Grandma Judy's Birthday Weekend

Grandma Judy has a BIG birthday this October, and it was the perfect excuse to celebrate! Mom, Emma, and I had planned a special weekend—we gave Grandma a birthday card {almost a month early} that informed her of our plans for a girls’ weekend in Madison…2 weeks later :)

Finally, this birthday weekend arrived. I picked up Grandma, and we headed for “Madison”. {We may have stopped at Dunkin Doughnuts on our way!} I took a different highway about 2 hours into our trip—told Grandma it was because of construction {which was not totally honest}. About 1 hour later, we drove into Brookfield. Grandma commented that “she’d never been on this side of Madison”. Once we arrived at the hotel and met up with Mom and Emma, they asked her if she realized we were not in Madison. She hadn’t figured it out yet :) {There was a Badger game in Madison this weekend, so we REALLY wanted to avoid all the extra people. And it was fun to throw in one more surprise!}

Saturday brought lots of shopping, talking, and eating {what could be better?}.

Manicures and pedicures were SO fun. Relaxing. Nice. A girl could get use to this!

Complete with pretty fingers and toes, we headed off for supper at P.F. Chang’s. Birthday dessert from Cheesecake Factory was a nice addition to the evening—we got 2 different kinds {of cheesecake} and enjoyed every bite!

On Sunday morning, we enjoyed a big breakfast at our hotel and headed out to score some more good deals! We thoroughly enjoyed our time together celebrating this special lady’s BIG birthday :) Happy Birthday, Grandma Judy! Thankful we could celebrate YOU!

September Life {2013}

This post is way too long, and I probably should have broken it up. But if you’re suuuuuper bored, this will sufficiently fill you in about my life in September.

My September kicked off with Labor Day Weekend, which I spent in Indiana. I could tell you about the good food we ate {including an Italian FEAST}, the beautiful sunsets we saw, or the children that were covered head-to-toe in mud, literally.

{Mud-covered children occurred *several* different times during this 3 day weekend!}

I could also tell you about children (10 and under) who gleefully rode their bikes into the pond. And the adults who built a ramp for said children to ride their bikes into the pond.

I could also tell you that when the above excitement was no longer enough, children and adults rode bikes down a hill, off a ramp, onto a dock, and into the pond. (In my head, this bordered on dangerous and ranked in the category of “things I don’t want my kids to do”. And then Micah went plunging into the pond J)

…Or I could tell you about a giant homemade air cannon that sent zucchinis and gourds {and other objects} flying.

All of the above is actually true, and this is only a small part of the fun, unique times that comprised Labor Day Weekend 2013…Marrying into this family is definitely going to bring out my adventurous side ;)

Only 2 weeks after Labor Day, I headed back to Indiana to celebrate…for 2 reasons! September 15^th is a big deal—It’s my mother-in-law’s birthday and it’s also the day Micah and I got engaged!

This year, I was able to help surprise Linda the day before her very “big” birthday! Marta, Amy, and I showed up at Linda’s house about the same time her and Rachel had planned to go out for lunch and do some shopping. Of course, Rachel knew of our plan all along! Needless to say, Linda was surprised to see us {because she wasn’t expecting any of us} and in her words “You aren’t even supposed to be here this weekend!”

Note: In mid-August, when Linda asked if I would be in Indiana this particular weekend, I told her I didn’t think so. At the time, it was true information. (If/when she asked after that, I may have been…dishonest. It’s bad to lie, but for the sake of this surprise, I had to!)

And…we happened to drive by these giant signs that her sons had put in her yard the night before J

We thoroughly enjoyed our girls’ day—we had a yummy lunch at Chili’s, enjoyed non-stop conversation, and got some good shopping time in, too!

When we got back to the farm Micah and Jeremy had made 2 birthday cakes. And I will admit—I was impressed with their baking skills! Cake and ice cream was had by all, as we celebrated this very special lady.

September 15^th marks a whole year of being engaged. And just in case anyone is still reading this, I've included 2 more pictures in this awfully long post...

9/15/12

Here’s my one whole sentence telling you how awesome my fiancé is: Micah’s a hard worker, he takes super good care of me, he manages to be responsible without taking life too seriously, he makes me laugh, he's a good listener, and he’s the person I prayed for! And I cannot wait to marry him! :) 

9/15/13

It's {FINALLY!!} double digits until our wedding! I’m simply overwhelmed with God’s goodness to me! 

Wedding Shower Weekend #2

Can I just say that life is so crazy and awesome right now? It’s way busier than I would like, but time is flying! Last weekend, my fiancé, mother-in-law, and Grandma loaded up the car and prepared for a roadtrip! Our trip to Wisconsin took a little longer than usual, thanks to lots of traffic and road construction. I can assure you that there was plenty of conversation to be had along the way!

We had a wedding shower on Saturday morning, complete with delicious food, lots of gifts, a fun game, and most importantly—people! It was great to catch up with friends I don’t see very often anymore. And we were overwhelmed with all the gifts we received! 

Micah enjoyed a long day of fishing on Saturday with Dad and Al. They got rained on for approximately 4 hours and didn’t have the best success in catching fish. But seemed to thoroughly enjoyed their day J I don’t try to figure this out…I can simply appreciate the fact they had a good day!

I had the opportunity to take Mom, Grandma Judy, Neva, mother-in-law Linda, and Linda N. for an appointment to pick up my dress. Unfortunately, the dress wasn’t totally done, so we weren’t able to bring it home. But it was fun to try it on again! Since the dress fit, we went to Red Robin. And yes, I did eat onion rings J  

Thanks to Micah’s very strategic packing skills, he was able to fit in lots of the gifts we had received. Somehow, the back of the car became like Mary Poppin’s bottomless bag J It’s a good thing he’s such a strategic packer because I am not. 

I'm thankful for these times with family and friends! 

Worry

In case you missed it, today is August 1^st. If you looked at a calendar or got on facebook today, I’m sure you’ve been informed of this fact J What things do you have coming up this month? I’m finishing a few more days at work, looking forward to time with all my favorite people, moving my brother out to school, heading back to school {for 1 more semester!}, and…you get the idea. Days fill up quickly. My worries {about “big” and “small” things} can pile up, too.

A few days ago, I came across this on Pinterest…

My first thought was “BOOM” {as in, “wow, that’s…convicting. I don’t like how much this resonates with me”}…I’ll be honest, I have struggled and do struggle with this very thing. So, I went in search of Truth.

Matthew 6:34 says “Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

Do not worry.

1 Corinthians 2:9—“But, as it is written, no eye has seen, nor ear heard, not the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him…”

His ways are better than ours. We can't ever imagine what He's got in store for us. 

Jeremiah 29:11—“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

He’s got the perfect plan. 

Romans 8:28, 39—“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for God, for those who are called according to his purpose…For I am sure that neither death nor life, not angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Everything is for our good. Nothing can separate us from His love.

Psalm 126:3—“The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad!”

Great things. Not just good things.

In other words, there’s ZERO reason to worry. Ever. At all.

{These verses are just a snippet of what I quickly came up with—there are SO many others!}

On this first day of August, I’m going to remember this: 

God has the BEST plan for me, and it’s so much better than what I would come up with anyway! He’s promised to be with me, and use every single day and every single circumstance to make me more like Him. And that’s a beautiful thing. 

Wedding Shower Weekend

I’m going to “back up” a little, and talk about a super fun weekend in June. Can you believe that July is already coming to a close?! Time is flying! {Disclaimer: this post ended up much longer than I anticipated…I’m not very good at keeping it “short and sweet”!}

I took my Mom, Sister, and both Grandmas to Indiana for a girls’ weekend. {Yes, that includes Neva. More on that later, maybe.} During our rainy drive out on Friday, we ate at Bucca di Beppo. Our waitress thought Emma and I were twins, which always leaves me a little perplexed since we look very different…and the couple next to us tried desperately to figure out what was up with Neva. 

                                          

                                          

Anyway, we finally made it to Marta’s house…Micah, Jeremy, and Wyatt didn’t stick around the house for too long once Emma pulled out her nail polish! Somehow, all of us girls ended up talking for much longer than we thought…and missed out a little sleep that night ;) It was worth it!

Saturday morning began at 4:45 am…with a rooster crowing. Repeatedly. Did I mention this was at 4:45 in the morning??!! Literally, it’s still dark outside at this hour. My Mom was ready to shoot this boisterous rooster :), but we definitely laughed about this for the rest of the weekend…

My little entourage for bridesmaid dress shopping consisted of 9 people—both of our moms, both of my grandmas, my sister, my 2 {future} sister-in laws, and Micah’s aunt. It was quite the crew! {Sadly, I don’t have a picture of my whole group—wish I did.} Emma already had her bridesmaid dress, but we still needed to find dresses for Marta and Rachel. I’ve said this before, but literally…I could not have found 3 more different people if I had tried. These lovely ladies are each unique in their own ways, but we were successful with our dress shopping! They all look fabulous in their dresses…and the shoes are fabulous, too…no matter what Marta says about them ;) Love these 3!!! 

                                                       

After our 2 1/2 hour dress-buying experience at David’s Bridal, we were rather hungry, so we enjoyed a yummy lunch at Cheddar’s. It was a good time just to chat and let everyone get to know each other…

Saturday afternoon, we all made it back to the farm. Marta recruited some help with shower preparations, and we had a cookout that night…As usual, there was no shortage of food! I thoroughly enjoyed my first s’more of the entire year—it was delicious! This particular Saturday was relaxing and just…fun!  

Sunday started off with a morning at church, followed by a pit stop at Starbuck’s…You may have noticed I titled this post “Wedding Shower Weekend”, so I’m going to tell you about my shower now J There was yummy Mexican food, cheesecake, brownies, and cake {oh, my!}, pink punch, lots of people, fun games, and gifts galore. I am truly amazed at the generosity of family and friends!

                                                                                                                        

…I even got to spend some time with my favorite guy over the weekend, too! He was *thrilled* to take all of the gifts back to his house ;) 

                                                  

4th of July Weekend

Just a few days ago, Micah and I got back from our long weekend in Wisconsin. It was a nice few days spent with my favorite people, and the longest amount of time Micah and I have spent together since Christmas!

On the 4^th, my parents had a big cookout; friends came over after the annual parade. Everyone sat around, talked, laughed, and ate a lot ;) Unfortunately, I ended up with some sort of 24 hour stomach bug, so I was not able to enjoy very much of the company {or any of the food!}. Seriously, Micah deserves some sort of award for dealing with me getting sick…in the car. Use your imagination—it wasn’t pretty! From what I could tell, much fun was had on this Independence Day; the weather was beautiful—sunny and not too warm…We are truly blessed to live in this great country!

We enjoyed a boat ride around the lake one evening—taking our boat out is ALWAYS an adventure J And…someone almost backed their vehicle into the lake trying to pull their boat out of the water; it was quite the event to witness! {Fortunately, a truck pulled this partially waterlogged SUV out of the lake—all was well.}

I’m very thankful for the time we had with my family, in one of the most beautiful places I know…God has been SO good to me! 

{P.S. I have a couple of other posts that may be up soon, so stay tuned!}

Easter Weekend {2013}

After spending my Friday in the psych ward (as a nursing student, not a patient), I headed to Indiana. Saturday afternoon, we had a family get-together, complete with endless amounts of really good food. My almost-mother-in-law made 2 of her really yummy pies (I’m hesitant to claim a favorite at this point because they are ALL good!) We played Apples-to-Apples for quite a while, and the 2 youngest kids had an Easter egg hunt. It really was a fun day J

Sunday morning, I headed off to church with my husband-to-be. (I can’t wait to drop the last 2 words off that sentence!) After church, we went to Micah’s parent’s house for lunch. There were pictures to be taken and more food to be eaten…Later in the afternoon, we all ended up back at the farm while the guys worked on finishing the “bridge to Clarkabithia”.

This year, Easter was different than any other Easter before. For the first time in all the Easters I have been alive, I did not spend it with my parents, grandparents, and siblings. Honestly, it was a little bittersweet…Lately, this crazy, wonderful life has been changing a lot. It’s really been the start of a whole new adventure!

Fortunately for Micah and me, our parents have not pressured us to be at a certain place on a certain date. That is worthy of some sort of award, honestly. I’m so thankful that our parents are making this as smooth as possible for us. Note to Parents: Please don’t mess this up once we do get married!

Here’s a few pictures from my weekend: 

...Where do you look when there are 3 cameras?! Love Micah's smile in this one...

Thankful for the time we have to spend together! 

Only 264 days until they're officially family! 

The "Golden Grandchild" with his Grammy :) (For the record, he's the ONLY grandchild!)

                                                     ...here's the newly constructed bridge. 

So thankful for the HOPE we have in Jesus, not just on Resurrection Sunday but every day of the year!