Catching up

Whew - now that I have finally posted all my blogs about our honeymoon, I can blog about other things we have going on these days...

Brent was offered to go full-time with the Waseca Police Department last week!! He officially starts full-time status September first (which means a pay raise and better benefits), but he started working full-time hours this week. We didn't realize how lucky we were the first few weeks he was working as he was only working Sunday through Thursday and had Friday's and Saturday's off and he only worked 6:30 am - 3:00 pm, so we were able to spend our evenings and weekends together. Well all that ends tonight - bummer! Tonight he starts working 6:30 pm - 3:00 am for at least the next 3 weeks. Kind of a bummer since I usually don't get home from work until 5:45ish. I teased him and told him he should have dinner ready for me when I get home every night, but that didn't seem to go over too well. I'm sure going to miss having him around at night with me - just as I was getting used to it too! He also has to work all weekend, but I have plans for some major organizing around the house! Even picked up my mom's label maker the other day - watch out! :)

Monday we started looking at new furniture for the living room, but decided a better investment for us right now would be to start working on fixing up my basement. 2 years ago I got 2 feet of sewer water in my basement, which cause a lot of damage. The cleaning company that came tore out all the carpet, cut the sheet rock down to the studs 2 feet up and took off the doors. Thus, my basement has been 1 big mess for the last 2 years! I just didn't have the money to fix it up! Well, Brent has decided that on his days off he is going to start working on it! So we picked up insulation and sheet rock at Lowe's on Monday. I'm so anxious to get this project going and completed. We have plans to paint the basement floor, paint the walls and add wainscoting and white trim down there to help brighten it up. We currently have my old TV and Brent's furniture down there, which includes a ton of chairs (we laugh about our chair museum)!

For now, here is a current picture of my basement with hopes of having updated pictures to share in the near future...



Also, Maggie had a cyst removed a few weeks ago and had stitches in her leg for two weeks, so it's been a long time since we've gone on our nightly walk (yikes, I think it was pre-wedding)! And, my body is telling me I need to get back out there, so tonight we headed out in the heat. It felt good even though Maggie's tongue was hanging down to the floor, I know she enjoyed it too. We even got to see the hubby in action as we was driving the squad car around town.

And, since we don't have any kids, here is a parting shot of Maggie cuddling with her blanky and her toy - so cute!

Honeymoon - Days 5 & 6

Okay, I've been a bit of a slacker at updating my blog and adding the last post about our honeymoon. Things have been just crazy around here with adjusting to married life and Brent's work schedule...

So, day 5 of our honeymoon we decided we wanted to see a "real" east-coast lighthouse since the one in Atlantic City was such a bust. While we were in Atlantic City, we had picked up some brochures and one of them happened to be about Lighthouses. We discovered there was one on the north side of Long Beach Island. But before we headed there, we thought we would check out parasailing! This is probably the most daring thing I've ever decided to do, however once we started checking in to how much it would cost us, we decided it was way too expensive and to hold out until we go on our tropical vacation this winter (yes, we have already decided to take a 2nd honeymoon this winter somewhere warm, most likely, Jamaica).

So, we decided to just head straight to the lighthouse. We packed a lunch for us to take along and make the trip "north". The drive probably only took us 15-20 minutes. It probably would have been faster except for all the traffic - it was pretty crazy. Once we started to walk towards the lighthouse, we decided the trip was worth it as this is the kind of lighthouse we had in mind! As I said, we had packed a lunch, so we sat at a picnic table near the shore and watched the people walking around and the boats in the water. It was a cloudy day, which made it feel fairly cool since we were so close to the water. Nearby, we saw bunch of kids hanging out on these rocks and looking down between the cracks. We were curious, so after we finished our lunch, we headed out on the rocks. On our way out there, a boy was holding up his prize - a huge starfish! I guess the kids can buy these little poles and a small amount of bait and try to catch things like crabs and other sea creatures. The starfish was pretty cool as I don't think I've ever seen a live one so up close and personal before!

Our first glimpse of the lighthouse through the trees.

Full view of the lighthouse.

After that excitement, we got in line to climb up inside the lighthouse. The line was pretty long, but moved along fairly quickly. There are only a certain number of people allowed to climb the stairs at once - they were pretty narrow.

Finally it was our turn! We started heading up and the first few flights weren't so bad, but about half-way up I was really getting tired and winded! Whew - I'm not in the best shape! But hey - there were 217 steps to climb! My legs were shaking by the time we got to the top! After taking some pictures and checking out the view, it was time to head back down the stairs. A little bit easier, but still a lot of work!

Brent climbing the stairs.

Me climbing the stairs.

Newlyweds and a lighthouse.

After our lighthouse excitement, we headed back down to the southern part of the island. We had remembered seeing a museum that we wanted to check out. Apparently they just started this museum fairly recently and it showcased all kinds of sea treasures. There were old diving suits, artifacts recovered from ship wreaks and lots of old photos. It was all very interesting.

On display at the museum - reminded me of the titanic!

After our brief history lesson and the museum, we headed back to the beach house to relax. Brent's idea of relaxing is watching TV, while I headed outside to enjoy the weather and read a good book. However, reading always seems to make me tired so not long after, I headed back in and took a nap! Nothing better than a nap on vacation!

We decided for our last night on the Island we were going to dress up and have a nice dinner. Brent had brought along dress pants, shirt and a tie and I brought a cute pink dress to wear. We got all gussied up and headed back to the restaurant we ate at our first night - Bistro 14. We again brought our own bottle of wine to enjoy. We also requested a table by the windows so we could enjoy a view of the bay and the sunset. I again had seafood for dinner and we decided to splurge and get dessert. Brent had chocolate ice cream (what else?) and I had a fruit torte. YUMMY!

All dressed up for dinner and a gorgeous sunset!

After dinner, we noticed the sunset was absolutely beautiful again, so we headed over to the deck closer to the bay and enjoyed the scenery.

We headed back to the beach house to get packed up and get to bed early since we had to leave fairly early in the morning to catch our flight home. As we were heading out Friday morning we looked outside and realized the sunrise was breathtaking. We hadn't been up early enough to see the sunrise any of the other days, so I had Brent stop near the ocean so I could take some pictures. Ahhh...makes me want to go back!

Sunrise over the ocean.

Our entire honeymoon was perfect. We couldn't have asked for better weather and a better place to stay! We will always remember our honeymoon at the beach!

Honeymoon - Day 4

The fourth day of our honeymoon, we woke up to beautiful weather outside and decided take the Jet ski out for a ride. As I mentioned before, I'm not a huge fan of water, so I made Brent take it pretty easy. It was fun just riding around on the water checking out the scenery. On our way back into the inlet where the house was, the jet ski started beeping at us. We weren’t really sure what was going on at first, but then we realized the screen said “heat”. Suddenly, smoke started coming out of the bottom! We remembered that Brian had told us that seaweed can get stuck under the jet ski and we would have to clean it out if that happened. So, we shut it off and Brent jumped into the water and cleaned it all out. We started it up again, but it still said “heat” and was still smoking, so in order to not damage it any further, Brent had to swim/push the jet ski (with me still on) back to the house! Luckily, we weren't too far away - like out in the bay or something. We put it back on it's dock and made sure to leave a note for Brian and Beth. All we could think was how we just took the jet ski out for a little ride and we broke it! We talked to Brian after we got home and he said not to worry about it, that it’s happened before. We still felt bad about it!

After our jet ski adventure, we decided to pack a lunch and head to the beach. Brian and Beth had all the beach things we needed - an umbrella, towels, a lunch bag as well as a stroller thingy to load it all into. With just a 4 block walk, we were at the beach on the ocean - so awesome! We mostly just layed in the sun and relaxed. After awhile, we decided to get in the water. We headed out into an area where there weren't too many people. The water was pretty shallow. We had gone out quite a ways and the water was only up to mid-thigh. Pretty soon, we noticed a lifeguard trying to get our attention. We waded back to the beach, and he told us that the water seemed shallow there, but we were getting really close to a drop off where we could get swept under by the waves! He told us it was safer to swim between where these 2 poles were set up - guess there wasn't a drop off there! We thanked him for letting us know - us Midwesterners don't know much about the ocean! After wading in the water and letting the waves crash into us, we headed back to our blankets.

The ocean with the waves rolling in.

laying on the beach - catching some sun!

Not long after that, we heard a scream. We looked over and not too far from us was a mom frantically screaming and yelling for help. No one was really responding at first, so Brent ran over there (since he has first responder training). After Brent got there though, a life guard reached the mom. Apparently, a young boy had been digging a hole in the sand. Now, we weren't quite sure if he had been burying himself in the sand or what, but all we do know is that sand had collapsed around him and covered his head where he couldn't breathe. Brent said the boy was blue when he reached the boy. The lifeguard gave the boy a rescue breath and a lot of people had shown up to respond at that point. Brent came back over to our blanket and we watched the police show up and EMT's. They put the boy on a board and hauled him out of there. He was breathing by then and seemed to be ok, but they had to take him to the hospital to have him checked out. We were glad everything turned out ok, but kept thinking about how scary it was!

After all that excitement, we decided to head back to the house to get ready for a night out. We decided to check out a restaurant called “The Beach House”, Pretty appropriate, we thought! Though, we mostly decided to go there because we had a coupon! :) The restaurant was very nice and the food was delicious! In keeping with my seafood eating pledge, I ordered stuffed shrimp - yum!

Ready for a night out!

We decided this was going to be our “night on the town”, so we headed to a bar called Jo Pops where a band called the nerds was playing. At this point in our trip, we really didn't have much money left, we when we found out the cover to get in was $15 each, we decided to skip that! Instead, we went to a bar/restaurant called Buckaloos where a single guy was singing and playing a guitar. We ordered a few drinks and just hung out. After a little bit, I said we should ask him to play “Brown-eyed Girl” when not 2 seconds after that, he did! Pretty crazy! Since that is my song, I got up and started dancing - I was the only one. A couple other ladies came over to dance with me so I wasn't alone and they convinced Brent to get out on the dance floor as well. Like I said, we didn't have much money left, so we only had the one drink and then decided to head home.

Honeymoon - Day 3

On the third day of our honeymoon, we decided to check out Atlantic City, which was only about 30 miles from where we were staying.

Sign on a pillar coming into the city.

Pulling into the city, we saw lots of buildings (casinos). We didn’t even know where to start, but as we were driving, we saw a Harley shop, so we had to stop! We did buy ourselves each a t-shirt (can’t ever have too many)! Where we parked was also a really cool, old firehouse. I took a picture. I took pictures of EVERYTHING on this trip. I think Brent got a bit annoyed, but I know he loves having the photos to look at to remember our trip.

Check out all the traffic and the tall buildings/casinos

We had parked in kind of a shady neighborhood, so we decided to find a better parking spot. We did manage to find a lot for only $3. Most wanted to charge $10! We then walked a few blocks to the boardwalk. To be honest, we really weren’t that impressed. The shops seemed kind of run down and a bit dirty and there were a TON of people on the beaches. We headed north on the boardwalk and stopped at a few shops, an art/history museum and we started heading towards a lighthouse that was on the map. Well, we found the lighthouse....in the middle of a bunch of tall buildings! This was also in a sketchy neighborhood, so we decided to turn around and head back to the main part of the boardwalk. I did take a picture of the lighthouse from where we could see it. Not too impressive. Also, we found out later that it cost $7 to get inside.

The boardwalk

Can this even be called a lighthouse?

After that, we headed down the southern part of the boardwalk, back towards the casinos. I have never really gambled and Brent hasn’t done much either, but we thought we would try our luck. We each put $5 into some nickel slots. I pretty much just lost all of mine. Brent did manage to win $10, but we decided to split it and try again. Unfortunately, we didn’t win anything after that.

Playing the slots.

Me playing the slots.

For dinner, we decided to go to the Hard Rock Cafe right on the boardwalk. The food was really good. Actually, it was almost too good. I ate so much, I felt sick! I vowed not to do that again!

Oh, and probably our most interesting story of the day...we got pooped on by a seagull! Those darn birds were EVERYWHERE and flying around like crazy. I kept worrying about getting pooped on and all of a sudden, I felt a spray of something wet hit my cheek! I asked Brent, "Did we just get sh!t on?” He said “Actually, we got poop sprayed!” Gross! We did get it wiped off, but that was so disgusting!

Damn Seagulls!

So, all in all, we really weren't too impressed with Atlantic City. After telling a few people this, we were told we should have gone at night because all the lights are pretty impressive. I think their sayings is “Always turned On” or something like that. So, if we do ever decide to go again, we will definitely go at night!

Honeymoon - Day 2

The second day of our honeymoon started out with Brent and I waking up at 9:00. We were amazed that we were awake so early since we had been up so early the next day. One look outside and we knew we couldn't say indoors for long - it was a beautiful, sunny day out!

The view of the deck from the back of the house.

We headed to a restaurant called "The Chicken or the Egg" or as the locals call it "The Chegg". I am always hungry for Breakfast so, I got french toast stuffed with strawberries and cream cheese, it was soooo good! Brent had the hungry man breakfast, which he said was also good.

After breakfast, we decided to wander up and down Long Beach Island. There were tons of little shops on each side. I loved checking everything out (and I'm sure Brent did as well - ha!), there were so many cute things. We did have to do the tourist thing and we both purchased LBI t-shirts and sweatshirts.

Beach Haven sign - this is the part of the island the house was on.

Lots of cute shops to explore.

The view of the bay.

After checking out all of the shops, we headed to the southern tip of the island. This was our first glimpse of the ocean. The sand was white and the water was blue, it was so beautiful. We took our shoes off and sank our toes in the sand and made our way out to get our feet wet in the ocean. There were quite a few houses that faced the ocean. The only thing we could think of was "rich bastards"! Trust me, these houses had to be expensive, but what a view!

The ocean - so pretty!

Our sandy toes!

We then headed back to the beach house to relax on the deck and drink some adult beverages. While moving his chair, Brent got a "HUGE" (his words) sliver in his big toe. Needless to say, I had to perform minor surgery on his toe. I worked on it for quite awhile until I got most of it out, there was just one tiny piece left that was too deep for me to dig out. I think we spent at least 15 minutes each day after that working on getting that last piece out (he just couldn't leave it alone).

After the surgical procedure...we headed to Panzones restaurant for pizza. This was probably our cheapest meal on the island. Of course, we couldn't get anything fun. Brent is such a picky eater, so we ordered half pepperoni and half sausage - boring, but good.

That was pretty much it for day 2...stay tuned for day 3!

Honeymoon - Day 1

Brent and I left for our honeymoon early Sunday, July 5th. We did manage to watch the fireworks with his brother and family in Apple Valley Saturday night. Then, we headed back to the hotel to get some sleep before our 3:30 am wake up call!

Waiting for our flight.

We flew in to Philadelphia airport and picked up our rental car. A Chrysler Sebring (with New York license plates - we thought that was cool). The drive to Beach Haven, NJ took us a little over an hour and a half. Driving onto Long Beach Island was amazing. Everywhere you looked there were little shops and restaurants and everyone was dressed in their beach gear. We pulled up to Brent's cousin Brian's beach house to find no one there! Brian, his wife Beth and their 2 girls were supposed to be there when we arrived. We walked around to the back of the house where they have a ginormous deck that looks out onto the bay. We noticed their boat was gone, but we didn't have to wait long and they returned. Since Brian works in Toronto and they have a house in upper New Jersey, they only stay at the Beach house when they have free weekends. Wish I had a weekend beach house! :)

Our rental car. Pretty nice ride!

After our hellos (we had just seen them at our wedding), we ran and grabbed some lunch while Brian showed us around the island a bit. After eating, Brian took Brent and I out on the Jet Ski. It's a multiple person Jet ski, so we could all go at once. I had never been on a jet ski and it was interesting being on such a large body of water, but it was also fun, although I wouldn't let him go too fast since I have a small fear of water (that happens when you can't swim). Brian showed us where to go and not go out in the bay (there are surprisingly quite a few shallow spots in the bay that you don't want to get stuck on). After our tour, we headed back and all of us went out on the boat. Brent and Bridget (Brian's daughter) went out on the tube and the rest of us just relaxed on the boat.

Brent and Bridget on the tube in the bay

View of the inlet the house is on. This leads out to the bay.

After our boat ride, we all got showered and dressed for a nice dinner. Brian and Beth took us out to a restaurant called "Bistro 14". This restaurant was a "B.Y.O.B." establishment. I have never heard of a restaurant where you bring your own booze. We did bring a few bottles of wine, some beer and malibu. I guess liquor licenses are very expensive on the island, so most places allow you to bring your own. They even open your wine bottles for you and bring you glasses. A nice way to save some money on dinner, which is a good thing because most of the restaurants are not cheap!

Brian and Brent at the restaurant and the "B.Y.O.B" sign!

After dinner, we headed to Fantasy Island, an amusement park on the island. The girls went on a few rides - their favorite was the "monster roller coaster". I even managed to talk Brent into going for a ride on the Ferris Wheel - he had never been on one!

View of Fantasy Island from the Ferris Wheel.

Brian had to leave the house at 4:00 am the next day to catch his plane for work, so we all headed back and went to bed (Brent and I were also tired from our early morning flight). The bed we had was so comfortable, we sleep really well! We didn't even hear Brian or Beth leave the next morning!

To be continued...

The Big Move

We are currently 17 days away from the wedding! I can't believe it, the time has gone so fast! We got news last week that Brent will be able to move up here before the wedding. He has applied for a police officer position with Waseca a few months ago and we have patiently been waiting for the job offer (after 2 interviews and an extensive background check), Brent was in the top 3. He got the call from the Waseca Chief of Police on May 25th. He was runner up for the full-time position, but they were offering him the part-time position. He decided to accept the part-time position because it will average to 32 hours a week with pretty decent pay, benefits and paid time off. We are hoping that his taking this job will help him get his foot in the door and hopefully get a full-time position in the near future (Waseca thinks they will hire full-time again in 4-6 months). We are just grateful that he will be able to move in before the wedding and we don't have to worry about a long-distance marriage!

So, I will be heading down to Iowa this weekend while Brent works, I will be packing up his house! Then, next weekend we will be moving his stuff up here (I really need to make some room for his stuff - I can't believe how 1 person can fill up a 4 bedroom house)! His last day of work in Hampton will be June 24th. 

Brent has been up here this week to take his psych test in Minneapolis (which took 4 hours) and a physical at the clinic in town. His anticipated start date in June 29th, but he has to talk to them yet to determine if they want him to work a week and then take a week off for our honeymoon, or if they just want him to wait to start until after we get back.

I'm looking forward to finally being able to be with him everyday (although, I'm sure there will be an adjustment period, we are both used to living by ourselves). Can't wait!!

Bachelorette Party

I'm a little behind on posting about my bachelorette party, but better late than never right?! My bachelorette party was held on May 23 and was hosted by my personal attendant Elizabeth and and good friend Rachel. We started out at The Tav on the Ave in Mankato where we just hung out and talked and drank! I love the "Blue Whale" drinks at the Tav and managed to drink 2 of them (they are huge), but they were out of whales, so no whale souvenir for me. :(

The girls had ordered appetizers for everyone to share and boy, did we pig out! It was yummy! Oh, and I should also mention that the girls had put together this WONDERFUL table filled with all kinds of pink-goodness! Pink table cloths, pink festooning, pink napkins, pink flowers - everything pink! I loved it! Rachel also made her awesome hostess cupcakes with pink filling and marked with a "B".

After devouring the food, it was time to open gifts. This was also a lingerie shower, so I got all kinds of cute and sexy lingerie - I'm sure Brent will love it all! I also got a sash to wear around town that night that said "The Future Mrs. Brass" as well as a badge that said "pecker inspector" pretty clever! Oh, and I also had a "Bride to Be" sparkly tiara to wear - I was all decked out.

After spending time at the Tav, we decided to head downtown Mankato. I haven't been to the bars in Mankato in forever and a new bar called the Hazard opened up recently, so we started there. The place was decorated pretty cool - lot's of western decor, but I wouldn't call it a country bar. The girls decided I needed to loosen up and have some shots (and so did some random guy at the bar), so I managed to take 5 shots! I can't even tell you the last time I had a shot. After hanging out a the Hazard for a while, we headed to South Street. We were expecting it to be packed like usual, but it was pretty dead. But, I managed to do one more shot while we were there. I thought I was doing pretty good holding all my liquor, when it suddenly hit me and I was feeling quite tipsy!

We then headed to Mums for a little while and then to the Haze to do some dancing! We decided to call it a night around 1:30. My soon-to-be sister-in-law was nice enough to haul my butt home to Waseca (Thanks Kristy)! I had to get up fairly early the next morning as I was planning on attending a friend's baby shower the next day back in Mankato. I think everyone was surprised at how well I was feeling the next day (so was I), but the next day was a different story! Seems like all of the next week, I was paying for my one night out of fun. Oh well, I had an awesome time with all of my awesome friends!!

The table decked out in pink

Me and my Blue Whale drink, minus the whale.

All the girls who spent the night out with me!
(L-R: Rachel, Karina, Paige, Shanna, Kim, Me, Nicole, Elizabeth, Connie, Kristy)
Can you believe that 2 of these girls are pregnant? Such troopers!

Bridal Shower #2

I had my second bridal shower on Sunday, May 17th. My sister, Jennifer (also my matron of honor) hosted it at her house. It was a Mary Kay shower, so guest's were invited to purchase items for me to wear for the wedding, or to bring me another gift if they chose. It was so much fun! This shower was for my side of the family, which is not very many people. Since I am the youngest child in my family, I don't have a lot of close relatives - heck, my 2nd cousins are closer to my age than my first cousins are! However, 3 of my cousins from Iowa came as well as all my bridesmaids.

We played 2 games. The first was about me. I had to leave the room and everyone had to answer questions about what I was wearing that day as well as other questions about me! Kim was the winner of that one! The 2nd game was a board filled with pictures of me from ages 6 months to current and everyone had to guess how old I was in each picture. This was a tough one! The winner of this one was my cousin Ann.

After that, I applied makeup to see which colors I wanted to wear for the big day! The other girls took turns playing and sampling the makeup. It's just like when you're little playing with mom's makeup! Everyone was so generous and I was able to get everything I wanted and more for the wedding day!

Me with 2 of my bridesmaids - Megan and Kim


My other 2 bridesmaids - Maria and Jennifer


Me and my mom!

Bridal Shower #1

I had my first bridal shower this past weekend in Rockwell, IA with Brent's family. It started at 10:00 and was just a "come and go" shower until 11:30. Pretty casual, but fun! My mom took pictures with her camera, so I have to get them from her. I just have a few images of all our loot that I had to haul home (we managed to get it all in my 2-door car even with Maggie in the back seat!), as well as my corsage and the flowers Brent brought me at the end of the shower. Yes, Brent walked in at the end of the shower with a dozen pink roses for me. All the ladies went "Awwwwwwe"! It was pretty cute! I have to get busy writing thank you notes now!

All of our gifts that I'm not allowed to use until Brent moves in!

My pink corsage!


The pink roses Brent brought to me at the shower.

I also had my first dress fitting May 2nd at Mestads in Rochester. I was a bit nervous about how it was going to fit since when she measured me she said I was in between 2 sizes and she ordered the smaller size! It fit pretty good, but the sides did need to be let out just a bit. Also had to get it bustled. The total came to over $200 in alterations and I didn't even have that much that needed to be done. They always get you some way!

I have my second bridal shower this Sunday with a few of my family members (I don't have much for an extended family) and my bridesmaids. It's going to be a Mary Kay shower so I can get some new makeup for the wedding!

I can't believe the wedding is less than 7 weeks away (46 days)! We are feeling pretty good about having everything done. We really don't have much on the list left.

The one thing we are waiting for is to hear about a job for Brent. He has had 2 interviews with the Owatonna Police Department as well as the Waseca Police Department within the last month. Either job would be wonderful as we would still be able to live in Waseca and wouldn't have to try and move right away. I am saying a prayer every spare chance I get that one of these positions works out! It would be wonderful if we could get him moved up here before the wedding. We did spend a little bit of time packing at his house last weekend in anticipation of good news. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Wedding invitations were mailed out last Monday and it has been so much fun receiving RSVP's in the mail everyday!

Dress!

Just got a letter today that my Wedding Dress is in! YAY!!  I have an appointment for May 2nd for my first fitting - hope it fits, it's been a rough winter! :)

Wedding Update

Even though I was helping my mom for most of my furlough, I did manage to get some wedding things done as well.

On Monday, Brent took the day off from work so we could head to Mankato to get some things done.

1. We met with the Pastor and went over our PREPARE inventory with him. Although, there weren't any surprises for me, it was pretty interesting and it gives us some things to think about as we count down the days to the wedding.

2. We met with the wedding coordinator at the Holiday Inn. We got a lot things for the reception figured out and need to schedule a taste test sometime, though I'm not sure when since almost every weekend from now until the wedding has something going on! Oh - and the best part - I locked my keys in my car right before our appointment. So, that was $35 down the drain!

3. We went down and applied for our marriage license. Since we had the meeting with the Pastor, that saved us $75 (well, $40 since I spent $35 getting my car open - ha!)

4. We met with the organist and soloist who will be playing/singing at the wedding. We have our songs all picked out. It was so fun to hear them played. I think Brent got a bit nervous hearing the processional song being played in church!

5. We ordered the memorial bouquet for the ceremony.

Whew - Monday was a big day for checking things off of the to-do list!

While at my mom's this week, I worked on the boutonnieres and corsages. I mostly tried to work on them while mom was napping. I was able to finish them today.

Last night, we booked our flight for our Honeymoon. Brent's cousin owns a beach house on the New Jersey shore near Atlantic City, and he is letting us stay there. We are planning on leaving July 5th and coming home July 10th. We are both really looking forward to it!

The Boutonnieres / Corsages

Mens / Womens

Furlough

This past week was my furlough from work - a week off from work - yay! But, without pay - boo!  The original plan for this week was for my mom and I to work on wedding stuff (like the boutonnieres and corsages and addressing the invites). However, God had another plan.

My mom retired at the end of January and was loving it - until the second week. She started having a lot of back pain. None of us really thought much of it because my mom has had back troubles in the past and it always gets better. But, this time was different. After over a month of pain without any improvement, she finally decided to go to the doctor. She had an MRI and on March 18th we found out that she had a tumor in her back. It was very shocking for all of us, not to mention scary. We didn't know what to expect and the worst thoughts go through your head. She had an appointment with a neurosurgeon in Rochester on the 19th. The doctor originally wanted to wait to do surgery until April 7th, but my mom insisted that was too far away and something needed to be done asap as she was in so much pain. They scheduled the surgery for March 26th. 

On March 23rd, mom went to the Owatonna hospital by ambulance because she couldn't handle the pain at home anymore. They kept her there for pain management until the day before her surgery. Then, they took her by ambulance to Rochester to get her ready for surgery.

March 26th was a long day. We arrived at the hospital at 5:30 am. Mom was taken into prep at 6:30. Her surgery started at 9:10 and ended at 1:30. We didn't get to see her until about 4:00. It is really tough to see your mom in so much pain. However, the good news was that they were able to completely remove the tumor and it was benign. Mom was also able to wiggle her toes and move her legs! 

The recovery from surgery, wasn't so smooth. Mom was in quite a bit of pain from the surgery and was on a lot of pain medication. However, our family doesn't tolerate pain medication very well and a lot of complications came about. Mom ended up staying in Rochester until April 1st. 

I went to Owatonna the day she came home to help take care of her. My stepdad was there as well, but he has a bad knee, so it was a challenge for him to do everything by himself. I stayed over at my mom's house all week and it was great to see her improving a little bit each day. She's using a walker to get around, but I'm confident that won't last long! 

I'm thankful that I was able to be there to help her out. It's amazing how things work out sometimes. Now, we just need to get her all back to normal - hopefully better than before since this tumor has probably been causing her trouble for a LONG time! We only have 84 days until the wedding!!

Less than 4 months to go!

Brent and I got a few wedding things done this past weekend. Saturday we headed up to the Mall of America to check about getting his ring re-sized. We are afraid it's too big, but the next smallest size seems like it might be too small! So, we ordered the next size and we will see how it fits when it comes in. The bummer is that we got our rings at Helzberg in Mankato and the store closed back in December, so now we have to go all the way to the MOA to get our rings cleaned and checked. Although, that gives ME a reason to shop! Not that I usually need a reason!

I also found some cute clothes to wear for our honeymoon. Just a few cute dresses and some fun summery tops. I haven't been on a real vacation in forever, so I'm really looking forward to it!

On Sunday, we headed to Target to register for wedding gifts. It's hard to find things to register for when we both have our own homes and already have 2 of everything! We have decided to get some new things like glasses, dishes and silverware and get rid of our current ones. Just to make things "fair". We also found a few fun things - like the Wii I've been wanting forever!

We also worked on assembling the invitations. We have a pocket folder, the invite, and 4 enclosures w/rsvp envelope all put together and closed with a seal. Brent was so cute putting glue dots on the back of the invites and stuffing everything into the pockets. It was fun spending time together and getting things done. It goes so much faster when you work as a team!

In the next few weeks, I need to work on getting the corsages and boutonnieres made. I am taking my required work furlough March 30-April 3 and plan on getting lots of things done during that time. Brent and I will be meeting with the pastor and the holiday inn that week.

I also need to get back on my diet and exercise routine that I was doing last summer. I need to fit into my dress when it comes in!! Ever since the holidays, I've been slacking. I wish the weather would get nice so I could go out for walks. Spring is only a few weeks away - I hope!

Oh - and some not so great news...Brent did not get the North Mankato job or the Waseca County job. North Mankato hired someone else and Waseca decided to not hire anyone. These city/county budget cuts are really hurting us! We are preparing ourselves for a "long-distance marriage". I guess the important thing is that we both have jobs right now and we keep telling ourselves that things will work out eventually. We keep praying anyways!

The invitation ensemble


My little helper ready to get to work!

Wedding Weekend

This weekend has been my "get ready for the wedding weekend". Friday night, my personal attendant Elizabeth, was so gracious to offer help with cutting down my invitations and enclosure cards. I printed everything on 11x17 paper, so it all needed to be trimmed down. Did I mention, I'm doing 175 invitations? That's a lot of cutting my friends. We worked for about 4 hours and still didn't get them all done, but are more than half-way, so that is good! Next step is assembly and addressing.

Today, I headed to my mom's house to work on the bouquets. I was still tired from all the work last night, so I had a hard time getting up my energy, but once we got going it wasn't too bad. They all turned out beautiful! Next, we have to work on the corsages and boutonnieres. That will be another weekend project. 

Tomorrow will probably be spent cutting down more enclosures as well as working on the video to show at the wedding. So much to do!

My bouquet. The Bridesmaid's bouquets are similar - less pink and more white.

Bridesmaid Dresses!

We went to Mestads in Rochester to pick out the bridesmaid dresses today! The appointment was at 10:00, so we left Waseca by 8:30. I liked the dresses from Alfred Angelo and I told the girls I wanted them all to have the same skirt (tea length), but they could each pick out which top they wanted to wear. We brought ALL of the tops into the dressing room so we could check out the options. After trying most of them on, they all ended up liking the same one! So, they will all have the same dress - which is super cute! 

The dresses!

After getting measured, and paying for the dresses, we went out to eat at Olive Garden. It was so nice to hang out with the girls just chatting! Such good friends I have! Next Saturday, Brent and I are going back to Mestads in Rochester to pick out the tuxes. Hope the guys don't mind wearing pink ties! :)

159 Days

That's how many days are left until the wedding! Time is just flying by. When we got engaged we had a year to go and what seemed like, plenty of time. We got all the major reservations out of the way right away and then just sat back for awhile. I kept saying "I will do that after Christmas"...now, it's after Christmas and I have so much to do! This weekend the Bridesmaids and I are going shopping to pick out their dresses. Next Saturday, Brent and I are going to pick out the Tuxes, the weekend after that, my mom and I are planning on making the bouquets. I have to  print out the invitations and enclosure pieces, I need to put together a video of our pictures to play at the reception and I need to get to work on our engagement picture scrapbook - and that's just a few of the many things I need to do. I will try to start posting more pictures of things as we get them figured out!

And, some good news, Brent finally has an interview with North Mankato Police Department on the 26th. We are saying lots of prayers and keeping our fingers crossed that he will get the job!

Christmas Gathering #3

On Christmas Day, Brent and I loaded up our vehicles and headed down to Iowa. We celebrated Christmas with the Brass family on Saturday, the 27th. Brent had to work Friday night from 11pm until 7am Saturday morning. He was able to get about 3 hours of sleep before we had to head over to his Parent's house to open presents. It was so much fun to watch the kinds open their presents. His 1 year old niece was the funniest. She got the most entertainment out of an empty box than any of the toys she got! Later in the evening, Brent's mom's entire family came over for the "Ward" Christmas. What a group! I can't believe that many people fit into one house, it was crazy! They all do have a great time together. Brent had to work again Saturday night, so we didn't stay long. Whew! Christmas 2008 was a good one. Lot's of time with the families and some traveling mixed in. I can't wait for Christmas 2009 when Brent and I will be married!

Brent's brother's family - Kristy, Mackenzie, Dalton and Ethan.


Brent's new toy - a PS3.


Brent's Brother Kevin opening his present.

Mackenzie and her box.

Mags all packed and ready to go home after the long weekend in Iowa.