It's Official...Bye, Bye Peterson!

On the eve of the year ending I am no longer a Peterson...officially!  This afternoon I officially had my last name changed to my husband's.  I'm a Vaughn! It was important to me to make time for the name change this afternoon, as I want to start the new year as a Vaughn.

I will have to start practicing writing Vaughn.  I've had to write it a few times today. But there's a lot of thinking that goes into it now.  Writing Peterson has been second nature for many years.  I'm sure I'll mess up a few hundred times in the coming months.  Likely start righting Peterson then have to switch to Vaughn.  At this point I'm not sure how easy it will be to change a "P" to a "V", I'm sure I'll master it though if I should mess up. 

They ask a lot of questions about your parents and other pertinent info when changing your last name.  Which is to be expected.  Oddly enough when it came time to discuss my dad, the lady handling my name change told me that his name had been entered into my record incorrectly back in the year I was born.  On my record they have his first name as his middle name and his middle name as his first name.  This didn't create a problem for me today, but it is quite interesting that my parents did not catch that mistake years ago or were not informed of the mistake so they could have changed it.  The lady that worked with me today said it was clear to her it had been that way since I was born and my record was established.

I will say it was a bit surreal as I sat there and the lady said my new full name outloud a few times.  She said it with just Vaughn and then also stated I could have it changed to Peterson-Vaughn.  After I officially said I wanted just Vaughn she then said it outloud a couple more times.  It was slightly weird hearing a new last name yet I couldn't stop smiling!  I'm a Vaughn!

Now the biggest question of all is, what are the boys?  Are they still Petersons or now Vaughns?  Cody Peterson or Cody Vaughn?  Simon Peterson or Simon Vaughn?  I asked them which last name they wanted and they are still mulling over their options!  I have a feeling the boys last names will automatically be changed when I do their licenses next time they come due.  I would think once my last name gets changed in the system so will theirs. Same goes for their vet office, once my name is changed in their system I would assume the boys names will change too. 

The Weekend Begins!

This will be a fun yet slightly busy weekend for us. Brad's extended family always gathers together for a big Christmas celebration around Christmas but never on Christmas. I always look forward to the extended family Christmas.

This Sunday all will gather for that special Christmas. We still have to get 2 gifts for the gift exchange. The gift exchange is fun and unique. You draw a number then wait your turn to go get any gift under the tree. Once you open your gift you can choose to keep it or take someone elses gift that has already been opened.

I will spend tomorrow evening making things. We will be taking my crowd-pleasing spinach dip, rocky road cake, and festive rice krispie treats. Brad is hoping I change my mind on making the rice krispie treats "festive", he likes them plain. Maybe I'll have time to do a small plain batch and a festive batch. I got the idea to make rice krispie treats back at Thanksgiving when I noticed there was a lack of easy to grab treats for the kids in the family.

For tomorrow, my goal is to get a couple household chores, grocery shopping, and gift exchange shopping all done by 3:00. Can I do it? I hope so. Sun Devils play at 3:00 our time followed by two Texas schools in bowl games. So the running around part of my day needs to be done by gametime!

We also have the Mavs game to go to on Sunday. Not to mention that very important Cowboys game will be played. Lots going on! Go Cowboys!

Snowstorm Update!

The snowfall was lovely! I'm not sure that's how Cody would describe it! Yesterday I didn't go anywhere. My SUV was covered in snow and had icicles hanging from it. I also knew the roads were likely a bit of a mess. We had a few items we needed from the store but I didn't feel like venturing out by myself with snow and ice on the ground.

Cody and Simon each had a few Bambi moments while out on their walks. It's funny to watch the boys walk thru the snow. Simon just plows through it, same way he trots through a rain puddle. Cody on the other hand delicately prances through the snow with an irritated slightly puzzled look on his face. The funniest is when Cody has to step on ice, his face questions whether the ice will hold him and I'm convinced he hates the sound of stepping on it. I don't like that sound much either. It kind of sounds like someone popping bubble wrap. Although the sound of a car driving on ice is much worse.

We thawed out a bit today. The temp made it up to 40. It started out in the 20's. When I walked the boys it was 27 degrees out. I can remember my first winter here, I couldn't handle anything lower than the mid-30's when walking the boys. And those 30-something degree walks that first year were quick, just enough time for the business. Now in 20-something degree temps I still take the boys out for all their usual walks. Yay me! As long as it's just cold temps and snow on the ground I'll try my best to brave it. I would never do the full walks in dangerous conditions.

I Shake My Fist At....

...the NFL schedulers! Are you ready for this story? As a Christmas gift I purchased 2 tickets and a parking pass for the Dallas Mavs vs. San Antonio Spurs rivalry game for my husband. Before I purchased the tickets I checked our schedule, I even checked the NFL schedule. 

This Sunday is the last day of the NFL season. According to the schedule I have ALL games are daytime games no Sunday night game listed.  The Cowboys were scheduled to play at noon. Good, no problem buying tickets to the Mavs....so I thought back in November when I bought the tickets.  Well guess what? Just my luck this past Sunday it was announced the Cowboys game has been moved, it will now be the featured NFL Sunday night game on NBC. On Sunday evening when the announcement was made I made quite the comment about my irritation over the schedule change which Brad didn't understand since it was still 2 days before he would open the Christmas gift containing the Mavs tickets. 

On Christmas morning once he opened the gift with the tickets he quickly asked, "what time do the Cowboys play, isn't it a night game?"....Yes, honey the stupid NFL changed their game time! Picture me shaking my fist!

Okay so the Mavs game starts at 6:30 and the Cowboys at 7:20. Basketball goes quicker than football so the Mavs game will be over in time for us to get home for the majority of the 4th quarter, provided there's no overtimes for Mavs-Spurs! While we are at the Mavs game I'm hoping to have someone text us score updates of the Cowboys. The worst part about it is that the Cowboys game is SUPER important, win and they are playoff bound! I feel bad that we'll miss such an important game but Brad is excited to go to the Mavs game! It will be my first Mavs game ever! We'll have fun, I just regret we'll miss a majorly important Cowboys game. Brad has handled the schedule issue much better than me. 

Merry Christmas!!

Here in big D it has just started to snow! Snow is falling fast and furiously. Woo-hoo! Another white Christmas! It has snowed each Christmas I've lived here.

Since I could not find time to send out Christmas cards I decided to do an open Christmas card to all on the blog.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas! Have a wonderful time celebrating this special day. And as a special treat I will feature pics I planned on sending in the cards here. This is the first time I've ever put a pic of us up on the blog. I felt it was fitting for a pic to be featured of us on our first Christmas as a married couple!

Once again Merry Christmas to all, from the Vaughns!

p.s. Aren't the boys cute in their tuxes? They were ready for the wedding!

Preparing for Christmas Eve!

Since getting back from Orlando we have been super busy!  I've made numerous trips to my place to get things so that the boys and I can be at Brad's place comfortably before we officially pack up my apartment. I think the boys have clued in somewhat!

On Saturday night we were anxious to find a Christmas tree. We went around to a few places with no luck, as they were sold out. Unlike Phx, Dallas doesn't have a Christmas tree
lot every mile or so. We get trees at Home Depot, Lowe's or a grocery store. And also unlike Phx, they order only what they believe they can sell....no surplus! That's not just for trees! I've certainly learned since moving here....buy it when you see it!

So we got the tree Saturday night but we didn't get it in place and ready to decorate til Sunday. After the Cowboys game I headed off to the grocery store to do the Christmas Eve grocery shopping while Brad decorated the tree. He saved a few select ornaments that he knows I truly love for me to put on the tree. Sunday night I baked until 2 in the morning. I baked a pecan pie, a chocolate cake, and 4 mini coffee cakes.

We hosted Christmas Eve late in the afternoon. It all went well! Dinner turned out great! And a good time was had by all! The only small issue was no water for part of the evening due to a main water line in the complex needing immediate attention. Water finally came back on so I just barely finished the dishes. I should say we just finished the dishes. Brad helped, we make a good team. Us hosting Christmas Eve would have been extremely difficult if it wasn't for our great teamwork! Even while the water was off we had teamwork as we held a
water bottle pouring water on each others hands while we washed up. Lol! It kind of felt like we were camping.

The Honeymooon Review!

We had a great honeymoon part 1 in Orlando.  It was nice weather all the way up until our last full day.  But here's the most interesting part....our main focus in choosing Orlando was Epcot center.  After reviewing the Epcot brochure we both decided we weren't interested.  So no Epcot!  In the brochure it seemed as though it has become eateries and short films.  Eateries dedicated to a certain country's food and films dedicated to certain countries. 

We went to the Magic Kingdom one evening.  We rode a few rides then stayed for the holiday parade and fireworks show.  The fireworks show was the main thing I was interested in seeing, I knew it would be awesome. We also visited Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park.  It was okay.  But certainly not my fave!  It was overly crowded and not much to do.  They would have certain shows going on at specific times, so the crowd of people would go to those shows, and once those shows let out it was a massive influx of people into the Disney streets.  Chaos!

On Thursday we decided we needed a break from the theme park action and took a day to just do random things.  We took a bus to another resort area and walked around.  We had lunch on the Disney Boardwalk at the ESPN restaurant.  Brad quickly noticed the restaurant's Dallas Cowboys memorabilia so he liked that!  We then rode the ferry.  And after being on the water in the ferry we decided to rent a boat for a little while.  We both took turns at the helm of the boat.  Yes, I drove a boat for the first time.

On Friday we went to Disney's Animal Kingdom theme park.  As we had decided to forego Epcot and instead try out the Animal Kingdom.  Disney's Animal Kingdom is like a big zoo but a bit more upscale.  There's plenty of live animals to be viewed.  But there's also some added attractions.  We went on the water rapids ride.  I should mention that on Friday the high there was 60 degrees.  Not exactly river rafting weather!  But I wanted to go on the river rapids ride super bad.  So I convinced Brad to go!  Poor guy! He got a little more wet than I did.  Neither of us regretted going though!  Soon after the water rapids experience I suppose it was payback time...I convinced him to go on the rapids and he now wanted me to go on the Everest rollercoaster with him.  Yes, folks I went on my first rollercoaster.  I was terrified!  You know how they snap photos of you on certain rides then try to sell you those photos?  Well we looked at our photo when we got off the rollercoaster.  Brad is happy as a clam, laughing away...as for me, I'm as close to him as I could get with my head leaning into his chest and my eyes closed in terror!  Geez, how embarrassing!  I think that was my first and last rollercoaster!  It is nice to say I've been on one now but I just don't enjoy that sort of thing.  We then went on a few more rides one was similar to a rollercoaster.  So I suppose one could say I've been on two rollercoasters now!

I was thinking that Saturday would be a nightmare to come home, with it being so close to Christmas.  Surprisingly it wasn't bad!  The great thing about Christmas time travel though is there's a few days to get there.  People could choose to travel Friday night after work or Saturday or even Sunday.  It's not like Thanksgiving where it's a rush to get to the airport on Wednesday after work for so many people.  It took us only about 20 minutes to wait in line at security. 

Our absolute favorite area to spend time in was Downtown Disney!  I don't think we skipped a day of going there!  It had shopping, it had movies, it had great restaurants...oh and I must mention it had a Giradelli's Ice Cream Shop.  Awesome sundaes!  We even sat in the freezing cold Friday night to eat sundaes.  Friday was quite cold for Florida.  They were starting a 3 day cold snap on Friday.  As we kept saying to one another about Friday's cold temps...it's just preparing us for the flight home to Dallas! 

Fine Dining

One of our fave things when vacationing is to try out new to us restaurants. On Wednesday night we hit the jackpot for restaurants. We tend to look for unique spots where there's a little extra being offered aside from the food.

Our hotel is lakefront. Just steps from our room is the edge of the lake and on the opposite side of the lake there's plenty of shops, restaurants, and entertainment. Docked in the lake is a large boat that is actually a restaurant. Brad loves seafood and I've definitely become more open to seafood since he came into my life. So off to the Crab House restaurant we went.

We had a perfectly placed table where we could look out over the lake. As we looked over the menu my eyes were instantly drawn to the filet mignon. But my eyes were quickly diverted once I saw the price of the filet mignon. Never in my life have I ordered a $45 entree. After a little bit of convincing from Brad, I ended up ordering the super expensive filet mignon dinner. Brad ordered his ultimate fave for seafood...crab legs.

Tonight is our last night here. For dinner we've already discussed we might have to visit the docked boat Crab House one more time! It was definitely a fine dining experience two honeymooners need.

Honeymooning!

We are currently on our honeymoon. We are calling this part 1 of our honeymoon. Our first choice was London for our honeymoon. However, since we married in December we decided London didn't have desirable weather right now. We'll wait til late Spring or early Summer to go there.

We are in warm Orlando. We packed nothing but shorts and short sleeves. This is a great place for a December honeymoon but I can't imagine having these warm temps around Christmas every year.

We're staying in a Disney resort. We chose not to rent a car and instead depend on Disney bus transportation. At first I was a little frustrated not having a car out in the parking lot but by the time this afternoon rolled around I was getting adjusted. It would be more of a hassle having a car and dealing with finding parking at the theme parks.

Our resort feels like an apartment complex. It's quite spread out, lots of buildings, and our room is like a studio apartment. We're in an area that is close enough to the theme parks yet has some other attractions nearby that appeal to adults a bit more than kids.

We went to Downtown Disney last night. An area filled with shops, cool dining options, and entertainment that offers some nightlife. Last night we stayed out late at a movie.

This afternoon we went to Disney World which seems to go by just the title of Magic Kingdom now. Disney World appears to refer to the group of theme parks in the area. We stayed long enough to see the 9:30 pm fireworks show then came back to our resort. I did have to buy a sweatshirt as it was a bit chilly out at that hour. So I have a new Disney sweatshirt to help mark this ocassion.

Our Wedding

We got married this past weekend! Woo-hoo! The wedding was awesome. It was magical!

I was so busy in the days leading up to the wedding. Running here, there, and everywhere. By the time Friday rolled around I was pretty much done with everything, just waiting for the day.

On the day of the wedding the time went by fast. I never imagined it was going to take me as long as it did to get ready. Traffic was horrible getting to the Gaylord. I was about 20 minutes late as I was supposed to arrive at 3:00. By the time the wedding time rolled around I still wasn't ready. The plan was for me to make my grand entrance at 6:10 but I didn't appear until 6:30 maybe 6:35. I know my mom was quite irritated I was running so late. But oh well! It was actually a good thing I was late because traffic was so bad, it gave more people a chance to get there.

We attracted quite the crowd as lots of people passing by that particular section of the resort had gathered to look in on our wedding. I must say I was completely calm the entire time. No nerves at all! I said my vows with a confident smile on my face. That has been the theme with my relationship with Brad...calmness! I was totally calm on our first date too! Being with him from the very beginning has felt as natural as blinking my eyes! It was kind of funny though that Brad and I both said we had people around us that weren't so calm yet we were calm. My mom wasn't calm. And certainly had lots of angst in her voice leading up to wedding time. And for Brad it was his brother that was more on edge than him.

The food was excellent! Exactly as good as I hoped it would be. Our cake turned out well! We had a 3 layer cake. One layer chocolate with bavarian cream filling. One layer red velvet with cream cheese filling and the top layer was my special request layer, I requested white cake with champagne infused in the cake and the filling....Awesome!!

People truly seemed to enjoy our wedding. Lots of dancing. Many people that I didn't anticipate cutting loose on the dance floor did.

It was a great wedding! We were both very happy with how our wedding turned out. The Gaylord certainly made us feel like celebrities too. We checked in through the celeb entrance. We had security at the wedding. And we stayed in the most awesome honeymoon suite a person can imagine! The type of suite that commonly accomodates A-listers like Madonna and J-Lo.

Happy Birthday Cody!

Woo-hoo, today is Cody's bday! His mommie baked him a cake and he's got presents. I haven't let him have his presents yet. It's always fun for me to see which toy he appears to like best. Typically he runs around from his toy to the toy Simon was given seemly confused as to which one he prefers.

While baking Cody's cake Simon was doing all he could to get in on the action. When I went to put the cake in the oven there was little Simon trying to stick his head on the side of the oven door. I had to quickly block him with my hand so he didn't get burned. Geez! He's a nut!

Baking the boys cakes for their birthdays is always great fun for me. It's a fool-proof recipe and no pressure to be perfect. Pug birthday cakes always get rave reviews! Lol!

We Got Rings!

We got our rings!  Here's the story of the rings.  One of us had a very easy time finding a ring.  One of us needed some time to think about it and time to look around a little more. One of us picked out a ring so fast last Wednesday night, that the person may have set a record for fastest ring selection ever.

Now guess how it all went down?  Which one of us took our time and which one of us set a record for fastest ring selection?  Go ahead and ponder it a second or two.

We walked in on Wednesday night to the ring store, the sales lady walked us over to the womens eternity bands.  I thought I wanted an eternity band before I got engaged.  So I was interested in seeing the eternity band selection.  I wasn't too enthused after trying one of them on my finger next to my engagement ring.  We spent about a minute and a half  looking at the eternity bands.  I then wanted to see the enhancers.  Over to the enhancer case we walked.  I glanced down and saw my ring!  I pointed it out to the sales lady she pulled it out of the case as I was anxious to try it on my finger with my engagement ring.  After slipping it on my finger I was done!  I had found my ring!  It literally took me 3 and a half minutes to find my ring.  Brad's head was spinning it happened so fast!  He then encouraged me to try a few more rings but I already had my mind made up. Done!

Next up was the mens rings.  I think Brad tried nearly every single ring in the case.  He tried all different metals too.  He was searching hard for his ring but just wasn't ready to make a decision.  We ended up leaving Wednesday night with only my ring on order.  After looking a little bit more online he was ready to return to the jewelry store this past weekend. He had his selection narrowed down and after trying his faves plus one other ring on he made his decision. My ring was ready to go home and his ring they prepared on the spot. His was a perfect fit, no sizing needed to be done.

So we officially have our wedding rings! And I bet at the beginning of this post no one thought I would be the one that set the record? My enhancer ring is the perfect compliment to my engagement ring. And his ring is the brushed look not the shiny look, he was anti-shiny for his ring.

December Has Arrived!

It is now December! Which means....I can now say....this month I'm getting married!  Can you believe it?  December has arrived.  Our wedding date is exactly two weeks away.  Oh my gosh!

It's very exciting.  I've been super busy all week trying to get things done.  I've figured out the menu for the reception dinner. It took quite a bit of configuring.  I thought I had it decided, easy-breezy, then I gave the groom a choice of the final entree.  After giving him a choice of an entree to add, I realized the meal wasn't exactly right.  So back to the drawing board I went.  Working on the menu until 1:30 in the morning on Friday.  But it's done!  I did my best to "marry" AZ and TX flavors!  I like customizing things, I didn't want to just pick something the resort offered.  This wedding needs to reflect us, in my opinion!  Next up is that awesome cake!  The cake will be a different type per level.  So that means 4 different levels, 4 different types of cake.  Now per layer of cake there's a different filling.  I need to choose 4 types of cakes and 4 different fillings for those 4 cakes and each cake level must go well with the main frosting that will cover the entire cake.  Wish me luck!  It'll be fun!

This week I also had great pleasure in assisting my soon to be nephew as he figured out his suit for the wedding.  He was at the store on Thursday afternoon and each time he tried something on he sent me a picture of it to ask what I thought.  It was fun to help him!  I also made the last few wardrobe selections for our little mini flower girl and my bridesmaid.