Yummy Smores

One of the things that reminds me of warm summer nights is sitting around a fire and roasting marshmallows for smores. Joe and I enjoy nights by the fire quite a bit during the summer and we're so excited that there is actually a fire pit at the barn!

They supply all the wood, all we have to do is get it going and make sure we have enough smore making goodness! And hope that the weather is on its best behavior! It's surprises me how often I see fires at weddings - well not personally but through pictures on the blogs I read. Let's take a gander...



Yum!



If only I had thought about giving out Smore makings as a favor!

The campfire will be another great addition to the uniqueness of our wedding:) The more we get closer to the big day, the more I want to make sure those personal details of Joe and I as a couple are incorporated into it. I know I will never do everything I wanted or tried to do because lack of time, resources, energy you name it as we near the end but then again I'm not super woman. No matter what the day brings how it looks like, it will be a special day in my heart for as long as I live.

Goodbye Weekend, Hello Monday

Happy Mother's Day!

I know it was yesterday but I wanted one more chance to let my Mom know how much she means to me. She loves me unconditionally and is always there for me. It's funny when you're still living with your parents in high school and all you want to do is hang out with your friends because your parents are lame. But then you move away to college and they suddenly become one of your closest friends. At least that is what I experienced when I moved out of the house. Suddenly I was excited to spend the weekend at home and just hang out with my family. And that's still the case four years later after graduating college and living on my own for awhile. I wish I could be a short drive away from visiting with my Mom any day I felt like it. I talk with her everyday, sometimes more than once and it's never quite enough. She is an amazing woman, mother and friend. Thankfully I have to be home the next two weekends so I'll get my mother-daughter time in then. But in the meantime, I love you Mom and am so blessed to have you in my life.

Over the weekend Joe had to work long hours both Saturday and Sunday but I managed to keep myself busy and on the go. Saturday morning I walked around the Mall of America for three hours! trying to find something to wear for the upcoming showers. I had little luck and by the end of it, my legs were sore and I had blisters on my feet. I spent the rest of the beautiful day working on the yard and doing things around the house. Sunday started with a call to my Mom, church, a few more errands and taking some time to relax.

My Mom had her first wedding nightmare about not being ready for the big day and when I told her we had seventy some days to go she freaked out a bit. I told her we'll get it done and to not worry about it. I have plenty of time now that I'm done with school:) Speaking of which, Friday I ordered a scanner that I can haul with me to work to scan our pictures in for our slide show. The one we have at home is pretty bulky and I honestly don't want to spend my weekends upstairs scanning one picture at a time when I could be outside with Joe or doing fun things. It should arrive sometime this week. So that's the scoop on the weekend. Bring on the week.

RSVPs are making their way to our mailbox!!

Now that our invites are sent out, I am racing to be the first one to get our mail. Yesterday we received five RSVP cards back and some even have little handwritten messages on them - which is my favorite part. The best one of all was from Joe's Grandparents Ron and Pat.

Pat is a fun, loving woman and you can tell she really cares for her family. She also has a great sense of humor and sometimes her remarks make you step back and think, "Did she really just say that?"

And then you start laughing. 

When Joe and I were reading our cards, she checked the 'you can count on me' box and wrote, "only if nothing better comes up". Joe and I looked at each other and just started laughing. She is such a hoot!

Thank you Pat for your kind words:) Haha.

freedom! Freedom! FREEDOM!!!!!!!

Breathe in. Breathe out. Ahhhhh. It feels so great knowing that I have a little over three months before I even have to think about studying again. I honestly don't know what I'm going to do with all my free time! Yea, sure I'll get married and go on my honeymoon but the world is my oyster. At least for a little while.

And I've already been productive this morning at work, although, I should have spaced it out more because now I'll have to find something to waste my time with until 5:30 comes around. I printed out our marriage license application and talked to our Pastor about marriage counseling. We'll be heading home two weekend in June to complete our "marriage training" and I'm actually really excited about this. He told me that, "a lot of couples are nervous before the big day and we use these times together to help calm the nerves". I asked Joe if he was nervous and he said no. I'm not either. Hopefully marriage counseling doesn't make us nervous.

I also printed of a Volunteer Application for the new University of Minnesota Amplatz Children's Hospital that recently opened. With all this free time I would love to become a "Mother Goose" and hold the little preemies or play/read with children at their hospital beds.

Yay summer vacation!

Sweet Taste of Freedom!!! Well, almost!

I am counting down the hours until I can go home and take my final test of the semester! I would really like to not study for the rest of the day, wing the test, hope for a good grade and just be done with Physiology altogether. But the voice of reason in my head, yes I actually have a voice like that, tells me to keep pushing since I've worked so hard all semester. Fine. I'll listen. Six hours left.

Joe finished last night and I was there to see him submit his final paper. The look of relief on his face is what I'm looking forward to myself:) So, with 80 days left, no more school and goodness coming our way in the form of showers, final wedding planning, bachelorette/bachelor parties and summer itself, I'll have plenty of things to share with you all! These posts will be more than me complaining about school and studying.

Life is here again!!

Ahhhhhh.

Just about there...

My lack of motivation is not treating me well today and hopefully it gets back into gear tomorrow because I take my LAST test of the semester! Yes, tomorrow is my last day of school for spring semester!

Hello summer vacation!!

I've been busy studying up all day and will do the same tomorrow but did find this neat idea for the back of our chairs. I originally wanted to make signs like this...

But the back of our chairs look like this

which will make it hard to hang anything nicely off the back of them. Don't they look lovely? Haha. During one of my study breaks today though, I did come across this little number (bottom left corner) and thought it might be a fun way to dress up our chairs and distinguish them as the "Bride & Groom" spots!

It's a thought. I'm sure I'll change my mind ten times but I could find some pretty ribbon in our navy, yellow and gray color palate and it'd sure be a cheap, DIY project to spruce the place up a bit!

No Turning Back Now!

Over the weekend, my good friend Kelly helped me finish up our invites after a day of getting my first ever pedicure and a little shopping. Which the only thing I bought was grass seed for Joe. I could not find anything I liked! We placed the postcard stamps on the RSVP cards and sealed the envelopes and they are offically in the mail as of this morning!

I told Joe over the weekend that if he wanted to back out, now would be the time. He gave me the "Maybe I should run" look for about 10 seconds and then said of course he wanted to marry me:) He also told me that I better not be a runaway bride the day of the wedding because that would be embarassing. I reassured him that I plan on sticking around for the day:) I wouldn't want to waste the one day that I can wear a big white dress around, enjoy some homemade wine, good food and dance the night away!

Not only did we get our invites out in the mail, Joe and I also put together our newspaper announcements for two of the local papers back home. Now that the whole world er, invited guests and our small towns, is about to know about our big day, there's no stopping this wedding train!