TIIIIIMMMMMBBBBBBEEERRRRRRR!

Jerad had been traveling for work for the better part of last week and then he took off on again on Friday. But this trip he had volunteered to drive a truck to Duluth for the MS 150 which is a bike ride from Duluth to the Twin Cities for Multiple Sclerosis. This is the first I had heard of it, but it is a huge event. Cargill (Jerad's employer) has a huge team every year and needed drivers to haul all the bikes and camping equipment up to the start line and then to the camping location and slowly make their way back to the cities with the bikers. So he was gone until Sunday morning. He was tired and sunburned but he was ready to get those pine trees down. And I'll tell you, this time he didn't let me hide.

Here is Jerad preparing the trees. He tied a rope to the top so that when he made the first cut, we could pull it in the direction we wanted it to go. Check out all of the helpful neighbors that came to help little me pull. We have me, our neighbor boys, neighbor Sharon, and 2 friends of the neighbor boys. Lots of muscle here. ;-P

We actually pulled so hard the that the rope broke. BEFORE the tree came down! I was a nervous wreck yelling at Jerad to quit cutting b/c we couldn't control where the top fell. When the rope broke it, the top fell back on to the chainsaw and jammed it so it was stuck in the cut. Jerad came down and I ran to the hardware store and bought some thicker rope. Jerad tied it back up and then we were at it again. The picture isn't the best....but maybe you can make out all of us actually pulling with all of our might. This first tree had a huge trunk that Jerad even had to come off the ladder after making the cut to help us pull it down . And then.......TIIIIMMMMBBBEERRRRR!

And now it was time for round two on the second, smaller tree. With it being 1/2 the size in circumference and it wasn't leaning towards the street like the first one, he cut it at the bottom and me and my pullers were able to pull without his help.

Here we are tying up the top of the tree,

Jerad making the cut,

and then TIIIIIMMMMBBBEEEERRR!

Jerad also just plugged away at cutting all of the branches and piling them up to bundle it all. He cut while I stacked or cleaned up all of the broken branches or dead stuff that broke off....not to mention the pine cones that fell from the top. We were very tired and sore by the end of the night. As you will see here, the big trunk from the first tree was still up while Jerad cut all of the branches, but we did get that down too last night. It is nice to have our yard cleaned up today, but I would have given anything to stop for the night and save the rest for another day....but if you know my fiance....work work work until it is finished. Plus he is traveling for 3 days this week again so he didn't want it laying in the yard all week long. He had it all at the curb for the rock star yard waste guy once again....this time not holding any back since it didn't take long to load...and as I was working from home again today....I can tell you it only took him 5 minutes to clear it all away. I tell you....I think we have the cream of the crop yard waste collectors. Now all that is left for me to do while he is away is to move all of the hostas and ferns that were growing underneath the pine trees so we can get the stump grinder next week and tear out those stumps. We are looking at replacing it with a lovely new weeping willow tree. Our privacy will once again return.

The Beginning of a Busy Month

This weekend we headed up to Hibbing for our 4th wedding of the year. This one was for an old college friend of Jerad's. I have met him once before and I have to say that he is one of the nicest and most engaging guys I have met. I think I could sit and have small talk with him for hours. And you all know I love to talk. :-) Well since the only person we knew at the wedding was the groom - and with him being one of the main attractions we couldn't take up all of his time - we decided to leave the reception pretty early. We headed back to the hotel to call it an early night. Jerad thought it would be a grand idea to leave really early so we could get back home so we could cut down our pine trees. How early you ask? Well let's just say he requested a 5:30AM wake up call when we returned from the reception. We were on the road by 6:15AM. You all know I am no morning person. I was able to doze on the 3 hour drive home so that was very nice of him.

When we finally returned home, Jerad started on cutting down a lot of the branches on the pine trees. Now I will say that I did not get any pictures of the progress b/c I was afraid that if I went out there, I would be put to work......so I waited until it was mostly done. Our neighbor Fred came over and helped Jerad clip up branches and bag them or bundle them for the yard waste guy for the Monday pick up.

So the picture show what we put out for yard waste and since we didn't want to overwhelm the yard waste guy, we held off on putting some of it out. Only...we have a rock start yard waste guy....he had it all picked up in 3 minutes. Ahh...the joys of working from home on a Monday....I can time the yard waste guy. And then this final picture is what our neighbors now call the Palm trees. I have a few jokesters in the neighborhood so I was half way thinking I would come home to a beach chair and umbrella sitting in the middle of the trees.

While Jerad was busy outside, Nattie and I did our own stuff inside - laundry, vacuuming, sweeping, scouting the back yard for squirrels - you know the normal weekend stuff. We were lucky enough to catch one squirrel with its hand in the cookie jar........

Needless to say, Nattie wasn't going to have any of that. So she decided it was her duty to guard the bird feeder. I don't think that squirrel came back at all today.

Major Update - May

So the update brings us to May finally.

MY WEDDING DRESS IS IN!!! I had my confirmation appt on May 7th - I had to confirm it was the right dress/color/size and no flaws. It was beautiful...but that's all you get....no pictures will be posted of the dress.

Our first big event has turned into an annual event. We participated in the Twin Cities Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. As Jerad's mom and aunt as well as my best friends mom are all survivors I was able to dedicate my run to them. Jerad and I got up early to do the 5K run at 7:30AM and when we finished we met up with Debbie and Sue to check out all of the stands they have donating their product and services. In the survivors tent there was a table full of Babybel cheese and since Uncle Gary sells that cheese, we had to take a picture to send to him.

And yes, I did look like a freakish superhero as a number of sponsors were giving out capes and scarves....I had to wear it all.

I always get so emotional at this race. I can't help it when I just see the sea of faces out there doing the walk either in Honor of or in Remembrance of family or friends. I think we hit about 40,000-50,000 people that day. Along our walk we did have to stop along the way to take pictures at all of the signs. That too has turned into a tradition. We had a great time during our race and want to thank everyone who sponsored our team. And I want to thank my small, but growing team. We have increased our team by one this year and hopefully next year we can grow a little more.

The following weekend I had my VERY FIRST BRIDAL SHOWER!! My aunt Darla and cousin Abbie threw me a Pampered Chef bridal shower back in my hometown of Belmond Iowa. It was so nice to see those that were able to make it to the shower. I got to spend time with my bridesmaids and 3 of the four flower girls and ring bearers. I would post some pictures, but I do not have one on my camera, they are on my mom and Jerad's mom's cameras. I ended up getting some very nice kitchen and serving items from the shower. While I was there, Jerad was off again at another bachelor party for one of his friends. Have I happened to mention that we are/were invited to 7 weddings this year not including our own?

Memorial weekend was another busy one for us. Jerad headed up for his traditional fishing trip to Canada with his uncles. They have been going for years and I have to say that I am a fan of the fish he does bring back. :-) They were catching a ton of fish in which Jerad caught a 26" walleye!

While the men were being men, us women - Debbie, Sue and I - decided it was Girls' Weekend up at the cabin. We had a full weekend of pampering. Debbie and I drove up on Thursday night as we both prefer to drive at night then get up in the morning and travel. So on Friday morning, I went next door to the cabin for a massage. Gary and Sue are so lucky to have a neighbor up there that is a massage therapist. Then by the time I was done, Sue was pulling up with her dogs and we would soon be off to get our pedicures and manicures. We decided to go to the cosmetology school for a "deal" on our pedi/manis, but it really didn't turn out that great. They really don't give these girls the best tools to use for the services they offer. We sat in hair dryer seats and our feet were soaked in pretty cheap feet soakers that anyone can buy at the store. Needless to say, you could tell the girls weren't that excited to be doing the services. Our nails were barely filed, the cuticles were not cut - even though the cuticle cutter was sitting out next to all of the other tools, our nails were each a different height and shape and we had polish around the sides of our nails. I have a feeling these girls just want to cut hair. To think they graduate in July! Scary! Then on Saturday, Debbie and I went to get our hair done. I was WAY overdue for a hair cut. We both got a cut and color. Jim is also the stylist that is doing my hair for the wedding so before he even cut and colored my hair, he played with my hair as to how he wants to do my wedding updo. Even though it was put up in less than 10 min, we got a great feeling with how we want to do it and he loved my ideas of what I wanted to do with my hair. Then after my cut and color he did it again. You know, it must be great to have skill like that. :-)

Later that day we headed out to eat and just chilled out at the cabin. Sunday we finally worked on the wedding project. We have 1/2 of the branches for the centerpieces done. You don't know how great that feels to have started on it and almost done. Now I just have to finish it. Oh and I do have the jewelry done for my bridesmaids too. And I failed to mention that the dogs had a fabulous time this weekend too. Freddy and Nattie really wanted to play, but the new puppy Frankie really had a thing for Nattie....you'd think she was the first female dog he has ever seen.

And for our final weekend in May we closed it out with a BBQ that we hosted in our own backyard. We invited neighbors/friends/family. We had a great turnout and was able to visit with neighbors we barely knew and the kids had a blast too. One of our neighbors has a big blow up bouncer that he kept from when he owned a business of them. With that in our side yard, the kids were able to jump, slide and bounce until their little heart's content and I guess my retired neighbor Sharon decided to take a bounce in it too. I'm really sorry I missed that one. I want to say thanks to all of our neighbors and friends and family that joined us and brought along food to share. We still have some leftover if you want to stop by.

And since the weekend wasn't complete, on Sunday Jerad and our neighbor Tim got together to take down our other neighbors' 3 pine trees in the back yard (Fred and Sharon) I didn't get any pictures of them taking them down, but here is the aftermath of it all. Monday morning Fred, Sharon and their daughter Kari were out clipping it all up and we had 10 bags and two cans full for the yard waste guy to take away at 1:30. By 5:30pm, after a little rest, they have the big yard waste container, 2 cans, and 3 bags full and ready to go for next week's pick up.

The first picture is the old location....please note that no flamingos where hurt in the process of taking down the trees.

This is the brush pile at the beginning of the morning.This is the brush pile after 10 bags, one big yard waste container, 2 garbage cans full.The pile of wood - look for some great bonfires come this fall. :-)
Fred still out there working away at 5:30pm. What a trooper!

Major Update - April part 2

The next weekend after the wedding was Easter weekend. We had just traveled to Colorado the weekend before so we thought it would be nice to have Easter at home this year. We invited our newly married friends, Brad and Cherie along with Jerad's mom, Debbie. I think I started a new tradition with Easter dinner. Steaks and potatoes. The weather was beautiful so the grilling worked out perfectly. Not only did we torture our friends and Debbie to our non-traditional meal, but we pulled out the games.

We had even gone to see the florist on Saturday to discuss our flowers for the wedding. She was sweet enough to give us some samples of flowers when we were on our way out. So lucky us, we had some flowers to dress up our Easter table.

The following weekend was also filled with festivities. As Brad and Cherie were married in Colorado, but live here in the Twin Cities, they had a reception up in Roseville for those who couldn't travel out there. It was another fun night and the best part for Cherie was that she was able to wear her dress a second time. How great was that!!

Major Update - April part 1

So April was a big month for us - mainly one weekend in particular.

The wedding plans are moving along nicely for us. I have just about everything booked and the only things we have left to do is pick out the cake, confirm with the DJ - waiting on that contract to be sent to us, take our engagement photos, plan the honeymoon, print out the invites, finish the centerpieces, meet with the pastor - when we figure out which one will marry us and then print out the bulletins for the ceremony - but that won't happen until about 2 weeks before the wedding.

So the first weekend in April took us to Colorado for an extended weekend. Our friends Brad and Cherie got married on April 4th in Golden, Colorado. Every time we go out there, we always try to see our family that lives in Denver. Jerad has his aunt and grandma out there and I have an aunt and uncle and my cousins out there. Unfortunately, due to timing, we weren't able to connect with my family, but we stayed with Jerad's Aunt Gail and family. We arrived late on a Wednesday night so there wasn't much time for chatting as it was definitely time for bed. The next day, Thursday, we basically hung out. Jerad took off to go run some errands and play his luck at Dave and Buster's with Brad, so his Grandma Chuck and I took off to do a little shopping. But you all know...shopping makes you hungry....so why not fill up on some Mexican.

We had all made plans to go to Lucky Strike Bowling that night so Chuck and I decided we would make our bowling games a little more interesting. I had purchased 5 prizes - one was for best overall score, one for best granny shot, one for best backwards granny shot, one for best non-dominant hand, and I think the last one was for the most gutter balls. I hope I got them right - as this did happen about 2 months ago. Check out the photos for that night:

And now you can see all of the great prizes we got (please do not ask me who won which title as I have no clue):

Chuck, Gail and I got some fun Easter candies, Cathy got a candle and Jerad got a little tabletop pool game.

It was such a fun night that we decided to continue on with the fun. Pretty much right outside of Lucky Strike is Coyote Ugly. Now if you know me at all, you would know that I love that movie as it is in one of my top 10 favorites. But I was not so interested in going in as all of that planning of the bowling wore me out. ;-P So Gail and I let Cathy and Jerad go hang out.

And while they were there (very short stay), Gail and I decided to chill out ourselves on the wonderfully comfortable couch.

What a great night with everyone. The next day I think we just hung out for a while before we took off for the rehearsal and dinner. I have some great photos of the rehearsal and the dinner. Something surprising to me was that the dinner was at Applebee's. They did a magnificent job there and apparently they are one of the very few locations that did that. I called one for our rehearsal dinner and it sounded like they didn't want to go through the effort.

I think I may have failed to mention that there was a really cool bison farm right by the church. And of course I had to go say hi and take my picture with them. :-)

So not only was the rehearsal good, but the wedding was beautiful. I ended up taking about 140 pictures during the rehearsal and wedding that I will spare you most of them but I do have a couple to share. Jerad did have a little buddy most of the night. His name was Preston and was the ring bearer. He took to Jerad the entire day and well into the evening.

Can anyone say, "Daddy Material"?

Congratulations to our friends, Brad and Cherie Bornhorst!!

Major Update time - March

So I have been very slack in posting...as you will see that my last post was about 3 months ago. So lets start at the end of March.

The last weekend in March, Nattie and I took a trip out to see my sister and my neice. It was quite a bit of fun. Alyssa still loves Nattie so much. As it had been snowing the weeks before it was really mushy outside a few days before so as the sun had been out during the week and that lovely Saturday, we were able to take the dogs out to run while we played with Alyssa with her toys - and she does have a lot of them - and we also played in the woods. Ok, mainly I played in the woods but for very good reason - and of course Nattie was there to help me.

(Don't you think Nattie would make a great country dog? She loves running around and chasing the squirrels.)

I was looking for branches for our weddng centerpieces. Heather and Micah have such a great wooded area around their house that I found some awesome branches. I bet you are all dying to see what we are doing with branches....but you will just have to wait until the wedding to see it for yourself. :-) Don't worry, it isn't a crazy idea...I learned it off of Platinum weddings on WE tv. If its on TV it has to be good, right? And while we were being productive working on some wedding stuff, Jerad had a night of fun himself. He was in charge of planning his buddies bachelor party. I think he did a really nice job. It turned out that he had a little bit of babysitting to do. Who would have thought that 28 year old men needed a babysitter?

A Busy summer

So as you all know, this summer was filled with wedding preparations. So much, that I really let all of my blogging go down the drain. I do hope you all forgive me. But in all of this hectic planning, Jerad and I were able to throw a little bit of fun in there. We were able to attend the Twins/Yankees game at the metrodome this summer and I remember that because I found the pictures on my camera for proof. :-) Really I forgot about it, but the pictures were fun.

So as you can see, I had to get some cracker jacks for the baseball game BUT what happened to the boxes of cracker jacks and my prize really wasn't that great. I used to get better prizes when I was little. And of course, we sat behind a true Yankee Hater. :-) I don't remember if we won or lost but it was just fun for the two of us to take off the afternoon and enjoy the game together.

This summer also marked my 10 year class reunion. A lot of my classmates got together over July 3rd at the local bar and reminisced of old times and got reacquainted with each other and learned about the growing families. It was truly amazing to see so many people. The interesting thing about a 10 year reunion is that everyone is in different stages of their lives. Some had been married with kids since before our 5 year reunion, some were just finishing college, some were just starting a career, some starting a family and of course there were those that just didn't change and were still doing the same thing they were doing 10 years ago. Here are some highlight pictures from the evening.

I got to meet up with my childhood neighbor, Rachel. She is now in social work which I am surprised about b/c she has such a soft heart, that the situations she deals with daily would break my heart. Of course, since we were at the local bar, just about everyone shows up to see people so I ran into my hometown hair stylist, Elisa. Her and her husband now own the Latimer Meats - I tend to frequent there when I come home. They do a fabulous job and I love the meat I get there. Top quality.

Of course there is the token picture of my best friend, Andrea and I. A fun fact about my 10 year reunion - it was my brother's 5 year reunion and my dad's 35th class reunion. So mom had to get a picture of all of us. This other picture in here with one man and tons of girls......Mr. Havel - he was the "hot" teacher of our days and a couple of the girls still drool over him. So of course we got a picture of Havel and his Hotties. :-) I wonder what his wife thought of that.