Calling All Pictures!

Hello everyone,

So many people took pictures during our wedding weekend and we would love to have them! If you could, please send us a CD of all the beautiful pictures you took. We'd really like to print off pictures to put into a scrapbook and well, we didn't take any! haha.

Our address is listed in the ceremony program but if you need it I can e-mail it to you!

Thanks a ton!

Our professional pictures are up and I'll get the information for you later today so you can check them out! They are quite amazing - but quite expensive! :)

Mrs. H

We are in...

Minnesota!

Many of you guessed the correct state at one point or another.

1. Aunty Jodi and Uncle Steve

2. Uncle Tom

3. Tommy and Sandy

4. Aunt Addi

5. Aunty Lisa

We did not go to Canada, even though I feel like we are since their flags can be seen EVERYWHERE!

So the winner is...

AUNTY LISA with her guess, "will go with Grand Ely Lodge in Ely Minnesota."

Runner up is Tommy and Sandy because they were the first to guess the city we are honeymooning, "in Ely MN, near boundry waters."

The Grand Ely Lodge in Ely Minnesota is the perfect location for us! Beautiful sights, filled with outdoorsy activities and many awesome local shops and cafes. The resort itself is beautiful with the most amazing restaurant located inside (we've eaten there 3 times!!). We are pretty wiped out today. I think the lack of sleep we both encountered over the last two weeks has finally caught up with us. I slept for about three hours this afternoon and Ben is going on hour two. We needed to catch up on sleep and we figured our honeymoon was as good of time as any!

Keep checking the blog for updates on our honeymoon and post-wedding things, including pictures!

Thanks for playing the honeymoon game! Aunty Lisa, Tommy & Sandy - keep your eyes open for a prize being sent your way in about a week! :)

Love you all!

Mr. and Mrs. H

The LAST Clues!

We've decided we've agitated you all enough and we will be telling you where we are... tomorrow!

We will say this, someone has found us! They know EXACTLY where we are!

Here are a few more clues:

1. We were 2 feet away from 6 wolves today.

2. We are in the hometown of a famous conservationist. (one of the reasons Ben choose this place!)

3. We found our first two geocaches. Our username at geocaching.com is Journey612 but I'm not sure if that will help you find us. We are new to this after all!

Check back in tomorrow for the BIG REVEAL!!

Marriage and Honeymoon!

We are married!!

Jessica Hannink here with an update from the couple! :)

We turned in our wedding license today and it felt like a huge weight off our chests to have that turned in without a hitch. We also went through our cards last night and still can't get over how gracious everyone is and what amazing friends and family we have. We are in awe of how blessed we are!

We also had quite the fun time reading our guest book mad libs! Some were really heart warming while others had us crying with laughter!

A few pictures are showing up online and I can't wait to see the rest. From the pictures I've seen so far, this one is my favorite! :) Thanks Taj for taking such a fun picture!

We currently are sitting in our hotel room in our undisclosed location. We got quite the surprise when we found out that they upgraded our room (for free of course) and it now includes a jacuzzi in the room! They also greeted us with a sign and basket filled with goodies; etched wine glasses, local root beer, candle, and picture frame. It left us speechless and the ladies found our lack of communication quite humorous. We also have a nice porch outside our sliding door and there are picnic table located right outside along with some Adirondack chairs perfect for reading and relaxing!

Want to know where we are!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Here are a few clues!

We'll give three each day and if you think you've figured it out, let us know. :)

1. We are about 400 miles from Marquette.

2. Canoes are a very integral part of this area.

3. Moose, bears, ospreys and bald eagles can often be found roaming the land.

Come back tomorrow for more clues!

Ben picked a perfect spot for our honeymoon and I couldn't be happier. The resort is spectacular (more amazing than Ben imagined!). There are plenty of things to do if we want both indoors and outdoors! I wish we could stay longer! :)

0 Days!

Here we go!!

The next time I post, I'll be a Mrs!

1 DAY!

I'M GETTING MARRIED TOMORROW!

It is 12:03am and if I don't write now I never will.

Today is our last day as "single" folk!

It is also a very busy day!!

We have lots to do today but alot of help so I'm confident everything will get done.

Our day starts off bright and early with everyone meeting at our apartment at 9am. Some will stay at my place working on flowers, some will go to the reception location and work on making everything look amazing, the guys will get their tuxes, and everyone is hoping to get some cliff jumping in!

Then we are off to the rehearsal at 5pm then rehearsal dinner at 6pm. Then I say goodbye to my dearest love and head to the hotel for a girls night! I get to spend the night before my wedding with my future sisters and best friends.

I'm planning on putting up lots of pictures of all the little details of our wedding that I have been hiding from you all so the blog isn't over when our wedding is over so keep checking in! :)

I'm not sure I'll be able to get on again before I'M MARRIED so this is Jessica Walk signing out!

2 DAYS 2 DAYS!

The wedding weekend has begun!!

In 30 minutes I'll be meeting with the Pastor from Redeemer to pick up the keys.

At 11:30am I'm getting a manicure. Wish me luck! I've never had one before and I'm a little nervous. I'm hoping they turn out awesome and stay nice through the wedding.

I have my last staff meeting as a "single" gal from 2-4pm and then it is time to boogey.

My parents will be arriving in a few hours and after my staff meeting I will be cleaning the apartment (we are having quite a few people staying at our place throughout the weekend) and then we will be packing stuff up and bringing what we can to the different locations to free up my apartment a bit!

So many people have worked so hard for us to get to this point and I'm so ready to get this weekend started!!

Love you all!

3...

Well our joint bank account is all set up and we are no longer owners of our old bank accounts.

Tomorrow starts our wedding weekend. Our immediate families and one groomsmen are making their way here as the wedding festivities officially begins! We have been preparing for marriage for so long that is hard to believe we are finally here. I'm so truly blessed to the point where I can't take it all in! My life is so good.

My first week at my new job was stressful, long, and filled with mix-ups but I loved every moment. I am working a front desk in the dorms signing in the new students and their families and helping to assign them to their rooms. My staff rocks and I love interacting with the new students and their parents. I'm a bit bummed that I won't be working with them next week but I suppose I could just try and enjoy OUR HONEYMOON!

I have consumed a mass amount of chocolate in the last week and I've decided that the chocolate helps stabilizes my emotions so I'm not crying all week. :) haha With saying that I made some brownies with chocolate chips in it.. yum! And I also made cookies this past weekend. They were gone in a matter of days!! haha

Anyone still reading the blog?

Give me a shout! :)

See you all soon!

4...

Every day Ben and I update the fridge with our letter magnets! We have to get creative to make numbers out of letters.

The pile of wedding goodies that have found their home in the dining area.

The "wedding" room has exploded!! But it is organized! :)

I also packed what I could for the next week.

I need a bag for.

1. Friday Night: Girls night in the hotel

2. Saturday Night: WEDDING NIGHT!

3. Honeymoon/Vacation: Including our honeymoon, camping with my family, and my cousin's wedding.

We are really getting down to the last few things and it FEELS GOOD!

5!

I can count with ONE hand how many days left until I'm a Mrs.

The weather for our big day isn't looking too good.

Thunderstorms are being forecasted. Cross your fingers the weather clears up for an hour so we can get some pictures outside.

That's all the time I've got for today.. back to my to do list!

6

My parents stayed over last night and brought with them many many things..

3 coolers + a mini cooler

LOTS of napkins, cups, plants

decorations for the rehearsal dinner and brunch

punch bowl

Diet Coke (because our reception location has Pepsi products so we are brining in our own)

and MANY more things.

Currently my dining area and spare bedroom are a mess and my mom and I came up with a pretty hefty to do list for tomorrow.

And I started another job tonight. My third job, yikes! I'll put in 18 hours in the next 3 days and then Thursday hits which is the start of our wedding weekend!!

So I'll keep this post short and sweet as I head off to get a jump start on my to do list!

7!!!!!!

One week One week One week!!

This time next week we will be married!!!!

I think I will burst any day now from excitement!

I opened up the mailbox today and found our first card addressed as Mr. and Mrs!

It was funny (and VERY exciting) to see something addressed to me in this fashion. I better get used to it, and fast. :)

I also got a package today from my Aunty Jodi. Inside were a bunch of table runners for different seasons, holidays and occasions. I'm SO excited! I was going to make these (eventually....) and these are way better than I could ever do!!

Ben surprised me today by making me a bouquet! It is now the perfect centerpiece for the kitchen table! Who buys flowers when you can make your own bouquet! :D

My parents will be here soon to bring a car full of goodies up (including my dress!) so I'm off!

SEE YOU ALL IN ONE WEEK!! (or less than a week for some!) WAHOO!!

LOVE YOU ALL!

8...

This time next week we will be decorating our reception location, most of our bridal party will be in town, I'll be packed and ready to go for our honeymoon, all of our planning will pretty much be complete and we will be spending our last day of "single" life surrounded by our families and friends.

I'm finding myself smiling more and more as we get closer to the big day!

My mom seems to be a bit stressed out this week as she is busy making some food for the evening snacks, working on ceremony decorations and creating the table runners. Ben's mom is also pretty busy because she is doing the flowers for our wedding.

Tomorrow my parents are coming up to bring up a load of goodies including my WEDDING DRESS!!! I can't wait to see it again (I haven't seen it in months!). They are staying the night and we are going to be going over the seating chart and a few other reception details. The only problem is they have to sleep in the living room because the spare bedroom is FILLED with wedding things! :)

9...

My CA staff planned a BBQ/potluck for us and our families. What I didn't know was that it was also a surprise wedding party for Ben and I! Our friend, Andy, asked us to get in his car and see if we could hear the clunking noise his car was making. We rode around for awhile and came back to our BBQ site to see this!

(sorry for the strange looking pictures the camera was on a funky setting and I didn't realize it!)

A beautiful sign!

And gifts! My staff is truly wonderful.

We got ice packs for a cooler, mattress pad, and a pudgie pie maker!

Delicious cake that Jackie made! YUM!

There were also bubbles on the tables which we had lots of fun with.

Andy made friends with the three little girls who enjoyed jumping on his back and squishing him!

The adorable card we received!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Now here are a few more glimpses of our wedding!

I decided last minute to do another do-it-yourself project, call me crazy!

We received a few wedding presents while visiting Ben's family and also through the mail.

They are taunting me by sitting in our spare bedroom.

All that stuff is wedding things!! Our wedding has officially taken over our spare bedroom and half our living room!

On a side note, I start another job today. Wish me luck!

10...

Can you believe it?

It feels like just yesterday that we were at 100 days and here we are at 10!

The last time I wrote here was our to do list. I've since updated it! :)

* Writing out Thank Yous DONE

* Meeting with our vendors one final time ALMOST DONE (one last meeting with the DJ)

* Finalizing music selections and reception schedule DONE

* Putting together ceremony programs DONE

* Checking in with the last people who haven't sent in their RSVP DONE (as done as I think we'll be)

* Working on paperwork for name changes, joint bank accounts, etc. A WORK IN PROGRESS

Looking ahead our to do list is MUCH smaller. I'm no longer the least bit stressed and it feels so wonderful. I'm truly going to sit back and enjoy the next 10 days. We still have plenty to do but I'm passed the point of worrying about anything. This is such a special time in our lives and I love where we are at.

The past two weekends have been a blessing to us. We got to spend a weekend with my family while seeing my best friend Ashely and this past weekend we spent time with Ben's family and I got to see my other best friend, Lauren. It was so wonderful spending some time with family and friends and the next time we see them it will be for our wedding!

Here is a behind the scenes look at our lives in the last two weeks.

We started our first garden!

We are growing cucumbers, carrots, green beans, sugar snap peas, acorn squash, tomatoes and peppers. We are also taking part in the community garden (I'm the co-chair!) and there are MANY more glorious things in that part of the garden too!

We had quite the rain storm yesterday and Ben and I were running around trying to take in our plants and little peppers who aren't strong enough to be planted yet. Of course Ben had to try out his new rain gear! He stood out in the rain for a few minutes and came in as dry as could be!

On our drive back home this past weekend we stopped at a little roadside park with stairs leading to a gorgeous beach. We explored the beach and then walked through the water and played on all these rocks!

We also checked out this cool waterfall. We always see it on our trip and this time Ben stopped so we could get a good look at it!