2011

Okay, it seems like everyone is doing a year update so here is mine to add to the crowd.

January-February
      These months were quite uneventful. We were right in the middle of planning for our wedding. With that and work, we didn't do a whole lot of anything really.

March

     This was fun month because the girls threw me a my bachelor-ette party. We went to Omaha and stayed in a hotel. We went out to eat and then hit the bars. It was a great time. I can't thank you guys enough for such a wonderful night! It really meant a lot to me.

April

    This month we had such a busy time it seemed like. Between my birthday, Lori (Brandons' mom's birthday), and a bridal shower. I turned the big 26! :) It was very exciting! We got a lot of family time in and so great gifts from our family and friends. Thank you to all who helped plan everything.

May

     During this month we were both getting everything done for the wedding! We made most everything that we had at our wedding  so this took some real time. We made our flowers, centerpieces, unity candle, and our invitations. It was all worth it in the end. We saved so much money.

June

    School finished and it was our wedding time :)) We had our rehearsal dinner at our good friends house. She was very gracious to open her home to us and our family. It was BBQ style and a ton of fun. We got married June 4, 2010. It was the best night of our lives. We had a 7 pm ceremony and had a dessert reception. A chocolate fountain and 5 flavors of cake and 7 different flavors of cheese cake. It was a great time! We want to say thank you so much to our parents for helping with things. My good friend Brandie took the pictures for our wedding and they turned out amazing!

   After our wedding we went on our honeymoon to the Black Hills. We stayed in a bed and breakfast. Our first time to do so. It was a great experience and we will definitely be going back some day. We went to pretty much everywhere you could and would want to go out in the hills. It was a great week spent together.

July
   July was a nice month. Not a whole lot happening. We were getting all settled in and used to being a married couple. It was nice. I was off for summer break and we went to Okaboji with Brandon's family. It's kinda yearly tradition. We also went to the Omaha Zoo with Brandon's family.I took my certification test for the third time.(Cross your fingers) So fun! It was a nice way to spend the summer.

August-October
    These months were pretty calm. I started back to school in August. I'm in the fifth grade once again. Brandon is still doing well at his job at Campbell's. He loves what he does. We went to a Halloween party at our good friend Deb's house. It was a good time for sure. I went as pumpkin pie and Brandon was dryer lint. Cheap but very cute costumes. (Sorry no pictures)

November
    This was a  big month for us as a married couple. We bought our first house! It is in Vermillion, SD. That is where Brandon works. It is a two story 1918 bungalow style house. I love all the wood in it and don't have any pictures yet. I want to get it all painted and decorated before I show it off! We are all unpacked and loving every minute in our new house. :) I finally got my results of my certification test! I PASSED :) Now I get a pay raise and don't loss my job for next year! What an amazing November! We were stuck in Vermillion for Thanksgiving. We got to break in our new house and make our first Thanksgiving dinner by ourselves.

December
    This was a wonderful month! We got to go home for Christmas this year! I will let the pictures speak for themselves! :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!! WE LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH! THANK YOU FOR A GREAT YEAR!



The HOLIDAYS!!!

Okay, where do I begin?

Thanksgiving:

We didn't get the chance to go back home for Thanksgiving because of the wonderful Iowa weather. So, Brandon and I decided to experiment with Thanksgiving dinner. We made a 13 pound turkey for the two of us. We thought if we can't make it back we wern't going to miss out on all the great food. We made all of the fixings for dinner aswell. I have to say I was pretty proud of us we only had to call home once to make surewe were making something right. :) The dinner turned out wonderful! So, we had our first Thanksgiving dinner in our new home. We did miss seeing all of our family though. :( At least we have eachother.

           Christmas:

                   Now Christmas hasn't arrived just yet but, our tree is up and the feeling of Christmas is in full swing. We have our tree up and have a few Christmas parties to go to. Super excited for that! All I asked for for Christmas was a dryer and to have my dishwasher hooked-up and ready to go. My amazing husband has given me both of those requests. :) I am super lucky to have him!

                   We are looking forward to going home to see all of our family! Can't wait to be on Christmas break either. :)

That's all for now.. more to come later.

          ps. house pictures will be coming once we get all settled in. :)

Updating Random Topics....

Where to start?

I guess we will start with the latest event which was Halloween. It was a pretty chill evening. We went to a Halloween party/mock wedding at some good friends of ours house. I went as Pumpkin Pi and Brandon went as dryer lint. It was cheap, cute and clever. We spent some time with good friends. (sorry no pictures...i forgot my camera) In the mock wedding the guy dressed as the bride and the woman dressed as the groom. Then they had a friend dress as a fryer to give a short/fake ceremony. It was super entertaining.

Sunday, we decided to start hardcore packing. For those of you whom this concerns we are in the process of buying our first house. So, we are in the mode of packing and seeing just how much STUFF we have accumulated. Then we decided to go and visit one of our good friends Corey. He had an accident with hot oil and had 2nd and 3rd degree burns on a third of his body. He is in good spirits but in a lot of pain still. Please give a prayer for him to get well soon. All in all it was a fun/productive weekend.

Now on to the latest news on the house.
We are in the process of buying a house in Vermillion, SD. That is where Brandon works and since he works 12 months out of the year and I only work 9 it made the most sense to live there. We started our search about 2 months ago and looked at around 15 houses. Finally, we found a great house!
It's a 1913 Craftsman style house, four bedroom 2.5 bath. It was moved on to a brand new foundation. It is a block away from the courthouse/police department and a few blocks from one of the elementary in Vermillion. I'm starting to get annoyed of all the waiting for this house. It seems like we started "buying" this house forever ago. So much work goes into being a grown up. It better be worth it! I will post pictures when we are finally in the house. So, if you are reading this please send up a little prayer on our behalf.
God only gives us what we can handle. I just have to keep reminding myself of that. I am just now starting to feel sick to my stomach about everything.
That's all for now. I will keep you posted.
Thanks for stopping by!

Our busy life....

Sorry I haven't blogged in such a long time. I guess I kind of fell out of the mood of blogging but, this is for a certain someone.( You know who you are)

Where to begin since school started...

First was labor day weekend. We took off and went to see Brandon's parents. Mine were out of town. It was kinda nice only having to plan time with one side and not both. We stayed from Saturday all the way till Monday. We left the dogs with their favorite kennel because we didn't want to wear Brandon's mom Lori out. She is doing very well with everything she is going through. I admire her so much. It was a great weekend spent with family. We are so lucky to have each and everyone of them!

Next is my moms birthday. She turned 50 on the 28th of September. My sister and her husband were planning on being back and my mom had asked if we could come. We told her we have been back so many times already we didn't foresee it happening. While on the side my sister and I had already planned that we Would come home and surprise her. They took her out to eat at a restaurant and we showed up right when they were getting out of the van. Her face was GREAT! She was so surprised. That was a great weekend with my side of the family. We did stop buy Brandon's folks to give Jim his birthday present as well and play some cards with his family before heading back.

That brings us to this last weekend. My sister planned a surprise going away/birthday party for her husband Tom. He turned 30 this year and he will be shipping off to Iraq in November. He flys helicopters for the army reserves. It was a great turn out! A ton of people there to celebrate and wish Tom well. It was totally a surprise. He didn't know what hit him. Such a great weekend. The only draw back is that it was such a long drive. Sunday we were in the car for 7 hours. We were glad to be home.

That's all for now... more to come later...

Let School Resume...

So, it's that time once again. School must start for the year. It feels like the summer went by SUPER fast. :(  On one hand I am excited to start the new year. See all the kids again and get back to my skill. On the other hand I don't want to give up the freedom of summer. I love being able to sleep in and do nothing all day if I want.
My new vow for this school year is to not miss anymore then 5 sick days and my 2 personal days. I am going to try my hardest to make this happen!
I went in yesterday and set up my area so I don't have to do it tomorrow morning. All of my books/dictionaries are in place and ready for the new year.
I am super excited to be working with the teacher I got put with this year. I think it will not only be good for me but, for my student as well. He needs to be pushed to reach his potential.
Today is my last day of freedom and luckily for me Brandon had off. So, we spent the whole day together. :)  I love him so much!
Let the new year commence....

Weekend with the Sister/Brothers

The last free weekend that Brandon will have before school starts back up again we decided to take a visit to Gabe and Paulas'. We haven't been there in what seemed like forever. They have done a lot of work on their basement. Which turned out AWESOME!
We got there on Saturday at about 1pm. We hung out and watched the movie Hot Tub Time Machine. So funny. I would recommend it for sure! Brandon and I got to play with Carson. He is such a cutie! We wished we lived closer. Around 7 pm Travis and Lindsey joined the party. We grilled out and had a great supper. Once Carson was asleep we all went to the basement for an awesome game of 2500 first. Then we all played Things in a Box. Such a great game. So fun if alcohol is involved. At 1:30am we all finally went to bed.
The next morning we got up around 10:30am and found out that Carson was up around 6am and very crabby. Once everyone was awake we all played another game of 2500. Then we ate a great meal with everyone. After that we watched Kick Ass. It was not what I was expecting for that movie. Not bad just not really a comedy.
When the movie was over it was time to head out. We went to get the dogs from Manilla and left around 6pm. When we got to the interstate we hit a huge storm! Kind of scary! We drove right into a wall cloud. We got to Sioux City and decided to stop at Nate and Kaylas' for a bit. At 8:45pm we headed for Jefferson. Everything was dark the whole way up there. We didn't have power until 10 or so. Tree branches were down everywhere. Through houses, on the road, it was bad.
What a strange way to end a GREAT weekend with family.
That's all for now. More to come later...

Brandon and Carson

Paula figured out how to hold a ton!(sorry it's sideways)

Brandon and I

Travis, Lindsey, Brandon, and Carson relaxing/playing.

Paula and Gabe being great hostess.

Deaf Camp 2010

Every year there is a Deaf Camp put on by a wonderful group called the QUOTA Club. They get interpreters to be counselors. This is my second year doing it. This camp gives the deaf children who come a chance to be around each other outside of school. Also, they get to do a lot of fun things.
We start the camp with bowling and pizza. The kids aren't the best but they have a great time anyway! Then we head out to Camp Goodwill in South Sioux City. The kids get to play and hang out with each other. For me it's a great time to brush up on my signing skills. After that we all head to bed. This year we were in one cabin. The boy's upstairs and the girls down stairs. In the morning we go to the mess hall for breakfast. Cereal and fruit. The kids play cards and color. (when I say kids I mean me too :) Next, we go and play a little putt putt and throw the Frisbee around. This year the head of Camp Goodwill gave a presentation about different bones you can find outside if you just look. I of course had to interpret this. Luckily for me we did the same thing this last year in 4th grade. I think the kids really enjoyed it. At 1pm it was time to go swimming! So fun!!! I didn't go this year because I forgot my suit, but it was so fun to watch them have a good time. After swimming it was time to go home.
A great time but, I was super tired when I got home!

That's all for now. More to come later...

Sam and Allie.

Getting ready to swim!

Ayesha bowling.