(one of) my best-friend's wedding(s)

My good pal, Trish, got married a couple of weekends ago.  Everything was gorgeous and it was a steamy June night out at Lake Quivira Country Club.

The Country Club sits along a lake so, of course, we took pontoons in for our grand entrance.  Everything was going well until I got off the boat to get a glass of wine.

As soon as I took a sip, something didn't feel quite right.

You know that feeling you get right before you barf your brains out? I had that kind of feeling.

We made our way inside and I cooled off a little bit.  It was just about time to eat and the feeling came back except this time, it was for real and it was coming on FAST!

Luckily I made it to the bathroom in time to hang out with my BFF for the night, the toilet.  (Later in the evening I would not be so lucky...)

I felt so much better and thought that I was ready to eat! Puke and rally!!

That idea was short-lived as I found myself in the bathroom more often than not as the night wore on.  I was finally convinced to go home; I apparently looked like death, my hair and make-up were all over the place, I'm sure my breath was horrendous, and I could barely walk because anytime I would stand for more than a minute, I would feel like puking.

I said my good-byes and was making my way down a long staircase when all of the sudden the puking-feeling came over me yet again. 

I tried to make it to the bottom of the staircase in time to where I could at least get outside, but that didn't happen...I puked in my hands and all over my bridesmaids dress!  Not only that, but multiple people watched this happen.  Thankfully there was a trashcan at the bottom of the stairs that I was able to kind-of make it to...and at this point, most of what I was throwing up was water.

I'm sure most of the people that checked on me in the bathroom thought that I was that drunk girl that had too much to drink by 6:00pm, but I'd had one beer prior to puking...  I also got multiple questions about morning sickness.  Um, no. Not preggo yet.  And honestly if morning sickness is like that I don't know if I'm up for it! Puking five times in the matter of two hours is not fun.

Whatever I had was gone by Tuesday, praise the Lord.

Luckily (as far as I know) I was the only one that ended up with the sickness and the bride and groom had a fabulous time; congrats Trish and Dan! Wish I could have enjoyed your reception somewhere other than in the bathroom! :)

moving on

Yesterday I packed up the final few boxes of stuff from my house in Kansas City.

While I'm so happy to have my house sold and to have everything moved into our new house; it also feels very surreal.

It's weird that I will never go back to that house or that street to walk into my house again. 

 

I mean, someone new is moving into my house that I owned for over three years. 

Three years doesn't sound like long, but a lot of stuff happened in that house:

It was the first house that I owned.
It was the first time I lived on my own in that house.
I was responsible for ALL of the things that didn't work in that house.
I had to mow the yard and shovel ALL of the snow in that house.

I brought my sweet dog Laila home to that house.
My friends and I shared a lot of laughs in that house.
I hosted many parties, baby and wedding showers in that house.
I fell in love in that house.

 

So while I'm more than happy to have moved on to a new stage in my life; this house was the first of many things for me. 

I'd like to think that I did a lot of growing up in that house.

So long, Shawnee house! I'll miss you!

our wedding

Our wedding was perfect, in a word.

It was everything that I wanted it to be: simple, elegant, and easy; and on top of that, we had the MOST gorgeous day in March.  All week it rained, but on Saturday, the weather was to die for.

Everyone says that something will go wrong on your wedding day.  Luckily, or oddly enough, nothing went wrong...the only thing that I remember going wrong happened the night before at our rehearsal dinner: I forgot my cell phone in my hotel room. 

It was like I was completely lost. 

We ended up getting it (thanks to my BFF, Colleen and her husband, Tyler!) and everything went fine, but honestly, that was the only stress I had all weekend!

Planning our wedding was a breeze.  Honestly, I planned most of it the month after we got engaged and after that, I only had a few minor things to work on here and there. I knew what vendors I wanted to work with, I knew how I wanted things to look, and I knew all of the work I needed to do. 

I've planned weddings for friends in the past, so doing my own was a walk in the park!

Friends and family kept asking what they could do to help and were confused when I said I didn't think I needed any help...on top of planning our wedding, I was also in the middle of planning a huge fundraiser, selling my house, moving, and trying to find a new job.  So I had a few things on my plate to say the least! 

Luckily, all of the vendors that I chose to work with made our day super easy!

So, without further ado, here are some of my favorite wedding pictures!

Skyline salon is amazing.  Not only is the location and view awesome, but the staff is so great.  We brought in mimosa's that morning and then they served us lunch all while getting primped and pampered.

Lincoln sent me my favorite, an edible arrangement to snack on while we were getting ready!

The view while you're getting your hair done...(oh, and those are my shoes)

 

The Old Mission Church in Fairway that we got married at was BEAUTIFUL

Our first look :)

I think we had the best looking wedding party ever. Duh.

My parents and my sister and her cute fam; isn't Mason growing like a weed!

Lincoln's parents

My cute Grandpa!

Most of our nieces and nephews posing before the wedding; aren't they cute?!

My Besties from Grade School (and before!) that helped me on the day of the wedding (and before!)

My other BFF's from college!

Our rings. Just hangin' out on a tree branch.

My dad walking me down the aisle. 

This would be where I didn't hear the minister whisper that we were supposed to kiss...so I just stood there like a dork while Lincoln was waiting for me to give him a smooch.  Oh well, it made for some laughs during the ceremony!

Our sweet ride...

Our florist was amazing.  She not only captured what I wanted the reception site to look like to a T, but she flew in peonies from another country so that I would have some for my bouquet.  I can not say enough good stuff about Rosemary at Final Touch Studios!

You guys, the food at our reception was SO GOOD.  Californos knows how to throw a party. All of our guests for days and weeks after our reception keep talking about how good the food was.  One friend had five plates.  Yes, it's a guy, and he's also super skinny. It's not fair.

We had a photo booth that produced some hilarious pictures and a table set up with pictures from pretty much all of our immediate families weddings.

 

One of my BFF's, Monica made our delicious cake!

We're married!

The Mikey Needleman Band performed at the reception; if you're in the KC area you HAVE to book them.  They're so fun!

 

Lincoln's dad busted some moves on the dance floor with the grand kids!

 

 

My mom tore up the dance floor, too.

 And then I rapped to Vanilla Ice on the microphone

If you've followed my blog for awhile, you'll know that getting a microphone at a wedding is pretty common for me, remember?!

Theta sisters!

My most favorite picture of the whole wedding:

I guess he didn't like the champagne?

Finally, last but not least, our AMAZING photographer Amanda Eaton of Amanda Eaton Photography was so great to work with.  She captured every inch of our day and I couldn't have been more pleased with our wedding pictures.  Seriously, if you're looking for a photographer, you must look her up!

 

bath time?

Last night while brushing my teeth, I turned around in the bathroom to see this:

Is it weird that she loves bath time?

Probably, huh?

I think she had also emptied her water bowl and was looking for water.  What a weirdo.

A little later, I walked into our bedroom and found this cute pair all curled up together:

Sometimes I swear she is half human.

omg, dad.

My dad is crazy.  Good crazy.  But still, crazy.

I think I've talked before about how he has twitter...he likes to post recipes, farming advice, and in general, make weird comments.  He says he does it to get a reaction from people.

A post that he put up last night is getting reactions from people:

Seriously? Nice erection? 

Here's the picture; I'm not flipping it around because this is how he posted it to Facebook:

I now get emails and Facebook messages from friends saying things like this:

Or this:

Unfortunately, or fortunately (depending on who you ask), these comments and this blog will only encourage him to post similar things.  Oh, dad....

small town, usa

So, if you didn't already know this about me, I grew up in a very small town in KS.  My graduating class had 21 people in it.  Two. One.  That's it.

I went to college and moved to Kansas City, thinking that I'd be there for quite some time.  I love KC.  Most of my friends live there.  My sister, brother in law, and nephew live there, and it's only an hour and a half from my parents and most of the rest of my family.
All of that changed, however, when I met my hubby, Lincoln. 

He grew up in a small town also--only slightly bigger than the town that I grew up in, but both are in the same vicinity.

Once we'd been dating for awhile, we both knew that marriage was in our future.  We also knew that one of us would have to move.

For me, there really wasn't much thought put into it; I knew that moving back to where he lived and where I grew up was probably the best choice for us.  Not only were both of our parents close by, but there's something about growing up in a smaller community that draws you back in. 

Don't get me wrong, I didn't think that I'd be moving back here quite so soon, or ever for that matter, but once I had the chance to, I knew that's what would be best for us.  I also knew that I'd moving away from a lot of conveniences that I'd grown accustomed to in Kansas City. 

The town that we live in now doesn't exactly have a great variety of restaurants or a nail salon on every corner!

My life in KC was great, busy, but great. But when I come back home, life slows down a little. People care more about your well-being. And family is just a short drive (or walk) away.

Besides not having a plethora of restaurants to choose from or the best shopping centers to go to, nothing is really that different.  I mean I still have a gym to go to, we still eat out, there are plenty of community events to go to and/or join, AND, get this, I just got my first set of golf clubs so that I can play in women's league at the Country Club.  I don't golf.  At all.  But the rules said that I could throw or kick the ball if I needed to!

A friend of mine called the other night and while I'm sure she thought what she said was funny and didn't realize what she said was offensive...it was a little offensive to me.  Here's the conversation:

Friend: Hey pal!
Kristin: Hey! What's up?!
F: Not much, what are you up to?
K: Not a lot, just talking to Lincoln.
F: Aww, that's cute, so small town of you!
K: Huh?
F: That's so cute, and so small town!
K: Talking to my husband is small town??? I don't get it.
F: Ha!

Maybe I'm out of it...but I thought most people talked to their husband/boyfriend/fiance/roommate once they got home from work?

There's a chance I'm being too sensitive, but living in a small town isn't such a bad thing....maybe it's because we've been married a month (TODAY!), but we make time to talk to one another, eat dinner together, and hang out together when we're at home.  To me, that's just what couples do--not just us small town folk.