blessed

On a daily basis Ryan and I express both verbally and non-verbally how blessed we feel. We were absolutely blown away by everybody's generosity at our wedding. Whether it was a group of wonderful women going together to get our pots and pans or a scotty dog jelly jar, a set of dishes or a set of dish towels, bathroom towels or home decor---we feel blessed. We also feel blessed by our steady jobs, our amazing families, having working cars, being healthy. God has been good to us!

We are having so much fun using our new home accessories as well as re-arranging our new home accents! Some of our most used items are our Pyrex (both sets...they are awesome), our kitchen utensils, our pots and pans, our blender (so money!), our dishes of course, among other things. I got to use our new Kitchen Aid hand mixer the other day and died laughing because I pressed the "eject" button and the mixer went flying right into the cake pan full of cake batter...it was awesome.

Ryan and I were talking with my mom on Sunday about what we might want for Christmas (the Mentzel family starts early...it's serious business). I mentioned that I really wanted the Kitchen Aid stand mixer that we registered for, but that I also knew that I would be "needing" stuff for my new job (clothes, shoes, cute bag, you get the idea). That night my parents went to dinner with some absolutely wonderful friends and were able to reconnect with them for the first time in over 7 years!!! They were a huge part of our lives and unfortunately our families lost touch over the years. At the end of dinner they told my parents they had a gift for Ryan and I and since my parents were in Dallas they decided to go ahead and just bring it to us. To our surprise and gratitude....it was our stand mixer. We were absolutely amazed by their generosity. Our family and friends have been so supportive, loving, and encouraging as we are experiencing this incredible time in our lives.

So for that, thank you!

It's Official

On Saturday afternoon Ryan and I were ecstatic to find our marriage license had arrived!! Being the accountant that I am I go by the rules...so in my mind getting our marriage license meant we were legally married and now I could legally change my name!!! We were so excited that we took a picture of it to show everyone!

Today I made the treck to the Social Security Office to start the name change process. Boy, is it a process!!!! There's social security card, driver's license, bank account, checks, email address, miscellaneous accounts, our lease, THE LIST GOES ON! I am thoroughly excited to be changing my name...partially because it means I am married to the love of my life and partially because now I don't have to spell out M-E-N-T-Z-E-L everytime somebody asks me my last name. Just this morning I was registering for my CPA Final Review courses using Ryan's credit card and it was so nice to just say "Ryan S Kennedy" without any further clarification! Awesome.

Pictures from the wedding have come trickling in from parents, other family, and friends, so we will update soon with some wedding pictures, but here is one of our favorites that our WONDERFUL photographer (Kelly Hornberger) took after the ceremony...

How handsome is he???

Last weekend we had our good friends Chris and Whitney over for dinner. It was our first time to host anybody in our apartment and we had a blast! Ryan and Chris grilled the burgers on the grill down by our apartment complex pool while Whitney and I finished the sides, buns, etc. upstairs in the kitchen. We feel so blessed to have such a loving, Godly couple as such good friends! Love you guys!

Have a great week everyone!