Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

The Present and Future

Blaine: I am working on finishing up my last year at UND and getting a Bachelors in Industrial Technology. I hope to find a job in Minneapolis doing CAD work of some sort. To be honest I can't wait to move to Minneapolis, should be lots of fun and many things to do there. I am still in the National Guard currently serving my three year reenlistment. After this reenlistment is done than I am going to get out of the Guard, it has been an awesome experience for me and I do not regret any of it.

Stephanie: I am currently at UND, finishing up my last semester of college and getting my Bachelors of Accountancy. After I graduate in December I will start studying for the CPA exam, whoo hoo! I work part-time on campus in the Budget Office as an account temp, and most of my spare time is spent studying (DORK). In July I will start a real life job at Ernst & Young, as a staff auditor in Minneapolis, MN. I did an internship with them last winter, and I am very excited to be back in Minneapolis (such a fun city) and to work with all the fun people I met again. Blaine and I also have the cutest puppy ever, Deja (Papillon), who keeps us entertained and in shape (she has endless energy and if you don't play with her enough she will just whine until you do)! Deja is also the biggest cuddler I know, I love it! Other than that, I will keep myself busy (hopefully) with planning this big wedding of ours!

Guest Information

Date: June 16, 2007
Time: 5:00 PM
Location: Jim and Doris Smith's Residence
3152 Tavis Rd Bismarck, ND 58504







Hotels:

Expressway Inn, 200 E Bismarck Expy, 701-222-2900
Expressway Inn Suites, 180 E Bismarck Expy, 701-222-3311
Ramkota Hotel, 800 S 3rd St, 701-258-7700
(Mention Smith/Williams Wedding for discount)

Transportation/Parking: We are currently looking into transportation service due to the limited parking. Carpooling is encouraged!



Watch for futher updates...

The Wedding Party



Best Man: Jason Williams, brother of the groom
Maid of Honor: Stacy Smith, sister of the bride


Groomsmen:
Andy Nielsen, friend of the groom

Matt Brummer, friend of the groom
Ben Moquist, friend of the groom

Bridesmaids:
Susan Smith, sister of the bride


Pam Nguyen, friend of the bride
Meghan Brummer, friend of the bride


Ring Bearer: Garrett Williams, nephew of the groom

Flower Girls: Summer and Autumn Smith, cousins of the bride


Watch for further info and pictures...

Monday, August 21, 2006

The Proposal

If you know Blaine, you know it is not his style to get down on one knee in a fancy restaurant and spout off some sappy poem. Blaine is also not one to plan things too far in advance. We had talked about marriage quite often before he proposed, and I had already showed him the ring I really liked as an idea. So it was the waiting game for me, and if you know me at all, you know how impatient I am. But I knew I wanted to be surprised, and I wanted Blaine to do it however he wanted to make it more special.

In July we went to Florida with his parents to visit his brother, nephew, and niece. I thought maybe he would ask me while we were down there, but I had this thought numerous times before at other events. One day we went out on our own to St. Pete's Beach. Blaine has always said that we should go parasailing, because he had a really good time doing it with his brother before. So right when we got there, we signed up, and waited for the next boat to come in. Well, if you knew anything else about us, you would know that whenever we try to plan something fun, it usually ends up not working out for us. So in came the big dark clouds, the rain, the thunder, lightening.... The whole week we were in Florida, that was how the weather had been. Earlier in the week his family and I, and everyone else on beach at Fort DeSoto had been kicked off due to bad weather. We had only been there for an hour or so, and the drive there was almost an hour. I began to think, we weren't going to get our parasailing in.

While we waited and hoped for the storm to pass, we had delicious strawberry margaritas. Finally, the clouds cleared, and after waiting for awhile longer the boat arrived. There was one other couple on the boat with us, but we got to go first. I was really nervous at first; I didn't know what to expect at all. Once we got off the boat and started ascending into the air, I loved it! We got up above the Gulf of Mexico about 900 feet. It was SO beautiful; you could see so much of the gulf and the beach, and it was completely calm and quiet.

Right when we were about to reeled back in, Blaine pulled out of his pocket this ring with a HUGE purple rock on it! He asked if I would marry him, and at first I thought it was a joke because of the ring. But of course I said YES! He used the cheapy ring just in case one of us accidentally dropped it in the gulf; that would not be pretty. Well, go figure I did end up losing the ring when we were standing in the water. Bummer, but I did find a watch at the bottom of water. Would have rather had the ring : ) But it was a perfect proposal, and I'll never forget it!

Sunday, August 20, 2006

History

We met in high school when I was a Junior and Blaine was a Senior. Blaine was friends with Matt, the brother of my best friend, Meghan. Follow that one! According to many of our mutual friends, we flirted quite often. Although, if you asked either of one us at the time we would have both said we were "just friends". Blaine graduated and went off to NDSU. We stayed in contact, and thanks to many, many hours having sophisticated conversations on Messenger, we finally came to the realization that it would fun to date. Who knows were we would be without Messenger, Blaine and phones don't really mix : )

We continued to date that year, with Blaine making a few trips to see me, and vice versa. The next year I attended UND, while Blaine went on to his second year at NDSU. Many miles were put on that semester! The next semester Blaine transfered to UND. If you asked him at the time he might tell you it was because he didn't like the engineer program at NDSU. While I know NDSU is a second class school, I like to believe he came to UND for me : )

Well, he was only at UND for about a month, when the National Guards deployed him to Iraq. He was away for almost a year and half. It was hard, but we survived. Not to sound cliche, but I really think the experience made our relationship stronger. I knew after he came back that I wanted Blaine to always be a part of my life. And now we are going make the committment in front of all our family and friends; we can't wait!