As the title suggests, this post is going to detail the strides taken to get this wedding happening! Since my last post we have officially confirmed the ceremony site in San Juan Puerto Rico! We have put real money down and its starting to feel real now. Additionally, the Bellaire’s (aunts, uncles, cousins, g-ma, etc.) have flights and hotel rooms in PR.  In other urgent wedding news, my mom may have found what she will be wearing to the wedding. Which was a major concern up until the great find.   In other, other news, we started looking into the logistics of the at home reception (AHR) as well as reception sites in PR and other randomness.  This weekend B+me+ the family are going to “the superbowl of bridal shows”. Needless to say, B is ecstatic.  I have also been looking at the destination wedding forum a bunch to get inspired.  I learned that there are many wedding related abbreviations (such as AHR).  One that I don’t approve of is the “Save The Date” or STD abbreviation.

Other than wedding planning, B and I have been working hard on robots.  A couple days ago, I started using Rosetta Stone to try to learn some Spanish. I figure between that and Yazmine coming to town this Sunday, I should pick up some Spanish before June.  B already knows some Spanish so he has chosen Italian as a 3rd language.  I think he wants to get in touch with his Italian roots . That, and he was recently playing this video game where you are an Italian assassin. Either way, things are moving right along.  I’ll try to keep the site up to date and hopefully add some pics someday.

-C

Christmas is over and we are now looking forward to the new year. But before then I thought i would reflect on some of the gatherings and gifts that we received. We had little Christmas eve on Wednesday night with my uncle Keith and aunt patty. Then celebrated Christmas morning with Kelly, Dean and the boys on Christmas eve morning. We got M1 and M2 some holister clothes and M3 some DS games. I had also been working on a scrapbook for Kelly which she liked a lot. Kelly also got a pandora bracelet from Dean that my sister and I helped pick out.  The next Christmas was at Brian’s uncle Keith’s.  Dean made some great chili and we did a white elephant gift exchange.  That night we stayed at Jodi’s.  We woke up pretty early (for us) on Christmas morning and opened gifts at Jodi’s.  We got Richard a snuggie and some movie stuff and Brian gave Jodi the sculpture that he had been working on. I also gave her a scarf and some Christmas ornaments.  I got a camcorder that I wanted A LOT, cute purse and some other things and brian got a coat, a 1 terabite hard drive, and some other things.  After that, we went to xmas morning at my house.  My mom had my diploma framed and gifted that to me along with some other things. I got brian mostly little things like socks and movies and a game.  He got me golf clubs which is very exciting because Paige and I have both wanted to start golfing more! We got Erica and Devin a J Alexanders gift card and Paige a Laptop desk thing for her lap.  We got my mom a EyeFy card for her computer.  After that, we went to brians grams and then my aunts. Brian’s gram gave my mom a print of one of her paintings which she really really liked.  And my aunt and uncle got Brian and I a tassimo coffee maker.   I know that I forgot some of the other gifts that we got, but thanks to everyone anyway! Overall,  I think that we both had a really good Christmas.

Brian has also been super busy with work.  He needs to ship out a bunch of stuff in the first couple weeks of January.  Hopefully after work slows down a little we can get some wedding planning done.

Last but not least, I wanted to give a quick congratulations to Chris and Andrea who got engaged recently.

Well, it’s that time of year again. The temperature is dropping, snow is falling, and the holidays approaching. Trees have been erected at all families’ houses, and cookies made. Of course I think I ate most of the cookies already, because that’s how I role (I recently became an ‘eater’ of sorts, but that’s not here nor there). Christmas Shopping is well under way and actually should be wrapped up (pun intended) pretty soon here. I love to ruin surprises, but I’ll refrain from writing a full description of all the gifts we have so far.

We also returned to the scene of the crime, where I asked Courtney to marry me. Yep, the Lights Before Christmas at the Toledo Zoo. (Image will be posted at a later date, I borrowed a memory card for those photos. For now, enjoy a pic of Paige with a mustache). We went to Tony Paco’s, to which I have not been to in probably near a decade. The roast beef sandwich is every bit as good as I remember it being.

I am sure there will be a lot more to blog about once gift giving commences. So until that time in the near future,  enjoy the holidays! Have fun and be safe on those icy roads!

-Brian Roberts

As the summer is wrapping up, I thought it was time for another update.

Camping trip with Kim, Kitty and B

We all went camping for the weekend at Silver Lake.  It rained a lot but did clear up and we had some great weather.  B and I decided to stay for an extra day and ranted a dune buggy.  It was a really fun trip!

B’s 23rd  birthday weekend

B turned 23 last weekend! We started off by surprising him Friday night with a small get together at Nick and Jimmys. He had NO IDEA! Kim baked him this amazing homemade carrot cake and it was incredible! Then on Sunday we surprised him again at Buca. This time was less of a

surprise because B saw my moms car in the parking lot but it was still a decent surprise.  I think he had a good weekend!

Wedding update

Bridesmaid dresses are IN! Yes thats right! B and I looked for dresses online, had the girls try them on, got them ordered, and they are already in! There is a picture of them in the inspiration board that I will be posting!

We do have the date of June 19th 2010 scheduled as the wedding date and it will be taking place in San Juan, Puerto Rico!  We are currently looking for a planner or resort to host the wedding.

Thats all for now! More news to follow!

Again, it’s been a while since the last post.  I guess that means that this will be a long one.  A lot has been going on with B and I lately.  We went to Chicago, did some camping, had my/Erica’s grad party, and did some wedding stuff too.

B and C on Lake Michican

Chicago.  B and I went to Chicago with my mom and sisters for my moms library conference thing.  It was a pretty good time. We had great weather and did a lot of walking around and sightseeing.  B had to get back early so he tool the train back.  It was a good little trip.
Camping: B and I went camping at Silver lake with Deano, Kelly, and the 3Ms.  Even though it seemed like it was going to rain a couple times, it never did and we had beautiful weather! B and the gang did a lot of kiting while Kelly and I did a lot of reading and lounging. We spent a lot of time on the dunes, some time in the boat, some time on Lake Michigan, and even climbed a lighthouse and a reservoir mountian (both nearly killed Kelly and I). After the trip, the camper was put up for sale and someone bought it within 12 hours.  Deano is in Wisconsin today purchasing a slightly larger camper for future camping excursions.

Grad Party: Erica and I had out joined grad party extravagandsa last weekend! The planning was really hectic because we painted the majority of the house and made a ton of food.  In the end the house looked great and the food was great! It was so nice to have everyone at the house, just hanging out. With the $ that i was gifted and some robot moneys, B and I are going to open a savings account for wedding stuff.

Speaking of wedding stuff, B and I are pretty much decided on the Puerto Rico (PR) destination wedding (DW). We are also pretty sure that we do not want to get married in the cruise ship but on the beach or overlooking the beach somewhere.  We are also quite sure that the date will be Saturday June 19 2010.  We started looking at venues for the ceremony yesterday and found many different things. There are resorts and private villas that will host and help plan the ceremony. There is a lot of research that still needs to be done.  And I will try to keep updating as things start to firm up.

Things have been busy in a laid-back sort of way. I’ll run down what’s been going on for the last couple days!

Last Friday: Cruise meeting with the Bellaire group! A bunch of the Bellaires all met at Doolittle’s to try to figure out what’s going on for the family cruise 2.0. Family cruise 1.0 took place in late June of 2009 and since we had a blast, we have decided to do another one sometime in 2010.  At the meeting, we all pretty much unanimously decided that the Southern Caribbean was going to be the destination and we would like to aim for a similar time-frame and stick with Royal Caribbean.  Soooo from all of this planning, we think that we have the dates and itinerary.

Ship Name: Serenade Of The Seas
Departure Port: San Juan, Puerto Rico

This is very exciting news as this will likely be a honeymoon for B and I! Speaking of the wedding, I also decided on my dress and my mom bought it for me! It feels so amazing to actually have my dress, a concept that B doesnt understand haha.

Last Friday Night-Sunday: Camping in Frankenmuth

After the cruise excitement, we headed up to Frankenmuth for some 4th of July weekend camping. There was lots of exploring the town, kiting, golfing, and most of all relaxing.  There were also fireworks for the 4th which were nice even though they scared poor baby Noah puppy.

Tuesday: More kiting

I mentioned the kiting in the last area but that need to be elaborated on more completely. Brian is now into kites.   Not like dollar store kites but huge kick your ass kites.  They are actually something like airfoils or something and the one B has can lift him off the ground.  Its a really fun time and a decent workout! Hopefully B will upload some pics of the kite madness.

Wednesday: Meeting with the flower man!

I went with my mom and sisters to meet with this flower man who designs wedding and reception decor and flower arrangements. It was a good preliminary meeting and I feel like he has a decent understanding of what B and I like. All of this planning is very overwhelming but its not too bad once you get into it.

I also finished my graduation scrapbook in preparation for my/Erica’s grad party extravaganza.  Hopefully we will be getting invitations out for that soon.  Its scheduled for August 1, 2009.  I found all of my high school graduation scrapbooks and stuff also.  Most of my stuff is all ready.

The only other thing that has been going on for the last couple days (since the cruise meeting) has been talk  about getting married on the cruise instead of at the zoo or some other local establishment.  There are ups and downs to both and we need to fully explore both/all options, but I feel like no matter what, it will be amazing!

In other news, B, mom, and the sisters are going to Chicago for the weekend.  Mom has a library thing so the rest of us are going to do some shopping and bumming around the city. We are  also going to try to catch the fireworks Friday night.  This week I’ve been doing a lot of laundry and getting ready for a long weekend of fun. We will be coming back on Tuesday.

That’s all for now!

<3 Courtney

Well its the 1st wednesday of my break  and its about a thousand degrees outside. Tomorrow I’m planning to visit some reception sites to make sure that the zoo is the place for us.  I am also going to print out some pictures to make another scrapbook of love for B and I.

Everyone in Frankenmuth!

Another thing that is being worked on right now is the size of the wedding and the size of the wedding party. For the wedding party i think we are leaning towards a smaller group.  For the girls it will be Erica, Paige, Kim, and Kitty for sure and Im thinking about a couple others.  As far as flower girl and ring barer, we have the potential for Brian’s cousins Charlotte and Bridgett and/or my cousins daughter Mallory.  We might still be looking for a ring barer or just figure something else out.  As for the boys, we have Matt, Chris, Colin, any perhaps others.

Flashing the ring!

whoa, its been forever since we’ve updated.  The biggest news is that I graduated from Kettering! In other news, work is going well with B! Erica also graduated from High school and Paige gradated from Jr high.

Now that school is mostly over for a bit, its time to start planning the wedding. We did look at the zoo and its pretty amazing! Hopefully we’ll have a date and an idea of whats going on pretty soon haha.

In other news, B and I have lots of traveling planned for the summer. Chicago with my family, Silver lake with Bs dad, kelly, and the boys, then a possible trip to Japan to visit Matty bear.

In other other news, I do not have a job yet.  I am actively looking but have some grad school options open too.  And of course Bbers has been working non-stop on projects! sooo proud!

Im going to try to get B to update us on whats going on with him soon also!

Courtney and B

First and foremost, I have lapsed on updates. No excuses.

Over the weekend, Courtney and I took a trip the D.C. .  We flew in Friday evening, and ended up getting back Monday morning. We really fit a lot into our 2 days there. We walked the entire mall, seeing the Lincoln, WWI, WWII, and Washington monuments.

We then Visited the Smithsonian American history Museum. On display were girders recovered from the WTC wreckage, which was a very moving thing to see. Also in the exhibit were badges and debris from the Pentagon crash. We also visited the National Air and Space museum. Quite a bit there, from the beginning of flight to the X-Prize winner, Space Ship One.

That’s right, B, the fam, and I went to Canada last weekend. More specifically, we went to Toronto then Niagara Falls.  We left Thursday night and originally B was not going to go with us because he lost his passport, birth certificate, AND drivers license.  But, at the last second he found his wallet, drivers license, and birth cert. Sooo, he was able to go! Oh, and we had to take my dad’s vue because my moms was in the shop!

Friday morning was Erica’s Royal Carabian Dance Audition (the reason for the trip) so we dropped her off at this little dance studio downtown.  Then the rest of us all just killed some time driving around, getting some Tim Hortons, and shopping a bit.  Then she called us and we went to go pick her up.  Turns out there were about 75 people auditioning for the dancer job.  Erica made it through the 1st cut but during the 2nd cut they got rid of everyone but 5 “gross” people. Even though we were all disapointed that she didn’t get the job, we are all super proud because she made it further than any of us could do.