End of Summer in a Nutshell

I think it's pretty evident that I won't be blogging between now and the wedding so here's a few snapshots of what's been happening the last month and a half.

Suds is much better at riding in the car. Here we are on our way back to Davenport for our first wedding shower.

As a wife, I intend to rule the roost with an iron fist and the Thiessens gave me a giant whistle to help reaffirm my authority.

Our state fair is a great state fair. I love me some cheese curds, Cup of Cookies and Grater Taters...maybe it's a good thing it only comes around once a year.

Suds celebrated his first birthday, hooray! Here he is with a doggie teacake.

BJ and Jill Day! We took a little mini-vacay for their wedding in Okoboji. Josh must be going for some kind of world record for "Most Times as a Groomsmen". This is his 5th time standing up with the groom.

Get it girl! My bridesmaids threw a fabulous bachelorette party and gave me all the necessary accessories for a night out on the town, including a giant flashing ring and pink furry handcuffs. Unfortunately, I was too busy bellying up to the bar or dancing in circles to complete any of my bachelorette dares.

Project Finish that Basement Before the Wedding is still underway. Overhead lighting, check. Drywall up, check. Textured ceiling, check. Painting, in progress.

You've Got Mail

Generally, the mailman brings a lot of credit card applications (ew), and bills (yuck). However, since the wedding invites have been sent out, checking the mail has become quite the exciting activity for me and Josh. The RSVPs are trickling in slowly. Granted, most of them are from people that are in the wedding or are related to us but still it's all very exciting.

And for those of you who are interested in seeing the magic behind the creation of the invitations see below...

The gluing, stuffing and envelope seals were handled with care by Dawn, Kelly and Annie. Thanks, girls!

Josh, Tom and Dean balked at using a glue stick so they took care of the postage.

Phoenix, it's 104...but it's a Dry Heat

I've been very delinquent with my blogging but my excuses are three-fold; first, I've been spending most of my time on the computer googling and shopping online for wedding related things, second my camera's broke and third, I was in Phoenix for a work conference for an entire week.

Typically, I don't blog about work because I feel like I spend way too much time thinking about it as it is. However, since a non-profit organization only sends a girl like myself to Phoenix once in a blue moon, I thought I should share a photo or two to honor the special occasion. And what an occasion it was, complete with celebrities, karaoke and an awards ceremony.

During our first day at the conference, the Iowa Chapter was honored with a "Chapter of the Year" award for Communications-yea! However, I didn't realize that they would be blowing up our faces for all the world to see while we were on stage accepting our award-boo.

OMG, is that Dee Snider from Twisted Sister?! What can I say? The March of Dimes knows how to rock.