Johnny picked me up at the airport, and I can’t remember a single time he hasn’t brought me flowers (which is insane, he’s perfect). Afterward we headed to where our families were staying and geeked out and squealed and it felt so so so real.

// TUESDAY

The next morning was Tuesday, and we met everyone who was in town at Jackson’s Corner for breakfast. I walked in, saw everyone, and cried. haha. (This is going to be a trend.) It is the most surreal thing in the world to see the people you love all gathered together JUST for you.

Later that afternoon, Johnny and I went to the spa. haha. I went and saw my girl, Erika at Third Eye Massage, and we ran around doing some errands. That night, Johnny went with his three best friends to have a little bachelor party, and the rest of us drove up to my favorite mountain in Bend, Pilot Butte (that’s a joke, Johnny makes fun of me, it’s not a mountain, la la la.) We grabbed food on the way and watched the sunset and lit a candle for Juniper Clementine Zamora’s FIRST birthday.

// WEDNESDAY

On Wednesday I got to walk around downtown and have coffee with Johnny’s mom (*sob again*), and then Natalie arrived!! That afternoon we all headed out to Tumalo Falls for a short little hike and more bondy bond time. Some of the (crazy) boys repelled off the waterfall, and James painted it (and then GAVE THAT PAINTING TO US).

// THURSDAY

Thursday is one of the few days we don’t really have any photos from, but we took the crew rock climbing at Smith Rock! It was soo fun to get outside and do one of our favorite activities. And I was soo impressed that our families got up and did it for the first time too (and the Harps are notoriously afraid of heights–so much pride). That afternoon I headed with all my gals, big and small, to the nail salon and it was soo cute. And that evening, Natalie Z and I got to just spend some QT together and actually let all this craziness sink in. All of that was while poor Johnny was moving. haha. He has the bestest friends and they all helped him, but looking back, we definitely could’ve planned to make his life a little easier that week. ha! sorryjohnnyyourethebest.

// FRIDAY

And then there was Friday.

Friday, we had this grand idea to hike Tumalo Mountain. A steep, yet relatively short hike nearby. On a clear day you can see the entire Oregon Cascade mountain range. On a clear day, If you get what I’m sayin’. haha.

We arrived to a very very cloudy, chilly morning. The whole way there I kept saying to Johnny, “This is a bad idea. This is a bad idea.” We didn’t have a backup plan and everyone arrived in really good spirits, so we were like, “Welp! Let’s hike a mountain!” Everything was great for the first…mile. Then, kids got cold and started screaming bloody murder, and we basically hiked up in the middle of a cloud meaning, zero views. haha. Everyone was seriously soo nice and kept saying, “Well, now we can say we summited a mountain today!!”

That night the girls went over to my parents airbnb, and the guys headed over for a little party at the Oehlers’. We drank champagne and made s’mores and sat by the fire outside…and then the sprinklers came on and we all tripped over each other and knocked over chairs and laughed and laughed. It was soo fun. I hear the guys got a little rowdy, and I’d expect nothing less.

// SATURDAY

The next day was THE ACTUAL DAY BEFORE THE WEDDING. Everyone had arrived by then and we hosted a little hot dog picnic at Shevlin Park. Frisbee and softball started, Johnny’s dad took a nap on the grass (haha), and it was sooo fun to see everyone hang out and interact. Our families and friends had been hanging out together for a week, so it felt like everything was able to evolve soo naturally.

We went home to change because NEXT UP! Rehearsal!!

Sidestory time–picking our ceremony site was a littleeee bit of an ordeal. Johnny had proposed in the meadow at Dillon Falls (more on that to comeee) and we’d originally wanted to get married right there. We got our permit (it’s free btw, go oregon!) and started making our plans. And then a couple months into being engaged, we went out to Dillon Falls to find out that the entire meadow was completely flooded for a frog rehabilitation project. *facepalm*

After some nervous laughter and mini stress, we went on a few runs out on the trails out there to scout out new spots and I’m in loveee with where we got to have it after all. It was tucked away just enough but also close enough to the trail to be a little more convenient than what we’d chosen before.

It was so fun to practice our ceremony and spend a little bit of time in that beautiful, beautiful spot before heading to Deschutes for dinner + toasts + IS THIS REALLY HAPPENING?!

My nephew, Landon, came up afterward and gave me a teeny bunch of wildflowers and yep, I got teary.

Yep, it’s really happening.

Come back tomorrow for THE WEDDING! It’ll be in two parts–one in the morning, one in the evening.

sidenote: today’s post is written by allison, but in the future we’ll be tag teaming. just in case you’re all, “I thought this was Johnny’s blog too…”