RKStell

Taylor Reece

Many of you know that just 7 weeks after our wedding we found out that we were 5 weeks pregnant! It was a little bit of a surprise that we were able to conceive so quickly, but we were sooooo super happy and excited!

I surprised Bobby at work by telling him that I had a surprise for him. I held out two fists and told him to pick a hand. He picked the right one, which was also the correct one, and I opened my had to reveal a pacifier! He was really shocked and had to go sit down! He quickly recovered and started calling his family.

We told my family the next day by hanging the pacifier on their empty Christmas tree!

Our pregnancy was going very well except for the all day morning sickness I was having!

On January 31st, we were 13 weeks pregnant and were so glad to be coming out of the first trimester. My morning sickness was tapering off and food was starting to taste good again!

Then things came to an abrupt halt for us. I ended up in the ER where they informed us that our baby had passed away. We are devastated, of course. According to the dr. our baby had passed some time ago.

I had surgery to remove the baby on February 4th. Recovery was rough for a few days. They asked us if we wanted to participate in the Share program. We chose to. 4 times a year the Share group takes all of the babies who were not carried to term (mostly late 1st Trimester losses like ours, and early 2nd Trimester losses), and has a memorial service and burial. There is a special cemetery in Cape specifically for this group. This means that we will actually have a grave to go to where our baby will be buried.

We would like to thank you all for  the prayers that you have sent our way. We have talked many times about how much harder this would be if people were not praying for us.

It has been just over two weeks since we lost our baby. In order to feel some closure, we have decided to name our baby Taylor Reece Stell. We feel that this is the perfect name for our baby, who's gender we will not know until we get to heaven.

We will also be purchasing a plant to have in our home in memory of Taylor.

Thank A Soldier!

So, Xerox is doing a really great thing. You can go to the website: Thank a Soldier  and choose from a ton of different designs of cards. You can add one of their pre-written notes, or write your own. Xerox will Print and Mail your card to a soldier, Free! No, you don't get to pick the soldier, but let's face it, they are all working hard for us!

Even if you can only do this once, it's worth it, and it only takes 2 minutes! So please, Thank a Soldier today! Pretty much everyone knows that my brother is in the service, that's why we all wore flag ribbons in his absence at our wedding. Even though he isn't overseas at this time, I know that when it is his turn to go, notes from home (meaning the USA) will mean so much to him!

Don't leave us now!!!

Well, Hello Everyone... It's the new wife! Still getting used to that title! I just wanted to let everyone know to keep checking this website! Just because the wedding is over doesn't mean we (I) am going to stop letting everyone know what's going on in our lives!

I will soon be posting a full re-cap of the wedding and reception, including photos when we get them, and also the honeymoon!

I won't be back in super full swing for a little while... I have to devote every waking moment to catching things up at the studio... but, I plan to keep everyone updated with what is going on in Bobby and Mines's (is that right Aunt Eunie?) lives. I'll be posting pics of our new home, our dog and other things that may come up in the future... yes including babies for those of you who are wondering. We'll let you know as soon as we have anything 'positive' to tell you :)

Keep in touch!

Wedding Day Weather

Only 6 days to go!!! Wow!!!

Just to let everyone know, the forcast for our wedding day is sunny but cool, mid 60's. So, It may be wise to bring a jacket!

We are very excited to see everyone!

Counseling

So, this past weekend Bobby and I went up to Kansas City to do our Pre-Marital counseling with my Uncle Jose', who will also be the pastor performing the ceremony. Kayla also decided to come along at the last minute to surprise the Rodriguez family. We ended up getting there at around Midnight on Friday night.

Saturday morning everyone was so surprised and excited to see Kayla. Bobby and I and my uncle did a little bit of 'pre' pre-marital counseling in the morning, we did some character analysis, and then we all headed to my cousin Emmalynn's V-ball tourney. We spent ALL day at the tournament, as they did pretty good. We ended up getting home around 9:30 pm. My Aunt Eun was making Orange Rice (Mexican Rice), which is one of my favorite things that she makes... it was Bobby's first time to eat it and he loved it... I knew he would too!

So, while we were eating, the three of us-Bobby, Me and U. Joey- went into the upstairs living room and had our counseling session. It was fun, and I think that Bobby and I learned a few tips for our married life!

We had to get up and get going way earlier this morning than we would have liked. We loaded some antique furniture that some friends of theirs were getting rid of. It's an awesome set... but it didn't all fit in the trunk, several pieces are huge!

It was so much fun to see the Rodriguez Family! Saturday marked the 3 week mark in our wedding countdown, so we won't have to wait too long before we get to see them again!

1 Month to Go!!!

So, yesterday marked the 1 month mark in our wedding countdown. 30 days to go! Holy cow!!!

Yesterday also was the wedding day for my brother Samuel and his (now) wife Megan. They were married in a small ceremony with only 8 guests: Her parents, My parents, my two sisters, and Bobby and me. It was very small and very sweet. Samuel will be leaving for his new army station in Washington (the state, not DC) at the beginning of October. He has no idea if he'll get new orders to be deployed soon after or not, so this was the surest way to make sure they were married before anything comes through for him. Because of all that, he also doesn't know if he'll make it to Bobby and my's wedding. :( Lets hope he's able!

It is kinda cool though. Samuel and I were both born on the 26th of different months, and now we'll both be married on the 18th of different months!

Congrats to my baby brother and his new wife! You beat me to the punch, but at least I didn't have to dance in the hog trough!!!

Busy Days!

Well, Bobby and I have had a very busy couple of weeks, hence the delay in posts!

On Sunday the 17th of August, Bobby and I went up to my Uncle Ray and Aunt Rhoda's house in Blairstown IA. I was going to take Senior pictures for my cousin J'Nae and 3 of her friends. It was a very full 4 days! We took pictures all around the area and even went for a little swim during pictures! The 4 friends wanted some pics of them having a water fight in a creek and it was a total blast!

On Wednesday morning we headed back to Perryville. On Wednesday evening, Bobby's mom Mary and her friend Rose Ann arrived from Seward. We spent a few hours with the girls that night, just visiting and coming up with a game plan for the rest of the week.

On Thursday, Bobby, Mary and Rose Ann went to the bakery in P-Ville to order the Groom's Cake and a bunch of monogrammed cookies for the groom's table. Well, they won't do a German Chocolate Cake! I was surprised and Mary was definitely not happy with them, especially when they refused to do the cookies as well! So, after that fiasco, the three of them came over to my parent's house.

Finally, after 3+ years of dating, our mothers met each other! It was a lot of fun! We spent most of the remaining morning time finishing up on invitations and making sure we had all of the spelling and addresses correct. After that we went to Cape Girardeau for lunch, and other wedding stuff. We ate at Panera (Yummmm) and then went over to TUX to turn in a few of the groomsmen's measurments. We then went next door to David's Bridal so that Mary and Rose Ann could see the bridesmaid's dresses. While we were there, Mary really wanted me to try on a few dresses, so I tried on 3. I liked all of them, but none of them were 'the one'. Plus, Bobby was with us, so I didn't want to try on anything that was too much like what I wanted in a dress. After all of that, we went to Sam's and Walmart to get some wedding supplies and see if either of their bakeries would make a large German Chocolate Cake... no such luck!

On Friday, we decided to head over to Chester so that they could see the reception site. We also asked the guy there about a bakery in Chester. He told us to try the Ol' Farmhouse Cafe' down the street from the VFW. So, we headed down there and had a chat with Jodi... SHE IS AWESOME!!! We finally found someone to do an enormous, double layer, German Chocolate Cake with homemade coconut and pecan icing. It was delicious! We also ate lunch there and sampled some of the cake for desert! We also ended up getting the wedding cake there... Becky and I were planning on doing it ourselves, but this place was so easy to work with and so reasonably priced, it was hard to pass up! We also decided to get the Ol' Farmhouse to cater our rehearsal dinner. The food was so yummy and instead of dinner rolls, we get homemade bread! I definitely recommend this place for everything!

So, on Saturday, I had a shower at Shelly Prevallet's house! It was so much fun! Everyone wore purple! Purple is my favorite color, but Bobby really really wanted Navy for a wedding color, so I caved and we didn't have purple.

So, that was 2 weeks ago. Bobby and I kept pretty busy this past week with studio stuff, wedding stuff, and Bobby's Doc appointments to get cleared to go back to work. Yesterday was the 7 week mark in our wedding countdown! WOW!!!!

More Engagement Photos

Engagement Photos

Well, we finally had our engagement session... may need to do a few more... we seem to have lost the camera card with all of the indoor pics on it, but, here are a few of my favorite ones so far!!!

I think that this one is my favorite so far!

I'll post some more when I get more of them fixed up a bit!

Awwww...

Ok, so, about 5 years ago, when I was working at Knop's in Iowa, we were at a convention in Des Moines. After our awards night, we were out in the Lobby taking pics of our awards and stuff and Clay Blackmore (who photographs for all the big bridal magazines) came in just as we were hanging out out there. He was giving a class the next day on some wedding posing and asked if I'd be his bride model. So, I said yes. My friend Joel was my groom.

Anyways, I was looking through some old CD's trying to find pics of me and Bobby, and I stumbled upon the pics that Don (former boss) had taken during the seminar. Thought I'd post a few!

Can't wait to get married for real!!! 87 days to go!