Better Late Than Never!

So.... I realize our Honeymoon was in September, but I just barely loaded my pictures. We went Las Vegas and had so much fun! I'll let the pictures do the talking.....

Just waiting for our flight...

I hadn't flown in over 10 years, so I was a little nervous.

We've arrived!

This is the fountain in front of the Paris...

...And Brandon. At Caesar's Palace. And a naked man...

...And Brandon with a naked man.

This is the ceiling in the Bellagio.

Freaking awesome.

A flying horse...?

Aw. Yes.

Seigfried, Roy, the Tiger that attacked Roy and....

Brandon???

New York New York....

....And Brandon....

...And Brandon and Liz ON THE ROLLERCOASTER.

DOMINATION!

B-ran.

More B-ran.

Me eating at dinner.

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.

Food.

Bye Las Vegas.

We heart you!

Christmas Date Details...

And here it is.... our Christmas date. Personally, I found it to be rather successful. And, yes. I did have fun.... Thanks to Brandon :)

Making our stockings...

...and mine

...and Penelope's

stockings.... so hot right now.

and of course, the gingerbread village we have to build

the finished product

tree time!

now it's time to decorate the tree

almost done...

hooray!!!

Penelope & Brandon

yes. that is a green snuggie. Brandon got it for me and I wore it while we watched a movie.

Happy Holidays!!

It's true. Completely. I do not like Christmas. Not a single bone in my body enjoys the holiday cheer and eggnog.
I think it all began with the Christmas music....
See, in my home growing up we started listening to Christmas music after Thanksgiving.... Canadian Thanksgiving....
which is the second Monday in October.
We were singing Deck the Halls before I was able to knock on my neighbors door with my super awesome Halloween costume.
Then as I got older and began driving, I realized how much I hate snow. Not just because it's accompanied with a chilly 30 degrees, but it's a tad difficult to drive in at times. Then once I had a source of income to purchase presents for the ones I love, I decided I hate holiday sales, waiting in line, and gift wrapping. Not to mention putting up a crap load of lights and decore, only to take it down a few weeks later.
When I decorate, I decorate for life. I hate changing things around.
So yes. I'm the grinch. I can't stand Christmas music, Santa, candy canes, snow, gift wrapping, and well.... I could continue to make this list much longer, but I'll spare you.
I think you get the picture.
The only thing I do enjoy is watching people open gifts, especially when I was the giver of the gift. It kind of makes me melt. My point to all of this is.... (drum roll)
I'm offically celebrating Christmas in full force this year.
And it's all for Brandon.
He LOVES Christmas.
And last year we were living together and I REFUSED any sort of Christmas into our home. So, I thought I'd make this year a bit better for him.
We will be having our official Christmas date this Friday.
It will include:
Decorating our tree
Make eachothers stockings
Hot chocolate
Mistletoe
Ice skating
Christmas music (I even made a Christmas playlist)
and then top it off with a Christmas movie

Now I realize that's quiet a bit to get done in one evening. But as I always say, go big or go home. I'm actually really excited, and it's mostly because I know B-ran is going to be happy as a school girl the entire time. awe. The things we do for love.

Happy to be home.

Bran & I just went to Arizona. I was going for the Susan G. Komen 3Day Breast Cancer walk. My friend Julie & I did a hand full of fundraisers to do the walk. In the end we only raised enough for one of us to walk. So Julie did it. Her mom is a Breast Cancer surivior. She walked for 3 days over a total of 60 miles. It was intense. We went to cheer her on day 2 at one of the cheer stations. And on the final day we went to the closing ceremony at Scottsdale Stadium. It was really awesome and I'm really proud of her. The rest of the time we were with Brandon's sister, Marianne, and her family and Brandon's brother, Scott and his girlfriend. We went to the Scottsdale mall and ate a Kona Grill, went to the Sugar Bowl and had some freaking awesome ice cream, went to a dualing piano bar, ate some super delicious Thai food, and ran around in a casino for a while. It was fun. Marianne and Nick have the cutest little boy! His name is Aaron, and I'm pretty sure he's one of the happiest babies I've ever seen. It was nice to get away, but sure is nice to be home.

What's New...

Well, not a whole lot. But, I haven't posted in a while. We're just settling down and loving being married. Life is good. :)

Wedding Photo's By: Chad Shaw

Like I've said before, it was a perfect day. And thank you again to everyone for your support.

These were done by my photographer, Chad Shaw. He's the nicest guy ever. If you'd like his info please let me know!

My sister-in-law, Tiffany helping me get ready

My Dad and I just before the ceremony

Dad giving me away

The Wedding Party

We had a candle lighting ceremony to signify the joining of our two families

Repeating our vows

We decided we wanted to write our own

Brandon asked if he could play a joke on me, and I said as long as it wasn't really mean...

His Best Man, Scott, handed Brandon his vows...

As you can see, they were really really really long.

He was so proud of himself.

Look at the grin on his face.

Even though Brandon was the funny man of the hour, he sure was the sweetest too...

I sure do love him

We used the ring pillow that Ken & Cindy used when they were married.

Trading of the rings

Mr. & Mrs. Brandon and Elisabeth Bennett!

Ryan did a wonderful job

I was so happy with the ceremony

It was everything we wanted

The Bridesmaids

The Groomsmen

Family picture time...

The Kitchen's

The Carter's

The Kitchen's/Bender's/Benedict's/Bennett's!

Just the Bennett's

The Friends...

More Friends!

We had a super awesome dinner that Cindy put together for us!!

Followed by a dessert buffet.

For our Wedding Cake, we got Sting of the Bee from The Lion House Barkery.

It's my fav.

Then the party began....

First with Grandpa Frank showing us ladies some REAL dance moves...

Followed by Uncle Tim's "Twist & Shout"...

Topped off with Brandon's infamous "Booty Drop"...

We then pretended to be Jewish, by doing the traditional "Mazel Tov"

Followed by some of this...

Then I did the "Last Dance" with Dad...

And our "First Dance" together.

Time for bouquet toss...

No one was injured & no blood was drawn.

Garter toss...

I'm pretty sure THIS moment was Brandon's favorite part of the day...

I could be wrong.

Here it comes...

The winner is...

SAM!

Bye Everyone!

Bridals

Yum!

Yay! These are cookies I made with all my new kitchen stuff from the wedding!! They were yum!

Thanks everyone for all the goodies! I'm loving all of them!

Thank you!

Thank to everyone for your support and love. It means a lot to us. It was a beautiful day and so much fun. Here are some pictures from some of our friends. I'll be posting a bunch over the next few weeks, so enjoy!

At the ceremony... Brandon and I were both teary eyed. Ryan (the Pastor) did an amazing job. it was perfect.

My Dad & I.

Grandpa Frank & Brandon.

My Mom & I.

Us.

Brandon & Steve.

Friends!

Ashley, Andrew, Steve, Me, Brandon, Jesse, Chantel, Jay, Sarah, and Hannah.

The Boys! Brandon, Andrew, Jay and Steve.

Cousin Jay showing some love.

Our BFF Sarah. Isn't she adorable!

The Crew! (minus a few)

Me, Jay, Sarah, Chantell, Brandon, Jesse, and Hannah.

Chantell. She is such a sweetheart.

MOZEL TOV!!!

Thanks Ken!

Eye Candy

Well.... it's less than 48 hours away and I can't wait. I'll just leave you with some more photos Brittany did for us. Oh happy day!

the week before my wedding

Today is one week and one day before my wedding. I wasnt supposed to see Eli in her dress, however she posted a picture of it on the internet for the whole world (including me to see). I also told her i was going out with steve tonight, but she said no....hopefully we are still engaged when i get home tonight. Today i got in a fight with my boss. He made me kick myself in the head until i tapped out. It was hilarious but my oh my was it painful. Any who, I am excited for my wedding....other than that nothing is new with me or Liz. I dont quite understand why people blog in the first place. This is officially my first blog experience. I LOVE YOU ALL! GOD BLESS THE USA. Love, Brandon

Just a peak!

Just a sneak peak! Brandon isn't allowed to see me in my dress before the wedding!! I'm totally paranoid about it. So here's one of my bridals where you can't really see all of my dress.

My friend Brittany did them for me... and I love them! She also did our engagements. I think she's seriously great.

I'm so excited for the wedding. Just 17 days. I'm excited to see all my family... and Brandon's family... and all our friends.

SO EXCITED!!

Camping

So, I have yet to find my USB cord to my camera.... leaving me unable to upload camping photos (still). So I stole some from Adrianna and Andrea.

For your viewing pleasure....

I'm not sure what cousin Jay is doing with my head...

Jay, Me, Brandon, Chad, and Whitney on our hike. Adrianna was taking the picture. We were hiking to a lake. We never found it. This is me. Golfing. I know I know.... laugh it up. 4 wheeling. It was really pretty up there... S'mores.Cousin Jay, Brandon, and me.

Oh So Excited!

It's 36 days away! I'm getting anxious... Over the 24th of July weekend, Brandon and I went camping with his family. It was a ton of fun. I took pictures, but I can't find the USB cord for my camera...grrrr. So once I dig it up I'll post them. I'm working on getting the invites ready. Stuffing. Labeling. Stamping. They're coming along. And for the most part, everything is ready to go. I've just been going over small stuff with my mom. 36 days... 36 days... 36 days...

Suddenly Stressed

Yep. I'm stressed now... I feel like everything is pretty much ready to roll, then I suddenly remember something else I need to do. I keep forgetting about all the little things. It's crunch time for sure.

Gettin' Down to Business

58 days. I've got 58 days to shed some pounds to fit into my dress... I bought my dress and then gained weight. So... now I've got to lose it. I have a gym pass and go, but not on a regular basis. I'm not in a routine yet. I'm really just lacking the motivation to get up and get over there. Especially after a 10 hour work day. But once I do, I get down to business. Goals: Eat Healthy Eat only when I'm hungry Portion control 45 minute cardio 3 times a week No more messin' around!

The Mysterious Rash & Things...

So I woke up this morning and my left eye was completely swollen shut. I went to check it out in the bathroom and noticed I was covered in hives. My hands were swollen and I was itchy all over. And I'm pretty sure it's becasue I'm allergic to the new laundry soap I bought Thursday. Not only did I do all our laundry with that new soap, I washed all our bedding... Which would completely explain why I woke up looking like quasimodo (I would have posted pictures, but decided to spare you). So I showered and the hives have gone down and my eye isn't as swollen.... But I'm still a bit itchy and my fingers look like slightly deflated marshmellows. The good news is Brandon said he'd still marry me... so with that being said we continued to head over to my friend Ryan's house. Ryan is the pastor that will be marrying us. He's a pretty radical dude. And his wife, Darcy, is a total gem. They just adopted 4 kids and they're all siblings... So they went from no kids to 4 kids, pretty much over night. And you can tell they're doing a really amazing job. Darcy made us lunch and we planned out the wedding ceremony. It's going to be awesome. I'm really excited. So... the moral of today's post is... make sure you're not allergic to the laundry soap you just used to wash your sheets with BEFORE you go to bed.

I Heart Fridays

Let's be honest. I love love love fridays. I'm one of those super lucky people that works 4/10's... So I get the whole day to myself. I love Bran to death... but he's my biggest distraction. He's always giving me his puppy dog eyes and convicing me to do everything else besides what I need to get done. I've got a lot done today. I love knowing I've accomplished a lot durning the day. It makes it easier for me to enjoy my weekends and the time I have with Brandon. I met up with Cindy and Kyle (Bran's mom & brother) this morning and we got the flowers ordered for the wedding. I'm really excited. I feel like things are coming together.

Moving

Brandon and I have now moved into our own place in Salt Lake.

We live in the heart of downtown.

It's a great starter place in a perfect location.

Our old roommate, Brittany Wulfenstein, took some engagement photos for us.

She did an amazing job. If you'd like to get her information, let me know.

The Proposal

It was March 14th, 2009. Brandon and I had just finished moving from Salt Lake to Bountiful. I was shower fresh and getting ready to go to dinner with Brandon, his sister, and her husband. Before we left for dinner Brandon said that he wanted me to try on a cardigan he had just bought me. I tried it on and found something in the pocket....

We're getting married Saturday, September 12th, 2009.