The Married Life

Whoops! I just realized it's been over a month since I've posted on here. Needless to say, it's been a busy month!

Chris and I were married on November 26th, surrounded by our friends and family. It was a wonderful day! In hindsight, I don't know know if we've ever felt so much love from our friends and family. God blessed us with a gorgeous day and everyone got safely to and from the wedding.

Fun memories of the day include:

*All the kids (3 - 4 year old flowergirls, 1 - 3 1/2 year old ringbearer, and 1 - 9 yr old usher) did fantastic during pictures and all day. However, about 2 minutes before we were to head down the aisle, Ian, our little ringbearer, decided he had had enough. He didn't want either the pillow or his little tractor and he definitely didn't want to walk down the aisle alone. So he walked down with Mommy (Katia - my bridesmaid) and stood with her on the altar. Not even a few minutes into the ceremony, the wedding guests watched as Ian slowly slid down Katia's leg and fell asleep. It was so precious!

*Having my friend Amy (Kline) from Philly come in, as I was waiting for the ceremony to begin, just to give me homemade chocolate chip cookies!

*Dancing with my nephew, Marshall, who is only 5 months old. The kid knows how to cut a rug!

*My brother-in-law, Mike's, toast/speech. Mikey was trying to think of similarities between Iowa and Michigan. What he came up with -
- both are suburbs of Chicago
- Michigan has the Great Lakes, Iowa the Great Plains
- and Iowa has corn and Michigan has the Detroit Lions. The only difference between the two that Mike could see was that corn was even more unpredictable and more interesting to watch!

*Watching my mother-in-law dance with glo-necklaces, headbands, and earrings.

*Getting stopped by a Sheriff's Deputy on the way from the hall to the B&B (no ticket - he came up to us almost apologizing!).

*Just getting to see so many friends and family - and the chance to talk and dance with most of them.

A few photos-
This is my absolute favorite photo of Chris and I. It's his favorite too!

This photos is of all the very handsome guys - Chris, groomsmen, ushers and ringbearer.

In the back are the ushers - Tyler, Brett, Sean (very short), and Ethan.

In the front row is Chris Antieau (groomsman), Chris with Ian (ringbearer), Mike Nicholson (Chris' brother and best man), & Trevor Owen (groomsman).

Amy, Katia and I goofing around!

Another of our favorites!

We followed up the wedding with an awesome trip to Playa del Carmen, Mexico. It was wonderful! We returned to -4 degrees and 8 inches of snow on the ground - quite a shock!

Now we're so ready for our first Christmas together! We'll be at home on Christmas Eve and part of Christmas Day. We'll see my family the evening of Christmas Day and then we head to Michigan to see Chris' family over New Year's. It's going to be busy but great!

We hope you all have a wonderful and blessed CHRISTmas!

A Fun Post

10 Favorites
Favorite Color: Green
Favorite Food: Beef Stroganoff
Favorite Band/Singer: Neil Diamond
Favorite Hobby: Dancing
Favorite Movie: the Lord of the Rings trilogy
Favorite Flower: Roses
Favorite Season: Autumn – love the colors of the leaves
Favorite Day of the Week: Thursday
Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: Vanilla with chocolate syrup
Favorite Time of Day: sunrise

9 Currents
Current Mood: little tired, want to talk to Chris
Current Clothes: jeans, white turtleneck, navy windshirt, tennies
Current Underwear Color: pink and white
Current Desktop Picture: picture of my nephew Marshall
Current Nail Color: no color
Current Time: 3:08 pm
Current Surroundings: my office cubicle
Current Annoyances: people who keep telling me their wedding horror stories
Current Thoughts: what should I make for dinner? I’m thinking beef stroganoff!

8 Firsts
First Best Friend: Christy Hartz – we were 3
First Screen Name: nazers74
First Pet: Bennett, my Himalayan kitty
First Tattoo: none – don’t plan on it
First Crush: Ben something or other from kindergarten
First Music Owned: Michael Jackson Thriller Record
First Car: Chevy Malibu, 1979, Pea green
First Career Choice: Engineer

7 Lasts
Last Cigarette: never, yuck
Last Drink: Coke about 2 minutes ago
Last Time on Drugs: only prescription for me
Last Kiss: my fiance’ this morning
Last Movie Watched: Mona Lisa Smile – OK movie
Last CD Played: Chris’ Blackthorn Live CD – Irish music
Last thing to eat: a Red Delicious apple

6 Have You Evers
Have you ever dated one of your best friends? Gonna marry him in 9 days!
Have you ever broken the law? Definitely the speed limit!
Have you ever been arrested? no
Have you ever skinny dipped? no
Have you ever been on television? Yes, when I went to see Puppin’s Place at the Park
Have you ever kissed someone you didn't know? Oh, do I have a story about this one!

5 Places You've Been
Devil’s Tower on a sunny, warm day in August
Vermillion Bay near the Gulf of Mississippi on a swamp boat
Bismarck, North Dakota in June watching it snow
Shell Rock, IA on the 4th of July
Coney Island on a 75 degree day in April

4 People You Can Tell Anything To
Jesus
Chris
Amy
Katia

3 Things you can hear right now:
Joann and Jeff talking
Luke talking to a client
The printer

3 things you can't live without:
My relationship with Jesus
My family and friends
Good food

3 things you do when you're bored:
Read
Dream
Listen to music

2 Choices
Diet Coke or Diet Pepsi - Diet Coke
PC or Mac - PC

1 Thing You Want To Do Before You Die
Fulfill God’s plans for me

10 days!

This past weekend was great! Had a great time at my shower and spending time with my family! My dad loved his cake (a recipe that was a specialty of my Grandma Ford's)!

On Saturday night, we had our friend's Josh and Renee Hansen out. We cooked up some homemade pizza and played games. It was such a relaxing evening with friends!

This week has been pretty relaxed so far. Sunday was spent at church and small group. Monday we had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING scheduled in the evening. It was so nice to just sit home with Chris and relax. We had a good chance to talk and just enjoy the evening.

We woke up to snow on Tuesday morning. It continued to snow all day and then started blowing. By the time I headed home from work, the roads were awful. We decided it'd be smart to skip dance class and just head home. It took me twice as long to get home and I was so glad to get there. We spent the evening rearranging the office and setting up Chris' computer. We're also trying to organize all his stuff that we've moved to my house so far. After going through some of the stuff, we finally just put it back in the totes, put their lids on and shoved them in the closet. Most of it is stuff that can wait until after the wedding to be dealt with. Chris is so easy going about all that so we got it done quickly and snuggled up on the couch and finished BYF stuff and relaxed.

I got a phone call around 12:30 from my friend Katia. Katia's cousin Rachel was killed in an accident after hitting ice late Tuesday evening up in Minnesota. Please pray for Katia and her whole family. They are having a really rough time right now as they prepare to bury Rachel.

This morning was chilly and beautiful - lots of white snow and bright sunshine! The drive to work took quite a while. It was pretty treacherous at times. I felt like I was driving on a sheet of ice. Tonight we have the last BYF before Thanksgiving. I'm looking forward to cuddling some babies and relaxing.

Just 10 days to go until our wedding! Yeah! Chris and I are both getting excited. At this time next week, we'll be picking up Amy and Laini from the airport and running lots of last minute errands in Omaha. Yeah!

Hope you are all having a great week!

Yippee! It's Friday for me!

Wow! Another week is almost gone! Chris got home from Final Haven late Sunday night and we had a little snuggle time before we both passed out.

Monday night we met with our DJ to talk over details and give him some info - got home in time to do a load of laundry and pass out again.

On Tuesday we headed down to dance class and stopped to see our friend Dan on they way. Sometime on Sunday, Dan got bit on the index finger by a barn cat. By Tuesday afternoon, he'd suffered through a few rounds of rabies shots and tetanus shots, and then was admitted to the hospital so they could do surgery on his hand later Tuesday night. We had a great visit with Dan and his wife Tina. Dan was in great spirits going into the surgery. He's home now and in a lot of pain. Would you say a prayer for him if you have some time? Thanks!

After negotiating some crazy traffic, we finally made it to dance class and had a great time. I think Chris and I are both feeling a lot more comfy with the foxtrot and definitely with the waltz. We again headed home in time to pass out.

Last night we were supposed to do nursery at BYF but ended up with no kids! The high schooler's didn't have BYF because most of them were at the girl's state volleyball tournament. The Harlan girls made it to the playoffs again but ended up in a heartbreaking loss to ADM last night. So we headed home early, worked on budget stuff, cleaned up the house, organized gifts we've already received, and passed out. Are you sensing a pattern here?!

Today I am leaving early (YEAH!) to get my hair colored - must cover the gray! and trimmed before the wedding and I'll get to spend some time with my friend Renee. Then tonight, after Chris gets off work, we meet with Pastor for some final details and a quick run through up in the sanctuary.

Tomorrow, long after Chris heads to work, I may drag my self out of bed! Seriously, I just get to sleep in a little. I LOVE FEDERAL HOLIDAY!!! I have a hair-do run-through at the salon at 9:00, followed by an allergy shot, a visit with some friends, and then lunch with Chris. I'm also babysitting my friend's little guy Noah so we'll be wandering around together. After lunch, Noah and I are going to head back to my house so he can take a nap and I can pack and clean. Then after Chris gets home, (and Noah's mommy and daddy pick him up) we'll head up to Sioux City for a bridal shower there. We've got some shopping to do with my mom on Saturday and we're planning on celebrating my dad's 70th birthday. Then it's home again for us.

And yeah! Just 2 weeks to go until Thanksgiving and then the wedding! We are both getting excited. No nerves yet - just happiness!

Hope you all have a great Veteran's Day!

Chris and I at the pumpkin patch 

Chris with my Mom and Dad at the Pumpkin patch  

Chris and Delilah on Sylvan Theater 

Chris and Delilah in front of the SDSU Campanile. 

Sean cleaning out his pumpkin. 

A Happy Pumpkin and a Happy Ian! 

Yum! Pumpkin Guts! 

Ian pulling out the guts 

Ian and his finished pumpkin 

Whoo-Hoo - 3 weeks and counting!

Yeah! Only 3 weeks to go until I get to marry the most awesome man in the world!

We had a great time at Katia's last weekend! We got in late Friday and spent some quality time playing with Ian and catching up with Katia while Sean went to the Waverly-Shellrock football game. On Saturday, we headed into Waterloo/Cedar Falls for some errands and shopping. We were able to meet my friend Tami and her husband Ryan for lunch. It's been over a year since I've seen Tami and it was awesome to see her, meet Ryan again and introduce them to Chris, not to mention Katia and the boys. We spent some time shopping and running our errands before heading back to Waverly. After a nice nap, we took a walk and soaked in all the fall colors. It was beautiful! Then it was a great steak dinner. Chris and Sean manned the grill and discussed serious guy stuff like meat tenderizer, flame height and cuts of meat, while Katia and I and Ian prepared the rest of the fixings. It was fun to have a "family" meal and relax.

After dinner is when all the excitement really began! It was time for pumpkin carving! Ian's ended up with a happy face, Chris' was funny/scary, and Sean - the die hard White Sox fan - put on his "Go Sox!" By the time we got done, we were all about ready for bed. The boys headed to bed while Katia, Chris and I tried to stay awake for a bit. We gave up pretty early and headed to bed.

On Sunday, we went to church with Katia and the boys. We got to hear Sean sing in the choir - and do sign language to several songs! Very impressive! We were all proud of him. After the service, we jetted down to Cedar Falls to meet our friends, Tim, Michelle, Mark & Josh Masters, for lunch at Carlos O'Kelly's. It was so fun to see the boys so grown up and great to catch up with Tim and Michelle and let Chris get to know them better, and vice versa. After lunch, it was time to head back home to western Iowa.

Since we've been back, it's been another crazy week. Monday we were super busy with getting Chris' stuff ready for him to leave yesterday. Tuesday was dance lessons and visiting our friend Milton in the hospital. Wednesday was heading down with our friend Cherie to see another friend Melanie after her surgery. We had dinner at a little Mexican/American restaurant called Senor Matia's. Great food! Yesterday, Chris headed out for Michigan after work and I went down with my friend's Sharon and Brian and their little guy Noah to visit Melanie again. We topped off the trip with dinner at Olive Garden. Yum! Even little Noah loved it! He is such a good eater and will try anything! We let him try a lemon and he LOVED it! I went out and spent the night with my friend Cherie. She is going to be handling all the kitchen stuff at our wedding so we're getting ready to practice on some stuff this weekend.

This weekend is already panning out to be busy. Chris is up in Michigan and will be home late Sunday night. Tonight, my friend Tara is coming up to visit and we're going to have a girl's evening. On Saturday morning, my friend Nancy Sorensen is throwing a Pampered Chef Bridal Shower for me and that should be a lot of fun. In the afternoon, a few of us girls are going to spend some time with a recuperating Melanie and then Cherie and I will be practicing on the salads and punch for the reception. Sunday is church, hopefully a movie (can't wait to see Chicken Little!) and then small group. Chris should be home shortly after I get home from small group. Yeah!

Hope you are all doing great. Will post more pictures soon.

Just a bit

Had a great weekend - will post more about that later.

But here's a fun item I found on another blog. Can you pass 8th grade math?

You Passed 8th Grade Math

Congratulations, you got 10/10 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Math?

Off again

This weekend we are off for a relaxing (hopefully) trip to Waverly to see Katia, Sean and Ian. We are getting out of here a little late due to Chris' work schedule but will still get up there tonight. Then tomorrow, it's lots of little errands to run and some shopping to take care of. And then PUMPKIN CARVING with the boys! YEAH! Have a great weekend!

Another busy weekend

Last weekend started out with date night on Friday night. Chris and I grabbed dinner at my house and relaxed for a bit before heading into town for some galaxy bowling (black lights, lots of fluorescent features, funky music, etc). Due to the out-of-town football game (Harlan at Denison) we pretty much had the bowling alley to ourselves. We had a great time, played a few games, went for a starlight walk in the park and went home and watched more LOTR (I think Chris thinks I need to see the whole thing again before the wedding!).

We got up early in the morning and headed to Sioux City to visit with my parents. We had so much fun! We all ate a great lunch at Applebee's, and then hit the Palmer Candy store to get some treats for Mom and Dad and some Twin Bings for my co-worker, Luke. We then headed out to the pumpkin patch. We found some adorable decorated gourds, lots of little pumpkins and a wagonload of big pumpkins. After visiting for a little while at Mom's house, Chris and I took Dad back to the nursing home and decorated his room with little pumpkins and replenished his chocolate stash. It was really a nice day with them.

We then took off for Brookings, SD. We got there and met my friend Mindy and her daughter Delilah at their house (husband Tony and older daughter Mariah were out elk hunting in the Black Hills) and headed straight for George's - my favorite Brookings restaurant! YUM!!! We spent the evening and most of the next day with Mindy and Delilah just hanging out, checking out the changes on the SDSU campus, and checking out new stuff in town. In the afternoon, we headed to the memorial service for Rosie Malo, the wife of my professor Doug. Doug and Rosie were so good to me all the while I was in Brookings and I really felt the need to be there. I am so sad for Doug and their kids, Denise and Rob. Despite the sad circumstance, I got to visit with quite a few of my former professors which was a lot of fun.

We left Brookings and made our way back to Sioux City where Mom had a fresh pan of pumpkin bars waiting for us! Yum! My mom is great! Not to mention, she also had hemmed a couple of pairs of jeans for me - AND finished our ring bearer pillow which we brought home. We then left and headed back to my house arriving just in time to head to bed.

This week has been a pretty full week with dance classes, BYF and finishing up wedding stuff. We really feel like we're ready to go. I think we have most everything taken care of that we can have taken care of at this point. Tonight and tomorrow we will be attending a marriage conference in Des Moines with some friends from our small group. We are pretty excited about it and are feeling it'll be a good tool for us as we are just a month away from the wedding.

Hope you've all had a great week!

More 80s

So, I have a confession to make. I loved the 80s! I did, they were awesome. I mean, I know that I was young and carefree and innocent and all that jazz, but there was something so cool about the 80s. I can't tell you how many 80s CDs I have! We even asked our DJ for our wedding to play a lot of 80s dance music. It's so nice that my honey loves the 80s too!

So, here are some of my favorite things about the 80s:

*Love Boat - what a great show! I could watch it for hours!

*Rick Springfield - I SO wanted to be Jesse's Girl!

*Family Ties - Alex P. Keaton was a stud. And I really wanted Mallory to give Skippy just a chance.

*Sit N Spin's - OK, so this may have come out earlier but the 80s is when I became acquainted with this projectile vomit-inducing toy.

*He-Man - I never really got into She-ra

*Pac Man - I still stink at this but I love to play it!

*Duran Duran - "Her name is Rio and she dances on the sand, Just like that river twisting through a dusty land!" Of course, think of this being sung at the top of your lungs!

*Pajama parties - sleeping all over the living room after passing out talking

*Saturday morning cartoons - today's cartoons are OK but they ROCKED when we were growing up!

*Conjunction Junction - what's your function?

Ah the memories! Makes me a little misty-eyed...

Have a great weekend!

My 80s Heartthrob!

Your 80s Heartthrob Is

Jason Bateman

Who's" Your 80's Heartthrob?

Ok, so this is not a surprise. I thought Jason Bateman was adorable on The Hogan Family. And he's awesome now on Arrested Development. I think he was also the poor friend to Ricky Schroeder's Silver Spoons character. I was a total sucker for all the family-ish sitcoms. I had a great family life but all the sitcoms had brothers and all I had was five sisters. I so wanted a brother! Now a days, I'm pretty OK with the fact that I had no brother. My sisters were fun - and we didn't have cooties in our house!

45 Days and Counting

So the lovely little countdown thing just told me that it is 45 days until our wedding. 45 days - where did the time go? I can't say I'm really panicking or anything. I just keep thinking "45 days!" Yeah! I'll be married to the most incredible man in the universe in 45 days! I like to focus on the positive!

So speaking of the most incredible man in the universe, Chris and I had dance class last night. We are really having a blast at these classes and all of the other women love him and really enjoy dancing with him (we have to rotate partners throughout the whole class). My observations after dancing with all the other men show conclusively that Chris is the best dance partner because #1 - he smells the best (no BO on my guy!), #2 - he compliments his partners and is a good leader, #3 - he doesn't step on toes, and #4 - he's the cutest guy there! When we were learning the waltz and the foxtrot I was really enjoying dancing with him and watching him dance with the other women - it was all about learning. Now that we're working on the tango though, I kind of want him all for myself. The tango (even the ballroom tango) is a very sensual dance - and I DO NOT like watching Chris dance a sensual dance with other women. The funny thing is though, we're all usually concentrating so hard on our moves that we don't notice anyone but the partner we're with. Thank Goodness!

We got a bit of sad news on Monday. Doug Malo was one of my professors at SDSU and was so much more than just a professor to me. He was my mentor, coach (soil judging), boss (soils lab), advisor, instructor and friend. He and his wife Rosie treated me so well and took good care of me during my time at SDSU. Doug's wife Rosie passed away late Sunday night after a long battle with lung cancer (never smoked a day in her life!). I just don't know what Doug will do without Rosie. I am so very sad for him and their kids, Denise and Rob. Doug and Rosie are/were strong Christians who believe(d) in the saving power of Jesus Christ. Doug and his family know that Rosie is celebrating with Jesus, but this is still going to be so hard on him. If you have a moment, could you please say a prayer for Doug and their family that they would be comforted in their sorrow? Chris and I are heading up to Brookings for the service this weekend.

A little bit of fresh air

So terracing was fun! Seriously. I really enjoy getting out when the weather's not awful. And Luke is fun to go to the field with. He makes me laugh. And he is really good at praising! I love that about him. You don't realize how much a "good job" or "nice spacing" means until you hear it. I like that about Luke. He frequently tells me that I'm doing a good job, walking a great level line, putting in a nice hub - all simple stuff. But Luke knows that I don't do all of this regularly, and he knows something that everyone should know - treat others the way you would want to be treated. Luke knows that I'd hate going out in the field with him if he yelled at me or crabbed at me. But when he praises me, it makes me feel good and then I feel good about doing a good job, and want to do a good job for him. Simple really - but so many folks never figure it out.

I LOVE this weather! The sky is bright with some puffy white clouds here and there. The sun is shining and it's nice and cool - definitely good sweatshirt weather. I love the weather not only for it's beauty and the fact that it's no longer 90 degrees (PTL!!!!) but that allergy season could almost be over. I think one more hard freeze and we're done! YEAH!!! Plus with the cooling down, it reminds me that our wedding will be here in 7 short weeks. Yeah!

Last night was our first BYF Staff meal of the year. We also served the senior high students and staff so we had a good crowd. And we made it simple by ordering party subs from Subway. So I got everything set up to serve and Chris came after work and helped me get the rest of the stuff ready. One of the senior high staffer couples has twins who are almost 6 months (tomorrow!) and we watch them every BYF night in the nursery. So since my nursery cohort was gone, we had them bring the babies down to the fellowship hall where we were serving. Pretty soon, Trevor and Jennika decided they'd had enough of sitting in their seats. So there were Chris and I, each balancing a baby on our hips and trying to serve food and eat at the same time. It was pretty funny. But it was so awesome to watch Chris with the babies. I am so looking forward to starting our own family. Can't wait to see what God has in store for us!

Another Busy Week...

So we're almost done with another busy week. Chris returned late Sunday night from Michigan which was great! I really hadn't been dealing all that well with us being apart - until this weekend that is. I missed him like crazy but wasn't neurotic crazy like I'm sure I could have been. I think part of it was that I stayed at my friend Melanie's house and hung out with her and the kids all weekend. Plus we had all the mint making going on Saturday! So much fun, so very messy but so very yummy! It'll be a miracle if we have any mints left to actually put out at the wedding!

Dance class on Tuesday night kicked our tukus! We started working on the tango and it was not pretty at all. By the time the hour was almost up, our instructor was just shaking his head and said we would work on it next week. I think we'd all been feeling pretty confident up until this point. We were masters at the fox trot and waltz, but the lovely, exotic tango took us down. :(

So my highlight for this week was paying off our honeymoon and ordering our wedding rings. We're down to less than 2 months and are getting so excited. Chris is such a trooper. I am so lucky that he is enjoying the planning process too! Next week we have a few more milestones. While I am going to thoroughly enjoy the lovely federal holiday on Monday, I may not actually sleep in. I have my final dress fitting at 11:00 that morning! Yeah! I'm so excited to see the finished product.

So honestly, there's not a lot interesting going on in my life right now. Just lots of wedding stuff and keeping my head above water. I would kill for a nap today but instead will be heading out to the (chilly) field with Luke, my co-worker, to lay out terraces. Hmm, bet I could sleep on the way out and back!

Praying you are all well!

Chris and I at Deedra and Justin's wedding 

Our friends, Rod and Emily, and their daughter Morgan at Deedra and Justin's wedding. 

OK, so I've been worse than bad at getting my blog updated. Guess I've had a few other things going on this summer!

This summer has been, in a word, wonderful! I LOVE having Chris here.

Things we've done, or things that have happened, this summer:
- I spent a week in Louisiana (pre-Hurricane!) back at the end of June for the National Organization of Professional Hispanic NRCS Employees (NOPHNRCSE) annual training conference. Had a great time getting to meet new members and catching up with old friends.
- Flew from Lafayette, LA to Detroit, MI and met my baby there. We spent the 4th of July weekend in Michigan with Chris' family and getting to meet our new nephew, Marshall Ethan Nicholson. He is the cutest little guy!
- Spent a weekend in July with my family - all my sisters were home, along with my sister Suzi's husband and her two children. We all had a great time and got to catch up - plus they all got to meet Chris!
- When we were in Michigan over July 4th, I got to meet Chris' friend Bill Pemberton but didn't get to meet his wife, Amy, as she was up with friends for the weekend. Well, Bill and Amy were in Iowa visiting one of Amy's best friends and they gave us a call. So Chris and I drove in to West Des Moines and met them at the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. It was so great to meet another of Chris' friends. Amy is wonderful and I'm looking forward to spending more time with both Pembertons!
- While Chris headed back to Michigan towards the end of July for his Final Haven event, I drove up to Waverly to spend a long weekend with my friend, Katia and her boys. Chris and I both had a great time at our respective destinations. And it was wonderful to return home to his loving arms.
- Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Chris threw a surprise birthday party for me on the night of my birthday. Most of our small group and friends were there - it was great - and I was definitely surprised!
- In August, Chris' parents drove down for a weekend. We had a great time with them! On Saturday, we headed to the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha and then on to Lo Sole' Mio's for a fabulous dinner. On Sunday, we kept busy with disc golf, walking, exploring the countryside and playing Settlers of Catan. Peggy and Dave are wonderful - I think I definitely have the best future in-laws!
- Chris and I got to help plan a surprise 50th birthday party for our friend (and his landlord!) Cherie. Boy was she surprised!
- I got to fly out to Philadelphia at the end of August to visit my best friend Amy for a long weekend! Amy threw a little bridal shower/luncheon for me out in Philly. We had a great time enjoying a luxurious lunch and some fun shopping. Our friend Amy joined Amy and I and all of us had a wonderful time.
- Chris and I decided to head back to Michigan for the Labor Day weekend. It was SO good to see his family! We spent Saturday with the whole family - and got to see Marshall, now two months old, again. Mike and I were de-throned as the Crazy 8's champions since Chris decided to skunk the whole family and take the title for himself! We spent Sunday going to church, shopping for birthday gifts, and attending the birthday party of our friend Bill. Bill's wife, Amy, threw a party for him at the water park followed by a cook-out at their home. Chris got to see a lot of old friends and I got to meet a lot of his friends. We really enjoyed ourselves and are looking forward to visiting again at Christmas time. By then, Bill and Amy's little Peanut will have arrived and we'll get to meet him! When we got home Sunday night, Chris' parents surprised us with a shower gift - our own Settlers of Catan game! We were super excited and are looking forward to playing with some of our Iowa friends!
- The past couple of weekends we've spent a lot of time shopping for wedding stuff. Two weeks ago, we took our friend Sharon and her little guy, Noah, with us. We all had a great time! Chris spent most of his time pushing Noah around in the cart so Sharon and I had a great time shopping! This weekend we were in Des Moines and got quite a bit of stuff there. We came back on Saturday afternoon and went to the wedding reception of some friends.

This weekend we're heading up to Waverly to stay with Katia and the boys. Our friends, Deedra and Justin, are getting married on Saturday at Orchard Hill Church in Cedar Falls. We are so excited to witness the beginning of their life together! Deedra and Justin got engaged the same weekend Chris and I did so this is so exciting for us! Now our wedding is just 2 months away! I'm looking forward to seeing some old friends this weekend too.

Chris and I started dance classes last week, too! I have to say, if you have the chance, take dance lessons! We are having such a great time and have a really good teacher. We are even planning on continuing with lessons after the wedding.

Not much else going on here. Just lots of wedding planning.

Hope this finds you all well!

Marshall and his friend Elmo!

Noah (our friends Brian and Sharon's little guy) and his first bubble experience! 

Chris with his parents at the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha. We had a great time when they came to visit! 

Amy, me and Amy at Rouge for my Bridal Brunch 

Our New Nephew

Yeah! Chris is an uncle and I'm an aunt again!

Well, almost.

Chris' brother and sister-in law, Mike and Carrie,

welcomed Marshall Ethan Nicholson on July 1st.

Marshall weighed in at 8 lbs. 12 oz. and is 23 inches long

and has a full head of dark hair.

Congratulations Mike and Carrie!

Grandma Peggy and Grandpa Dave with Marshall on his first 4th of July 

Marshall "talking" to Grandma Peggy and Grandpa Dave  

Grandpa Dave and Uncle Chris with Marshall 

Chris and I at Prospect Hill Cemetary in Omaha. Brian loves old cemetaries so he had to take a few engagement photos as we wandered the grounds. 

Our friends Brian and Sharon McCutchen at the Botannical Gardens. Brian and Sharon are Baby Noah's parents and Brian took all of our engagement photos!  

Baby Noah at his first Memorial Day Ceremony. He's my little Pumpkin! 

Me and the roses.