Wow...I haven't been very good about keeping up with this! The countdown begins...less than 10 months until I am Mrs. Jeremiah Johnson! Woohoo! What have I been up to lately you might be wondering? Lots and lots of school work! Other than that...Jake and I have begun to create our wedding website! Check it out here!
So today was Labor Day. And I spent it...you guessed it! Planning. I have looked at so many cute ideas today. A few things that I think I'm going to incorporate into my wedding that I took away from today's planning session...
candy bar: because who doesn't love candy?
photo booth: say "cheese!"
wedding website: great way to share our big plans :)
Planning is wedding is stressful...there, I said it! There are so many aspects to think about and endless decisions to make. We have made only the very basic decisions so far...hopefully these will be the hardest! I will become Mrs. Johnson (ahh! that's strange to say! ) on August 6, 2011. We will be returning home to tie the knot. Our ceremony will be held at the Presbyterian church in Campbell, NE while the reception to follow will take place at the Kearney County Fairgrounds in Minden. That's about all there is so far :S I want our wedding to be a very personal occasion. I have so many ideas...the problem will be narrowing them down :) Bring on the DIY projects!
My third year at the University of Nebraska begins today. A new semester...a new day...a new beginning, if you will. I have moved into my new apartment...this is a whole new college experience for me! I loved my time in the dorm...but going to school - without spending every minute of everyday on campus is a nice change. Kayce and I walked out the door this morning at 7:30...as we did, we said to one another, "Day 1" Hopefully this is a good start to the many more to come!
So...as you know, I'm packing up all my stuff for the move back to school and into the new apartment. Well, I made this promise, a good one, but one I might regret. "I will not buy any more fabric until I have used up everything I have already purchased...AND...reduced my scraps by at least half." I told my mom this as we carried two totes of scrap fabric out to the car one morning...I still have three or four huge bags of fabric with half finished, or not even started project hiding within them. This is both a promise...and a challenge! I would say I'm doing okay...considering I accompanied my sister to the fabric store yesterday...and didn't buy ANYTHING! Now I just need to start working on all those projects! Any ideas for all those scraps?
I'm packing up all my stuff...yet again! I'm moving into an apartment for the fall with a couple of great girls :) As I'm packing I realized just how much stuff I actually have! I've moved enough now that I have grow tired of carrying it from place to place, so as I pack I've tried to go things and pitch what I don't need. Well, I need everything I have...that's why I have it, not? It's just weird seeing everything I own in boxes! half of my stuff is in a storage unit in Lincoln...the rest of it is scattered between home in Minden and the new apartment. Jake and I are taking another load this weekend :)
I made my way back out to the ranch this past weekend. From there Jake and I went out on our first camping trip of the season...if you remember from a while back, this was not intended to be the first camping trip, but we got flooded out last time. Now that everything was not so wet, we ventured to Keller State Rec Area...a place we had scoped out earlier in the year. It's a very scenic place, with five fishing ponds and the Bone Creek running through it. We brought our fishing poles along.
I arrived at the ranch about five...we had made plans to go out to a nice dinner before we went camping. We ate in Burwell at the Sandstone Cafe. YUM! Jake had the steak and shrimp and for me the blacken chicken alfredo. For dessert...peanut butter pie! We were having such a good time, we didn't realize how late it had gotten. We still had an our drive to the campgrounds and to set up our tent...it would be ten thirty before we even got there...and DARK!
Well...it's a good thing it took us so long, because we remembered the things we had forgotten back at the ranch: Jake's pillow, our fishing gear, fire wood, camp stove (all things we couldn't do without!) Luckily we made it to the camp grounds without hitting a deer...we saw about 15 on the way there! This was the first time putting together our new tent, good thing they make them a lot easier to put together now a days! The next morning, we went fishing. Not much to say about this...it's fishing! Out fishing permits probably weren't worth the trouble this time around. I didn't catch anything, although I had several bites. And Jake did catch one blue gill...but I don't think it was worth seven dollars alone.
We hiked back the our camp site and grabbed stuff to make lunch...Jake wanted to head over to Long Pine to try the fishing there. I made sandwiches in the car.
Before I had left, I signed Jake and I up for the Great Park Pursuit with Game and Parks. Check it out for yourself here.One of the stops is the Cowboy Trail in Long Pine. We walked the trail until we reached the bridge. What a view! And what did we see? People tubing the Pine Creek...we had to do it!
Back to get our swimming suits, tubes rented it was time to embark! Jake was picking on me saying how cold it was going to be...he thought I would chicken out. Jake flapped his lips a little too much. He got in the creek before me...tried to sit down on his tube...and flipped over backwards into the cold water! It was cold...but when the temp reads 91 with awful humidity you get used to it quick! This was a fast moving creek! It didn't take us long to reach our destination. The we walked back up the creek (easier said than done) and did it again! It was well worth the $6! After that day we were pretty much wore out! We had a little scare from the weather, but we escaped...it hardly even rained! We finally got to start our fire and roast our weenies...and mallows :)
The next day it was time to pack up...our camping weekend was over :( We didn't kill each other...I'd call that a success!
Courtney, Heather, and I had a fun photo shoot in the Sunken Gardens in Lincoln when they came to visit me earlier this week. They are planning on putting them in their room next semester in the AOII house. Here are some of my favorites:
Last week Courtney and I went to Material Girl in Grand Island. We both needed cute fabric for projects. My plan is to recover some pillows for my room in the apartment this fall. Now if you know how I shop this will be no surprise to you...I went through the entire store three times before I even picked up one bolt of fabric. Eventually I picked up a few more and put some back, but I made my final cut...and here they are: I also have some scraps from other projects I've done that will work really well with these!
This is the title of my favorite book growing up. It was on a reading list for school...and one of the best books I've ever read! But the real reason for this post is that I got in the family's garden today and picked a bucket full of strawberries with my dad...yum! This wasn't the first pick and the berries are getting smaller, but they still look delicious :)
Today was the day I was supposed to head home... Remember how I left my car at Grandma and Grandpa Mattox's farm house? Well it was both a good and bad thing. My car would not have made it through all that water, but now the bridge which lay between the ranch and their house was out. To make a long story short...we had to take the long way! A trip that would normally take about fifty minutes took us three and a half hours that day :( Once I got to my car, Jake had the three and a half hours back to the ranch, and I was headed home and then to Lincoln...another three and a half hours for me too! It wasn't what we expected, but it was still fun...and most certainly a memorable weekend!
Back at the Ranch... We had made plans that morning to go to Ainsworth. The trip up there seemed like it took forever...only a few spots with water over the road. We met one of my future roomies and good friend Bailey for lunch at Big John's dinner. It was really good :) Apparently there are lots of things that they serve there but aren't on the menu...you just have the ask. Bailey heard this from some of the locals and tried it. Whatever is was looked really good! We had a good time catching up! Then is was off to the grocery store... We started to make our way back to the ranch but checked out some of the State Rec Areas along the way. That took up quite a bit of our afternoon. We found some really cute spots to camp and hopefully good fishing. Any running water we came across was ragin' like a river...although on any normal day it wouldn't be much more than a trickle. Jake and I both agreed that we made the right choice by NOT camping that weekend. It was really damp that afternoon and misting on and off. We decided to take the opportunity to ride the horses. Going into this we knew this would be "an adventure." You see we have never actually rode these two horses simultaneously...nor has Jake ridden Clyde successfully for a while (he always manages to get bucked off). The ponies were surprisingly happy to see me (Jake has been spoiling them with treats) and they came right up to me. They stood unusually still as we saddled them up, then it was time to ride :) The horses were kinda spooky and excited...a combination neither Jake or I was really excited about. Plus none of us were terribly familiar with the lay of the land. Abby was giving me a hard time and as I was messing with her Jake mounted Clyde. As I lifted myself up into the saddle and swung my leg over Abby took off unexpectedly. I WAS NOT PREPARED FOR THIS! I tried to sit deep and calm her down, but I did not have a good grip of the reins or seat in the saddle. The next thing I know I'm laying on the ground and Abby, Jake, and Clyde are standing over me. I just wanted to lay there for a bit. I wasn't hurt...just my pride. But Jake made me get up...and I got right back in the saddle. We rode around in the damp meadow for awhile, but the weather was moving in. Being wet I got cold and it was time to head in. By this point it was evening and time to eat. After supper we watching some baseball in the basement, observed some more wildlife in the backyard and went to bed early! We knew the next day would be a long one...trying to get me home after all this rain. We had already heard about a bunch of road and bridge closings...but we weren't going to worry about that until tomorrow.
