Wedding Photos

I am SO excited to share just a few of the photos from Rita and Alex's wedding!  They used Lane Weddings and he did an amazing job.  He was fun, easy going and took wonderful pictures.  I love looking back on their big day! 


The beautiful bride!



This was a handkerchief of Grandma Ellen's Rita carried on her flower bouquet.  So special! 

The cutest ring bear ever!

The newest Evenson family photo!

Sisters!

Wedding party outside of the reception site. 

Time for a speech. 

A box of Barbie cereal we celebrated Rita's birth with made it to the wedding for my maid of honor speech. 

 

Father Daughter dance

 

The pictures captured the day perfectly! 

Busy Fall

This fall is flying by like always!  We have been so busy with fun things I can't keep my blog up to date.  So here is my attempt to catch up on our fall happenings.  Be prepared for LOTS of pictures!

We were able to successfully take down our old shed and put up a new one.  We finally have a shed that won't fall down and is painted like our house.  I am one happy wife!

One thing that has kept us busy this year is my pregnancy.  The first half has gone SO fast!  I can't believe I am already 22 weeks!  At 20 weeks we got to find out that we are having a baby girl.  We could not be more excited.  My favorite part so far has been feeling baby girl Henning moving.  It is such a miracle!

To celebrate our baby girl news we had a gender reveal party.  Drew didn't want to do anything and I wanted to go overboard so we met in the middle.  ;)  We smoked some meat and had family over to reveal the news.  We even got to FaceTime our news with our three siblings that live out of state.  It was a very fun night!!

Two days after our big baby appointment our dear friends Kyle and Natalie came to town from North Carolina.  They lived in Omaha for two years and we quickly became best friends.  We hate that they live so far away but we always have fun visiting each other. 

This trip was extra special because we got to meet their baby Connor for the first time!  Last time we visited them in NC Connor was days from arriving.  It was such a treat to get to spend lots of time cuddling and watching Connor.  It felt like he had always been part of our little friend family! 

While they were here we visited their favorite Omaha spots and spent lots of time laughing!  We have been so blessed by our friendship with Kyle and Natalie.  I hate having them so far away but they did pick a state with better weather!  :)

 

 

We met Kyle and Natalie when they started our Journey Group as leaders many years ago.  As a special treat we got to get together with our whole journey group at Kevin and Vanessa's house in the country.  We picked apples, ate soup and had a bon fire.  It was so special for everyone to be together!  Drew and I feel so blessed to have these friends in our life! 

After our wonderful time with dear friends we began to prepare for our annual Nebraska road game trip.  This year we traveled to Minnesota for the game.  We go with a group of fourteen but this year we didn't get a good group shot.  :(  Our dear college friends Brian and Jaime are always up for a football adventure. 

We had a great time exploring Minneapolis and spending time together.  The stadium was new and very nice.  I loved the college vibe and fun food around the stadium.  However, the game did not turn out so well.  The Huskers lost big.  Drew had a hard time coping with the loss but luckily the city had a famous Juicy Lucy burger he was able eat to heal some of the pain.  It was a great trip made even sweeter by the fact that Jaime and I are both expecting.  Jaime and Brian will be having twins in January and our little girl will come in March.  So next year may look a little different!  :)

  It has been one busy fall so far and things are just getting started.  I know as baby grows and the weather gets cold things will slow down.  Right now I am enjoying each and every moment of fall!

Shed Project

This weekend we took on another home improvement project.  The Huskers didn't have a game so we made the most of our weekend and got a big project off our list! 

When we bought our house 7 years ago (how can it be that long??) we knew we needed to take down and replace the shed in our backyard.  It was a sore sight and didn't provide much storage.  Look at this poor shed.....

We rented a very pink dumpster and called friends for extra help.  We were so lucky to have some of the guys from our journey group show up to help with the project. 

The shed looked like it would just fall over with one push but like all home improvement projects it proved to be a little more complicated. 

We are so thankful to have such wonderful friends to give up their Saturday morning to give us a hand!  It feels so good to have the shed down and ready for a new one to be built. 

Al Papik Field Dedication

On Saturday the whole family gathered together at Doane College for the renaming of the football field.  It was very special since they renamed the field the Al Papik field after Drew's Grandpa. 

Al was a legendary football coach at Doane and had much success on and off the field.  It was so neat to see family, friends and his old players come together to celebrate the new Al Papik football field.

 It was a beautiful day for a football game!  We even got to watch Ray (Drew's Dad) coach at the game.  He currently helps coach the Doane football team.

 

Drew and I especially enjoyed our trip back to Doane since it is where we met 12 years ago.  We got a chance to tour around campus with our dear friends and walk down memory lane.  Ron, Drew and I all went to Doane together.  It was extra special to have Megan (Ron's wife) and their two girls with us!  We took a picture of the boys outside of Frees Hall where they met freshman year. 

 

It was such a fun day to celebrate Al and all he has done for Doane College.  I loved going to back to a place I love so much! 

We’re Pregnant

Yes you read the title right!  We are going to have a baby….. finally!!!!

Drew and I have had a long and unexpected journey to parenthood.  Starting our own family has always been something close to our hearts.  Four and half years ago, right when we were ready to start trying, I became sick.  This led us on a four year journey to find treatment for my POTS.  In the four years God has taught us so much about ourselves and about what really matters in life.  He shaped our hearts and lives into something so wonderfully unexpected.   

In December of this year I found a successful treatment for my POTS that has allowed me to be on NO medication!  Praise God!!  Once my doctors were confident with my progress and treatment we got a long awaited green light to begin the process of starting a family.  That appointment was such a highlight but it compared in no way to the pure joy that was to come months later. 

For months we tried with no luck.  God again was using this time to teach us peace and patience for His timing.  Luckily I was so busy with Rita’s wedding I didn’t have much down time to over think (another gift from God). 

As the wedding quickly approached I became increasingly busy and preoccupied with the wedding.  We were moving fast and there was no time to listen intently to my body.  I was tired and a little more emotional but who wouldn’t be with your baby sister getting married! 

The morning of the wedding I was running late for my hair appointment.  I had hundreds of little things to pack and think of before heading out the door for the big day.  Then it occurred to me that I hadn’t looked at my calendar in a while.  One glance at my planner I realized I was late.  I didn’t think much of it because I had felt like every other month before.  However, I decided to take a quick pregnancy test so I would feel okay about drinking a glass of champagne for the toast. 

I took the test and went on with the rest of my packing for the day.  When I came back to the bathroom the positive test result took my breath away!  Of course we had been trying for months but I had NO idea I was pregnant. 

The high pitched “DREW” that came out of me got Drew right out of bed in a hurry.  We couldn’t believe that we were going to become parents.  I couldn’t believe God’s timing!  Months prior I had done the girl math over and over in my head.  If I am 7 weeks pregnant did I order the right size dress?  Then here was God surprising me in a way not even I had thought!

Needless to say it was a whirlwind of a morning.  I had to rush out the door and get my “maid of honor” frame of mind back.  It was so hard for us to not tell everyone at the wedding but for so many reasons we knew it was a secrete best kept close to the vest.  It made the wedding even more special for us.  I love looking back at all the wedding pictures and saying “I’m pregnant” there! 

Our pregnancy story is so much different then how I had it planned out in my head for so many years.  But that is the funny thing about how God can guide you through the darkest times to bring you to place that is far better than the best laid plans. 

Here is a picture from our 7 year anniversary this summer.  It was so special to celebrate knowing we were pregnant. 

We feel so blessed to be given the gift of becoming parents.  Our little baby Henning is due to arrive in early March.  It will be March madness for sure at our house this year and we couldn't be more excited!