Hair Comes the Bride

Two weeks ago, I had my first bridal shower. It was an amazing shower put together by my two aunts, Doreen and Barb, my sister, Kellsey, and my cousin, Jocelyn, who are also two of my bridesmaids. It was so fun, but yet so weird to be the bride and the center of attention at one of those things. It was so great to see all of the women from both sides of my family and friends from my church and community that came. It was a great feeling that that many people cared enough about me to show up to my shower. I know the hostesses put a lot of work into the shower and I hope they know how much I appreciated it and won’t forget it!

Last weekend, Trent and I started the process of preparing his apartment for me and all my clothes and things to move it, which will be happening in about 2 short months. We are trying to get ahead of the game and start moving things from my apartment to his that I won’t need now, and then hopefully it will be easier to move the rest of the stuff when the time comes without having to worry about all of the little things. So far I have moved my tub of purses and a tub of wrapping paper and things. I’d say I’d better get a move on! I just am having a hard time finding things that I can live without for 2 months ;) Trent went through his closets in his spare bedrooms and made it so all of his stuff fit into one of them, so I can have the other spare room’s closet for my things. We also moved one car load of things to our storage unit, which we like to call ‘My Parents’ House.” Aren’t they so the best?!

Every time that we do a little more ‘preparing’ for me to move in, I go through a wave of excitedness to get everything moved and in its place. It will be great to have the apartment feeling like ‘our’ place. It’s strange to think about though… At the end of May, I’m going to be living in my apartment like normal, and then I am going to go away for a weekend, and then I’ll come back to Omaha and BAM! I live somewhere different… and with a BOY!! Weird! :)

Last weekend, I also went to Des Moines to meet up with my cousin Tricia, at my cousin (her sister) Traci and her husband Derrick’s house. (Who looks very cute when she’s pregnant I might add!) Tricia will be doing mine and the bridesmaids’ hair for the wedding. We did a little run through of my hair style to see how it looked and if we liked it. At first, I couldn’t even tell her if I liked it or what I didn’t like about it because I was so shocked to see myself looking like I did, all done up and stuff. And then I got my veil on and things and it just made me so emotional and excited. It reminded me a lot of when I had my dress on for the first time. That was a very emotional time as well. To just imagine that I am going to be looking like that on my wedding day and to imagine Trent seeing me for the first time walking down the aisle like that, it all just brings tears to my eyes and makes me wish the next 65 days would just hurry up!

Speaking of my dress… Next week should be THE week when my dress comes in! FINALLY! I can’t wait to put it on again and see how it looks. It’s been 6 long months since I had it on and I hope it’s still makes me as happy as it did the first time I put it on! I’ll be anxiously waiting for the call!

And here's a picture from last Friday when Trent and I and Trent’s coworker made a trip to the court house in Council Bluffs to apply for our marriage license. Working on making it legal!! :) YAY!!

One for the Record Books

For the past two weeks, I have been meaning to write a few things about the Ar-We-Va Rockets basketball season and their week at the State Tournament. Time has just been flying by though. It is hard to believe that week was already that long ago. Where did that time go…? Well, I know where the week of the tournament went… how about in the record books!! :)

I cannot tell you how much fun it was to be a part of that week. As a lifelong (and a long life it’s been) fan and the coach’s daughter, I could not have been more proud to walk into that arena wearing an Ar-We-Va t-shirt. It was so fun to see how excited all the girls were and to see all the attention the whole team was getting from everyone. It truly was awesome to see them after each game and see the proud glow they all put off. They all knew that they were 100% deserving of where they were, and even though they were all very modest, they couldn’t hide the fact that they knew they were good!

I do have to admit that watching them play did make me a little jealous at times. Maybe jealous isn’t the right word, but it sure did bring up some memories. The thought crossed my mind a few times about what would have happened if my teams would have made it to State. I remembered the heartbreak my sophomore year when we lost to Hinton in a close game, and again my senior year when I fouled out of the game and had to watch the end of my last game from the bench. It’s one of those things, that makes you wonder, What if? But oh well :) It kind of made me laugh during the championship game this year, when the All Iowa Honor Drill Team came out for their patriotic dance before the game, because I looked at our girls standing in front of the bench during the National Anthem and then looked at the dancers on the floor… And being one of those dancers was the closest I ever got to being on that bench. But at least I’ve got that one! Some basketball players can’t even say that ;)

Overall, when I think about the Ar-We-Va girls’ basketball team, I’d have to say it makes me think of my dad the most. I am so happy that he finally got to coach at the State Tournament. He really deserves that, and I certainly hope that it isn’t the last time! My dad is so completely devoted to being a coach and genuinely loves it. If everyone could see all of the time and effort and thought that he puts into his coaching, I think everyone would gain a new understanding and respect for him. Some of my greatest memories from my senior year include sitting in the living room with my dad and watching game film and taking stats with him. It’s almost a given that you know my dad will be up until early in the morning most nights during basketball season because he is up studying AWV’s games or scouting other teams through watching their past games that he has recorded. My dad is so smart (don’t tell him I said that) and I am so proud to have him as an influence in my life. I just wish I would have realized how smart he was earlier in life, so I could have soaked up a little more while I was at home! I remember when I was in 5th or 6th grade, that I cried a few times before basketball games because I didn’t really want to play and in my first few years of high school, basketball was nowhere near the top of my favorite sports list. But in my one quick year of having my dad as my head coach, I gained a new appreciation for it all and he promptly made basketball my favorite. Thanks to him, when I think of basketball in my high school years, it brings up happy memories, it doesn’t bring up feelings of regret or dislike in the slightest. I know, because of that, I will be one of those old ladies that talks about her high school basketball career just like it was yesterday and will pretend like the people I’m talking to care in the slightest about what happened in 2006 when I was playing basketball.

This year’s team sure did create a lot of great memories that will make for a lot better stories when they are old than mine will. :) I really hope that this isn’t the last time we get to make three trips to Des Moines in a week! Although that made for an interesting work week, I would do it again… say… next year during the first week of March!

That's all for now!

GO ROCKETS!

Time goes by... So slowly...

We are three months and one week away from the wedding... It seems like I've been saying that it's three months away FOR.E.VER! Time felt like it was going by quickly for quite a while but now it feels like we've kind of hit a wall... But I guess, the time will come. Things have been getting done one at a time and everything has gone smoothly to this point. I really hope that it stays that way!

Ever since we've started planning the wedding, I have I spent a lot of time reading a wedding blog site, weddingbee.com. I love reading all of these brides', called 'Bees,' posts as they plan their weddings. They hash out all of their ideas and feelings as they are planning their weddings, they post DIY tutorials, and then, after their weddings, they post recaps of their weddings. They tell all about the days leading up to their weddings with all their pre-wedding events and then go through their wedding day events as well. They post their professional pictures and walk all of the readers through all the feelings they were feeling on their special day. They let us in on all of the secrets of what didn't go perfectly and what they would have done differently if they had the chance. I have gotten a lot of great ideas from reading the numerous brides' ideas and experiences and taken some of their how-to's and done them myself. I also have made lists of things that they would do differently if they could go back, so I can hopefully plan my day and avoid doing things 'wrong.' It is really interesting to read all the different people's posts because of the fact that they all come from such different backgrounds. None of them seem to be planning a 250 guest, small-town Iowa wedding, though :)

I got a call on Friday that all of my bridesmaids' dresses are in at the bridal shop. That makes me very excited! I can't wait to see them in the right color and all in the right sizes and on the girls. (Even though I probably won't really ever see them all in their dresses until the actual wedding day) They are going to look so great! :) It makes me smile just to think about them all standing up at the front of the church with Trent and I.

I had always known from the beginning of the planning that I was going to be making our flower girl, Trent's niece, Taylor's flower girl skirt. I'm sure you've all seen the tutus that are made out of tulle, well this is the same thing except a skirt and not a tutu. I actually made the skirt today and I like it, but I don't love it. I will be seeing her next weekend, so I'll have her try it on and hopefully that makes me love it. Otherwise I guess we'll have to go to Plan B. (first I guess we'll have to figure out what Plan B is...)

That's all for now!

Oh, one more thing..... GO ROCKETS!!!

Gametime, HUH!! (Manly noise...)

I'm pretty certain all of you received a blank post from me yesterday... That was a mistake due to my 'smart' phone not being so smart. It should know better than to post something that was blank... but oh well. At least I've got everyone's attention now.

This past weekend was a great one. I was supposed to spend the weekend in the Des Moines area with my cousins Traci and Tricia, as Tricia was going to do a trial run of my hair for the wedding. But, sadly, Tricia came down with the flu and really didn't feel like doing much at all, which I don't blame her at all!

I won't lie, I was kind of happy that my weekend plans were changed. It allowed for a lot more down time, and didn't require driving 4 hours on I-80. Instead, my Saturday consisted of some deep cleaning of my apartment. It was definitely time for that anyways. Especially since we were hosting a Super Bowl 'party' this weekend. Another reason I was happy that I got to stay home was because I got the opportunity to travel to Mapleton to see the Ar-We-Va girls play in the Conference Tournament championship game. Unfortunately, they lost, but it was still fun to be there and I'm glad I got to go.

Sunday was another fairly relaxing day. Trent and I went and worked out around noon and then when I got home, I did some final preparations for our little get together and started making some food. Now when I say 'little get together' I truly do mean that. It was just Lauren and I and our significant others at our apartment. But I like it that way, and it was nice to relax and watch the game (and the commercials). We just had typical game watching food. We had little smokies, some chips and dip, and pizza and Lauren made a veggie pizza (our 'healthy' alternative). ;)

At the beginning of the game, it seemed as though everyone was going for the Packers, but as the game went on, I let it slip that, deep down, I was really going for the Steelers. I don't know what it really was, but I think I just can't bring myself to cheer for a team that has Green and Gold as their colors... It's in my blood I guess. :)

I have to say I wasn't too impressed with the commercials this year. I don't really remember being impressed for the past few years either. There were a couple that I chuckled at and that we said were pretty good, but nothing really was AWESOME! The one that I remember the most is the Volkswagen commercial with the little guy in the Darth Vader costume. Talk about cute!!

I heard on the radio this past week that the day after the Super Bowl is one of the most missed days of work in the year and that millions of people call in sick. The radio personality then went on to say that, with that knowledge, we should just make the Monday after the Super Bowl a holiday... and I like that idea! :)

That's all for now!

An Update from the Bride

So, after being engaged for 4 months, it finally feels like things are starting to pick up a little bit. I can finally feel things starting to happen and it makes me VERY excited.

Trent and I went and registered last week at Target and Bed, Bath, and Beyond. It took quite a while to get through the stores, and it really didn’t feel like we ended up with that much stuff. But hopefully we did. And I feel good with the fact that we can always go back and add things as we think of them. Getting all registered makes me really excited about moving in with Trent and being able to decorate that place! Since he moved in to his place last April, he never really has decorated, and the little bit he did have decorated he kind of took down, knowing that it would all change when I moved in anyways. So it's really bare there now. I'm looking forward to kind of 'girling' up the place a little! I’m sure he is going to love it too :)

This weekend I am headed towards home to meet with Lori Hawley to discuss decorations for the wedding and the reception. She does such great work and I can’t wait to see what she is going to do for our wedding. She is also going to do our flowers and is going to make up a few examples for me to see, so I can't wait to see those. I get all giddy just thinking about it! I know it's going to be beautiful.

Then, the next weekend Trent and I are going to Denison and we are meeting his parents and mine to do a little bit of wedding stuff. We are going to go check out Boulders, our reception site, so we can talk to the manager there about a few details and also so Trent and his parents can see the place before we get there at wedding time. We are also going to have lunch at Cronk’s, where we are going to have our rehearsal dinner so we can all check it out. Then, it’s finally time to pick out what Trent and all the guys are going to wear at Reynold's Clothing in Denison. Sunday, we will be meeting with Pastor Richard for the second time as part of our premarital counseling, and we are also going to a small bridal convention at Boulders Conference Center in Denison (our reception site) before heading back home to Omaha. I’m hoping that I can come out of the weekend feeling a little more ready after having these things checked off the to-do list.

The last thing I have planned at this moment is my hair trial with my cousin, Tricia. I am so super excited that she is going to be doing my hair for my wedding. I am even more excited that we get to do this practice run and make a fun, girls’ weekend out of it. I don’t see Tricia enough, so it will be good to get together and have some fun like we used to when we were younger!

Today I purchased some things that I am going to give the girls in the wedding party as gifts. I am pretty darn excited about all I’ve got planned for them, so I hope it all turns out the way I had hoped.

In the days in between all I have planned, I am going to keep looking around for little things and ideas that would be good for the wedding and making all my little crafty things I’m doing myself. I am also going to keep waiting patiently for my dress to come in! Trent and I have also begun to talk seriously about our honeymoon which is a whole other thing to be excited about besides the wedding itself and the whole marriage thing! So much to be excited and happy about!

That’s all for now!

Christmas Countdown!

I cannot tell you how excited I am that only one work day stands between me and my "Christmas break." I don't know if I can really classify my 2 and a half days off from work as a Christmas break, but I guess in my new 'grown-up' life, that's what I am going to call it.

This Christmas is going to be a lot different than the last 23 Christmases that I have had. This will be the first Christmas (that I know of) that I won't spend Christmas Eve with my immediate family, go to the Christmas Eve service at church, and then wake up early (our definition of 'early' has gotten a little later, though) on Christmas morning to wake my parents up so we can open presents. That is a little sad for me, just because I don't typically handle change all that well. But don't you go thinking that you need to be sad for me because I am not going to be there! I am extremely thrilled that I get to wake up Christmas morning, get out of bed and walk out of the room where I'm sleeping, and give my soon-to-be husband a kiss and tell him Merry Christmas! And even though I can kind of give myself a minor anxiety attack when I think about things changing, I don't think this qualifies as one of those situations. I am very blessed to be able to spend all of the days surrounding Christmas with not just one family that loves me, but TWO! How lucky am I?!? I'm very excited for all of the new experiences I am going to have during this year's holidays, and I can't wait for it to begin.

Trent and I are taking off from Omaha tomorrow evening after I leave from work. We are spending the 23rd and Christmas Eve with his family and then heading to my parents' house on Christmas morning to spend the weekend there. We've got a lot of holiday partying jammed into 4 days, but that's why Christmas is my favorite holiday!!

Since Trent and I will be spending the entire Christmas weekend traveling around and having our family holiday parties, we had our own, private Christmas party last weekend. We wanted to start a tradition of what food we would eat every year for our Christmas supper, but instead of picking the food and having the same thing every year, we decided to start the tradition that we would just go to the store on the day we were going to have our Christmas supper without a plan, and pick out whatever we wanted to have for supper that evening. I think that this year's excursion went very well. We had baked 'chicken grillers' (chicken breasts wrapped in bacon and stuffed with cheese and jalapenos for him and ham and cheese for me), mashed potatoes, and corn. Very good, in my opinion! We then opened our presents from each other. I was very disappointed in myself because I had forgotten to get something to fill his stocking. :( He was very good, though, because I had gum and toothbrushes in mine. (I thought it was very sweet, but when I told Lauren about it she just said he must be trying to tell me I have bad breath!) We then preceded to take turns opening our presents from each other. A game and running socks and shorts for Trent, and a game, perfume, and a new ring for me. Yes, that's right, I said a ring! And I know, I am spoiled. I was so shocked and surprised when I opened it, I almost burst out in tears (in a very good way), but I held myself together. Here is the beautiful white sapphire ring:

The rest of the night, I played my new game for a few hours. I am going to need to practice a lot more to get good at it, though. We then watched a movie and called it a night. It was a great night. I love Trent and I's private little holiday parties. I especially love to think back on how things change for us from the year before. It will be very interesting to see where we are and what's new when we get to Christmastime next year!


Sunday was also a day filled with Christmas cheer. We went to Hy Vee and bought all the supplies needed to make plates of holiday goodies to bring along to our family Christmases this week. We made chocolate covered pretzels, some chocolate bars with graham crackers and marshmallows in them, and sugar cookies with frosting. We made the treats up into plates to bring along, and stuck them in the freezer until it's time to go on our merry way.


Tonight I finished up wrapping my last presents and made some pumpkin dessert for the family Christmas on Christmas Eve and packed for the long weekend. I am excited about seeing family and for celebrating Christ's birth with them all!! I hope you all have a great holiday as well!!


Merry Christmas!!

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!!!