Wedding Shower #1 + Easter!!!!

Hello, hello....again (assuming of course, the same people read my blog!!) Well I would like to give myself a pat on the back, because this post will hopefully go viral less than 2 weeks from the last post....good job busy bride, night shift nurse worker, and part time puppy trainer!!! :)) (Sometimes you gotta toot your own horn, so, "toot toot!!") ;)

So last weekend or two weekends ago, however you think of past time, we were home for Easter. I was lucky enough to be home for a full week and Andy joined me and my family (soon to be his in-laws!) for the weekend. I would love to say this trip was relaxing and provided lots of quality time with the people I love most, but that was definitely not the case. Let me just touch on a few of the highlights!!!

Wedding plans: The plans are coming along nicely and I have really only been told once by my loving mother that I completely overreacted and freaked out!!! Depends on how you look at the situation I guess, but there was one freak out, which surrounded a big miscommunication regarding the tent we rented for our reception. Apparently I assumed the tent company knew where the tent is going to be placed for the reception and guaranteed all would be well, but not. so. much. This lead to a huge scare that it may not fit in the space we had planned on, that the tent company would not be able to get it's equipment close enough to put the tent up, that the country club may go back on it's word due to precious grass being damaged,  etc. Without going into extensive I detail, I will summarize that I pretty much flipped out!!! This included sobbing, yelling, maybe a few choice words, etc. But AK came to my rescue and provided the calmness/problem solving solutions (per ushh) and my brother met us at the country club, hooked us up with the grounds keeper who said the reception+tent was still a go!!! Phewww, because in our area of small town/cornfield country/Midwest Iowa, there are not a lot of places to host 300+ guests for an event you prefer to be fancier than casual!!! Other than that our flowers are placed (and gorgeous), our ceremony is planned (which made me cry...obvs!), our menu is complete (yummo!), our ceremony music is finalized (beautiful), our invitations are about to be sent out (lovely), and low and behold the freaking tent will fit (P.T.L. praise the Lord!!!! :) The week was a success I must say!!! Yay for a pretty wedding to come!!!

the official spot of the tent/reception location as of April 1st and I'm not foolin!!! ;)

 Wedding Shower: Saturday night before Easter some good friends of my parents hosted what I think is the best wedding shower I have witnessed to date!!! They (Jaspers, Buttons, Webbs, Barnards, and Haskins) hosted a couples shower that has to go down in history. It was so fun, AK challenged me afterward saying: "I thought you said *wedding/baby showers are kind of boring, and I beg to differ, because that was a blast!!" My response: "When something is done right, it's always enjoyable!!" ;). To set the scene.....there was amazing food, THREE signature cocktails, enough champagne for the entire county, and such fun company I didn't stop laughing or chatting all night (neither did AK)!!! And the night ended with some fantastic gifts.....WHO on earth wouldn't want to be at that party?? Just sayin!!! ;)). A big, big thank you to all of them. We had a blast and in my opinion was just a brief look at what our wedding/reception will be like!!!!
*to note: this was JUST a wedding shower even though I lump wedding and baby showers into the same genre!! :). hopefully our baby shower is a ways off....also just sayin!!!* ;) 

jame+lace+me.....only missing one and that would be k-dogg!!! ;) thanks for coming you two!!!!!

full house with lots of love!!!!

Easter: Easter is always kind of a big deal at my house!! We are definitely church goin folk, so we celebrate our risen Savior with fine food and lots of people!!! I think our crowd on Easter topped out at roughly 30!! Lots a lot!!! Our church service was fabulous as always and Sunday was a day to relax and enjoy the people I don't get to see very often. Unfortunately AK and I had some miscommunication many weeks back so he actually had to leave directly after we ate.....basically dined and dashed if you will!! ;). But it all worked out, he made his flight back to D-town (meaning Denver for my silly Detroit readers!!) and was off to DC the next day for work. One thing we don't do is a live a slow or lazy life!! :) My favorite Easter moments included: church, easter egg hunts/baskets, my mom's carrot cake (that stuff could be famous, no joke....perfect mix of carrot cake + incredible frosting!!), my visit with my Uncle Randy/Aunt Nancy annnnd it ended with a view of "Father of the Bride" with my mom and the Gehrk. George Stanley Banks and the Gehrk have striking similarities!! ;) Just kidding, but I did tease Gehrk on a few occasions, but all things being fair.....he has been more than amazing when it comes to the wedding. We are a blessed engaged couple!!

the little boys were over serious pics....the silly upside down picture was my recco....you're welcome!! so cute!!!

who doesn't love boys in sear sucker bow ties+pants!!!! adorbs!!!!!

looking for the Easter bunny!! too cute!!!!

a quick shot of me and AK....happy easter ya'lll!!!!

A few upcoming events this week: a juice cleanse for myself (multiple reasons surround this decision, but either way, WISH. ME. LUCK as I love food/eating/drinking wine!) and Friday I'm off to Chicago for my dress fitting and our second wedding shower!! Stay tuned.....

Updates!!!!

Okay....I know, I've been terrible. I'm actually really disappointed in myself, because most of our engagement has passed by with minimal blogging. That kind of makes me sad considering being engaged is such a short time in your life, but maybe for the best, because planning a wedding is for the birds. I'm to the point where I'm a little over it and ready for it to be over and just celebrate being married. My favorite things (dress shopping and picking out invitations) have been over since last fall and nothing has seemed as fun as that. Just sayin....

Anyhow, enough about that. Since I had a whole post written up and never added the pictures, I'm going to go through my favorite updates in our life since I left off at the beginning of February!! Here it goes....

We spent Valentine's Day at home loving each other. AK tried to burn the kitchen down in the midst of making a delicious meal....steaks, scallops and mashed potatoes. I brought up the caboose as always and we finished the meal with chocolate heart shaped cookies for desert. We were to bed early though, because the next day we flew to Iowa for a weekend full of fun!!

 chef!

dinner+vino!

desert...my favorite part of the meal!!

The day after Vaentine's Day we flew to Iowa for a fast and furious wedding planning weekend. The weekend we were there seriously felt like it ended before it even got started....it went that fast. But while we were home, we finished up our pre-marrital counseling and passed with flying colors! (pheww!!) We celebrated my niece Emma's birthday....she's 10 and fabulous!! And we had just enough time to scoot over to Ankeny and watch Jack play and Dan coach his little dunkers league. The weekend was a success and super fun!!! (now we are in the process of gearing up for Easter in Iowa!)! #timeflies!

pretty good little player!!! headband and all!! :)

high five!!

water break!!!

team huddle. dan did such a good job with all those little boys!!

our little super star!!!

and peeing on the side of the road on the way home!!! definitely all boy!!!

We snuck a few more powder days in at Vail....my ultimate favorite!!! We were even lucky enough to score a free night at our friend's mountain house. So fun and super duper nice place!!!

bluebird powder days are amazing!!

Next up was our little pup's yearly check up. She behaved wonderfully and received sparkling reviews....healthy as a horse, so playful, so happy and has the most beautiful coat of hair they have ever seen!! If we had a nickel for every time someone has told us that, I'm pretty sure I'd be working part time by now!! :))

being a good girl at the Vet!!!

Next up was my birthday!! We all know I love my birthday, but for some reason this year I was not as hyped about it as I had been in the past. In the end though it turned out to be a pretty special day. I spent time with girlfriends, I received multiple phone calls/texts/cards/facebook messages, and AK spoiled me per usual. 29 was not as bad as I had envisioned and it made me realize one thing....and that is, I will be on a beach somewhere when I turn 30!!!!!

capturing my new road bike AK got for me!!! great gift, however it will be in storage until after the wedding or until after all the snow melts.....and at this rate, the wedding may come first!!!

Shortly after my birthday was my good friend Stephanie's birthday. She went out of her way to celebrate mine, so in true girlfriend fashion you pay it forward. Her fiance Nick and her parents (who were visiting from Chicago) planned a fun little birthday celebration at their home and we drank bubbles and ate fun little apps all night!! It was such a fun night even though mother nature decided to dump monkeys (a.k.a snow a lot) that day. Either way happy birthday to Steph and I'm so glad I have a fabulous birthday buddy!!!

girlfriends at the party!!!

In the midst of all that I took Ruby up to the mountains with her buddy Tommy and Tommy's mom Bridget. Bridget and I have been great friends since I moved out to Colorado, so it's only natural our dogs should be friends as well!! Tom is old and wise and Ruby is young and silly so Tommy I'm sure had had enough by the end, but Ruby had a blast and was exhausted when we got home. Oh and the scenery wasn't bad either!!!

she would not stop running. i bet she ran 8 miles....with that tongue out the whole time!!!

she would not sit for a picture. look how she's pulling away from me!!!

i love her!!!

we tried again but she was too busy playing!!!

climbing, climbing, climbing!!!

Last, but not least, we celebrated St. Patty's Day last weekend and it was a celebration indeed!!! We dusted off our cruisers for the first ride of the year and drank green beer for the better part of the afternoon. I mean afterall AK was made in Ireland and has the shirt to prove it!! ;) The weather wasn't half bad, so we had a pretty good day hanging out with friends and celebrating the Irish heritage!!

kiss me.....i'm iowish!!!! #love!

celebrating meg's irish roots in all green!!!

green beer. yummy!!

AK and micah....all greened out!!!

i'm not sure!!

love these three!!!

group shot!!! so fun starting the day off with best friends!!! and micah is the happiest guy in Denver. look at that smile!!!

AK and I continue to love Denver and enjoy our free time here. We are lucky to be surrounded by beautiful scenery and great friends. The next few months will be crammed with wedding showers, dress fittings, bach parties and much, much more (like AK turning 30!!! shhh!!) so be sure to check back soon and I PROMISE regular updates!!!! First up.....we are headed to Iowa for Easter for our first wedding shower, more wedding planning and to celebrate our Savior!!! Cheers to that!!!!

January...came and went!!

Consider this you're warning....this will be a marathon post as January was much busier than we had intended it to be. Let's just say 2012 ended with a bang and 2013 began with a boom. We have either been hosting visitors, training a pup, or chasing powder days with our good friends....rough life, huh?? I must say having a busy January was a pleasant surprise as January is my least favorite month of the whole year!!

January began with a visit from my sister in law Jen and my niece Emma. Part of Emma's Christmas present was tickets to Justin Bieber in no other place than DENVER!!!! She was more than thrilled and we had such a fun time. We did mani/pedis, shopped a little, hit up the Denver Zoo, the Denver Aquarium, and we even managed to find shoes for Emma for the wedding (now all we need is her dress!!) Needless to say we crammed a lot in to a few days and Emma had the time of her life at the JB concert. She tried to pull an illness pre concert as she was worried about all the commotion, but we knew she was just coming down with Bieber Fever!!! :)))

emma and jen in cherry creek. so cute!!

our little photographers....capturing the moment at the zoo!!! :)

Our next visitors of the month came with a little addition to our family. Jacki (a.k.a. Fancy) and her son Austin came out for a little Denver time/ski trip, and Ruby came along for the ride!! Ruby was my parent's dog back in Iowa, but she was a little bit of a pistol considering Gehrk's leg injury so we adopted her...more on that later!! So in other news, Jacki and Austin were such a treat to host. Fancy treated us to some fabulous dinners (THANK YOU!! again!) and we were able to spend some 1 on 1 time with them which doesn't always happen when we go home for visits!! We showed Austin around Vail and Keystone and our friend Stephanie was able to join us for a night in Breck where clearly it was time to "get yo robe on!!" Such a good time. Unfortunately towards the end of the weekend Stephanie came down with Influenza A, but luckily she had two fabulous nurses to take care of her and make the definitive diagnosis. And fortunately Austy was introduced to Patagonia and good wine!! :)

get yo robe on!!! with coors light of course!!!

girls + Austin. too funny. we could not stop laughing!

old glory!!!! #hysterical!

rudolph!!! #superfunny! (these people had props in their cupboards....clearly the boys found them!)

loveland pass with Austy and without any fresh pow pow.....if only they came a few weeks later!!!

RUBY!!!!!!! IS!!! HERE!!!! Little miss Ruby came roughly two weeks ago with Fancy and Austin in tow. She did great riding cross country and her only quirk was that she required to ride shot gun.....the whole way!! :) Definitely a habit we may have to break, but this silly dog loves to be in thick of the action. I actually think she thinks she is part human.....not kidding. She acts like a little person and is my shadow when I'm home with her during the day and she is the biggest snuggle bug by night. She hates the vacuum and loves toilet water! ;) She is quite the little runner and has enjoyed playing countless games of fetch with AK. Pretty much, I'm not sure what we ever did without her. She's the first person we talk to in the morning and the last person we say good night to at night. We've only had a few dog parenting spats with me being a wee bit territorial....I mean she was MY parent's dog after all!! :). Either way we love having her and is one of the best friends I've ever had!!

we love Ruby!!!!

AK trying to show Ruby her kennel (ie. her "home") is a good, safe place!!! hahahaha. something is off about this!!!

Powder days are some of the best days in Denver. And this weekend was no different. We had the opportunity to head up to Steamboat Springs, CO just in time as they received 3 feet of fresh snow the day before we got there!!! BOOM!!! The only thing about powder days is you feel obligated to ski the entire day 8a-3p and it was a long day, but the views and powder didn't stop so it was so worth it. I was pretty proud of myself as I skied some stuff I had never skied before and to quote AK "I crushed it this weekend!" I mean, I wouldn't say he fell in love with me for skiing abilities, but perhaps he fell in love with me because I'm willing to try and improve and push myself until I'm better. This weekend it all seemed to come together and we had some of the best ski/snowboard runs (AK boards....we don't hold it against him) we have had in over two years. Not to mention Steamboat is one of the loveliest mountain towns we have visited to date!! If we ever have the funds, maybe our mountain house will reside in Steamboat.....a girl can dream, right!?!? We rounded out our Steamboat weekend with a little snow shoe hike which was amazing and the only thing we were missing was our pup!!! We did watch the Superbowl, but I was say that was the least exciting of all this past weekend.

snow shoe tracks....so much powder and such a hard hike!!!

mid hike....giving AK something to shoot!! :) look at those mountains!!

love this pic....the start of our hike over looking steamboat mountain!!

trekking through pow pow!!!

product of AK's photo abilities!!! the hike was so hard, we were dripping sweat by the top. hence open coat, no hat, no gloves, hair on top of head!!

our tracks!!! :)

our view from the house we stayed in!!

AK ready to ride!!!

atop of the mountain. ready to shred!!! ;). love the white trees.

linds+me....waiting at the lift!

the views wouldn't stop....this picture does not do it justice!

the view from the top of our hike on Sunday!!!! Steamboat is so pretty!!!

For the 100th time we feel blessed to be back in CO and our so happy in our current situation. We felt the love this weekend as all of our friends said it was great to have us back and it felt like we never left. I say it all the time, but we are such lucky people!!! Hope your January came and went with as much excitement as ours. And to think 2013 has so much more to unfold!!!