day 6 (the rehearsal)

Day 6 was rehearsal day! In the morning we didn't do much but hang around the house! For lunch, we met up with Nick and his Dad at the Chatterbox Cafe over near Grande Ave! This place was totally cool. You sat on these old couches from like the 70's or 80's and had an old coffee table in front of you! It reminded me of when Lee and I went to Lucky Strikes in Louisville..except this was way more retro. Each table had a stand with a Flat screen TV and an old school original Nintendo and you could play Mario Bros! The restaurant also let you rent games to your table for free! they had everything from Uno, to chutes and ladders, monopoly, trouble..anything you wanted really and it was awesome! I was sooooo mad that I forgot my camera that day..but John took a few pics of the place and hopefully he will send them to me soon!!



We headed over to the rehearsal a bit early because a lot of people in the family had to practice music. Julie was playing the harp, Uncle Ken was playing the Cello, Loren was playing the guitar and singing two songs with Julie, and John was playing the oboe and the bagpipes!! I told you this family has talent! They are amazing. The rehearsal was fun to watch..you never really think you'll need a rehearsal just to walk down the aisle..but it really does require strategic planning! some pictures of the rehearsal dinner later that night...






The rehearsal dinner was located on a small island in the middle of Minnepolis! You can't really tell that you're on an island but you are!



It was beautiful there! The dinner was wonderful. A lot of people got up to tell stories about Nick and Jessica..Lee inparticular tried to get up and make a little speech and got teary-eyed and couldn't finish! I was balling of course! It was great!! After dinner we headed up to the bar and had a few drinks before heading home! What a wonderful evening :)

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Day 5 was Thanksgiving!! I woke up early to find lots of boys lying around the house in different places..hung over and not feeling well. Clearly they had a great time. I know that Loren was saying over and over "we're turning the water into wine!" AND apparently he was pretty sick himself! For Thanksgiving day we awoke to a huge breakfast! Janna made everything, Cinnamon bons, bacon and eggs, waffles...it was quite the spread! She had bought a lot of food for us and wanted to use it all! I wasnt quite sure how I was going to manage to eat Thanksgiving Dinner!!
Reservations were made at the Lowell Inn in Stillwater, Minnesota..a couple of blocks from Nick's Condo. I didnt mangage to find a fairly decent picture of the building he lives in. I just LOVE this town. Here's a picture of Stillwater Mills where Nick and Jessica live! :)



I was a little bummed at first about going out somewhere to eat on Thanksgiving! I love the idea of cooking a big meal for my family or everyone cooking something and bringing it. I was already very emotional on Thanksgiving knowing that this was the first year I was ever away from my family. I cried on a couple of occasions and called my family all day long!! :( It was heartbreaking but I couldn't have asked for a better family to spend the holiday with. Lowell Inn was charming. Here is a picture--


I must say that I prefer a family dinner where we all cook..HOWEVER..this food was amazing!! From the salad to the dessert that was not ONE thing that was not good. Everyone was actually a little shocked. And it was so nice to sit around and talk and enjoy dessert together without having to worry about cleaning. Not only was the food amazing but so was the atmopshere. We had a pretty large group and we got our own private dining room! Which was amazing because the place was pretty crowded!! Here are a few of the pictures from Thanksgiving Dinner!!







After a wonderful Dinner we headed over to Uncle Ken and Aunt Linda's to meet the rest of the family. Ken is Lee's mom's brother. He has three children (lees cousins that I was excited to meet..two of whom I'd met the night before) Alex, Loren, and Betsy, along with Alex's wife Laurie (who just had a baby..sweet little Natalie Marie Miller) and Loren's wife Lizzy and Betsy's husband JP!! I was so happy to FINALLY meet all these wonderful people whom I've heard so much about. It was crazy! We walked in and everyone Immediately greeted me with hugs..each of which were followed by Lee's mom stopping us mid-hug to take a picture!! It was hilarious! They were soooooooooo welcoming and loving..and just absolutely awesome!! We had again dessert with them and sat and talked for quite a while. Then we all sat around and watched a movie..which I started falling asleep through because I was so exhausted so Lee and I headed back to Aunt Jannas and went seepy nite nite! It was a great day!!

Here's a group shot of everyone mentioned above minus Natalie Marie!



And I just had to include a picture of Natalie Marie Miller!!



I was very Thankful to spend Thanksgiving with this family. I have so many things to be Thankful for! My family, My friends, my boyfriend, my pets, my job, my health, my apartment...God is Good :)

Day 4 was entirely too long

Day four we once again woke up early. I wanted to get in the hot tub one last time to have that massage. Lee's grandparents had headed off to prayer meeting early in the morning so we dove right in. It felt really good at first and I told Lee to make the jets stronger...and it busted. They stopped working. I guess you cant ever have too much of a good thing! Aftewards we headed upstairs to start packing and get ready to head back to Minneapolis. Lee was supposed to pick up his tux by 5 and the Bachelor party was that night! We also had to pick up John at the airport at some point because SOMEONE fell asleep at his gate and didnt wake up till his plane was taxying downt he runway..HMMMM! So we had to get movin! I also forgot to mention the fact that last nite we did stay up a little after his grandparents went to bed and watched and snuggled to a Christmas movie..Fred Clause! So we were up pretty late.
His grandparents got back right before we left and had coffee and donuts for us (OJ for me haha) We left them...they would be driving to Minneapolis tomorrow for our thanksgiving dinner..but NOT before we took just a few pictures!!





We threw a huge rock into the lake to try to crack the ice...there's the rock..sitting right on top..no cracks!



After our rock throwing extravaganza we headed off to the twin cities! This time we did not take the scenic route. We took the faster more boring interstate route. But Lee had a particular place in mind that he wanted to stop for lunch. He said his family used to stop there a lot when he was little. We had lunch in a little town called Pelican Rapids. For some strange reason this town is very proud of their man-made waterfall and giant pelican standing next to it. I guess every town's gotta have something original. I've never seen a giant bird and waterfall excite someone so much...ahem..Lee! He couldn't wait to show me..I mean I was expecting fireworks..and it really just was..a giant pelican and a waterfall. I don't get it..but Lee loves it so we had to walk over and get a pictures..for memory sake i suppose..



Yes folks, thats all it is...here is excited Lee and myself



Lee..still excited! Me...over it before I even got there :)



After Lee made a great attempt for me to go pose with the pelican I suggested lunch and that changed his mind! I can see where this was probably a fond childhood memory he had..but in adulthood it was kinda lame! Love you lee!!!!!

We had lunch.
It took forever..
We were now behind schedule.

Meanwhile we're arriving into Minneapolis and have absolutely no idea where or how to get to the tux place. We called Nick because he was expecting our arrival to the city any minute..his phone was off!! So we're literally driving through a huge city and have no idea where to go! He finally calls us just in the nick (see what i did there?) of time and we managed to FINALLY after many failed attempts find the suit place. The Wedding Shoppe was located in a really awesome area of town...on Grande Ave! Lots of fun shoppes/markets/restaurants and really close to the University of St Thomas where Jessica just graduated! Nothing about Minneapolis had dissapointed me yet! At the tux shoppe we were making many failed attempts to try to figure out Lee's suspenders! Neither of us had ever worn/tried on/managed them before..lol! WE DID actually figure it out all by ourselves..not that it takes a genius! AND we rushed outta there to go pick up John from the airport (Lee's bro)! After we found Johnny we hauled butt over to Lee's Aunt Janna's (where we'd be residing for the rest of the trip! Janna is Lee's mom's sister and MOG(mother of the groom, Nick). When I arrived..the house starting filling up with well..Men. Janna and Julie (lee's mom who had also flown in earlier) had not returned home and swarms of antsy boys were crowding the place for Nicks Bachelor party! SENSORY OVERLOAD ..I was in the middle of the beginnings of a long nite for these boys!! The liquor was immediately passed around by the bottle and I was cracking up! I finally got to meet two of the Miller Cousins...Loren ( a minister) and Alex (the tall funny DD for the night) Let me just say that Loren was hilarious and immediately grabbed the vodka bottle and started going at it! When the MOG and future MOG (haha) arrived back to the house he encouraged a shot between Janna and her soon to be wedded son..she took it like a champ. Finally the 15 passenger van arrived and the boys were off..quicker than they had arrived (let's just say that later that night..or early the next morning..I was awoken with sounds of vomiting from ALL corners of the house!) Janna, Julie, and I headed out to ST Paul to go hear an awesome band play! Janna's friend Greg was playing in the band (as well as the rehearsal dinner) so we went to this great bar to go see "The Good, the BAD, and the FUnky" THEY WERE GREAT! And being that I was terribly exhausted..and wearing a sweatshirt and no makeup..I had a ball! Especially watching those sisters dance..I even taught them a new dance move!! Here are some pics from the night...



Julie and Janna were gettin' down..here's a pic of the band sorry its a bit blurry!



After the much needed girl time we headed home..but not before Janna gave me a quick tour or St Paul..which is a gorgeous city! I knew that Minneoplis and St Paul were twin cities and they were right next to each other..but I thought It was basically all one big city! They are REALLY two seperate cities with their own personality and I LOVE them both!!

I did not wake up until around 4am where I ran out and gave someone some tylenol..poor boys..I know they had a great time though..I saw the pics!!

Movin on (day 3)

Day three I woke up very early. I had a tendency to get up super early on this trip because I'm so used to getting up around six or seven here..and since its an hour behind, I kept waking up around five or five-thirty. This particular day I looked out and saw that the sun was getting ready to rise so I threw on a bunch of warm clothes and ran downstairs and snuck out the back deck to get some pictures.



The pictures of the sunrise and the lake dont do it justice. The sky was BRIGHT red and the lake was frozen solid. After I took the pictures I marched myself right back upstairs to that warm bed and fell back asleep. I awoke later to the smell of French Toast. MMMMMMMMM :)

Lee decided that on this day he wanted to take me to his other grandmother's farm and show me around. He also took me to his grandparents farm (the ones we were staying with) and we went to his deceased grandfather's grave. He had never been. I love how Lee wanted me to know everything about where he came from. I guess I should know what I'm marrying into huh? haha

First we went to Ada farm where his grandmother (on Lee's dad's side) lives. During the winter months she lives out in Arizona which is where she was while we were there. She told Lee where the key was so that he could show me around.
Here is the road leading to the farm..its longer than it looks. All the roads there are....its so flat I think you can see the earth's curve. lol!



Here is his grandma's mailbox..this is probably the most colorful thing you will see for miles and miles..



A picture of us touring the farm



the house and one of the many buildings on the farm, me on the tractor..classic, the airplane hanger..yes his family own's their own planes! OF COURSE they do.






Touring the farm was creepy! Since his grandmother wasn't there it seemed kinda scary. There was a bowl of cat food..who knew how long it had been there..in the kitchen..but there were no cats. We found an old photo album in the attic which was cute and saw a lot of interesting things..including but not limited to ahem: LOTS of guns used in a certain war..of which I can't be certain..an old spinning wheel that scared me because it reminded me of the witch in sleeping beauty or the "evil fairy" if you will..there was an ungodly and unfriendly looking troll sitting in one of her windows...etc. I was a little uncomfortable in that house..but i know it would've been different if it didn't seem so abandoned. After the house, Lee took me to some of the other buildings and showed me the airplane hanger and the model T's that his grandfather built himself! Awesome! After hearing about many fond memories we decided to go to his grandfather's grave. The Cemetary was a couple of miles up the road and Lee had never gone to see it. It was a small cemetary. We looked at a few gravestones that truly broke my heart. One that stands out was a little baby less than a year old named Jennie Bell. She died in the late 1800's and was buried beneath a huge tree. I teared up of course. When we found his grandfather's gravestone we saw where it said veteran as he had served in world war 2. On the back of the gravestone was an immaculate picture of Ada Farm and his airplane. He seemed like an amazing man and I'm sorry that I never met him.
Here is a picture of the gravestone with a map of the farm and I assume he is flying the plane..very good detail..it even has the actual ID number of the plane on the side..although I don't think you can see it in this picture :)



After we left the cemetary we met up with his grandparents at their farm (most of which they have sold) and I got a small tour of that..no pictures though..my hands were freezing at this point! Then we headed into the town of Crookston for lunch with the g-rents. Once again I had some fabulous soup!! After lunch his grandparents had to run some errands but we had a real hankerin' for the hot tub and it was starting to get dark so we wanted to get back and watch the sunset. His grandmother provided us with wonderful thick white robes to walk (or run I should say) to the hot tub. The hot tub is outside mind you, and its about 30 degrees out!! Here is us excited for the hot but..but more excited dontcha know for our robes!!





Our view from the hot-tub...ahhh so relaxing..my neck and back have never felt better...mmmmmm



After an amazing steak and potato dinner that his grandparents made us that night..as well as Merle's famous rhubarb crisp we decided to play a few rounds of pool and hand and foot. I lost at pool of course. I had never played hand and foot. This was a favorite (but not as much as dominoes) of his grandparents. I never figured out how to play..I totally didn't get it. But the funny part was..by some stroke of luck..i won both games. Beginner's luck I suppose :) Lee was heartbroken.



Grandpa loves his automatic shuffle machine...



Lee is overwhelmed with the excitement of playing hand and foot...



Grandma Merle explaining the rules to be for the millionth time..I still never got it..


excited and utterly confused that I won twice in a row, lee looks to the sky for answers..


After another fun-filled day on the great plains it was time to go seepy nite nite. Tomorrow we would be returning to Minneapolis. My main goal was to get one last soak in the hot tub before we left....did it happen..?? Till next time, folks.. (day 4)

You never know what you'll see in Minnesota (day 2)

Day two in Minnesota was woke up early from Nick's apartment and he gave us directions for a scenic route for the five hour drive to Lee's grandparents lake house. We drove through dozens and dozens of little towns. We stopped in one town in particular called Walker and had lunch. It was the best Chicken dumpling soup and grilled cheese I'd ever had...and it was perfect because it had just started to snow! We stopped along the way and took some funny pictures :)

We just couldn't resist this one..






You never know what you'll see in Minnesota.
Along the way, we also stopped at a Casino and played a few rounds on the slot machines...we lost 3 dollars. I was over it.
We finally made it to Lee's Grandparents in Crookston on Union Lake at about sunset. We had dinner that consisted of a hamloaf and lots of other fabulous things. We had the homeade norwegian treat called Knekkebrot- not sure exactly of the spelling. We have a box of it though :) That night we played a rousing game of dominoes..which is soooo much fun and his grandparents love it. I easily fell asleep that night..it was a long day, long drive, and full bellies :)

Minnesota Day 1

Sunday morning we woke up at 500am and started our trek towards Raleigh-Durham. Our flight didn't leave till about 11:00am but we wanted to make sure we got there early. Plus, Lee's friend Sean lives in Raleigh and was letting us park his car at his place so we wouldn't have to pay to park while we were gone, so I knew they'd want to hang out for a while. We stopped off for a quick breakfast (the beginning of our giant eat-fest that continued for the remainder of the trip)and managed to make to seans around 745 or so. Before driving us to the airport I got a free guided tour of Raleigh from Sean and Lee...which consisted of NC State's campus/lee's frat house and places they got drunk. Yes folks, it was mind-blowing! I did however, enjoy seeing Lee reminice...he loves Raleigh..another place on our top two places to move in the next few years..the other one being Minneapolis.
Sean dropped us off at the airport in plenty of time and we went to check in our baggage. Baggage. Baggage was an issue on this trip. A couple years ago my mom purchased me a large suitcase because I'm one of those people who has to bring a lot of stuff with me. I knew this trip would require extra warm clothes/coats/boots/shoes/hats scarves and the other necessities. I knew the suitcase would be perfect. Being that I'm not a frequent flyer I assumed that my "big" suitcase would definetly be under the height requirements and weight limit. We were most concerned with the weight limit because of all the stuff my daily maitennce of me requires :)
We get up to the counter and he weighs the suitcase...it had to be under 50 pounds and we wouldn't have to pay the extra 40 bucks! 45 pounds! WOOHOO!! except then the guy says "I can tell you right now it doesnt meet the dimension requirements." WHAT!? I thought my suitcase was like the "large" that came in a set of luggage. Then I looked at the girl behind me who had an actual large from a set of luggage..it was like 2/3 of the size of mine! The baggage guy told me that my size suitcase actually wasnt even a standard..it was like and XXL and he said its probably not a good idea to ever even take it to an airport! GREAT! he also said he was being liberal on my measurements and would only charge me the first 40 bucks (both ways mind you this was round trip fare) instead of the 100 bucks that it would probably actually be if he had measured it correctly. Dang..what a nice guy! So yeah I was completely oblvious to how abnormally large my luggage was so we have since discarded of the extra baggage.
While setting anxiously at our gate waiting for our plane I stared at people's luggage sitting around me. UGH! how could I have been so stupid?? I felt bad Lee had to pay that extra money..I have promised to pay him back for that one. I looked out our window and saw that our plane had finally arrived! i was very excited because I haven't flown in almost 6 or 7 years and I couldn't wait! I love flying! Just ask Lee, I'm like a kid at Christmas! watching the planes land and take off fascinates me! Lee decided to quickly make a potty run before they started boarding. As soon as he left I hear this lovely announcement on the intercom. (would Lee Hammarback and Jessica Showalter please report to gate such-and such?) OMG i started panicing..they werent going to let me fly because someone broke their back moving my bag! I grabbed all the carryons and trotted over to the front of the gate..worried sick..a little nausea..sweaty, face red..like I was in trouble or something. Lee heard the announcement and met me there. Turns out...there was a mistake with our seats! what?! here we go!...then they tell us...we're moving you to new seats...great. thats fine at least we're not in trouble! Finally we board the plane and start to walk to our seats..we were three rows back...thats right..we were booted up to first class!!! YAY!!! I couldn't beleive it! We start getting cozy in our HUGE seats and the lady comes up and asks us for anything to drink. First reaction from us "how much does it cost?" "It's free!" OH YEAH...bring on the wine, beer, and as much as you can since we only have an hour flight to Atlanta! LOL! It was wonderful..we drank as much as we could without getting sick before our next flight..lee drank more than me..i had a severe case of nausea that never went away..probably my nerves from the initial paging at the terminal. An hour or so later we arrived in Atlanta.
We only had about an hour layover there so it wasnt bad..I couldnt wait to arrive in Minnesota! Our flight was to land in Minneapolis at 4 and Lee's cousin Nick was going to pick us up. The flight to Minnapolis (not in first class ) was about an hour and 45 mins..so not long, but it seemed like forever!! I just wanted to get there and start my vacation! We arrive in MSP a little before 4 and call Nick to let him know we're there. He completely lost track of time and was at the gym but said he'd be there in 5 mins. We found our luggage immediately (like it was hard to find the tremdnous gawky suitcase) and waited outside in the semi-cold for Nick. An entire hour later..guess who shows up? LOL!
I was so glad to finally meet Nick..he calls Lee about once a day. He's such a caring and loving guy. He was one of the main reason's we were here. He was getting married to Jessica the following Saturday! Nick decided he would stop and get us some food before we headed over to his church (where they were getting married) for a church service and a little party for the soon to be married couple! We were exhausted and didnt really feel like going but we knew how much it meant to Nick. Nick took us to Taco John's..a chain restaurant like taco bell but a million times better! then we headed over to the church and caught the last half of the evening service. Then, I got to meet Jessica! Jessica is gorgeous and absolutely sweet. You should hear her accent..its SO Minnesota. I have a really really really hard time trying to duplicate this accent and if you haven't heard it...just rent the movie "FARGO" and you'll know what I'm talking about. She had the exact same voice as one of the Olsen-twins but with a thick Minnesota/Norwegian accent..LOVE it. I just didnt expect that sound to come out of that face..it was hilarious. GOD LOVE HER!
the church threw them a cute little shower type party and they played a little newleyweds game where there were back to back and had questions asked about each other. The would hold up their answers for everyone to see. I gotta tell you about one question that really cracked me up! It was a question for Nick about Jessica. Now, Jessica is a very pretty girl. She's very high maitenence and loves her clothes, shoes and bags. And Nick...seems to know Jess pretty well. The question for Nick was....what is Jessica's favorite shoes? Jessica held up her answer...Polka dot high heels. Wow..I didn't think Nick would get that..she was very specific. Nick's answer: Polka dot STILETTOS! FOLKS, he named the actual type of shoe..IT WAS AMAZING! LOL..that was probably the funniest part of the whole night. However I was glad when we got to leave so I could get some seepy nite nite in.
Nick drove us to his new condo...it's in Stillwater, Minnesota. It's an AWESOME little town right out of Minneapolis/St Paul. This is where I want to live. It had amazing little shops, and restaurants and was right a long the river dividing Minnesota and Wisconsin..amazing.
Nicks and Jessica's condo (she wasnt moving in until after the wedding) was FABULOUS!! brand new/hardwood floors, fireplace, walk in closets..gorgeous. The amenities at this place are awesome too...they have a "grand room" complete with kitchen, huge fireplace, living area, pool table, poker table, music system, TV..everything you could want. You can rent out this room for family events or a night in with your friends..its awesome. I failed to take pictures..it was so beautifully decorated for christmas. They also have a theatre room on Nicks floor with 12 theatre seats and a movie screen..the room has a seperate kitchenette and bathroom and you can rent the place for the night with all your friends and watch movies/football games/whatever you want. It was awesome! I have a couple of pics of the condo but these don't do it justice at ALL!



After the grand tour..Nick showed us the slideshow for the wedding. CUTE! After that I NEEDED to go to sleep it was after 12 and I'd been up since 5am....go figure. AND THAT..was just day one..

Finally...the trip!

Sorry I haven't blogged about the Minnesota trip yet. Ever since we got back we've been busy/working/and now we're both sick!! Anyway..I wanted to hurry up and blog before I forgot all about my trip. Let me just say that the trip was absolutely wonderful and I wouldn't change a thing! I really thought I was going to hate Minnesota but that wasn't the case at all! I'm ready to move to Minneapolis...Lee's still thinking about that one..haha.
I decided to break up all these blogs by day so that it wouldn't be so overwhelming. Let's start with Saturday ..the Saturday BEFORE thanksgiving.
We headed down to Winston-Salem to drop off the cats with Lee's mom. She wouldn't be leaving for the trip until Wednesday and we were leaving Sunday so that we could go spend a few days at the lake house with Lee's grandparents. That night his mom prepared us a wonderful spagetti dinner with Fabulous wine! (courtesy of C-Money, her new beau) His name is Craig and his last name is Money. He is a pharmacist and lives in High Point. I couldnt help but immediately think of his name as sounding like a rap artist so I took it upon myself to rename him, C-money! The name has stuck with him...now even Lee's mom calls him C-Money! After dinner we all went to go see the movie "Twilight." Lee wanted to see it because he just finished reading all four books..I myself was so NOT interested, but it was his turn to pick and I knew how badly he wanted to see it. I recommend not seeing this movie unless you're a 14 year old girl. It was really stupid. Even Lee didnt like it..and I think Julie and C-money probably fell asleep. If you absolutely have to see it...RENT it..its too lame to spend all your money on! After the movie we browsed Barnes and Noble for a book to read on the plane and then headed home. I have no pictures from this day...I forgot to have my camera readily available.