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: