Love

ODE

On my drive home from Greeley to Littleton last weekend, I received an email from Josh.

Subject:
ODE to my lady!

Message:

A short haired brunette, she was just my style.

I kept trying to catch her eye, and she gave me a smile.

I told her she should dance, then she took me as a partner.

If I had only known then that the dance was just a  starter.

Three years later I am still trying to catch her eye.

And am reminded everyday that I must be the luckiest guy.

Love ya Shiloh Baby!

This is my favorite thing ever! He's so sweet, and he can write! 

Cookies and Dresses

Liz came over for dinner last night, my first guest in our new house (other than my family, who has yet to see the finished product). Liz got to see the finished product, that which I have been working so hard on for the past two weeks in the hour or so a night that I am home before I go to bed.

I came from Lacrosse practice, and she came from the gym, but dinner was ready when we both arrived thanks to this thing called a crock-pot. And boy was dinner delicious, but that's not the point.

After dinner, Liz tried on her bridesmaid dress while I put cookies in the oven. I had never seen the bridesmaid dress tried on with the slip the girls are wearing underneath (because the dress is kind of short, and the slip adds some length), so Liz was kind enough to bring it so I could see the whole piece together.

I approve. It's cute!

While she had the dress on, I told her she should come upstairs with me so she could hold a bouquet to see what it looked it with the dress.

Then Liz suggested I hold my dress up to her dress to see how it looked together.

I did one better and put the dress on :)

I mean, come on, I couldn't help it. A reason to put my dress on? Sure, sign me up!

So there we stood, she in her bridesmaid dress, me in my wedding dress. We were admiring ourselves in the mirror when I smelled the cookies.

"Oh no, the cookies!!!" I went running downstairs with one orange shoe and one teal shoe (because we were deciding the best look) with Liz in toe.

I yelled to Liz, "I have to be careful. I CANNOT spill anything on my dress." Liz offered to take the cookies out of the oven.

There we stood in the kitchen, one soon-to-be-bride and one soon-to-be-bridesmaid, with a pan of burnt cookies.

All we needed to do was make a bucket of popcorn to eat while watching a movie in our dresses, and we'd be just like Rachel, Monica, and Phoebe on Friends.

Luckily, no one knocked on my door in that moment. THAT would be embarrassing.

Distracted

At the end of every lacrosse practice, Coach Everett pulls the girls into a large group and gives them a speech. Yesterday was no exception, and I found myself in the back of the group.

Coach Everett began his speech, and I found myself looking at my engagement ring. The lights were hitting it just right, and it was sparkling. I was staring at my ring, thinking how beautiful it is and how much I love it. I was thinking that Josh did such a wonderful job picking it out on his own. I was thinking about our upcoming wedding day. I was thinking how wonderfully sparkly it was as the lights hit it.

"Coach Nichols, anything to add?"

A girl nudged me and said, "Coach Nichols, Everett is talking to you."

I glanced up, and the entire group of 46 girls was looking at me.

"I'm sorry, I didn't hear you. What did you say?"

"Do you have anything to add to what I just said?"

(I have no idea what Coach Everett said).

"Nope, I'm good. You said it well. Good job, girls."

I whispered to the girl who had nudged me, "I have no idea what he said. I was admiring my ring."

Spicy Blueberry Bagel

Josh and I were able to gather a few people to help us move this past weekend. My parents arrived, his parents arrived, my sister arrived with Jeff and kids, and Josh's best friend and best man arrived, along with his girlfriend. (We so appreciate the help! Thank you to everyone who helped us move in just a few hours).

I stopped at Panera to get bagels for the crew, so when Josh woke up Saturday morning, he headed straight for breakfast. He chose a blueberry bagel, found cream cheese in the fridge, and proceeded to eat breakfast while I got ready for the day.

A few bites into Josh's bagel, he started to inspect it. He said to me, "Are you sure this is blueberry? It's spicy."

I looked at him like he was a complete goof ball. "Of course that's blueberry, and it is not spicy. Why in the world would the bagel be spicy?"

"I don't know, but I swear it's spicy. It tastes like jalapenos. Seriously, taste it."

"Josh, the only reason it might be spicy is because it was sitting by an everything bagel or something. I promise, it's all in your head. It's a blueberry bagel, so just eat it."

He took another bite. "I swear this tastes like jalapenos."

And then it hit me. I have jalapeno cream cheese in my fridge (man, I just love jalapenos so much!). He had smeared jalapeno cream cheese on his blueberry bagel, which explained why it was spicy.

"Who in the world buy jalapeno cream cheese? Why do they even make such a thing?"

I was cracking up. He wasn't too amused. I threw his bagel away and made him a new one with regular cream cheese. I also suggested to him he read labels before using anything in my fridge, as there's bound to be spice in almost everything I eat!

Not a Laughing Matter

Parent/Teacher Conferences were this past week, and it makes for a very long day. Luckily, our Spring conferences are only one day (rather than two days in the Fall), but they go from 3:30-8 pm. By the end, I was a bit giddy from exhaustion.

I have a very loud, rowdy student who is full of personality. He CANNOT stop talking. Seriously, at any given moment, this student is talking, and he's talking loudly. I have had this student for two years, and I have never met his parents.

And then all of a sudden, his parents were sitting in front of me at conferences asking about their son. I told them I was very glad to meet them after two years of having their son. I gave them a progress report, stressing that their son had greatly improved his writing in the two years I had known him. His dad said, "We've also noticed his writing has vastly improved. Can you tell us why his writing has improved so much in two years?"

In a very quick decision, I decided to use humor. In my head, I figured my student had a very good sense of humor, so he had to get that from a parent, right? So I said, "Well, obviously he has improved because of his very good English teacher!"

They laughed heartily, and then I moved on to a "real" answer.

 But then it didn't happen like that at all. Not even close.

Nope, these parents do not have a sense of humor. These parents did not laugh. They didn't even chuckle. They stared at me while I chuckled at my own joke before realizing that they did not like my humor. I quickly stopped laughing, cleared my throat, and very seriously said, "I'm totally kidding. The reason why Jake has improved his writing is...." and I gave them the answer they were clearly looking for. I felt like such a fool!

Note to self: don't use humor at conferences. It's a very serious matter, apparently.

Wedding Update

A few of you have been asking about wedding planning, so I'll fill you in quickly.

Everything is packed right now, so I honestly haven't done any wedding stuff in about a month. I'm starting to feel the stress! I move next weekend, so as soon as I can get unpacked, I need to take inventory of what I have done and what I still need to do.

My friend and personal attendant, Kari, is going to do my hair for the wedding, so I'm going to her place tomorrow night for a practice fun. I am so excited for someone to play with my hair for a night!

Josh and I are making our invites and my Aunt Jan is printing them for me. I am nearly complete with the design, so we will get our invites printed in the next few weeks. Collin is playing a hand in some of the design, too, so I love having a talented brother.

My sister and April (matrons of honor) are planning my wedding shower and bachelorette party. Oh man, I can barely wait for that!!! Knowing those two, they are going to plan the most perfect party for me.

My friend, Abby, is helping with some of the food planning. We are feeding a lot of people for a period of three days, so Abby is helping me organize and plan how much food we need to buy. She's helping with plan menus and breaking it all down into an Xcel sheet so when Josh and I go to Costco to buy the food, we know exactly what and how much to buy.

My mom, of course, has been a wonderful help in everything. I can't even begin to tell you all she (and my dad) have done to help, from buying my wedding dress, to helping our plans come alive.

We still have a lot to do, but thanks to all my helper bees, I think we're going to get everything done!