NYE 2013/2014

New Year's Eve came next on our events calendar, and Josh and I celebrated with two of my best friends, April and McGee. Their significant others joined, and we had a night of games, laughs, champagne, dancing, and of course, picture taking. You can tell we had a blast ringing in 2014!

 

I just love this group of people. We had a blast, and so far 2014 has proved to be the best year yet!

Throw Back to High School

A few days after the Tri-City Storm hockey game, I was able to spend a couple of hours with three girls I graduated high school with. Between the four of us (and I don't count, so between the three of them...), they have 14 kids!!!! Geesh.

Hannah, on the left, is my very best friend growing up. She and I did EVERYTHING together. We're only four days apart, and we've known each other since we were born. People thought we were twins. Hannah and Kelley (high school sweethearts) used to live in Oregon, so when I did my exchange program in Oregon, I lived with Hannah and Kelley for a year. They have three biological children, two foster kids, and two adopted kids.

Rachel, in the purple shirt, became very good friends with me in high school. Her husband is in the Army and has spent the last year in Afghanistan as an Army Chaplain. Rachel, in the meantime, moved the family to upstate New York with three children (which includes twins). About a month ago, she had another baby, so she has lived in New York all by herself for a year with four children under the age of four. (To explain the math, Rachel's children are all adopted. So yes, Rachel's husband has been gone for a year, and that explains how she had a baby a month ago....).

Tiffany, in black, is a dear friend from high school. She and I spent a lot of time together (well, all four of us spent a lot of time together, but Tiffany and I had a special bond). Tiffany's husband is her high school sweetheart, so I know him quite well. Nate has been in med-school, so Tiffany has spent the last several years moving from state to state as she follows Nate through his internships and residencies. She is a stay at home mom of three, but has also been working on her Masters (before being a stay at home mom, Tiffany taught high school social studies). They recently moved from MN back to Nebraska and are there to say. Nate got a job in Grand Island.

As you can see, these are three pretty incredible woman, and we try to get together every year to see one another. Since we live so far apart (New York, Rochester, Kearney, and Denver), it's not always easy, but these are three special people I am honored to call friends.

Tri-City Storm Hockey

Josh and I spent an entire week in Nebraska for Christmas, 2013. We had such a great time with family and friends, and it was nice to spend some quality time in Kearney, rather than a quick two day trip.

The first thing we did was go to a hockey game, The Tri-City Storm, with my parents, April, and McGee.

And of course, there are pictures!

It was fun to watch some hockey with some of my favorite people. 

2013 Ornament Exchange

Once I was back from Wyoming, Shannon and I started planning our annual Ornament Exchange Party. If I remember right, this was our Sixth Annual event, and every year we get a little bit bigger.

Everyone brings a wrapped ornament, we eat a bunch of yummy food, and then we play a game and exchange ornaments. Everyone goes home with a new ornament for their Christmas tree, but most importantly, we have great fellowship with other fabulous ladies.

Here's our crew from 2013.

Of Dead Bodies and Presents

Geesh, I have been absent for a very long time. I got waaaay behind on blogging and then just kind of gave up for a while. You'd almost think I was planning a wedding or something.

And what a wedding it was! I will definitely blog about that very soon (once pictures arrive), but for those who missed it, it was the wedding of 2014. Seriously, everyone said it was the best wedding EVER, and I have to take them at their word. I kinda agree with them! It is definitely my favorite wedding I've ever attended....

But let's rewind a bit and start with Christmas, 2013.

My four best friends and I have been celebrating Christmas together for 11 years, and that's not easy because we don't live very close to one another. Our friend Irish lives in Wyoming (five hours from Denver, eight hours from Kearney), Katie and I live in Denver, and April and McGee live in Kearney. We make it a priority to get together and exchange gifts every year.

This year, it was our turn to go to Wyoming to visit Irish (and she'd just had a baby, so we wanted to meet the newest Kreis member). The four of us girls hopped in a car together for a road trip into nothingness. Of course, we made the most of the long drive and sang and laughed and ate.

Along the way on I-80 going 80 mph, we zoomed past what looked like a dead body in the median of the interstate. Since we were going too fast to determined what it was we saw, we decided to turn around for a second look. Well, the next exit was 10 miles up the road, so we drove 10 miles, exited, turned around, drove 12 miles back the opposite direction, exited, turned around again, and stopped on the side of the interstate next to the dead body.

Once we pulled over, there was no doubt in our minds that it was a dead body. I said, "We need to call the police." McGee and April said, "We need to check it out before calling the police. We don't want to look like fools."

So, McGee and April hopped out of the car, dashed across the interstate into the median, and made a slow approach to the dead body.

Katie and I sat in the car while cars and trucks wizzed by us. The car shook every time someone zoomed by. Katie snapped pictures. I kept saying, "We need to call the police. We need to call the police." Katie claims I was crying, but I swear I wasn't.

Does that not look like a body, or what? We assumed someone had wrapped the dead body in a sheet, dumped it on the interstate, and drove away. 

Only McGee and April were brave enough to check it out. 

McGee walked up the body, and using the tip of her toe, she nudged it. 

Turns out, it was just a sheet. No dead body on this road trip! 

I will say, however, that that was an adrenaline rush for all of us!

We continued on our way and made it to Wyoming that afternoon with no other exciting events to speak of. 

We spent the next two days with Irish and her adorable family. We ate, we drank, we opened presents, we did crafts together, and more than anything, enjoyed each other's company. 

Here are a few pictures from our time in Wyoming: 

 Shawn, Irish's amazing husband, made us prime rib one night. Delish!

We did crafts. 

Man, I love these girls!

ER Help

Josh and I went on a 30 mile bike ride yesterday morning. It was my longest of the season yet, and I think I did quite well!

Before our ride even began, though, we had some minor excitement. We had decided to park in the Target parking lot off Santa Fe and ride around Chatfield lake; this would give us the 30 miles we desired to ride.

As we were unloading our bikes in the parking lot, a man and woman walking their bikes approached us. The lady said, "Excuse me, do you think you could help us?"

I figured one of them had a flat tire and needed help pumping it up. They were in luck! I have a fabulous bike pump for such purposes.

"Sure, what do you need?" I happily replied. I am always willing to help pump up a tire.

"Can you take us the ER?"

So that was not what I was expecting.

"Of course! What happened? Is everyone okay?"

The lady rotated her body so I could see her elbow. It looked like she had two fists being help up to her elbow, that's how badly swollen it was. She moaned in pain as she rotated her body.

"We had a bike accident. Since it rained heavily last night, the bridges on the bike trail are very slick. My tire slid out from underneath me, and I landed on my elbow. My husband kind of road right over me as I crashed, and he went over his handle bars."

I looked at the man, and he had a deep gash in both knees and blood was dripping down his legs.

Josh and Shiloh to the rescue! Josh quickly unloaded our bikes off my rack and loaded their bikes on. Josh said he'd stay with our bikes while I drove them to the ER.

The lady was in obvious pain. She kept moaning the entire way to the hospital and she was a bit loopy. She was trying to form sentences but was having a hard time making her brain work with her tongue. Her elbow continued to grow larger and larger on the short 5 minute ride to the ER.

I helped them unload their bikes and got them into the ER waiting room. There was nothing left for me to do. They were very grateful for my help, and I left them with a "Good luck". Both of them were going to need medical attention.

I arrived back to Josh, and we went on our 30 mile ride with no mishaps. I'm still thinking about those two, though, and wonder what happened to her elbow. It looked extremely painful and made my stomach leap whenever I looked at it or at his gashes in his legs.

Lost Ring

Five years ago, I wrote this blog about losing my brother-in-law's wedding ring (in my underwear). It's a great story, so go ahead and read it.

With my upcoming wedding quickly approaching, Shannon keeps mentioning that my wedding day is going to become pretty exciting when she "loses" Josh's ring. It has become a joke that Shannon will have payback for the stress I caused her right before she said "I Do." You know what they say about paybacks, right?

This past week, while working on wedding vows and the wedding ceremony, I came across this interesting statistic:

Of every 10 rings misplaced or lost at wedding time, 8 have been lost by the Maid of Honor. She has a big ring you have asked her to put on her relatively small finger.

That's exactly what happened to me. I put Jeff's large ring on my thumb, and when I went to the bathroom, the ring fell into my underwear.

Apparently I'm not the only one who this happens to!!!

Now, please pray it won't happen to Shannon :)