It's Wedding Season!

When Spring and Summer arrive it seems they bring in the unofficial "Wedding Season" right along with them. This is evidenced by the myriad of wedding invitations and wedding shower invites that cover our refrigerator and threaten to take over our bulletin board as well. That's ok though we like weddings (perhaps I shouldn't say "we", but I like them anyway;) This weekend we were able to celebrate my good friend Emily by throwing her a wedding shower. She is getting married June 21 and we are sooo super excited for her and Andrew! For her shower we headed to Madison's in Washington to celebrate Emily and they did a phenomenal job! The food was great and the atmosphere was really fun.

Right before everyone arrived at Madison's

Opening gifts

Cute cookies to match the occasion

Hostesses and bride to be

The next day was John and Kandace's wedding. It was a beautiful day and we were excited to be a part of their big day.

Derek and I all ready for the wedding

 

 

 

 

 

                                  

 John and Kandace

Then on May 4th (I know this is backtracking a little, but I couldn't forget about these two) we got to go to Rex and Rachel's wedding! Rachel and I were study buddies throughout nursing school and share the same passion for nursing.
And that's all the wedding stuff that's been going on for now!:)

Sweet Springtime

Iris

It's spring and I absolutely Love it! I'm glad Illinois got returned from Antarctica in time for spring (or what's left of it anyway). I was just telling Derek how this is the first year that I've truly been aware of plants and their regeneration. I feel like everyday I check our landscaping to see how much our irises have grown  and just today I realized that the peony bush is starting to grow. I am no flower/plant expert, but I am learning a lot and totally enjoy them. My mom has quite a few plants at her house now, but when we were little she didn't. I have this image of a rose bush she had that was new and pretty small. My siblings and I plucked all the roses off of it and tramped around it, enamored by the thorns. Yes and perhaps this is why my mother gave up on plants until we were older. We also are getting ready to till our garden....whenever it stops raining long enough for us to do it that is. So in short...I'm really glad that a new season is upon us:)

Easter 2014

For me Easter brings up memories of new bright colored Easter dresses that undoubtedly matched my sisters and white shiny shoes....or possibly not so shiny depending on if they were handy-me-downs;) I remember how we would wait our turn for my mother to curl our hair and then I would lavishly apply chapstick as if it was Mary Kay lipstick. Only now do I wonder how my mother ever got herself ready for church when she had 6 girls.....yes you moms are amazing! Then it was off to church we went and I loved and still love singing He Arose. Oh what a special day to stop and really soak in the fact that Christ died for us, conquered the grave and lives! I know that my Redeemer lives.....it is undeniable...from the way his handy work shows up in the everyday to the way that lives are transformed by His saving grace. Yes He Lives.
Easter this year was spent at church and then with Derek's family for lunch and then with the Roth side of my family for the evening. We were at Goodfield fellowship hall when we realized there was someone outside "slack lining"...which is basically a tight rope, but thicker. Well we couldn't believe our good luck....here we were having great food and now we would have a "show" too! The owner of the tight rope graciously let us give it a try. Needless to say it is just as hard as it appears even when you're only 3 feet off the ground. It was fun though:)

My cousin Kayla giving it a try!

Yum lots of food!

 And that's how we spent Easter 2014:)

Arizona Sun

Towards the end of March some of my family and I took off for AZ for a little vacation and family time with our aunt, uncle and cousins. Derek stayed here since it's tax season and not the finest time for a finance guy to be going anywhere (but to work that this). I on the other hand am a nurse sooo with a little trading around I was good to go ;) I tell Derek all the time "wouldn't it be fun if we were nurses together?!".....his response is less than enthusiastic. Anywho we took off from Peoria airport for some 85* and sunny weather on a Friday afternoon. And yes....my skepticism concerning airplanes still remains, but the 2.5 hour flight verses driving a ton of hours gets me on the airplane no problem;) And for the record if you're flying Allegiant, ice in a cup is about the only free thing you can get....so pack some snacks.

Also for a checked bag the limit is 40lbs.....I love the scale they had there..and it obviously loved me back;)

Welcome to Mesa airport

The house we rented out for the week....would it look too weird if I built this house in Illinios?

 

 

visiting Uncle Keith's store!

Four wheeling in the dessert!

Playing "Scotland Yard" with cousins

Fro-yo is good no matter what state you're in:)

My parents went out one night so my siblings and I had a pizza and game night. Reminds me of when we were little kids....loved just playing board games together all day.

spent some quality time driving up to Prescott to see Jake Rokey one day

Pool time at my aunt and uncles!

And I'll never get over the pretty mountain/dessert landscape.

It was a really fun time and I am so blessed with the family I have:)

They moved!

On one of the few above freezing days that we've had here in Illinois Holly and Pete moved! They built a beautiful home on their property and it's been fun watching it go from start to finish. We helped move them one Friday and it went pretty smoothly except for that moment when I thought we'd gotten everything moved and then realized the dishwasher in their old house was full of a clean load of dishes..opps....so we just unloaded the dishes into a box and carried them over to the new house:)

The house going up this past fall.

Family room/dining room.

The granite guys sealing the counters.

Fritz hooking up the washer and drier. Also Pete layed the brick in this room.

Pete and Holly's girl enjoying some yogurt in the new house:)

And those are all the pictures I took so you'll have to hound Holly to post some on FB if you want to see more:)


 On another note kids aren't the only ones about to lose their sanity this winter......Derek and I have been finding interesting ways to keep ourselves entertained during this never ending winter as well...

 Like that time we went to Petco and checked out all the cool fish, snakes, gerbils, turtles etc. No we didn't buy anything although I think a friendly fish might be fun to have around ;)

We've also spent an evening at Home Depot....just doing some dreaming and having fun pointing out the things we love and don't like so much...

So that's all for now....look for a warmer, Arizona sun-filled post coming soon!

Melt and freeze

Last week things got a little....swampy over here. We had huge drifts of snow in our front yard, but with the random 45 degree weather they've melted down considerably. I knew it had to happen eventually. If spring is ever going to come then the snow must go. Alas most of the melting snow seemed to make it's way into our basement where there was an inch or two of standing (very cold) water. No big deal besides the fact that my washer, drier and freezer are down there. I just had to slosh to the freezer in my boots for a day. The other melting problem came when I had to get into my car which I park on the side of the road. The water was about ankle deep around it so I put on Derek's big boots to get in and then switched into my shoes once I was in the car. Quite the process. Now I understand why my parents built their house on a hill ;)

This is me wearing derek's shoes so I can get into my car which was surrounded by melting snow....I think I need rain boots!

Then this week came and it is f-r-e-e-z-i-n-g once again. Thus our mass amount of snow melting issue has dissipated (for now anyway). It used to be that I would hunker down inside when such temperatures came. Now it seems to be the norm. In fact I've considered going for a run and pretending that spring is just around the corner......but a few gulps of frigid air and I'm right back inside. I remember how forecasts for "big" snows made me stay home, cancel plans etc. Now it seems like "winter storm warning" is no more uncommon than hearing someone say "please pass the salt". The last time there was a winter storm advisory my sister and I were out shopping and running errands while driving through a few inches of unplowed snow. I don't think we even batted an eye. Thus is Illinois life:)

Love and Sniffles

I hope everyone had a sweet Valentine's day filled with lovely memories<3

Derek brought these roses home to me Thursday night...and they brought a huge smile to my face:)

Each day up until February 14th I put a heart on Derek's closet door with something about him that I Love.

February feels like it's flying by as I watch from the couch. Last week I went into the Dr with a terrible sore throat...I left with an antibiotic prescription. My sore throat seemed to dissipate, but I started feeling extremely tired and congested. I feel kinda ridiculous because in rapid succession I sneeze, blow my nose and go into a coughing fit. And then repeat. Anyway before the weekend I started spiking a fever so now I have a new antibiotic and am praying it nips this in the bud. Derek has been a champ through this all. I know I haven't been very fun to be around, but he still makes me smile and cheerfully gets me medicine, more sprite, more Kleenexes and any other request.

I'm feeling so much better now and am convinced if there was a little spring sun to sit outside in I'd feel 100%:) Speaking of spring weather....am I the only one who thinks that the state of Illinois was secretly transported to Antarctica?!