Chicago and then some!

I headed to Chicago a few weeks ago for my final shower and bachelorette party!  I had a GREAT time spending time with family and friends!!  I enjoyed spending time with my aunt karla and cousin liz whom I never get to see!  Some of my great friends also made the trip into the City to hang out for the day/night as well! So thank you Kristi, Becky, and Meghan!  It was also nice to spend time with my mom, sister, Greg, my brother, Brittany and of last but not least Isabel and Grace! 

Cole, Doug, & I

Kristi & I

The weekend after Chicago we had the great joy of having my cousins Sarah and Debbie and their families stop through Omaha on their way back to Springfield and Chicago!  We had such a great time sharing our house and our new lives with family!  We had a full house for the night but we had a great time!!

Doug and I and a friend of mine headed out to the horse races in Ralston last weekend too! Who knew there were horse races right down the road from our house? We sure didn't!! We caught the last race, but we had a great time! We met our neighbors there and bet on a horse and OUR horse came in second to last and their horse came in first...go figure!

This weekend we hosted a get together with friends from my work - we had such a great time - we are finally feeling like this place is "ok" We played the hilarious game of "Just Dance" on the wii and then the girls enjoyed a game of apples to apples while the boys played some ping pong! Then we had to bring out the dancing again!! We had so much fun playing the game that Doug and I had to go out and buy it today!!! Today I headed down the Elkhorn River with a friend of mine and some of her friends - it was a lot of fun and I got some much needed sun! Well, burn, but thats ok! Its better than blending in with my wedding dress :)

I head to Michigan next weekend and Doug will stay here and work - only 35 days to go!!

Our Yard...

So Doug is swearing up and down that we will NEVER buy a house again when there is snow on the ground...we did NOT know the shape of the yard and just how much work it would be!!  Needless to say, it has been a constant project and the front yard at least is done or VERY close to being done!!  Doug is SO proud of his work and I am too!  I did not know he had it in him and I did not realize I had it in me a little bit either!  We both said that our parents didn't have us outside spreading mulch and doing yard work for nothing because now we have a great looking yard!! 

Here is a picture of our yard right when we moved in - this is even with a lots of chopping and trimming done by Mike, Doug & Sue when his parents were there helping us move in!

 

Here is the yard as of today - yes, there are some rough spots still, but there is new grass growing!  He has done a GREAT job!!

Now to add a little bit of wedding to the mix....I have taken a picture of our 'yes' and 'no' piles....Doug and I find it humorous, my mom is not quite to the laughing point :)

As you can see, we have MANY yes's and one no....We are getting VERY excited!  Only 61 days to go!!

Home Sweet Home!

As much as I enjoy living away from home right now, I also miss it and the people there terribly.  Doug and I headed home last weekend and got to see so many people!  Doug headed home Wednesday with the dog so he could spend some extra time with his brother who was home from Florida for the week - he enjoyed the time he had with his family and Chloe enjoyed swimming in the pond AND the pool for hours on end!  I headed back Friday after work then headed out with the boys!  We had a great time and I really enjoyed spending time with my soon to be brothers in law!  We met up with a lot of friends while out and  had a great time!  We realize during nights like that how much we miss being home, miss our friends, and most of all, miss being social! 

On Saturday after VERY little sleep, I headed to Springfield for my haircut!! (yes, I drive 6 hours to get my hair cut and colored....I can't resist, I have the best girl ever!!)  I spent 2 hours there then headed to my aunt and uncles to hang out with my sister, brother in law, nieces, and cousin's and their kids!  We cooked out and enjoyed each others company - yet another part of my day where I am missing being back home!  We hung out there then I headed back to Jacksonville and got some pool time in before the BIG party! 

 All the kids (minus ella :)) walking down to look at the lake..

Doug's parents with the help of many threw us an amazing and wonderful party to celebrate the upcoming wedding!  Though it was sweltering hot out, we had a GREAT time!!  My parents came down for the party and my brother, sister, aunt, uncle,cousin's and their families all joined in!  It was so nice to have most of my family there to support Doug and I!  It was almost like a preview of the wedding which has shown me how much fun this wedding is truly going to be!!  After OUR party and most of our guests had departed, we headed down the road to a retirement party that had a live band and ended up being a great ending to a great night!! 

Isabel and I

Sunday we headed back late in the afternoon and didn't get back here until almost 10 - needless to say, I am still trying to catch up on the sleep I lost last weekend - but I would take time with family and friends over sleep anytime!  We don't have a whole lot planned for this holiday weekend (I have monday off!!!!!!)  But I do think we are headed to our town parade tomorrow and also to our neighbors for a cook out!   We will also be trying to find several firework shows throughout the weekend too!!

We found out the hard way tonight that Chloe does NOT like fireworks!!  We left her outside (like we always do) to play for a while and kept hearing this strange sound...we didn't really think anything of it because we have kids next door that play and are always up to something...Doug finally opened the door, found Chloe outside our door (where she should not be) and we found the door to the back yard like this......