weekend

So no new wedding stuff lately but, classes started again on Monday :( I'm glad to see all my classmates again but, all the reading, quizzes, and exams can just kind of disappear. This weekend I was supposed to get caught back up on everything because last week I was kind of lazy. So far, I have not been a very good student and instead been busy doing pretty much everything else I could think of...including writing this post :) Here is what we have been up to so far:

I don't have class on Friday's, but I had to work all day. After work I took Sean downtown to meet up with some friends. I picked up my friend, Dani, and we went out to Coralville and got Ghurtie's Frozen Yogurt. I'm obsessed! (you will see why a bit later, but you have to read on) Then Dani and I went to the mall and I bought an awesome new bag/purse from Gap. Thanks Dani for convincing me to buy it! I reeeally like it!

Today started early. Sean had a haircut at 8. Then we went to the Iowa City farmer's market and saw all these gorgeous glads

After the farmer's market and quick stop at Daylight Donuts we went to Fareway for some groceries. We got quite a bit of groceries because I wanted to make some homemade meals and then freeze them. Here are some pics of the kitchen while I'm working.

ham balls! yum!

our freezer is full now!

Oh and while I was slaving in the kitchen Sean was organizing his new filing cabinet

After our eventful afternoon we went out to dinner. The Brenny's and Hansen's gave us a gift card to Orchard Green at the engagement party. We had never been there before and we were VERY impressed! The dining area was really neat. I'm pretty sure it's a renovated old building and it still has a lot of charm. Along with the ambiance, both of our meals were amazing. Sean got a filet with scalloped potatoes. I got cheese tortellini in a really good sauce and it came with asparagus and squash. We want to go again and would recommend it to anyone especially for special occasions :) Thanks again for the gift certificate!

And here's the part about my obsession....leaving from dinner, we decided to go to Ghurtie's. So I had it again. 2 nights in a row. Again, no judging :) but, it's yogurt so I shouldn't feel so bad about it, right?

We saw an Iowa celebrity while we were there, too! Adam Haluska was there. We felt pretty cool. There was also a large group of high school aged kids. Sean was getting pretty annoyed listening to their conversation. The girls were asking the boys which one of them cried during the movie "A Walk to Remember" as well as others. Sean's glad he's not in high school anymore.

Tomorrow, I will (hopefully) be studying and also going to a baby shower for one of my friends....I'm really excited! for the baby shower part :) it's another reason to not study!

Another note: I realized today that things I blog about (like the farmer's market) I'm not very good at taking pictures. I'm going to try a lot harder to do better from now on :)

Taste of Iowa City...quickly

Last night I went to taste of Iowa City with some friends. This was the second year I went and I LOVE IT! I wish they had it every week! Here is a list of everything I ate...and no judging!
Chicken lips from Graze
Mac and cheese from Bread Garden Market
Smoothie and ice cream bar from Mia Za's
Mini pulled pork slider from I don't remember where
Lastly, I got Ashley and Sean donuts from Bread Garden Market.

Everything I ate was so good! Also, the weather was great except for a little wind :)

My favorite ice cream bar. Dark chocolate half dipped in sliced almonds and half dipped in Oreo chunks

Here is a picture of Shannon and Brittany

now how do we chose?

As I talked about last week, here, our photographer, Caleb Jamin, came over to Iowa City for our engagement pictures. It was really fun and we found out real quick that neither of us can do serious faces...haha (sorry I'm not going to put up those pictures). It was also special that we could have them here in Iowa City. We had a few ideas of places to go, but Caleb had so many good ideas! As we were walking through downtown he would be talking with us, but his eyes were always wandering looking for backdrops. He has a good eye!!

Anyways...we LOVE how they turned out :) And as you will soon tell I have had difficulty narrowing them down, which is why this post is so enormous. So PLEASE help by commenting on the ones you like!

This one was taken in an alley. Anyone in Iowa City knows it's the sketch-iest one here. It's the one between Which-wich and Coldstone. It smelt like ice cream though. haha

After our pictures at Kinnick we had to move quick to the CRWC pool. The pool closed at 6 and we left Kinnick at about 5:46. Luckily, one of the guards was one of Sean's old teammates. He let us take our time while we were there. Thanks Mitch!

butter on a stick?

we didn't end up eating any butter on a stick when we went to the fair on Sunday. However, we did have a good time! And, we only spent around $7 for 6 of us to go to the fair! My dad had tickets through work for entrance, food, and a few ride tickets to the fair. For lunch we met Ashley's boyfriend's family at the Beef tent. After the meal tickets we spent just about $20 and we even got 2 free teas. Later we got a carmel apple sundae and a carmel apple which was about $7. The best part is yet to come....as we were walking through the varied industries building my dad found a $20 bill!! he always has his eye out and gets lucky!! the rest of us were too busy trying not to run into people in that building! it was packed!!

We visited all the normal fair attractions such as the massive bull, the horse barn, the varied industries building, the agriculture building, etc. It was very unlike us to not get any funnel cake, shaken lemonades, or ice cream...we were too fried-food out from the engagement party the night before. It was sunny out, warm (but not hot), and a little big of a breeze. It was perfect.

last note: I just read the article in the Des Moines Register this morning about that ride that those kids were stuck on for 2 and a half hours. I'm so glad none of us were on that!! 



Our Engagement Party

As I talked about earlier, here, my parents threw us an engagement party this past weekend at my house in Ankeny. The weather was awesome, the food was amazing, and the people were a blast. Both Sean and I had so much fun with everyone that came. We are so lucky to have such amazing families! Thanks everyone for coming and making the night perfect :)

Earlier Saturday we had few minor tragedies. One being my mom making the strawberry shortcake biscuits....she is notorious for making blueberry muffins with baking SODA rather than baking POWDER. After 2 and a half double batched mixed, baked, and cooled Ashley asked my mom if she was making them right. My mom then looked at the recipe and realized that she again used soda rather than powder. Ashley and I made an emergency run to Fareway for more supplies (we also dropped our brother, Alex, off there for his first day of work there, so cool!).

There were also a few blown over vases for the flowers and spilled water from the wind. However, the wind ended up being a blessing otherwise the bugs would have been out and it also kept it from getting so hot.

My mom had planned a few games for the evening. The first was a game where Sean and I sat in chairs back to back. Each of us took our shoes off and gave one to the other person. My mom asked us questions such as..."Which one of you made the first move? Who does the laundry? Who is in charge of the check book? Which one of you is the first to make up after a fight?" and many others. Sean and I would hold up the shoe of the person that we believe best describes the question. It ended up being really fun!

The other game was an "obstacle course of life". Here is what we had to do:
1. get married (run from one side of the yard to the other with a bouquet)
2. go to work (put on our work jacket and ride to the other side on our bike)
3. do laundry (put towels in the basket and run to the other side and run back)
4. make the bed (put a pillow into a pillow case)
5. have kids (diaper a doll, we then had to carry the doll for the rest of the course)
6. make dinner (pour water in a pan and stir, and then run to the other side of the yard and put the pan on the table)
7. go through life's hard times (open the umbrella and run to the other side)
THE END

A number of couples completed the game, we don't need to say who the winners are. You know who you are :)

Here are some pictures from the obstacle course!

Jon and Emily

Matt and Jana

Ashley and Adam

notice Ashley's face in this one!! my mom is about to run right into her!!

My mom, Dawn, and dad, Dennis

Pat and Katie

As well as the planned games we also had a few bag toss games going. Here are some other pictures from the night:

Some of our flowers for the tables. So pretty!

Alex and Dane playing bags

Tim and Angela's Family

The Greteman Family

Abby and Bridget with Avery and Hailey

Sean and Brian

Heather and Chris

Ashley and Garrett

Garrett and Avery (our ring bearer and flower girl)