When it rains it pours.....

It has been awhile, I have been waiting on something cheerful to write about.

On June 16 my Grandfather suddenly passed away. Yes less than two months away from the wedding. I made such a big deal at Easter how he and my Grandmother would be my only Grandparents there. We went to Florida to be with my WONDERFUL family and celebrate the life of the most amazing Grandfather that God could have provided for me. He was truly a caring, kind, generous and loving man. He was well known around his town and a few towns around it, the service was beautiful. It was held at my Grandparents church, then headed to the cemetery, where we were lead by a fire truck and every light we passed was blocked by a police car and the officer outside the car at full respect. At the cemetery the US Navy played taps, folded the flag across his casket and gave it to my Grandmother in honor of everything my Grandfather did for our country. After we said our tearful goodbyes we headed to the Knights of Columbus hall (where he was very involved) and had a true Irish celebration of his life.

David's Grandfather has now been in the hospital since Saturday. He has a few issues and at 86 anything going wrong isn't good. We are praying he will pull through.

On top of all this we are sitting at 17 days from the wedding, which is a whole different stress. I am just praying to pull through the day with as few tears as possible. It will be so hard to not have my Papa at my side to give me away, but with the family I am blessed to have I know they will be there to support my Mom and I. We will not only have them but my Papa's Mason Brothers as well. We are so lucky that he was also an amazing man and left behind an endless support system.

I am ready to say I DO and become a Stroud and start our life which will be full of love, laughs and priceless memories.

Every storm has a silver lining....some you just have to look a little harder for.

We Are IN!!!

We have moved in and unpacked, well for the most part.

We have been very busy lately, we had an outdoor shower thrown by my Mom's office, followed by a shower thrown by friends of my Mom's. David's family came for the weekend which was our first full house experience.

Then everything hit home again as we suddenly lost my Grandfather on Tuesday, June 16. It was unexpected and took us all by surprise. We went to Florida for a few days to be with the family and pull together as we always do, we are the Mighty, Mighty Clam Clan.

David has been playing on a softball team and loving it....I keep score.

We also sent out our wedding invitations, which makes it real. Yep we are going to officially be The Stroud's on August 8! The wedding is getting close and we are trying to tie up lose ends. We finally got both wedding bands last week and now just waiting on the call that my dress is ready.

The above (and a few other things I didn't feel needed to be mentioned) are the reasons it has been so long since I blogged.

A few updated pictures of the house:

From upstairs looking into the foyer....thanks to our WONDERFUL neighbors The Devine's for painting this massive beast!

From the breakfast nook looking through the kitchen into the dining room. We did paint the kitchen, with some help from Lisa. The dining room is still a work in progress.

View from the porch into the backyard, this was from around February. Since this our trees have nicely filled in and blocked everything behind us.

We are still moving along

We are officially in our new house, we moved in on Saturday, May 16.

We have the most amazing family & friends who came to help. A lot of our stuff is still in boxes, but we are slowly unpacking and putting things away.

I am so use to the layout of the apartment that starting from square one is a bit tougher than I imagined. We each unpack and box hold up what we have, then just start laughing at the idea of how long this is going to take us.

We are having our internet and cable turned on tomorrow so I will be able to post pictures. Our work computers don't allow us to download things (among many other things they don't allow). Also David's sister might be coming to visit, fingers crossed!!!

Stay tuned for pics....

AND SO IT BEGINS.....

I never thought I would give into this whole "blogging" idea, but there is a first time for everything.

I will soon be a Stroud (August 8, 2009) so why not go all out and become a blogger too!

A LITTLE HISTORY:
David and I met about 7 years ago at Appalachian State University, Go Mountaineers!!! On our first date he cooked chicken parmigiana for me and my friend Elizabeth (who I brought with me as I was a little worried going to a guys apartment who I didn't know that well by myself).

Dinner was great, he even let me throw the noodles against the fridge to see if they were ready. We ate, sat around and talked for awhile, then left. David took this as I wasn't interested in dating him, but we still hung out as friends and talked on campus.

I graduated in May 2005 and moved back to Charlotte NC. Elizabeth graduated in May 2006 and I went back up to celebrate with her. Much to my surprise we went to Cafe Portofino (where David managed) for drinks with friends. I didn't know he still worked there but Elizabeth did, we had been there about 10 minutes when she saw him walking around. I wanted to go find him and say hi, she told me to wait on her and she would come with me. Before I could even turn around he was behind me. We gave each other a HUGE hug, to which Elizabeth said "I knew you guys still liked each other". We spent the rest of the night being laughed at by our friends because we couldn't stop smiling.

I started going up to Boone every weekend to see him until he graduated in December 2006 and moved to Charlotte to be with me. We lived with my parents for a few months until we found a place of our own. These are a few months we are very lucky to have had.

SIDE NOTE:
David got to know my parents really well during this time, especially my Papa (my Dad) who was the most AMAZING man in the world...I know that is a strong statement but you can ask anyone who knew him and they would agree. He was killed in a motorcycle accident in October 2007 (at the age of 55) when a 6 point buck t-boned his front tire. I can still hear my Mom's voice when she called me that night. Life hasn't been the same since, he was not only my hero but my very best friend, I told him everything (and for those of you who know me that is a lot....I am a bit of a talker). I always told him he had to listen b/c I got this trait from him, along with the fact that I tell the same story on average 3 times to the same person. He was a Mason to which we are very lucky as there is a huge support group for me and my family. We can use all the support we can get, never thought I would have to plan a wedding w/o my Papa by my side. I have learned you are never promised tomorrow so live each day to the fullest.***

We have been living in an apartment in Concord for about 3 years. Realizing we are getting married and are ready for more space we took the BIG leap and bought a house!!!!

AND SO IT BEGINS.......