Sunday, September 30, 2007

Our Trip to the North Shore & Canada

We left for our honeymoon on Sunday night. My parents were gracious enough to stay at our house and take care of their grand-dogs while we were away. Our first stop was the Bungalow in Emily. One of our favorite restaurants. We arrived at Teteegouche State park at midnight. The next day we drove to Grand Marais where we did a little shopping then decided to push onto Canada to see my Grandpa and Uncle who were unable to come to our wedding. We arrived at the fishing camp at 6:00 and enjoyed visiting with them for a bit. We set up our tent in the pouring rain and dined on beer and venison summer sausage by candle light....I mean flash light. Before leaving Canada we stopped at Kakabekah Falls. Back in Minnesota we decided that our luck was pretty good and played the slots at Grand Portage Casino. Gambling Sucks. we lost our 10 dollars right away. We toured the Grand Portage National Monument and headed for Temperance State Park where we camped for our last night.
Now how cool is this?





The old logging roads that take us to our fishing camp in Canada. The fall colors were amazing.



My dear Grandpa K

How romantic that Sean was willing to deface property at a provincial park to declare his love for me! He's called me Goosey forever.


Kahakebekah Falls


A little photographic fun.
Ingredients:
Night Time
Tripod
10 Second Exposure
Red Flash Light
Patience

Saturday, September 29, 2007

Our Wedding Day-September 22, 2007

It finally came. After 367 days of engagement, our wedding arrived. A year ago I read the farmers almanac and it stated September 2007 was going to be wetter than normal. While this was true, September 22 was the most glorious day of the month. Truly we had the best Saturday of September. Our morning started off with getting our hair done by J.Ameilas Salon and Spa Owner Joannie and her assistant Megan. The girls did a fantstic job on each of our hair "doos". After having grown my hair out for 18 months, I was glad I decided to have my hair down and curly. I jumped into my dress and was strapped in by my Annie and Maggie. They did a great job on a not so easy dress. Our PHENOMONAL photographer and I walked behind the barn where Sean would see me in my dress for the first time. After a few moments, I was greeted by our dogs, Maggie & Gus, and finally Sean. He looked amazing and I felt so pretty. We had such a fun time with our photographer, doing not so typical shots in the barn, and phesant coop. At 3:30 our guests started arriving and I watched from inside the house at all the people who drove so far to celebrate our marriage with us. At 4:00 we were ready to roll. "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" began to play and I was just moments away from being a wife. Having my dad walk me down the aisle was a dream come true, as the summer we had at the Mayo Clinic was one non of us would ever want to repeat. With so much calm, he walked me past 220 people who have left indelible marks on our lives. Getting married was something I always hoped for and in earlier years doubted would happen. I felt PERFECT standing beside Sean. In all my dreams I couldn't have hoped for a more wonderful man to be with. Our ceremony was so memorable. Our pastor touched our hearts and helped guide us to a long and meaningful realationship with Christ through our sessions of counseling and during our marriage ceremony. We so enjoyed having our dogs present for our wedding as well. Playing "Home to You" during our wedding was a song that represents our life word for word. "hangin' out in our old sweatshirts, you let me complain about a hard days work, I don't know what I did to deserve to get to come home to you." With a kiss and an introduction as Mr. & Mrs. Anderson, we were married! Uncle John & Rick took us and our bridal party on a boat ride across Upper Whitefish right after our ceremony. We got a chance to take some great photos with our photographer and share a bottle of champange. Onto our party......

Every detail of our day was executed flawlessly and for that we thank our parents, family and friends who helped in countless ways. Each and every vendor did an outstanding job for us. Our jeweler, caterer, photographer, DJ, florist, baker, and hair dresser provided us with their professional services and have in us, extemely satisfied customers. Words just simply can't express the happiness our wedding day brought us. Something that perfect is larger than ourselves. We have been blessed and we hope that each and everyone who is in our life knows how much your presence at our wedding meant to us.

Making a wedding...

There were so many people who worked for months to make our wedding celebration a success. There were daily phone calls and emails to our moms, there were laughs, and tears, and lists, and payments.... Here is just a glimpse of the morning of September 22nd....The list of names that we need to thank is much too long to list on our blog. So many friends and family members came 3, 4, even 5 days early to help decorate, organize, cook, clean, pick up, drop off, hang, haul, and smile with us as we counted the hours till our wedding ceremony. We can't say "thank you" enough.

Our Groom's Dinner

We had our Groom's Dinner at our favorite Bar & Grill, Underdogs. We had the best Prime Rib dinner EVER and enjoyed the company of so many family and friends. Later in the evening we invited our out of town guests to come to the Bar for a pre-wedding get-together. We loved seeing so many guests a day early since we knew the wedding day would be so busy. Addie, Grace & Anna did a fantastic job entertaining us with Kareoke, and Molly and Kaitlin decorated Underdogs into a beautful restaurant. This was just the beginning of a PERFECT weekend.

Rehersing never hurt anyone...

A Little Pre-Wedding Rendevous...

Our parents arrived Tuesday before the wedding. We enjoyed a boat trip on Whitefish with John, Elise, Addie, Grace, and Mackenzie & Jeff. We ate at Manhatten Beach and had the greatest time. It was a perfect time!

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

A Circle of Life....

The sunflowers that I nurtured all summer bloomed this week

Today I went to the Crow Wing County Courthouse to apply for our marriage license. While I was in line, a gentleman by the name of Nelson was in the line next to mine. After hearing me discuss my marriage license to the person at the desk, he gave me a glance, and with tears in his eyes said to me, "Sweetheart, I am here to fill out my wife's death certificate.....we were married 66 glorious years." I went about my business, raising my right hand, stating everything was true to the best of my knowledge, paid my $110.00 to the state and looked for my keys and cell phone. When I was about the leave, I saw the man sitting at a nearby table quietly crying. It was painfully obvious that the death of his wife was very recent. He said to me, "Could I have a hug?" I gave him a hug and his wish for me was a marriage as long and fun as his was....
I will never forget that man.
A few days ago, I organized a collage of engagement photos into a frame. In one opening I insterted the quote, "I can't remember a time until now that forever didn't seem long enough." Sean and I are 26 and 24. Logically we know, we will not live forever. In a few days, we will say the words, till death do us part. I wonder though, how many newly married couples ever really live like they don't have forever. Ever since I met Sean, I thought that forever with him still isn't long enough. The man at the courthouse though, reminded me that life is a journey. He walked beside his wife for "66 glorious years." I can only hope that Sean and I are that lucky. On a day that nothing could sadden me, I stood beside a man who felt like nothing could make him happy again. Everyone has a story...

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Over the River and Through the Woods....

Well the day finally came.....the day of a new bridge! We knew when we moved in 18 months ago, that a new bridge was in the near future. The bridge to our house is a charming little thing that never once scared me....even though it leaned, creaked, and rumbled under our tires. Our bridge being rebuilt had zero coorelation to the tragedy of the 35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis. Our little gateway is only 2 car lengths long and one car length wide.....underneath lies 12 inches of slow moving current....Our neighbors, most of who are "weekenders" all gathered to lay the new boards...I even heard there was a ribbon cutting which I missed becase I was shopping! We all enjoyed a BBQ and bonfire afterwards. What a good job done!

Labor Day Weekend...

It was a busy Holiday Weekend on our road! On Thursday, Mom and Dad, and Molly came up to finalize wedding plans and meet with the caterer...On Friday night, Annie and Troy came from South Dakota. We had a blast with them. We ventured out on 4-Wheelers on Saturday and wrapped up the day with a dip in Whitefish Lake and a boat trip out for dinner.....


Do we look like we're ready for a wedding in 20 days?!



Bride's Night Out!

Easily one of the most fun nights of my life! "My Girls" gave me the greatest bachelorette party a bride could ever ask for. We started with gifts and games and tacos at Stacie's house, then pushed onto Hastings, Prescott and Red Wing for some small town bar festivites...

Doug & Tom....The best sober cabs in the world




"We are family....I've got all my sister's with me!"





Ready to go home....

An Ice Cream Bridal Shower!

My cosuin Stacie, and sisters, Annie and Mackenzie threw me a super fun shower a few weeks ago. Stacie hosted the shower in her home in Cannon Falls, and I enjoyed the company of many wonderful women from my family and sean's family. Thank you to everyone for your generosity and company. It was a great afternoon!

There was one boy at the shower!


My soon to be: Mother-In-Law and Sister-In-Law

A New Driveway!

In May Sean began running Asphalt Maintenance Inc; a new sealcoating business started up by his cousin tim. The new rig was so long that they decided make our driveway warp around the garage. All the dirt was moved and trees were cut down in just one weekend in August!

Before

After


A New Sidewalk...

In early august we finally poured our very first sidewalk! Wow! What a difference that makes! Our neighbor owns a masonry business and gave us his knowledge and a great deal. We love our new front walk and the new sod. We have since lined the path with rocks and solar lights. The more projects we complete around our house, the less we feel like we're camping!