sunday morning we got up for church and met up with tim and jill and the kids at friendship crc. it is always a joy to spend time with those three munchkins! for dinner my aunt ruth and uncle don came over. my mom had invited them over so we could see them- little did they know that they were invited over so we could ask them something... at dinner we asked them to be the emcees for the wedding- and they were thrilled! my aunt was so excited and yelped 'yes!!! oh, right don?' then my uncle had the funniest reaction! i haven't laughed that hardily in months! we are really excited that they said yes, and we both know they are going to do a great job. to know that they are on the job calms a lot of worries diana and i have been having about the wedding and planning, so its such a blessing that they said yes!
sunday favors
sunday morning we got up for church and met up with tim and jill and the kids at friendship crc. it is always a joy to spend time with those three munchkins! for dinner my aunt ruth and uncle don came over. my mom had invited them over so we could see them- little did they know that they were invited over so we could ask them something... at dinner we asked them to be the emcees for the wedding- and they were thrilled! my aunt was so excited and yelped 'yes!!! oh, right don?' then my uncle had the funniest reaction! i haven't laughed that hardily in months! we are really excited that they said yes, and we both know they are going to do a great job. to know that they are on the job calms a lot of worries diana and i have been having about the wedding and planning, so its such a blessing that they said yes!
rock and rolling
after fridays we weren't done hanging out yet, so we headed over to freddie's place. he has the rockband video game, and we were all up for some rocking out! it took a bit to find the place, but when we got there we set up the system and took turns being rock stars. i even took a turn at the bass guitar. i sucked a ton, due to the fact that i have no rhythm, but it was all about enjoying ourselves, so no one seemed to care if we sucked or not. finally around 2:30am, diana and i called it a night and headed back to my parents. i found out later from jeffry lee that they stayed there, barbara and nick included, till about 4:00am!(more pictures: 1, 2, and a jeffry lee video)
funny glasses
after we had dinner we went to go see 'coraline 3D' (my thoughts on the film are here). all of us had really wanted to see it, and diana was excited because she had never seen a movie in 3D! miranda and levi took off before the movie because of the crappy weather (they had a two hour drive ahead of them and wanted to get going before everything froze into ice), and nick and barbara passed on the movie too, they had already seen it, so they said they would get us a table at friday's for after the show.
friday chill out
after the movie we did our usual- we headed over to friday's! nick and barbara were already there with a table for us, which was very nice! we hung out there for a few hours. they probably got sick of us, considering we didn't even get any food... but we had a great time just hanging out and chatting. it was really nice to all be together again and to just talk. i feel like the guys don't get to spend much time with diana, so every chance we get together is good- the more time they spend with her the more they get to see what i see in her!(more pics)
steak out
after the wedding shower we headed back to my parents house. we had plans to go and talk with our photographer and finalize the details for the wedding. diana and i left to take care of that, her sister took a nap upstairs (she works nights, so this was the middle of the night for her and she was exhausted!), and miranda and levi decided to stay behind and actually spent the time chatting it up with my mom and papa. after our meeting, which went really well, we went back and hung out for a while. finally we made plans for what to do for the night with the guys. we met up with them at logan's steakhouse. we didn't get there very early to get a table to all sit together (there were 10 of us!), so we had to settle for two booths back to back. it was alright, but i wished we could have all sat together.
wedding shower
saturday morning i got up early with my mom to go to diana's wedding shower with my mom's side of the family. now, don't get me wrong, i didn't go to the shower, i just got there to hang out with levi. diana's friend miranda came with her husband levi, and the plan was for levi and i to hang out while the women had the shower. after i found the place levi and i headed out. we sat down and had breakfast at the restaurant out there called 'bunker hill, chill and grill'. after breakfast we still had some time to kill, so we headed over to best buy. i had a few things to pick up there, and i knew we could waste a ton of time there!around 12:30pm we got the call and headed back to the shower. we went in and said hi to all the women. sounded like they had a great time, and we got some great stuff too!
down with the sickness
this past weekend i headed up to grand rapids. i went up friday night and had planned to see the guys, but things didn't work out like i had planned...aaron and rex were both sick, so they went to bed early. jeffry lee and freddie had planned to go and meet up for a little while with some friends from work. i got into town to late to join them, jeffry lee said they wouldn't be too long and were up for something afterwards, so we made plans to go see a flick.
i figured i could kill some time by stopping over at tim and jills place. jill was out with friends, so i stopped by and hung out with timmy for a while. we had a good time chatting and watching 'sarah conner chronicles'. at one point in the night a tiny voice came from the hallway 'daddy? i need a bowl...' and then there were some unpleasant sounds that followed... tim raced over and brought tweets to the bathroom. after a bit of sickness, tim put her in the shower and got her cleaned off. she sat down in the living room afterward and tim brushed her hair and got her ready for bed again. she seemed in pretty good spirits, considering...i never did get that call from jeffry lee. undaunted, i headed to the theater and watched the movie anyway! (my thoughts on the movie are here)
one of each
tuesday night the caterer who is doing the food for our wedding reception had a food testing. they only have two a year, and we didn't have our plans in place yet to make the summer one, so we got to attend this one. i raced straight up from work in order to make the 6:00pm start time. diana, her mom, and step dad also drove up to check it out. my parents met us all there, we actually all arrived within about a minute of each other!we headed in with hungry stomachs, ready for all the treats they had in store for us. the place was packed with food, and we made sure that we had a little bit of each! the six of us had a great time roving the food areas, filling out plates, and trying each item that they offered. we talked through everything as we were eating it, asking each other what they thought of it. its a good thing we did, because what we had originally thought we wanted was the least liked item of the bunch! we talked with the woman we have been working with, and got the menu all selected- one more thing we can take off the list!
afterward we drove over to the reception hall so diana's mom and step dad could take a look (they hadn't seen it yet). they were quite impressed. we took another look around and got a good sense of how the tables are going to be placed and also all the decorations we will be having. by the end of the night we all had to be rolled out of there with our full bellies! i drove diana back to her house, that way her mom and step dad could get home on time too. we got to talk all about our wedding plans and get a better handle on what needs to be done next. it was a productive and fun night, even if i didn't get home until 11:30pm!
(more pics: 1, 2)
tacos, sans meat
a week or two ago i was visiting diana and her sister and nick happened to be there too! its always a great time when the four of us can get together. we all figured we were a bit hungry, so we figured we should make a meal! nick and i went to the store and got a few of the things that were needed, and the girls got busy with the food making: we had tacos! the thing to keep in mind, though, is that barbara is a vegetarian, so that meant tacos with no meat (not exactly my first choice...). she had some fake meat that she grilled up and we ate that instead. as long as you weren't expecting it to taste like meat, it was actually pretty good!we had a great time getting the meal ready, eating, and cleaning up. its always fun to watch diana when her sister is around, because she is always so much happier! i think i might have the same response whenever nick is around...
(more pics)
my lobster valentine
with valentines day being saturday and all, i figured i should probably take diana out... i didn't do so well with planning ahead, so i forgot to make a reservation at a restaurant. i got done helping her mom and step dad around 5:30pm, and i had till 7 to pick her up from work. i drove around for a while and put my name in to a few different places, some of which told me they wouldn't be able to get us a seat until 9:00pm! yikes!i decided on red lobster, it was going to be a two hour wait, but by the time i would pick her up from work, we would only have about thirty more minutes to wait. when we got there the waiting room was too packed, so we waited in the car. finally we went in and just in time too! about one minute after we got in from the car our table was called.
we had a great time just hanging out and laughing together. i'm pretty sure i am going to like this whole 'spending the rest of our lives together' thing.
it's looking up
this past saturday diana had to work most of the day. she had gotten a call from her mom asking her if she would be able to help her out with a few things around the house saturday, but since she had to work she couldn't. well, i didn't have to work, so i called them up and offered my services. i could go help for a few hours before diana got out of work. well, they took me up on the offer and figured out something to do.over the fall there was a bit of a flood in this area and diana's mom's house was hit hard. part of the roof started leaking and a ton of water came in one of the extra bedrooms! they had tore out the ceiling then, but hadn't yet been able to replace it. thats where i come in... we spent a few hours saturday cleaning out the room and replacing the ceiling tiles. we measured it all out and started the process of putting the new ones in. we didn't get it all done, but we worked as hard as we could for the time we had.
it was really fun to spend time with diana's mom and step dad for the day and help them out in anyway i could. i offered to help them out last summer, and it was really nice to be able to make good on that offer.
fit and trim
on friday my dad came down again (i'm guessing he's probably getting sick of that two hour drive by now...) to help with the house. with tim and his work on the floor finished, the last step was replacing the trim we had torn down when we repainted the kitchen. he set up his saw, pulled out the trim he brought, and we got to work!we started with the door frames. papa measured and cut the trim, while putting it up he was continually amazed at how terribly the place had been originally constructed, there was hardly a straight angle in the whole place! he tried his best to clean up the shoddy work done back in the 60's, but some of the warped walls were impossible to work with. we were doing so well, but then realized that we were a bit short on trim- oh no! we almost got everything done, but fell a couple feet short, so papa was not able to finish the job (which i know eats him up inside!). i guess next time he and tim come down to work on some more stuff we will get it finished.
mr. lincoln
on thursday it was abraham lincoln's 200th birthday! i have always been a huge fan of lincoln and all things civil war related (it's one of my favorite times in history to learn about). each year since i was in college we have done something special to commemorate it. back in college there was one year where we had a huge campus wide party with a special guest lincoln impersonator and everything! a couple buddies and i wore lincoln hats all day!well, with the 200th birthday upon us, the history teacher and i decided we needed to celebrate with the students. we got out two 8th grade classes together and had cake and sang happy birthday! we also got online and watched a live event from the lincoln museum in illinois where an impersonator recited the gettysburg address. the kids all wanted to get their picture taken with the large portrait we had brought. it was a fun time, and a great way to remember america's greatest leader.
(more pics)
art gallery
diana's dad is an artist and teaches art classes at the art institute that he co founded. they have two locations where they have classes, one of which doubles as an art gallery. last weekend they started a new exhibit, mostly of photography, and had a gallery opening. diana told me about it and was disappointed because she wasn't going to be able to make it due to work. i figured i had some free time, so i drove over and stopped in. the gallery has two rooms, one of them is very light with white walls, perfect for displaying photography, and the other room is a bit darker, and has track lighting, much better suited for paintings. i arrived and talked with diana's dad for a while, he was pleasantly shocked to see me there. soon after i got there diana's sister barbara arrived. i got to talk with her for a while and check out the artwork. it was great to see both of them and just see her dad in his element- he was loving it!trash back
thursday morning i was bringing the garbage out to the curb. i had a bunch of trash from last weekend when we tore up and replaced the flooring. i brought the trash can out, then came back to get the carpet padding. when i reached down to grab it i felt a sharp pain in my back! it wasn't the weight of the stuff, its just that i reached down at a bad angle. and now my back is killing me! i was sick all week and was just getting over it, and now this! the muscle i pulled has been getting worse and worse, and today i was barely able to drag myself out of bed because of the pain. i've been taking some aspirin, but that only helps a bit. i've heard that i should expect the pain to last for a week or two. ugh. i sure hope it goes away before that, cause at the moment, with trying to avoid the pain making slow and stiff movements, i feel like i'm doing the robot dance or something.
nintendo party
a couple years ago i had an idea for my students. i saw that the athletic kids always have extracurricular activities that they can be involved it, but the kids who aren't so good at sports don't have as many fun events to participate in. i figured that many of the kids who don't play sports do play video games! so i started holding video game parties every couple of months after school in my classroom.here's how it works: all the middle school kids are invited to stay after school until five and play games in my room. they are encouraged to bring in their nintendo ds or game boys, and i hook up some nintendo systems on the tvs (nintendo systems only, of course). we each have tvs in our classrooms, but i roll in a couple extra for the event. this time we had the tv on the wall playing 'mario baseball', a projector for 'mario kart: double dash', and three tvs on carts playing 'mario mix: dance dance revolution', 'smash brothers: brawl' for the wii, and 'rockband wii'! about 60 kids showed up and had a blast! we will definitely have to do this again real soon.
oscar blah
a few weeks ago they announced the five movies nominated this year for the oscars. i've always enjoyed the oscars, and often try and see the movies up for the best picture award. last year i really got in to it and saw four of the five by the time the oscars were given out (which i wrote about here). this year though, i've got to say, i'm not really as excited about it. mostly its because this year's set of movies don't seem that interesting to me.the nominees are:
the curious case of benjamin button
frost/nixon
milk
the reader
slumdog millionaire
only a couple of them sound at all interesting to me, and i've already seen them (my thoughts about benjamin button, and slumdog millionaire). the other three don't really strike me as things i care to see. frost/nixon? i'd rather watch the original interviews of nixon by frost, not a dramatized version. mik? a sean penn gay movie. the two reasons for skipping it i just listed: its got sean penn, and its a gay movie. pass. the reader? i have grown weary of the acadamy nominating every single movie that comes out about the holocaust- it was bad, i get it. i saw schindler's list, i think i'm good for a while, thanks.
i think my frustration comes more from them ignoring 'dark knight' and picking these films instead. oh well. i know i will still be glued to the tv set on the night of the awards, but i won't be happy about it...
before and after
here are two pictures, one is from what the kitchen used to look like with the tile flooring, and the second one is what it now looks like with the wood vinyl flooring my dad and tim put in! amazing, huh? just that one little difference makes the whole place look so much better! i'll figure out some way to pay you two back someday...
a new floor
last weekend my dad and bro-in-law tim came to work some more on my house. my dad has already come down here often to help whip my house into shape so diana can move in. last time my dad came down to build me a shed (which you can check out here: 1, 2, 3, 4), this time they came down to give me a new floor!diana and i had bought some new wood vinyl flooring to go over the disgusting tile that was in the kitchen and bathroom. dad and tim offered to come down and put the wood vinyl flooring in for us, and we were not going to refuse! all went well, there were a few snags, like having to tear out the tile in the living room underneath the old carpet and trying to fit the vinyl around the toilet, but after a long day, the results are spectacular! when diana came over a few days later, she was amazed! it looks like a totally new place- it actually feels fancy!
painting, round 2
as we get ready for diana to move it, we are fixing up the house to make it a bit more girl friendly. one of the big things that diana wanted was for the walls to be repainted. earlier we worked on repainting the kitchen (check it out here), the next room to get the overhaul was the bathroom. this marks the third time i've repainted it since i moved in (oddly enough, i've painted it different shades of green each time...), so i know how to do that room easily. with my dad offering to replace the trim in the kitchen, he said he wouldn't mind doing the bathroom as well, so i started off with tearing out the old trim. i put up the primer, and then painted on three fresh coats of the green paint diana had picked out. it turned out really nice, and we even had a different shower curtain that matched perfectly!a royal meal
earlier this week diana had a day off so she came to visit. my dad and bro-in-law are coming this weekend to put in some new flooring in the house, so it was diana's job to pick out what flooring she wanted. we went to home depot to see what they had, but were disappointed by the selection of the kind (peel and stick) we needed. we then checked out menards but they had the same stuff. we ended up having to go to lowe's where they had the stuff we were looking for. 
we only had a little time left before she had to leave, so we stopped at burger king for a quick (cheap) dinner. we ordered, got our food, and had a seat. on one of the tables they had one of those paper crowns! score! i grabbed it and wore it for the whole meal. its always nice to stop for dinner and eat like a king!off they go
and they're off! after much work and procrastination (mostly the latter of the two), the invitations went out monday afternoon! i was joking with diana that once the invitations go out its too late to back out. after a moment's hesitation, she decided we might as well send them out anyway...by now you should have gotten yours- now dont forget to return the response card so we can plan on you!
here is what they look like.
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