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.

Saturday night.

This past Saturday night our Sunday school group joined up with the college group for "Ladies Sitback Saturday Night" 

Basically the boys treated us ladies to an evening of food and entertainment complete with valet parking and a coat check!

When my sis and I arrived (our men got there earlier to help set up and get things ready) I parked my car myself.  I wasn't trying to be difficult but the boys had set these cones up in a way that I couldn't actually get to the door.  I discovered that was a mistake when one of the boys marched up to me and demanded my keys.  They were trying so hard to be gentlemen, it was impressive really.

We then enjoyed live entertainment while being served a three course meal.  The food was amazingly edible, actually it was pretty good!  I wasn't scared to eat a single thing we were served that night.  Excellent job boys. =)

It was a fun evening to get to know some of the college ladies I hadn't had the opportunity to meet and also to hang out with friends.  I know all the Ladies had a great time and are looking forward to doing it again sometime, we'll see if the boys are up to it. =)

Me and Britt

I don't think it's possible for us to
take a normal picture together... haha

SISTERS!

and there was this one studly waiter. ;)

Snow good!

We had snow just over two weeks ago now.  Lots and lots of snow... like over a foot of wet, heavy, white goodness. It was glorious!

Some people think I'm crazy for loving this weather but I think they are crazy for NOT loving it.  One of the things I truly enjoy about Nebraska is the change of seasons.  We get to experience it all!

Sweltering hot summers to blustery cold winters

Though this winter has been quite tame.  70 degrees in JAN?! Unheard of!

That's part of the reason that I was so looking forward to this fantastical blizzard.

I was beginning to think that my wonderful winter season would be strangely devoid of snow and all the fun activities my friend brings with it.

But no worries...

I was able to tromp through snow up to my knees.

Dig out my car from under a foot of snow.

I had a real need for my 4WD!

I built a 7 ft snowman with friends (the boys then built a 6ft igloo to guard the snowman)

I got to go sledding with my nephews.

and my lovely roomies have done nearly all the driveway scooping. thanks girlies!

It's been grand!

Even though two full weeks have passed we still have many piles of snow and scattered here and there that just refuses to leave.

That's ok snow.

I won't shoo you away.

Take your time and enjoy your stay.

For soon it will be 100 plus degrees and we'll be wishing you were here.

...However,with summer comes wakeboarding...

I'm just saying =)

Random collection of thoughts...

Animal Hats...

Anyone else seen these?  Apparently they are all the rage.

I think on small children and baby's they are completely adorable.

So freakin' adorable!

On high schooler's and even Jr high kids... ridiculous!

Really, are we five?

So this is just a pet peeve of mine.

But I guess every generation will have some fashion trend that everyone else looks at and shakes their head.

When I was in high school it was watches.

Like, kiddie watches with cartoon characters on them.

I had two... a crayola one and a hello kitty one.

That crayola one was pretty darn cool though, I got a lot of compliments on that watch (from other "cool" high schoolers. lol)

**Snooooow**

We got a measly inch of snow last week and then some freak blizzard on Sunday night (which lasted all of 2 hrs and left barely enough snow to cover the ground)

I've been itching for another big snowstorm before winter is over.
I even got brand new boots, waterproof and fuzzy and oh so cute and according to the tag they are rated for -25F, hopefully I'll never have to test that... ;)

I'm ready for the snow, bring it on!

**Beauty and the Beast**

I just love this movie!

It was the first movie I remember seeing in the theater.  It's always held a special place in my heart. Well it came back to theaters in 3D.
For my birthday L-dub took me to see it, it was even his idea (excellent!)
So I'm not the biggest fan of 3D but it was worth it just to see it on the big screen one more time.
First picture attempt...

L-dub:Ha, I made a face. You won't like it...
Me: shoot, my eyes are closed.

 Take Two...

L-dub: Well that ones not bad.
Me: No, I look ridiculous

 One more time...

Me: dang, it's off center.
L-dub: I think we are annoying the people behind us.

Apparently we are terrible at taking pictures of ourselves. ha, oh well!

~IPhone~

I want one.
They are so pretty and cool and fun and all the cool kids have one. ;)
My phone is from the stone age... like 3 years old, it doesn't even have a touch screen.
funny story about that...
My nephew (who's 2 1/2) was playing with my phone the other day. He was getting quite frusterated because when he drug his finger across the screen nothing moved and nothing happened.  He looked at me and was like, "It's broken".
Nope buddy, it's just not cool like mommy's (my sister has an iPhone... jealous)
I'll save my pennies and hopefully be able to get one before too long.
If not my brick phone is still able to make calls and send texts and take pictures which I spose is all I really need it for anyway.
An iPhone is just on my wish list, it would be fun. =)

**Curly hairs**
I recently discovered that my hair has some natural curl/wave in it.
hooray!
All these years of straight hair and now I can change it up on occasion
It takes some coaxing and lots of product but the end result is kinda fun.


OH!
I made it to the gym TWO mornings this week before work, in preparation for next week.
Boot camp starts Monday morning bright and early at 5:45AM!
Hopefully I can keep up this morning routine.
This is gonna be fun, I mean interesting, I mean... what was I thinking?


**AWANA Skate Night**
was tonight.
Apparently my kids from the city mission called church five times today to make sure we were coming to pick them up.  Fortunately another van was sent to help Jono and I.
We had two ComPlEtly FUUUULLL vans! 13 kids in each.  All our regular kiddos plus a handful of new kids.
I had 1-4 children hanging on my arms at various points during the night.
I only wiped out once (due to Jalee falling and taking me down with her)
I have a nice huge knot on my left knee.
hooray.
Despite the wipeout it was fun to just interact with all the kids.  A little less structered than a regular Awana night so we could interact with the kids a little more.  And not just my 3rd grade girls but all the kids, boys and girls.
I believe it was a fun night for all despite a few wipeouts and tears.

Random late night thoughts

My birthday was on Wednesday

I turned 27

27 feels so old

In three years I'll be 30

I know 27 really isn't that old

When you turn 27 it feels old

I had to work on my birthday

I also rode in a van to pick kids up for Awana

(side note, there was a speck on my screen that looked like a misplaced period... I spent a solid 30 seconds trying to get rid of it before I realized that it was on my screen. it's late. you can laugh at me, really, it's ok)

Then of course I went to Awana

Melissa had all the girls, all 40 some of them, give me a hug/ tackle me

I ended up on the floor with multiple girls on top of me

Melissa just stood back and laughed

I got flowers on my birthday

They are pretty bright colors

They were from a certain boy

**if I didn't already say so, thanks babe, they're sooooo pretty!**

The flowers are sitting on my kitchen counter looking all pretty

I love getting flowers

My mom took me out to lunch on my b-day

We went to Macaroni grill

It was delicious

I ate too much

It was so hard to go back to work on a full tummy

We celebrated my birthday with L-dubs family on Sunday

We had sloppy joes and cupcakes

Gluten free cupcakes

They were so good

And I got a giftcard to Olive Garden

Olive Garden is delicious

Thanks for the gift card!

My mom is making my birthday meal this coming Sunday

I requested my usual

Scalloped Potatoes and Ham

My mom makes the best scalloped potatoes and ham

Mom, if you read this German Chocolate Cake would be the perfect dessert

I know I forgot to suggest that on Monday night but I'm requesting it now

If you read this

If not, whatever you make will be just fine.

thanks momma!

My sissy took me out tonight for my b-day

First we went to Paint Yourself Silly

I love Paint Yourself Silly

I painted a bowl

I couldn't remember how to spell delicious

I had to ask the girls sitting at the table next to us

I hope I spelled it right on my bowl

Then we went to Texas Roadhouse for supper

We got these Amaaazing steak medallions with mushroom sauce stuff

Our waitress recommended them

Did I mention they were amazing?

Cause they were, amazing!

I also got a Margarita

Carrie couldn't get anything to drink cause she locked her keys in her truck

Her wallet was in there

With her ID

bummer

I let her have some of mine though

It was huge

And yummy

Did I mention how yummy those medallions were?

After we left TX Roadhouse we called AAA

To come unlock  her car

She had to work in the morning

Otherwise she would have just spent the night

When you call AAA make sure you tell them you are in Lincoln

Or they may assume you are in Omaha

Even though the billing address on your card is Seward

Confusing I know

But why would a person just assume we were in Omaha?

And a guy named Chris called for directions... twice

Apparently there is an Indian Hills in Omaha close to 84th Street as well

That made things more confusing

It wasn't until the 2nd time he called that we realized why we were both so confused by the other

We were in different cities

No wonder he couldn't find my house...

He was super nice though

He called AAA to get it straightened out

The second guy that came figured out where we were right away

And he was speedy about unlocking the truck

But he set off her alarm

We couldn't figure out how to turn it off right away

I hope we didn't annoy our neighbors too bad

Tomorrow L-dub is taking me to Omaha for my b-day

To eat some more

I love food

I'm not sure what else we are doing

I'm looking forward to it.

I bought a new shirt tonight to wear tomorrow

Though it may be too cold to wear what I bought

I hope not

Cause it's super pretty

Enough random thoughts for one night

Sorry if you had trouble following that post

Like I said earlier, it's late

Forgive me for my randomness

have a lovely night all

and stay warm

it's a bit chilly out in these parts

'night ;)

**2011 highlights**

Happy 2012!

It seems the popular thing to do in the blog world right now is to post your past year in review.  Apparently it's the cool thing to do.  I was working on a month by month review for you all, even spent over an hour in a coffee shop typing away on it, but I was having trouble recalling exactly what went down each of the past 12 months.

SO...

Here are the highlights and memorable moments from 2011.

Kristin and I attempted to move to Colorado and the beautiful  Rocky Mountains.  Those hopes and plans were dashed when neither of us were able to secure jobs in our neighboring state.  Bummer.

And, for all you who are thinking or have asked me: Yes, in hindsight I'm glad it didn't work out. ;)

On a similar note, we found a new place to live here in good ol Nebraska.  We found another roomie to move in with us, Andrea.  We actually got a house with a yard and a garage and a deck.  We all got our own bedroom AND our own bathroom!  This was a major selling point with three girls. ~after having my own bathroom for nearly two years I don't know how I'll go back to sharing one someday...


There was an impromptu road trip to the badlands and Wahl Drug with Chris, Natalie and Fred.  The things we can talk each other into doing after 10pm...

Kristin, Andrea and myself made a trip to sunny Florida in May.  My first time ever down there and in the ocean.  I decided I love the ocean, salt, sand, jellyfish and all.  While we were down there we also detoured to Key West one day.  It was so pretty, someday I'll go back and for longer than just one day.

NOTE-> If you ever visit Key West do NOT run around on the sidewalk barefoot. Even just down the block to your car to get the nice snorkeling instructors a tip.  The cement is extremely hot and you will get heat blisters on your feet making walking around the rest of the day completely miserable.  Just sayin...

I did a lot of wakeboarding this summer.  It was glorious!  I cannot wait for summer to roll back around so I can get back out on the water. =)

I bought a helmet late in the summer after a minor concussion, I spose I should wear it this next summer to avoid a similar event again...

Then there was the lovely mice-ca-pades we had the joy of enduring in our home.  We have captured and disposed of four to date I believe.  There hasn't been any evidence of them lately but once the Really cold weather hits we'll see what happens. =/

And then...

of course...

There's this boy that has made his entrance into my life. =)
(he says I "used" my bro-in-law to get him to ask me out...I say, Hey it worked... he just smiles)

He's pretty cute.

I think I'll keep him around.