Finally

Kevin and I had so much fun on Saturday. It was such an amazing day. I am so glad our secret is out because it was a hard secret to keep. Kevin and I have talked marriage and family since we started dating. Then we started talking about it in a way that made it more realistic. We took a trip to Arkansas for Christmas and it was after that trip that made it seem like a very real idea. One day we were down town buying Kevin some new work boots and drove past the court house and one of us joked about going inside to apply for a marriage license. A few minutes later we were headed inside to fill out the paperwork. We has assumed we would have a while to decide on details but umm no you don't you have like 90 days. I started calling churches the next day and found one that agreed to hold a private ceremony for me and Kevin. St John's Lutheran Church . We started premarital counseling almost immediately and once a week for what felt like forever we met with Pastor Ralph for 2 hours. And then on May 24, 2014 we had our little ceremony. We had planned to have it at 12:00 but when we showed up Pastor Ralph had completely forgotten and had to run home to change, he said it would take 20 minutes tops but it was close to almost an hour later before he got back. Somehow the ac was turned off it was like 90 degrees in the sanctuary so Kevin and I were so uncomfortable and hot. We exchanged vows, exchanged rings, and had a sand pouring ceremony and were focused solely on each other. Then we went home and did what ever newly wed couple does, we ate left over pizza and watched netfilx. We spent the whole weekend at home just spending quality time together, no phones, no people, just each other and some breaking bad episodes. We tried to figure out a way to tell people but there never seemed to be a good time or way so we waited and then we had waited too long. We decided to have a vow renewal so that everyone could experience the ceremony with us. While we are talking about it lets set one thing straight I am not pregnant that was not the reason for the big wedding. I was not pregnant nor were we worried I was when we eloped. We did it just for us, it felt like the right time for us so thats what we did.

Getting so close

The wedding date is getting so close! Last week I had my first dress fitting and the dress fit almost perfectly! The skirt of course needs hemmed which means they need to take it completely apart and have a lot of work ahead of them. The upper part of the bodice needs taken in but that should be the easy part. This past weekend I had my bridal shower. I had all the stuff piled in the living room when Kevin got home and he thinks we should just get married every few years so that we never have to buy anything ever again. We got so much stuff! My sister had asked everyone to bring a spice with them to help fill our pantry. I thought I would just get a ton of cinnamon but that was the one spice no one brought and I don't think there were any duplicates of any of the spices. If you ever need to borrow a teaspoon of something there is a 99.9% chance I know have it. In other news Kevin and I are looking extremely hard for a house to buy. Our goal is to be completely moved in by the end of October. So maybe say some prayers for us. We are going out this weekend to look at as many houses as possible so hopefully we will find something we like.

57 days

Can you believe it?! There are only 57 days until the wedding! Cue panic attack. Friday night Kevin and I went out with some friends and someone mentioned that the wedding was coming up in a few weeks and I was like you mean like 5 months and then thats when they pointed out that it was just under two months away. Where did time go? I seriously thought it was five months away. On Tuesday I officially booked our honeymoon!!! The day after the wedding we will be heading to Florida for a week. I can not wait to put my feet in the sand and feel the sun on my face and breath in that perfect ocean smell. Last night my friend Hannah and I went out and finally found my shoes so now I can have my dress fitting, well if they are delivered in time. I had to order them because they didn't have my size in the store and they are supposed to be delivered to my house 4 to 7 business days. I'm hoping they come in fast because my fitting is next Thursday. Today I finalized the details for all the decorations and i think it will be beautiful.  Also the wedding shower is coming up next weekend so if you haven't called my sister to rsvp yet she would really appreciate it if you would this week so she knows how much food to buy.

blah blah blah

There really isn't too much new with us since the last post. Kevin and I are both getting so close to being at our jobs for 90 days!!! We had to put our home search on hold to take these jobs because to qualify for a loan you have to have 90 days of employment with your current company. I can not wait until we both hit that 90 day mark so we can finally seriously look and purchase! We have received about 7 or 8 response cards already and way more gifts than we were expecting. I figured we would get maybe one or two gifts in the mail around wedding time but they started coming in right after we sent out the invites. Every time I come home and find a package by the door I get so excited.

A few weeks ago I had a private yoga lesson with the owner of the studio I practice at. I would really like to be able to do a headstand so thats what we focused on. She really kicked my butt too, I was so sore the next few days it hurt to wash my hair. I also finally talked someone into going to a class with me. Last week my coworker attended a regular class with and was surprised when she was sore the next day. I am telling you yoga is a total body workout and I always leave feeling better than when I went in. This morning after my aerial class I stayed and played for a little while and had Joni (the instructor/owner) take a few pictures so I could post them as proof that I can do it.

I was too scared to get out of this one by myself. Basically you just bring your knees into your chest, tuck your head, and flip. I kept telling her I couldn't do it but she doesn't take crap like that so I did it.

This pose we did for the first time in class today.

Al the presents we've gotten!!

So see there is some proof that yes I can do it. The hardest part of the class, besides you know all the work, is letting go of the fear. Its one of the biggest things holding me back in that class and every class I try to let go of the fear that wants to keep me on the floor and try to do just a little bit more so that my body can take what it learned in the air back down to the mat later.

Yoga = Life

Remember way back to Christmas when Kevin got me a 40 day membership to a local yoga studio? I went almost every day and loved the classes, the people, and the instructors. So I signed up for a year membership. Up until I got the job at the doctor office I was going every day for at least two 1 hour classes but now that I have this new job I'm finding to it harder to make it every day. I still go as often as I can and a couple of weeks ago I decided to to try out a pretty unique type of class called aerial yoga. For the first ten minutes I was pretty much scared to move but once I let go of my fears and trusted my body and the silks to do their jobs I started to really like it. In some ways I feel like it makes some poses much easier for me and in other ways (most ways) it is a really big challenge and makes me work for what I want. I always leave yoga feeling really good but when I leave after doing something I have never been able to do before I feel amazing. I love the feeling I get when I do yoga so much I want to share the experience with basically everyone I know, I keep inviting all my friends to go with me, most don't take me up on my offer but I'll just keep on trying. Seriously if you want to try out a regular class or even an aerial class let me know you can come with me and if its not the best hour of your day I'll buy you a smoothie afterwards. Here is a sample of an aerial yoga class.......

Invites

I got the invitations mailed out last Monday and this Monday we got our first wedding gift!!!!! When I got home from work on Monday there was a very large and very heavy package on the porch and I couldn't figure out where it came from because I didn't remember ordering anything and it was addressed to me so I didn't think Kevin had ordered anything so I opened it. And much to my surprise tucked inside were some of the things we had registered for! So exciting! Thank you Lil for the wonderful gifts. Last night I went over to my friend Hannah's house to watch the finale of Pretty Little Liars. I have been watching this show for like 5 years and last night we finally got the answers to all the mysteries and spoiler alert it sucked! I wanted to cry. It was probably one of the worst episodes they had made. It left major plot holes and more questions than answers and the answer they did give mad me really mad. I am not the only one feeling this way the majority of the fandom is upset. It was a giant cop out and I feel like I wasted 5 years of my life for nothing. But on the bright side while I was there Hannah gave me our first rsvp! I can't wait until they start coming in the mail!!!

Getting Closer

There are 104 days until the wedding. We are finally starting to get more stuff done. On Friday Kevin and I went and are officially registered. Registering is not all its cracked up to be. We started on Thursday evening by going to Lowes. A few weeks ago I was on the Lowes website and it said sign up for a my lowes account. Its great for birthday, wedding and new home registries. We get to lowes and no one knows what we are talking about because they apparently stopped doing gift registries years ago. So we angrily left and headed to Kohls. At Kohls no one could figure out how to get the scanner to work and when they finally did figure it out they realized it was only at 4% battery life so we couldn't even use it. So again we left angrily. On Friday I called before we went to be sure everything was good to go. We started at Kohls and most of the stuff we wanted to register for wasn't found in the system when we scanned it so it was a bit frustrating but I think we did okay. Then we headed over to Target to finish our registering trip there. Target was so much easier! It took like no time at all to get done there. When we started I had a very detailed list of thing we needed and things we wanted to update and about 15 minutes in we said forget the list and just go for it. We for the most part agreed on everything on the lists, so that was nice. We got the menus finalized with the caterer and I ordered the invitations today.

Happy 4th of July!!!!

This year we adulted and celebrated our Independence Day at Kevin's bother's friend's lake. First we went and purchased Kevin's wedding band, then stopped for some lunch, watched an episode of Orange is the New Black and headed to the lake. We got there and hung around the house for a bit and then took the boat out and swam for a while before heading back in for dinner and some sparklers. Yesterday we groomed the dogs and to reward them for tolerating it we took them to Fox Island to swim. They loved it! They swam until they were too tired to swim any more. We definitely need to invest in another life vest for Stan. For some reason neither dog can mange to keep the back half level and end up half swimming half sinking. Its pathetic really. While we were there, there was an older golden that wanted to play with them and its owner was loving on them and saying how sweet they were until I told her they were half rottie and suddenly her and her dog had to move to the other side of the lake. It happens almost every time we tell people what breed they are. people love them and snuggle on them until they find out they're half rottie and suddenly they no longer want to touch/be near them. Its a bit annoying.

Dress

The wedding dress I ordered finally arrived and it is a disaster. It is horrible. I have filed a complaint and am working on getting my money back. I had a minor freak out and took Amy with me to try on dresses all day last Saturday but didn't find one I loved. I went back to one of the stores yesterday and tried on even more dresses. I did find one and bought it!!! I even got a huge discount on it!!

Last year when my sister Melanie was planning her wedding I kept telling her to ask for a discount and she would say "Nichole you can't just ask for a discount."

Well Melanie you are wrong because I ask for a discount every where. When the lady was ringing up my dress I said "Would it be possible to get any sort of discount? I am trying to keep my wedding budget as under control as possible." And do you know what happened? She gave me a pretty good discount. So then pushing my luck I said "Kevin is in the military do you think it might be possible to get a military discount as well?" And then kaboom she gave me another discount. Just by politely asking for a couple of discounts I was able to get the store to come down almost $500 off the final price.  

First week

Tomorrow starts my first official week at the doctor office. Last week I finished training with Tiffany on Wednesday. I feel pretty comfortable with most things except check in, all the insurance stuff confuses me, I'm sure I'll get the hang of it soon. Check in isn't actually my job but the girl who does it is in school and needs me to cover it for her one day a week for a couple hours and I will need to know how to do it in case she ever calls in sick or takes vacation. On Thursday I spent most of the day at Parkview hospital training and it was so pointless. There was one other girl there with me and she was training to work at parkview and the woman training us was from parkview so she only went over parkview things. And because I am considered an employee I had to park in the not so important employee parking lot like 5 blocks from the hospital and it was very hot that day and I was all hot and sweaty when I got to the building and then the ac wasn't working right so I was even more hot and sweaty. (I know, I know first world problems.)

My new job comes with a few pros and a few cons:

Cons: I have to work a minimum of ten hours a day. I also now work 4 or 5 days a week instead of 3. I can't show up with wet hair and no make-up. I sit at a desk most of the day. I'm having a hard time fitting in my yoga practice.

Pros: Its a real job that I could potentially keep for life. I wear comfy scrubs all day. Free food, the drug reps cater in lunch for us every day and sometimes even bring in coffee and treats through out the day. Anytime I have a question about my health there is always someone around who knows an answer to tell me. Every who works there seems super friendly.

grown up stuff

I got a new job. On Monday evening I interviewed for and accepted a position at a doctors office. I wasn't actually looking for new job but the opportunity came up and I couldn't turn it down. I felt/still feel horrible for having to stop working for Matt and Charlene. They opened their home to me for the past four years and treated me as family, I am really going to miss spending my time with them. Next week is my last week with the kids so I am going to have to come up with lots of fun things for us to do together. I am very excited and nervous to start at the doctor office. I'm praying I pick it all up quickly and am as good at it as the girl who I am taking over for is. Think happy thoughts and say a few prayers for me.

Wedding

A couple weeks ago Kevin and I went to the mall and spent about an hour picking out tuxedos . Since Kevin and his friends are the ones wearing the tuxes I let Kevin have almost complete control over them. I told/showed him what I had envisioned and then let him decide what he wanted. I really liked what Kevin picked out. It was so funny while we were there every time Kevin picked something out the sales lady would look at me for the final say even though we had told her quite a few times that Kevin got to pick everything. Eventually Kevin called her out on it and it was hilarious! We also finally met with the pastor this past Wednesday. We were able to sit down and go over everything we want to do during the ceremony and we talked a little bit about us as a couple and our families. We are supposed to be meeting with a mentor couple from the church but have never heard from them so he said he would look into it but did say the questionnaire we had to fill out for the mentoring indicated we are a good couple. I thought for sure since Kevin and I had to answer the questions separately it would say we were not a good match. Kevin and I are polar opposites and agree on almost nothing except how a household/family should be ran. When it comes to core values and such we weirdly agree on everything. We hopefully get to meet with our caterer this coming week to eat delicious food and finalize the menu.

phone

If you have tried to get a hold of me this week I promise I am not ignoring you my phone is not working properly. I can not receive or send text messages and my phone is picky about what calls it is letting through. Also the only app that is sometimes working is snap chat so if you need to reach me you have four choices:

1. Attempt to call my number and hope my phone decides to let your call come through
2. send me a message on snap chat
3. Send me a message on facebook
4. Call/text Kevin but remember he works thirds so he sleeps during the day.

Spring time

I am so glad winter is over and spring is finally starting to make an appearance. The rain isn't so great but the warmer weather has been nice. We have all been taking advantage of it. Last week Kevin and a friend went to the high school to run on the track and I made them take Stan along too. Kevin said Stan stayed right next to them while they sprinted a lap and then decided to lay down on the side of the track and watch them. On the nights I wasn't able to make it to yoga I tool the dogs for walks and played in the backyard with them. Yesterday I spent 4 hours in the backyard playing with them. I gave Silas his big ball to play with and he chased that thing around until he was too tired to move and Stan and I played fetch. last weekend Melanie and I made a trip down to Indy to look for bridesmaids dresses and ended up not really finding anything so I decided on one of the dresses I found here in town. Now all I have left to do is finalize the menu, music, and tuxes but I need Kevin for all those so I guess we will be having some date nights working on wedding stuff.

Hmmmm

I don't really have much to say these days. Kevin is back on third shift and works most weekends so we don't really have time to do much together. Last weekend we were out and about to celebrate our birthdays and were just down the street from where my sister Melanie works so we stopped in to say hi, turns out she didn't work that night so we decided to find out which apartment was hers and stop in to say hi there instead. For some weird/unknown reason Kevin scares her/makes her uncomfortable so upon entry he scoops her into a huge bear hug and lifts her into the air. Best moment ever!!! I wish I had the picture to share with you! She was also mortified because she didn't know we were coming over and would have preferred to clean up first. That was really about the only exciting thing I can of since the last time I posted.

Wedding Plans

So for quite a while I had put off wedding planning. I had almost all of it done and then I slowly stopped working on it and it got pushed to the side. Can you believe the big day is only a little less than eight months away? Well I finally got my booty back into gear and started to finish off the planning. Back in February I went to a preview party hosted by the decorating company to pick out styles and center pieces. My style preference doesn't exactly fit in with what is popular at the moment. Apparently burlap and canning jars is the 'in' thing to do. I HATE country style decorating  and burlap and drinking out of canning jars. I do however like classy, elegant, and timeless looks jazzed up with some sparkle. Why would that look ever go out of style? I didn't like most everything they had on display but I did like parts of some displays. Last week I had a meeting with the decorator to go over the things I liked and come up with a way to use them at the reception and I think it will turn out pretty nicely. I also sent out all the save the dates to the people who I had addresses for (it killed me to not send them all out at the same time) if you have not received one and think you should have (and if you are reading this then you need one) please let me know. Last night I met with a DJ and signed a contract so we now have a DJ and all the big things are done! On Saturday I met with Charlene and Natalie (Natalie has agreed to be our flower girl) and we picked out her dress!!! I was trying to decided between two dresses and was leaning towards one with sparkles and wanted to see them on her. We opted for the one with sparkles and that is one more thing I can cross off my list!

13 days

Just in case you need a reminder my birthday is in 13 days and Kevin's birthday is in 19 days. Here is the link to my amazon wishlist I think all you have to do is copy and paste it (it works for me so hopefully it will work for you)

http://amzn.com/w/1OFY552MQ1RAY

Is it the weekend yet

Yes it is for me at least. This week feels like it is just dragging on and on and on. Stan is finally starting to act like he feels better! The vet had said it would take him a few days to be back to normal and the support group I joined said it could take him up to a month to feel normal so I'm glad he is feeling good. I'm hoping at some point he will be stable enough to go to daycare. I know they miss going because yesterday I took Silas in to get groomed and he refused to go in the grooming room, he was determined to go through the hallway that leads to the daycare rooms. He eventually got a bath and is all squeaky clean now. Yesterday I also sent out the first wave of save the dates! Kevin is still working on getting some of his addresses, can you believe he still doesn't have them yet? If I know your address you can expect it in the mail sometime soon.

An oily conversation

I belong to a holistic living group on facebook and a few months ago I posted a question about an oil there later that day I message from a girl saying she was hosting an oils class that weekend and I was free to join in. Unfortunately I couldn't make it that weekend but told her to keep me in mind if she ever had another. I figured she would forget all about me but last week she sent me another message and said she was hosting a class at her home in Bluffton and would love for me to join if I still wanted to. I said of course I wanted to and asked if anyone else from Fort Wayne was going and if they might want to carpool. There was another girl who lived in Fort Wayne and was willing to carpool with me. (Side note: I thought Bluffton was like 2 hours away and this is why I wanted to carpool.) Friday night I told Kevin about it and he informed me that I am a moron for thinking it would take linger than 30 minutes to get to Bluffton and that I was probably going to get murdered since I only knew her through facebook. Yeah being murdered never occurred to me, anyone who wants to share oils and such with me can't be a murderer so I risked it and went. And I am so glad I did. The girl hosting the party was so nice and I had a good time getting to know her and the other people at the class. It is so nice to be able to sit down and everyone in the room share the same lifestyle you do. I was able to talk about using oils instead of medicine and no one thought I was crazy in fact they all agreed with me and are more into than I am yet. They were telling me how they don't have any chemical cleaners only oils and some of them even use all natural deodorants and such. We agreed to meet up and get together in the next 2 weeks so hopefully my new acquaintances will become new friends.

Update

Stan has been home since late Thursday evening. He got his appetite back on Saturday and I have heard that is really good that he wants to eat so soon after a crash. He tries to play for a little bit but still seems tired more than usual. I joined a support group type page on facebook for people with dogs that have Addison's. Everyone there has been very encouraging and supportive of Stan. Its so nice to be able to ask questions and get like 20 responses from people who have been dealing with this disease for a long time. After Stan came home he has developed this shiver that would be like you or I getting a chill and doing a quick all over body shiver except his is more frequent and last longer. I was really worried because he did it for like 45 minutes this morning so since our vet is closed (I'll still call them in the morning) I asked the facebook group about it and while some said their dogs have never had this happen others have said that their dogs will do it for a few days up to weeks after a crash, so that eased my mind a little bit. I did also have to write such a depressing email to the women who fostered Stan and his mother and siblings so she could let the other puppies' adopters know since they are now also at risk of developing it. I hated having to be the one to send them the bad news and I pray they will never develop it but just in case I hope that since they now know they are at risk they can catch it before their pup crashes as hard as Stan did.

In other news I addressed all of my save the dates this afternoon and will be working on the rest Kevin's half if he ever gets addresses from people) this week so hopefully they will be in the mail by the weekend and in your hands sometime in the next week or two depending on how long it takes to make it to your house!

Stan

In case anyone is curious Stan is finally home. He is starting to feel a bit better and is currently in bed resting and snuggling with Kevin.

There has to be a resaon

This is what I have been thinking for the past few hours. There has to be a reason God brought us to Silas and then to Stan. There has to be a reason because if all this turns out to just be some cruel coincidence I will start punching anyone and everyone. The past few days have been rough with today being the roughest, I'm talking broke down crying in the vets office couldn't stop the tears from coming type of rough. Friday night was the last time Stan had anything to eat. Saturday morning I got up like normal and fed the dogs but instead of staying in the kitchen and watching them eat (which for some weird reason is something I normally do) I went out to the living room and talked with Kevin. Silas came in a few minutes later after he had finished eating and then Stan came in and after a bit we heard Silas eating food in the kitchen we just assumed he had gotten distracted left some in the bowl and went back to it, non of that was normal and should have stuck out more in my mind. Saturday night since Kevin had to work (and we don't do anything big for Valentine's Day anyway) I went to Nana's house for dinner and since it was a special day I took Stan with me. I brought his dinner with us and gave it to him there but he wouldn't eat it and I assumed it was because he was too nervous since he wasn't used to being there or around that many people. When we got home I tried again and he still wouldn't eat and I figured he just needed to calm down and sleep it off. Sunday morning Kevin came home from work and woke me up to ask why Stan wasn't eating his breakfast. Sunday night still wouldn't eat. Monday morning still wouldn't eat and was no longer acting like himself. I called the vet as soon as they opened to tell them what was going on and they squeezed us into a last minute appointment that evening. We ended up seeing the vet that I am not a big fan of. I talked to him and told him everything that was going on and he examined Stan and said he couldn't find anything wrong with Stan. I told him he was wrong and that something was seriously wrong with Stan if he refused to eat and didn't even want treats. So he agreed to reexamine him and I was right there watching him and again he couldn't find anything wrong, his best guess was a possible stomach ulcer so he wrote a prescription for antacids and sent us home to wait it out and keep offering food. I did get Stan to eat a very tiny amount maybe 1/4 cup of food soaked in about 2 cups of water which he later vomited out all over the bedroom floor while we were asleep. Kevin had called me during nap time to talk about his day and while he was on the phone I questioned him about Stan who turns out was not doing well. He was very cold and lethargic so I told Kevin to watch him outside and if he pooped to bag it so I could take it to the vet and to warm Stan up. Kevin snuggled Stan until I was on my way home when he let them out of the bedroom. I had called the vet after I hung up with Kevin and they said to bring Stan back in after I got off work (I didn't need an appointment). When I got home there was a big pile of something in the living room I bagged it cleaned up the rest and took Stan to the vet who was unsure of what exactly was in the bag and neither of us knew what end it came out of. This time we had the vet I like and she said she wanted to do more tests. They x-rayed him and gave him some fluids since he hadn't had anything to eat in four days. His heart beat was slow and his temperature was low and his x-ray showed that there was nothing in him except massive amounts of air/gas and extreme inflammation and bloating in his intestines. He ended up getting a handful of injections and a fluid injection under the skin so that he could come home. The injections were supposed to work within 24 hours. I got him to eat around 9 pm and we went to bed at 10 and poor Stan was so weak he couldn't even walk up the stairs without falling over so I had to half carry him. Now we are at today. At 2 am Kevin got up to get ready for work (he took the first half of his day off since he wasn't able to sleep since he was up all day with Stan) and found another mystery pile on the bedroom floor. When I got up at 7:30 I thought Stan was dead, he didn't move when I talked to him and his body was freezing. I did wake him up and try to feed him since everything he got last night should have kicked in by then but he wouldn't eat rice or food or even wet food. I made Kevin take his temp and it was 99 which is very low for a dog. I called the vet and she said to bring him in 20 minutes. I jumped in the shower and Kevin tried to warm Stan. When we got there there was no check in or waiting it was just a quick briefing of the mornings activities and then on the scale and straight to a room. The vet we liked was in surgery and gave us the option of seeing the vet who owns the practice (who have only seen once) or we could wait until he was finished with a phone call and then he could take over the surgery and she would come work with us. We opted to wait and have her switch places to work with us. She was very concerned that he still was refusing to eat and that he could have possibly vomited even after the injections so she wanted to run blood tests and redo the x-rays. 30 minutes later the results came back and the x-rays were the same as yesterday and his blood work showed that more than half of the results were in the dangerous zones. She said his body was on its way to completely crashing and that the results looked like Addison's disease and he would need lifelong treatment but she would need to do a very expensive test to confirm and that it was in his best interest to stay over night for observation and iv fluids. She went to get us estimates for all the costs and let us think. Que breakdown. I asked Kevin if maybe we should put him down, what if we couldn't afford the care to keep him healthy. That really upset Kevin because he thought I was only worried about the money and really I was just worried about what would happen to Stan if we couldn't keep him healthy and I did instantly regret ever thinking about that option. One of the techs took us back to a room and gave us the price for everything and it is very expensive she said she would leave us alone for a few minutes to talk and think of questions and left. I started sobbing and couldn't stop. I cried the rest of the time we were there. We obviously wouldn't put Stan down (and I am so very sorry I ever even thought that would be an option and I feel guilty that I ever half suggested it this early on) so we chose to do the testing and to keep him over night at the vet office so he could stay hooked to the iv for as long as possible. She did say we could bring him home tonight but with the way he was there was no way to tell if he would or wouldn't crash over night and that it was in his best interest to stay over night so thats what we did. I would appreciate all the prayers and happy thoughts you want to give to us and Stan.

Love

Happy Valentine's Day!

The Slap

How can a show with so many very well known actors fail so hard so fast?! Its been about a year and a half since I read the book but I didn't remember it being that bad. I was bored so during the show I got on twitter to read all the tweets about the show and found out that this was a remake and the original was better. I just looked and guess what, Netflix has the original so I added it to my watch list and I'll see if I get around to it, maybe the American remake will pick up but I am doubtful. If you decide to suffer through it let me offer you some advice: while watching read the twitter feed about it. I seriously laughed so hard at some of the comments I read last night.

One Photo. No Caption and No Explanation.

getting excited

There are only three more days until the Fifty Shades of Grey movie comes out!! The amount of drama and hate this movie has stirred up completely dumbfounds me. I could go on and on and on about how wrong people are about these books and movies but I will spare you all that time and some it up: if you don't like premarital sex don't have it, if you don't like the type of sex described in the books don't do it, it really is as simple as that. There are so many people saying how horrible the books are because they promote abusive relationships and rape. There is absolutely zero rape in these books. In fact there is only one short paragraph in which Christian Grey takes things to a point where that could be considered too far but it is immediately addressed by the characters and corrected. While sex is a prominent part of the books it is not what they are centered around. The main part of the books is their connection and relationship and how it changes the way they think and act: the impact two people/a relationship can have on each other. I am praying that the movie doesn't stray too much from the books (and i'm not talking about the sex scenes) its one of my big pet peeves. I loved the hunger games movies but in the first movie they changed one of the most important details and it ruined the whole movie for me. While we are on the subject of movies that used to be books lets talk about The Slap. The Slap is a tv mini series based upon a book that I read. The book is about a backyard barbeque gone wrong. It starts out as your typical get together friends and family gather to eat and have fun and celebrate nice weather. The kids and a few of the adults start a game of baseball but one of the kids gets out of hand and a danger to others. The kid is swinging the baseball bat at other kids so an adult (not one of the kid's parents) grabs the bat away from the child and is then attacked by the child so the adult slaps the child. The book tells the story of the slap from everyone's point of view and how it has impacted their lives. I am very excited for the show and will most definitely be watching tomorrow night. Did I mention the book is based on a true story? I highly recommend it.
In other news...........
Yesterday Aaron and I took a morning break to hangout at Beet Street. It is my absolute new favorite place. Everything is certified organic, raw, unpasteurized, and delicious! Aaron and Natalie both loved it as well. If you have never been there it is a must try, seriously it is so good!!

The best thing I have ever drank!

Every year on Christmas break the kids and I make ornaments. This year we made these yarn things we found on Pinterest.

Some of them turned out alright.

We also made 'snow'

Stan loves pillows

They love their snuggle time

I need new freinds

There is nothing wrong with the friends I have and I love them and will continue to hangout with them and remain friends with them. Then why do I need new ones? The problem is I want friends who share in the same lifestyle I do/am working towards. With the recent measles outbreak and vaccine debate starting up it has made me realize how alone I am in the current circle of people around me and I know that if/when Kevin and I decide to start a family I will be even more alone. In case you need me to say, yes I am against vaccinations. I'm not saying I think everyone should stop using them but I do think people should be given the choice. If you choose to use them great. If you choose not to use them that's great too. In my opinion there are too many risks for something that might work. My parents had me vaccinated as a child so I had the MMR vaccine and a few years ago I was tested for immunity and showed zero immunity even though I was vaccinated. Everytime I get on facebook or online there is a new post on how horrible people who choose not to vaccinate are and how they are trying to hurt the kids in school and so on and so on. It infuriates me everytime! If you vaccinated and your vaccines are so great why are you so worried about the very few kids who aren't? There are doctors who are now saying if you don't vaccinate according to their schedule they will report you to cps and kick you out of their practice. It upsets me that all of a sudden there are so many people who are pushing for vaccines to be mandatory because I wouldn't tell you how to run your family so why do you want to tell me how to run mine. This is the reason I need friends who share the same ideas as me. I am sure there will be times when people disagree with our lifestyle and I will be upset and frustrated and need to sit on someone's couch and vent and it would be really helpful if the owner of the couch wasn't judging and agreed with me. I think I'm going to have to start hanging out more at the yoga studio and the farmers markets or something because I don't know where else to meet people who think like I do.

Save the dates!

On Monday night I ordered the save the date cards!! Back in December Brent took a few very quick pictures of us all dressed up before we went to Kevin's mom's wedding. We seriously could not find the time to take engagement pictures and Kevin's work schedule (and lack of interest in doing them) made it very difficult to find a time so since we were already dressed up we honestly spent maybe 10 minutes at the most smiling for the camera and Brent did his magic and made us look good. I haven't posted or used any of the pictures here on the blog or on facebook because I want the first time everyone sees the pictures is to be when you open your save the date card, in fact I'm not even going to give you a sneak peek. I had thought about posting one of the photos I didn't use but you'll just have to wait. The ups tracking says they should be delivered on Tuesday so I am hoping to have them mailed out no later than one week after I receive them but Kevin has a lot of addresses to collect and the weather people say we are supposed to get a big snow storm tonight so we'll see how it goes. The other day the accent flowers were delivered so now I can cross those off my list. Why were fake flowers delivered to my house when I am paying a florist for real ones? I watched the movie Melancholia and fell in love with the bouquet Kirsten Dunst had in the movie (if you have never seen this movie I suggest you watch it).  It was a big bouquet of nothing but lily of the valley, this was what I pictured carrying down the aisle. Turns out lily of the valley is a pretty pricey flower and even more expensive when out of season and it is way out of season in November. I decided to use silk lily of the valley as an accent flower in my bouquet and in the boutonnieres because over $7 a flower is ridiculous and as a sane person I couldn't spend that amount on flowers. What else is new? I am now an official member of the yoga studio instead of a trial member. Since we get up so early we go to bed pretty early. By the time I get home from yoga Kevin is either already in bed or getting ready for bed so when I get in bed I turn on the tv and usually watch a show or a documentary on Netflix but recently I have found a new interest in film noir. Netflix has few I have found that I liked and if I don't have a show that night and I'm not feeling like a documentary I'll watch one, well part of one because I usually fall asleep.

Its been a while, oops

I always mean to sit down and right a post and every time I never manage to actually do it. So I will try and catch you up on what has been gong on this month.
For those of you who haven't heard Kevin's dad passed away last Saturday. We have known for a while that he wouldn't have a lot of time with us left but even still that doesn't ease the pain and sorrow Kevin and his family have. The funeral was very nice ad had a decent turn out. This was the first funeral I was involved in the planning process and Kevin's first real funeral. My heart broke for him and his family as I sat with them during this whole process. (side note: I told Kevin that we can not force the people we love to have to fully pay for and plan our funerals. I'm not saying we need to buy caskets and grave plots right now today but once we are better established and for sure once we have kids we need to be at least making payments on these things) Kevin and his family are doing alright but if you feel the need to say a prayer or think happy thoughts for them I'm sure it would still be appreciated.
Yoga! Let me just tell you how much I absolutely love yoga. For Christmas Kevin got me a 40 day membership to a local yoga studio and it is possibly the best gift I have ever gotten. I hate going to the gym and working out by myself, I really don't know what I am doing and don't have enough motivation and drive to really get a good workout in at the gym. With my yoga membership I attend an hour long group class each day and leave feeling like I have actually had a decent workout (some days I leave sweatier and more sore than others, it really depends on the instructor and type of class). I really have gone almost every day I have maybe missed one or two days a week since starting. The owner of the studio believes that all levels and abilities should practice together in the same room. At first this seemed a bit intimidating, I was like what if I am next to someone really good and I am wobbling and falling. The first few times I went I kept looking and seeing what everyone else was doing but now I find that I am so in my zone I really don't notice anyone else unless I feel uncomfortable and need to check to see if I am close to doing the position correctly.
The dogs are starting to get a bit stir crazy and under exercised. They (mostly Stan but Silas too) have been destroying things left and right. Rugs, shoes, the mail, newspaper, really anything they can reach and tear to pieces is fair game in their minds. Yesterday I woke up around 3 am because Stan was standing next to the bed crying, I thought he was just upset because he wanted in bed with us so I told him to go lay down. Two minutes later I heard what sounded like a fart and then a splat, doggie diarrhea from one end of the bedroom to the other. Did I mention he managed to get it in right in front of and on the bedroom door? Yeah, try getting out of the room with that there. I let the dogs out and then spent around 45 minutes cleaning it up. While cleaning it up I told Kevin, who was laying in bed with his head under the covers, that this was it we are never having kids and he goes "Nichole kids won't get diarrhea all over the floor." I had to laugh at him because he has no idea what he is really in for when we have kids. Stan is now on the rice and chicken diet for the week and hopefully that will get his system back on track because I can not clean something like that up again.

Goodbye 2014 Hello 2015

2014 treated us pretty well. I don't think there is really too much to complain about. Are there things I would change? Sure, I mean come on winning the lottery could really make the year great, but there are also over a million things I wouldn't change. Kevin has to go to work tonight for mandatory inventory which stinks because I wanted him to hangout with me but on the bright side he is making money and it also means the dogs and I will be going to bed early to start on the list of shows and documentaries I want to watch in January. Towards the end of 2014 I started watching documentaries and I really got into them. I find them extremely fascinating now of course I'm not watching documentaries about wars or rocks or things that don't interest me. I stumbled upon one documentary that I found interesting and once I realized how much I enjoyed the video I found about one hundred more. (Let me start off by saying I am not pregnant and Kevin and I do not plan on adding any children to our family for at least 3 or so years) About two weeks ago I couldn't sleep and was searching through the recently added folder on Netflix and came across a documentary on breast feeding, I figured it would either put me to sleep or I would turn it off and find something else after about 5 minutes. Instead I watched the whole thing and half of another about natural home births. Right now I am fascinated with / amazed by what the female body (potentially someday my body) can do. In fact that's what about half of my list of documentaries to watch this month are about. I think I would like to possibly become a part time doula, we'll see. The other half are still about organic lifestyles and gmo food and a few random ones that peaked my interest while scrolling through the list of movie titles.