Showered with More Love

After the hair trial and after Joe got off work on Saturday, we drove down to Portland, where Joe's family threw us a wedding shower!

The shower took place at Joe's parents' house, and Joe's sister and niece helped host. They are so creative and covered these chairs with white tulle so Joe and I would have 'bridal seating' when we opened gifts. So sweet! Of course, Ava thought that since they were so pretty, they MUST be for her:


Over 25 people showed up to celebrate with us - we were shocked! The family provided gobs of awesome food (Joe's mom made these veggie meatballs that were sooo yummy) and it really seemed like everyone had a great time.

We played a few simple games that were really fun - the funniest being a game called "Draw the Bride-to-Be". Let me tell you - Joe's family and friends are NOT artists! They were hilarious! I will be posting pictures of some of these drawings - they are too good not to share. Joe got to pick the winner. He picked his neice, Sam, whose drawing was very sweet and one of the only ones that didn't make me look like a goblin or zombie. hehe

There was also a jar full of gold rings and everyone had to guess how many rings were in the jar. I wasn't surprised at all when Joe won that game. He is really good with numbers. I was over 200 rings off.

Everyone was very generous, and we received a lot of wonderful gifts - some off our registry, some homemade, some gift cards and money. Joe's parents definitely broke the ice with their gift to me, which had everyone laughing and me with bright red cheeks. I'll just leave it at that.

Anyway, it was a great day and we are very thankful for everyone who came.

Ava kept a close eye on her grandpa.

Samantha, Shane, Joe

Zach, Annette, Ryan

Joe, Bryan (best man), Alena, Ryan

Our cake - it matches our invites!

(More pictures to come. I didn't have time to take many with my own camera, so will have to get more from Joe's sister.)

Thanks again for a great day, Kalinowskis and friends!

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!