A Sister's Love...

I'm going to try and make it through this without tearing up. One of my best girlfriend's Hannah and I signed up for Erek's Run, which was last Saturday in support of the Meningitis Foundation. The run was in honor of a little boy who in less than 12 hours of showing the first signs of meningitis, passed away. I got choked up just thinking about all that mother had to of gone through, especially since this virus is one that mirrors the flu so well. She shared her story after the run and I couldn't help but think if my parents felt the same way...

You wouldn't know it now, but 23 years ago my brother was born a few days early at Bryan Memorial Hospital in Lincoln, Neb. He was a healthy baby, maybe even on the rolly-polly side, but healthy. Within two days of coming home, my mom and dad could not console their screaming, fussy, very tired baby. My parents were worried something was wrong and sure enough, and thank goodness, they went to the ER. My brother was diagnosed with viral meningitis and was a very, very sick baby for a very long time. I don't remember it at all since I was a mere 16 months old, but the stories my family tells are not ones that are very sunny. You see my dad was farming full-time, going to school for his Master's full-time, and working full-time. My mom at that point had left her job at the bank to take care of us, but I was pretty young and they had a deathly sick baby on their hands. There were long days, long nights and trade-offs of who was going to take care of me to make sure I had a somewhat normal life and who would stay with my brother at the hospital, all the while working and going to school. Thankfully, Lincoln and Bryan Memorial had some of the best doctors in the Midwest and they were able to do everything they could to help him get better. I was dubbed "the nurse's assistant" and even wore a smock in order to lighten the mood some days. I think God knew how much heart ache my parents had been through with losing their first baby, having me come 8 weeks early (and having some eye troubles due to being a preemie) and now my brother with this terrible sickness and blessed them with the courage and strength to get through this and in the end have two healthy children.

As I said, you wouldn't know it now because Brandon is as healthy as any one. He didn't have any physical or mental delays like so many people who survive meningitis have. We are thankful for that. He is kind, thoughtful, funny and above all else, loyal. He stepped up to the plate when he had Alexa, and I thank God he did as we have such a blessing in our lives now. He believes in serving this country and believes it's an honor to do so. That's what chokes me up, knowing how much he has come in his 23 years and knowing how much we will miss him come September when he is called up to serve his country.

And I'm thankful he was able to run with me on Saturday...it meant a lot to have the brother I so dearly love next to me, pushing me to finish when we all were pushing him to fight for it 23 years ago.

Me and my brother at the finish line of Erek's Run on June 11, 2011.

On a side note, they now have a vaccine for meningitis and I highly encourage people to think about it for their children. If you'd like to read more about meningitis, here is a great site, http://meningitisfoundationofamerica.org

If you want a little glimpse...

As the title says, if you want a little glimpse at what my wedding will look and feel like, here is one blog I am obsessed with, Ruffled. Today's post is about as close to my wedding as you can get without giving away all the secrets! Geesh...

http://ruffledblog.com/rustic-romantic-california-wedding/

Can't wait for October, ya'll!

Fresh New Find

One of the prints I chose to put on a canvas print

All credit has to be given to the Pioneer Woman for this find. I was browsing her blog as I do most days to check out her hilarious family/ranch life stories, a few recipes to try at home or photography tips as I'm still a pretty novice photographer.

She made mention of canvas prints in their lodge where they host guests at their ranch in Oklahoma. I'm so excited to have found this website she insists is a great one for prints and photo art. I think she hit it right on the money, and I'm thoroughly impressed by their work. I've ordered a few canvas prints for our wedding and can't wait to get a few more after.

This isn't a canvas print, but I LOVED the idea as it is one of my favorite scriptures!

Enjoy!!

A little lunch heaven...

I visited KC a week or so back and had a chance to spend some time just being by myself for half a day.

I went to eat lunch at one of my favorite places around, Farmhouse, in the River Market area. It was such a beautiful day so I ate on their outside patio. Amazing fresh and locally grown and produced food is their specialty. They have a menu they publish monthly that changes and no month is the same. They have a homemade sausage each day, and I finally tried it this time. So very good!

Homemade sausage, pickles and potato chips!

I also wanted to see the Princess Diana exhibit at Union Station since I probably wouldn't make a trip to KC before it would leave. It was so neat to actually see pictures, items and momentos of someone I have admired since I was a little girl. I remember crying during her funeral back in 1997 and with the royal wedding this year, it was really fun to step back and think how cool would it be to be a princess?

I then stopped at one of my favorite places in Briarcliff Village, Nell Hill's. The store used to be in Atchison, Kan., and the store I worked at in high school, Nichols and Lea, was one of the first to carry Mary Carol's line of products. It was so fun to see how much it has taken off, and I even got to chat with Mary Carol for a little bit while there in KC. She even gave me a signed copy of her newest book for weddings! What a precious gift I'll always cherish! Check out Mary Carol's blog for awesome decorating tips, http://www.nellhillsblog.com/

Wishing you all a great and relaxing Memorial Weekend! (more to come next week on some other news!)

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Hannah, me and Justina at the finish line of the Apple Blossom 5K

Most of my friends on Facebook have known or can see that I've been using the Couch to 5K app on my iPhone to train for another 5K. I love it! It tells me exactly when to run/walk and plays my songs. It's actually not too hard either. I started the first part of March and ran my race this past Saturday with two great friends. I am so thankful to Hannah, Justina, Brandi and Jessica who helped out with the Apple Blossom 5K since the proceeds supported the Junior League and our projects to help women and children.

It was a gorgeous day! It was about 83 when we ran at 9 am. Hannah and I were both nervous about the huge hill on Frederick Ave. I had been practicing on some pretty good hills in my training so I thought I probably could do it, and I did! I made it all the way, but looking back think maybe I should have walked a bit of it (or maybe not, who knows) so I wouldn't of had to walk some during the race. I was disappointed I had to walk some, but I'm praying if I keep going I'll eventually be able to run a full 5K.

Hannah did an amazing job for only practicing 5 times up until the race. I improved just a tad from my first 5K back in November. Turkey Trot 2010

My goal is to finish five 5Ks before October just to keep pushing myself to stay in shape and feel better about myself. I already got back on the training wheel with an early morning run yesterday, so here's the race #2!

A Gorgeous Weekend

This weekend was absolutely gorgeous!

We've been planting a lot in our garden and now have: sweet corn, tomatoes, giant jalapenos, red, green, yellow and banana peppers, radishes, onions, spinach, lettuce, green beans, snap and sweet peas and my favorite, cilantro, basil and oregano! There will be lots of work to be had this summer!

Some of the lettuce coming up

We also have started to slowly spruce up the house with landscaping. (Which is a whole other story as Todd just got an itch to possibly buy a real house!) I decided to save some money and take our time, we'd do one side of the house each year if we continued to live there. I bought these beautiful bush/flowering plants for the beds already in the front of the house. I bought a few annuals for the porches and it looks pretty good! It was nice to spend almost two whole days working outside with Todd on these "home" projects. The dogs were thrilled to be outside for such a long time, until the Miss Tillie Mae decided it would be fantastic to roll in a dead snake and smell so so so bad! Ughhh that dog!

Early Sunday morning was the last day of spring turkey season in Missouri and Todd as anxious to get me my last bird for my last tag. He had already got both his birds in Missouri and both in Kansas so he was tagged out. We really didn't think there was much hope until we heard a turkey a long ways off gobble. I said, "I might as well packed my lunch for how long we'll have to wait on him to come over here." Sure enough, that tom must have been pretty interested because he came from at least a half mile away. It was so fun to spend a lot of time this spring with Todd doing what he loves!

He was a really nice two-year-old!

I finished my semester of grad school on Sunday and am waiting to see my grades. I believe it was a 100% for both classes, which would be so satisfying to know how much hard work I put into the classes is really paying off. I have just a summer, fall and spring left! I think once it's done and over with I'm sure I'll get an itch to go back to school but at this point I'm not thinking a PhD is something I want to do since I want to stay in the field of nonprofit work and not be a teacher/researcher. We'll see I guess!

We finished off the weekend with a little BBQ at his parent's house. I had the day off on Monday thanks to Harry Truman's birthday. I spent the day around the house and had a fantastic evening with girlfriends in the Junior League at our last meeting of 2011 at EmChamas. I left with a "food baby" as one friend called it. It was delicious!

Welcome to the "family"

It's been a little while, sorry...

I wanted to catch you up though on some things, which actually has been a lot!

Easter weekend, as I said in my previous post, was a huge milestone for our "new" family. Todd became baptized and confirmed in the Catholic Church. To start off with, I spent a good four hours baking Friday night while Todd hung out with his brother-in-law, Derek, talking all things turkey. I made him a Texas sheet cake, his favorite, and cinnamon rolls. All from the Pioneer Woman cookbook. (LOVE her blog, Pioneer Woman)

Here is the start to the cinnamon rolls. Yummy!

Here is me all dressed in She Safari camo and my jake!

The whole weekend I told Todd it was his weekend, so I got up really early Saturday morning to go turkey hunting with him, his dad and Derek. We went to their farm by the Platte River. Todd and I went off next to his food plots for deer and sat for about 20 minutes before we heard lots of gobbles. Todd called for probably five minutes before they came off their roost and four jakes were very interested in his "real" hen decoy. Todd had already got his two gobblers in Kansas and wanted me to get one, so I shot a jake. It was really fun as usual watching Todd with his excitement. I just tell him it's all about the person helping me as to why my hunts go well. Ha!

So we cleaned him, rested and got ready for the big part of the weekend, his baptism and confirmation on Holy Saturday. My family and Todd's parents and sister and Derek all went to Willie's in Atchison for his celebration dinner. I didn't realize it was the same place as the one in Manhattan! I loved it as I did when I went to college, and it is so awesome to have it that much closer to home. I'd suggest going there if you are ever in Manhattan or Atchison! Check them out Willies in Atchison

We then left to go over to St. Benedict's, which is a gorgeous church. It used to be the old abbey before they built the new one in the early 1900s. It is a parish church now and has a very large congregation. Todd got to sit in the front row. It was a blend of Holy Saturday ritual/baptism/confirmation/first Holy communion all wrapped in one. It was so AWESOME! I got a little teary-eyed thinking about how much this means to me and how much it will mean to us on our wedding day. He chose "Francis" as his baptismal and confirmation name as that is his dad's and late grandfather's middle name. I gave him a really nice "handsome" leather bible with my baptismal medal I got when I was baptized as a baby as a bookmark on the verse I felt described us as it does many couples, Matthew 19:6, "6 So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder."

Todd's baptism

Todd's confirmation

Glory be to God! He is Risen!