Wedding Week: Rehearsal Dinner and Into the Evening

After the bridal party showed up the rehearsal went well. Almost all the decorations for the church and reception location were complete. Then Ben and I spent a few more hours together before saying goodbye until I met him at the alter. 


Some fun facts about the rehearsal dinner:
1. We had Aubrees, a local restaurant where Ben and I shared many meals and memories together. It is our favorite place to eat and we wanted our family to experience the deliciousness! 
2. For most of our family members this was the first time they had met so I loved just taking a seat and looking around as our families collided! Our cousins became friends instantly and that was one of my favorite memories from our wedding.
3. I had on a cute little dress but I FROZE in the air conditioning and wore a jacket the whole night. 

The location. One of the apartments on Campus has a big Multi-Purpose Room. 

We spent our last few hours together surrounded by all the people we love so much!

Families collide! 

The boys playing with their Groomsmen gifts!

There were some precious moments. Like this one when Ben gave Justin his gift. 

This is one of my favorite moments, although it is quite blurry. 

New friends were made! 

Logan found a creative way to play with his gift!

Raena, Lydia and Erin reading Lydia's Flowergirl present. 

It was quite chilly in the room but I was thankful for the AC!

After the rehearsal and dinner Ben and I said goodbye for the evening. Ben and the boys (groomsmen and even his Uncle from California) went off for a night of bachelorhood at our apartment. I went back with my parents to the hotel to spend my last night as a bachlorette with my bridesmaids. 

Some fun facts about the rest of the evening:

1. I was a bit shocked entering the hotel to find almost my entire family was there. Everywhere you looked I found more of my family. They took over the pool, lobby and breakfast room. Family who had not seen each other for a while were catching up with quiet conversations, games were being played, and a lot of swimming was also done! 

2. I made a poor decision and ended up with a funny tale to tell..... (picture can be found below)

3. We had arranged the table place settings before the wedding weekend but due to some issues (crammed tables that couldn't fit as many as we were told...), my mom and aunts had to make more table runners and label all the place cards the night before the wedding!!! YIKES! It was a big job but they pulled it off!

Great Grandma and one of her many Great Grandchildren, Kaitlyn

Riopelle, Vieth, and Cole Pool Party! 

Candy, Drinks and Games!

Family catching up after not seeing each for a while.

Mini Hotel Room Parties were occurring with family members doing super secret wedding surprises. 

More fun with games! 

My Aunt bought me a scrapbook and many items to use in it! 

I am hoping to get started on it this summer!!

The book is beautiful!

And the mishap........

My soon-to-be-sisters-in-law and I used tanning wipes the night before our wedding. We were told, read the directions and don't miss anything! Well.... as you can see... we did! We were streaky and pretty orange. By morning you couldn't tell too much expect if you looked at my hands, they were pretty nasty looking! lol. It wasn't that big a deal, how many of you even noticed? :)

To read about what I was blogging about one year ago today, visit here. 

Wedding Week: Rehearsal

We are one week away from our First Wedding Anniversary so this week we will take a look back at all the fun we had during our first weekend as Husband and Wife. 

Every day I'll share some photos and memories of different aspects of our wedding starting with, our rehearsal! 

First, here is the wording found in the invitation that went out to the bridal party and their families, mistresses of ceremony, pastor, and grandparents. 

Practice makes perfect
well, maybe, not quite
please come for a run through
and we MIGHT get it right!

Ben and Jessica’s Rehearsal
June 11^th, 2010

At 5 o’clock, Redeemer Lutheran Church

Dinner to follow at Woodland Park Apartment 

Some fun facts about our rehearsal:

1. 3 bridesmaids and the best man were late

2. Our organist had to drive an hour to for a rehearsal that didn't even last an hour. 

3. The bouquets weren't quite done so a stand-in was necessary, see below. :)

For some reason, all the pictures that I have from our rehearsal are incredibly blurry! These are the best I could find.

Practice makes perfect! 

Okay, so it was not perfect but close! :) 

Aunti Addi, our stand in bridesmaid with her stand in bouquet. 

The flowers so lovingly put together by Mom H, Tia and others! 

To see what I was blogging about one year ago from today, visit here. A few special packages came in the mail that had me extra excited!

Sunshine and Summertime!

My playlist this morning....


Faith Hill: Sunshine and Summertime
Jessica Andrews: Sunshine and Love
Frank Sinatra: Summer Wind
New Kids on the Block: Summertime
Rascal Flatts: Summertime
Phil Vassar: Six Pack Summer
Grease: Summer Nights
and Kenny Chesney


It is officially summer!
The sun is hot, drinks are cold, flip flips, skirts and tanks are out in full force! Ben and I went for our first bike ride last night to Eric and Lauren's and rode back in the dark. It was a beautiful night for a bike ride! 


I am looking forward to going to the Zoo with the DeRuischer's, completing the To Do List Raena and I created, visiting the Meijer Gardens, watching cousins play baseball, attending some festivals, biking, rollarblading, gardening, Alyssa and Bill's wedding and spending some time on the beach... 

Okay, okay. This isn't a beach in Grand Rapids but a girl can dream! 

What are you most excited for this summer!

American Idol

I have never watched American Idol. In fact I kind of made it a point not to watch it. Not that I didn't want to watch as these singers took their shot at becoming a star but I really did not like the judges. My parents came to visit us a few months back and they watch American Idol. After watching one week.. I was hooked! I loved listening to everyone and quickly found my favorites. I spent an hour on Wednesday and another hour on Thursday texting with my Aunty Jodi, cousin Kaitlyn, Mom and Aunty Lisa. We cried together, yelled at the TV, and cheered on our favorites!!! 


My favorites were kicked off before the finale but I feel like both Scotty and Lauren are also amazing and deserve to be American's Next Idol! 


Here are my favorites this season!!! 

Pia

Kicked off pretty early but still going on tour!
It was a shock to everyone when she was kicked off!

Mr. James Durbin!

James has turned me into a Metal fan! :)

He is extremely talented and although he was kicked off in the surprise of the season, he will go FAR!

And my favorite...

CASEY!!!!! 

Casey Abrams had it all - personality, stage presence, and a great voice! 

He was so fun to watch and I will be buying his future CDs!

Anyone else watch Idol this season? 

Who were your favorites?

Hi Ho It's off to Grand Rapids We Go!

We have made it to Grand Rapids!!

Friday I said goodbye to my student teaching classroom.
Sunday I said goodbye to my job at the zoo.
Tuesday Ben said goodbye to the Discovery Center and Boy's Ranch.
Wednesday we said hello to my parents!
Thursday morning we made a quick trip to the airport to visit with a friend for 30 minutes who was in town interviewing at a college in South Dakota.
Friday morning, 8am, we left our little apartment in Sioux Fall to travel to Grand Rapids!!
We stayed overnight in Illinois on Friday before completing our trip making it to Grand Rapids a little after 3pm on Saturday afternoon!


In a short amount of time we caught up with the Ben's family, some family in Holland and our best friends! 


Since arriving in Grand Rapids Ben and I have moved into the room that his older sisters shared when they lived here. Most of our belongings are in little pod type containers and were taken away. We have looked at one apartment and have others scheduled for this week. 


We were able to attend Raena's lacrosse game and then got a phone call from our friends who needed our help unexpectingly this evening. We live a life with no regrets and we enjoyed our time in Sioux Falls but we are so thankful to be here and so involved with their lives and happy to be back in Michigan! 

Favorite Day of the Month

I have a favorite day of the month.
It is not the same day every month.
I know my favorite day has come when I open the mailbox.


I open my mailbox and there it is..
a tiny little bundle of fun....


Any ideas what it is? 


It's Reader's Digest!!!


Someone must have bought it as a gift for us but we don't know who. Well, we have our suspicions... but all we know for sure is that we did not buy it. I have never read Reader's Digest but I have fallen in love with the information, funnies, and all the other great things found in this little bundle of fun! I look forward to this day all month long and love when that precious day comes and I open my mailbox to find the little book! 

Lots of BIG news in a tiny post

Here is a tiny post of all the BIG things happening in our life...


1. Ben got a job in Grand Rapids, his dream job on a family-owned, organic farm learning all that he wants to learn! We are moving to GR in just a few days. This means living near our family and friends! 


2. I graduated college!! I am officially a college graduate. I was not able to make it back for the graduation ceremony but I had a wonderful graduation ceremony and party with my students, teacher and aide. 


3. The weather is beautiful! We kinda skipped Spring and jumped right into Summer. From rainy and 50s to sunny, hot and 80s! I haven't gotten out much to enjoy the weather but will be able to do so soon!


4. I am so excited for not only the changes happening in our lives but in the lives of all of my friends as I watch them preparing to graduate, searching for dream jobs, getting engaged, married, having children. Even though I am not able to be near all my friends I am thankful for things like Facebook and cell phones so I can keep up with everyone! 

100th Post - Happy Easter

Living, He loved me

Dying, He saved me

Buried, He carried my sins far away

Rising, He justified freely forever

One day He's coming

Oh glorious day, oh glorious day

I heard this song a ton this week and love it! This is the refrain from Casting Crowns song Glorious Day! It is spectacular!! 

Happy Easter to you and your family! 

We are still here!!

No worries. We are still here - just oober busy!! Cover letters, resumes, portfolios, applications are taking up my life! That along with all the end of the year/college papers and assignments that need to be finished. I'm in good shape but I am working hard to keep up! Thankfully the work for student teaching has died down a bit so I have a little more time (but not energy lol) to work on other things to propel my career!


I will be taking a bit a break again from the blog so I can concentrate on finishing up strong!!!


But before that a quick update:
My parents came to visit and we had the most amazing time!! We went to the mall, butterfly house, the falls and other touristy places. They were here for about a week and it was so great having them around!! 


Ben is still working hard - working 13 hours a day for 5 straight days and then a 15-hour day the following day! Yikes!! 


I will be doing my last supervisor evaluation this week - the end is near!!


Ben and I are hoping for a little 1-year anniversary vacation that we will take in a month before my summer job starts up! We want to visit the Badlands and other SD must see places!

In the News

My school is in the news again! 
This time it isn't the teachers about but the students in the class next to ours. A fourth grader had the great idea to sell Laffy Taffy as a fundraiser to raise money to send over to Japan. 


Read the story and watch the video here. 

Summer Job!!!

I have been holding out on some pretty exciting news. 


I applied to work at our local Zoo which is located about a mile away from our apartment. I applied for a Team Member position and was not only asked to meet up for an interview but I was also asked if I was interested in a Team Leader role. After the first interview I was feeling pretty positive and was anxious to hear what would happen. 


I received a phone call a few days later offering me the job! I start next weekend and am very anxious. Because of the supervisor position I will be earning more but also working more; 12 hour shifts, 5 days a week - including weekends. The downfall is I only get three days off and I need that and more for Alyssa and Bill's wedding. So there goes any other summer plans we had but a job is a job and I couldn't be happier. Ben is trying to rework his schedule a bit so we can have one day off together which will be wonderful. We can live off solely off of Ben's income so my earnings will go straight into savings and as  "future classroom" fund! 


Now... if I could only get a teaching position! :) 

Life Update!

Can you tell graduation is right around the corner?
I feel like every moment I have is spent altering my resume, cover letter, letter of introduction, etc., working on homework, finishing up work for the college organizations that I am involved in, applying for jobs and still staying very busy with Student Teaching. 


Ben has also been super busy: he works 15 hours today, 13 Monday, and 13 Tuesday and that isn't even including the rest of the week and other things on his plate.


Thankfully we got a much needed break this weekend when one of our best friends (and groomsmen), Rich, came to visit!!


He usually works on Saturday and had the day off so he came up late Friday night. Ben worked for half the day on Saturday but Rich and I went to visit him at the Children's Museum. Then the rest of our time together was filled with homemade chocolate chip cookies, games, laughter, purple potatoes, wine, beer from Marquette, tears, ice cream, and lots of love! 


It was so nice to get a break from every day life and to have our first visitor! My parents are coming up on Saturday evening so we get more visitors this weekend! My parents will be visiting for almost a week. 


This week will be a rough one for both of us with Ben working a ton and as I try to finish up some big projects  before my parents arrive. But life is soooo good and we are sooo blessed! Here's to another great week! 

SHMILY

Ben and I received a couple’s devotion book as a wedding gift from the couple we did our pre-marital counseling with. The first night’s devotion was a powerful one. I cried as I read it out loud to Ben and we both were blown away by the story. I wanted to share it with you all since it has been on our mind constantly over the last few weeks.

“SHMILY”

By Laura Jeanne Allen

     My grandparents were married for over half a century. From the time they met each other they played their own special game. The goal of their game was to write the word “shmily” around the house, and as soon as one of them discovered it, it was his or her turn to hide it once more.

      They dragged “shmily” with their fingers through the sugar and flour containers to await whoever was preparing the next meal. They smeared it in the dew on the windows overlooking the patio where my grandma always fed us warm, homemade pudding with blue food coloring. “Shmily” was written in the steam on the bathroom mirror, where it would reappear after every hot shower. At one point, my grandmother even unrolled an entire roll of toilet paper to leave “shmily” on the very last sheet.

      There was no end to the places “shmily” popped up. Little notes with a hastily scribbled “shmily” were found on dashboards and car seats or taped to steering wheels. The notes were stuffed inside shoes and left under pillows. “Shmily” was written in the dust upon the mantel and traced in the ashes of the fireplace. This mysterious word was as much a part of my grandparent’s house as the furniture.

     It took me a long time before I fully appreciated my grandparents’ game. Skepticism has kept me from believing in true love – one that is pure and enduring. However, I never doubted my grandparents’ relationship. They had love down pat. It was more than their flirtatious little games; it was a way of life. Their relationship was based on a devotion and passionate affection that not everyone experiences.

     Grandma and Grandpa held hands every chance they could. They stole kisses as they bumped into each other in their tiny kitchen. They finished each other’s sentences and shared the daily crossword puzzle and word jumble. My grandma whispered to me about how cute my grandpa was, how handsome an old man he had grown to be. She claimed that she really know “how to pick ‘em.” Before every meal they bowed their heads and gave thanks, marveling at their blessings: a wonderful family, good fortune, and each other.

       But there was a dark cloud in my grandparents’ life: My grandmother had breast cancer. The disease had first appeared ten years earlier. As always, Grandpa was with her every step of the way. He comforted her in their yellow room, painted that way so she could always be surrounded by sunshine, even when she was too sick to go outside.

        Now the cancer was again attacking her body. With the help of a cane and my grandfather’s steady hand, she went to church with him every Sunday. But my grandmother grew steadily weaker until, finally, she could not leave the house anymore. For a while, Grandpa would go to church alone, praying to God to watch over his wife. Then one day, what we all dreaded finally happened. Grandma was gone.

       “Shmily.” It was scrawled in yellow in the pink ribbons of my grandmother’s funeral bouquet. As the crowed thinned and the last mourners turned to leave, my aunts, uncles, cousins, and other family members came forward and gathered around Grandma one last time. Grandpa stepped up to my grandmother’s casket and, taking a shaky breath, began to sing to her. Through his tears and grief, the song came, a deep and throaty lullaby.

       Shaking with my own sorrow, I will never forget that moment. For I knew that, although I couldn’t begin to fathom the depth of their love, I had been privileged to witness its unmatched beauty.

    S-h-m-i-l-y: See How Much I Love You.

         Thank you , Grandma and Grandpa, for letting me see.

This devotion meant so much for a number of reasons. One reason is that we do something similar with a little plastic penguin. For the last few years this penguin has resided in my bathroom and whenever Ben came to visit he would kidnap the penguin and find a new home for it; the freezer, microwave, under my pillow, in my compute speaker and even threatened to put the penguin in my fish tank. I would unknowingly reach for a kitchen bowl or open a drawer to find the penguin looking up at me. Every time my stomach filled with butterflies and I couldn’t help but grin and giggle at the new hiding spot that Ben has found. Since we’ve been married this penguin has continued to travel, now with both of us finding little spots to hide it. There is nothing better than reaching into my backpack on a dreary Monday morning to find the penguin. My day is instantly better!

Here is a glimpse at where our little penguin friend, named Kowalski, has traveled.

Sometimes it would take me so long to find the penguin, that I thought Ben took it!! One time I was so worried I created a Missing Poster in hopes someone *cough cough* Ben would return him. 

Now, SHMILY is making an appearance. Twice this week Ben has used this adorable word. This morning he left for work at 7am and I didn’t get up until 7:30am. When I woke up a thermos of coffee was waiting for me on the dining room table with a note saying one word, SHMILY on it. What a wonderful way to start the morning.

And as for the penguin, he is currently taking a nice nap in a comfy place just waiting for Ben to discover him… 

Our Apartment

Well after (almost) 3 months, I finally remembered to put up the pictures of our apartment that I took months ago. Things have changed a little bit as we have settled in but here is a good idea of what our place looks like. None of our furniture matches, we use milk crates for storage, most of our furniture is hand-me-downs, and we sleep on an air mattress that is placed on top of a futon so to sum it up - our apartment is PERFECT! :)

Our apartment complex

Welcome!

Entryway / Pantry

Moving directly to the left of the door.

Kitchen

 Spice Cabinet - I love this feature of our apartment. It used to hold an ironing board but was converted into storage. 

The drawers pull out - perfect for holding pans and tupperware!

The cabinets are HUGE and SO TALL! 

Moving directly to the right of the door.

Office/Dining Room/Living Room

I love the huge windows. 

Ben's attempt at dividing the room is by using milk crates and boards. Works for us! :)

Moving into the Living Area. 

 Ben set up the apartment and I unpacked and organized our belongings to fit the set-up. 

The is my parent's old couch that they gave to us. 

This photo is taken when I was standing where the living room begins.

That doorway leads to our entryway and then to the kitchen.

Standing next to the couch looking at the front part of the apartment.

The single door is a coat closet and the double doors is the office (really big closet!)

This is what you see when you open the double doors. My office and favorite "room!"

This is the hallway that begins right before our living room off to the right. 

This is the "man" hallway. Ben's posters line the wall and his belongings fill the cabinets located in the hallway.

 That is the bathroom!

Ben's camping items fill the cabinet and I took over some of the drawers for items that didn't fit in the kitchen!

Our bathroom which is located next to our bedroom, at the end of the hallway. It is really out-of-date and is my least favorite room but I've gotten used to it. 

 I love all the storage space!

Our hodge-podge bedroom! We have little storage for our clothes so we had to be creative! :)

The right side of the bedroom. 

 The closet is actually really long and we use the back end to store totes. 

Bed and homemade dressers. One was made by Ben and the other made by Ben's brother, Casey as a wedding gift. We love them! 

 And that wraps it up! The door closer to the middle of the picture takes us back out into the hallway again. 

 I hope you enjoyed our lovely home! 

Feel free to come and see it in person! :)

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Great-Grandma Margaret!

Today is my Grandma’s Birthday and it is a bittersweet day.  I love her birthday. I am so blessed to have a great-grandma and cherish every moment with her. Grandma’s birthday also brings a lot of my family together to celebrate, including some family that I only see a few times a year.  We typically go to a restaurant, laugh too much, make too much noise, and take too many pictures but it is wonderful! I called Grandma tonight and was able to talk to a ton of my family! It was nice to hear their voices and to catch up a bit but when that was added with the fact I’m sitting at home alone got me feeling a little sad.

I love South Dakota and couldn’t be happier about our move but it is nights like this that make me wish we lived closer to home. I am going to take some time tonight to thank God for all the wonderful people in my life, please do the same! J