Officially a Married Woman! (And with no major disasters!)

Well... it's official! Stefanie Ross is now a married woman... I am now Stefanie Medlin! YIKES!! LOL Everybody has been asking me if I feel any different now that I am married, and to be honest with you... I really don't! LOL. It's been 4 days into my marriage, and it feels just the same... except now I am trying to figure out all the particulars of being married and changing my name and so forth. We also got some money from our parents as wedding gifts, but it's still sitting in their nice little envelopes on account that we don't have joint checking accounts yet and aren't really sure how to go about that! LOL Ohhh well... we'll figure it all out I guess!

Our wedding went out with out one tiny disaster, which to be honest with you, totally and utterly shocked me! The weather forecast was calling for rain, all weekend long in Santa Barbara, and I am not kidding you, in the days leading up to our wedding, I think I looked at every single weather website in existence, trying to find a forecast that gave me hope. Every hour on the hour I scanned the weather channels expecting to find a drastic change in the weather for Saturday's ceremony. In fact, we even had a canopy on stand by, just in case it rained.(Ok.. granted that Canopy was blue with a gigantic Lucas Oil logo on the front... but still.. I am sure with the modern video and photo editing effects, we could have edited it out if we needed to!) But alas, and to our great surprise, Saturday was a BEAUTIFUL, clear and wind-less day, leaving our wedding ceremony to turn out nothing short of spectacular!

When we decided on our wedding date, about 5 weeks ago, my dad had said that he wanted to become an ordained minister so that he could marry us. I thought that was the coolest thing. So he did it. He became ordained through the Universal Life Church and got his little wedding ceremony package in the mail, and worked hard on practicing for the ceremony. He did really well too. Until the end of course when he said, "I know pronounce you husband and wife"... he got really choked up and started to cry. It really was a beautiful and special ceremony though with a lot of love in the air. Although, I have to laugh because our ceremony was on Butterfly Beach, in Santa Barbara, so it's a public beach, so random people were kind of standing off to the side watching our ceremony quietly and at one point, when Michael and I were doing the Unity Sand Ceremony, a big fluffy dog that looked like a mix between a poodle and a doberman decided he was going to make an entrance into our wedding and kind of walked in the middle of the ceremony to check stuff out. LOL.. but it was pretty funny to say the least.

So one thing that was apparent on my wedding day was the fact that I was almost 6 months pregnant... yes... just as I had thought... I totally popped a few days before the wedding. In fact, my girlfriend Lauren who saw me just the weekend earlier at my Bridal Shower, was the one who pointed it out to me. "Holy crap Stef... your belly totally popped in a weeks time... you didn't look that pregnant a week ago!" LMAO! So... unfortunately the time in which I bought, by not-looking pregnant is finally gone... at 6 months pregnant I now look pregnant. (Of course my face and arms and back make me look like a chubbo... so I don't think I've got that cute pregnant thing going on) I swear... why is it the first place I gain weight is in my face and arms and back?? I am 6 months pregnant... 24 weeks... and weight wise I've only put on 13 lbs (well 13 lbs in the morning when I weigh myself and 15 lbs at the end of the day when I weigh myself.. LOL) but I feel like I've put on so much more.... or maybe I feel like I am gaining it unevenly or something... hell.. I don't know... all I know is that I haven't put on too much weight numbers wise and I am still wearing my same jeans... but I feel like my face and arms have gotten the brunt of those 13-15lbs!! Gosh... I can only fear what I am going to look like in the next one or two months.... wow! I am not looking forward to that.. let me tell you!

So the house hunt is still going in full swing, but Michael has kind of eased the pressure of moving up to Pinion Hills, and Oak Hills and Hesperia, and kind of kept his focus a little closer to my family. Although he hasn't completely ruled that area out all together, only because you can get some beautiful custom homes and brand new homes on up to 2 to 3 acres up there, for next to nothing(particularly because there is nothing really out there) but because Michael travels so much for work, and we've got a baby coming in June, I think he's starting to realize that it might be in our best interest to stay closer to where I can get some help from my family and friends, when he's out of town, as opposed to being by myself, in the middle of nowhereville, with an infant and a shot gun. However, the houses in Yucaipa, and Reche Canyon and Grand Terrace (all places where we can find a house that isn't on top of another house and allows us the room for our 5th Wheel) still haven't really come down in price as much as we'd like, so it's been kind of a frustrating task. Although, yesterday, we did find a house in Reche Canyon, off of Scotch Lane, which is about a half a mile from my parents house, which is a bank owned home, that has really come down in price. The house is on an acre and the outside looks nice... (circular driveway and such) however, upon looking through the windows... oh lordy.... it's going to take some major elbow grease and work to get that house in a livable state! I think there is a possibility that a family of rabbits and/or rats has taken up residency somewhere in the house and it looks like the kitchen is in desperate need of some new cabinets, because they look like they have been around since the birth of Christ, not to mention the people ripped out the baseboards before they vacated the house, so the paint and drywall definitely needs some TLC. But... it definitely has potential that's for sure... it's just going to take alot of work. So Michael and I are thinking about meeting with the realtor and making a lower offer than what they are asking, since the house has been on the market since September 2nd of 08 and I think they may just want to get rid of it. See... the realtor, when I talked to her on the phone seemed VERY anxious which means one of two things... either she's struggling to feed her family and just one tiny home sale would really make her year or there is something seriously wrong with the house that we don't know about and she's trying to rid herself of the burden of having the house on the market. So who knows... we're going to have to investigate a little more and see what's going on. Hopefully there isn't dead bodies buried in the back behind the tangerine trees or is infected with a killer mold within it's walls.. so a little more investigation is needed. Although, when Michael was looking at the house, some nosy neighbor came out and informed him that the house next door to it, was getting ready to go back on the market, and it was a much nicer house. Apparently it was purchased in July of 2007 and completely remodeled and well taken care of and it just now went into foreclosure. However, it's so new to going into foreclosure that both Michael and I can't find any info on the house yet. This house is in a lot better condition than the other, but who's to say what they will be asking for it.. so we'll have to do a little bit more research on that one.

So that's the scoop for now. Michael is out of town for the next three nights on business in Northern California, so I am kinda bummed about that. It's funny... I don't look forward to him leaving town, I really miss him when he's gone! But he's flying home on the first flight Saturday morning, so I'll get to see him then. Maybe while he's gone it's give me a chance to get started on making that scrapbook I have so anxiously been talking about doing, but keep putting off... Naaahhh... I think I've got laundry to do instead... that and I've got a bunch of Rock of Love episodes on my DVR that I've yet to watch! LOL