The Royal Wedding

So, it's kind of disturbing how excited I am about the Royal Wedding! Really. It's right up there on the list behind my own wedding! I don't exactly know what it is, but I'm sure it's the 'celebrity' of it all. Everything is just done on such a grand scale and it has an 'unrealness' to it. I have nothing to even relate this type of event to, and I'm sure that's why I am so fascinated with it. It doesn't hurt that they are such a good looking couple either!

I mean, really, look at them! They are just so cute!

Now I will tell you that I am not a morning person., but you can bet I will have my alarm set for 4 a.m. on Friday morning to watch it all go down. I am still contemplating what channel I am going to watch it on. I've gotta figure out what station will have the most insight and the best coverage so I can know all there is to know about what's going on. I have been watching the whole Royal Wedding Week extravaganza on TLC since it started on Sunday, but I have to say I'll probably stick with NBC and let my favorites from the Today Show host the event for me.

In light of planning my own wedding and being consumed by all of my own details, I am very interested to see what Kate ends up wearing. It doesn't really matter what show your watching about the Royal Wedding, but everyone seems to be guessing what she's going to be wearing and who it's going to be designed by, what color the bridesmaids will wear, what flowers she'll be carrying, and what royal traditions they will go against while making this wedding a little more modern than royal weddings we've seen in the past. I know, though, that it will be amazing and beautiful no matter what the details end up being. I just hope I can keep my eyes open at 4 in the morning to watch the TV. This is just one downfall to not having DVR! 

It's crazy to imagine what the couple is thinking about on this day before their wedding. Even though they seem so much different than me, being royalty and all, I'm sure their emotions are somewhat similar to the same as I'll feel just a month from today! That makes me so much more excited for them, just being able to relate that tiny bit.

I do wish them the happiest of marriages and hope that this fairytale that we're all being forced to watch and hear about really does end up having a happy ending! (I'm sure they'll appreciate my well wishes!)

That's all for now!

I Wonder...

I wonder what the proper etiquette is for putting a smiley face inside parentheses when you are typing (in an informal message this is) There are times when I'm typing and want to say something quite witty, but I think it needs to be said as a sidenote inside a pair of parentheses... I just don't know what the 'right' way to do it is...

Do I just double up the closing parenthesis..? Ex. = (hardy har har :))
Do I use brackets...? Ex. = [chuckle chuckle :)]
Do I space between the smiley and the closing parenthesis..? Ex. = (BAHAHAHA :) )
Do I make the smile more exaggerated to differentiate between the smile and the parenthesis..? Ex. = (loud laughter =D)
Do I forget the smiley and just go with the standard "lol" and let the reader figure the rest out..? Ex. = (witty remark. lol)

Things like this seem to 'confuzzle' my mind on occasion, and I just continue to wonder... what is 'correct'?

April Showers Bring May Flowers... Literally!

And I mean literally because I just had a great bridal shower thrown for me last weekend and then, in May, comes our wedding, where there will be plenty of flowers! Get it? Good :)


Me with the hostesses, Staci and Melodie

Now that we are on the same page, I will tell you more about the shower. It was hosted by Trent's sister Melodie and his cousin Staci and held at Melodie's home. The decorations were homemade by Melodie and beautiful and the food was so amazing. They also had some activities planned for us all that were very fun and entertaining (I'm sure VERY entertaining for some - you will see why I say that). I feel very lucky to have been honored at this great bridal shower. Not only am I lucky enough to have my own wonderful family, the wonderfulness is now doubled, and I get the privilege to being joining Trent's amazing family as well. I definitely left the shower that day feeling very grateful for all that I have in my life! 

The shower started off by Melodie telling us what the first activity would be... she let me know that I would be making brownies for everyone for our dessert (WHAT?!?) and she had everything that I needed  to make the brownies EXCEPT the recipe. So I put on my apron and got to work attempting to make these brownies... Now I don't want to sound like I've never cooked before... I have made brownies plenty of times, and I woudl say I'm pretty good at it, too. But as I was standing behind the table looking at all my ingredients and I just couldn't think of what I needed to use. I was so helpless! How frustrating :) My Grandma Kock was there watching me, and she kept giving me the look like "Come on, Kendra, you know what to do!" and this woudl have been a perfect opportunity to really make her proud because she's the one who taught me how to make the brownies I've always made and who give me the majority of my cooking tips. And when she cooks, she doesn't even use a recipe, so this was like her comfort zone! Thankfully, my grandma always wants what's best for me and was willing to help me cheat a little :) She would mouth the words to me and when people would ask questions to lead me into things, she would hold up fingers as to how many of something I needed or if I needed more or less of something. What a great grandma! Sadly, even with her help I didn't come up with the best looking brownies. They did kind of look like brownies at least, but they were pretty thin and didn't taste 'normal'. If nothing else, my bridal shower has opened the door to me being more like my grandma and has started to break the chains of my recipe cards. Earlier this week I was making cookies (which I make frequently) and Trent told me that was a recipe I should know by heart too, and he's right. I'll get to work on that :)

After the brownies were safely in the oven, we moved on to the next game, a fun version of BINGO. (One of my favorites) Melodie had complied a bunch of facts about Trent and I, each corresponding to a number on people's Bingo cards. She would read the fact, not saying who it described, and everyone would hold up their sign (see picture at right - you will see my sign was beautifully decorated by Trent's niece, Taylor) saying whether they thought it was about Trent or myself. The facts were things such as: Favorite vegetable is green beans (Trent), Dislikes peanut butter (Kendra), Hates taking the trash out (Trent), Hates food left in the sink (Kendra), and Hates cleaning the toilet (Kendra). If you guessed correctly, you got to mark that number on the card. It was a lot of fun to see what people guessed were the correct facts about each of us.

  

Aww... Snuggle!!



The rest of the afternoon was filled with amazing food, visiting, and opening presents. Taylor even modeled her flower girl dress for us all and Trent showed up with his dad and brother-in-law. It was such a good day with people who love Trent and I and who made the day so much better just by being there.

Now, we're finishing all of the rest of the wedding details that need to be taken care of. My dress finally came in last week, and I am going to have my first fitting on Sunday. I am so excited to try it on again for the first time in seven months. I hope that it still has the same effect on me that it did the first time I had it on! Hopefully, it will be even better now that we are only 44 days away from THE DAY! I will leave you with a few more pictures of me with guests at the shower. I hope you enjoy!

Me with my Grandma Jons and Grandma Kock

With Trent's Grandma, Donna Lu

Trent's mom, Jan, myself, and my mom, Janine

Me with Taylor, the flower girl

Trent and I