That's just crazy talk!

I just wanted to show you all our hard work!  Back when my mom was here at the end of May she helped Phil and I with our flower bed.  We definitely did not get it all finished but we finished the front of the house and one side of the garage.  We started with the part of the house that people would see the most.  Since then I've done a tiny bit more (would have done even more but it's too damn hot out for this pregnant gal) and I've planted annuals in all of the pots.  Let me tell you, I'm no gardener but I'm very proud of what's done and I can't wait to finish the rest!  It feels good to accomplish projects like this around the house!
This is basically what it looked like before we started and this is where we stopped.

Then Saturday I got to see my mom for a little bit. She went to the farm to see Justen and help me with the garden. So I went over there for a few hours and helped her weed, etc and we chatted a bit. She looks really good and seems to be happy again. I just hope it lasts.

Then Saturday night was my bach party! Lynsie, a/k/a “loin muffin”, came over after work and then Ashley, my brother’s girlfriend, came over around 4:00. Right after Ashley got to my house it started down pouring out which really sucks because they boys were working on the deck. Soon after Ashley got there we left for the hotel in Minneapolis. After getting a little lost we finally made it to the hotel (a little late which I’m sure Jewells was happy about). Right when we got to the hotel we started the celebration. There was beer, jello-shots (strawberry and champagne I believe – and were quite delicious), wine and champagne. Before we even left for dinner we were all feeling pretty good.

After getting ready we walked to the Hard Rock to meet my aunties and have some dinner. The food there is delicious! I love a big juicy burger w/fries – my favorite!!

After the Hard Rock we walked around and found some Irish bar and had a few drinks outside on the patio. After we had a few drinks it got really windy and started to sprinkle outside so we decided to head to an inside bar and this is when my aunties left.

I think we started out at Drink and then jumped to a few other places (Aqua, Envy, etc) and then ended the night at Drink. Here are some of my favorite pics of the night in complete random order...

The whole gang at the Hard Rock! I'll just introduce everyone here. From left to right - Sarah, Rachel, Lynsie, Jenny, me, Laura, Jewells and Ashley.

Before we left for dinner

Jello shots before we left for dinner.

Pole dancing?

Not quite sure why we were doing this

I'm sexy, real sexy...

So cool...

On our walk back to the hotel.

We are awesome...

All us girls.

Cleavage anyone?

Eventually the heals came off...

I'm pretty sure they had too much to drink ;)

Me and my aunties :) Laura is on the left and Jenny on the right.

At the Hard Rock

Yeah....

two for ones!

Sleepy time

Random guys that apparently thought we were cool.

Tid bit windy?

Shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots EVERYBODY! Well, for Loin and Ashley at least.

Over the weekend I went to the farm and started on the garden (the background of our wedding ceremony). I got there a little before 9 a.m. and shortly after me, my Aunt Laura showed up to help. We started pulling weeds and wishing my brother would wake up so he could come out and pull all the trees. Not too long after we started he came out, got the skid steer and we pulled all the “weed” trees out. The only picture I will show you at this point is most of the trees we pulled - and this isn’t all of them.



I don’t want to give away the surprise until the project is done! So, Justen pulled all the bigger trees and then had to leave. Pretty soon after he left my wonderful friends Josh and Loin showed up to help. Josh shoveled up the rest of the small trees for me and the rest of us pulled plants out of the ground and weeded the entire garden. After 5 hours of work and a nice burn line, I decided to call it quits for the day. The hard part is now done and it should be much easier to finish the project. I can't wait until it's done and I can see how much better it looks.

After all the yard work on Saturday Phil and I started our yard work at home. I mowed our grass for the first time (and the first time in my life!). So I developed a burn on top of my burn from the day before. After the yard work I ran to Hudson to get groceries and some suntan lotion so next time I won't burn. ;) But it's all good, when I woke up this morning most of my burn had already turned into a tan! My first tan of the season. I love summer. :)

I’ve been in a “get shit done” mode for the last few weeks and it has really been paying off. I’m exhausted because there has been little relaxation involved, but things are getting done and are making me feel less stressed about everything going on. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still very stressed out and I don’t see how everything can get done before the end of summer & before the wedding – but the more I check off my list the easier it gets.

This weekend started off with painting the dining room at the farm. I’m kind of jealous because it turned out really good and I love love love the color! After I finished painting I did a little bit of weeding and planning with the garden. I’m excited to really get started on it! While I was there, Justen and Ashley were cleaning up the farm (getting rid of scrap metal, trimming around the trees, etc). Apparently he has big plans for the farm before the wedding. He wants to turn the office into a bathroom, take down a few trees and he wants to tear down two buildings and bury them. Hopefully he can get that all done before September! After spending half the day at the farm I went home and spent a few hours cleaning the house and cutting out fabric flowers for the wedding.

Saturday I spent the majority of the day cleaning/organizing and running the dogs to and from the groomer. I took a little break when Phil got home from work and then we left to go to Josh & Loin’s house for a bonfire for Joshua’s birthday. It was a good time! It felt good to get out and have a few drinks with my friends. :-)

The next day Phil and I slowly woke up (since we were up til 3 a.m. the night before) and finished the underground fence for the dog. We got it all done and went to grab the collar to test it out to make sure everything was working before completely burring the wire and we couldn’t find the collar. Cool…. Phil misplaces EVERYTHING and now it’s lost. :-( So, we can’t start training Winston quite yet but it’s done. If we can’t find the collar Phil gets to buy a new one. After that we decided we needed a break so we went out for dinner at Chipotle (my favorite!), then had a little desert at Mc D’s and then went to see the Hangover II. The movie was funny, however, it was an exact replica of the first one so it was obvious what was going to happen.

Then Monday came (the last day of vaca!!) and we spent the day running errands. I bought my first tree for our yard!!! I’m overly excited about it. It’s just a tree… but it’s our first tree in our new house! It’s so cute! So after running errands we got home, planted our new tree and Phil started power washing the front of our house/deck while I cleaned and did laundry. All-in-all - very busy weekend.

Over the next few days Phil and I have plans to finish power washing the front of the house, clean/organize the garage, seed/fertilize our yard and take on the big job of shoveling up all the pebble rock from the front walk-way and put it in the back of the house where the deck is going and then re-do the entire front walk-way. Ugh… now that is going to be quite a large job and will take a few days… not looking forward to the work but it will be nice once it’s done.

That is all.

Another wedding blog people… I’m sorry but it’s the only thing I have to talk about! Last weekend, my Aunt Laura and grandma came over to see the house. After the tour and a little bit of chatting we decided to head over to the farm to check out the ceremony site for the wedding so Laura could get some ideas. Laura is very into gardening. She is in a garden club and most of her front yard is a garden and it’s beautiful. I fully trust her gardening tips. When we got to the farm and she instantly got tons of ideas and saw all the potential. The farm isn’t horrible… it is just overgrown and all the goods are hiding underneath all the crab grass and weeds. This weekend I plan on going to the farm to finish painting the dining room and then I’m going to start weeding. Laura plans to come out to the farm next weekend and we are going to start the madness. I’m excited but at the same time I’m extremely overwhelmed. It sounds easy but I know it is going to be a lot of hard work. But all the hard work will be well worth it in the end because we will have a beautiful ceremony site that means a lot to me and Justen gets to have a nice looking yard after the wedding is over.

I also started my fabric flowers last night. It took me a few hours just to trace 10 flowers and cut out 8. After cutting out 8 my hand cramped up so I couldn’t finish the last 2. Only 52 more to cut out and then I have to sew them all! This is another project that is going to take me a while but it will be well worth it when it’s done. I like that I’m adding something to our wedding that I did myself.

All this gardening and crafting talk is making me really feel like a Tuomala finally! By that I mean my mother’s side of the family. They are all very crafty, talented and love to garden. Someday I hope to be half as crafty and talented as they are!

We also finalized our invitations and our guestlist and Rachel is going to start making them. She is coming to Wisconsin in the middle of June and plans to bring the finished product with her. So, hopefully all of the invites will be out by the end of June. This whole wedding experience seems to be flying by so fast! I can’t wait until the big day is here and I get to marry my best friend in the whole world! Then we get to start having babies! :-) :-)