Nuptuals of the Baby Brother Part 1: The Rehearsal Dinner

(the next few posts will be picture heavy...just to warn you)

Last week I flew back to Utah for my baby brother's wedding. I can honestly say that I never thought I'd see the day where he would get married. He is a very free-spirited, stubborn guy. The girl he married is perfect for him, and she fits well in our family too.

The night before the wedding my parents hosted a pre-wedding picnic/rehearsal dinner at a park near their old house. My mom picked me up at the airport and we went right into preparing for the dinner. It had been raining for a week so when we showed up at the bowery and the tables and benches were all wet I knew that the awning overhead obviously didn't provide much cover from rain. (And to be honest, who would've known...Utah rarely gets rain...I mean it is in the desert afterall) We went to the store and got flowers, vases, posterboard and balloons for signs, etc. Shanna and I made the centerpieces...well, I picked out the colors and she built them. I loved the colors, they looked like sherbert.



For those of you that don't know my brother, he is a bit of a redneck...and he will be the first to admit it too. He wanted camouflage EVERYTHING for the wedding. Cake. Tuxes. Bowties. Centerpieces. Get-away car. EVERYTHING. Kassidy said no (thank heavens), but we thought for the rehearsal dinner we could throw a little camo in there and make him happy without crossing the line into redneck territory.


Here are Brad and Kass. Yes, my brother wore a faded Coors Light t-shirt to his rehearsal dinner. Um, redneck.

Here's a view of the bowery. I didn't get a great picture of the tables before everyone started showing up, but they were hot pink with a strip of camo about halfway down. The meal was catered by Maddox, and it was yummy. (We ate leftovers until I flew back to IL).


This is me and my parents and my Aunt Barbara. It is kinda creepy how much my dad looks like his sister.

My dad's parents. This one had to make it in...even with the funny faces. Why you ask? Because my grandma isn't flipping me the bird. Yep, she's that grandma.


My cousin Darby and her two kids.


My Aunt Kim (Darby's mom) and my mom's mom.


My brother Mitch and my cute nephew Blaine.


The rain held off for the entire dinner and after it was all done and cleaned up the girls went to the mall to find Michelle something to wear the next day for the wedding. We ended up at my parent's house that night playing games until like 1am.

Prayers

I will update you all soon on my very adventurous last week (plane trips and wedding stuff and the zoo, oh my!) but first I need something. Our house still hasn't sold (five months on the market) and I still have yet to find a job (going on three months searching). The combination of the two is putting us in serious financial trouble and if something doesn't change pretty quick we will be in big, deep do do. Seriously. Like the B word. (which would surely complicate adoption later on...)

Our realtor is having an open house this Saturday. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. Pray that someone will see the house and want to buy it asap. Pray that one of the dozens of resumes I send out EVERY week will be seen by someone who will want to hire me.
Thank you. I know prayers work, I just know it.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to my dad. I take after him in many ways: my stubborn streak, low blood sugar grumpiness, hoarding...just to name a few. He taught all of us kids to be hard workers, and although we tease him a lot about making us pick up rocks I know we are all grateful for the work ethic we developed. My dad is a great guy and I hope that when we get kids Nathan can be just as good of a father as he is.

Breather

Hey. You ever have those days where you want to throw your computer against the wall? Ya, that's where I'm at right now.
My brother is getting married this week and I have been hard at work on their wedding video. I have been editing photos and cutting clips and spending altogether WAY too much time in front of my laptop. I finished the video this afternoon, I had Nathan look it over and make sure it looked ok. I don't have a DVD burner, but Nathan does so all I had to transfer the video to his computer. Sounds easy, no? Um, well it isn't. Lets just say that I am at my wits end, we have tried every method we can think of but we just keep getting error messages. Grrr. I want to scream and cry all at once because now I am back at the beginning. I have to redo the ENTIRE video.
Just had to vent, back I go to iMovie. (I love my Mac, I love my Mac, I love my Mac....)

Just passin' along a little knowledge...cause I care

Since we are on a tight budget here in Chi Town I have been scouring the internet on ways to save money and find deals. I have found a couple things that are worth sharing.

Free Jewelry: This site gives jewelry away for FREE! The catch? You must pay for shipping, which is $6.99 and you can't combine purchases. BUT it is sterling silver and gemstones. My mom has ordered some from the site and says the jewelry is beautiful. They only offer four pieces at a time and they change every few minutes, so if you see something snag it quick!

Want free haircuts? I don't even remember where I got this tip, but I just scored an appointment for a free haircut so I thought I'd pass it on. On craigslist there is a section called 'Services' and sub-category for 'Beauty'. If you check it OFTEN new and upcoming stylists will post ads for free haircuts, facials, etc. They need to build up their portfolios and so they offer free services. You have to act quick, hence the checking OFTEN. I have responded to several and finally scored the free one just yesterday. I have my appointment on Monday so I'll let you know how it goes.

Shopping High for great deals and freebies. She posts freebies, and items that are on super great deals. Most are online, but occasionally it is coupons for a free item that you have to take to the store. I have scored free antibacterial stuff at Bath & Body Works and free frozen lemonaid at Corner Bakery just to name a couple.

Fantabulously Frugal is similiar to Shopping High. They post coupons and freebies and such, but it seems that the majority of her posts are geared to when retailers are having great online and in-store sales.

Betty Crocker - You can print coupons right from their website and the best part is that you select the coupons you want and only print them and not a bunch that you won't use.

Pillsbury - Same as Betty Crocker. The coupons on this site change about once a week (I think) so keep an eye on them.

Diamond Shark - This site has one deal every day. It is always jewelry, it might be a watch, a pair of earrings, a ring...but it is ALWAYS a steal. Name brands are a regular occurance and the shipping is always free.

So there are a few. I am also looking to increase my shopping saavy...any of you out there have some tips to share?

Free Chocolate Friday

Don't forget...free chocolate Friday. I have done this once and got my coupon in the mail yesterday. You can get up to four coupons. Come on, you can't say no to free chocolate.

Land of a Thousand Lakes

Nathan had a three day weekend (which NEVER happens in the Navy Band in the summer) so we decided to pack up the dog and head up to see his sister in Minnesota. The drive was six hours and isn't too bad, but it isn't something I would want to do often! One of Nathan's other brothers was also visiting so we got a nice double dose of family. We hung out, talked, ate, played games, gave Nathan a mani/pedi, went to church and went to the Spam Museum. Yep, I did say Spam Museum...I swear I did not throw that in to just see if you were paying attention. Overall a great time was had by all...and most importantly, many calories were burned laughing.

Here is a plethera of pictures. If you want to see more, (because lets face it, I am freaking adorable and so is my family...not to mention there are lots of pictures of the Spam Museum should your curiosity be peaked by what magical mysteries might be hidden behind those Hormel walls) you'll have to check out my album on facebook. Not my facebook friend?? Well, whose fault is that?!?

Besta. So happy to be out of the concrete jungle. I know he doesn't look happy...in fact he looks like he could jump up and bite my face off. Maybe he's just feeling a little anxiety over doing this to me:

To tell you the truth, I am not exactly sure what happened. I was throwing the frisbee for him to fetch and one time when he brought it back to me he misjudged where I was standing and ran into/bit my leg right on the back of my knee. I am pretty sure it was on accident. Only one semi-puncture wound...my pants didn't even get a hole in them. But man oh man does it hurt! The flash washed it out a bit, so you'll just have to take my word that it is WAY more purple in person.

The girls and I took Besta on a nice long walk to a park. I was mean and made them pose for lots of pictures.

Nathan getting the full spa treatment.

Pedi. Right

Pedi. Left. I think the hairy feet and toes add to the look, no?

Uncle Nathan and all the nieces...pretty sure he clenched the favorite uncle title with this.

Showing off the mani.

Horse face. It is funny, I promise. I guess you just had to be there.

Grant hoisting away to get Spam to the troops.

Michael and Andrew packing Spam.

The whole crew at the Spam Museum. (I hope Cindy or Janus' picture turned out better, I think the tour guide lady sneezed or something when she took this one)

Lard. Yummy.

Hormel's newest Spam Recruits.

Spam Head.

Take me out to the ball game

This past Wednesday it was Navy Day at US Cellular Field. We got hooked up with free tickets so we made the trek down to 35th Street to watch them play. I know that because of where we live we should support the other team in town...but I still had a great time cheering on the Sox. I even bought a hat. :) I'm sure this will not be our last visit to support the Sox. (even if it is the wrong color of sox...white, not red....ah well)

Pretty good seats for getting them free, eh?

Are we just not the two most adorable people you've ever seen? Aren't we? Huh? Huh?