Burlington Wedding Shower Weekend

This weekend Mom, Dad, Chelsey, Drew and I all piled into our family minivan and headed out to Burlington Iowa for a wonderful wedding shower weekend!  Our weekend was to celebrate these two cute kids getting married on June 29th! 

The showers were for the girls only but the boys came with us to see where Alex grew up!  The only people missing were Jackie, Sam and Eli.  We missed having them with us.  It will be fun to have us all together at the wedding! 

We got to stay in a beautiful hotel that is attached to a fun center.  Inside the complex there was a water park, spa, casino, restaurants, a gym and much more.  It was a really fun place to stay!  On Saturday we went to the first bridal shower downtown right along the Mississippi river.  The shower was a duel shower for Rita and Alex's cousin Bri that will be getting married too.  It was such a fun shower! 

The Bride with all her gifts!

 









The brides in their new silk robes!

The Evenson girls

The boys came to help us carry out all the gifts!

 

At night the whole family got together and went for pizza.  It was so much fun to meet all of Alex's family and experience Burlington.  We even got to see the family bar and drive down snake alley in the minivan. 

This picture quality is terrible BUT it is us all piled in the van driving down snake alley together.  It was so fun! 

 

Pizza at The Drake

Dad and Drew up to no good!

 

Then on Sunday we headed to Rita's second bridal shower.  We got to meet more family and had lots of really good laughs together.  Everyone made us feel so welcome!

 

 

 

For Rita's gift I painted three state canvas for their new house.  Each with a heart for where they grew up and where they will be going.  Gothenburg Nebraska, Burlington Iowa, and Colorado Springs, Colorado.

I am also really good at shower games!  Look at all my loot! 

 

 

It as an amazing weekend with friends, family and lots of food.  I feel so blessed that my sister is marrying into such a fun and supportive family!  It is going to be one fun wedding!  Two months and counting!

Busy Little Spring

Things have been a little crazy around here lately!  Here is what we have been up to the last few weeks.  Be ready for lots of pictures!

We spent Easter down on Roca Road with Drew's family.  It was relaxing and filled with lots of family time.  It was special to be in church together as a family on Easter Sunday.  God is good!



On Saturday we walked in 5k race to support a Norris family.  Marcia walked the whole route! 

Marcia and I were excited about crossing the finish line.  Jazz hands!

Drew even got to shoot his new gun with his Dad. 

My two favorite guys out on Roca Road.

We came home and continued work on our fireplace project.  We primed and painted the wall.  This portion of the project turned out to be a little more involved then we anticipated but we got it done.  Drew also upgraded our ceiling fan. 

The next weekend we got together with our journey group for a day in the country.  One of our couples lives on a farm in Iowa and they invited us all out for a day of fun.  We had lots of food and laughs together.  The boys brought their guns and had a blast shooting.  This group has meant so much to Drew and I over the years.  God has given us some amazing friends!

This weekend we went to a wedding of a family friend from Gothenburg.  My Mom came into town for the event.  My Dad was on his way back from California so he couldn't make it.  It is the last wedding that Rita and Alex will go to before they get married on June 29th!  It was so fun to talk wedding and spend time with some of my family.

Rita and Alex will be going to the chapel soon!  I can't wait!!!

I am working with Drew on opening his "Henning eyes" for a picture. 

The past few weeks have been crazy but it seems that spring is always a little busy!  I hope to be better at keeping my blog up to date! 

Drywall Time

The past week we have been busy with the drywall phase of our fireplace project.  I quickly found out that this phase was going to be a dusty one! 

For drywall we used Kathol Drywall.  We got several bids and we decided to go with this company.  Jon did the whole project on his own.  It took four days of a few hours here and there to remove the old drywall, put up new drywall, mud, tap and sand. 

In order to save all our stuff from the dust I put everything from our kitchen in the office and everything from the living room in our guest bedroom.  It made for a few extra nights of going out to eat.  Drew didn't complain.

Here are some pictures of the whole process.

Before Drywall

New Drywall Up - Day One

 After Mud and Tape - Day Two

More Mud - Day Three

 

 Sanded and Finished - Day Four
This is Jon sanding the wall.  He put up plastic to contain the dust.

 

Finished and ready for the next step.

 Overall this phase of the project wasn't too bad.  Maybe that is because we hired it done!!??  So that's what this feels like.  Hee, Hee!  Now we will move on to the finishing touches.  We have to paint the ceiling (that will be interesting), paint the walls, build a mantel, mount the TV and tile the fireplace. 

There is still lots to do but I have found my own way to cope with the home improvement stress!