Men at Play

While the girls were getting all dressed up for a photo shoot, the boys were heading to the golf course. Joe was able to golf with my family for the first time, and he said he had a great time (and 'didn't even make a fool out of himself' - his words!).

Pete, Brent, Joe, and Gary

Manly men doing manly things.

I love it when Joe gets to go golfing. Since we have been together, he really hasn't been able to hit the course as much as he would like (school, then finances got in the way). And he gets so incredibly happy when he gets to go - I can tell it's in his blood.

Hopefully these four will get to golf a lot more together now that we are back on the West Coast.

Surprise Birthday Party for my Aunt

As I've mentioned, we went to Wenatchee this weekend. We had a lot to do while we were there, but everything was fun, fun, fun!

That Friday night, when we rolled into town, we headed straight to the Country Club. My cousin Christi, the same one who threw Joe and I a shower Saturday afternoon, had planned a HUGE surprise 60th birthday party for my aunt Bonnie (her mom). She literally had been planning this thing for a year, and it was a huge success. (I'm telling you, Christi should be a professional party planner. She is that good.)

The party started at six and even though Joe and I left work early to head down there, we still didn't make it until 8:30 p.m., a half hour before the party ended (damn Seattle traffic!). But the party was still going pretty strong and we were able to see the birthday girl and my family.

This was before we got there - the moment of the 'surprise'.

She looks like she is trying to eat me, but she was just excited that I made it. :)

Chatting with my brother and sister-in-law.

The party planner and the guest of honor. :)

My brother and sister-in-law.

Me and my mom.

Okay, so the surprise party was awesome. But then, on Saturday, after the bridal shower, we had to continue celebrating my aunt turning the big 6-0. We decided to head up to Leavenworth to take an 'old time' picture of all the girls! It was sooooo much fun. We had a blast! (Mostly because my family is crazy and hilarious and can make ANYTHING fun!)

All dressed up!

The shot!

After the photo shoot we headed out for drinks and dinner.

My crazy family.

Drinks.

Dinner at Visconti's.

What a fun night! And the best part was that my aunt was completely surprised and kept saying it was the best birthday she had ever had. I would call that a success!

Wedding Shower Fun

What a weekend! We were in Wenatchee this weekend and we were going non-stop from the moment we arrived until the moment we headed out of town!

One of the events Joe and I went to was in our honor - a wedding shower hosted by my cousin (and bridesmaid) Christi! She definitely went above and beyond, making amazing appetizers that were all vegetarian and chocolate cupcakes from scratch.

Delish.

My whole family attended and Joe and I were just blown away by everyone's support and generosity. The theme was 'honeymoon' and everyone donated to our honeymoon fund so we can have an amazing week's stay in Cancun, Mexico. I know that once we say our 'I do's' we will be ready for a nice beach vacation to relax!

Joe, Aunt Kathy, and my dad

Our two under-age attendees, Emily and Mason. How cute are they?

My cousin had us all play this great game as well. She placed a bunch of stuff related to the honeymoon in a pillowcase and tied the end. Each person had two minutes to feel the outside of the pillowcase and write down what they thought was in there. I would definitely suggest this game if you are throwing a shower. Everyone got really into it! And then I got to pull each one of the items out of the bag to keep!

Me playing the game. I totally thought I was going to win, but my neice (in pink, behind me) and my cousin's fiance were the winners, with 7 correct guesses. Impressive!

My dad, me, and Joe. I love this picture because it shows off my shoes. I love those shoes. ;)

Me with the planner extraordinaire!

Digging through the pillowcase.

Opening cards.

One of the items in the pillowcase - a shirt for Joe. As you can read, it wasn't very nice. haha.

mmmmm.. cupcake.

This is a terrible picture of me because Joe kept asking me to scrunch down because in my kick-ass shoes, I was taller than him. But it makes me look like a squatty weirdo. Lesson learned.

It was such a wonderful celebration and I can't thank everyone enough for their generosity. I am very lucky to have the family I do (even though they are complete wackos, let's be honest) and am so happy that they have accepted Joe with open arms.

Jackson at Work

Today is going to be a long day for the doggies, since right after work we are heading to Wenatchee. I looked at Jackson this morning and just started feeling bad - he is so patient with us, with everything we have going on, and never really complains that we aren't taking him on hikes or trips to the dog park at much as we have in the past.

I knew that one of the dogs that is normally in the office would be gone today, so I decided to test Jackson's 'work'-ability.

We arrived to work early, before the doors had even been unlocked, so he could get a sense of the place before all the commotion set in. I tossed his dog bed under my desk and took him out into our courtyard to pee. On the way to the courtyard he peed on a cubicle wall - great start!

He did okay when people started showing up, and even held his tongue when Ellie, our other resident dog, came into his new turf. There have been a few squabbles, which I expected, but he actually hasn't been too bad. He's settling in now and just hanging out under my desk, guarding all of the toys he can find.

And I feel good that at least he gets some solid attention today. Hopefully he'll be tired out enough for a good nap in the car on the way to Wenatchee tonight.

The All-Important Marriage License

Yesterday morning Joe and I woke up early and headed into downtown Seattle to apply for our marriage license! We got to the office 15 minutes before they opened, and I admit, I actually felt giddy. The act of applying and receiving a marriage license just makes everything so.... real. And wonderful. And yes, I was that silly girl who walked into the government office snapping pictures. And I may have even dressed up a little.. so? ;)

Sure, we could have filled out the form, mailed it in, and waited for the license to be mailed to us. We wouldn't have had to get up early and make the traffic-laden drive into downtown Seattle on a busy weekday morning. We wouldn't have had to pay for parking. I wouldn't have had to be slightly late to work, and I wouldn't have had to wait to be picked up since Joe took the car.

But we would have missed out on this very special moment together, where they handed us our license and said, go forth and get married!

The (amazing) woman who helped us was very proud of her easy button. ;)

Joe filling out all the deets.

And it's official!

Labor Day Weekend in Canby

After Joe got off work on Saturday, we headed down to his hometown of Canby to visit family and friends (some we hadn't seen since we moved to the East Coast). I had been feeling pretty under the weather, but a weekend of rest and fun with family and friends definitely worked in my favor, as I'm feeling a lot better now. :)

From the home base of Joe's parents house, we were able to head out and see a lot of people. First, we visited with Joe's best man, Bryan, and our flower girl, Marleigh. I haven't seen Marleigh in two years, and it was so sweet because she was so excited to see us! She got a big smile on her face and said, "I'm so excited for your wedding!!" Too cute, right? She is going to be the best flower girl ever. :)

Bryan shared with us some big news as well, and we were able to meet his significant other, Aleina. it was just so nice to catch up.

Next we visited with Marleigh's mom, Kari, and her new baby boy, Zander. Well, new to us! He is a year old now, but we had never met him! He was just the most beautiful, happy, smiley boy and really loved his 'Uncle Joe'. He's walking around and just so sweet. We had seen Kari and her significant other, Scott, when we first moved back to Bellevue (they came up for a Red Sox game), and it was great to see them again.

Next we were off to see another good friend, Brad, and his nine-month-old baby girl, Peyton, another new addition that we hadn't met yet. Peyton is this sweet tiny little girl who took a bit to warm up to us, but made up for it with huge adorable smiles. And while Joe caught up with Brad, I had a great time chatting with Brad's wife, Erin, who is an awesome girl and who I think I'm going to be very good friends with. :)

Then it was off to Joe's sister and brother-in-law's house for a crab feed. They had just returned from the beach where they caught 66 crab. Joe was in absolute heaven. And Shane, Joe's brother-in-law, who is basically a carnivore and thinks I'm pretty weird for not eating meat, was so nice to BBQ up some awesome veggies that were to *die* for. We had such a great time eating and catching up, and drinking wine. Lots and lots of wine. Everyone else left and Joe and I stayed and hung out with Cindy and Shane and just had a blast.

I'm really mad at myself for not taking any pictures. The only picture I have from the whole weekend is one that Joe's niece took of Ava sitting on Shane's lap. Ava picked the biggest, gruffest guy to totally cuddle up with. I told Shane he must have great energy because Ava just doesn't do that. How cute is this?

This morning we spent some time with Joe's parents and then went out to lunch with Joe's friend Brenton, who is also in the wedding. Joe and Brenton traded chiropractic stories and we all had a great time. It's just so crazy that we haven't seen all these people for so long. Too long. It's nice to be back.

And now we are home and getting ready for the week. Only five weeks to go 'till the wedding. Things are about to get crazy!

Not Much to Report

Joe and I have really been focusing on checking off some of the items on our 'wedding to-do list', so we haven't really been out and about as much. So I haven't really felt like I had anything to blog about, but I figured I would just throw up a quick update.

Last night we were able to go out to dinner with another couple - a chiro friend of Joe's and his girlfriend. We went out to a sushi place in Bellevue and while I really don't like sushi (man, I wish I did, everyone does and I'm always left out!) it was a really nice night.

Ava has been going to work with me more often than not, and she's starting to actually get excited when I start getting ready to head out the door. She is still a little anxious when she is there, but I think it's really good for her. Right now my mom is staying with us, so Jackson has company while everyone else is at work. When my mom leaves, I'm not sure if I'll continue taking Ava. Hopefully at some point we can get Jackson in daycare, and then I can keep taking her.

When I was in Wenatchee, my dad gave me this ear of corn that you put in the microwave and it makes popcorn. We finally tried it out and I know I'm a complete nerd, but it was so much fun! It just made regular popcorn, but it was on an EAR! So cool. Observe:

The ear... before.

The ear.... after!

Joe and I have been going to the gym almost every day. We go at 6 a.m., and you know I must be dedicated to getting fit if I'm doing that. It's so hard every.single.day. to get up and go. I hate waking up and I hate working out, so it's not my favorite part of the day. And I'm not really seeing any results, which makes it even harder. But, we still go. Today I found a rack of trashy magazines hidden behind the stair stepper machines, so I think that will help me with the whole thing. At least I can catch up on Ali and Roberto, Jennifer Anniston's new movie, the new cast of DWTS, and those annoying Jersey Shore brats while I'm working out.

September is national pet health insurance month. If you want to sign your pet up with Trupanion, now's the time to do it.

Um... I think that is about it. I can't really think of anything else. Hope everyone is having a great week!