Camp... Again :)

I am back at camp this week with my 8th and 9th graders. Thankfully, my computer works this week!! I have no idea what was wrong with it before (the wireless switch was on and I was in range of the router).

I have 6 kids from my church and 2 from another church here this week. It's so much fun to see them enjoying camp and each other and not having to be in charge of anything. I love my job, but during the school year it is a lot of work to plan bible studies and games every Wednesday (or whenever I get together with them). So it's really nice to come to camp and be able to be a part of those fun things but letting someone else do the planning/work. It's also nice to know that they (the kids) are getting spiritually fed by someone else and it's cool to know that there are other young people that care about them.

The weather has been kind of icky again this week. It stormed big time last night and it was rainy earlier today. It's kind of nice now. The sun is out but it's windy. I hope that it gets nicer for the sake of the kids.

*****

So the future Mr. and I decided that I would join his cell phone plan since my family plan with dad and Katie is up. Well it was up on June 4th but we just went to a month to month plan with Sprint. The future Mr. and I decided this weekend that I would join his plan at Verizon. Which meant that I could get the iPhone :) So on Saturday the future Mr. and I went to Verizon. While that guy was inputting our info, the computer went down. Not just his computer, all of Verizon. When he finally got thro to customer service the lady told him that they had 500 calls on hold still that they hadn't been able to answer yet.

If the future Mr. and I lived in the same town this wouldn't be a problem. We would just have been able to go back today when he was done with work. But we don't live in the same town. We live 100 miles apart. And right now I'm 130 miles from my house and 45 from his house. And I drove the church vehicle this week so it's not like I can just run over there for an hour or two.

And it wouldn't be a problem to wait until I'm back home again if the data plans weren't changing. On July 8th Verizon is changing their data packages for smart phones (which the iPhone is). Right now for $30 a month you get unlimited data, well after July 8th you'll only get 2 gb of data per month for $30.

So hopefully we'll be able to find some time this coming weekend when I'm home again (for wedding #2 of the summer, I'll have the update from last weekend's wedding in this weeks WW). And hopefully the same guy is working, it wasn't his fault that we weren't able to get things finished last weekend, and I know that they work on commission. 

Hopefully I'll be able to blog from my phone soon, from my iPhone :) a-woo-hoo!!

I hope you're having a great day!
Love, a future Mrs.

Thieves!

So last night I hosted Sr. Hi youth group at my house. I grilled mini slider burgers and we had chips and cookies and ice cream. While I was getting ready for the kids to come over I couldn't help but think how sad it is that the only dinner parties I host are for high school kids. I'm not kidding I have not had more then one adult friend over at a time since I moved in almost two years ago. How sad is that?!

Anyway, I had to clean up my house yesterday afternoon. I didn't really think they wanted to see my dirty dishes or the mess that I had in the living room from crafting. So I cleaned up. While I had a case of Mike's hard lemonade in my living room cuz it didn't all fit in my fridge. So I put it in my car. I'll be spending quite a bit of time at my parent's house this summer so I figured I would just take it there with me today and leave it there. Plus it got it out of my dining room so my high school kids didn't see. They know that I'm only enough to drink but they don't really need to see 24 bottles of Mike's in my house, it kinda sends the wrong message.

Well this afternoon, at the end of my lunch break I was loading my car with my suitcase and stuff for the wedding this weekend. I thought to myself, ok, you put the Mike's on the drivers side yesterday so you'll need to put you suitcase on the passengar side. I opened the door and my Mike's was gone. GONE. Someone took it!!!! Apparently I left my car unlocked last night and someone just could not pass up that crime of opportunity. They left the cup full of change in the cup holder and they left the cd's on the front seat, but they took the Mike's. I'm a little upset that they took my Mike's but I'm more uncomfortable that someone took something out of my car while it was parked in my driveway, basically right outside my back door. It's a really weird and vulnerable feeling. Then when I got in my car to drive it beeped at me that a door was open. So I opened mine and slammed it shut but the light stayed on. So I looked over at the passanger side mirror to see if one of those doors was open and the front passanger side door was open.

I was creeped out.

I'm really really hoping that this was just a crime of opportunity and not something more.

I left a note for the boy that rents the apartment above mine (I live in a duplex so it's just the two of us) that I had something stolen out of my car.

I hope you're having a better day then I am...
Love, a future Mrs.

Wedding Wednesday!

171 days to go!

This week: favors!!

Well, not all of our favors, just one. We'll have three all together. Today I'm just going to tell you about the one that I'm making. My inspiration came from this super cute Valentine's Day craft that I found while reading another blog:

His say "This Valentine's Day have a ball" and "Dear Valentine, you make my heart bounce" Ours will be similar but they will say "Hope you had a 'ball' at our wedding. Love, Kris and Sarah". You can check out more picutres and her directions here.

So I ordered 300 bouncy balls and little plastic bags from orientaltrading.com. Then I went to the newspaper office in town and ordered cardstock paper in our wedding colors and cut to size. While we were at the cabin and the weather was so icky on Saturday and Sunday mom and I worked on the favors!

Our supplies. Big blue squares of paper to be folded in half and smaller green rectangles of paper to be glued on. It took a while to fold them all then glue the green on.

Then trim the blue because I ordered it in the wrong size :(

My momma trimming the blue after I glued on the green.

After mom's hard work :)

Then the ball will get put in the plastic baggie and the bag will get stapled inbetween the bottom of the paper.

I don't have a picutre of the finished project for you yet because I have to get a stamp that says "Hope you had a ball at our wedding" I'm not writing that 300 times :) But I'll let you know when I get the stamp and I'll share pictures with you once they're more done.

Love, a future Mrs.

So What Wednesday!

Here's what I'm saying So What to this week:

*if I have laundry that I did last weekend (the 11th) that still hasn't been put away yet.

*if I want to buy better/cuter/more durable luggage. I like mine (thanks family!!) but it's just black- it isn't very cute or distinguishable. And I'm spending a lot of time with my luggage this summer.

*if my continuting education trip makes me want to cry already and it isn't until Feb. Going to New Orleans from Northern MN is spendy!

*if being able to pay my credit card bill on line saves my butt almost every month. I don't know what it is about that bill but I can never seem to remember it until like a day or two before it's due!

*if I haven't made the prize for my first giveaway winner yet. I'm sorry Cindy- it's coming, I promise!!

*if I wish I had a car that could drive itself so I could sleep while driving.

*if I like things really organized. It makes it easier to find things and I feel better about my life. That's why I spent about an hour and half yesterday afternoon organizing 4 3-ring binders that I use often.

*that also why my movies are in alphabetical order and my closet is color coded.

*if I'm writing this and my Wedding Wednesday post on Tues. afternoon. I walked to work and then it started to rain. I didn't want to walk home in the rain just to walk back to church for the council meeting tonight in the rain. So I staying in my office, got caught up on my blog, and ate baked cheetos.

What are you saying So What to this week?

Head on over to Life After I "Dew" to see what

everyone else is saying So What to this week.

Love, a future Mrs.

Crafting Queen

So last weekend, the future Mr and I painted a table that we got from my dad to be used in my craft room (which used to be known as the guest room). But I forgot to take pictures of it on my camera and I can't figure out how to get the pictures from my phone to my blog. Grr... technology. Anyway, the room has inspired me to work on projects. Although, I can't actually work in my craft room yet. Well I could but I'm choosing not too. You see, I have a litte 13 inch TV that I bought when I was in 6th grade (11-ish years ago). It was the first "big" thing I bought. I saved my money and I bought it. And I loved it. Well, I loved it so much that I still have it. So I thought I would use it in my craft room with the DVD player that my Mom gave me for Christmas, since the craft room doesn't have a cable cord. So on Sunday night I went to plug it in and there isn't a DVD hook-up on the back of the TV!! What?! I didn't know that there weren't TV without hook-ups! So I don't have anything to watch/listen to while crafting in my craft room. So I will craft in the living room until I get a new TV.

But I'm crafting which is good.

The future Mr. and I have 5 weddings to go to this summer so I had to think of something that I could make, because buying gifts off of 5 wedding registries would get to be a little much and break this girls bank.

While I was in Colorado with the fam this spring, I saw this cool picture frame that was basically a block of wood with a pretty clothes pin on it and a quote about love across the bottom. I took a picture of it on my phone so I would remember it. And I thought- what a great wedding gift! And it's something that I could make for little $$. So I got the future Mr. to cut up some blocks of wood for me, since he's a carpenter he just kept left over pieces and cut them to the size I wanted- cost to me $0.

I had him cut 7 of these for me. I figured I better have 2 that I could mess up on, just incase.

Then I went to Wal*Mart and got sandpaper, white wall paint (that we used for the craft room table too), brown and blue craft-y paint and regular clothes pins. All together they were less then $15.

I started by sanding each block a little then painting them brown.

After letting them dry, I sanded them a little more then painted just the tops blue. Then I let them dry again (this part is kind of boring), sanded the again, and painted them white.

After they were dry again, I sanded them big time to give them a distressed look.

During one of those drying cycles, I painted the clothes pins brown too

This is where they split a litt. I couldn't really decide how to write the love quotes on the blocks. I wasn't sure if I wanted to cut vinyl with my cricut, or if I wanted to free hand love quotes, or if I wanted to print them off on the computer. So I tried the cricut and the computer

The block on the left is just distressed with the clothes pin attached (with hot glue). The one on the right has 1 Cornthians 13:4-8a printed off an ink jet printer the attached with Elmer's school glue and distresses, with a clothes pin attached.

Then I added words that I cut from vinyl on the cricut

With the words, the picture would have to be a 3x5. So I might just put the word "love" at the bottom and not do names at the top. I can't decide.

After I did this to the distressed block, the 1 Corinthians block looked like it was missing something

So I added the word love and a picture of me and two of my high school besties at a wedding last summer.

But that isn't the only craft project I've done this week!

I gave this picture frame a major make over:

Last June I orderd a really cute expression from UpperCase Living. It's a chef's hat and spoon and it says bon appetit! And it's a beautiful red color. Well I've been looking for a frame to put it in. All I needed was the outside and the glass. I bought one at Wal*Mart but I got home and it wasn't the right size so I had to take it back. Then this beauty came into the rummage sale that we have a church every spring. Score! Well, it's been sitting in my sun room since early May.

Until last night! I used some the of sandpaper from the block proect and sanded down the frame. Then I took out the picture and the backing so all that was left was the glass and I bent the hooks back down to keep the glass in place. Then I put masking tape around the outside of the glass, where it meets the frame so I wouldn't get paint on it.

My supplies. I ended up needing another paint brush, one with actual bristles that were pretty stiff to get into the carving details around the outside.
Here's the finished project:

Now it just needs to be hung in my kitchen :)

This is what my living room has looked like since Sunday

I actually cleaned up a little for this picutre. There was more newpaper that I used while painting the frame over by the fireplace, and there was the backing paper from the UpperCase Living expression, and the original innerds from the frame.
I'll have to clean tomorrow, we're suppose to have Sr. Hi youth group at my house tomorrow night.

Hope you're having a great day!
Love, a future Mrs.

Father's Day

Does it make me a bad daughter if I didn't get my dad anything for Father's day? Seriously, I didn't even get him a card. The future Mr. and I spent the weekend at the cabin with my parents and my mom's brother (my godfather). I asked Dad what he wanted to do yesterday and he said that he wanted to sit by the bonfire and he wanted someone else to drive home. So that's what we did. We sat by the fire for the better part of the afternoon then I drove home.

*****

Speaking of driving, from Sunday June 12th to Sunday June 19th this girl drove almost 800 miles. What?! Quality time with my car. And that's just the begining of my summer of travel. I know I've told you before but now for the next 11 weekends- that would be now through Labor Day- I will drive at least 200 if not 400 miles every weekend. And gas is still $3.69 in my northern town. Good thing my Minnesota energy bill is low in the summer. That is so much driving for me!! Normally I only need to get the oil in my car changed like every 6 months, I really don't drive a lot. I can walk to most of the places I need in town so the only time I drive is to get groceries or when it's raining. Oh well, all of the weekends will have something fun in them at least :) Weddings, bachelorette parties, the cabin, a mini mission trip with high school kids from church, WE Fest, and so on.

*****

I still don't have a Bachelorette update for you. I haven't watched last week's episode and we have Jr Hi Youth Group tonight at church so I won't be watching tonight either. I have no idea when I'll watch them. Maybe Friday morning at my mom and dad's. But ya' know what? I don't know if I even care to watch them. I don't really like Ashley. She's whiny.

*****

Mom and I got some serious work done on wedding favors this weekend. I'll tell you all about it in this week's edition of Wedding Wednesday. I know you're on the edge of your seat in anticipation ;)

Hope you're having a great day!

Love, a future Mrs.

Yay! Camp!

Well, finally Friday!

We made it through our first week at camp! I only had 2 kiddos from my church here and I think they had a good time. They didn't really talk to me a while lot. Some times I feel like it's a waste of my time to come to camp with them. I've slept in the past two mornings. I sit in the back of the chapel for worship and in the back for camp fire. I eat meals with the staff and other visitors. I don't really spend a whole lot of time with them. I spend more time with the younger ones. They want me to sit with their cabins for meals, they say hi to me when they see me. I understand that 6th and 7th graders don't think it's cool to say hi to me and invite me to meals with them, but could they at least wave? And make me feel like I'm here for a reason?

Also, yesterday I bought canteen (snack) for the 2 from my church. Another girl asked if I was the mom of the girl from my church. Ackward. And kind of sad.

Love, a future Mrs.

Wedding Wednesday (on a Thursday!)

*Still on the MacBook and still can't figure out how to copy images... grr...* And I kind of forgot to do this yesterday! That's what happens when you get interrupted mid-blog*

177 days to go!

This week: Bridesmaid dresses!!

I know I talked a little bit about b-maid dresses last week but heres the whole run down.

When we went dress shopping the first time I was hoping to get b-maid dresses as well. I had an idea of what I wanted. I wanted them in strapless knee length gowns in royal blue. I wanted the stain/shiny material. But I also wanted them to have something that they liked, something that they would be comfortable in.

Katie was on board with me. She was all about the short dress. But Tasha, Lacey, and Lindsey all wanted long dresses. I could see their point, our wedding will be in December after all. So I let them loose on the store. I had them each pick out dresses that they liked then I picked from those dresses. 

We ended up with a royal blue stain-y strapless floor length gown. It is kind of rouched over the bust then flows from there like an A line. And it has pockets which the girls love. Then we picked a lime green sash that will go under the bust line. My mom was hesitant on the royal blue/lime green combo until she saw it. 

I love that the 4 of them that were shopping with me were happy, and comfortable.

The dresses with the sashes ended up costing $170 each. Which is kind of expensive but the girls seemed ok with it. But they don't have shoes yet. I would kind of like to get them lime green converse tennis shoes but the future Mr. thinks that's dumb. So we'll see what we end up with.

*****

Since I'm at camp this week I haven't gotten anything wedding related done. I might take the bouncy ball favors with to the cabin this weekend cuz it's suppose to rain. Then my mom and I could work on them. Hopefully it doesn't rain but I'll take them just incase.

Well I'm still at camp so I should go find my kiddos and head to camp fire with them.

Hope you're having a great day!

Love, a future Mrs.

So What Wednesday

Here's what I'm saying So What to this week:

*if I'm at camp, my work computer can't see to find the internet (I think the computer is broken), so I'm using a friend's computer which happens to be a MacBook and I can't figure out how to copy Shannon's SWW image.

*if the weeks that I spend at camp feel more like vaca then work

*if I took a nap this morning and I kind of want to take another one this afternoon

*if I was beside myself when my dad asked me if I wanted to drive the Expedition this week? It is so much cooler then the Focus

*if I really really really wish it was Friday already? We're going to the cabin this weekend

*if I'm really really really praying for nice weather this weekend

*if I'm not good at keeping up with my weight watchers points while I'm at camp

What are you saying So What to this week?

Head on over to LIfe After I "Dew" to see what

everyone else is saying So What to!

Love, a future Mrs.

Creepy Crawlies

I made it back to camp today. I slept in a while this morning since my sister and I stayed up til almost 3 talking to the neighbor girl from down the street who just got back from AZ for the summer!! That was waaayyy to late for this old lady :)

So I finally got out of bed around 9:30, got ready for the day, went and got a McDonald's bagel for breakfast (so not good for my points, I know), then went home and loaded up the truck (my dad let me take the Expedition for the rest of the week!!), and left for camp. I got here just as the kids were coming in for lunch. Since I had just had McDon's I didn't eat with them but I did get to sit and chat with them which is always nice. Then, while they were having quiet time after lunch I sat on the deck in the sun and read. Last summer while I was here I read "Eat, Pray, Love" and I really really like it. In March I bought "Committed" which is the follow up by Elizabeth Gilbert to read while we were on vaca in CO, but that didn't happen. So I'm trying to read it now. It really isn't the best book to be reading while I'm preparing for marriage. See, the future Mr. and I are pretty traditional people. We believe in marrying one person and you make it work. I think that marriage is the natural thing to do, and I think it's the right thing for us. While, Elizabeth Gilbert doesn't feel quite the same way. The book is basically her research on marriage, what marriages have looked like at different periods throughout history, and the pros and cons of marriage. She makes it sound like marriage is a dying institution that really has nothing to do with the church or God. It's really hard to read. I really believe that marriages can and do work. I believe that the church and God are both important pieces in marriages. I believe that the future Mr. and I can do this. Sure, I have my doubts somedays but those doubt are mostly rooted in my own insecurities. I am afraid that one day my future Mr. will wake up and realize that he wants something better and he doesn't really love me. I don't know where these feelings have come from, I don't feel like any boy/man has hurt me terribly bad in this area to cause this. Stasi Eldridge talks a little bit about this in her book "Captivating" which I love. She talks about how as church woman we feel the need to do everything and be everything to everyone. I'm worried that I won't be able to be everything that my future Mr. needs. I know that this sounds irrational, there is no way that anyone can be everything for someone. But I'm worried that I won't be enough. But we will make it work. And we won't approach it like business deal (like Liz and Felipe are in "Committed").

I know that was kind of a tangent. It wasn't what I meant to write about at all, it just sort of came out. After my time reading in the sun on the deck :) I went and joined the kids during their canteen time and I picked a tic off my foot!! It wasn't attached yet, but it was crawling on me. Yuck! I hate tics. I don't really like any bugs but tics and mosquitos are my least favorite. And now I feel like things are crawling all over my legs. I'll have to take a shower before I go to bed and make sure that I don't have any bugs on me.

Hope you're having a great day!

Love, a future Mrs.

Monday

Yesterday I took 3 kids to camp. 2 from my church and 1 from another church. The drive down was brutal. It takes a little over 2 hours to get to camp from church. But yesterday it felt like forever. There were 2 girls and 1 boy, the girls would not stop pestering the boy. Then they started drawing on each others faces with make up. And they were so loud. It was such a relief to get them checked in at camp and into their cabins with their counselors so that they were no longer my responsibility.

Then I got to chat with my friends Erin and Laura who are the camp director and program director. It's always nice to catch up with them. But they didn't know that I was planning on staying at camp as an adult guest this week. So they weren't ready for me. Thankfully my mom and dad's is less then an hour from camp and I had to come here for a meeting today anyway for LYO. So I just came to mom and dad's last night. My dad and I went out to the bar the my mom manages to have a drink and our friends from AZ who summer here were out there! It was so fun to see them. They are the kind of people that just have too much money, seriously. But the mom looked at my ring and said that it was beautiful and she loved it!! I was so floored that she was impressed by my ring. This woman who has tons of money, and more beautiful and huge rings was impressed by mine! A woo hoo!!!!

And bonus! Last night the future Mr's family was having a b-day party for his Grandpa who turns 89 today! So I got to go to that since I was home :) I love his family. I'm so happy that I fit in with them and that they like me. And I'm happy that my family likes him. I can only imagine how much harder our relationship would be if we didn't fit in with each others families.

Since I'm not at camp this morning and my meeting isn't until 2:30, I finally got to watch last weeks episode of The Bachelorette this morning!! Yay! I know I'm almost a week late but I'm going to share my thoughts anyway...

How cute was Ben C in the 1st 1-on-1 date? I love that he learned the dance and didn't get freaked out by the flash mob. Then at dinner when he said that he wants to live in a bubble and pretend that the love that he and his wife have is way better then everyone elses- my heart melted! He is such a cute hopeless romantic (but the previews for tonights show make him look bad! I hope it isn't true!!). Then Ashley gave him a rose.

Group date? Terrible idea to do a roast! What did Ashley expect the boys to say?? Most of them played it safe and just made jokes about the other guys. Except for William. He tried to make a joke about Ashley being the bachelorette instead of Emily or Chantel from the last Bachelor. Didn't go over so well and he felt really really bad. But Bentley agreed with him in his interview!! Bentley went to comfort her after the comedy show to "mess with her head" what a crappy move! Then then went to some rooftop to have drink and William stole her first to apoligize to her. My heart was hurting for him. You could just see in his face how sorry he was. But Ashley was so insecure and so whiny that I could hardly stand her. I seriously wrote in my notes (yes, I took notes, I know I'm nerdy) that as the show goes on I like her less and less. (But that probably won't stop my from watching tonight) During their 1-on-1 time Ryan P told her that he for one was very pleased that she was the bachelorette and that he had hoped she would be the one. Then they kissed, a lot. At that point I was thinking "What do the mothers and grandmothers think of their little boys being on this show? Are they embarassed that their boy is making out with a girl on national tv?" I think my mother and my grandmother would be upset/embarassed if I was doing that.

Then she took Bently aside and talked to him about the texts that she had gotten before the show that were warning her about him. He knew that they were from Michelle and basically told Ashley that Michelle wasn't a reliable source of info and that he is on the same page as Ashley as far as their realtionship goes. Yeah, right. Big jerk. The next morning he packed his bags and went over to Ashley's house where he told her that he had to go home because he missed his daughter too much. In his interview he said that he was going to make her cry, and he hoped his hair looked ok. What is that?? Ashley broke down, cried a lot, and told him that she pictured him being there at the end and that he would be taking part of her heart back to Salt Lake City with him. She isn't sure any more if this whole process is even going to work. How will she have time to heal from Bentley and fall in love with someone else. Give me a break. How can you fall in love with someone in 3 weeks? As Bentley was leaving he said, "Things would have worked out differently if the bachelorette was Emily." He didn't say that to Ashley but he did say it to the camera. I really wonder how Ashley feels as she's watching this along with the rest of the nation. I wonder if her feelings for him changed. If she's hurt. Mad. Sad. What does she feel. My mom's latest People magazine says that Ashley feels betrayed. Well I would hope so! The jerk tricked you and everyone else on the show. I wonder what his life is like these days.

Then JP got the 3rd date. His date card said "There's no place like home." And they hung out at Ashley's house all night. I love when they have real dates on the show. Like dates that you would actually have in real life. They had a picnic on the living room floor. He asked if she was ok after everything that happened but he didn't push the subject. And then the cuddled in their pj's. And she gave him a rose. I like JP.

During their date I was thinking about how much I miss the begining of the relationship. I really love my future Mr and I love where we are but I miss the begining, I miss learning all about the other person. I miss those first few kisses where you're scared to go for more then just a peck. I loved my first kiss with my future Mr. We had just gone to the Christmas concert that the choir at my college puts on every year and we were saying good bye in the parking lot by my dorm. It was snowing just a little bit and he leaned down to give me just a little peck on the lips. He didn't try to stick his tounge down my throat or grab me any where inappropiatley. I went upstairs and I gushed to my roomie Megan about how I thought he was such a great guy and it was the best first kiss ever! And I know that we'll still have firsts and we'll still get to do new things but there is something so magical about the beining of a relationship and it's something that you never really get back.

In the end, Ashley opted out of the cocktail party and went straight to the rose ceremony. She sent Jeff home even though he took off his mask and revealed who he really is and she sent Chris D home. She kept William and gave him a second chance which I am really excited about.

Maybe I'll get my act together enough tonight to actually watch while it's on tv and then you'll get my thought on the Bachelorette 2 days in a row! Or maybe you won't get it til later in the week when there's a rainy day at camp and I have nothing else to do :)

I hope you're having a great day!
Love, a future Mrs.

Summer?

As things were winding down at church in May I was very much looking forward to summer and to being able to relax a little bit. It hasn't happened yet.

This week we're doing Vacation Bible School at church. The only time I liked doing VBS was when I volunteered to help at my parents church in high school because that was the only time I had nothing to do with planning and it was the only model of VBS that I knew. Then I went away to work at Bible Camp and we did VBS. It wasn't terribly bad if you weren't the lead person on your team for the week. But it was kind of boring to do the same thing over and over. There were weeks that we would do VBS Sun, Mon, Tues at one church then start over and do the exact same thing Wed, Thur, Fri at another church. Talk about exhausting.

Now I have to do it as part of my job at church. Last year was fine becuase I was only here for one night since I had to get meet my 6th and 7th graders at camp. Well this year camp's start date got pushed back a week, I don't know why. But as I bi-product of camp being pushed back, I have to do VBS. I'm frustrated with the way our Christian Ed board chooses to do things. I'm frustrated with the holes in our curriculum (we're re-using one from 6 or 7 years ago). I'm frustrated with parents who are just using us as a babysitting service and aren't backing any of this up at home.

We have one 4 year old boy that comes to VBS. He has been here each night but he spends half of each night in the naughty chair. He's the only one that we've had to put in the naughty chair. He hits other kids, he kicks other kids, he throws things, and he doesn't understand that any of it is wrong. I can't help but wonder what goes on at their house as I'm putting him in the naughty chair, explainging to him why he's in the naughty chair, and making sure that he doesn't get up. It's exhausting.

Last night I found myself wishing that he would've just stayed at home. As soon as I thought that, I felt horrible. Here I am, trying to do God's work, trying to teach these kids Bible stories, and I was wishing that one of them wasn't even here. And he's probably the one that needs it most!

It's easy to talk about Bible stories with the kids who are here every Sunday and who's parents volunteer at church and who read the stories at home. It's alot harder to talk to the ones that don't know anything. But they are the ones that need this. They are the ones that we are doing this for. Now I just need to remember that.

Next week, well really we leave on Sunday so in only a few days I get to go to camp with the 6th and 7th graders from church. That should be a little bit of relaxation for me. But on Monday I'll have to go to my parent's church for an LYO meeting. Then hopefully I'll get to hang out with the future Mr for dinner and stay at my mom and dad's before I go back to camp for the rest of the week. Then I'll bring the kids home on Friday and I will literally turn and burn back to my mom and dad's so that we can go to the lake cabin for the weekend. Yay!! Hopefully it will be nice so we can actually be out on the lake for a while and work on our tans.

This summer might hold some relaxation for me yet...

Love, a future Mrs.

Wedding Wednesday!

185 days to go!

Also known as 6 months and 2 days! Yay!

Wedding dress shopping rounds 2 and 3:

A week after I ordered my first dress we were leaving for Colorado on our family vacation. But the day before we left my mom and I went to Alan Evans to try on the first dress again. And I loved loved loved it. It's MY dress, it was made for ME. But my mom wouldn't let me order it that day. She wanted me to think about it. Now remember, at this point I have not tried on my dress from David's Bridal. I had ordered it but it had not come in yet.

So mom basically put me in time out and made me think about what I really wanted.Which is understandable, I mean a wedding dress is a huge expense. The one from David's Bridal was $500 and one from Alan Evan's was $850 (but no sales tax cuz it's in MN).

We went to Colorado and we had been home for probably 5 days when I got the email from David's Bridal that my dress was in already. Holy crap! It came in so quick. It was suppose to take 2 months and it came in 2 1/2 weeks.

So mom and I went to try it on. I still didn't like it. It wasn't my dress. So they kept it at the store and said that I just needed to know what size b-maid dresses we would need and they could exchange it. Huge sigh of relief. But first they tried to sell me a different dress from there. They wanted to know everything about the dress at Alan Evnas and they brought me 5 dresses that were similar, but none of them were MY dress. They were all nice but not what I wanted. I felt relived that I could exchange my dress for b-maid dress. But I still didn't have a dress.

Until the day after Easter. Mom, Katie, and my Dad went to Moorhead with me to go to Alan Evans. I tried on my dress again. It was perfect. I love it. My Dad likes it too. I didn't think it would matter what my Dad thought about my dress until he told me that I looked beautiful in it. My heart melted. Oh Daddy, you're so sweet :) Then we ordered it. And now we have to wait until Oct for it to come in. Boo.

Alan Evans doesn't let you take pictures until you purchase the dress. So I don't have pictures from the 1st or 2nd time of trying it on, but I do from the third. But you won't see those until after Dec. 10th when the future Mr. sees me in it :)

Other wedding news:

We took our engagement pictures with my bestie/b-maid Tasha on Saturday. It was so much fun. I don't have them yet, but when I do I'll share them.

The rest of my bouncy balls came in for our favors!! Yes, I'm using bouncy balls in our favors. They're each going in a little plastic bag and getting a tag on the top that says "Hope you had a 'ball' at our wedding! Love, Kris and Sarah". Isn't that cute? I'm excited about them, but I'm not excited to make 300 of them.

Hope you're having a great day!

Love, a future Mrs.

So What Wednesday!

Here's what I'm saying So What to this week:

*if I get frustrated when other people don't blog regularly? Don't they know that I like reading their blogs?

*if I get giddy and excited about changing my calendar every month? I love the feeling of having a "blank slate"

*if before I bought my bathroom scale I cringed at the thought of weighing myself? Now it's become part of my morning routine

*if I'm already off track with my Wedding Wednesday schedule? I'm still talking about wedding things, I promise- I won't run out of topics :)

*if I'm hosting my first give away and I hope that it will lure more people to follow my blog? Check out yesterday's post for your chance to win!!

*if I had ice cream twice yesterday (dessert with lunch and after VBS)? Both times it was just one serving and not a whole bowl!

What are you saying So What? to this week?

Head on over to Life After I "Dew" to see what

everyone else is saying So What to.

Love, a future Mrs.

100!!

This is my 100th post! A woo hoo!!

And I don't have anything fun to say :(

I don't have a bachelorette update for you and I didn't do anything really exciting today. We're in the middle of Vacation Bible School at church so we've got 50 kids under the age of 10 here at the church from 5:30-8 at night then we have to clean up after them. It's fun but it's exhausting.

But today is GIVEAWAY DAY!!! I'm making a wire word to give away to one of you! All you have to do is be a follower then leave me a comment on THIS post. All is has to say is the word that you want (6 letter max.).

Good luck!
Love, a future Mrs.

99

This is my 99th post! What?!
That means that tomorrow will be my 100th post! A woo hoo!! And to honor that achievement I am hosting my first give away!!

I'm giving away a "wire word" similar to these:

I made these ones for my office. I also have one that says "dream" in my bedroom.

So think about what word you want then when you come back tomorrow just leave a comment on TOMORROW's post saying what word you would want (6 letter limit).

AND you can get an extra entry just by being a follower! How easy is that?!

thursday.

Sorry about the lame title.

I don't feel good today.

I have a tummy ache (I feel like a 4 year old when I say that) and I didn't sleep well last night. I talked to the future Mr. for a while, we said goodnight a little after 11. I tried to sleep then and I couldn't, I really wanted to know what happend next in the book I was reading. So I picked it back up. Before I knew it, I was done with the book and it was 2 am. Ugh. So I tried to sleep again. But my stomach hurt. I tossed and turned til almost 3. I thought, "Well this is dumb. As long as I'm awake I might as well do something." So I got up, finished packing for this weekend, cleaned up my kitchen, and picked up the garbage in the guest room/craft room. By this time it was 3:30 and I knew I had to go to sleep if I was going to be able to do anything today. So I got back in bed, tried to find the most boring thing on tv hoping it would put me to sleep. I found something boring on PBS and I set my sleep timer for 30 mins. I was still awake when the tv when off. I remember looking at my clock a little after 4 and sometime around 5:30. I don't know if I was really awake or if I was drifting in and out of sleep at that point. But I do know I was sleeping hard when my alarm went off at 8. I hit the snooze button til 8:40. I finally got up, got ready for the day, and packed my last minute things (toothbrush, hair supplies, make-up, bathroom things) and I was out the door and to work by 9:15. Which means I've only been here for an hour and a half. And I can barely keep my eyes open.

In happier news, I am down 10 pounds from when I started Weight Watchers 2 weeks ago. Don't read that wrong- I did NOT lose 10 lbs this past week, I have lost 10 lbs total. A woo-hoo! I don't think I look different yet. Isn't that sad that I don't see a difference as big as 10 lbs? It makes me kind of disgusted that I can't see the difference. But I guess I just have to keep working at it until I do see a difference because the scale sees the difference.

In even happier news, the future Mr and I are taking our engagement pictures on Saturday!! Woo-hoo!! I'm so excited. I packed all of my favorite clothes/the ones that I think I look best in. I had to use my big suitcase. Hopefully the weather is good- we're planning on taking the pictures outside. I'll let you know how it goes.

I hope you're having a great day!

Love, a future Mrs.

Wedding Wednesday!

192 days to go!

Dress shopping round #1

On Saturday March 5th I went dress shopping with my mom, sister, and bestie from high school Tasha. We went to Alan Evans which is a bridal salon in Moorhead, MN. I only tried on 3 dresses there and I was in love with the 2nd dress that I put on. It was beautiful. Then we went and had lunch at a resturante called Ushers (so good! Thanks for introducing it to me Kris J!). After that we had an appointment at David's Bridal in West Fargo. There we met my future Mother In Law,my sister in law to be, and my good friend Lacey. I probably tried on 8 dresses there. Here are some pictures of the highlights for you:

I had a picture of this one before we even got to the store. It was on my list of HAD to try ons. That's our sales girl Ally behind me- isn't she cute? I really liked her. And I really liked this dress. PS- that is my mother's vail that I have on, and it's the one that I'll be wearing on my wedding day- isn't that sweet?

I really like the front of this dress is was lacy and sparkly up on top with cap sleeves and an open back. The back was weird though. It was kind of bunched in the middle and drapped on the sides, it made my backside look large. No good. And it was really itchy. I probably had it on for less then 5 minutes and I was all red when I took it off.

Everyone else really liked this dress, but there was just too much gathering going on for me.

Another angle of the same dress. It's pretty but it wasn't MY dress.

That's my bestie Tasha sitting on the floor with the camera in her hand. I like her.

If the future Mr. and I were having a destination wedding on a beach somewhere this is the dress that I would be wearing. I loved it. But it wouldn't be any good in northern MN in Dec.

For every dress that I liked I made my sister make sure that she could walk and sit next to me since I'll have to walk and sit close to people when I wear the dress for real. She didn't really like that I made her be the boy. Thanks Katie- you're such a good sport :)

And the winner is...

The dress with the bow! It has a matching flower girl dress too! Isn't it cute?!

Then I let my bridesmaids loose on the store. My goal was to get b-maid dresses that day too since 4 of them were able to be there shopping with me. I had an idea of what I wanted for their dresses but I wanted them to have something that they liked and that they were comfortable in. And this is what they found...

They won't all be different colors. They just happen to be these colors in sizes that fit all of them. Tasha is on the far left and she is wearing the actual color. And they will have lime green sashs just under their bust lines. You can kind of see where the dress goes the other way and has a little bunching- that part will be lime green. Yay!

Then my sister is in the pink, then me, then my friend Lacey, and then my sister in law to be Lindsay.

And all of our dresses have pockets. Bonus!

Now, you're probably wondering why this is titled "Wedding dress shopping round #1" and why I'm putting these pictures on here when I don't want the future Mr. to see them.

Well after we left David's Bridal my mom, Tasha, and I went to Applebee's for celebratory drinks and appetizers. They had to talk me into the dress there. Then while I was driving back to my northern town I cried... for most of the drive. I had total buyer's remorse. I looked at pictures on my camera when I got home and all I could think was that I had made a mistake. I honestly didn't like anything about the dress and how it looked on me when I looked at the pictures. So I called my mom and she basically told me that she had already put the dress on her credit card and there was nothing we could do about it now. Then she called back the next morning and told me to call David's Bridal and see if they could put my order on hold for a few days while I thought about it.

They couldn't.

They had already ordered the dress. Ugh. But they did tell me that I could exchange my dress for anything in the store. They couldn't give me my money back but I could use it for the b-maid dresses that hadn't been ordered yet. Sweet.

2 weeks later I got an e-mail from DB that my dress had come in already. So mom and I went in and tired it on. I still didn't like it. That's when we decided that we'd use the money we orignially spent on that dress for b-maid dresses and that we needed to go back to Alan Evans and try on the other one again...

More on that next week :)

Love, a future Mrs.

So What Wednesday!

Here's what I'm saying "So What" to this week:

*if it really doesn't feel like Wednesday today. With having Monday off and having our staff meeting today (which normally happens on Tues) and I'm not going to be at work on Friday. I have no idea what day it is.

*if I hadn't given this list any thought until I sat down to write it

*if other then getting the shelves in the closet for my craft room, I have made no progress on getting the room done

*if the future Mr and I are taking engagement pictures on Saturday and I don't really know what we should wear

*if I have 5 weekends in a row of wedding stuff for other people this summer and I'm not really looking forward to it. I mean really? 4 weddings and a bachelorette party in 5 weeks. All of my weekends in July are shot (and one in June!).

*if we're only going to make it to the lake 2 or 3 times this summer. Ok, this really isn't a "so what" I'm actually really bummed about this. My parents have a lake house and I'm hardley going to get to enjoy it at all!!

What are you saying "So What" to this week?

Head on over to Life After I "Dew" to see what

everyone else is saying "So What" to!

Love, a future Mrs.