Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the south! While the rest of the world is being blanketed with snow, our one Christmas wish did not come true :( Instead of snow, Phil and I celebrated Christmas with 70 degree weather. But, we still had a lot to be thankful for, so we can't complain.

We had a lot of fun decorating our little apartment and for what we have, the house looks pretty cute. It helps that Phil has a smaller tree, so it fit nicely in between our fireplace and TV. We put up lights in our windows, put Christmas cards from friends and family on the unofficial Christmas wall, and Phil helped me decorate my first gingerbread house! We took the easy way out and got a pre-cut house, but I think we did a great job with decorating it!

As for the holiday, Phil unfortunately had to work this whole week, but we figured this was a time to start new traditions. Christmas Eve, Phil was at work, so I attended our church's service (since the congregation is only about 40 people, there is only one service), then waited for Phil to come home from work so we could open one present (I was the little kid that was waiting by the tree the minute he stepped through the door)! We made apple cider, opened one present each and then headed to bed (with visions of sugar plums in our heads)!

Christmas morning, we got up, opened the rest of the presents, ate Monkey Bread, then headed to a new church to attend their Christmas service. After church, it was back home to get into sweats and play with our new toys! Phil played his new Tiger Woods game for playstation while I camped out at the kitchen table and scrapbooked. Ah the life!

As for the rest of this week, Phil is finally on his Friday, so he is looking forward to his weekend. My parents are coming tomorrow (!!!!!), so today I will prepare (and anxiously await) their arrival.

We hope everyone had a safe and blessed Christmas! We'll post soon with our adventures of New Year's!

Wishing and hoping for snow

A lot of you may be wanting to strangle us for that title, but Phil and I have been bit by the snow bug and unfortunately, there is nowhere to go. Although, according to the weather forcast, we're supposed to hit temperatures in the teens tonight with a high of 32 tomorrow, so maybe we'll get to see flurries :)

As a side note, for those of you that recieved our Christmas letter, we obviously were not in the right state of mind and we stated that our 2009 was a busy wedding-planning season. No, we are not planning on getting married again (although another honeymoon would be okay with us). So, spread the news: Texas has brainwashed us and we don't even know what year we're living in :)

In other news, I am rejoicing because I am officially on winter break! I can't brag too much as Phil is on another 9-day stretch at work. Today, he is 3 days into it, so when December 27 rolls around, he will be all smiles as he does not have to report for duty at the airport for a few days. We still don't know what we have planned for our Christmas festivities. I think we'll do a Christmas brunch (since Phil works the evenings of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day), but I guess this is the time to start new traditions, so we're trying to plan things out. My parents are coming in one week and I am anxiously counting down the days until their arrival!

The past few weeks have been full of decorating, writing (and messing up) our first Christmas letter, wrapping presents, shipping packages (we have officially kept the postal service in business), listening to Christmas music and just getting in the spirit of everything. Oh, and of course, I am sick once again. I cannot wait until my body is used to Texas and school germs. This time around, it was a cough, headache and severe ear infection. Once again, I went to the doctor and got put on multiple medications. The cough and other aches are gone, but I still have difficulty hearing out of my ear and there is still some pain. The deafness has worked to my advantage in some ways since the kids were very excited for Christmas, so instead of talking, they thought yelling screaming everything was the way to go. If it was loud for me, I knew it was blaring for everyone else.

We also celebrated my entrance to the quarter-century club this week. We are now a household of 25 year-olds (that act like 10 year-olds sometimes)! Phil just laughs when he sees how excited I get for my special day. Here I am with my new bike that he got for me. I guess I don't have any more excuses to not train for triathlons :) Thank you everyone for your warm wishes, thoughts and calls!

We hope everyone is having a blessed holiday season. Hopefully you all should be getting our cards in the mail soon (we're still addressing some, but they'll get out-- don't worry)! Merry Christmas and have a safe and happy new year!

'Tis the season

We made it through Thanksgiving and now we're heading into the time for Christmas! This is my favorite time of the year and Phil is quickly figuring out that I am a child at heart. Everything is so exciting during this time and I am anxious for all the Christmas has in store-- from the beautiful decorations around town to the wonderful church events to the fantastic songs that everyone just can't help but sing along with. I love it all!
The first picture is of us after we completed all the cooking for our first Thanksgiving feast! We were too tired and exhausted to change out of our sweats, so we just ate as we were. So, not the most romantic or beautiful scene, but we were so impressed that we were able to cook everything and get everything done, I guess we didn't care what we looked like! We had the full feast of turkey, mashed potatoes (not out of a box!), green bean casserole, bread (homemade!), gravy, stuffing, cookie salad, pumkin pie and cinnamon ice cream (from our amazing ice cream maker). Whew! Yes, we had leftovers as lunch and dinner for a couple of days after.

To keep the Thanksgiving traditions rolling, Phil and I got up and went shopping on Black Friday at 6am! We were one of the first ones at Target and we loaded up on the things we needed then headed over to Kohl's, where Phil was an amazing husband and went straight to the back of the line so I could shop and not have to worry about waiting. Unfortunately, our Kohl's was not prepared for the events of the day, and while the line wasn't that long, we ended up waiting for 56 minutes. Ouch. But, after dropping our items at home, we left the car and walked to the mall to finish up with things (the mall is about 1/4 mile from our house). It was great to walk in the fresh air and even better that we didn't have to deal with the mess of parking. After the morning events, we came home, decorated the tree and the house, and I started wrapping presents-- yes, I couldn't wait.
As for now, we've stayed busy with random activities with our church, co-workers and just each other. Phil and I laugh sometimes because we know we were meant to be together. One night last week, we realized that we had not set up the tent that we got for our wedding, so we just set it up in our living room and had a camp out. It's so fun to have those random adventures and to have someone that loves to do them as much as you. If we had snow here, I'm sure we'd be the couple that goes out to sled down the hill with the little kids.
Hopefully everyone else is having a blessed holiday season. We got our Christmas cards ordered, the house is decorated, and I'm getting ready to start my baking spree of the season, so Christmas is all around!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!

We are so thankful for the love and friendship of everyone and we are so blessed to have been given so much to be thankful for. We hope that God has blessed each one of you as much as he has blessed us.

As for our Thanksgiving, today Phil is completing his 9-day stretch of work, so for our afternoon (he will be home about 4p), we are having some of his co-workers over for some appetizers, adult beverages and of course, watching the football games (Phil says that he roots for anyone that plays against the Cowboys!) and just having a relaxing evening. Tomorrow, we will have our real feast of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberries, bread, green bean casserole, cookie salad and pumkin pie. Yes, it is only the two of us and yes, we will be eating leftovers until we are green in the face :) I'm sure we will have stories and many memories to share of our first thanksgiving, our first big meal to cook and our first Black Friday shopping experience!

Last year in Midland, the town was 'covered' with a little over an inch of snow, but with the high around 65 today, I don't think we'll get anything but sunshine. I'm hoping the snow is just building power and we'll have a few inches of snow for Christmas (but not much later because I want my mom and dad to be able to drive down here on the 28th)!

Once again, happy turkey day to one and all and may you have much food to fill your stomach and many blessings to fill your heart!

time is flying by

Now that Phil and I are 'grown-up adults,' we can't believe how quickly time is passing us by! It seems like we just got married and moved down here a few weeks ago and when we realize that we've been in our apartment for 2 months, we can't believe it. It has been such a great experience thus far and we are so blessed with all of the opportunities and adventures that have come our way. While we are beginning to miss winter and real cold weather (down here, people don't know what to do when the temperature goes below 50), but we're both holding out hope that we'll be able to experience a white Christmas :)
Phil hit a milestone this week as he celebrated his one year anniversary with the City of Midland. He's been very busy at work and this week, he was the lucky guy to go in three hours before his shift to help oversee the construction project that was taking place during the nights. Both of us were very glad that he only had to get up a few mornings at 3am in order to make it there in time. Another thing that we're thankful of is that he is back to the day shift, so for the first time since I started working, we are both home around the same time in the afternoon, which means that we actually get to see each other when both of us are awake! This week, he's working a grueling 9-day stretch, so I don't think he'll be too happy when I drag him out of bed on his first day off (Black Friday). All in the name of love, I guess!
I also can't believe that I have finished my first four weeks at the school. There have been so many emotional rollercoasters during that time, but I think I am finally getting the hang of it all and the kids are getting used to my presence in the classroom. The only downfall is that since they are getting more attached to me, I am getting attacked by their germs. I finally am starting to feel better after battling multiple symptoms for the past 3 weeks. But, now that I'm almost in the clear, Phil has finally been attacked. I think we'll be sharing germs and diseases for the next year. I have to say that the best part of working with the kids is hearing the nicknames that they come up with. I thought that it would be easier for them to have 'Mrs. Tiedeman' instead of 'Ms. Chmielewski,' but they have proved me wrong. One of the little boys couldn't pronounce my name correctly after trying a few times to say it, so he just decided to call me 'Mrs. Cinnamon!' Well, the other kids have started to hear him call me that, so they put together cinnmamon and toast, so one student introducted me to his mom as 'Mrs. Toaster.' Oh goodness! Needless to say, I think I'll be letting them call me 'Mrs. Katie' when we return from Thanksgiving break :)
Everything else is also falling into place. We've found a church that we both enjoy and while it's a little bit smaller than we had hoped (congregation is about 40 people), we think it will provide us with an opportunity to get to know people on a more personal basis and we'll be able to provide a younger person's perspective (the majority of the congregation is middle-aged). The other night, we went out with a few friends and enjoyed (well, at least watched) the Odessa Jackalopes hockey game. Hockey down south just isn't the same as up north! But, it was fun to be back in an ice arena, so I think we'll be going to more games in the future.
Hope you all have a great Thanksgiving!

So much has happened since the last time that I wrote, I don't even know where to start! First off, I am finally employed! I know that being a Domestic Diva and CEO of Tiedeman Family was tough work, but I think the hubby and I would agree that being out in the community with people has done wonders for me! The best wonder of all is finding out that my immune system is not used to children or Texas germs. Yes, after being in the classroom for one week, I officially had a cough and here we are another week later, and I have a full-blown cold :( I am trying to fight through it, so hopefully by Monday, I will be super-charged and ready to go! The picture of me is after my first day of school :)

The next exciting thing is that Phil and I finally got to celebrate a holiday together! Yes, we know that Halloween isn't the most special or significant holiday, but when you've been dating someone for almost four years and you can count on one hand how many holidays you were together for, you get really excited about the small things. Unfortunately Phil had to work until late on Halloween night, but we still carved a pumpkin (there's Phil revealing what's inside our pumpkin), decorated and got some candy (wishful thinking that we would have little kids come trick-or-treat). Halloween night, we went to a party with a few friends (Phil came to that party after he got off work) and it was a great evening with a lot of fun decorations and costumes (I was a rag doll and Phil was a tourist).

After all of the Halloween festivities, we got to celebrate Phil's birthday! He has now entered the 'quarter-century' club and as of right now, nothing much has changed! He had to work the evening shift on his birthday, so I headed out to the airport to have dinner and birthday pie with him. Now we are taking a little breath before Thanksgiving and Black Friday activities (yes, I am dragging him out of bed in the early morning of Friday the 28th to do some shopping)! I mean, is there a better time than 6am and with a crowd of people to point out what I want for my birthday and Christmas?!? I'm sure we'll survive and I probably won't get him out of bed too early... at least by my standards :)

As for now, I plan on taking it easy for the rest of the weekend. Hopefully my immune system will bulk back up and I'll be ready to take on the kids for two more weeks (then, it's a week off for Thanksgiving Break)! I love school!

At last!

At last... I finally have my 'all-clear' to start work! After many days of waiting, numerous phone calls and filling out paperwork, I am set to work in the classroom on Monday. Oh happiness! I'm just excited to start this new adventure and to get out of the house (I'm sure Phil is ready to have me out of the house as well)! I will be working in a Special Education classroom with 13 students. There is one teacher and four aides (including me), so I'm not exactly sure what my duties are or how many students I will be assisting. It will be a new experience for me, as I have not dealt with students in the classroom before (only outside the classroom participating in recreation activities). But, I know that while some days I will be super tired, I will be able to come out of this job with a lot of experience and many stories.
Phil is ready to have a second income to the family and to finally be able to have the house to himself for bits and pieces. We will have to work with mixing schedules for the first few weeks (I will be 7:30a-4p Monday through Friday and Phil will be 3p-11p Tuesday through Saturday). I'm sure we will be able to make it work. I mean, we're finally in the same city, so now we won't have to deal with time zones, cell phones and random other messes.
As for other details, our house is decorated and ready for Halloween. We're not sure how we'll celebrate the day, as Phil works late, but I'm hoping that a lot of cute youngsters come to the door to show of their costumes and take away the candy that I'm sure I'll be eating :)
We successfully had our first house guest this past week. Phil's high school friend, Ross, was in town for an oil show, so he stayed at our house for a few days. Ross and I were able to go to the airport a few nights to have dinner with Phil (otherwise Ross would not have been able to see a lot of Phil) and then we spent the rest of the time hanging out at the house and driving around Midland. If anyone else is in town, we would love to have you (it got Phil and I into house decorating/improvement completion mode, but I know I could always find more projects for his honey-do list)!

Settlin' into our home

We continue to settle into our new home and get used to being near to one another for more than a few days at a time. So far, no major problems or injuires have happened, so I would say that we're doing okay :)

As for other details, Phil continues to stay busy at work while I continue to perfect my Domestic Diva skills. I have enjoyed using the new kitchen utensils and accessories to mix, bake, stir, whip and cook a lot of new recipes. We've also stayed busy with trips to Home Depot, Target, and Wal-Mart to continue the quest of making this apartment our home.

I did have an exciting week last week as I interviewed for a position in the Special Education classroom at an elementary school. The day after the interview, they offered me the position (thank goodness)! Unfortunately, there has been a lot of confusion with my paperwork, so while they thought I would be in the classroom this past week, I continue to wait for everything to get put in place. Cross your fingers that I'll be a working woman by the end of next week.

In the meantime, I've been perfecting my skills around the house. The biggest accomplishment thus far has been putting together some shelves to go over our fireplace (I'm pretty good with a drill, if I say so myself). We're still putting together our house, but for our first place, it suites us very well (although more kitchen space would be nice...). I also have started swimming with a Master's swim team, as well as volunteering with Special Olympics swimming. It's such a joy to be helping out with a program that serves the population that is so near and dear to my heart. There's only 5 swimmers right now, but each of them has such a great personality and attitude, so I'm loving the 90 minutes that I get to spend with them each week.

Other excitement to the Midland area was that President Bush made a trip here for a fundraiser. Phil was able to go out on the runway and be one of the main people representing the airport. President Bush was here for about 3 hours, but the week leading up to it, Phil was pretty busy talking with Secret Service and other personnel. Being the celebrity that I am at the airport (I am Mrs. Tiedeman, after all!), I was able to go up to the Operations office and see Air Force One land.

Hopefully the next time I write, I will have made a successful transition from Domestic Diva to an employee of the Midland School District :)

Top Ten Countdown

Phil and I were watching our wedding video yesterday and I asked him what he would always remember from that day. He listed a few memories and then I listed mine, and we thought that we would share our 'Top Ten' list with everyone, since a lot of people didn't get to experience all of the action and activities that went into 'Wedding Week 2008.'

Our Favorite Memories:

• Party Bus (the bridal party rode in a 14-person shuttle bus from the ceremony to outdoor pictures to the reception. All we can say is that our bridal party rules at Karaoke-- especially 'We Are the Champions').



• Speeches at the reception (Cousin Ben, Joel, Kari and Tom did a wonderful and amazing job).

• Joel having WAY too much fun with the dollar dance (we think he enjoyed dancing with everyone in Phil's line a lot more than he should have)!



• Sparklers (Katie didn't want bubbles or rice to be thrown for some pictures, so when she saw a picture of a wedding in which the couple walked under sparklers, she was sold). The bridal party held them over our heads as we walked under the line of brightness. Then, they had a competition to see which person's sparkler would last the longest-- nice job Tommy Chimo.
  


• The facial expressions on our bridal party's faces during the ceremony (everything from Kari's extreme and wonderful smile to Kayley's blank stare into space to Tommy's frown/smile magical act).



• Our ring bearers walking up the aisle and then getting a piece of candy from Joel (yes, our groomsmen asked if they could get a piece after they walked down the aisle as well).


• The parent dance (God bless the polka)!


• Joel using the bushes as a restroom during outdoor pictures (and Cousin Ben capturing it on Eric's camera).


• Elise (Phil's cousin) singing the Oscar Meyer Weiner song during the reception (in order for Phil and I to kiss, someone had to sing a song with the word 'love' or 'kiss' in it). Missy commented that Elise should get bonus points for singing a song at a reception with the word 'weiner' in it.


• Cousin Ben commenting that everyone had sat down before the head table during dinner time (it was verbally caught on our wedding video).

Phil's other favorites include: taking off the garter, seeing Katie walk down the aisle, and our first dance.

Katie's favorites: Daddy/Daughter Dance, having Hudson assist me with opening up my presents at my bachelorette party (Hudson: 'what's that?' Katie: 'Um, my pajamas?'), and seeing our bridal party camped out on Grandma Katie's living room floor putting together our wedding favors (Rachel: 'This is not acceptable. We can do better than that.')

And so many more! Those were just the ones that will always and forever make us smile when we remember them. Of course, the more serious ones of seeing our friends and family come together to help us celebrate is the greatest one of all :)

Life in TX

We're finally getting settled into our new home! After our drive from CO, we got here late Sunday night, unpacked everything and then tried to decide where things should go. Phil had Monday off of work, so we spent the day buying food, appliances, cleaning products and other day-to-day items that we will need. Tuesday morning I began the process of turning into Katie Tiedeman, but was quickly stopped by the state of Texas because in order to get a license, I have to have my actual social security card with my new name (I thought a receipt was good enough). So, I'll play the waiting game and anxiously look for my new card in the mail. Phil was the lucky one who got to go back to work and work a 7-day straight work week. While he's the productive one of the family, I stay at home and continue to problem solve ways to magically make our apartment bigger, or at least have more storage space :) I have applied for a few jobs, so once again, the waiting game continues.
I was able to skip town and head to Albuquerque to see my mom for a few hours. Phil and I had taken her van down to TX (since my little Civic really wouldn't hold that much), and as much as I love the storage options, I love my car a little more, so long story short, my mom was in Albuquerque for the week attending a nursing conference. Since it's only a 7 hour drive from Midland, it was a perfect place to meet and switch cars.
On another random note, since becoming Katie and Phil Tiedeman, we were asked to be Phil's nephew's baptismal sponsor. Declan (his nephew) was born at the end of June and Phil's sister Emily asked if we would be his sponsors!
That's pretty much been the only excitement happening in our lives recently. Since my job title for the week is 'Domestic Diva,' I'll be sure to post more details each week.

Lots of love,
The Tiedeman's

Wedding pictures

We're finally back from our honeymoon and we're getting geared up for our move to Texas, but I thought I would post some pictures of the wedding.More information, details of our new life as husband and wife and the other random tidbits to come from Texas!

Showers of Happiness

It's finally down to one month until we are officially Phil and Katie Tiedeman! While I know that day will be beautiful and full of happiness, it's the steps that will get us to that day that are a little bit hectic and frustrating. But I suppose it takes a little bit of work in order to achieve a lifetime of happiness :)

This past weekend was a bridal shower here in the Springs. It was co-hosted by one of my bridesmaids, Sarah, and my mom. We had about 20 ladies (plus Baby Ian) here to help celebrate and it was such a great afternoon to sit and chat and catch up with everyone! One of the best parts of the day was seeing one of my old girlfriends, Jamie, whom I grew up swimming with on the club swim team. Unfortunately, the day was extremely hot and we don't have air conditioning in our house, but the three fans that we had going did an okay job at keeping things on the cool side (the downpour of rain also helped)!

One of the best parts of the day as well was when Sarah arrived with the cake. (Yes, I know that I love cake, but that's not the reason why it was the best part). She had picked it up from the store and the inscription read 'Congratulations Katie and Pil.' I guess they forgot to add the 'h' to Phil's name :) So, we had a good chuckle about that. Here I thought the only confusion with names was going to be spelling out my last name (Chmielewski) when I am changing last names after the wedding!

As for other details in our life, we're taking each day as it comes. I am preparing for my 10K swim on Sunday, so please pray that I make it out of the lake alive! I'm also trying to find motivation to start packing up some of my stuff so I can head down to Texas in a few weeks. Phil has been doing great keeping up with his 'honey-do' list. He booked our honeymoon tickets (to Jamaica!) and has arranged/signed/made the first payments for our first apartment. I think both of us are just ready to be done with this distance relationship and all of the planning through the phone, so we are definitely counting down the days!

on the road to happiness

There is so much to catch up on in the past few weeks!

As wedding plans continue to drop into place and we continue to battle the distance (both with our relationship having 1000 miles between it and the wedding/reception site being 1000 miles away from Katie), we battle with the elements and are finding ways to prevail :)

The only battle/rough patches that we have encountered thus far is Katie's bridesmaid dresses being ordered too large for each of the girls. Apparently, the boutique failed to inform the bride, as well as the bridesmaids, that they should order a size smaller than what the designer intended. So, each bridesmaid had the wonderful task of rushing to find alteration places that can fix the dress in less than 6 weeks. I figure if that is the worst of the planning, I'll take it!

On a much more positive note, Phil was able to come to Colorado and have some face-to-face interactions with Katie. He flew in on a Friday evening and left on the following Tuesday morning, but it feels like we accomplished enough items/activities that it felt like he was here for weeks! We were able to have dinner with some of Katie's friends, hit up a baseball game, take engagement pictures, drive to the top of Pikes Peak, pick out Phil's ring, talk about honeymoon destinations, discuss apartments to live at beginning in September, and Phil was even able to come to the summer camp where Katie is a director! Whew!!

As of right now, the next time we will see each other will be in mid-August when I move more of my things down to Texas. It will be a few days there finishing up plans and possibly moving our things into a new apartment, then it will be a few more days apart until we see each other in Minnesota for the wedding!

We are both very excited to see everyone at the wedding and have all of our friends and families near us to help celebrate our special day. We are very anxious to stop this long-distance relationship and finally be in the same city :)

Until the big day however, Katie will finish up with her wonderful job in Colorado Springs. Her last day of work will be August 22 and then she will spend a week getting things put together before heading up to MN. To help de-stress, she continues to train for her open-water swims. This Sunday is her 3K race and August 10 is her 10K race. Phil remains busy at the airport and dealing with all of the lovely people in Texas. He also has been busy making arrangements for the honeymoon and looking for new apartments for Katie and him to live in. Only 43 days left until the big day!

Summer Fun

I've decided that since things are getting very interesting in my life, I figure this is the best way to share the details with you all. While some entries (like the last one) may be long and full of details, others (probably this one), will just have updates and pictures that show what my life is like these days!

On Memorial Day, Tom, Bob and I ran the 30th BolderBoulder 10K race in Boulder, CO. Last year was the first time for me (the whole family walked it), but this year I decided to take the plunge and run. Mind you, I've never ran more than a 5K, so this was a big step for me :) All in all, it was such a great event and I highly encourage everyone to do the BB at least once. While the weather wasn't the greatest, I enjoyed having low/mid-50 degree weather so at least I could cool off some during the race. The three of us stayed together and I was the pace leader (since I was the least experienced with running and the most nervous for the race). We started out nice and slow but got faster and ended up finishing in 1:06. Not the greatest, but not too shabby either!

Other than that, life is getting hectic with summer camp, wedding stuff and random other details. I'm hoping that I'm not turning into a Bridezilla, but you'll have to ask my family (and Phil) if that answer is true :)

Long time!

Yes, I realize that at the beginning of this project, I stated that I would try to be good at keeping dibs on what is going on in the life of us, but as you can see, I have kind of taken a month absence. But, I am back and ready to rock out (so be prepared for a long entry)!

To catch up, wedding plans are continuing and to tell the truth, things really are going great (knock on wood)! Phil has ordered the tuxes, the guys are getting their orders in, our marriage license arrived, our invites are at my house, we are continuing with our modified marriage counseling and we both are slowly putting together the puzzle of getting married. We did hit a milestone in our marriage prep this past week-- we are now officially down to double digits for the wedding day countdown! It makes Phil and I so excited to know that in 4 months, we will be in Texas, settling into our new apartment and starting our lives as Mrs. and Mr. Chmielewski (oh, I mean Mr. and Mrs. Tiedeman)!

At the beginning of May, after many discussions with relatives and some days of planning, we decided to have a bridal shower in Minnesota. After thinking about it some more, we thought that since we were so close to Iowa, we should plan on having a shower there as well. Once details were organized, my mom and I headed out! Basically, this is what the weekend consisted of: 70 hours for our total trip, 30 hours of driving, 2 showers and one car packed to the brim! I had to work late on Thursday night, so after I got home, my mom and I got into our comfy driving clothes, and proceeded to drive all night! Crazy-- yes we were :) We got to Rochester about noon on Friday and later that night, I met up with one of my childhood friends (that lives in Rochester) to hang out for a few hours. The next morning, my aunt (and godmother) hosted the first shower from 10:30am-1pm. After everyone left, we helped clean up some things, finished packing the car, and drove to George, Iowa for the second shower. That one was from 7-9pm at the church that Phil attended as a child, so it was a great time to meet all of Phil's relatives and friends. After the shower, my mom and I headed to the Tiedeman's house to crash and then drove back to CO at 7:30am! Whew!

Other than wedding stuff, life continues to roll. Phil is staying busy with his job as they are starting to hire employees to fill some positions. And of course, he is staying busy doing all of his 'honey-do' lists that I am starting to assign :) I am in the middle of preparing for summer camp and this will definitely be a summer of learning (both in the educational sense, as well as the emotional sense-- please help me find patience)! I am very excited to return as a director of a summer camp for teens with disabilities as I know it will be full of laughter, smiles, frustrations, fun, emotions and whatever else :)

And the train keeps rolling...

Things keep on progressing and it really feels like everything is falling in place! I know we still have a lot to do on our 'to do list,' but I feel really comfortable with where we are right now. Phil has picked out the tuxes for himself and the groomsmen, I have ordered my bridesmaid dresses, I already have my dress and we have been looking at MOB (Mother of the Bride) dresses for a few weeks, so if nothing else, everyone will look fantastic!
I've been keeping busy in the Springs with my different training programs. It's great to have something to look forward to in the next few months to not only keep my mind off of things, but it's a great stress-reliever when things get a little frustrating. I am planning on completing my first 10K run on Memorial Day and then I figured it was the year of 10K's, so I signed up to swim a 10K in August. I'm not sure what I've gotten myself into, but it's been fun thus far and I know both activities will have a lot of great memories.
Phil has stayed busy with completing his (hopefully) last month of midnight shifts at the airport. They've been going through some changes and are hoping to hire more people in the next few weeks, so then Phil gets to give away his 'low-man on the totem pole' position to someone else :) As of right now, the next time we will see each other is at his cousin Sara's wedding at the end of June, but we're both hoping to squeeze in a visit before then!
I'm getting excited to meet and talk with my soon to be extended family, and my current family, at the showers next weekend. My mom and I are going to drive to Rochester, MN on Thursday night to be there for a shower on Saturday morning before driving to George, Iowa to have another shower there on Saturday evening. Then, we'll head back to CO on Sunday morning. Whew! We are hoping that everything goes well (traveling, road conditions, weather, etc.), so keep us in your prayers for the weekend of May 2-4.
That's about it for now. Hopefully the weather where you all are is as wonderful as it is here!

and the wedding bus continues to roll...

This past weekend was a success, if I must say so myself :) I was able to travel down to the dry city of Midland and spend a few (much needed) days with Phil. I left after a program on Thursday afternoon and arrived in Midland around 11pm, which is right in time for Phil to start his shift at the airport (he's been on the midnight shift for the past couple of months). I was able to meet some of his co-workers, grab the keys to his house and convince myself that I only had to drive another 20 minutes before I could fall asleep. The drive down there only takes about 9ish hours, but I was definitely ready for sleep :) The next day, I nicely threw Phil off of his typical sleeping schedule and allowed him to sleep for about 4 hours before waking him to go and register (by the way, he's camp-champ for the weekend). We headed to Bed, Bath and Beyond (the picture is of Phil holding the high and mighty registering gun!) and proceeded to have fun! After about an hour, Phil headed back to bed for a little rest while I explored Midland and potential job sites with a new friend that I had met online. Saturday was more wedding planning (invitations, tuxedo potentials, rings, etc) and a little bit more registering. Later that night we were able to go out to dinner with a few of his co-workers and then spend an evening just relaxing. Sunday we tried out a new church then headed back to Phil's so he could get a nap before returning to work later that night (he had Friday and Saturday nights off). After he left for work, it was bedtime for me as I was heading back to the Springs on Monday morning. When he got home Monday morning, I was packed up and ready to leave. Of course, the good-byes are always tough, but we know that the end is in sight and we are both counting down the days until we can both live and stay in the same city. After almost two years of doing the long-distance, the light at the end of the tunnel continues to grow brighter each and every day.

Was going through some old photos of us and I ran across these cute ones! Thought I would share them with the rest of you!

The one of us that is an extreme close-up is from the OAR concert in Grand Forks. The one where we have little bees on our shirts is from Phil's trip to CO and our dinner at the Golden Bee restaurant. And the picture that we are dressed up is from Phil's graduation in May 2007.

First try...

So here goes with my first try at this! With all the excitement happening these days, I thought this would be the best way to keep you all updated! I know I'm not the best of writing frequently, but I'll try my best and we'll see what happens.
First off, things are moving along with the wedding details. Phil and I registered last night with some basic items at Target, so our list is finally being put together. I think all of us (Phil, myself and especially my mom) have qualified for sainthood because of the situation that we went through in order to register. My mom and I went to a Target in Colorado Springs while Phil went to a Target in Midland. While on the cell phone, we walked up and down the aisles debating items, colors and whatever else we may possibly need in our new life. It was pretty interesting to see my mom on the phone with Phil while I am pointing out things and trying to describe them to Phil, who is desperately trying to find them at his Target. Needless to say, after about 40 items and 90 minutes of doing that, we were spent for the night!
I will try to write at least once a week with details and random thoughts. Hopefully I can keep this site updated, as well as our true wedding website (on theknot.com).
Hope everyone is well and we'll blog soon!