chili dogs and taxi rides

when it was time to go we headed outside. we had to wait a little while for the taxis to show up, but fortunately there was a guy selling chili dogs right there on the street corner! score! timmy and i each got one as we waited, and let me tell you this: it was one of the best chili dogs i have ever had in my life! timmy still rants about how amazing the chili dogs were.
once we thanked the chili dog man for making such great chili dogs, our taxi was there, so we hopped it! only one of them came, so we ended up having to go in two sections. timmy and i made sure that we were on the first load! jeffry lee was on the second load, and he had some pretty crazy stories about what happened for that half hour while they waited for the taxi to get back...
(more pics: 1, 2)

extreme close-up!

the night of the bachelor party i had my camera with me, as always, and i was busy taking tons of photos. every time i would take one someone would comment on how the flash was blinding. i decided to put this to the test and took some really close up photos of everyone who came! some of them are a little too close up, but check them out anyway!
(close-ups: 1, 2, 3)

bachelor party proper

that's when the night began: we arrived at mojo's! jeffry lee pulled a few strings, so we got right in and we headed up stairs. it took a bit for everyone to get there and get in, but once everyone arrived, the party got really great! we had an amazing time doing the things that guys do at a bar! i was hoping we would be able to play pool there, but when i saw an opening and got hopeful, we realized that it was empty because it was out of order. as the night progressed we had more and more fun, for a while there we even stepped out on the dance floor and did our thang! we spent the time there just mixing it up, talking with everyone else who came. it was really nice to see all the different people mingling with smiles on their faces.
(more pics: 1, 2, 3, 4)

song and a dance

after we said goodbye to papa, we walked over to mojo's. along the way we walked through the monroe mall amphitheater. just as we were right in the middle of the floor, the huge outdoor lights come blasting on! i thought it was strange that they would come on just at that second, and then a voice came up over the speakers, thats when it hit me: this was for me!!! my buddy zagman somehow has the keys for the monroe mall amphitheater and opened it up and turned everything on! i look over to the stage, and there is adam walking out on stage with a mic in his hands! he gives a little salute to me, saying this is my bachelor party and telling everyone to give me a round of applause. and wouldn't you know it: there were a couple dozen other people walking by at just that moment who start clapping! adam proceeded to sing through an original rendition of 'the graduation song' by vitamin c. he took the lyrics and altered them so that they were about diana and i! most of the lyrics i should not share here, but trust me, they were funny! (unfortunately it all happened so fast and unexpectedly that i didn't have time to get my camera for any good pictures)

it was an unexpected treat, and certainly one of the highlights of the night!

bachelor dinner party

we got downtown and had planned to go to hopcats, but the place was packed. we didn't quite take into consideration that this was infact a saturday and march madness was in full swing... oops. after waiting about twenty minutes, we decided that we would move up the street a little bit and instead ate at bar divani. just as the guys were making their way to bar divani, my dad called and said that he couldn't find a parking spot anywhere downtown. (in case you are wondering: yes, i did in fact invite my dad to come along with us for my bachelor party. why? because he's cool!) he drove up and i hopped into the car with him to drive around a bit and help him find a place. we ended up going into the parking garage at the b.o.b., it was almost totally full, so we had to go to the top level! when we finally arrived at bar divani, the guys had started ordering and we joined them. they were already having a blast! it was really funny to see my brother-in-law hanging out with they guys along with us, it was really cool that he fit so well into the mix! after a little bit of time, even papa was digging it! he chatted it up with adam and kevin and seemed really at ease around everyone. the food was delicious and we all had a great time talking and laughing. next stop: mojo's!

(more pics: 1, 2, 3)

ready to roll!

by six o'clock everyone started showing up. jeffry lee, aaron, rex, freddie and i were already at jeffs place from seeing the movie earlier. soon, the cars started pooring in! we had a huge collection of people, all the guys in the wedding: jeffry lee, aaron, rex, my bro-in-law tim, and the two ushers adam and dusty, and we had a few other people join in the fun too: zagman, max, and even aarons little bro kevin! we were all set for an awesome night on the town! jeffry lee, dressed all fancy, was the man in charge for the night, and he had planned ahead and called a couple taxi's to bring us downtown.

(more pics: 1, 2)

bachelor pre party

ah yes, the rite of every young man as he prepares for his wedding day: the bachelor party! jeffry lee, being the best man, was in charge of planning this party. and he took his job very seriously! we had been talking about and making plans for this for a couple months now, and now the day finally arrived! i didn't want anything too shady, not the stereotypical bachelor party stuff, i just wanted to hang out and have a good time- and we did!

jeffry lee, rex and i had planned on hanging out for the whole day, so we started right away at noon! i headed over to jeffry lee's house and we hung out while rex drove over. when we were all together we stopped in for lunch at applebee's. we chatted and enjoyed the food. after that we went to the mall to see 'i love you, man' with aaron, freddie, and max. the movie was hilarious, and provided us with a running joke for the rest of the night: 'slappin' da bass!'

bachelor party eve

i headed up to grand rapids on friday, the 20th. jeffry lee and some of the guys were up for something, so we met up at fridays (big surprise, huh?). as a nice surprise chris kootje was there! wow, i hadn't seen him in about a year and a half! it was really great to catch up with him and hear about the excitement in his life (he recently got engaged)! we just hung out there for a little bit, because at nine we went to go see 'watchmen' across the mall.

when the movie was done, we had a little more time to kill, so we headed back to fridays. chris soon left, but jeffry lee, freddie, and i kicked it for a couple more hours. with the bachelor party looming, it was great to just chill for a bit and get everything organized with jeffry lee.

(more pics)

no more depot

on diana's last day at home depot her coworkers took her out to hacienda for a good bye party. it didnt start until 6:00 pm that night, so i raced right out of work and drove straight there, and i actually made it there in time! diana didn't know i was coming, of course... we had a great time, a bunch of her work friends were there and shared some stories of the great times they had had at work... well, at least about good times they had there avoiding work! it was really cool to see everyone together one last time.

i didn't get to enjoy the festivities all night, i had to head back home and get some work done, after i left they went to another place to meet up with even more coworkers. diana took it like a champ. she said that she was said to see everyone go, but was doing well. at least until she got home that night and called me- she was crying because the reality of not working with those people anymore had sunk in! i told her we would come and visit regularly, i mean we have a home that is in constant need of repairs- we will have to go to home depot regularly!

(more pics)

a quick update

we are having so much fun here in riviera maya, we have been so busy enjoying everything that i've only got a minute to update! this place is really amazing, its so beautiful! we have been spending our days soaking up the sun, and our nights enjoying the delicious food.

i'd love to tell you more, but we're off to the beach!

oh, be sure to check out some of our wedding pictures at our photographers website here!

busy

the dearth of blog posts is due to the craziness of getting ready for a wedding! i'll post more here next week, but for now, i am running around getting plans ready, keeping the soon-to-be bride happy.

as saturday approaches, i have also been busy making a funeral pyre for my bachelorhood to send it off to valhalla.

may it rest in peace.

painting, round 3

before tim and my dad came this past weekend to replace all the carpet, i tried to paint all the trim around the room. i figured it would be a ton easier if it painted it with the old carpet, that way if i accidentally got some on the carpet, i wouldn't care at all!
now, with the new carpet in, its time to repaint the walls too! diana had picked a color that she liked (after not liking the color that we had gotten first), so i got to work this week taking care of the bedroom. i taped up all the trim around the door frames, the windows, and the floorboards. i put up the primer one day and put up a couple layers of good looking paint on the next. thursday i pulled off the trim tape and it turned out quite well! of all the things that i could do to the house, painting is by far my least favorite. i think this proves how much i love diana, because i have repainted almost every room in the house for her! oh, and i still have one to go...
(more pics: 1, 2)

looking good!

after we (and by we, i mean tim) finished putting down the new carpet, we started putting stuff back where it belonged. soon after, my mom and diana came down to see us. they had a wedding shower that morning in grand rapids, when it was done they both headed down together to see what we had been doing. my mom hadn't been down to the house since all these renovations had taken place, so she was thrilled to see all the new improvements. both of them really loved the new carpets! tim headed out after the work was done because he had plans back home that night. the rest of us soon began bringing stuff back in from the shed, but didn't get too far because i needed to repaint the bedroom and office before filling them back up with stuff.

we needed to get a few things, so we headed out to target. after that we went out for dinner at bennigan's. the light rain from earlier in the day quickly changed to a terential downpour as we tried to get to these different places! we had a nice dinner with the four of us and got to talk through a bunch of plans for the following weeks leading up to the wedding. after dinner mom and dad headed back home (thanks again for all the work you guys have put into the house and our transition into marriage!!!). we headed back to the house for a bit, then i brought diana back home- quite a long (but productive) day!

new carpets!

bright and early saturday morning my brother-in-law tim and my dad arrived at my place ready to work! the plan was for my dad to finish up the little odds and ends left over from replacing the trim, and tim (bless his soul) offered to replace all of the carpet in the house! i had done the preparation needed to have the floors empty (almost, some of that stuff was too big and heavy for me to move by myself). as soon as they got there we got down to work. papa pulled out his saw and started getting the trim ready, tim decided to start in the second bedroom, which diana and i have started calling 'the office'. we moved the bookshelves out and tim started tearing up the old stuff. before long it was down to the tile, and with lightning fast speed it suddenly had a finished and completely new carpet! dang, that guy replaces carpet like its his job or something! we moved my bed out of the bedroom and zoom! it was done too. by now papa had finished all the trim details and all three of us helped out with the living room. we decided to take a lunch break, but were quickly back to it. we emptied out the living room and tim whipped out a new carpet in no time! the whole process, start to finish, only took about four hours! they were amazingly fast, and now (along with the new wood laminate in the kitchen and bathroom) i've got a house with completely new flooring! diana is so spoiled...

(a ton of pictures: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)

moving day

this past week i spent a ton of time cleaning out my house. i dont mean cleaning up, i mean cleaning out! my brother-in-law and dad were planning on coming down to work on the carpet, so i needed everything off the floor. in the second bedroom that meant a ton of stuff! i got a bunch of boxes from school and spend a couple nights this week packing them up and putting everything (and i mean everything!) into my shed. i had to empty out all the bookshelves and everything else i had into the shed- i felt like i was packing to move or something! it was a lot of stuff, but i got it done,and boy was that shed full.

(more pics)

dead car

oh, the intrigue... i got a new car in the spring because my old one pooped out on me. i would have traded it in, but they were only going to give me fifty bucks or something for it. i figured i could get a better deal than that. its been sitting in my driveway ever since. i feel a bit like white trash... over the summer i called a junk yard to ask them how much i could get for it, but they only offered a hundred bucks. i figured i could get a better deal than that. it still sits in my driveway. i've put it on craigs list a couple times, there are a bunch of people interested, but then they never call me back to come and see it. every time my dad comes down to help with the house he gets visibly upset that its still there. finally this week i decided to actually clean it out in case one of the people i talk to from the craigs list posting actually do want to see it. ive got two more weeks to get rid of it. maybe i should give that junk yard a call again...

(more pics)

the last visit 2

saturday morning we didn't do much of anything, but it was still a great time. i got to sleep in for the first time in too long, which is always good! we hung out at the house for most of the day watching some shows i tivoed, listened to some music, talked, argued, and danced! i even gave jeffry lee an instructional lesson on how to wear a scarf.

later we were ready to go out for a bit. we went to best buy because i had a five dollar coupon that expired that day and didn't want it to go to waste! we checked out the video store and went out to eat.

when we got back we had a great night. we watched a couple movies and had fun laughing and being dumb together! we all stayed up way too late, aaron went to bed first, which gave jeffry lee and i the opportunity to mess around with some of the setting on his computer ('you done wit dis?!?').

all in all it was a really great time having them visit one last time as bachelors. i really look forward to my life with diana, and it was great to have one last guy time at my place!

(more pics: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and the dancing video!)

the last visit

this past weekend the guys came down to see me for one last bachelor weekend at my place. over the years the guys have come to visit 2 or 3 times a year and we always have a great time. usually its a pretty low key event, we mostly just stick around the house and play video games and watch movies, and this weekend was no exception. aaron and jeffry lee came down after work friday. they arrived around 9:00pm. soon after they got here we realized we were hungry, so we went out to bennigan's for a late dinner. we hung out there for a while, and then headed back to the house. we chatted and hung out till about 2:00am. by then we were all completely exhausted and figured our time would be better spend sleeping, that way we could wake up at a slightly reasonable time on saturday!

(more pics)

mr. clean

this past week i spent a bunch of time cleaning up the house. i have a girl moving it soon, so i know i need to prepare! i've been going through a ton of my old junk and throwing away what ever i can. aside from going through all the old boxes of stuff i also took some time to just clean everything- do the dishes, dust the living room, clean the bathroom. all that stuff that can get neglected and add up quickly! by friday night i had the place looking pretty good! it doesn't happen very often, so i made sure to take some picture as proof at i do know how to clean, i just usually choose not to...

(more pics)

the long way home

sunday afternoon diana and i headed back. it was really good to just have some down time in the car together- the weekend had been so busy that we hardly even got to talk just the two of us! when we got to her house there was about 4 inches of snow on the ground. so i did the manly thing and grabbed a shovel. after about 10 minutes of shoveling, she popped out of the house dressed in a full body snowsuit ready to help! she looked so cute in her get up! she planned the timing right too, there was only about two minutes more of shoveling to do- very sneaky! soon after it was time to go. its always annoying to have to say goodbye. well, i guess we've only got a few more weeks until we don't have to anymore!

i was looking forward to getting home to watch the oscars, but of course there was one last problem: on the way home my tire went flat! argh!!! it seems like this is a habit for us. between diana and i we have had about 5 flat tires in the past 8 months! i changed it up on the side of the highway, which was a little scary with huge semi trucks barreling down about five feet from where i was working! finally got it put on, and had the joy of driving 55mph for the next 30 miles. so much for getting home on time!