I know it has been a while since I posted anything. I've been a little busy with school, work, actually planning this wedding, getting everything done for graduating. So sorry for the delay on any news.

It looks like I am going to get to go to Italy for a full month now. There are still a few kinks that need to be ironed out, but the trip will be May 20th to June 20th. Last week I went with MaryJane to scout out a possible place for the reception. She had found a place in Franklin. There is this place called "The Factory". It is so cleveryly named because it is located in an old factory. It has a huge ball room where I had my proms, but it has a bunch of little shops, stores, and resturants. There is an art gallery upstairs that hosts wedding receptions. MaryJane hit the nail on the head. It is perfect! A husband and wife own the gallery and the husband told us that we should talk to his wife for she was the all knowing with dates and other things. So we've been calling and seeing what days are open and we have settled on July 19th. I am very happy! It is going to be wonderful! Way to go MaryJane!

Stormy Weather

I have lived in Tennessee my entire life and have been through some bad storms and tornados, but last night really did some damage. I live in Bellevue which is about 20 min from my home town of Fairview. I was in my apartment alone on the phone with Jake (I know you're not supposed to be on the phone during a storm!) sitting in the bathroom floor while the hail was hitting the bedroom windows. Jake was talking to me so I wouldn't freak out completely. I can handle a thunderstorm no problem, but tornados scare me to death! He was just casually telling me what the news was saying and says "Oh there is a house down in Fairview on Cold Water Road". My head popped up and I asked him to repeat what he said. My mom lives on Cold Water Road. My heart just about skipped a beat. I hung up on Jake and called my mom six times but the phones were down. So after about a 2 min freak out period, I got a call from my brother. She was ok, she had no power. She said she had some trees down, one on her car and one through her front door. I called her cell phone and talked to her for a bit.

This morning my sister Jennifer, brothers Jay, Philip, Sam, and his wife MaryJane, my Dad, my aunt and uncle, cousin, and one of Jay's friends went there to clean up. I was driving all through Fairview and there were no trees down, not even a hint that there was a storm the night before, until I got the right before her driveway. There were trees everywhere, uprooted, scattered. There were 4 houses along the road that were completely destroyed. One of her neighbor’s house was sitting about 15 feet from its foundation and front porch. There were 3 more along the road with really bad damage. The driveway to the house is very long and runs along a forest on the left side and a cow field on the right. The trees in the forest were either uprooted in the driveway, or in the cow field. The tornado had touched down right in the valley of that forest. I would say that over 1,ooo trees were destroyed. It came to about 100 yards from her house. When you look at the damage that was done, there is no way that house should have been standing or that my Mom should be alive. There were only 3 trees left standing in her yard. What is amazing is that all the trees fell around the house. The tree that fell on her front porch would have ended up in her living room if the wind had gone in another direction. She had a tree fall directly onto her car and there wasn't a scratch on it. It was amazing. The garage was completely gone, the roof off the water pump was gone, there were trees everywhere; it was a horrible disaster.

We spent the entire day out there cleaning it all out. I am sore from the top of my head to the bottom of my toes. The power is still out but at least the driveway is clear. My mom is staying with Sam and his family for a few days, but at least she is alive. There were 12 people killed in that tornado last night all along Tennessee and Kentucky. I feel horrible for those people and their families and am grateful that mine was safe through it all.

It was short...we loved it!

One of my friends from high school just told me she was getting married too! Congrats to her!

I changed the photo gallery and I added some new photos of me actually making our wedding rings. How many people can say that they made their own rings? Not many, most probably don't care, but it was fun for me.

Today was the first day of my last semester before I graduate. It's pretty cool to think that I will actually have a sheet of paper in a few months that says I'm smart :D

The nightmare before Christmas

I hope everyone had a fun and good holiday season. Christmas morning my sister Jennifer, my mom, and I had breakfast at our apartment and exchanged gifts. My family drew names this year, but the three of us got each other little gifts for Christmas morning. For breakfast we had scrambled eggs, (my mom makes the best fluffy eggs), home made biscuits, (my mom's biscuits are awesome!), crispy bacon, (my family won't eat it unless it is almost burnt), fruit, and hot apple cider. It was Delicious! Then we watched Harry Potter 5 and exchanged gifts. The rest of the day was spent at my brother's house in Franklin. Every year the family comes together Christmas night at Sam and MaryJane's. They lay out a grand spread each year and we have a blast. This year was great!

Jake spent 10 days in Colorado with his family for Christmas and man did it suck to be away from him for so long. I never want to be away from him for that long again. There was actually snow in Colorado this year, so he had a white Christmas. He had a wonderful visit with his family and made a three day trip home. He and his sister Rachel had to drive the long way home because of the ice and snow. When he got home I was so happy to see him! He, myself, and Rachel spent a fun day together when they got back. We had lunch at Canton's, (really good Chinese food), went shoe shopping at this great place called Marti and Liz, I took them on a very short walking trip around the downtown Franklin main street (it's not that long of a street). We had a sweet treat at this little bakery called Meridees, and sat and talked for a bit. We then made it back to the truck and realized that I had locked the truck keys inside the truck! Hahahah.....uh.......hm. We had a great conversation while waiting for the locksmith to come, which only took 30 mins. Once back in the truck we went down to McKay's bookstore and spent a good hour in there. Rachel headed back home the next morning, so it was a short trip but it was a great one.

I'm glad to have Jake bakc home and wish everyone a Happy New Year!

I've added a photo gallery. It doesn't have a lot on it just yet, but check it out. I'll be adding more next week. Tracie (my sister-in-law) found a website having a killer sale on wedding dresses and prom dresses. I picked three of them and then sent emails out and got everyones' thoughts on them, then made my pick. I put a photo of it in the photo gallery. It is a photo of the dress, but the stock photo is a pink dress, my dress will be white...duh. I'm happy with the dress. It is very Jane Austin. I can't wait to get it and try it on! Once I get the dress and make sure it's the right size, Philip will take some photos of me in it.

love you guys, thanks for all the help I'm getting with planning this!

my ring

i was able to cast my own wedding ring this year. i cast jake's as well.

the wedding singer

this is my first post for my getting married blog.......yay!

jake sauer and i started dating on april 6, 2007. his last name is pronounced like sour...my name will sound like a mixed drink....we got engaged on november 28, 2007. we are planning to get married in june 2008 in the nashville temple. there will be more posts with updated plans.

a little about the bride: my full name is amanda paige shafer but i go by mandy. i was born on december 8, 1984. i have lived in tennessee all my life. i will graduate from tsu in may 2008 with a studio art degree. i plan to take a year off before continuing graduate school so i can be with jake while he surveys in chile. my ultimate goal in life is to be a children's book illustrator, mother, and wife. i am the youngest of six children. philip, samuel, jay, becky, jennifer, and me. philip is an english professor at tsu and lives in bellevue, tn (just down the road from my apartment) with his wife traice and daughter annabeth. samuel is a manager at o'charleys and lives in franklin, tn with his wife maryjane, daughter amandajane, son bow harrison, and adopted daughter kate-lin mae. they adopted her from china in november of 2006. jay works in construction and plays drums, he has a daughter named sydnie. becky lives in burke, vr (about 15 nminutes away from jake's sister) with her husband eric and son brandon. jennifer is office manager at an alarm company and lives with me. she plans to attend mtsu to be a director. my mother geneva is a librarian and my father philip is a brick mason.

front row:dad, jennifer, me, sydnie, becky, mom, tracie and annabeth, amandajane, and bowharrison.

back row: jay, eric and brandon, philip, maryjane, sam and kate-lin mae.

a little about the groom: my full name is jacob james sauer. i was born on august 19, 1978 in leadville, co. i've lived in a few towns, but i call palisade, colorado home. i served my mission in chile from 1997-1999. i have two bachelor's degree in history and anthropology from byu. i moved to ky to get my master's degree in anthropology, but transferred to vanderbilt to get my phd in anthropology. i will be a.b.d. (all but dissertation) in january. i have two older sisters. erika lives in virginia with her husband and five children. rachel lives in florida, and is a journalist. my parents bruce and sidney live in my home town of palisade, co. i like to dig in the dirt. i've done archaeology in utah, tennessee, mexico, and chile.