding date a week after the original date!! The style of this venue fits mine and Cody's tastes perfectly! Also this week I have purchased bridesmaid gifts, and looked around to prepare for registry at Target, Bed Bath and Beyond, and Belk. Oh and also Ford....ok not really but feel free to still browse ha! We have looked into caterers for the reception and have decided on chicken strips, fruit kabobs, mac and cheese squares and possible ice cream bar! We are looking into florists, photographers, videographers, typing up schedules, and lists of possible vendors along with organization charts. Dress shopping will be August 15th when I have lost a few pesky pounds. We have found a perfect cake place that will accommodate with the cake design I have created!! I am so psyched about that!!! We are still having trouble finding a church but we will have Ann my preacher marrying us! Everything is all so new and exciting and I can't wait to begin this journey to the rest of my life!! I am the first one getting married in my family!!(this generation)

With love,

Kayla Dyar (Raborn)

5-30-15