exactly 14 months til the big day!

Exactly one year and two months from now (14 months) we'll be getting ready to get married! It's crazy, and really exciting! :)

It may seem like a long way away to some, but it feels like just around the corner to me. Better step up my planning, working out, and eating healthier (the last two I should be doing regardless).

I'd really like to start looking for Save the Dates and invitations soon, but a part of me wants to find a graphic designer on Craigslist or Etsy to design something unique for us... we'll see!

Can't give all of my planning secrets away, or none of you will want to come to the actual wedding! ;)

more photos!

As promised, here are a few more photos from the weekend. Sadly I didn't bring my camera, so I had to steal these from V & V.

From left to right: Me, Grandma Hilda, Leo, Uncle Carl, Vanessa, Aunt Linda


Leo with his Great Aunt Linda and Great Uncle Carl.. he looks SO happy like he's cheering in this pic, I LOVE IT! :)


Oma Hilda and Leo

monday night

We went to a Phoenix Suns game on Monday. It was fun to see Shaq and Grant Hill play (I still remember watching them play when I was a lot younger). The Suns beat the Nuggets 118-115. It was a really exciting, fun game to watch. Josh won tickets at a silent auction that benefited a dog and horse rescue in Gilbert, AZ. We had a lot of fun!

Denver Nuggets warming up in front of us


View of the game from our seats (you can't tell from this pic but our seats were actually REALLY good).


The Phoenix Suns improved their playoff chances with another hard-fought victory.

And it doesn’t get any easier from here.

Grant Hill hit a 12-foot jumper in the lane to break a tie with 58.6 seconds remaining, then added a free throw with 6.2 seconds left to help Phoenix extend its season-high winning streak to five games with a 118-115 victory over Denver on Monday night.

the weekend

This past weekend, Josh and I drove to Albuquerque to meet up with Vanessa, Vin, and Leo and visit Grandma Hilda at her new place. We got to hang out with her, Uncle Carl, and Aunt Linda for a good part of the day on Saturday.

Here's us with our adorable, smiley nephew:

More pics to come in the next few days...

Sunday we stopped by Grandma's again to say goodbye before we headed back to Phoenix. The drive took two hours longer than on the way to ABQ, but we stopped for a good lunch at The Ranch Kitchen (which was recommended by Carl & Linda). On the way back we hit a HUGE dust storm on I-40, it was crazy. I read yesterday that the dust storm actually caused a 13-car pile up in Prescott.

Here is a photo of a dust storm (from the outside) for those of you who have never experienced them first hand...

The Change We Need

Somehow it slipped my mind to mention something REALLY important!

Barack Obama was at our wedding venue when we went for our walk-through! My mom was lucky enough to get some photos with him. It was crazy ;)



Yes we can!


Hopefully he'll make a guest appearance at our wedding. It doesn't hurt to invite him, right?

birthday stuff! i'm old...

When Josh got home from work last night, he had a big stack of mail that had been delivered after our trip. He handed me a card from my sister (along with some awesome Avon samples!) and then another envelope. I opened both, and found out my gift from Vanessa, Vinny, and Leo was a Dog DNA test!!

We're finally going to find out what our little mutt Ollie *really* is!



We haven't swabbed him yet but I plan on doing it tonight and sending it out tomorrow :)

To learn more about it, go to www.canineheritage.com.

Josh got me lots of yoga stuff (two blocks, no slip socks, a yoga dvd, yoga music cd, a calming candle, a new mat for the house) AND a gift certificate for three massages! I was SO excited.

Josh's grandma and great aunt sent me beautiful flowers yesterday, too!

We went to a drive-in movie for the first time ever and had a lot of fun. We didn't love the movie we saw (Last House on the Left) but we did like the experience and think we'll definitely go again. It's about 10 minutes from the house so not bad at all.

monday update

We got back yesterday afternoon from a great visit to Alexandria! We stayed with the Reilly's and had a lot of fun doing wedding things, and just hanging out.

Sadly we didn't take any photos, although I meant to when we all went out to dinner Saturday night.

We scheduled two cake tastings, a venue "walk-through", and a meeting with the DJ. Everything went well! We're still deciding about the cake but are definitely one step closer. We loved ALL of the cake we tried, so it makes it kind of hard. The DJ is awesome and we're super excited to have him "host" our reception. He's very laid-back, so no cheesy Bat Mitzvah stuff will be happening (yay!).

We love our venue, and even though there was a small snow flurry while we were outdoors in the gardens, I am truly excited about our choice.

My favorite part was the boxwood gardens where our ceremony will be held :) Definitely need to make sure I don't wear pointed heels, though, as they tend to sink into the grass and I don't want to get stuck walking down the aisle.

Josh and I will be joining Vanessa, Vinny, and Leo on a quick trip to visit my Grandma Hilda this upcoming weekend. Kind of bittersweet.

happy birthday, maya bear!

For my 16th birthday, one of my gifts was a Golden Retriever female puppy. I'm pretty sure she was born the day before me, which means today is her birthday!

Eleven years later, she is just as cute, maybe cuter! We love her so much!

Happy 11th Birthday, Maya!



Here's her in her younger years (hence the non-white face!)





Here she is with her brother when he was 3 months old (November '05)


And my two favorite photos of her, EVER...

spring break...

This week is ASU's spring break! Sadly I have to work today, but tomorrow we're headed to the East Coast to visit the Reilly's and do some wedding-ish type things.

We have two cake tastings set up (yum!), mostly just for fun. We're going to do a walk-through of our venue and hopefully get some ideas of what we want it to look like for our day. We're meeting the DJ, and will be having dinner (also with my parents) at our rehearsal dinner restaurant. We'll also be meeting with the coordinator to bounce some ideas around. Umm, I think that's all for the wedding stuff. Besides that we're just going to hang out, and maybe Josh will see his friends and ask them to be groomsmen.

Very random, but here's a Super Mario Bros wedding cake...


Just checked weather.com, and woohoo, looks like the highs are going to be between the high 40s and 50s in Virginia. Sigh. That's really not that bad, considering North Dakota's high is -5 right now but feels like -34. Makes me want to never visit ND.

This month Maya turns 11! I can't believe it. Our dogs are doing great. Now here are some obligatory photos of them ;).

Maya hanging out on the couch


Lazy bum on the couch


Maya sunning in the Adams' backyard


Ollie enjoying the Adams' backyard

little leo!

Uncle Josh and Aunt Nikki got to spend a great long weekend with our growing nephew, Leo! He is so adorable. We're definitely in love!

Here is a slideshow with a few photos from the weekend:

We enjoyed going to the Botanical Gardens in Phoenix, hanging out at Grandma Pam and Grandpa Danny's house, and touring "Frontier Town" in Cave Creek. We had lots of quality time at the house and are so glad Vanessa, Vinny, and Leo could visit.

As far as wedding planning goes, there isn't a whole lot that is new. Josh told me he didn't love the colors we chose so we chose a new color scheme that will be much more fun. We're going to Virginia this Wednesday for a few days and get to do some cake tastings (yum!) as well as a walk-through of our venue Hollin Hall.

We also chose a wedding officiant to do our ceremony, which is a good check off of our checklist!

The rest of wedding planning is kind of on hold for a little while. Sadly my Grandma Hilda is still sick, so our family has been concentrating on her. She moved from her retirement community to an assisted living facility where she'll be looked after a bit more so that is comforting to know she is being taken care of 24/7. Josh and I may schedule a visit to New Mexico in the next couple of weekends if it works out for us.