still on the hunt...

House update: No real news yet. Steve and I, and our parents, are still on the hunt for that perfect home. It will come, one day :)

Wedding update: None. Well besides an awesome website I found. I will order my wedding dress from the site for about $125-260. Yes, that's the truth, and yes I'm very excited about that.

Picture time:

Tovi gets a Mohawk!!! He is in this 'punk' stage right now, so it was only fitting.


My two loves. Gosh Tov is getting so big!!


Tovi tends to sit like this on the stairs for some reason.... He's a goof. Too bad it's blurry, but I still like it. Love the fact that Max is watchin' out for tov! :)


Tovi just wanted to see what was going on downstairs with out actually going all the way down the stairs. Smarty!


xo m

wedding/house hunting oh my

Today Suz and I sat on the front porch swinging, reading bridal magazines, and dreaming up dreams. We decided we should have a nice little break and go stroll among some antique stores to get more ideas. We came across old(but not used) hankies, a bag full of old thread on wooden spools, magazine racks, funky plates, an awesome ice chest, but most of all we found THIS...





The picture was taken from my phone and it doesn't do it justice at all. This piece of furniture is just so outstanding. We thought if we bought it we can put it in my kitchen and use it for either A. an island, or B. part of the counter that shoots out. Part A. would be great if I have a huge kitchen. Part B. would work wonderful because the other side (the side you can't see) is painted hunter green and shoots inward so a few stools could be placed there and act as a breakfast bar!! I just can see my country kitchen now.... sigh.... one day one day. I guess I should focus on getting a home first and then focus on the items that go inside. Like the one pictured above :)

I'm off to do some more house hunting online. Steve and I have found quite a few houses that we would like to go see and discover. However most of them are foreclosers or short sales. I feel so bad for the people who live in these houses. It's like I'm coming in to take all their hopes and dreams away. I guess I have to look at it with the glass half full and think that I am helping them out if I purchase their home and take the load off of their shoulders so they don't get into further troubles. But still I feel bad.

Until next time...

xo m

Venues

This week I had two appointments with two different venues, both located in Woodstock, IL and both beautiful. I did take pictures, and I did promise I would post them however, I'm not going to post them. *gasp* Only because I thought about it and I want it to be a surprise. Maybe once I narrow it down to THE venue I will post the photos from the venue I didn't pick? Sounds like a nice plan right?

So first thing is first, I am going to put together a semi guest list and figure out around how many people I can invite to the big shabang. I can tell you that one venue only holds around 112 guests, and the other can hold 450+. And to be honest, the venue that holds more guests is less expensive. How did I get so lucky, I don't know but it's AWESOME!! (Can you tell I'm already favoring one venue over the other?)

Well enough about weddings... Steve and I are looking at houses!!! All thanks to my dear Nana and Granddad. If I could tell you what I want to be like when I'm older, scroll down to you see a photo of my grandparents with me in the middle. I simply adore them. So the home searching is on and I will keep you up to date with that as well. Happy day, and of course here is a photo because like I said before I can't post with out one. It is so vintage glam, I heart it.
xo m

And it has begun...

This week my mother and I have appointments for 2 venues. Not that we are rushing into the whole wedding planning but we want to get an idea of how much a wedding is REALLY going to cost. So first thing first, pick a venue, a place where Steve and I want to get married at and where to have the reception after.

As a little girl I always dreamed of my wedding consisting of my dad walking me down the isle in a church. Well being that we currently do not belong to a church I don't feel comfortable just picking a church out just to get married in. Not that there is anything wrong with just picking a church out, I just don't feel like it would mean anything to me as if it did if I at least went there every Sunday. So on that note, my dream of my dad walking me down the isle will still happen just not in a church. Aha I can't wait!

[On a side note... On our way home from Door County Steve and I were playing a game that my mother gave us called table topics for couples. It's really just a stack of cards that have random questions on there for each person to answer. Well one question had to deal with kids and how you would raise them. Well Steve just said the sweetest answer that just brought me to tears. He said that he 'knows we aren't involved with a church now, but in the future when we have kids he defiantly wants to be apart of a church so they are raised in the same environment as I did when I was growing up, because he loved how I turned out and wants our kids to turn out just as good.' AWE!! Doesn't that make your heart melt! It did mine! Good job Suz and Jimmy Lee!]

Well as I was saying... I will post at the end of the week with a few snap shots of the places that we visited. But I have to end with a photo because honestly what fun is a post with out a photo! :)

My boys.... *sigh*



xo m

Door County Cont-2

More photos from the rest of our trip..... or the longest post of photos EVER.

An Awesome concert that we went to. One of the ladies who played there was asked to go on tour with Willie Nelson. She declined because she just wanted to play shows up in Door County. Amazing.



One of the houses my family stayed at. The landscaping, if I tried to describe it my words would give it no justice which these pictures don't do either. Sorry. But I spy a Jimmy Lee in the window! :) And please take note of my adorable grandparents that I admire so much. They are truly amazing, I love them.


Jason, Steve and myself went on a little biking trip. This was THE day! :) As if you couldn't tell by the center picture *wink*


Our last night we set up a camp fire and had s'mores. In fact it was my Uncle Graham's first time EVER to have one! Crazy, I know! But we also played a game where you tell a story and pass it along to the next person to continue the story. It was great. Our story ended having a turtle named Franswa who smoked heavily. And I believe he ended up on a booze cruise with a little lady friend and the little story took a turn and it was my moms turn who said THE END!
(I was playing around with our new camera and its fun settings so please excuse the photos below. But hey, at least they hold the memory!)


And to conclude the Door County treat, a few last photos of my dear family who I adore. I have so many more photos but I won't go over board...unless I already have. Whoops, lucky you! :)


xo m

Door County Cont.

I promised some more photos from our wonderful family trip to Door County, WI. I must say that this trip was by far one of my most favorite. I love being around everyone, and I just feel so blessed to have such a wonderful family. I wish we could have had a lot more time together, maybe next time.
Enjoy our family fun!


Heading up to Door County in the big van. Steve driving, I'm the passenger, Max is co-pilot in the middle (THE WHOLE WAY THERE), and Tovi is dead asleep in the foot crack on the side doors in the back with all of our gear. Oh and we saw some cow butts, plenty of times!



This is my Uncle Larry and Aunt Susan's cottage on the lake. It is the most peaceful area. If I could live there I would pack up my bags in a heart beat.


Steve and I found out we couldn't have the pups at either home that the family was staying in. So we had a fun afternoon with them on Lake Michigan. Max even got in the water which is unheard of. He must have been having a good time. After all his REAL mom and dad were there so he must have been over joyed!! (For all of the inquiring minds out there.... My Nana and Grandad got Max when he was a puppy. Well Max was a bit out of control so my parents took him under their wings and Max is still out of control! ha-ha BUT we love him so we will keep him!*wink*)


There are a few more photos that I will be posting in the next few days. So hold on tight!

xo m

We're Engaged!!

I don't even know where to begin, but I do know that I have been so blessed to have found someone so perfectly wonderful that I can call my future husband, also known as my FIANCE!!! :) And that is why I decided to label our URL as steveandmeredithbach.... because one day we will be married for the rest of our lives and lets be honest I didn't want to make another blog after we get married. SO without further ado... Our Engagement story!

The Short Version:

He took me to this little chapel in the woods along Lake Michigan in Door County, WI and did the whole down on one knee thing! ;)



Long Version (with photos):

It started out with a fun fill week up in Door County with a family reunion. I love being around my family, they just mean the world and more to me, so Steve had perfect timing! :)



Every morning we would wake up here...




or here...






Then everyone from one house would come to the other house in the morning, or visa versa, to figure out the days plan.

Well on this one very particular day, July 6th 2009 (and that happens to be my brothers Birthday as well!!) Everyone decided we would go hiking in the dunes and go look at this little wooden chapel in the woods called the Björklunden chapel.

So everyone piled into the cars and vans as I waited for Steve to get into the Jeep. He had a "stomach ache" and was getting his things together so he told everyone to just go ahead while I waited in the car for him.

So the family went on their way to the church first and then dunes... or so I thought.

Well Steve finally came out to the Jeep and was ready to go. As I drove the speed limit *wink wink* I rushed to the church where we were all going to meet and for some reason couldn't find anyone there. So in my mind I thought we were going to the dunes first and then the church. So I thought we should at least get out of the Jeep and look at the little church since we were already there. This is what I saw...


This is the back of the Björklunden chapel.



Full front view of the chapel.



And then we went to open the door to look inside it was locked. So I figured I would go around back again and see if my family was coming, but then Steve called me to come back. As I walked to the front of the chapel he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him!! I had no idea that he was going to ask me it was just a complete surprise and when he asked me the tears just fell. I was shock when he opened the ring box because when he did I saw the most beautiful ring that I have ever seen. The sun was hitting it in a way that made it look like it was the sun's job to hit that diamond and make it shine. The ring just sparkled like I never knew a diamond could sparkle. And of course after he asked me, and I picked my jaw back up from the grown, I said YES!! Oh and I might have thrown in a "Shut up!" and a "Wait what did you say!?" but my eyes swelled up and I said forever and ever babe!
Then we had a little photo opt.




After we couldn't stop smiling and hugging a lady came walking to the church with a huge key and opened the doors for us! (Steve told me the original plan was that the doors of the church were supposed to be opened for us and he was going to propose inside. I thought it was perfect how he did it anyway!)

Here are a few photos from inside. The chapel holds 35 people max. It's just so beautiful.





And these are the ring shots! :) How lucky am I?!?





So after Steve proposed we left the Björklunden chapel and headed to the Dunes where my whole family was waiting for us. They were all in on the plan and congratulated us when we arrived. We hiked the dunes and later that night we had a celebration for my brothers Birthday and for our engagement! It was the most special/perfect day ever!




Celebrating Jason's Birthday and our engagement!


Even Steves mom was in on it! Here we are opening a gift from her and Randy later that night.



I'll post more photos from the rest of our vacation in later posts.

Thanks for reading and let the wedding planning begin! ha!
xo M.