Invitations

Good news! After about a month of cutting, gluing, measuring, remeasuring, printing, stamping, and stuffing envelopes; we are finally done with the invitations and they went out yesterday! That doesn't even count the months before hand where we dealt with the design. With help from our friend Keith we came up with the main tree design and then went from there. I am so happy with how they turned out! keep and eye out for yours in the mail.
-Rachel

Weekend in Ohio for Bridal shower and several other things

Hello everyone! Sorry I've been ignoring this, now I have a whole lot to update about! This past weekend I got to fly back to Ohio for several things including my bridal shower, which was a blast! For those of you that know how my weekend trips back to Ohio go, this schedule will be of no surprise to you but here's a quick rundown of what happened: Arrived in Columbus Friday afternoon immediately went to Easton to go shopping for my bridesmaids dress for my friend Amanda's wedding (and also to shop for her bridesmaids dress for my wedding) then came back to my parents house to meet up with the rest of my bridesmaids to prep flowers and food for the bridal shower the next day. Saturday we prepped all morning, then had the bridal shower, then went to my wedding dress fitting (sorry, while there are pictures none of them will be up here so that it will be a surprise for Andy on our wedding day), then went out to Funnybone with Amanda, Katie, and Sara (some of my bridesmaids). Sunday I spent basically the whole day with my friend Jane and her family, going to her graduation from OSU and her graduation party. Monday I cleaned, packed, and spent a little time with my mom before heading back to the airport and Colorado!

Whew.... Yeah, I do tend to try and cram in as much as is physically possible and I don't sleep a whole lot when I come back into town but it was a great trip, for those of you who I got to see- it was great to catch up even for a few moments and for those of you I missed, I'll be back again in July. Anyway, here are some pictures from the weekend.

Jane (one of my bridesmaids and good friend from high school) works on putting together the flowers for my shower. We decided to do a test run of the flowers I wanted for Andy and I's wedding at the shower because we are going to be ordering our flowers from two wholesalers and then putting the arrangements together ourselves with lots and lots of help from Jane and Andy's Grandma.


We only ordered some of the large main flowers that we're planning on using for the wedding but some of the things we're going to have are: Sunflowers both red and yellow, Gerbera Daisys, Dahlias, Roses, Spider Mums, Calla Lilies, and greens


Sara doing a lot of prep in my parents kitchen for the bridal shower. Sara came up with the menu and coordinated making all the foods we had, she's basically superwoman. We had several different kinds of tea and foods from around the world that different people eat at tea time.

One side of the room during the bridal shower. My bridesmaids really did a wonderful job putting the shower together for me, and it was great to have it at Deer Haven Preserve.


One of the games that my little sister/Maid of Honor Anna came up with for the guests to play was a game where we broke off into groups and make a wedding gown out of toilet paper.

Me opening presents with all my guests. I would just like to say a huge thank you to everyone. Andy and I received such amazing presents from you all, so much more than we expected and we're so excited to start using them around the house.

Me and my wonderful bridesmaids after the shower at Deer Haven Preserve.

Experiments in Cooking and home improvement

Hello Everyone! Sorry it's been so long since my last post- I actually forgot my password for about two months so I have finally figured it out and I'm back! Anyway, we've done a ton which I'd like to post about including some wedding stuff and Christmas and New Years with family and friends in Ohio... but we'll start with something a little more recent. Last night's dinner.

Recently, I've been getting into cooking. Finding recipies online, in different cookbooks and from friends and I want to share with you one that Andy and I love! last night was the second night we made it: Stuffed Pizza Rolls! We call them Pizza Poppers. (I found the recipe online here: http://www.ourbestbites.com/2009/06/stuffed-pizza-rolls.html) Here are some pictures from making them: This time we used turkey pepperoni, mushrooms, two kinds of green pepper, jalapenos, and of course mozerella cheese!

Finished Pizza poppers (topped with italian seasonings, garlic powder, and parm)




Andy putting the filling on the Pizza dough


mmmmmmm YUMMY!

Our next brilliant plan was thought of while we were looking at bananas at WalMart: Fruit Poppers for Desert! so we got some bananas and strawberrys to use as filler and some fruit dip to dunk it in afterwards!




Andy carmalizing the fruit (frying it up with butter and rum then lighting it on fire = Lots and Lots of fun)


hot fruit poppers right out of the oven (that's cinnimon on the top)


Finished fruit popper topped with fruit dip and nutella

What do you think? We loved them!

In other news we were doing some gardening and home improvements around the house. Andy wanted a new showerhead so we got one at Home Depot (thanks for the gift cart!)


Old shower head



New Shower head!

And here's our new little garden:




More later! We hope you are all doing well!

The Ring!

My mom along with a few others have been bugging me to put a close up picture of my ring up here... so finally here it is!

Andy did a wonderful job picking it out. (He did it all by himself) I wanted it to be a complete surprise, I did give him hints, like that I like round diamonds versus other shapes, and that I wanted it to be a conflict free diamond, but he did go shopping all by himself. It worked, I LOVE my ring!

Fall... Winter....Fall.... Win... oh whatever this season is

Wow, there have been so many things happening for us lately and I just haven’t had time to write about it so here’s some updates!

First off, with the wedding, we have a pastor to officiate! We asked my friend and former pastor, Russ Ham. He was the pastor at Rural Chapel United Methodist Church while I was in high school and some of college, and is a great mentor and friend! I am so excited that he is going to officiate at our wedding!

Second, we have picked our caterer! A very important choice for us to make- and one that we’re very happy with – Nicole’s Catering (based in Westerville) You may ask how we were able to pick a caterer while living hundreds of miles away from Columbus, the answer is we are very lucky to have a ton of friends and family members who are pitching in to help us plan. My mom, my mom’s best friend from growing up, my dad, and our friend Matt (who happens to be a chef) went and tasted food for us and asked all the right questions, so we are set for food!

I was so stressed out about planning the wedding from this far away and only being able to supervise from afar but from the nightmare that I thought it was going to be it has turned out to be surprisingly easy. If there’s one thing that has allowed it to be that way it is our friends and family. We are blessed with so many wonderful people in our lives that are helping us out daily, and I cannot begin to express how grateful I am for that. We also lucked out in having between Andy and I, a friend who is a florist, a friend who is a chef, a friend who is a fantastic cello player, a mom who is an amazing decorator, a mom who is great at keeping me on top of things (as she has been for the past 22 years), a dad who is pouring his heart and soul into landscaping, a dad who is great with logistics (especially with electricity, for which I am so grateful because I have no idea what I am doing (I daisy chain power chords and it would really be better if I wasn’t in charge of how we’re running power at the reception)), a friend who is a great designer, and of course many many friends who photograph for a living, so basically we have everything we need.

As far as work goes, my job is going well and basically the same as it has been. I’ve been photographing more sports lately (including Air Force football in freezing temperatures and freezing rain, let me tell you that was fun), other than that work is pretty much same old same old for me. Andy on the other hand has some exciting news. As of today he has signed on with a photography studio based in Old Colorado City (really close to downtown Colorado Springs, a really nice area) called Unforgettable Images. It’s a good deal for him and a job where he gets to photograph! So we’re both looking forward to seeing how that works out. While this is a welcome change, it does mean we’re going to have to shelf Pictovita (www.pictovita.com) (our photography company for those of you that don’t know about Pictovita yet) for a while. However if we choose to break out on our own and leave Unforgettable Images that could happen in the future.

As I mentioned earlier, the weather here has been somewhat sporadic as of late, with temperatures ranging from the mid 60’s to the teens with a wind chill factor bringing below zero temperatures. This brings on an adventure every day getting ready for work and trying to figure out what layers I’ll need to wear. The most interesting weather we’ve had recently was the freezing rain, which is nothing like freezing rain in Ohio. Instead of falling and making a clear coat on everything it’s more like being inside of a cloud, (which I’m pretty sure is what’s happening), the rain isn’t falling its just swirling around and collecting on things (The cloud is trying to take over the world!) which ends up looking like fine white ice crystals on everything (very pretty but still just as dangerous as the freezing rain back home while driving). We’ve also had our first Snow! It actually snowed a few weeks ago but out here they don’t really count it until it sticks to the ground in town. That happened for the first time this past weekend. Andy and I had fun taking some pictures of our yard, and I’ve been in a holiday mood for weeks now (As a rule I never listen to Christmas songs until after thanksgiving but this weather is totally making me break that rule as I’ve been listening to them for about a week now… and it’s not even Halloween!)

Speaking of Halloween… Andy and I are having a pumpkin carving party at our apartment with some friends and neighbors this weekend, which I’m looking forward too! I’m also hoping to have a friendly carving contest online where all of us can upload pictures of our pumpkins and show them off. (Can you tell I’m missing our normal Halloween hayride and bonfire celebrations?) More on that contest later…..

Anyway, that catches you all up on most of the recent happenings, and I’ll try to keep up with more regular posting! Check back soon and hopefully we’ll have some pumpkin pictures up!

-Rachel

p.s. Here are some photos from the freezing rain/cloud/thing that came through town... enjoy!

Extreme Landscaping

Andy and I made a trip back to Ohio this past weekend, which as always was a whirlwind but well worth it. We came into town to photograph the wedding of our friends Aaron and Maria who we know from school, so that was wonderful! We also were able to do the senior pictures of our good friend Martin. Beyond both of those photo shoots we also had a chance to see family and friends and talk about our own wedding which is less than a year away now.

Officially- the wedding will be September 18, 2010! So mark your calenders! Save the dates and offical invites will be coming soon so keep an eye out!

Also, getting to walk the yard and see all the yard work my parents continue to do was amazing! We got to have Andy's parents, Fran and Joe, over for dinner at the house friday night and it was wonderful to talk about plans and look at the site of the wedding. We are so excited! Here are some photos from this past trip of the yard, look how quickly things are changing! -Rachel


The hill by the driveway which was cleared of trees and bushes and has now been replanted

The planter at the end of the garden now filled with flowers


looking at the tree we're going to be married under from the driveway


another view of our tree and the garden from the driveway

Looking down the stairs which the old rock has now been removed from and my dad is pouring concrete steps in their place, which are beautiful!

A closer look at the steps, my dad is decorating each one with patterns of stone and bricks

Looking back up toward our tree and the newly replanted hill


looking out from the tree down the valley, which has been cleared out a ton!


Another view of our tree (that's Dan by the way getting into a lot of these pictures)


The tennis court where we're going to pitch the tent for the reception!


Another view of the tent location, we're going to be doing some more tree trimming etc.


On the tennis court looking toward the pool and the storage building (which is going to be our bar!)


My dad looking at all the clearing that he and my mom did around the fence of the pool (making a better path from the house to the tennis court (reception area)


Another close up of the stairs my dad is working on


The path that has been cleared around the outside of the pool fence as a path to the tennis court (reception area)


Another view of the tennis court

Camping at the Sand Dunes and Emerald Lake

A few weeks ago Andy and I went camping at Great Sand Dunes National Park (http://www.nps.gov/GRSA/index.htm). Which is truly one of the most amazing places I've ever been. It was so strange to see the huge dunes on the edge of the plains before the mountains. We had been warned by several people to go early in the morning so the sand wasn't lava under our feet. So we drive there on Friday night and camped overnight then got up very early to go hiking. I"m still not sure if we hiked the highest Dune, Star Dune or if it was just the second highest dune, High Dune, reguardless it was an amazing view. (Star Dune peaks at 750ft and High Dune reaches 650ft)

Beautiful light on the drive to the Dunes (a Three hour drive from the Springs) near the Spanish Peaks


Playing with painting with light at the campsite near the Sand Dunes


Dawn coming into our tent at the campsite near the Sand Dunes


Andy and I posing for a picture while hiking on the Sand Dunes early in the morning






View of the Sand Dunes and the mountains from the highest dune we climbed


Andy and I on the Dunes

That afternoon we drove to Crestone planning on camping there for the night, however there were not camping spaces left (they're available on a first come first serve basis) so we're planning on going back later to do this spot and hike.


View of the mountains coming into Crestone

Then we drive to Emerald Lake to spend our second night, a lot more people there, but it was still very pretty!


Emerald Lake


Sunrise at Emerald Lake (Photo Andrew List)


Driving through the South Park on the way home

I hope you enjoy the pictures! More adventures to come!
-Rachel