Road Trips

Flying is expensive and with our ever growing family it is only getting worse.
We now are resorting to flying when absolutely necessary - or we find an amazing deal on flights.

Our family has a growing edge in terms of road trips and we are slowly but surely figuring out what makes the most sense and how to make it happen.


Over the next several months we will be travelling to: Wisconsin, eastern South Dakota, Colorado, and western South Dakota.

Our trips will be a combination of full family trips and a couple of times I am going to attempt to make the trips without Marc. I MUCH prefer Marc is along, his sense of direction is exponentially better than mine, he LOVES to drive, and I can easily pass things back to the kiddos while he drives. With all of the kiddos still rear facing it is a little harder to pass things back.

Some things I have learned:

• I pack one of two ways
• On short trips I pack a large utility tote {from 31} for each night. So for our trip to Wisconsin where we will only be gone for two nights I will pack a bag to take into the hotel the first night and a bag to take into the house where we are staying the second night. I also throw in a bag of extra clothes and miscellaneous things just in case - because the tiny humans are unpredictable at best.
• On longer trips I pack a medium utility tote {also from 31} for each person. I will also have a bag of miscellaneous things as well
• Other important things: 
• a pop up laundry basket or laundry bag
• I don't like when our dirty and clean laundry mix and keeping it straight in random bags doesn't work for me - makes it easy when I start the dreaded unpacking - dump the laundry in the washer and start putting way the stuff still in bags
• a soft sided cooler with some food for the journey - saves us money so that we don't have to snag all our food from gas stations and fast food restaurants 
• milk, fruit, drinks, yogurt, cheese sticks, & soda for tired drivers
• a travel potty
• we have the "my carry potty" which I am not even sure if they make any more but it is wonderful - when Lucy {2.5yrs} has to go potty we don't always have miles of warning - it is usually only a couple minutes, so we can pull off and she can pee in the little potty on the side of the road - I wash it out when we get to our destination
• a box of things to keep the kiddos occupied in the van
• books, little people, movies {we try to not let them watch ridiculous amounts, however, sometimes this mama just needs a bit of time without having to entertain the kiddos}, stuffed animals, etch a sketch, color wonder coloring books & markers, dry erase boards 
• I also have our box of toddler busy bags that I created with some friends a few months back
• A small bag of things to do when we get out of the van to stretch
• bubbles - my sweet girl LOOOOOVES bubbles
• a ball to play with if we can't find a good park
• a blanket to sit on so we can eat meals outside and let the kiddos run wild
• a few thank you notes in our car because I like to be able to leave thank you notes when we stay with family
• A bag of stuff for this mama
• a book, my kindle, yarn, crochet hooks, chargers for the tiny human's kindle, phone cords, my camera {I do love my iPhone pics, but sometimes a real camera is nice}

Any road trip tips you'd love to share?

A Nearly 1 Year Lapse

It has been almost year and I find myself missing this mostly quiet corner of the interwebs, and I am toying with the idea of coming back... how often, I don't know, but I think I am going to aim small so that I don't easily become overwhelmed and attempt to post at least once a week. Doable? Maybe.

A brief catch up, Lucy turned two this summer. I am not sure how that happened, but apparently time is flying by. Lucy is still on the small side, fierce, full of life, and has caught the love of Disney {which makes my heart sing}. She loves: Little People, books, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, being outside, playing with her puppy, and being with friends and family. While I enjoyed the baby stage {who doesn't love the smell of a sweet baby and the nearly never ending snuggles} I am truly LOVING this stage of independence, even though there are days when it drives me nearly crazy. I love that Luc is developing a personality and has opinions about certain things. It now takes us 12 times as long to do nearly every thing because Luc wants to try and do it herself.
  In the midst of the past year I also discovered {in a bit of a surprise to us} that Baby #2 will be making an appearance {hopefully} in early December 2016 and not sooner. Let the chaos expand. Shortly after Lucy turned 1 we began the process to foster to adopt with our county and have had the opportunity to have a few kids in our home over the course of the last six months for differing time periods, anything from 24 hours to a week at a time. We aren't sure what exactly will happen there, time will tell.

Other than that I still find myself: crocheting, addicted to shutterfly, taking more photos of my daughter and golden retriever than I can even admit, working full time, and enjoying life. Of course there are still the days filled with: laundry, spilled milk, cleaning the house, and other misc. chores. Here's to more faithful updates on the blog and thanks for bearing with me in my absence {if anyone is still around}.

How are you?
What is up with you?

Christmas

Christmas has come and gone. Christmas has happened and it was WONDERFUL. If I could only give my description of Christmas one word I would say: Family. And then of course Lucy Lucy Lucy.  My grandparents, Lucy's great grandparents even made the long drive up to spend Christmas with Lucy (and the rest of us, but really Lucy). I wish I could adequately capture the love that everyone has for the sweet girl. And SHE LOVED Christmas or really she loved playing with the paper, being held by everyone, blowing spit bubbles, talking with everyone, and being in the midst of the action. It was indeed an outstanding Christmas. 

On Christmas Eve I had to work some, but after I was done (7:00pmish) I came  home and my mom had a feast of appetizers for us all and we opened gifts. Christmas day we went down to my Uncle's house in Minneapolis and then spent the night at my brother's house. We had a great time.

Here are some photos from our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Lucy & Grandma & Grandpa

Lucy showing off her standing skills

Thomsons

Teaching Lucy how to play hearts

Lucy's favorite part of Christmas gifts:
the bows and the wrapping paper

#family

Four Generations of Thomsons

Selfie with my Favorite after
Christmas Eve worship

How was your Christmas?

Como Park Conservatory and Zoo

This weekend my family met up in Minneapolis to celebrate Cub getting his white coat in vet school. Technically he doesn't graduate until next May but his class received their white coats on Sunday. While we couldn't actually be there for the white coat ceremony we were able to head down on Friday evening and stay through most of Saturday. 

Saturday afternoon we spent at the Como Park Conservatory and Zoo (NEVER let me leave the house again without my Nikon D300, I thought we were just going to be chilling and hanging out -so all these photos were taken with my point and shoot - which works but isn't my Nikon D300). Sooo here are some pics from this weekend's adventures:

Dad, Cub, Mom, Marc, and Me

The Boys

Ma & Pa

Love my parents

We really did see WAY more animals at the zoo,
the giraffes are just my favorite by far so I have WAYYY more pictures
of them. The flower pictures are the ones that turned out the best though.

What did you do this weekend?
Anything out of the ordinary?

CHAOS abounds

I love Christmas.
I love the Christmas season.
I love having family around during the Christmas season.
I love my family.
I love my call.

This week we have a ridiculously large funeral, read a beloved pastor from the synod, today, tomorrow we have three worship services and I get to (although on Christmas eve it sometimes feels like have to) lead worship at two different nursing homes in the morning, and Wednesday we have one service at the church. On top of it all my dear friend was here Thursday through Saturday, my mom arrive on Friday (thank God, because our new house needs some serious decorating help and my mom rocks at that), my mother in law arrived on Saturday, my father is set to arrive today as well as my brother and his spastic dog. Thank God my mother is here because she loves (or at least volunteers) to cook and help around the house. Thank God for a second bathroom - while yes there is still some waiting for the bathroom it has been greatly reduced.

I am will be more than ready for the 25th in the afternoon, then I can finally relax.
Fingers crossed this week we will get above 0 degrees so we can get outside a little bit.


What do your holiday plans look like?
Are you able to be outside where you live?

Thanksgiving

While some have opted to post their daily thanksgivings on Facebook I have been building a list all month here.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Nov 1: for a day of rest- to get caught up on laundry, house cleaning and to be able to get rolling on packing up our house

Nov 2: for a day with Marc - we packed up the entire upstairs of our house and got it moved to the storage unit along with the rest of our furniture ( we saved our mattress to sleep on but the rest is gone) & for a date night to one of our favorite places in town, Black Bear

Nov 3: for a wonderful remembrance of all the Saints, for a fun afternoon hiking around a local park with Marc and Dakota, for warm coffee cake, and a clean kitchen

Nov 4: for a call/job I love and for carpet shampooers

Nov 5: for my colleagues who I love and adore - for conversations which challenge and enlighten - for small children (2-5) who are eager to learn to swim

Nov 6: for children and youth who ask big questions - for families who take an active role in raising their kids in the faith - for a church that pays me to do full time ministry

Nov 7: for vacation - for Walt Disney World and the magic it holds

Nov 8: for friends to travel with

Nov 9: for runDisney - LOVE all of there events

Nov 10: for sleep - after last night's late night I am thankful for the chance to sleep in

Nov 11: for delicious food and people who are able to create delicious recipes, for wait staff and dishwashers, for clean plates and too much to eat

Nov 12: for fireworks and relaxation

Nov 13: for phones with the ability to talk to people all over the world, for text messages and photo messages, for twitter, for instagram, for blogs, for social media, for facebook

Nov 14: for laughter, for honesty, for fun, for adventures, for travel, for the sense of all things magical, for the ability to dream big

Nov 15: for my husband, my sweet puppy dog, and for my own bed

Nov 16: for Saturdays with nothing on the calendar

Nov 17: for the congregation I serve alongside - for the 134 years of ministry and mission they have been involved in

Nov 18: for plenty of food to eat

Nov 19: for youth who ask big questions

Nov 20: for outdoor ministries

Nov 21: for the freedom to worship and pray openly

Nov 22: for great books and movies, for movie theater popcorn, for diet coke

Nov 23: for a synod who truly invests in their youth, for a congregation who assembled many thanksgiving baskets (baskets full of food for Thanksgiving) to be shared with out neighbors

Nov 24: for shutterfly, for photography, for my Nikon D300, for the gift of memory

Nov 25: for the ability to run

Nov 26: for colleagues who I love to work alongside

Nov 27: for the opportunity to be home for Thanksgiving, for a dog who travels well, for a husband who loves to drive

Nov 28: I am ridiculously thankful for sooooo much, it was wonderful to wake up this morning in my parents (new to them) house, surrounded by my husband, Dakota, my brother, Nala (my brother's semi nutso dog), and my parents. And soon, my grandparents (who I adore), my Aunt and Uncle and a couple of my cousins, along with another uncle, will be at the house for a feast fit for royalty. I love holidays and the ways in which it pulls together family.


Okay, so looking back I probably should have broken this up into several posts - good on ya if you actually read this all. I am off to hang out with my family.

Thanksgiving blessings to you all!


What are you doing this Thanksgiving day?
What are your Thanksgiving traditions?
What is your favorite Thanksgiving food? pumpkin pie, homemade whip cream for me

Jellyfish

This past weekend Marc and I went down to Minneapolis and met up with my family and a friend. While we went to the cities to see Wicked (which is unbelievably awesome), we also managed to squeeze in a quick trip to the aquarium (we had wanted to go to the zoo, however the rain prevented that). Anyways, here are some pictures I took of the jellyfish (they were ridiculously fun to see - some pictures are better than others however, I am still learning how to use my camera). Anyways, here is a glimpse at some of the jellyfish we saw:

This picture is my favorite.

Do you have an aquarium by you?

Do you like going to the zoo?

Have you seen Wicked (if you haven't figure out when it will be near you next and go, it is seriously that good)?

South Dakota Trip

me and a couple of my favorite people

I just think this is a funny picture of me
Marc too 

 This pa This past weekend, Marc and I took a quick trip back to South Dakota (weekend fun is hard when you are a pastor and don't get your Sundays off, while four Sundays off a year may sound like a lot, when everything happens on a weekend it never seems like enough.), we ran home late Thursday night and made it back on Saturday so I could work Sunday morning. While we were home we stayed with my parents, saw my BFF Hartj, spent a little time with some old roommates, spent time with my grandparents, aunt, uncles, some cousins, my brother, and his girlfriend. IT WAS WONDERFUL.
Home does the soul good. We spent Friday doing all sorts of great things: eating at a yummy burger join in downtown Sioux Falls (J.L. Beers - I had never heard of it), walked around the falls, took pictures of geese (not picture of Marc playing with my good camera), talked, talked, stopped by at a friend's school, took Dakota to the dog park, saw what will hopefully be my parent's new house in the beginning of November, and most importantly got to go to my Grandfather's 85th birthday party!
   It was so delightful to be back home. I love Brainerd, but it is hard to be so far away from family.st weekend, Marc and I took a quick trip back to South Dakota (weekend fun is hard when you are a pastor and don't get your Sundays off, while four Sundays off a year may sound like a lot, when everything happens on a weekend it never seems like enough.), we ran home late Thursday night and made it back on Saturday so I could work Sunday morning. While we were home we stayed with my parents, saw my BFF Hartj, spent a little time with some old roommates, spent time with my grandparents, aunt, uncles, a cousin, my brother, and his girlfriend. IT WAS WONDERFUL.
Home does the soul good. We spent Friday doing all sorts of great things: eating at a yummy burger join in downtown Sioux Falls (J.L. Beers - I had never heard of it), walked around the falls, took pictures of geese (not picture of Marc playing with my good camera), talked, talked, stopped by at a friend's school, took Dakota to the dog park, saw what will hopefully be my parent's new house in the beginning of November, and most importantly got to go to my Grandfather's 85th birthday party!
   It was so delightful to be back home and it was wonderful to be back in Brainerd sleeping in my own bed. It was a great time! Perhaps soon you will get a photo dump with a ton of pictures of geese (why? - good question - however some of the pictures are kind of fun so we'll see when I actually get around to getting them off my camera).

This picture just makes me laugh, I don't think anyone is looking in the same
direction - and Grandma's face is enough to make me laugh aloud

Grandpa and Grandma with their kids
my dad is the one on the far right

I realize this picture isn't perfect, however it just makes me smile

Today is Grandpa's 85th Birthday! So here is Happy Birthday to the best Grandpa in the world (he'll never read this - he isn't all that tech savy - don't worry I already called him to wish him a Happy Birthday this morning)

How was your weekend?
Are your grandparents still alive?

That Moment When......

Today, was full of things that I am going to label "That Moment When...." - while nothing horrible or even major happened it was full of "that moment when" type moments.


That Moment When:

• I wanted to be able to call up my WTS classmates and say "Let's meet at Los Aztecas for lunch and a margarita. It has been a long morning already and I need time with you all."
• I wanted to throw my computer out my office window after I restarted it for the 18th (literally) time today because it wasn't doing what it was suppose to be doing
• I wish and longed for an easier way to pay off debt rather than slowly but surely (it student loan debt and we just want it gone)
• I wanted to be able to call a friend who has been distant as of lately - and it is hard when I have sent countless facebook messages, made many a calls and left messages, and have text frequently - with no response
• I wanted to meet up with friends for dinner or drinks afterwards - just to shoot the breeze and catch up on life 
• distance sucks
• I wanted to go back to summer 2005 and spend time with that group of people
• I wanted to know if/when (it is beginning to feel more like an if at this point) our house will ever sell so that I can try to plan some time to move and I knew if I could dream about other houses or other places to live or if I shouldn't even be looking (I look at houses online about once a week in the pipe dream hope that our house sells)
• I daydream about having a "traditional" job with 8:00am - 5:00pm hours with weekends and major holidays off
• I wished my to-do list was finished
• I wanted the camp I am co-directing to run itself

I did also have several great moments:

• I crossed many a thing off my to-do list
• I booked a flight for my favorite continuing education event and it was only $208 and it is a direct flight and the time of the flights are awesome (I didn't even know amazing flights at a decent price existed anymore)
• I thought I had to write a sermon for this weekend and my colleague is actually doing it (this saves some serious time - I do enjoy preaching it is just a matter of budgeting my time to give it what it deserves)
• I went on a fabulous run tonight with my favorite golden retriever
• I books a group campsite for a group from our church to go camping the first weekend in September
• and I have people who are interested in going 
• this is a first of this type of event for our church
• I got into the mission trip site & the week I was hoping for for next summer 
• it is crazy how early you have to book this crap
• We served our 1,000 pb&j sandwich (sack lunch w/ veggies, sandwich, fruit, and whatever else we put in them) during operation sandwich with the aid of over 450 volunteers
• take that hunger - take that people who said there wasn't a need - take that people who repeatedly told us we will fail - eat up kids!

How is your day going?

Do you ever have "that moment when"?

What was the best thing that happened today?

Apostle Islands - Honeymoon Part 1

Sunday after we got married Marc and I left town and headed to the Apostle Islands in Wisconsin. We wanted to stay close so we didn't have a ridiculous drive on Sunday but we also didn't want to run into people we knew. So we chose to take the 3 hour and fifteen minute drive to Bayfield, Wisconsin. It was PERFECT. We rented a part of a cabin (it was an old house, I think, that had been divided into two separate spaces) that had a bedroom, a living room, a bathroom, and a small kitchen all overlooking the Apostle Islands. It. Was. Perfect. We had an absolutely marvelous time. We cooked most of our meals at the cabin (we went out twice and cooked the rest ourselves) - mostly over the open fire (because we love cooking over coals) and it was semi-luxurious camping - exactly what we wanted. While we were there we delighted in several things: mopeding on Madeline Island, lunch out [totally recommend the Beach Club], a massage (a gift from my brother-in-law and sister-in-law) [recommend Superior Body Message and Spa], dinner out [definitely check out Ethel's], hammock napping, kayaking, state park wandering, beach chilling, ice cream (seriously, what would a trip be without ice cream), many a good walk, lots of conversation, and hiking at Houghton Falls. On the way home we stopped in Duluth, eat at Burrito Union, and walked around Canal Park a bit. IT WAS WONDERFUL.
            Not totally a downfall but it was a little bit annoying, I am certain it will look amazing when it is all done, but, main street in Bayfield was totally under construction when we went there, it workout fine in the end, but it was strange to have certain things not open and what not due to the construction or have the bathrooms not work because the water has been shut off. We did decide however that it totally makes us want to go back when they have all the construction done to see how it all turned out.
             Houghton Falls was totally an accidental find (thank you trip advisor app). We were debating what to do and so I pulled up the trip advisor app on my ipad and was searching for something semi-active that we could do because the weather had turned out to be GORGEOUS that day, I happened to stumble upon a recommendation from two people (seriously saddened that only a couple people have rated this place because it rocked). It was listed as a small park that people could wander through. WE LOVED IT, we hiked and climbed all over, there are even trails that will lead you down and by the water. It was such an adventure and we only saw one person the whole time were were there and it was someone with a big fancy camera that I was drooling over who was walking out of the park as we were walking in other than that it was empty other than us. I took a TON of photos (not that this should shock you) - it was gorgeous and breath taking. You could tell (unfortunately) that not a ton of people go through this sweet park. We spent HOURS wandering around in here and taking photos and soaking it all in.
                 Mopeding (I am not certain that is actually a verb, but I am going to use it as one, and don't really care what others think) on Madeline Island ROCKED! Seriously, AMAZING, and worth every penny. We debated and hemmed and hawed a little bit (mostly because we are trying to be really wise with our money and pay of some debt (college and car) and so we went back and forth as to what we were doing and what not and eventually decided to go for it and rent a couple of mopeds. I LOVED IT, Marc LOVED IT. I totally recommend it, we went through a company on Madeline Island called "Motion to Go" they were wonderful to work with. We explored the island, stopped at the state park, explored the city beach, and rode all over the island. We seriously would love to get mopeds some day, we had that much fun. Did you know that mopeds get 80 miles to the gallon, do you know how many trips to work, the grocery store, hospitals and nursing home visits I could do on one gallon of gas?!?! A LOT. It was a wonderful way to explore the island and get to see it all. We did say that when we come back we would love to bring our bikes as well because that also would have been a great way to experience the island. While we were out and about on our mopeds we happened to come across an Indian burial ground and we took the time to get out and walk around it (it isn't more than about a city block), it was crazy to see how old people were when they died and to see graves over a couple hundred years old. It was interesting to see how short the life expectancy was at that time, and the number of infant/children deaths saddened my heart and I gave thanks for modern medicine and vaccines. I imagine that a lot of people miss out on the Indian burial grounds because it isn't well marked and is sort of off the beaten path.

         We ate lunch at the Beach Club on Madeline Island and I seriously ate the world's best white fish tacos, I was a little skeptical because fish tacos are either really good or REALLY NASTY, and these were by far the best I have ever had, I even took a picture of them to remember their goodness. The trip advisor app on my phone and ipad became a great resource for us as we were trying to find places to eat and things to do. We used it a lot! I am thankful for the community of travelers who have given their stamp of approval to places and things so that we also got to experience them. It was marvelous, I didn't do much research before we left for the trip, I obviously was busy prepping for the wedding and prepping for this trip sort of fell to the wayside. It worked out for the best! Thankfully our cabin had wifi access which made searching for yummy places to eat and things to do much easier.
    After the chaos (wonderful chaos, but chaos none the less) of the wedding and having so much family and friends around I was happy to have a few days to just get some overdue rest and relaxation. While I know the wedding was all about Marc and I an the weekend was nearly perfect, I seriously felt like I hardly ever had any time with Marc, and we really didn't have much time to ourselves to talk and process everything that was going on. It was fun on the trip to hear things that he really enjoyed about our wedding weekend and the things that he thought were funny. I also got to hear a bit about stuff that his family said about the wedding. I am thankful that we went right away to at least get a couple of days away. Marc was suppose to have to go back to work on Thursday, but he didn't due to a job change which all fell into place right before we got married.

    He had his last day at his old job on the Friday before we got married and then had the next full week off (and I had to work the Thursday after our wedding) and then began his new job (HUGE BLESSING) the following Monday. It was funny how it all fell together. Hence our short quick vacation together. We did decide that we were going to go somewhere warm this coming winter when we both are suffering from serious vitamin d withdrawl. So this coming January we traded in a timeshare (thanks mom and dad) to Puerto Villarta, Mexico and will be spending a week down there together. We also realized that it is amazing to be in northern Minnesota and Wisconsin in June-August so we would be hard pressed to leave at this time. So we are calling it a two part honeymoon, part 1 in the apostle islands, and part 2 in Mexico this winter.

Sorry this post got so long, I never intended it to, however, thanks for reading. I am hoping to do long posts with lots of pictures about our wedding one of these days, we are hoping to get the photos from our other photographer soon. I will hopefully then be able to give you some of the details and highlights for me from the weekend we got married.

Have you been to Puerto Villarta any recommendations?
Any fun travels coming up for you?
Are you doing anything fun for the fourth of July?

Hi Ho Hi Ho it's off to the Apostle Islands we go....

My car is pointed east and we are off to northern Wisconsin to the Apostle Islands and we can't wait. The kayaks are loaded up on top of my car and the bikes on the back. We are set and on our way (now hopefully the weather agrees with us that we want to spend copious amounts of time outside). We have rented a small semi- rustic (which I am thinking means it has a bathroom - I am not 100% sure and frankly don't really care) cabin on the shore in Bayfield. The area looks gorgeous and everyone who has told us about the area loves it, so we are jazzed. Now we have four hours to chill in the car, don't worry I packed all the essential road trip snack food (soda, cinnamon gummy bears, sunflower seeds, and snack mix).

We had a luncheon bbq with lots of our family and friends who were still hanging out around the Brainerd area, lots of people are sticking around to explore the area for a few days. It was lovely to be able to see them all one more time before we departed, they came a long ways to be with us yesterday and I am glad lots of them are making family vacations out of it while they are here. I LOVE my family and my extended family! My mom is staying with Dakota because her brother's family and a few other family friends will be in town for a few days. That will be great for Dakota to have the chance to run and play with everyone while they spend their days hiking and exploring, I heard word that they may even venture up to Duluth.

There will be a full photo review of the wedding coming once we get back home (Wednesday or Thursday depending on how antsy I am to get them uploaded and posted) - so don't think you are getting short changed on that piece at all. It was soooooooooooooooo much fun to see soooooooooooooooooo many family and friends (yes all those "o"s were necessary).

We plan on taking more than a couple days just into the new year and are going somewhere warm. We figured since June, July, and August really are the prime times to be up in northern Minnesota/Wisconsin we were foolish to leave the beautiful weather when next winter we will be more than game to escape. So there will be a honeymoon part 2 come this winter.


What is a road trip essential food for you?
Where is one of your favorite places to road trip to?

Wedding Day

Let's be honest here, I am not actually posting this today, I have it set as a delayed post, I am certain that keeping up with this is not on my to-do list or even relatively close to my priority. However being slightly OCD I have mastered the "schedule post" setting on here and have managed to schedule one to be posted today (because I can, not because I actually think I will have anything that riveting to say). And I am totally random and think it is fun to think there is a post going up on the morning of my wedding.

First off I can't believe today is actually here! Seriously!

Anyways. Today's schedule for me is:
9:00 am - Hair appointment
1:00 pm- Pictures begin
3:30 pm -Wedding
4:30 pm - Pictures at the Arb
5:30 pm - Reception


I couldn't be more excited, when we got engaged last summer June seemed like forever away, seriously, however here is not only June but June 8, it's go time, time to get married.

For those of you who know my love of Disney you will appreciate this. So down the back of my dress, there are a TON of buttons and every third button has a cluster of beads in a particular design. While all of the bead clusters are fun and what not, my mom had the lady while doing my alterations switch out the last bead cluster for this, a hidden Mickey. Mom knew my love of finding hidden Mickeys while at Disney World and Disneyland and thought it would be fun to hide one on my dress. In all reality 99% of the people will never even notice it, but I LOVE IT! It is the very last bead cluster at the bottom of my train. Ridiculously fun for sure.

I will at some point post more pictures of today but for now - you get a glimpse at my hidden Mickey.


Did you have any Disney shout-outs at your wedding?
Did you have anything a little silly that you were excited about that didn't matter to most people?

THIS WEEKEND

I get married in 3 days. RIDICULOUS. (thanks for putting up with so many wedding related posts)

I think I am still a little shocked that it is coming up so quickly and that it has taken so long to get here.
The weather forecast doesn't look horrible so we should be fine. Let's be honest the church and the reception hall are both air conditioned so we'll be fine.

I. Am. Jazzed.

The planning will be done.
The party will begin.
Family and friends will gather.
I am excited for it all
and for it all to be over.

I. Am. Jazzed.

Family Arriving

MOM is here. She arrived Thursday night. Seriously, why is everything better when mom arrives?!
Since she has arrived she has been putting massive amounts of mason jars through the dish washer and spoiling my dog. Perfect all around - except Dakota goes through withdrawls when she leaves - for one reason or another Dakota can't figure out why when my parents come she gets to hang out with them all day and eat people food. When they leave however she spends time in her crate when I am at work and only gets to eat dog food.

Marc and I have family coming in from all over the country for our wedding. We were attempting to make a list of the states that will be represented at our wedding and here is what we have come up with so far:

Minnesota
South Dakota
Wisconsin
North Dakota
Colorado
Connecticut
Arizona
Texas
Illinois
Montana
Iowa
Michigan
Alaska
Tennessee
Idaho


*This list represents not necessarily where people are originally from but rather where they are currently living and coming from to get to our wedding - this also does not include the people that we sent invitations to who RSVPed and said that they couldn't make it.*

As we thought through our list of family and friends and how far some of them are traveling to be with us we were humbled for sure. Our. Families. Rock.

One Week

Warning: I have no clue what this week will entail in terms of posts however I am fairly wedding focused- sooooo brace yourself for probably an overdose of wedding related posts.

I am over the top excited. Seriously.
A week from today I will be getting married. I am jazzed.
I am super excited for the day and to marry Marc.
I am also beyond jazzed to be having a lot of my family (on both my mom and dad's side) and friends making the trek up north to bear witness to our marriage and then to help us celebrate. On my dad's side of the family there seriously hasn't been a wedding since I was 10 (we are talking 18 years ago) and on my mom's side of the family there was one more recently but I wasn't there the last one I attend I was a freshmen in high school (we are talking 14 or so years ago) so we all haven't really gathered in forever. My dad's side of the family had a big gathering a the turn of the century (13 years ago) and my mom's side of the family hasn't had a big gathering in a while.
Everyone is slowly but surely starting to trickle in this week. It will be wonderful. I can't wait to give everyone hugs and show them around my neck of the woods. I can't wait for my friends to gather and have friends from a wide variety of places gather together.I am excited to say the least.
This week I am going to attempt to work Monday-Thursday. Thursday will be easy because it is the kick off for our Summer Stretch Ministries and I love working with the middle schoolers, Monday-Wednesday could be rough though. We'll see what I can do and how well I can focus. Must. Focus. Must. Get. Work. Done.
YAY friends and family coming to town.
Notes to self:

• turn in final numbers to the caterer
• enjoy this week
• enjoy time with family
• remember: it will all turn out wonderfully and come together probably better than you anticipated

Nine: Pictures of you and your spouse/bestie

For the next few Tuesdays I am linking up with Lauren at Life. Love. Lauren and Tiffany at The Austin Family Diary for their Tuesday Topics. This week's topic is "Nine: Pictures of you and your spouse/bestie" While I am totally indecisive and have friends and family who mean the world to me, I have decided to go with nine pictures of some of my favorite people, I couldn't pick just one - plus I am not married (11 days and counting) yet, soooo I am altering the questions slightly. Soooo without further delay, please meet 9 very important (groups of) people in my world (listed in no particular order). I. AM. BLESSED.

My Parents: JT & KT
& I seriously can't forget Mickey & Minnie Mouse

BFF: Suz
Goofy - Seriously love all Disney Characters

My Fiance (only for another 11 days - till we get married)
My Sweet Puppy: Dakota 

More BFFs: Stacy, Linnea (who is now much bigger), Vicki
And of course the Minnesota Twins

This group of people is where the line between family & friends gets blurred
these people are as much family as those who I am blood related to
LOVE THEM

My St-End (as in the second half to Best Friend)
remember the necklaces that broke in half that you had when you were twelve
yeah, he gave me one & is definitely on the BFF list
And I cannot forget the Green Bay Packers

BFF: Molita (some call her Trish)
Seriously LOVE this girl - everyone needs to be BFFs with her

Seriously, I feel bad for everyone else in the world because
I have the world's best family

BFF: Hartj (nick name obviously, part of her maiden name)
most people call her Kate or Katie

This list just reminds me time and time again how blessed I am. I could have posted 12,000 pictures of people who I love and adore and can't fathom life without! I give thanks and praise for the people in my life!