The Family/ Friends have arrived!!!

Everyone got in yesterday! Safe and sound... some minor delays but we all had a really good time at the Mexican resturant last night. Today is spa, golf, and sun day!

Tomorrow is wedding day! YIKESSS! I measured mikes ankle last night for his ball and chain :)

ZIP LINE!!!

Today was another great day! We went on a Zip Line tour!! I was very nervous... I tried to play cool until it was my turn to get up on the platform. The "Deb Jr." came out in me BIG TIME. The guy that was hooking each of us on the zip line wasn't attached himself which made me wayyy too nervous! There are a serious of 11 zip lines... and you can't bail out after the first one! I was really nervous but by the end they guys taught us tricks and Mike and I both went upside down! Before the end of it neither of us were nervous to get pushed off the platforms-- we even jumped off the last few! Lots of fun!

I think we found our new favorite restaurant... The Carribean Rest. in Moon Grand. This is the rest. we are going to after the wedding on Friday. The resort is still pretty empty. We are sitting in these huge beautiful restaurants and they are pretty much empty!!! Service is still amazing though. Even the golf cart drivers love their jobs! Everyone here is a pleasure to be around.

Just left a circus show (a spin off of circus ole) sp?. Part of the show they had poodles doing tricks. We miss our Lizzie girl really bad after seeing those dogs! We talked to JP (Lizzie's aunt who is watching her this week) and she is getting spoiled rotten. Her and 2 other dogs slept in the bed with Aunt JP and Uncle Derek.


guest: look for the RED WHITE AND BLUE tomorrow!! We are so excited for everyone to come for our big day... the count down now is getting to 2 days!!! How ever would have thought!?

See you all soon!,
Mike and Rachel

Sun Burnt Already :)

Day 2 started great with an awesome breakfast (made our own omelets)! We also set up some activites like the zip line course, golfing for Mike and the spa for me. Today was all about getting some sun and relaxing!

Went to the pool at Moon Grand. Very nice infinity pool. Water was a little chilly here but very relaxful. Stayed here for a bit then went back to the Nizuc pool and found our new favorite spot/bartender, Miguel. The swim up bar was in the sun so the water wasn't so bad. I think i ate 3 plates of guacamole for lunch (obviously not worrying abou the wedding dress fitting.. haha... thank god for spanx). Drinks are awesome-- Top shelf. Got back to hotel room and took a little nap!

Dinner was great. Ate at the Brazilian steakhouse. Ate a lot of MEAT! They bring it around on skewers-- steak, chicken, lamb, veal, pork, turkey, sausage and more. CRAZY how much food it was! We went to the Michael Jackson show after this... little late but it was great!

We can't wait for our guest to get here! We know everyone is going to have a great time. We saw 2 weddings going on-- they were beautiful! Our day is coming soon!!!

Talk to ya'll soon!,
Rachel and Mike

In Cancun! Night 1

Well we made it!!

The trip here was a little emotional though. I had to get 'bridezilla' with a flight attendant! He shoved my dress into an overhead bin and then someone CRAMMED there bag on top of the dress (after i told her that there was a wedding dress up there). Thank god that flight was only 30 min.

When we got to Cancun everything went really smooth! Immigrations only took about 20 minutes.
Found all of our luggage-- buy the way-- You can check 2 bags per person for free since its an international flight! Got through customs within 40 minutes and started our way out.

KEY TO OUR GUEST WHO ARE COMING WEDNESDAY: After you get through customs-- Walk directly outside. Do not talk to anyone offering taxis, shuttle services, or anything like that! Walk directly outside and look for red shirts holding signs that say "Delta Vacations" and "Palace Resorts". Not hard to spot at all-- after that it takes 10 mins to get to the resort and luxury is at your fingertips!!

Ate lunch, unpacked, laid buy the pool.

Got cleaned up and went to the Italian restaurant out on the golf course. Its so hard to believe that we don't have to pay for anything! Meal was wonderful. Mike had a filet and it was mouth watering. The wine celler at this place was huge-- you order a glass of wine-- they bring you a bottle.

Funny story-- Mike went up to order his first drink whenever we first arrived and ordered a 'Crown and Coke'. The bartender thought he wanted a bottle of Crowne Royale and kept asking Mike how many bottles he wanted!?! Mike just wanted a drink! haha

FOR OUR GUEST: Bring comfortable walking shoes!! The resort is enormous! Biggest in Latin America! The golf carts are alot of fun (esp. at the end of a night of drinking). The gas powered ones are the best... the drivers floor it on the curves and there aren't any seat belts! :)

Looking forward to seeing those who are coming down on Wednesday. Comment on here if you have a quesiton about anything-- Hopefully we'll be checking this nightly.

Love you all!,
Mike and Rachel

On our WAY!!!

Hey everyone!
One last post before we head out for Cancun! We just printed our boarding passes on northwestairlines.com! Found out that we didn't have to pay to check our luggage. Not sure if this is b/c we checked in online or what-- but we recommend everyone to check in online and print boarding passes from there. You can do this within 24 hours of your flight!

We are really excited to see everyone down there! We will probably be at the pool when most of ya'll arrive (probably close to the swim up bar)-- so look for us! Supposedly Mike brought his American flag swimming trunks-- so look for the Red, White and Blue! *Geez-- what am i getting myself into?*

We love you all. Stay healthy and have safe travels!!!

love, Rachel and Mike

Bad Bloggers

Sorry everyone! We have been really bad bloggers lately! We'll get back on track!

We leave for Cancun in 4 Days!!! Time has flown by! We are looking forward to the warm sun and getting married with our toes in the sand!

Everyone that is coming to Cancun has probably gotten a little package from Mike and I. We highly recommend looking at the Palace Resorts website at http://www.palaceresorts.com/
There are alot of activties, tours and trips that are free to us and we need to make sure we take advantage of them! The boys are going to get together and golf one of the days (Thursday or Saturday). We'll throw out some options on Wednesday night whenever we meet for dinner.
This is not a structured trip-- do as much as each of you want! Have fun and enjoy the sun!

Just a reminder- We will be leaving Sunday morning. We are not bringing our cell phones (b/c if I bring mine- I'll be getting Frito calls all week). Call/email us before Saturday night!!

Get Ready to have a great vacation!

Pray for safe and healthy travels!

love, rachel and mike

Booked the band!!

Everyone should dust off their dancing shoes!! Last week we had the privilege of book the Big John Miller Band! Google them! We had the opportunity to hear them the other month and loved them. Big John can jam out on a Cow bell... Sounds redneck?-- But very cool! We are getting EXCITED!

I had an awesome shower in Conway with a lot of old friends and great moms. Received many wonderful gifts! Was overwhelmed with how nice everything was! Big thanks to The Ezell Family and all the hostesses. And to all my sisters who traveled down for the event.

Last weekend Mike and I traveled to Michigan for Mike's best friend's wedding. The wedding was so nice and the party was even better! In addition to the wedding, Mike's sister arranged for both sides of Mike's family to get together for a shower/dinner. It was really good to spend more time with his family. We got SNUGGIES for one of our gifts! I was SO EXCITED; needless to say Mike was humiliated. :)

Hotel Info

Hey everyone. We have picked out a hotel for everyone to stay at. We didn't block any rooms b/c the rate they were going to give us is way higher than if you just book it online at Orbitz.com. I talked to management at the Hampton Inn and Suites and he said that we shouldn't have to worry about getting a room. By all means-- BOOK NOW!! It's really close to everything downtown and best of all is only 1 mile from the location of the reception. It's only 1 year old and serves a free hot breakfast in the morning.

It's called Hampton Inn and Suites- Little Rock Downtown.

Address is 302 S. Commerce, Little Rock, AR

I hope most of us can stay here; but there are other options as well. The Days Inn is just down the road and a little less expensive (but not as new). If you want to experience NICE-- The Peabody Hotel is right downtown as well. Call us if you need help finding anything.

Love, Mike and Rachel

"LABOR" day

I thought Labor day was a day for rest for those who are used to going to work every Monday morning... Well, I was WRONG. Sunday morning I woke up with a small amount of anxiety over our landscaping in the front of our house. We really haven't had the time (or the weather) to tackle this HUGE task yet so we just continued to apologize to our neighbors for our terrible over grown landscaping. I came home last weekend from a girls weekend and Mike had taken the weed eater to our shrubs/weeds/elephant ear farm. This is when I knew it was out of control!

So Sunday was a day of shopping for new stuff, pulling weeds, and planning for a new flower bed. We are tackling one flower bed at a time. We woke up and started early again this morning and finished around 2 pm. All the neighbors came by and loved it. Mike did his specialty... hard scaping. He built and very cool (but very basic) wall. He told me that I am in the right profession-- management-- b/c all I did all day was watch and encourage.

Now that we are all done with about 25% of the total projection... I can't feel my hamstrings b/c they are so tight, Mike is sun burnt, and Lizzie is worn out from being outside for so long (all she usually does it sleep all day).

Saturday was a fun day-- we went to Little Rock for the Razorback Tailgate. We hung out with the Shehorn's. Good food, plenty of alcohol, and lots of laughs.

Also another first this weekend. Mike proved that he was handier (don't know if that's a word) than I thought. He changed a fuel filter in the Envoy. He still smells like gasoline 48 hours later... but the envoy is running a little better! :)

I'll get pics up of the new landscaping...

An easier way...

Here is an easier way to look at our engagement pics...

http://www.heatherowensphotogalleries.com/darkroom/share/?n=Copely

Engagement Pics are up!!!

Hey everyone! The engagement pictures are up and ready to view!!! We have picked out a few favorites and a few that we don't ever want to look at again! haha. Take a look and let me know which are your favorites-- there are numbers for each pic in the web address at the end.
Here is how you view the pics

1. go to www.heatherowensphotography.com
2. Click ENTER WEBSITE
3. Next click CLIENT PROOFING on the bottom
4. The name of our album is "Copely" (yes, she spelled my name wrong-- won't be my name for much longer so we'll let it slide)^^Make sure the C is capitalized
5. Then choose a way to view it. Make sure you have an updated version of Adobe. If you have a slow Internet connection it may not work. We had to come to my work in order for us to view them.

Over all we are very impressed with Heather. She does a wonderful job making you feel comfortable!! I would recommend her to anyone... esp. if you have kids!!!

Thanks everyone! Invitation should almost be out. Hope everyone liked them! My mom put some hard labor into those bows so don't throw them away!

Love, Rachel and Mike

Bands and Bands

We traveled to Hot Springs this weekend to visit Ms. Shannon at Laurays for wedding bands. I could have spent all day in this store picking out jewelry, but Shannon reassured me that I can make a wish list of things when I come back without Mike. Mike then assured me to DREAM ON! haha. We struck out with my wedding band-- going to have to have it made. I guess that makes it that much more special. Mike found a really good one too. Sizing his ring finger was funny. He wanted it nice and loose-- I told Shannon "To MAKE IT TIGHT!!". He complained a little bit about it being heavy, bulky, and uncomfortable-- I told him to get over it. :)

After Hot Springs, we drove up to Little Rock and had dinner with our friends Kat and Aaron, and JP and Derek. After dinner, we went to Cajuns to check out the band. This is the band we are debating over for our party in Little Rock on Nov. 28th. They were a lot of fun but I got a little concerned when I requested the song Mike and I want to dance to and they never played it!!! Yikes.

The next few weekends are jammed packed with activities!! Brianna, my best friend from College, is flying in from Portland on Thursday!! Alumni volleyball game on Saturday. Say a prayer that I don't break anything when playing.

ATTN Girl Scout Cookie Lovers!!!

You all owe me for this one....

Well everyone, I have found my new favorite treat!! Who remembers Samoas??? The caramel, coconut, chocolate piece of heaven that we only get once a year... Not anymore people!!

As everyone knows, I spend a lot of time in Convenient Stores (we sell lots of chips in those places), and i need a snack every once in a while. I grabbed a FUDGE DIPPED COCONUT GRANOLA BAR and about passed out. It taste just like a Samoa. Don't worry-- they sell them at Wal Mart in packs of 8. If you plan on going to the Monticello Wal Mart-- go to El Dorado b/c I plan on buying all they have! haha. The Sunbelt vendor is going to love me!! I think my family could buy enough from him to put his kids through college!!! I thought I'd let ya'll in on my new treat! Don't look at the Nutrient Facts.

Cleaning out the Carport!!

Well, Mike actually had nothing to do this weekend but to shop and work around the house! My mom introduced me to "it's deductible.com". I'm addicted. Don't bother with garage sales people!!! We tubs of clothing, shoes, purses, comforters, ect under the carport waiting on that moment we have nothing else to do but have a garage sale (they have been there for 3 months and counting and the calender is only getting more full)!! So I checked out this deduction thing online (provided by turbo tax). It's addicting!! We had so much fun Friday night sorting out clothes and entering everything in to the website and watching our amount we will get back on taxes go up! This was the easiest garage sale ever and we made 400 bucks in 2 hours of going through clothes! I highly recommend this method over the pricing, paying for an ad in the paper, waking up early, dealing with people stealing... garage sale. I have never looked forward to tax season-- but I am this year!!

Saturday, we took our own advice and went shopping for Cancun clothes. We really racked up and saved a ton of money!!! I thought this was going to be a painful day (having to drag Mike shopping). For all of you that don't know, we have to drive 1.5 hours to get to a mall. The day started early and successful at Kohl's (I LOVE THIS PLACE... great for guy stuff). Next hit the mall hard. Got tons of stuff and Mike didn't complain all day. I figured out if you feed the guy really good at lunch... he'll last a longer in the mall. He started to crash when I started shoe shopping... so we called it quits after I bought my bridal flip flops and got home before dark!! SUCCESS!!

What to wear...

Hey everyone,
I have been getting a lot of questions about what to wear to the wedding in Cancun and what to wear to the party in Little Rock.

To the wedding in Cancun--
Something light and simple. This isn't a fancy wedding. The wedding will be at 11:00 am so it will be hot! Bright colors are encouraged. Just a reminder-- Don't wait to buy some summer clothes-- Back to school/Fall clothes are coming out and summer/swimsuits are going away! So don't wait until November to buy your bikini!! :) (everything is on sale now!!)

To the Party in North Little Rock-
On the invitation, it will state that casual attire is encouraged. The party will be during the evening-- outside. Nice dress jeans are even okay. I'm going to wear my dress for a little bit-- but then change to something much more casual!!!

A lot of people are also asking where we will be registering-- As stated in the post below this one, I have already registered at Bed Bath and Beyond. I plan to also register at Dillard's, and the Kitchen Store in Conway, AR.

I am getting sooo ready for the big trip. I think we have 20 people booked to attend!! We are so blessed to have so many great friends and family members join us!! Thank you all!!

Things are flying off the list TO DO!!

Well, with every weekend that passes-- more gets done. I had another really productive weekend!!! I bought my dress (a good story behind that one), we found and bought the bridesmaids dresses, and I registered at Bed, Bath and Beyond. Then my friends and I found a lot of decorations for the party!!!

The dress story:

So as I was scheduling my appointments to try on dresses- I found a place that had gone out of business and the Lady was selling the rest of her dresses out of her house! Kristin (my maid of honor) and I went 1st thing Saturday morning... and sure enough-- the first one I tried on-- I fell in love with. Brittany and Lindsay (other bridesmaids) joined in on the search but before long-- I called off the search and wanted to go buy the one I loved. It was in the budget and I loved it!!

We also found bridesmaids dresses at The Limited in the mall on CLEARANCE!!! Then Lindsay and I moved on to Bed, Bath and Beyond...

ATTENTION FUTURE ENGAGED COUPLES: Don't take your fiance to register... Mike was kind of sad that he didn't get to come. He would have died if he had to be in that store for 2 1/2 hours looking at China, towels and sheets. That might have been a deal breaker for us!! We are going to go back later as a couple and I'll let him scan a few things with the gun.

Engagement Pics were taken on Friday and Heather (heatherowensphotography.com) is going to try to get a few posted before she goes on vacation (Saturday). Stay tuned for engagement pics--

Keep your fingers crossed that invitations go out next week!!

SO MUCH TO DO... SO LITTLE TIME!!

Well we traveled to Dallas this weekend for Mike to take a test for the FAM position. He feels he did okay and so we will wait and see!! On the way home on Saturday, we stopped at Mom's house in Texarkana and finalized invitations!! Glad to get that step out of the way!! We also are getting our engagement pictures taken this week!! Heather Owens is taking our engagement pictures. She is the sister of on of my bridesmaids (Brittany Ezell-Davis). Everyone should check out her website-- she's GREAT! After looking at her pictures I'm not worried about getting great pictures! http://www.heatherowensphotography.com/
If you need amazing pictures of your kids-- give her a shout!!

We are now working on finishing up the invitations/save the dates, and starting the address collecting!!!

Wish us luck!!!

We Booked OUR TRIP!!!

Well everyone!! There's no turning back now!! Mike and I officially booked our trip over the past weekend! We are so excited!!! Here is a pic of the resort...

This week we are working on picking out some fun invitiations for the wedding. More stressful than I thought! Did you know that there are 1,000s of invitation websites!? Yesterday marked the four month deadline until the wedding!!! Mike was sending me text messages all day b/c we still are in shock (in a good way) that we are getting married!!! Everyday has been exciting as we have more people book their trip. Yesterday we got word of Mike's Cousin John and his wife coming as well as my maid of honor Kristin. Today another bridesmaid (Lindsay) decided to join the fun!!

Ok, to get us started, here is a pic of the ring. Small pic cause it's from my phone. Mike did a great job of picking this ring all by himself.

This blog thing is new to us!!

Hey everyone! Welcome to our blog! We created this page to keep everyone informed about whats going on with the big trip to MEXICO! Mike and I are really excited and can't wait to exchange vows with some of our family and friends behind us!! The Moon Palace is an amazing resort!!And if you can't make it to the wedding... don't worry-- we are going to have a really fun party at Dickey Stephens Baseball Stadium in Little Rock!!!

I don't know how to post pictures or make anything cool on this blog, but hopefully my creative sisters will help me with that!!!

To be continued!!!...