At the end of August, beginning of September, the entire Howard clan packed up to head to Orange Beach, AL. We were met with a very unwanted vacation guest upon arrival. His (or her) name was Lee. Tropical storm Lee very much ruined our long awaited beach vacation...it was literally a beach bummer:( We stayed in a very nice beach house that had a great ocean view. However, due to tropical storm Lee, our view was of grayish-brown rough surf and red "caution/hazard" flags blowing in the 55 mph winds. It was not the vacation we had been anticipating over the past 6 months. Thus, we ate good food and shopped (a little too much probably) at the very nice outlet malls. My parents were able to get a small refund back on the beach rental, and we all made it back home safely.
On the upside of the trip, Matt and I returned home via an alternate route stopping in Florence, AL to visit friends of mine. We had a great time visiting with the Bridges, Amy B., the Manns, and the Thompsons....SO GOOD TO SEE THEM ALL!!!! I don't get to see them as much as I would like too, but it was a nice ending to the vacation-gone-bad:)
On the very very upside of the trip....the weekend ended with a beautiful new piece of jewelry added to my left hand:) Matthew proposed..oh yes..he did:) It was on Labor Day, 9/5/11. He had planned to propose on the beach. But since Lee had other ideas, making it impossible to go on the beach, Matt had to resort to carrying my pretty ring back to Missouri, and popping the question back home. In my opinion, it was perfect:) He said sweet words, we both cried, and then laughed at how his weekend plans were ruined because of an almost-hurricane. It was the best night ever and I am so happy....I'm still in that smile-when-you-look-at-it phase:)
We had engagement pictures taken about a week ago. Here's one of us by the sign at the seed company. Our ceremony and our reception will both be at the warehouse.
