And the family grows by one more...

I contemplated not putting that title to this blog post, but I decided that it's kind of humorous. When you first read it, it might sound like someone is having a baby... but NO.... KELLSEY'S ENGAGED!! YAY!!!

Kellsey and Wade got engaged last week on the Friday after Thanksgiving while they were visiting Wade's family in California. I think it is safe to say that everyone in the family is pretty darn excited! I know that we are all lucky to have Wade added into our family. They have just started the planning process, so we don't know many details yet, but I know I am anxious to hear about it all. As of now, they are thinking they will get married next fall and I can't wait!

I am doubly excited because, now, Kells and I get to plan our weddings together! I have a feeling they are going to be quite different, but it will still be fun to be going through the same thing at around the same time. It's like we each get to be a part in planning two weddings. So if we don't get to have something in our own, maybe we can live that part if it out in the other one's :)

I haven't seen her since she got engaged since we were apart for the holiday, so I'm very excited to see her this coming weekend when we are going to look for bridesmaids' dresses for my wedding. I can't wait to see her gorgeous ring and to give her a big hug and hear all the details again!

Congratulations Kellsey and Wade!!!

Baby steps forward...

It feels so good to be getting wedding tasks accomplished. Although they are very small, it's still nice.

Sunday, Trent and I met with Pastor Richard Francis for the first of our pre-wedding meetings. It was pretty much just an introductory meeting. We talked about what we were doing now as far as our jobs and things and where we saw that going in the future and about we met and how our relationship started. Then, we discussed how the rest of our meetings will go, which we will start up after the 1st of the year. I have to say I'm excited to see what the class brings up and I'm excited for the opportunity for something to be brought up, about marriage and Trent and I's life together, that we haven't thought of or discussed yet.


Also, on Sunday, Trent and I went through my mom's big Carlson Craft books to look for inspiration for our wedding invitations. The design inspiration we picked out was like this:


The design will be on our Save the Dates, invites, programs, and thank-yous. It will have a lighter blue on the bottom and darker blue on the top. My wonderfully talented Aunt Doreen will be constructing this fabulousness for us. :) So, I'm excited.
Last week I got a call from the jewelry store to tell me that Trent's wedding band was in. It was a month and a half early! But that actually worked out very well because I was planning on bringing in my engagement ring and wedding band to be sized this week anyways. So, I did it all in one trip. I was very excited to get to see the ring that Trent and I picked out for him again. I have to say, Trent looks pretty good with a ring on :) But maybe that's my 'proud wife' talking or something... It was also nice to get to see my band again, since Trent had put it into hiding after we got it. So I did have to leave my engagement ring at the store, and that was a little strange for me. After having the ring on for almost two months and thinking about it all the time and constantly stopping what I'm doing to look at it, it is weird to have it missing from my finger. But very soon we will be reunited and it will fit oh-so-perfectly!
Dress shopping for bridesmaid dresses with ALL of my wonderful bridesmaids is coming up in 2 and a half weeks and I'm super excited! After that, all of my wedding projects can get started for real! Yay!
To end this post, I'd like to give a shout out to my Grandpa Kock, who I hope is up and to reading this himself!
Grandpa, I hope you're feeling alright today. I am thinking about you and praying for you and praying for the doctors, as well, to have the knowledge and expertise to take care of you and get you back to normal so you can bust a move with us out on the dance floor at my wedding! :) I love you very much and can't wait to see you again.

What a Wonderful Weekend

Trent and I had a great weekend with his family. We took off on Friday after work for his parents' house to spend the weekend there. Saturday morning, the girls, Trent's mom, sister, aunt, cousin, and myself, spent most of the day at a huge craft fair in Ankeny. There were many great booths with beautiful crafts made by different people. Unfortunately (maybe), I didn't buy anything, but I was majorly tempted to make a purchase as we passed a booth that had one-of-a-kind purses. I just keep reminding myself that I didn't NEED it, no matter how nice it was :) There were also a few booths that had some crafts that were similar to a few things I am planning on making for the wedding. So it was great to be able to see those things up close and made me even more excited to get going on the DIY part of our wedding! Us girls had a really great day. It was a lot of fun to bond with my future in-laws and I am so grateful to be included in the tradition of going to the event now.

Saturday night, we were back at Jan and Chuck's house for supper and watching a heartbreaking loss by the Cyclones. :( Right before supper, I took the opportunity to ask Trent's 3 year old niece if she would do us the honor of being the flower girl in our wedding. I had a book that I read to her that was all about a flower girl in a wedding and it had a little pouch of practice flowers in the back of the book. She told us that she'd love to be in our wedding and then we took some time for her to practice dropping petals on the ground and then, when she was done, I would follow her and walk on the petals just like we will on the real wedding day. I think she had a good time with that. When we sat down for supper, she told me that Trent was going to be the groom, I was going to be the bride, and she was going to drop flowers. Which is very true! :)

The next step in the wedding preparation process is to go shopping with my bridesmaids and get their dresses picked out. Which I'm really excited about! All of my attendants are beautiful, so it won't be hard at all to find something that will look great on them all!

That's all for now! Chow!