Happy Independence Day!!!

Happy 4th of July friends!!!

To celebrate... 
How about some patriotic wedding cakes! :)

Source: flickr.com via Kassi on Pinterest

Source: flickr.com via Kassi on Pinterest

Source: flickr.com via Kassi on Pinterest

Source: flickr.com via Kassi on Pinterest

5 Days until our WEDDING!!! :)

And TOMORROW starts my

Wedding Week Guest Poster Series!!!

They'll be sharing some fun wedding related posts with you all while I'm getting ready to get married, getting married, and enjoying being married!!! ;)

Please come back by and pay a visit to some of the most fabulous ladies!! 

My Last Name.

Mr. M and I have been "together" as it were for over five years... 

Mr. M and I snorkeling in South Padre, Texas

We've already gone through majority of the big changes a newly married couple experiences. 

The biggest change coming after we're married is my last name. 

I was curious so I logged on to Facebook to see how you go about changing your name on there...

You know, so that when the time comes I'll be ready of course. 

Facebook print screen

Turns out its as easy as clicking change under My Account -> Settings. 

Who knew?!?

I'm hoping getting used to a new last name in real life will be as easy as changing it on Facebook. 

Like I said, realistically it'll be the biggest change for us.

My last name will be growing. From 5 letters to 9. 

My sisters in law have joked that you learn to sign it in mostly squigglies because it's longer than what you're used to. :)

I'm VERY proud of my current last name. My father's name. My mother's name. 

It's who WE are. It's my family. 

Me with my brother and sister (one brother missing)

I'm VERY proud of my soon to be new last name. 

A good family. That's what everyone tells me. 

"You're marrying into the best family" they say. They're right. 

M. family picture

I'm very blessed. 

In my lifetime I have had the immense luck to be blessed with not one but two perfect last names. 

I CANNOT wait to join those two last names, two amazing families into ONE. 

In 7 days. One week. 

Wedding week here we come! :)

We are licensed to wed! :)

On Tuesday we marched ourselves into the county courthouse... 

Up three flights of stairs to the Clerk's Office and bought ourselves a wedding license. 

We are now the proud carriers of a license to wed in the state of Arizona!

***

Mr. M was nervous because all he had with him was his driver's license. He was worried they would ask for a social security card or something and that was all at home... 

But they didn't! They didn't even ask for ID! 

They asked us to fill out a form with our names, socials, etc.. Typed it up while we waited a few minutes and called us back up to the window. She asked us to review everything to make sure it was correct... 

I skimmed over the parts she had typed in but Mr. M read the entire thing... Laughing the whole time. 

When I looked at what he was reading... 

"and do solemnly swear I am of no relation to Kassi..." 

He thought that was hilarious. 

To make things even more funny... She asked us to raise our right hands and repeat after her... It was basically this is my name, this is my birth date and I solemnly swear we are not related. 

Couldn't help it... like two kids we were giggling away. 

I know that's serious stuff in some places... But come on... You just gotta laugh. 

And for the record, Mr. M and I are not related. We swore to it Tuesday. Haha!

Another check mark on my Knot wedding checklist. 

That list is really starting to dwindle... YAY!!!

Get the marriage license and make appointments for blood tests (if necessary). 

Check when the license expires.

If you wanna know more on getting a marriage license in the state of AZ, you can read this post.

No blood tests needed. :)

9 days until our wedding!!! 

1 Week 4 Days Left!

Since I missed the 2 weeks mark... 

I thought I'd write up a little 1 week and 4 days left until the wedding post! :) 

At 2 weeks 'til the wedding day, my sweet bloggie friend, the lovely 

Victoria of Crowning Victoria... 

Also a bride to be... With her wedding day, the day after mine! ;) 

Sent me a celebratory tweet!

"2 weeks til marriage! Eep!" 

Eep is right! ;) It's coming fast now!

We've been busy, busy trying to get all the last minute details taken care of!

So... to recap.... 

In case you missed this post... About the Wallow Fire in southeastern Arizona...

Or haven't watched any major news network in the last week or so...

Our wedding venue is in right there by what is about to break the record for the second largest wildfire ever in the state of Arizona. Yep... So that's been interesting. 

We do have a back up plan for anyone who is wondering... 

And as I posted on facebook and twitter this morning, 

"Hey friends! Just want to let everyone know that we are well aware of the Wallow Fire. At this point we may or MAY NOT have to change the location of the wedding. If we do, it will STILL be in the area close by, so majority of plans will not need to be changed. If you have a room in Alpine and need to get one elsewhere, we will let you know ASAP. 

We AREN'T panicking so neither should you! :)"

So there you have it. We have it under control. :) 

And it will work out. 

With that said, thanks to everyone for their concern... But I'm doing ok, so far anyway! :) 

MOVING on...

The guys shirts will be here on Wednesday! 

Thank goodness because that was a HUGE chore we needed to get done! 

Also, this morning I did a check and it seems all the bridesmaids have dresses, shoes, and accessories pretty much handled. 

Had a hair issue this last week... 

The girl that WAS going to do it, can't make it. We even  had a hair trial and all... 

But honestly, it's cool! 

Everyone keeps expecting me to be freaking out over stuff... Should I be? :) 

Anyway, I have a sweet friend that is going to do another hair trial within the next day or so... And if it all works out, she will be doing my hair. So that's taken care of also. 

My bridesmaid gifts are all but finished... I just have a few finishing touches and they'll be done!!! I worked on a little something over the weekend for them... and I am THRILLED with how it turned out! Can't wait to share it with them and then with you all! :)

My sweet almost sister-in-law, Brianne, came over this weekend as well and we worked on the paper pom poms to hang from the ceiling! 

Thanks to her genius, we even have a better way to transport them to the wedding without having them tear or go flat!

Tonight I will be working on our "In memory" table for those loved ones that have passed away... I hope it turns out lovely. 

I'm also working on wedding programs. I wasn't going to have them initially, but I decided it would be a nice  and inexpensive touch. 

We're also working on our song list for the DJ. We have our first dance song all picked out. :) And I love it. Think it really fits us! 

Just a quick story... Mr. M left Saturday morning to go to his bachelor day with the guys... After he had been gone awhile, my phone rang and it was him... I said hello and all I could hear was our song blaring over the radio!!!

Then he says, "Did you hear it? Ok, love you." 

What a sweetheart, right!?!?! Sealed the deal, our song for sure! :)

So... Also a heads up! I am obviously going to take the week around my wedding day off from blogging... I already have some fabulous guest posters lined up with some great wedding day tips, tricks and advice! Hope you'll pay them some bloggie love while I'm gone!!! :)

Have a lovely week friends! 

And please, continue to pray for Arizona and the containment of the fires throughout the entire state. 

Thanks.