Playing Catch Up

Welp, we did it again.  Another month without a blog post!  Since pictures are worth a thousand words, here's our best attempt at playing catch up.  

We hit the town for St. Patrick's day and celebrated the fact that I have red hair.  (Ha!) Looks like Emilee didn't get the green memo, luckily we still love her. :) 

We confirmed our status as "best cousin and cousin-in-law" by refinishing Emilee's super old, super ugly dresser and turning into this beautiful masterpiece!  I was pretty proud of the outcome but am kicking myself because I forgot to take a "before" photo.  Just imagine a totally typical orangy-wood dresser and ugly gold/wood hardware.  Yuck, it looks so much better in Tiffany's blue. :)

I caught the first fish of the year! (Muhahaha)

We brought the Firebird home  - one BIG step towards having this baby on the road this summer!  As you can imagine, Kurt is on cloud nine now that his precious car is safely (and conveniently) sitting in his own garage.  It's a good feeling to see it all come together... now I'm just waiting to see this perty boy RUN.   

The boys continue to fall asleep anytime you leave them alone.  

Some things never change!

My lovely friend and co-worker is counting down the days until she welcomes her first little one into the world at which point she will be taking on a new role as a stay-at-home Mom.   This means big changes for me at work, although I will miss her dearly (and require regular lunch dates to adjust) I'm excited to take on new duties and am looking forward to starting my new position as the Senior Coordinator of Events and Public Relations. 

Speaking of work... I was contracted as the Volunteer Coordinator for the USA Wrestling Folkstyle National Champions again and somehow managed to survive.  This was my 6th year (or maybe 7th?) working the event and it's always an exhausting, chaotic weekend full of non-stop wrestling and great people watching.  Ha!  It's crazy to think that we somehow run 26 consecutive mats for 3 entire days, but it's true! 

Meet Pita Cotton-tail :) 

We celebrated Easter with family on both sides and we scored big in the egg hunts!  Oh yes, we still do Easter egg hunts even though we are clearly adults.  No shame here.  I scored the high dollar eggs at the Kelly's egg hunt and went home with an extra $30 and Kurt found a prize egg at the Simon's Easter too! Lucky us! 

Last but not least, Kurt sold the Jeep Wrangler (or as I call it - the Big Jeep).  He's been going back and forth about selling it for the past few months and finally opted to sell it as-is and save himself the time and effort it would take to get it back on the road (or off-road for that matter).  We put on Craigslist on Thursday, got a call Friday and had cash in hand by Saturday.  As Kurt says, he did it "for the greater good" (ie: our savings account).  :) 

That's all folks! Time to watch the storm roll in... Have a great rest-of-the weekend! 

Oh snap.

So it's official, I've been slacking.  I don't even know where to start so I'll start with this... sorry for the time lapse.  Lets throw this in too... sorry in advance for the rambling I'm about to do.  I hope nobody has high expectations for this long awaited blog.   I've totally been procrastinating because there's simply too much little stuff to catch up on and when it comes down to it there's not really any big stuff.   That's life right?!  All the little stuff comes together to become our everyday adventures. :)  The big adventures are few and far between and I guess you could say that we're in between for now.  No complaints on this end!

One big victory to report... Kurt finished up the 1951 Oldsmobile that he's been diligently working on for, like, ever.  Not only am I extremely proud and embarrassingly impressed with his work but this also means that we can finally park in the garage again... just in time for the nice weather.  (Nice timing Kurt, not.)  On a serious note, this was Kurt's first complete interior project so it's been really cool to see it all come together.  I'm admittedly uneducated when it comes to upholstery and/or cars so when this Oldsmobile landed itself in our garage I had a hard time visualizing the finished project.  I mean, it barely resembled a real car... no seats, no carpet, bare ceiling and bare doors... it needed some serious interior work.  Slowly but surely it came together with no shortage of late nights and long hours, until TA-DA there was a flawless custom interior where all that metal used to be.  I never doubted that it would get done because you'd have to be a fool if you think Kurt will give up on something but like I said before, I'm embarrassingly impressed.  In fact, this was my initial response: "Wow, you really CAN do this!"   ...Of course I meant that in the best possible way and lucky for me Kurt thinks I'm cute and didn't take it the wrong way, hehe.   To check out pictures of this monster project click here, and while you're at it go ahead and Like the Showtime Auto page on Facebook.

With this project under his belt Kurt is already making plans to get the Firebird moved up here and finished for the summer.  We are both giddy with excitement for spring to be here and warm weather to grace us so we can take advantage of our complimentary work schedules to do more fishing, camping, hiking, road tripping and general adventure seeking!  For now, we're excited for another family-filled weekend in the 'Loo... We've been spoiled by having family visit us back to back weekends and we're loving it!  This time we're prepping to watch our nephew wrestle at the Pee Wee State Tournament.  Maybe if I'm lucky I can find a way to pawn off some of Kurt's 68765168 wrestling trophies that he insists on keeping for-ev-er.  Funny story... more to come.

Adios Amigos! (Yummm that makes me want to go to Amigos and eat some fajitas!  Gosh I'm a sucker.)

{Non-White} Christmas

When I heard these dreaded words last Tuesday I couldn't fight the serious disappointment that followed:

"If you're hoping for a white Christmas, the chances of that are ZERO"
- Weatherman

Gasp!  No snow for Christmas?  I racked my brain for a memory of another Christmas that came and went without at least a dusting of snow... fail.   Neither Kurt or I can remember another non-white Christmas in all our 25 years.  Much to my surprise, the weatherman was right this time.  We had no choice but to up the Christmas cheer with extra carols and cookies.  I went into crazed baking mode and whipped out an embarrassing amount of goodies, which of course isn't a problem this time of year because we had plenty of people to share with. :) 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge & Snowmen on the Stick

Candy Cane Kiss Cookies, puuurdy.

 Rolo Cookies

As it turns out, Christmas doesn't have to be white to be wonderful.  In fact we even enjoyed the comfortably cool weather and ideal driving conditions.  Now that Christmas is over my constant "let it snow" cry has disappeared and we are counting this abnormally mild winter amoung our many blessings. (Let the record show that a light layer of nice fluffy snow on Christmas morning would still outweigh the aforementioned pros)

Speaking of blessings, the holiday season has an awesome way of reminding everyone how lucky they are.  We always feel extra grateful to be surrounded by family and friends at Christmas time and this year was no exception.  Although we've been sharing holiday traditions for the past few years, it was exciting to share in each other's family gatherings as an "official" member this time around.  Here's a little glimpse at the fun that we had:

 Yes, we did have a cowboy themed Christmas.  Awesome right?

 

Christmas Eve with the Kelly Family

 

Love this picture with Kurt's Mom, Siblings and their families!

 Wonderfully chaotic = Christmas at the Simon's.

 

Cousins on the Westra side! =)

PS.  HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY, MAX!  Look how little and cute he was!! It's been a fun memorable year... Here's to a many more (and hopefully calmer) years to come!

 

PPS.  CONGRATULATIONS to our great friends, Lauren & Kevin, on their recent engagement!! We couldn't be more excited for you.  XOXO

Wowzers!

What an amazing month!  This very well may have been the most entertaining month yet -- we've managed to do a little bit of everything.   Last time you heard from us we were gearing up for a fun concert and counting down the days until our honeymoon, now we're looking back at the all the fun we had and all the unforgettable memories we've made. Wowzers!

Backtrack a few weeks and imagine us in the front row of the Zac Brown Band concert.  Um, yeah, that really happened.  Talk about the best birthday gift ever -- I can't even put into words how awesome the show was.  We had a blast hanging out with Emilee and her boyfriend (Zach) before, during and after the concert! We learned to be a seamless team in order to hold our sweet spots in "the pit". It's amazing how many people will try to befriend you when you have a better view than them.  Luckily, I'm not afraid to hold my ground (or push, squeeze and talk my way back to our spots after each and every bathroom break)... especially after a couple beers. =)

Ahhh best band ever. =)

Fun Fun Fun!

Next up was Thanksgiving and we ate as much traditional feast food as possible and enjoyed the company of our families!  We even hit up a near-by Walmart for the 10pm sales but when we looked for the check-out line we decided to head home. Ha!  My mom and I did score some good deals and finish up our Christmas shopping on Black Friday though --- not in the middle of the night but mid-day without the long lines and stampeding. 

Before we knew it we were on a plane heading towards Punta Cana.  Ok actually we hit Atlanta for a night before continuing to our real honeymoon destination.  We had a ton of fun every step of the way!  Our flights were smooth and we navigated the airports without problem -- even in Punta Cana where they literally roll up a staircase and have you walk off the plane and onto the tarmac before you wander into a huge hut-like building without walls.  Pure proof that the weather there is gorgeous, always.  And it was... 85 and sunny every single day.  We did get sprinkled on for about 5 minutes a day but before you even thought about going inside the sun was shining again.  It was perfect.

Maybe I felt a tiny bit like the President walking down those stairs... or maybe not.

The BEAUTIFUL (sunrise) view from our balcony.

Just another gorgeous day in Punta Cana!!

 

 

Our trip was everything that a honeymoon should be - fun, relaxing and romantic!  We stayed at Secrets Royal Beach and it was (as you can see in the pictures) gorgeous.  We'd totally recommend it to other couples, too.  The service was great and the rooms were clean.  The only so-so part was the food.  At first we thought it was great but by then end of the week our stomachs didn't think so.  None-the-less it was an amazing vacation!! We spent time on the huge white beach everyday, we swam in the ocean, learned to "drive" a catamaran, floated in the lazy river, frequented the pool/beach bars, snorkeled, swam with sharks and sting rays (which sparked child-like fear in Kurt, which seriously cracks me up), met tons of great couples, got dressed up for dinner at night, got a couples massage on the beach and even caught a few impressive performances by the resort's Entertainment Team.  *Sigh* Although it is nice to be home again, I miss that place and literally dream of it at night. 

After re-adjusting to life at home, we celebrated my 25th birthday, in style!  I kind of still can't believe that I'm 25.... it just sounds so much older than 24 did.  With this in mind, we opted for a theme party to help embrace my "old age" and it was a knee-slappin' good time!  See what we mean....

Clearly the coolest friends ever... Right?

So there you have it.  I'm not generally one to use weird words but I bet you want to say "Wowzers" now, too. There's just not a real word that appropriately communicates the overwhelming amount of memory making that took place in the last few weeks.  Now that this whirlwind of once-in-a-lifetime events is wrapping up we're preparing to dive into the excitement of Christmas!  Our tree has been twinkling for weeks already (yes, I totally put it before our trip) and we're getting anxious for our first of 6 (yes, six) Christmas gatherings which is taking place this weekend. 

Until next time we hope you're all staying warm, counting your blessings, shopping smart but also taking time to reflect on the true meaning of this holiday season.  Merry Christmas to ALL!

Life is Good.

We have been in awe of life lately.   I feels so good to take a step back and examine the life that your living.  Really take it in.   Somehow we've managed to find ourselves in a grown-up life full of blessings and the reality of it all just smacked us in the face!

You know how adults are always telling you to enjoy being young because it goes so fast?  But at the same time they say life keeps getting better....  I guess we now fall into that "adult" category because all those wise words are clicking.  (Yes, Mom, you were right.)  We are more aware than ever that God has provided for us and dang, He's good.

Kurt has been rambling about being 25 for literally the past 4 years.  Even when we began dating I remember him talking about his big dreams and for some reason he had it in his head that all of this stuff should be accomplished by the time he was 25-years-old.   I'll admit it, I smiled and nodded even though I felt that some of those ideas where just plain unrealistic for someone to achieve in their twenties.  But then here we are basically living the dream (well, our dream anyways) and we're only 25 (well, Kurt is anyways).  :)  It's funny because I was raised to be very rational but if you look in the Dictionary Kurt's picture can be found under "dreamer".  Although we have tons in common, this is our biggest difference. We challenge each other at the core and learning to balance our different strengths and attitudes has proved to be the key to our own paradise.

One thing in particular that Kurt has been pumped up about lately is our recent purchase of a '63 Chevy Nova II.   It was a steal of a deal and evidently my husband has high hopes for turning it for a pretty profit down the road.  Check it out:

One thing in particular that I have been pumped up about lately is our plans to see (quite possibly my favorite band of all time) the Zac Brown Band on Saturday, as in TOMORROW, squeal.  I can hardly wait!!!  This is my early Birthday present from Kurt and it is going to be SO much fun.   We're hitting the road to Des Moines along with Emilee and her boyfriend and I guarantee we won't be listening to anything other than ZBB for the entire drive.  Which is what I've been doing for the past week or so.... I'm thinking if I haven't gotten tired of it yet then I never will. 

Of course, there's this big huge obvious thing that we're both particularly pumped up about, too.... our HONEYMOON!!!  We are literally counting down the days.  We broke out the luggage and started digging out warm weather clothes this week.  I can't believe it's almost time for our trip!  AHHH, so excited!

Although we have a lot of big exciting things going on right now that's not the only reason we're preaching this "life is good" attitude.  I guess it's all the little things that are really making us happy.  We've been reading Every Day a Friday by Joel Osteen, too, and apparently it does what it claims.  This book is full of encouragement, spiritual guidance and practical advise on how to find joy and happiness in every day of the week, everyday of your life -- the kind of joy that we all feel at 5:00pm on Friday. Ha!

Speaking of joyous Fridays.... that's TODAY!!  Time to go enjoy the weekend. We'll leave with you with some of our favorite quotes.  Hopefully they inspire you, too. :)

Blink. October is Over?!?

OK seriously, the last month has been a complete blur.  The only reason I'm sitting down to blog now is because my Mom has reminded me like 5 times in the last week that it's been over a month.  Sigh.  I know, I'm a slacker and if you* visit us I'll make up for it with baked goods galore!!

Now to re-live this crazy, tragic, sometimes almost magic, awful, beautiful month.... in a nutshell:
(Deep breath)

• We kicked off October in Northeast Iowa where my biggest fundraising event of the year takes place.  I put Kurt and my family to work as volunteers and my Grandma & Grandpa Westra even came to participate this year.  I was ecstatic to see months of hard work pay off with a record breaking Walk to End Alzheimer's!  (Donations are still being accepted, every little bit helps in the fight against Alzheimer's disease!)
• We traded in Kurt's old (and stinky) car and are now the proud owners of a way more useful Jeep Cherokee.  Although it's new to us it's nowhere close to being new but it meets our needs and fits our lifestyle so much better than the beat-up, manual, tiny car we had before!  It's great to actually be able to travel comfortably with our dogs and to actually have a reliable vehicle to pull our boat with.  :)
• We took Cedar Falls by storm and celebrated UNI Homecoming, alumni style.  It was a fun-filled weekend featuring some of our favorite people, lots of panther spirit, tailgating, bar hopping, huge burritos, patio drinking and live music.  As a result of all this craziness I managed to lose my good camera (this is the awful part of the month), which happened to be full of pictures outlining our attempt to be college kids again (this is the tragic part).  I'm going to change the subject really quickly now because I'm still upset about the whereabouts of said camera.  
• I baked, a lot.  We enjoyed some super delicious chocolate oreo cupcakes with homemade cookies & cream whipped cream topping, along with a batch of Snickers cupcakes topped with carmel buttercream frosting, and recently some plump peanut butter chocolate chip cookies.  I also whipped up some snickerdoodle cupcakes with sugar-sprinkled cinnamon vanilla buttercream and some ridiculously tasty "loaded grahams" for an Alpha Phi fundraiser.  Plus some wanna-be gourmet white chocolate dipped and drizzled pretzel rods for my Walk volunteers.  I gotta admit that I'm really loving this new hobby. So much in fact that we're scoping out gym memberships to counteract the possible side effects! Ha!
• We spent a couple weekends back home in WL where we watched my not-so-little brother play football, worked on Kurt's firebird, enjoyed time with our family, took a hay rack ride, played with our nieces and nephews, went out with friends and even rode in the combine with Grandpa Simon!
• Last but certainly not least:  Kurt got a new job!!  He started this past Monday at Wayne Engineering as a Welding Technician and he's loving it.  He's pumped to be out of concrete work and is excited to be adding this skilled trade to his resume.  He essentially gets to build trucks all day.... Kurt's dream, right?!  I think the best thing about his new job is the hours.  At his old job we never knew when he would be home and he often had mandatory Saturdays.... now he works 7am-3:30pm and has the choice to put in 3 hours of overtime a day.  We have both been on cloud nine all week because we are finally able to have a LIFE (this is the almost magic part of the month). This has truly been a game changer for us and we're extremely happy to be starting this new chapter in our life.  =D

So there you have it, you're all caught up!  Here's a few pictures (courtesy of our old, crappy back-up camera) to fuel your imagination.

My first combine ride!

Making progress on the Firebird.

My October baking adventures!
Not pictured: Oreo Cupcakes...because we ate them the day I lost my camera. :(

On that note, have fabulous HALLOWEEN weekend!  We, sadly, are not busting out any costumes this year.  (Gasp!)  We're attending a wedding on Saturday and they weren't too keen on the idea of guests in costumes... dang.  I guess we'll have to make-up for this monster disappointment by getting some sort of a theme party on the books, like pronto.  Stay tuned for details.  :)

For once, my jack-o-lantern is cooler then Kurt's! HA!

*You must fall into the BFF or Family category if you're actually considering an impromptu visit. :)  ....You never know who's reading this stuff, a little disclaimer is always helpful, right?

Reminiscing...

It's time.  Time to look back and gush about our wedding day, that is.  I've been kind of ignoring the fact that our once-in-a-lifetime, magical, memorable, monumental big day is actually in the past now. Like, it is over.  It's a weird feeling and I'm 1000% (yes one thousand percent) sure that this is the usual wedding wind-down for brides and grooms all over the nation.  

The sudden acceptance of our wedding's place in our memory bank was sparked by our recent attendance of yet another wedding.  We hit the road to Chicago last weekend and shared in my cousin, Christy & Wayne's big day!  They planned an intimate wedding in the city complete with an amazing venue right on Lake Michigan.  It was simple, beautiful and perfectly fitting for the happy couple!  (CONGRATS guys!)

Check out that view!  And gorgeous weather, too!!

Just lovely, isn't it?! <3

When we got back home, I finally popped the DVD of our wedding day in.... and it made me so so happy to watch!  I was totally filled with emotion, and it was really fun to see the day from a different perspective.  Hearing us speak our vows was a refreshing reminder of our commitment and seeing the joy on our faces (and our friends/families faces!) was just plain cool.   We ended up reminiscing about the wedding on our drive back to the 'Loo and we're still feeling really blessed to have such amazing and meaningful memories. :)  Sigh.

On that note, we'd like to share the slide-show that we put together for our wedding!  It makes us smile every time we watch it... plus, you might learn a little about Kurt & I as you see us grow up.  Pictures are worth a thousand words, right?! Haha!  This slide-show was played at the church while guests were seated before our wedding ceremony.  Our awesome pastor ended up using it as the inspiration for the sermon she gave during the ceremony -- I think of it often and I'm sure it will always have a special place in our hearts.   Enjoy!   

(Ps.  There's music!  Turn it up, yo!)