my cousin, rachel, and her husband, drew, have welcomed their first child into the world! i am so excited for them. they will make amazing parents!
adelaide was born friday, june 22 at 4:33 pm weighing 8 lbs, 10 oz and measuring 21 inches long. here are a few pictures for all to enjoy:
this weekend was amazing. we managed to get the maid of honor to the wedding festivities safely. she was in a lot of pain throughout the weekend, but she was a total trooper!
when we got to door county, the fun began with rehearsal at the itsy bitsy teeny tiny church. it's 117 years old and has no electricity or running water. it was such a romantic setting...
the pastor told us that they actually have christmas eve services by candlelight. i would love to go there for christmas sometime - candle in hand with the only heat provided by a tiny gas stove and everybody huddling together in the cold wisconsin winter! so romantic! can't you just picture it...
speaking of romance and an awesome pastor, during the rehearsal, the groom was working very hard to pronounce each word of his vows correctly, as he is from moldova and his first language is romanian, not english. when the time came to say "in the name of the father, son and holy spirit, amen" the pastor said rather flippantly "or you can say it in romanian if you want." adrian blurted it out in romanian and the pastor's response was "that was great! why don't you do that tomorrow!" you should have seen the look on his parents' faces when he said that part in romanian - they could finally understand a few words of the ceremony because they don't speak english. they just lit up when they heard him finish his vow. it was precious!
after rehearsal it was off to the rehearsal picnic where we dined on burgers, brats and polish sausages and cooked smores over the fire - how much more wisconsin-esque does it get? ironically, though, there were SO many countries represented at this wedding - it was a ton of fun to have such a richly international group!
the bride and groom at the picnic:
on saturday we got up early and hit up the awesome breakfast at the even more awesome resort. i highly recommend this place for a romantic getaway - ideal for a honeymoon, too! their webiste (www.gordonlodge.com) doesn't do the place justice. the newly renovated lodge is awesome. every room has an unobstructed water view and a private patio complete with table and chairs as well as lounge chairs. there are also cabins of varying sizes with traditional home-like decor. included in your stay is free kayaking, paddleboating, fishing, nature trails, pool and hottub and tons of relaxation. the grounds are well manicured, the food is amazing and the staff is absolutely incredible! it was an awesome place! anyway...after breakfast it was off to get our hair done in fish creek (about 20 minutes away on the opposite side of the peninsula).
the bride getting her mohawk...
...and checking the finished product.
then it was off to get ready in a hurry... 
...and head to the ceremony. with a bit of a time crunch, the vehicle the bride was riding in got trailed by a cop the entire way - almost forcing them to be late, but it all worked out in the end. the ceremony was incredibly romantic, and the maid of honor even managed to stand through the whole thing. she's so tough!
after the happy couple was officially married...
we took a few pictures...
(me with the bride)
(happy couple with the groom's parents)
...and the bride and groom left by carriage...
we followed by limo to cave point, which is a gorgeous park on the edge of some bluffs overlooking lake michigan. we took some pictures there...
...and enjoyed champagne under the tent the ushers had set up for everybody.
then it was back to gordon lodge for an evening of wonderful food...
...a little dancing...
...and a romantic sunset.
the next morning we enjoyed some time at the resort and then had to say our goodbyes. i even got a hug and kiss from adrian's parents, who are so incredibly sweet! i just wish i knew how to speak romanian!
it was a perfect weekend for a perfect couple. i feel so honored to have been a part of their dream come true!
for some reason i have butterflies in my stomach today. i think part of it is because i finally heard my husband's voice since my dad stole him for their fishing trip. i have decided i don't like being a fishing widow! they're on their way home, so i should see matt within several hours - and i can't wait. is that pathetic?
another reason is because i am so incredibly excited for this weekend. my friend, kristin, is getting married and i have the incredible honor of being a bridesmaid. with the excitement, though, comes a little bit of nervousness. i just want to help make the day perfect for kristin and adrian - they definitely deserve it! so i am feeling some pressure - from myself - to make things perfect. i think i get more nervous for making other people's wedding perfect than i was for my own wedding! i am also bringing the maid of honor to the wedding - a big duty. why? well, kristin's sister, amy (maid of honor), has gone through some really tough health problems lately, culminating in surgery last week - yikes! i'm just so glad that she and i both happen to live in rochester so that i can make sure she's taken care of so kristin can worry less about those details right now. i hope we are able to make amy relatively comfortable on the drive so she can keep healing for this weekend! she's been one tough cookie so far, so i hope she can relax and have fun this weekend!
so now i better get moving on getting stuff ready so i don't forget something important - like my dress! would anybody really be surprised, though, if i forgot something like that? i better remember my camera, too, so i can post pictures when we get back!
it's been a super long time since i went home - as in to my hometown. this weekend was my first time back since my mom moved to the twin cities, which meant i was sort of homeless. granted, i have the best in-laws in the world and i just stayed at their place, so it was really no big deal.
before i left, my dad came into town and i was able to have dinner with him. i hadn't seen him in a while, and he's been sort of antsy to see me (and matt and my sister) so it was good to spend some time with him. in fact, i spent a little too much time with him and didn't leave rochester until 9:30pm.
the ride home was sort of nightmarish. once i was out of rochester i realized i forgot some of my clothes and had to turn around adding about 30 minutes to the drive. moron! then when i was less than an hour from matt's parents' house, the route we usually take was completely closed off due to construction. it happens to be back roads that aren't on the map, so i struggled to find another route. once i thought i found an alternate route, i got myself a little turned around (at 2am) and didn't really know where i was going. after swerving around 6 raccoons in the road, nearly hitting about 6 more raccoons and at least 4 deer, and hitting too many sudden fog patches that limit my visibility to about 10 feet, i decided it was time to find a major highway again. thankfully i made it "home" safe and sound!
the next morning was erin's shower. erin is the older sister of my dear friend (and matron of honor), chrissy. their family is essentially my extended family because i have spent so much time with them since i met chrissy on the second day of kindergarten. anyway, erin is going to be an incredibly gorgeous bride in less than 2 weeks. it was so great to see her at her shower seeing as how she's been living in australia for the past 3 years! she met the love of her life, brett, while she was there on a work visa. since then, she has gone to grad school there to continue pursuing her music career (she has an AMAZING voice!). now, she and her aussie beau will be permantently living in perth, australia. i guess i will just have to go and visit!
after the shower, i went to visit my mom's old neighbor, sue (aka susie), who is a second mom to me. i love her dearly and it's hard to believe she's not our neighbor anymore, but it was awesome to just hang out with her (and her husband, tom, and new puppy, jake). we sat and talked about everything, and as usual, susie was so supportive of me. she always makes me feel so loved - i wish she could have been a mother herself. she's been an amazing second mom to me and would have been an amazing mom to her own kids! instead she's a great mom to this little guy: (sorry my actual mother takes blurry pictures, but i bet you can still tell that little jake is adorable as can be!)
the rest of saturday was spent catching up a little bit with my friends jenny and chrissy, as well as chrissy and erin's family. it was truly a wonderful day.
sunday i spent the day hanging out with matt's parents. i taught them how to make omelets in the morning - they had never made them before! - and the rest of the day we just relaxed. matt and i swapped dads for fathers day. my dad and matt are away on a fishing trip in north dakota for a week. you can check out the guide service they're with here: http://www.vanhookguideservice.com/ on the left of the page you can see a picture of two of my cousins' husbands (larry and tim) on a fishing trip with my dad a previous year. it says they're the rollmanns, but in reality neither of them has rollmann as a last name :)
sunday night i drove chrissy to eau claire and hung out at her place for a bit eating fresh strawberries (yum!) and chatting with chrissy and her hubby, lance. it felt so good to hang out with the two of them, and i absolutely loved having chrissy with me for most of the drive home!
then home it was to my lonely little apartment, where i discovered our air conditioner has something wrong with it...so the heat is getting a little unbearable. yet another reason i am missing my fix-it hubby while he's off having fun with my dad, cousin and uncle!
okay, okay...so i've been a super bad blogger, but i just realized that cassi tagged me. so here it goes:
4 jobs i've held:
1. taco bell - i loved working at tb believe it or not. all of us were like family there. in fact, it's where i met matt, and my dear friend andrea, who also married a fellow tb employee, justin. they were married about a month after us. andrea and justin even went to taco bell for a few pictures on their wedding day! we met up with them and one of the bridesmaids (who also worked with us) to take the picture you see below - evidence that we are crazy!
4 of my favorite dishes:
