charlie's favorite place..

OREGON.
[his home]
we took our first vacay/road trip together, and good news! we didn't kill each other on the 17 hour car ride up! or the 17 hour car ride down, either!we must really love each other ;) mind you, we rode in charlie's two seater 1997 pick up truck.
"cozy" isn't exactly the right word.
luckily we had one another to keep each other company, hold hands, and sing songs with. i know, i know. we're so cute, right?

anywho,
it was nice to get some time off work to enjoy the gorgeous fall weather oregon has to offer.
but the main point of this trip for me was to meet his family... dun dun DUUNN
and they were awesome! every single one of 'em! [more good news]
i also met some of his closest friends he grew up with.
charlie showed me around town, took me shooting, fishing, shopping, went to a real pumpkin patch..
you know, where you actually get to pick the pumpkins off their vine. ya, that kind.
we jammed a lot into our 8 day trip to newberg. lots of fun memories :)
here's a few snapshots for you to enjoy..

the sunrise on the drive up

 

natalie & josh

daniel's soccer game 

McKenzie :)

these kids LOVE their uncle charlie

i think "love" is an understatement.

duck water races at the pumpkin patch

that tractor was HARD to climb onto

big green tractor

i found these caterpillars in a corn maze

i had to save 'em from getting squashed!

i must have scared the one i'm holding. it pooped in my hands.

ew.

he's so handsome.

& he's all mine :)

fishing at hagg lake

this is one of my favorite pictures of us

i'm a little upset with myself that i didn't take more pictures on this trip.

next time, promise.

it was my first of many trips to oregon. can't wait to go up again!

registering

we started our registry yesterday at TARGET! [one of my top 5 favorite places..most of you shouldn't be surprised by that. ] 
luckily i've turned charlie into a target lover while we were dating. go me!


we were SO excited to start up a club wedd account, get the registry gun [charlie's favorite part] and start scanning away items into our wish list.


it was lots of fun! yet sometimes stressful.. 
"will i like this once it's in the house..." 
"will i really use this a lot?"
"is this hand mixer better..or this one?"
ahhhh
thank goodness for gift receipts, right?
we'll probably be going back soon to add more items. we just can't get enough of good 'ol target.
and maybe make a pit stop to register at bed bath&beyond, too?

secretly i think charlie just wants to play with the scanner gun again.

gotta love him :)

in honor of the birthday girl...

my future little niece, natalie, turned 3 today!
her uncle charlie and i got her a princess hopper ball since little natalie is a princess and all

[NOTE: in case there's confusion, the girl in the picture above is not natalie.]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE ONE!

uncle charlie and auntie sam love you!!

p.s. something funny natalie said the other day...

me: "natalie, you're going to have to start calling me "auntie sam", okay?"

natalie: "is that what you're going to be for halloween?!"

me: "no, that's what i'm going to be forever!"

natalie: "..ohhh"

apparently she goes around the house practicing my new name.. :)

change IS good

there's one thing i'm looking forward to come january 1, 2011 (besides marrying the love of my life, gaining a bunch of awesome new family members, becoming an "auntie" to 7 little munchkins, getting to be a wife to THE MOST amazing man..all that good stuff) 

and that is changing my awful last name. (granted, it's not that bad..i've heard worse. i've just never liked it.)

 

goodbye BURNS 

hellooooo OSBORNE

i'm thanking my lucky stars charlie's last name isn't one that i despise.

here's a fun fact i found from my trusty friend, google.

i will become (roughly) the 54, 849th Osborne in america.

instead of being one of the 142, 392 with the last name Burns. 

umm...since when do that many people have the last name burns??

Samantha Osborne..

ahh, sounds so much better! don't you think?

WPN

 Wedding

Planner

  Notebook

how else is a bride supposed to keep track of everything? :)

if you're wondering, too.

i'll be answering some FAQ that a lot of people have been asking me and charlie ever since our engagement became "official"...

- how did you two meet? well, it's kind of a long and detailed story, but here goes nothin...you ready? okay. (and yes, it's wrote in 3rd person, get over it :)
Samantha grew up down the street from the Rodriguez Family who's son, AJ, went on a mission for the church to Oregon. While there, he met Charlie one sunday (while Charlie was on his vacation visiting his family) where they hit it off and instantly became friends. Later on, AJ suggested that Charlie live with his family down in Murrieta, CA since it's so close to where Charlie is stationed in Camp Pendleton. About a year or so later in July 2009, AJ was marrying Samantha's good friend, Kelsey. Samantha went to her bridal shower, where Mrs. Rodriguez insisted she meet Charlie because "you'd be PERFECT for each other!" Sadly, since Samantha wasn't too eager to meet anyone at the time, they didn't meet that night. She soon spotted him at church and immediately regretted not meeting Charlie, but then she was too shy to introduce herself. Fast forward a year after Charlie got back from deployment....Samantha and Charlie were "facebook friends" but weren't exactly friends in real life. Sam would very rarely see the handsome Charlie. But when she did she would always want to introduce herself but Sam was too shy to say anything to him, so he never noticed her. Soon, Samantha kept getting a strong feeling that she should email him, however, she wasn't too sure about it since he might think it's out of the blue and she didn't want him to think she was a freak! Finally, Samantha got the guts to write him one night. Charlie emailed back the next morning, they went on a date that night and they've been together ever since! 


-where did he propose? see last post :)


-when and where are you two tying the knot? *technically* we're getting married and sealed in the Newport Beach California Temple on wednesday, december 29, 2010. But we're having an elaborate ring ceremony for all friends and family on saturday, january 1, 2011 along with a reception immediately following! the ceremony and reception will be in Bear Creek Golf Club in Murrieta, CA.


- kids anytime soon? NO! not for a couple years, anyways :) we want to wait till charlie is out of the marines. so until then, it'll be "us" time :)


-how are the wedding plans coming along? fabulously! we're just down to the small time consuming stuff like....picking out the guest's thank you gifts, bridesmaid dresses being ordered, and renting the tables/chairs/linens. but all the "big" stuff is pretty much taken care of :)


-where will you be living? well, considering my blog isn't set to "private" i'm not going to share what exact city, but it's in southern california and we'll be moving into an amazing 2 bedroom apartment with the cutest little backyard. we can't wait to get the key so we can start putting it all together and making it "home" :)


any other questions? feel free :)

our engagement story 10-16-10

on the morning of saturday october 16, 2010, charlie woke me up earlier than i thought but i didn't think much of it until he HAD to take me to this tree farm before we started our day. 

that's when the suspicion started...then he asked "you brought your camera, right?" 

a-ha! maybe he'll pop the question this morning..? i shook it off not wanting to get my hopes up.

so, we get there and start walking around. charlie is acting normal so obviously he's not asking this morning. darn.

then i start pulling my camera out to take a couple pictures of us..

after this picture was taken, i started walking away.

and that's when he pulled me back.

"Samantha..."

gets down on one knee..

opens little black box..

"will you marry me?"

"YES!"

our engagement was simple and sweet. i wouldn't have had it any other way.

now, go ahead and adore my ring.. ;)

i can't wait to start the rest of our lives together, charlie. i can't imagine anyone else more perfect for me. I LOVE YOU babe!