May 30, 2011

Our weekend

Happy Memorial Day!

Our weekend was a perfect way to start my summer vacay!

Saturday was spent vegging out and laying out at the pool. That night we pulled out the mattress, blankies, etc. for our weekly family movie night. This night we bought "Open Season 2" or as Reagan calls it "Bear 2". It was cute. He loved Open Season 1, so we knew this one would be a hit.

Sunday we went to the phone store. Nick got a new phone!! I swear he had the oldest phone around... he always swore he didn't need a smart phone... but now that he has one he can't put it down. That night we were lucky enough to have a date night. We dropped Reagan off at the in laws and headed out. We saw the Hangover 2 (LOVED it!) and grabbed sushi at Kona Grill.

Today was spent poolside and bbq-ing with my sister Meg and BIL Shaun. It was a perfect day for grilling, pool, and ice cream!
XXOO

May 28, 2011

Wedding ABCs


I saw this on sweet Jamie's blog and I think it is soooo cute!

So here are my wedding abc's!

Attending:

I think that we had around 170 family and friends.


Bridesmaids:

My maid of honor was my sister Meg and the other 5 girls were friends from my sorority. Nick and I got married a year after college graduation, so these girls were still a huge part of my life. The bridesmaids wore soft pink Vera Wang dresses.

Catering:
The resort that we got married at catered the food. They have a pretty well known restraunt inside the resort so the food was amazing! I wish I would have enjoyed it more that night ! But I don't think I even touched it.

Here is Nick and I during the dinner.

Our cakes were also made at the resort.


During the reception I surprised Nick with a Green Bay Packer cake. (His favorite team).

Dress:
I wore a Romona Keveza gown. I instantly fell in love with it and knew I had to have it!



Engagement:

Nick proposed on Easter Sunday 2005. It was very special because my family was there to watch, including my granddaddy.

We got married on March 11, 2006 (so 1 year being engaged.)
Flowers:

We went through Avant-Garde for our flowers and they do the most amazing work. The flowers were a huge deal to me and I was in love with the final product.




The bridesmaids each had a bouquet of different shades of pink roses (my favorite).

And my bouquet was a mixture of them all.

Groomsmen:

Nick's groomsmen were a mix of his childhood, highschool and fraternity friends. They were a great bunch of guys!


Honeymoon:

Our honeymoon was def one to remember! We went to Kauai, Hawaii right after the wedding. (March 2006). The first day was perfect but the rest of the week was insane. In Kauai it always rains, but this week in particulary had record breaking rain and damage. A damn broke and flooded the whole area. We were stranded at our resort for much of the trip because roads were closed and people were swept away. We kept getting phone calls and texts asking if we were alive because it was all over the news that a couple on their honeymoon died. So scary! We tried to enjoy it the best we could, but we def see it as an excuse to go back for a re-do!


Invitations:
Our save the dates were made by an old college advisor. They were fun and informal. But our invitations were pretty classic and formal from Crane and Company. They had a thin line of pale pink around the cards to tie in with the wedding colors. Crane and Company also did our menu cards, favor cards, and programs.

Justice of the Peace:
The minister of the church my family has belonged to married Nick and I. He also married my younger sister and her husband as well.

Keepsakes:
Nick and I have kept my bouquet and our unity candle as wedding keepsakes. We also have a guest book, but I must admit I wish I had heard of the picture books/guest book idea. So cute and so much more practical!

As for our guest's gifts, we gave each guest a boxed Slatkin candle. On each candle it had a card that said "Thank you for helping light up our night."



Ladies Night:
For my bachelorette party a bunch of my girlfriends and sister spent the night in downtown Scottsdale. We had dinner and went out on the town. Afterwards we stayed at a hotel. The next day I had a lingere shower with more friends.

Music:

During the ceremony we had a Spanish guitarist.


And during the reception we had a DJ. I was quite particular aka Bridezilla (I will admit it)... so his play list and do not play list were pretty detailed. I did not want the cheesy wedding songs!

Newlyweds:

I don't really know what to write here. But the day after our wedding my parents had a "gift opening party" for all of my family from out of town. So our first moment as newlyweds was opening gifts and eating with family. (It was freezing- thus why I am in a sweatshirt!)


Old, New, Borrowed, Blue:My something old was a piece of my baby blankie that was pinned to the inside of my dress.

My something new could have been my jewelry, dress, or shoes.
My something borrowed was a diamond broach that we pinned to the gown.


And my something blue was my blue polka dot panties.

Photography:


Our photographer was Harrison Hurwitz. He did a great job of capturing all of the moments throughout the night.

Question Popping:

Nick proposed on Easter. He made me a sweet Easter basket and had me open it after the kids opened theirs. Each egg in my basket had a number that I was supposed to open in that order. In each egg there was a reason why he loved me. In the last egg it said to look under the grass. So I lifted the grass and saw "Will you marry me?" When I looked up, Nick was on one knee. Precious!

Reception:

The reception took place at the same resort as the ceremony. I loved all the flowers, candle light, and of course all of the friends and family dancing!


Shoes:


I wore Stuart Weitzman heels.




Trash the Dress:No, I didn't do this. It is still hanging in my parent's house up north. We were thinking about selling it for awhile (before Reagan was born) but we never did. I wonder if we still could? Maybe in time for baby number 2?! I think it's silly that it's just sitting there!

Unique:
One thing I thought was unique at our wedding was that Nick's fraternity brothers all serenaded me in the Top Gun song. It was so cute! I'm used to seeing the girls always sing to the sorority sisters, but I had never seen the boys do it to the wife!

Vows:

Our vows were the traditional vows!


Wedding Woes:


We definately had a big woe on our wedding day. After 143 days, Arizona got hit with a huge rainstorm. Yes, on our wedding day. It was pouring soooooooooo badly. And yes, our wedding was scheduled to be outside. But everyone worked so hard to get it moved indoors. I freaked out that day, but honestly looking back at the pictures, I dont think it could have been prettier outside. Everyone kept saying, "rain is good luck!" so I think we got a LOT of good luck that day. The only thing I really do regret was that we couldnt get pictures done outside. Golf course pictures would have been so pretty!

X-Rated:

What are people actually writing here? haha

Young Kids:

Our flower girl was my sweet niece Sadie. She was so little then. Hard to believe she will be in 4th grade next year!

Zzzzz:After the wedding, Nick and I went back to our honeymoon suite. We got into our robes, took out my kazillion bobbi pins, and laughed about the whole night!
Thanks for looking back at my wedding with me! So fun!

Friday Fun

Yesterday was a very exciting day!

It was our last day of school. This was my sixth year of teaching first grade and every year is a special one. My kids made so much growth and were such a sweet bunch of students. I will miss them very much!

At 9:00 am, the parents came into our classroom to watch a slideshow I made of the all of the fun things we did this year. (This was my first time doing a slideshow and it turned out fantastic!) The kids were all crying, the parents were cheering, and I was bursting with pride. At 9:30 I handed out graduation certificates and class superlatives. (The students all voted on who they thought had the best behavior, best reader, etc.)



At 10:00 all of the first graders and their parents went to the cafeteria to sing some songs and recite some poems. It was a wonderful morning.


All but 5 of my kids were checked out early, so the rest of my kids (and the left over first graders from other classes) came into my room to watch a movie. After lunch and recess we ate some ice cream and had a dance party. This Monday was the school Talent Show. Two second graders sang and danced to Justin Beiber's "Baby Baby Baby" and our first graders were OBSESSED. They seriously act like these two girls are celebrities. So I asked the girls to come in and teach our girls the dance.. It was hilarious but they loved it. It was Friday, so at 1:10 the kids were dismissed and we got checked out of rooms and started summer vacay! Yahoo!



Last night my parents took us all out to dinner for my brother in law Shaun's birthday. We went to his favorite restaurant (Maggianos). It was sooooo good. I haven't been there since I was pregnant. It's a really nice Italian place...heavenly!
Nick, Reagan, and I


Shaun and Meg
Dad and Mom
Reagan is normally an insanely picky eater. But he dove right into this fancy mac and cheese! He kept asking for more!
Between the mac and the dessert he was on cloud 9!
Happy Birthday Shaun!

I just have to give a quick shout out to my wonderful parents. They had us 3 girls but have totally taken our husbands in as their own children. They call our boys often, celebrate their birthdays, give them thoughtful gifts and truely consider them sons. I know that every family is different but my family is very close. It makes my heart super happy to my family together.

May 26, 2011

Happy Almost-End of School!

Whoooo-hooooo!

Tomorrow is the last day of school!

My room is packed, my files are purged, slideshow is made, songs have been practiced, awards have been made.... almost done!

This week we have been doing some end of the year activities includingMemory Books
(although I must say I love some of yours better! I may be upgrading next year!)



And Look How I've Bloomed flowers

Here are my End of the Year gift to the kids.
I've done this poem/picture page forever.

The poem still makes me cry. I love it!


Today was Water Day for all of the kids who had perfect attendance this last quarter. They were in hog heaven with water slides, popcorn, and snowcones. Our principal dared my team and I to go down it... We of course took the challenge. She gave us school uniforms to change into and off we went. It was hilarious.

Kelli, Kate, and I pre-water slides... Do we look like elementary school kids or what?







The only thing these pictures dont show... me totally eating it. Like big time. On the second slide, they were shooting the water at me hard core... I climbed up the ladder and then boom. Just picture me falling down the ladder backwards...dun, dun, dun, dun, hitting every peg. It was so eff-ing slippery! And to make matters worse- at the bottom of the ladder was one of those bouncey floors. I couldn't get up. I was laughing so hard with Kate I thought I was going to pee my pants. Lord have mercy. I'm not sure I will ever live that down.