update

Here's a quick and fast update about what's been going on in our lives...We completed the Catholic marriage preparation class last weekend. All we have left to do is meet with the coordinator to go over our "compatibility" surveys. Overall, we thought the meetings were beneficial and it was really nice to meet a bunch of couples and hear their stories!

Last weekend we also had our Valentine's day dinner. It was homemade gnocchi (potato noodle/dumplings) with spinach and garlic cream sauce and baked salmon with dipping sauce. For dessert, I made homemade cherry pie...even the filling!! It was all delicious :)

There is exciting news for the men's swim team this weekend! Sean and I went to the meet yesterday and their 200 free relay WON big ten's!!! It was so exciting! not to mention it was at the new pool here in Iowa City!! All the Iowa swimmers I got to watch yesterday swam awesome! Congratulations guys!!

After the meet, we headed down town for a bit with a bunch of alumni.

Now, I'm just trying to make it through my classes these next 2 weeks before spring break!! It's going to be JAM-PACKED with wedding related stuff like cake tasting, invitation decision-making and really making them, dress fitting, working on details, meeting with our decorator, and picking out music. I'm sure there will be much more, too.

February countdown

Everyone should know what today is. Whether it is the day of love for, a day to mope and eat chocolate, or a day to celebrate independence. Either way, today is of course Valentine's Day! Also, for those of you keeping track of our countdown...it is also 5 months until our wedding! And, because of the holiday today, Sean and I each wrote 5 things that we love about each other. Sorry to those of you who may think it's too mushy-mushy, but our blog is about our wedding, love, planning, and life...so you can just stop back for the next post :)

Why Sean loves Amanda:

1. thoughtful. She makes me dinner almost every night and would do anything for me.

2. Amanda is creative and thrifty

3. goofy because we like to wrestle and play around

4. Amanda knows and accepts the whole me. She knows my strengths and weaknesses and pushes me to work on myself as a person everyday

5. she calms me down and believes in me, even when I don't believe in myself

Why Amanda loves Sean:
1. Sean loves me even when I'm a suuuuuuper grump-it's not as often as Sean may tell you if you ask!
2. he acts goofy with me/I can be myself around him. Sometimes I get in moods of wanting to play/wrestle/use energy and he (usually) plays along. And, If I ever do something a little too embarrassing I tell him "lets just pretend I didn't just do that"
3. he is hot blooded, NOT warm blooded, but HOT blooded. I am usually freezing so we balance each other out; I keep him cold and he keeps me warm.
4. he gives me foot rubs on almost a daily basis and doesn't even care if my legs are hairy :)
5. Sean is protective. Quick story: he was home alone over my Christmas and Ashley came home later one evening. Sean wasn't expecting her. So when he heard the door start to open and someone go downstairs he first grabbed his gun then then snuck over to the stairs and yelled downstairs "Who's down there??" Of course I wasn't there, but I can totally see Sean doing this and then Ashley just saying "it's me" and then Sean relaxing

I thought it might be fun to look back and find a picture of us after we had been dating for 5 months...I did have much better pictures, but this one below is the only one I could find on facebook since I accidentally deleted about a years worth of photos on my computer a while back :(

here is my "duck face" and Sean acting surprise. and yes, we are at a toga party. HA

last thing. if anyone is wondering what we are doing to celebrate Valentines day, just wait until this weekend. We are going to be cooking a meal together. We can probably count on one hand how many meals we have cooked together, it's usually just me doing the cooking around here...

Sean's new niece

Sean's sister had baby girl, Reese, this past weekend. She's so precious!! But, not only did they have a new baby come home, they also had their house from Waterloo moved to Boone on Thursday. So, we spent a long weekend in Boone with Sean's now bigger family. We took turns holding the baby and helping move/organize.

invitations

invitations are the next BIG thing on our check list. We started "brainstorming" many months ago, but (again) due to my indecisiveness a final decision has not been made. I have the deadline that by the end of Spring break they need to be printed and put together....yes this does mean we are DIYing them :) so here are some (MAYBE half) of the pictures that I have been collecting. I have used some for inspiration and some I just liked.

Sorry, I don't have any sources from any of these since I just saved them into a folder. Lo siento :(