sneak peek?

Joel and I spent a glorious (and gone-in-the-blink-of-an-eye) long weekend in Phoenix a few days ago. My brother has lived there for twenty years or so, and I have been spending my “spring breaks” down there since I started working in 2005. This past year, I had to forgo my trip due to our little adventure in Europe. This made me quite sad, so Joel & I decided to buzz down there to spend time with the kids and watch my oldest (stud of a) nephew play football. We arrived Thursday night and the mayhem began. Throughout the duration of our not-quite 72 hours we: played a lot of cards, went for a run, went to a pep rally, watched my nephew ask his girlfriend to homecoming in front of the entire school (a plan he didn’t come up with, but went along with WHOLE HEARTEDLY), hiked camelback, was Nicole’s show-and-tell at school, had some Mexican & margaritas, went to a football game (Adam had a TD!!), watched Sam for five holes in a golf tourney, stopped at the mall, watched the Nebraska game, went to church, failed my all-time partner John by losing to Joel and Sam in washers, played more cards, and laughed and told a lot of stories.

Quite an agenda, right? This is a day of NORMALCY in their lives. My brother and sister-in-law have four children. Four very active children. I would need the fanciest scheduling device Apple has invented in order to ‘keep up with the Engelberts’. Bad joke, I know. J

It’s amazing how you get caught up in the excitement of LIFE there. Always somewhere to be and always something to do. Will we have a household of kids? Will we be strategically planning how to get this child here & that child there? Will we have four children & five vehicles in front of our house? Will we be running out to the grocery store the night before the big pep rally to buy a dozen roses so our son can have THE big invite? Will we have boys? Will we have girls? Will they share rooms and live to tell about it??

Will we have a little princess that REALLY likes to sing? J

I sure hope so!!!

not just 20 questions....

hello hello!

first of all...if anyone is able to let this blogger know how to comment on a comment, that would be fabulous. shorty -- i tried to add a comment on the previous post to the tune of "yes, i do love my tulips. yes, my tulips are in season. yes, my florist sent pics of an all-tulip wedding she has done...." (cue downcast shamed look) i didn't particularly care for them! eek! am i becoming too dramatic-loving for my own good?? for shame! woe is my #1 flower for years! or perhaps woe is my budget. ;)

all non-comments aside, joel and i had a big week last week! we met with a priest at my parish in west des moines named father george. he has been ordained for two years & is from kenya. and by golly that man never stopped smiling. it was fun & surreal & EXCITING to discuss our marriage prep timeline. first things first (dun dun dun...), the FOCCUS survey. this is something created by the omaha arch diocese to identify talking points as we continue this engagement journey. we were to answer: agree, disagree, or unsure. the topics ranged from faith to finances to children. i really hope we pass. :)

ps --- one of the first questions: there are some things my future spouse does that annoy me.

hmmm.....(cough cough)

:)

we are waiting to hear from our sponsor couple to begin discussing all of our (surely agreeable) answers. stay tuned!

two football fields. of lace.

joel and i went to nebraska this weekend because we were hosting the washington huskies. my co-worker from seattle and his cousin made the trip to the good life state to watch the NU/UW showdown for the 3rd time in 12 months. that's a lot of purple, people.... anyway, we had a group dinner on friday night that included the four of us & two of my best friends and their husbands. the boys were totally jazzed when wedding convo started (duh). i was telling them how ultra excited i was that joel's aunt tricia volunteered to lead 'operation invitations & programs'. i also casually mentioned that i ordered lace trim for the project. two hundred yards (it only came in one amount!). Casey (my co-worker) just stared at me. "that's two football fields. you know that, right?". men.

:)

another piece of 0h-so-utterly exciting news!!!!!! my very first -- we're talking MY NAME ON THE LABEL -- BRIDE mag came in the mail last week!!! ang gifted me a subscription right after my engagement! and by right after, i'm talking there was a confirmation email waiting for me in my inbox when i returned to work that monday. yes, i know. she rules.

it was a planning roller coaster last week. despite my lace high, i was defeated by the floral gods in the latter part of the week. cue the melancholy music ---- my mom called with some bad news regarding my obsessive desire to have peonies as THE flower. google led me astray in believing they were in season in april. i suppose they CAN be in season --- at FIFTEEN DOLLARS A STEM. i die.

back to the drawing board on flowers. you know, back in college when all of the girls were making wedding dream scrapbooks (don't judge), i was the girl that said i was totally doing fake flowers. you should have SEEN the appalled looks. tee hee. maybe i'll revisit that notion...... ;)

testing...one...two...three...

hello to all!  fancy this the first official blog of the blushing bride-to-be.  thank you to my o-so-fab matron of honor for getting this site rolling.  i did a quick bio on my love and our story, and now onto the posting!  had i been of adequate computer literacy, i would have much more time to dedicate to my much anticipated (humor me, here) first post.  alas....i am tech'ed out for the night.

fret not --- i promise words to come about the joys and stress of planning small-town nuptials. :)  i already have so much to be thankful for.  My wonderful (and patient and understanding and...) groom-to-be, my incredible parents & equally ah-mazing Brett/Louis clan have been helping and supporting us from day one.  we are so very lucky and we are SO very ants in our pants excited to walk down that aisle and say "i do"!!