Some cooking...

So I know I haven't posted anything in a looooong time. There are many things I could update this blog on.
I got married, hooray!
Became a stay at home wife...
I now officially am a homeowner...
Got a part time job...
And so much more.

Since I became a wife I've been experimenting with recipes and random ingredients that sound good to me. Somehow becoming a housewife makes me so much more adventurous in my cooking endeavors. I spose it may have something to do with another person eating my concoctions on a regular basis, cottage cheese and ritz crackers no longer are an acceptable supper. =)

Last night I decided to make fish, Tilapia. I made it a couple weeks ago with spinach, tomatoes and Parmesan cheese. It was good but I was craving something with a little bit fuller taste this time around.
In a recent attempt to make our meals healthier I've been substituting plain Greek yogurt for other dairy products. It doesn't always work out but it's always worth a shot.
Now I didn't do any measuring whatsoever so I'm not sure how accurate the recipe below is. I love just throwing things together until it looks and smells and tastes right. However, it makes duplicating recipes rather difficult.
Here's what I think I came up with. (Sorry there's no picture, we gobbled it down in short order)

3/4 cup Greek yogurt
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup fresh chopped spinach
1-2 cloves garlic
Dash of pepper
*Mix above ingredients.

3 Tilapia filets
2 Roma tomatoes, sliced
1/4 - 1/3 grated Parmesan cheese
Olive oil

Sprinkle small amount of olive oil over fish.
Spread yogurt mixture on tilapia.
Top with tomato slices and Parmesan cheese.
Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

I'm still here!

Sorry little forgotten blog... I didn't mean to leave you all high and dry, out in the cold, all by your lonesome. Forgive me?
Life has been rather crazy of late. I know I promised wedding details as they happened but well, we both can see that didn't happen. Now that the craziness has subsided to a minimum I will once again attempt to keep you a little more up to date. However, we current have no Internet at our place of residence (even now I'm typing this post from my iPhone, oh technology)

So in a feeble attempt to jump back on the blogging bandwagon I will post a very lovely picture of my lil sis and myself on my wedding day, pre beautified. Enjoy!

Summer summary, so far...

Sorry little blog, I know I've been neglecting you.  Life has been so busy with summer and our upcoming nuptials.  I've started at least 5 different posts but none of them have made it up, obviously.  What have I been up to of late in summary fashion... =)


Family Reunion) 34 out of 44 aunts, uncles and cousins were there. Not bad. I was able to see two of my cousins little ones that I hadn't seen yet since they were born. Both cuties! My family threw together a short bridal shower for L-dub and I, of course with a game aimed and embarassing us. (what is a bridal shower without an embarassing game or two. lol). There was card playing, picture taking, marshmallow roasting and lots of laughter. All in all a great time, can't wait to do it all again in two years.


Boating/wakeboarding) Yes, we've made it out a few times. woohoo! I don't know what I did over my summers before I found this glorious hobby! ;) L-dub has even managed to get the hang of it.  If it were up to me I'd spend all night every night out on the water. Perhaps someday we'll have a lakehouse and a beautiful wake boat. Until then my dad's tri-hull powder blue boat will suffice. =)


Wedding planning) Ah yes, what has taken up the majority of my time. Honestly I feel as though my mother and sister have been doing the large majority of the work up to this point. I spose in a few years I'll be able to pay my sis back when it's her turn.  Now that it's a month away we're kicking things into high gear. Having to make serious decisions, no time to change our minds now.  I've had my first dress fitting and will have the 2nd (hopefully final) one in ONE weeks.  Can't wait!
Honeymoon tickets have been booked, RSVPs are rolling in, the flowers and food will be ordered shortly... and then in a mere 30 days I'll be married to my best friend, awesome! <3

God has so amazingly blessed me over this last summer, this last year.  It's cool to sit down and reflect where I was a mere year ago and see all that He has changed in my life.  So often I think we put God in a box, if things aren't happening in our time frame surely they won't be happening at all.  Then He swoops in, turns your life upside down and settles you into a new normal that you'd never expect.  Silly me to underestimate my Lord and what He is capable of.

Nuptial news

I've started so many posts about my upcoming nuptials but recently realized I've never actually posted any of them.  My bad! We are attempting to do most everything on our own to keep the budget low.  Here are some examples of what we've done/plan on doing.


Designing/printing/assembling the invites.
    I designed them from a picture I found online. My wonderful momma is 
    putting them all together for me!  Once we finally finish our guest list we
    will be addressing and mailing them ourselves, that's right, no fancy 
    calligraphy here. =)


Decorating the ceremony and reception venues
    This could be a whole post in itself... so much we are doing!


Doing the flowers on our own.
    It's a little intimidating but I helped a friend do her's a couple summers 
    ago so at least her and I kinda know what we're doing. =)
    The part that scares me the most is ordering flowers that don't look good 
    together, but we are using lots of pics for inspiration. It will be fine I'm 
    sure. =)


Making the meal.
    My older bro works for a food distributer so he's getting us everything 
    CHEAP! He's also offered to prepare all the food for us. Thanks bro!! We're
    just doing super simple fare so hopefully it won't take too much time and
    effort.


Baking all the desserts.
    So I have this grand idea for a dessert bar.  All kinds of sugary confections
    for our guests to enjoy. My dear mother, sisters and I along with help from
    future in-laws and a handful of aunts plan to tackle this ourselves.  I think
    some of what we plan on making can be done ahead of time and frozen...
    At least I'm hoping. =)




So we are pretty much thrifting, borrowing or making basically everything.  I feel like that makes things a little more personal and unique.  As it draws closer i'm realizing a little more all the work ahead of us but I'm excited.  I've had soooo many offers from friends to help me I could prob get away with doing NOTHING myself. =)


Crossing my fingers things come off disaster free.  Though I spose a disaster or two will make it more memorable. ;)

The nephews...

There's something about nephews that is so special.  Those little boys can melt your heart with the bat of an eye or a few words out of their mouth.  Don't get me wrong, I love my niece, but those nephews... =)


My 4 yr old nephew gave me some input while I was trying on a couple dresses I got for engagement pictures.  When I came out with the first dress on he informed me...
"oh Alicia, you're just beautiful!"

Then I came out with the next one,

"I love that one on you, you look so beautiful"

And then I asked him which one he liked better, his response…

"I don't know, you look just beautiful in both of them"

Made my heart melt!

Every wednesday night at Awana when I pass my 10 yr old nephew he always stops what he's doing (even in the middle of game time!) to holler out a hello. =)

The youngest of them all, who is 2, has given me the endearing nickname of "Sa-She" (we think due to the fact I let him watch this obnoxious show "Sean the Sheep" while babysitting one time. Ah well).

AND SOON I'll gain two more nephews (and another niece too). =)

The younger of the two has already informed me that on our upcoming trip to Phoenix he'll be bunking with me.

Also, since I'm like the cool new person in the family I always get chosen to sit beside for all family meals. bahaha (but then L-dub is always chosen over me with MY niece and nephews at family meals, a few weeks back I was demoted to the kiddie table because V just had to sit next to Lucas)

I don't know what it is about those little boys... I hope they stay this sweet for years to come!

just stuff

So I know it's been awhile since I've posted anything.  I've been busy, wedding planning. 
*little happy dance*

It's only 4 months away and we have so much to do! Yet whenever I tell people all that we have gotten done so far they are always amazed.

That's comforting!

What's the theme you ask?  Um... theme...

Beg, borrow and DIY perhaps?

Seriously though, we are attempting to do a lot of stuff ourselves. My mom and I have been hitting up thrift shops to find cake plates, baskets, random decorations...

We are doing the programs and invites ourselves.

We are doing all the decorating ourselves.

We are doing all the food ourselves (thanks to my amazing older bro!)

We are going to attempt to do the flowers ourselves.

So many little projects but it's kinda fun.

L-dub told me he thought this was great because it makes the wedding truly our style.

I was doing it to save money but I guess he has a good point.  It will be totally us. =)

I guess it could also be classified as country chic (don't tell my little sister, she thinks that theme sounds ridiculous)

It's outdoor, super casual, there will be lots of burlap and a hayrack ride for the wedding party. Oh and definately country music at the dance. yipee!

See our church is under construction from June til Dec which means getting married there is out of the question.  Which actually is totally fine cause I was kinda set on getting married in Seward anyway. =)  Perfect timing! haha

I'll attempt to keep my blog up to date on all the wedding happenings, the DIY projects (and disasters), you'll get a behind the scenes look at everything as it goes down.

Some big NEWS!

Sorry I've been absent from this blog of late.  I've been a little preoccupied...

See back on the first weekend in March I went on a ski trip with my Sunday School group.  Sadly L-dub had to stay behind and be all responsible and work. sad.

BUT

He showed up on Sunday, with a surprise...

 For weeks leading up to the trip Lucas kept offering me sums of money to stay home from the trip and save him from the boredom that was sure to ensue with me being 10 hours away and him left all to his lonesome for an entire weekend.

On Friday, March 2nd I packed up and headed for Colorado with 20 some of our Sunday school classmates for a fun filled weekend.  

I enjoyed a day full of skiing on Saturday and after arriving back at the condo, exhausted, I called Lucas to recount the events of the past two days.  He told me he was headed to his sisters house that evening to watch a movie and would probably head to bed early that night ~this is where the truth bending began, for Lucas was NOT in Lincoln but had just arrived at his aunts house in Denver in order to surprise me the following morning at Copper Mountain. 

Bright and early Sunday morning me and my fellow skiers headed to the slopes for our final day of skiing and snow fun.  After arriving at Copper Mountain things started getting fishy.  Tom (Lucas' right hand man in this scheme) pulled Kristin (my roomie and ski buddy) aside to inform her of Lucas' master plan for the day.  I witnessed this exchange take place but thought nothing of the incident.  After everyone had geared up we headed for the lifts to enjoy our first run of the day (Tom had mysteriously dissapeared at this point... ya, I still wasn't catching on to anything).  When we reached the top of the mountain Kristin informed me that she needed to use the facilities and asked that Iaccompany her to the bottom of the mountain.  See, Lucas and Jill were supposed to be there at that point but due to a slow running bus they were slightly behind schedule.  When we reached the bottom of the mountain no one was there to meet us, not strange at all to me but Kristin began to wonder and quickly got on her phone to call her "sister" aka Tom.  She then suggested we try another run we hadn't yet done that day.  So off we went to the next ski run.  Meanwhile Lucas and Tom met up at the bottom to sort out details and prepare for what was to come. 

On our way down the mountain Kristin got another call from her "sister".  I also received a text from others in our group letting me know that people were meeting at Center Village (this honestly had nothing to do with the events of the day but happened to work into the plan and make me less suspicious of Kristin's pushing me stop once again at the bottom).  When we finally made it down Kristin called the rest of their group to see where they were (really she was phoning Tom to check and see where we needed to be).  Trekking down the sidewalk in ski boots I was scouring the crowd for the others in their group.  Only I did not see them.... I saw Lucas, at the bottom of the mountain with a huge grin on his face...  and the jig was up.  I quickly dropped my skis and hurried across the snow and into his arms.  There was some fumbling of words, pulling off of gloves and Lucas dropping to one knee where he asked me to be his wife.

I said yes.

And here we are today planning the rest of our lives together. =)

**That's the version taken from our wedding website.  Sorry I was lazy and didn't want to write it out twice. ;)

Side notes that make parts of the above story more amusing...

Saturday night I was talking with a couple people about Lucas' attempted bribes to keep me from going.  One person said, what if he offered $1000? Then Becky said, "If he offers that much he should buy a ring!"  Tom (who helped Lucas plan the whole proposal) quickly exited the conversation without any comment.  We thought we made him uncomfortable, apparently he was afraid he would slip up and say something. haha

For those of you who are wondering, Kristin was never calling her sister... she was calling Tom the whole time.  I didn't realize this til I asked her later how her sister was and she just started laughing... ya, I'm pretty gullible.

There was a small crowd that gathered to watch the whole proposal (well, from the point that he got down on one knee)

Jill took pictures of the whole thing and Tom took video.  I'll try and post some of those later.

After he proposed he asked what I wanted to do.  I wanted to ski more, Tom found this amusing.

Apparently when he had supper with my parents on Friday night to gain their approval my mom said "She'll definately come back with you".  My dad said "No way she'll stay and ski!" Lucas agreed with my dad... Dad and Lucas were correct. =)

That's about sums it up. I'll be staying busy wedding planning for the next few months.