Engaged Encounter Weekend

As some of you may know, my husband is Catholic and I'm not. We wanted to get married in his church though {for various reasons}, so our priest sent us to the Sacramento Engaged Encounter Weekend thing at the end of May 2013. We had to take a day off of work at my parents' store and drive all the way down to the state capital {we got a bit lost too, which wasn't very fun}. We opted for staying at a hotel for the encounter rather than in separate rooms at the resort because we felt that since we were already married, we shouldn't be obligated to be separated. The organizers disagreed. Besides that, I was still having a hard time just thinking about sleeping without him nearby; I would have bad dreams and the idea of me running through the resort halls looking for him at midnight was unappealing. Anyway, once we found our hotel we bounced over to the resort and began the exhaustive but informative weekend.

This is a picture of a big tree in the parking lot. The first night there, we were too hot, tired and hungry to really take an interest in our surroundings - let alone pay attention to the lectures. But the following two days we were more alert and snapped several pictures during our little mini-breaks.

On one such mini-break, we spotted several turkeys which delighted my husband. He grew up with wild turkeys visiting his backyard and enjoys them.

I personally think their beaks look too scary, but from a distance they're okay.

This very big tree {as evidenced by my tiny husband standing under it} has huge white blossoms on it and was very intriguing.

I think we like taking pictures of trees.

On one part of the resort there was a park-like area with these big statue things that depicted scenes from the Bible.

I loved this brilliantly colored bush.

We had fun on a longer break and were able to explore some more. He picked me a flower to wear in my hair.

On the last day, after we were all dismissed and everything was completed, the other twenty plus couples ran around getting their belongings together. We looked smug and took pictures of the interior. This room was were we'd hang out during our writing breaks in little groups.

The table was very nice.

There was lots of artwork all over the resort; we both liked this particular painting.

And this little table caught our attention due to it's unique base.

I liked this bright painting of a mother and child quietly enjoying the garden.

Downstairs everyone goes.

This was the main room where the lectures were presented and we'd sit there, dutifully taking notes. Actually, due to having extensively covered every topic under the sun during our courtship and engagement, my husband and I mainly wrote notes to each other instead of on the lectures because ninety percent of the stuff covered we'd already talked about numerous times before. 

I thought this flower arrangement was creative but too big.

Down this hall were the men's bedrooms, if I recall correctly.

Yay, we're going downstairs now!

He hates it when I take his picture. *giggles*

This was the chapel where we'd had mass and our "graduation ceremony."

The windows were very impressive, but my camera wasn't able to picture up on it.

Outside the front door on our way to the car.

This little creek area was dry at the time of our visit, but we assumed it looked lovely with the wintry runoff.

A look back at the main building.

A quick venture into the woods for a last minute shot of the romantic little bridge.

And a turkey came out to say goodbye to us.

Then, finally, happily, we were off.

This was my favorite part; the front of the driveway was lined with these big hedges and they were loaded with flowers!

So lovely.

This was our hotel room. We decided to stay an extra night since it was already five in the afternoon and we were exhausted.

See what I mean?

Group picture! We're in the front, a little to the right. The sun was in our eyes and it hurt too try to look up at the camera, so we're making very odd faces. And yes, someone actually did fall into the fountain when we were finished posing.