Followers

I know I have been absent from the blogging world but I am trying to catch up on life a bit and needed to take a break. I'm hoping to write more as things seem to be slowing down a bit (hopefully I didn't just jinx myself!). I know some people who check the blog every day so to make things a bit easier you can become a follower of the blog. To do this click follow on the right side of the blog. When I created a new entry you will be alerted. This way you don't have to check it every day. :) 

10 Weeks and Counting

10 weeks until..

Ben graduates

I am done with methods

we move to Sioux Falls

our best friends welcome their second child

We are already in week 6 out of 18!

THIS IS CRAZY!!!

Life is CRAZY!

We are trying to take a step back and really enjoy where we are right now. Newly married, taking in all the beautiful colors and smells of our last fall in Marquette, learning all we can in our classes before we find big kids jobs, saving what we can for our big move..

All I want to do now is pack... I feel like we'll be moving before we know it and we won't be ready!!

Anyone want to help me pack?

Preparing to Hibernate

We haven't broke 60 degrees in the last few days and our garden is dwindling. So we began to prepare to hibernate.

Our tea supply is stocked and freezer is full of frozen goodness. We wanted to make sure we had some "fresh" food in the freezer so we can enjoy our garden long after our season has ended.

Here is a behind the scenes look at....

Our Freezer!

A visitor!

Ben and I have a visitor!

Our visitor arrived last Sunday and will be leaving tomorrow.

Raena came up to visit!!!

We kept her busy by various activities.

The first few days of the week were HOT!!!!!

So of course we took Raena cliff jumping!

We went to the garden and picked lots of veggies, including some HUGE zucchinis. We peeled them, shredded them and prepared to make something delicious out of all that zucchini. (see below!)

We had a surprise visitor while Raena was here. Our best friend Rich surprised us and came up to Marquette. We spent Saturday night with Rich and our friend Andy. We went to Aubree's then came back to our apartment for some fun.

Raena, Ben and Andy preparing to take part in a mystery pepper eating contest.

Andy, Raena and Rich ate a jalepeno but apparently it wasn't at all hot.

Here is what we did with ALL that zucchini. So far we've made 10 loaves and will be making more today. We have plain zucchini bread, some with blueberries and some with pineapples. YUM! It was a chilly day and the apartment was cold but after baking and cooking dinner with the oven on for six hours, it was nice and toasty!

The weather was really cold, windy and rainy for most of the week so we spent our time watching movies, playing games, taking naps, and having some wonderful conversations. We did manage to get out on a "less rainy" day for a hike and to introduce Raena to the world of geocaching.

Tomorrow we are leaving at 5:30am to meet up with the rest of the family to walk the Mackinac Bridge for Labor Day. We'll say goodbye to Raena at that time before heading back home for a night of homework.

It has been so nice to spend some time with Raena and Ben's side of the family. Life is going to getting pretty busy in the next few weeks so it was so necessary to take some time to enjoy each other's company this week while having some fun!

2 Months!!

I'm still working my way through some wedding keepsakes but due to training things have slowed down a lot!

I did find Ben's wedding gift today and took a few pictures. I made this photo book and filled it with photos from before we were dating until the day Ben proposed. Ben's best man, Eric, gave it to him before the ceremony.

I also got a free 30 page, hardcover, 8x8 photo book from David's Bridal. We will be getting a hardcover book with pictures from our photographer so I made one to include photos from our reception. I LOVE how it turned out!!

50 Days!

Can you believe it!?!?!

We got married 50 days ago. Has it really been that long?

This time 50 days ago I looked like this....

Thankfully it wasn't long and I was ready to get married...

Now 50 days later, we are still finishing up post-wedding things. :)

New Look....

I played around on a computer program I have called paint.net to make a new banner found at the top of the page.

Life is so hectic now and my last day of summer is tonight. I'm hoping we start getting into more a routine around here soon so I can catch up with the blog. Bear with me I promise I haven't forgotten you all!

Life Update!

Ben and I have been enjoying all there is to summer. Taking time out to geocache, hike, spend time with friends and experiment with food! Here is a series of photos to give you a behind the scenes glimpse into our first two months of marriage!

Our garden grows MORE and MORE every day. We go out every day to pick peas (above) and green beans. The community garden is also filling our fridge with zucchini, lettuce and the occasional tomato. Our grocery bill is getting smaller and we are enjoying some time together in the garden picking lots of weeds!

Community Adviser training starts August 1st and I'm trying to get ahead of the game by completing all that I can before training. These are the door decs (name tags) that are put on each apartment door for each tenant. I did sea animals. This is half of the ones I made. The other half were finished a few days later. Over 140 total!

We've been trying out new recipes and foods too! Ben made this meal complete with a Portabella mushroom with melted cheese, a tomato sauce filled with basil that we grew, all on top of noodles. Something I would have never tried before but it was yummy!

Ben likes playing around with food for dinner, while I prefer dessert! Here are some peanut butter honey balls I made. A healthy snack that still satisfied my sweet craving!

This weekend we are traveling back to Ben's hometown for our best friend's daughter's first birthday party! We are very excited to be there to celebrate with little Addie. Ben took off half a day of work so we can get there late Friday night. We'll spend the evening with family and then Saturday we are going to the zoo, Addison's birthday party then having a slumber party at her house! We can't wait!!!! Our last "mini" vacation before training begins and Ben leaves for his canoeing class (August 8th).

Wedding Details

I wasn't sure where to start with this post-wedding blog so I figured I'd start with something I"m familiar with, writing about the wedding!

Here are the details of our wedding, in no particular order!

I made this board to put our place cards on.

Eric's gift: Xbox Live points and beef jerky that Ben made

Justin's Gift: Flask and beef jerky

The rest of the guys got a water bottle and beef jerky

The lanterns we hung above the head table. Inside were battery powered candles.

Our table markers made with pictures taken by Cheyenne!

The back of the table marker had a question about us with the answer in the inside.

Pinwheels for the kids found on the kid's table and bubble were used after the ceremony.

All the gifts for the kids and bridesmaids.

The ladies got Lemongrass goodies: body polish, lotion and chapstick and homemade bracelets made with the help of Raena.

The kids got bubbles, Play-Doh, juice box, fruit snacks, a bag with their name on it and the girls got a bracelet and the boys got a keychain.

The assembly line.

The programs.

Raena and I did some damage at a craft store!

We spent an evening putting together all the bracelets.

The finished product!

I ordered these napkins on ebay and LOVE them!

http://stores.ebay.com/memorablewedding

The five pound bag of Andes mints that found themselves scattered throughout the reception.

There are many more photos to be shared from our big day. I'm getting a photo CD of most of the pictures soon so I'll be putting things up in the next few weeks as I get them all organized! Until then keep checking for random posts about our lives as newly weds! :)

Post-Wedding Blog

Hello everyone,

It has been a long time since I've blogged. I was really uncertain to what would become of this blog now that the wedding is over.

As of right now, I think I still want to keep the blogging running and include updates of our lives, some new recipes we are trying, pictures of wedding stuff (as we get them), and what ever else floats my boat. :)

What do you think?

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!