My Girls, His Guys & The Flowers

Kelly's Korner is continuing with the wedding theme this week and today we get to show off our wedding party and the flowers. (It's a long one folks!)

First, the flowers. We didn't pick 'colors' for our wedding - I just wanted fall colors. My Mom, and some wonderful friends of hers, did all of the flowers for the wedding with the exception of two arrangements at the front of the church. They were perfect and I wish I could have fresh flowers like them in my house all the time. (and yes, my Mom pretty much rocks)

My bridesmaids were wonderful and all looked absolutely amazing and I am thankful to call them all friends. From l to r:

Lisa - we were both PR majors in school and in the same sorority (aka club) in school. She shared her couch with me so many times when I went to visit Mike while he was still in school and she is now finishing school to be a midwife - I am SO proud of her.

Bev - she was a Comm. major with Lisa and me. We lived on the same hall freshman year but didn't truly become friends until junior year. We spent many a Friday night hanging out and scrapping because it was way more fun than going to Wally World.

Kelcey - my freshman roomie, junior suite mate and fellow sorority member. I have so many stories and special memories with her and still laugh at so many of them. Kelcey and her husband live in NYC and she just finished her Masters at NYU in social work - SO proud of her too and I can't wait to see her in September!

Bethany - my best friend since I was in 5th grade and she was in 4th. We are 1 year, 1 month and 1 day apart in age and complete opposites. I keep the boat as still as possible and she rocks it like crazy. We can not talk or see each other for extended amounts of time and pick right back up where we left off. She gets parts of me like nobody else ever will.

Kelli - another Comm major! Lisa, Bev, Kelli and I spent countless evenings talking, laughing, watching Gilmore Girls, working on homework and the school paper and so much more. Kelli was also in my sorority - my first real memory of her was when we were trying to coordinate our talent show dance during induction - lets just say we have no rhythm, espeically at 1 in the morning. :-)

Natalie - we worked together at our church in MO. Looking back on it, I should have known that she was expecting since she didn't have any wine at the reception but I wasn't paying attention that night so technically, baby Abbie was in the wedding too. :-) Natalie and her husband have been such a blessing to me and I love seeing them when Mike and I go back to visit.

The guys - we'll keep this short. :-)

My brother, Andrew; Mike's college friend and teammate, Ben; a friend from home, Kevin; my brother, Jordan; a college friend and classmate, Stephen; another college friend and classmate, Dan; a friend from home, school and baseball, Sean; and Mike's brother, Jeff. I did have to laugh - all of the groomsmen were 6' or taller, three of my bridesmaids were 5'8" and the other three were 5'3". My Mom asked if there were any way we could "even things out" and I had to laugh, there was just no way.

Erin and Kristin were my guest table attendants. Erin got married the following September and Kristin, the following August. Kristin and Casey are expecting their first little one the day before our anniversary (I'm hoping he'll come a day late) :-) These girls have incredible faiths and I am so blessed to know them.

Casey and Sam handed out the programs. I worked with their Mom at church and LOVE their family. They are so giving and Casey was recently featured on the news for winning a community service grant and using the money to improve a home for pregnant teens and moms. They are both awesome athletes soI got them Dick's Sporting Goods gift cards as a 'thank you' but had to get Casey a necklace to match the rest of the girls!

Last but not least, Brooke and Garrett were our flower girl and ring bearer. Again, I worked with their Mom at church. These have to be the funniest kids I've ever met. Brooke is NOT a fan of Mike (because he takes my attention away from her) and I kept teasing Mike that he might want to wear shin guards because she might come down the aisle and kick him. They were absolutely wonderful during the wedding and I miss them so much!

Whew, if you made it this far, YAY! Thanks for letting me 'brag' on some of the people who made our day so special!

Thankful Thursdays

• I'm thankful for the amazing weather we've had lately. Kansas' weather is usually hotter than hot chocolate but it has been so pleasant the last few weeks.
• I'm thankful for being able to help with VBS. I'm exhausted after a day of work and 3 hours working with kiddos but it's a blast.
• I'm really thankful for my house (after a very strange dream last night about buying a new house)
• I'm thankful, on behalf of my brother, that his last day of college is on Friday. (YAY!)
• I'm thankful it's almost the weekend.

Hope ya'll have a great day!

It Was a Good Day

Nothing exciting (and no pictures, unfortunately). Mike and I slept in a little, went to church, ate lunch at my grandparents with my uncle and cousins, showed them pictures of our roadtrip and then looked at old slides my cousin Linda found and just relaxed.

Now, I'm finishing baking brownie filled chocolate chip cookies for work tomorrow, listening to the Norah Jones channel on Pandora and dancing around the kitchen between batches going in and out of the oven.

Tomorrow starts a crazy week, I'm helping with VBS from 6-9 p.m. every night after work. I know I'll be exhausted but I'm excited.

Life is good.

The Dress

We get to show off our wedding dresses on Kelly's Korner today and I am excited because my dress was EXACTLY what I wanted - I just wish I had an excuse to wear it again!

Before I started dress shopping I knew that I wanted a strapless, drop waist dress with a semi-long train, beaded bodice and simple skirt. I thought it would be fairly easy to find but, no so much. After visiting about 5 or 6 stores, I went to my first appointment at a store. The girl helping me with the dresses was telling me (we we put on THE dress) that most girls think they'll have this "Ta da" moment when they see themselves in the dress and just know but that in reality, it usually didn't happen that way. I knew before I even got out of the dressing room that I had on THE dress.

I tried a few other dresses on later that day but nothing felt right after the one from earlier and the rest, as they say, is history.

A friend of mine borrowed my dress for her wedding too. It makes the dress just that much more special!

Thankful Thursdays

I'm going to start posting things I'm thankful for every Thursday. God has blessed me so much and I never want to forget that and this is just a small way I think I can use this blog to share my faith (something I'm usually not very good at)

• I'm thankful for a roof over my head, for food on my table and clothes on my back. So many people don't have these necessities and I am thankful for what I have and for having the ability to have a home to welcome people into.
• I'm thankful for the jobs Mike and I have. We have been blessed to be able to keep our jobs and are so grateful for God watching over us, giving us peace during this unknown time and giving us strength.
• I'm thankful for my wonderful husband. He calms me down when I'm stressed, loves me, takes care of me and is perfect for me.
• I'm thankful for my family. I have the most wonderful family.
• I'm thankful for my wonderful Father in Heaven who loves me despite my flaws and who has saved me from my sins.

It's a good life. What are you thankful for?

Joyful, Joyful

I don't think I'll ever get tired of these two clips from 'Sister Act 2' and they both sum up how I feel tonight.

The Big Reveal

After 4 long days of hard work (mostly by my wonderful hubs, my brother and a friend from work) the floors are done!

I went to Pier 1 today and got the rug under the dining table and am waiting on this rug to go on sale so we can put it in the living room. SO excited. The house has taken on a whole new feel and I really like it. Please disregard the dust and tools lying aorund. We're still trying to get everything picked up after being in a construction zone for the last few days. :-)

As crazy as it sounds, this transformation has made me very anxious to decorate for Christmas. (but I can't be TOO crazy, Hobby Lobby has had their Christmas stuff up for a month now!)

Road Trip '09 (Part 2)

Okay, this is going to come in a few parts... and for some reason, my pictures are all out of order but you'll get the highlights.

One of the nights we were on the CA coast, we grabbed BBQ one night and took it to a "vista point" along the coast and ate it and watched the beginning of the sunset before we drove further down the coast, watched the rest of the sunset and then drove to wherever we stayed that night. It's all running together now. :-)

We drove through the Redwood Forrest, took a few side roads and took lost of pictures along the way. We drove through this tree and got a Christmas ornament made out of redwood.

(This picture is sideways but I'm so excited about it. I'm going to frame it and put it in our living room.

More of the California coast.

We went to San Francisco and of course, saw the Golden Gate bridge.

We also found the address for MythBusters. :-) Yep, we're dorks. We didn't see Jaime or Adam but it was still cool to see their "digs".

This is another picture I'm going to hang in our living room. This was outside of a vinyard we stopped at. (Wine tasting wasn't all that glamorous but I can check wine tasting in Napa off my bucket list) :-)

Vinyards in Napa.

Before we left California, we ate lunch at In-N-Out. It was good but I'll admit, it wasn't my favorite. The fries were great though!

After we left CA, we drove through Vegas on our way to Arizona.

We drove over the Hoover Dam driving from Nevada into Arizona and the on to the Grand Canyon. Then we made a detour to Jerome to see Tracy, Eric and their little man, Cayden. (Thanks again for lunch, Tracy!)

At the end of the day, we drove to New Mexico to stay at my parent's cabin for a few nights. Brilliant me thought I had the key to the house but nope, at 1 a.m., trying to get into the house I realize that the key I had wasn't the right one so we woke Becca up and crashed in her extra bedroom until we woke up and could get a key from the neighbor. (Thanks, Becca!)

That's the second part of the trip - now we're home and almost done with installing our laminate flooring. More on that later! :-)

Road Trip '09 (Part 1)

Here's part of what we saw in Western Kansas - they're impressive, and I know they're going to help create energy but I'm not sure I like them all over the place...

Yay for the mountains and no more flat land!!!

Grand Tetons National Park!

In the Old Faithful part of Yellowstone.

We watched this geyser errupt. It was taller than Old Faithful and very cool.

A herd of bison in Yellowstone. I had to laugh, you get a packet of papers with maps, etc. when you arrive at the park. One of the papers we got was a half sheet of paper warning people that the bison aren't as tame as they appear. The herd was about 100 yards off the road and there were people within 20 yards of them. SERIOUSLY!!!

We got into Canada and Osoyoos (I thin?) was the first big town we came to. It was Canada day and very busy.

There were cherry trees everywhere in the Interior of BC so I made Mike stop so we could get some. They were amazing!

This is a bridge they just built near Mike's parent's town so people didn't have to use the ferry to cross the river.

Lake Alouette in BC

Seattle when we left BC and headed for the rest of our adventure!

On the beach in Oregon. Lily was NOT a fan of the water.

A huge air museum we came across in Tilamook, OR. It was closed when we got there but we want to go if we're ever back in the area.

An awesome restaurant on the beach that we ate at in Oregon.
Part 2 is coming!

There's No Place Like Home

Whew. So, I've been slacking at the blog thing the last two weeks but I have a really good excuse. Since Mike and I have been on a FOUR week furlough from work (with three more weeks to come later in the year) we decided to go on a road trip and we had a BLAST but are so glad to be home.

We covered 15 states (Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, California, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma and back to Kansas)and went to Canada to visit Mike's family.

I'll post pictures later but now we're gearing up to put our laminate flooring in. My brother is coming in to help (thank you, Jordan and we'll miss you, Andrew!) and have a friend from work coming as well. It'll be fun! :-)

Here's a quick look at one picture though...

The Foyer

It's not much of one but here it is!

I want to find something to hang on the wall behind the door. I think this is what I want to get but can't settle on the perfect verse... any ideas?

Thank you for visiting and make sure you check out Kelly's blog and all of the other foyers!

Blog Hopping

I'm blog hopping today! Come join us just post your favorite picture and add a link to that entry on my MckLinky at the bottom of the page! (MORE INFO: Each week, on Tuesday, MckLinky will host a "blog hop". All participants are invited to put up a post on the same day and post the SAME MckLinky list as everyone else. Everyone who participates is automatically registered to win $100. A winner will be picked each week after the blog hop.)

I took this picture in 2004 when I studied in Florence. My school owns the villa and I lived there with 40 of my closest friends, sharing 3 showers between about 25 girls... oh the fun! This place holds such special memories for me and I can't wait to go back and visit! (Hopefully sooner than later!)

Happy 4th!

Thank you to all of our past, present and future soldiers who have fought and will fight to keep our America the land of the free!

The Garage & The Yard

Welcome to the front of our home! :-) If you look closely, our puppy is sitting in the door wondering why I'm taking pictures. Our yard is far from perfect but it's much better than it was when we moved in. We ripped up part of the landscaping last fall and are still trying to get the grass to grow where we ripped it up.

Flowers we planted in the landscaping area to the left of the stairs as you walk up to the front door. Mike's Mom helped us pick them out.

Our back yard. I was so excited to get this umbrella. We haven't been able to use it too much because it was so windy and now it's so hot you just really don't want to sit out there for long.
Now, here's our garage! Mike just cleaned it last week since we're on our company furlough and we've been knocking some things off our 'To Do' list.

That's it for now! Thank you, Kelly, for hosting this. It is so much fun to see where everyone lives!