September 2011: Rehearsal Dinner

 The night before the BIG DAY!

Hanging out with our wedding party and our nephew Aiden.

Front to back: Jared, Aiden, Erin, Jesse, David

We had a simple rehearsal at the church and then hosted a bbq cook out at our house. Big thanks to everyone who helped out with food and set up. It was a nice night and it was great to get to see everyone before the big day.

September 2011: Ideal Father's Last Show/EP Release

 The merch box that Dave helped me make for Ideal Father's other EP release made a come back.

A quick mock up poster advertising the show with Jesse's art work on it.

The show went great. Jesse might say differently though. He never seems to be satisfied when it comes to his performances. The crowd danced around and enjoyed themselves for sure. Jesse made all the art work for the EP and the shirts. I wish I had more picture of them close up, but I can't seem to find any. I'll try to post some later.

August 2011: Science Center Snapshots

 The quote wall.

We have this board that we update regularly when we say or we hear someone say something we find amusing. It changes often, but the best ones are written down in a book for safe keeping. Most of them won't make sense unless you teach programs at the Science Center, but I thought you all might enjoy some of them none the less.

The Box Office, obviously.

 Dressed in black for our special event. 

I got to blow up a hydrogen balloon to get people's attention for a live auction. It was pretty cool.

 The custom designed shirt for our fundraiser.

The dance floor at the end of the night.

I need to get more pictures of the every day goings on here. We have an awesome planetarium that I get to run the shows in and we get to do live shows with reptiles and amphibians (which I never thought about doing and now I love). It's a fun place and I especially love getting to be in charge of Pint Size Science a preschool specific program that I get to develop all on my own. It's great for a creative outlet and bringing more variety to my days. I'll try to take more pictures and post them soon.

August 2011: Iowa State Fair!

 Gina & Joey by the petting zoo. Joey especially loved getting to ride the camel.

My mom got us some tickets to the Iowa State Fair. I haven't been in years and Jesse's never been, so we decided to tag along with my cousin Gina, her sister Mandy, and my cousin Scott's daughter Olyvia when they took Joey, my other cousin Scott's grandson, to the fair. 

 Comparing our height to the tallest horse. We're short and we know it.

 Pork Chop on a stick and a Giant Turkey Leg, Yum!

 

Joey Showing off his tattoos!

 Joey and Jesse quickly became best buds as you can see in the video.

 Jesse and Joey holding hands as we walked around. 
It was so sweet. Joey just reached up and grabbed Jesse hand. They held hands like this for a most of the rest of the day.

 The Red Velvet Funnel Cake that the 6 of us shared.

 Joey zonked out.

Jesse all tuckered out. 

It was a long day for the boys.

We saw some awesome sewing work, the classic butter cow on it's 100th anniversary, the biggest animals (cows, horses, and pigs), we also saw some bizarre miniature animals, sampled delicious dishes, watched some performances on the free stage, and of course scored Joey as many temporary tattoos as humanly possible. It was a good day.

July 2011: Colorado Bound again!

 Chelsey & David. Mt Evans, Colorado

In July Jesse and I took a trip back to Colorado with my brother and his then girlfriend Chelsey. Dave had been planning to pop the question and wanted to do it somewhere special. I suggested Mt Evans for it's beauty and relative closeness to Denver. I think this picture speaks for itself. Besides being windy it was a beautiful day and of course she said Yes. They're planning their nuptials for sometime next August.

 Front Row: Tenille, Me, Michon, Myrna, Tana

Second Row: Monique, Chelsey, Mary, and Amanda

My 2nd Bridal Shower of sorts was held in Colorado that same weekend as well. I invited several girl friends out to a spa day at one of my favorite places Moonedance Botanicals. We had a foot spa party, with champagne spritzers, fancy cheese & crackers, and delicious gourmet cupcakes (courtesy of a groupon I purchased months earlier). It was a good day and it was great to see all the ladies who could actually make it.

 The big reason for the trip to Colorado was a concert at Red Rocks Amphitheater. One of David's favorite bands, The Avett Brothers, were preforming so we had to be there. When I had originally told David about this we thought we would still be living in Denver, but things change so it became a weekend retreat for all of us and we stayed in hotels rather than our old apartment. Jesse spent the night out with his old band mates while Dave, Chels, and I checked out the show. If you've never heard of The Avett Brothers you should definitely follow the link and check them out. They put on a great show.

 Denton and Fiona enjoying their treats!

Of course a trip to Colorado isn't complete with out a trip to the Jeong's house. Denton and Fiona have now met my parents and my brother. They were pretty excited to see us. They were even more excited by the treats we brought them. Their first Rock Candies ever! It was so nice of their parents to have us over for a delicious breakfast before we hit the road again back to Iowa, especially because it was Denton's birthday weekend and they were busy enough with out entertaining us. Thanks guys!

Dave and Chels catching some Zzzz'z on the trip home.

It was a whirlwind of a trip, but I'm so glad we did it. It was great getting to see everyone again, celebrating an engagement, celebrating a birthday, and seeing an awesome concert in the beautiful Red Rocks Amphitheater.

June 2011: Jeremiah & Lesley's Wedding

Since I moved back to Iowa, so quickly I was fortunate enough to be able to take the weekend and attend my cousin Jeremiah's wedding. I took a road trip adventure to Illinois with my cousin Melissa, her husband Ken, their daughter Sydney, My cousin Adam's son Jasper, my Aunt Debbie, and my Uncle Paul. Thanks for letting me tag along guys! It was a fun weekend with lots of dancing and singing most of that coming from Jasper.

 The lovely bride and groom cutting their cake.

Jasper getting down... way down.

 Nice splits! Jasper certainly had some sweet moves.

Father daughter dance. Jeremiah and Emma.

Mother son dance. Mom and David.

Congratulations Jeremiah & Lesley!

More May 2011 : Jared & Jesse

Jesse's brother Jared came to visit us in Iowa in May. Jared lives only a few hours away in Kansas. I know Jesse is glad we are now closer to Jared, so the boys can visit more often. Although, they talk on the phone quite a bit and they play video games online together whenever they get a chance. I think their favorite is spending time together in person though. They love to go fishing and the 2 ponds my parents have were the perfect spot for the boys. I was glad Jared was able to come up and hang out with Jesse while I had my girl's day at the Bridal Shower.

Back Tracking a little...

 Oops! I almost forgot about this. April/May 2011 just before we left for Iowa...

Our Friend Mark helped Jesse build a print press for screen printing. Mark loves to do wood working and Jesse loves screen printing, so it worked out great for both of them. Mark said he had an alterior motive for helping Jesse build  the press. He said he was helping, so that Jesse would give him lots of free t-shirts. Here are a couple videos of Jesse and Mark at work. Denton really enjoyed watching working with them too.

May 2011, Bridal Shower

 Me & Mom

 Me & Grandma Rita

 Front Row: Syd & Sam

Back Row: Gina, Melissa, Natalie, Me, & Rhea

 The girls showing off their new lunch bags they made.

Big Thanks to Gina, Melissa, Natalie, Rhea, Sydney, and Sam for helping plan my Bridal Shower and to everyone else for making food, showing up to celebrate, etc...

When I got to Iowa in late May my cousins threw me a Bridal Shower before I started my new job. It was a beautiful day with lovely peacock feather decorations, tasty breakfast (I'm a big fan of breakfast), and another favorite of mine crafting. Instead of playing lots of awkward games we opted for one quiz on How well you know the couple (I believe my mom and my friend were the top winners for that one), and then we decorated little canvas bags to use for lunch bags (we're so green). Jesse and I were blessed with some wonderful gifts as well. We're so lucky to have such wonderful family and friends close by.

Where to begin...

Obviously we haven't been posting on our blog like we used to. Sorry about that. I've been meaning to keep everyone updated, but so much has happened in such a short amount of time that its hard for me to even keep up. As most of you know I got a job at the Science Center of Iowa and we moved to Iowa. I moved here in May and Jesse followed in late June. Talk about craziness.

Jesse and I made a quick trip back to Iowa for Easter and my first interview in April. Then roughly a month later we were back again for a trip we had already planned, only this time I stayed and lived out of a suitcase in my parent's basement for several weeks. All the while Jesse finished up the packing and took over my nanny gigs to make some cash since he quit his job. My parents drove out to Denver with me and helped us pack up our stuff. Jesse stayed behind for another couple weeks to finish a house sitting job we had promised we would do and to attend this year's Westword Music Showcase. His band was again asked to play, so he couldn't miss it. While here I worked on unpacking and organizing our new apartment (aka my parent's remodeled basement) and I took a weekend trip to Illinois for my cousin's wedding.

Jesse is here now and we're officially Iowa residents. He's currently looking for a job and helping out around the farm. I'm working away and trying to get adjusted to actually living here again. It's been nice having my family around, but it still seems like we are just visiting. I'm sure someday soon I'll wake up and realize this is our new life. What a change of pace. The country vs the city, bugs vs no bugs, humidity vs dry heat, etc...

Our wedding is quickly approaching. The date for the rsvps to our wedding has come and gone, but do not fret we are still willing to take rsvps and we would love it if you would. There will be no formal sit down dinner, but it would still be nice to have an accurate head count for the food and drinks. Feel free to rsvp if you haven't yet.

I promise to write more soon and post lots of random pictures from the last couple months.

Take care,

Erin & Jesse

Best Worst Gift Ever...

Don't even try to top this amazingly awful wedding gift, because I am not sure it can be done. Jesse's friend/band mate/co-worker, Adam, brought this lovely little gem into work yesterday and told Jesse it was his wedding gift to us. Apparently he found it in a pile of stuff in his building that someone was tossing. Hard to believe someone would want to part with this, I know. It was painted in 2009 by some unknown artist... the signature is hard to decipher. It's so hard to explain how I feel about this painting. If anyone falls in love with it I think we would be willing to part with it... just let us know and we'll get it to you asap. Oh Boy! or should I say... Oh Man/Woman Thing!

Good Bye 4 Eyes...

As most of you probably know by now Jesse had Lasik eye surgery at the end of March. He actually scored an amazing deal through Groupon that saved him a ton of money... it still was a hefty purchase though, but he had the money saved up. He debated for days and ultimately decided he wanted to go for it. At his last check up the doctors said he has 20/20 or better vision. They say the trick now is getting your brain to realize your vision is better. It's so used to looking through bad lenses that it takes it a little while to get with the program and things might be slightly blurry for a while. He's doing great though and he's completely satisfied. Aside from a few silly moments at night were he tries to take off his glasses or take out his contacts before bed he doesn't miss his optical support one bit. However, during his debate on if he was going to do it or not he said "Glasses sort of add to an outfit and make you look smarter, now I won't have that." He decided the benefits of the surgery outweighed the fashion of his glasses... thankfully. Silly boy!

Here is the last picture of Jesse with glasses. I took it the morning of his surgery. By the way I went in the room and actually watched the surgery. It was incredibly fascinating.

Dog/House/Baby-sitting duo...

As I've said several times before Jesse and I have become quite the tag team when it comes to taking care of other people's homes, kids, and 4 legged friends. We've been pretty busy lately, so I haven't posted in a quite a while. I do apologize. Here are a few pictures of Jesse dog sitting for 3 of the dogs we have watched lately.

First up Jesse and Ruby.

You'll remember Ruby for an earlier post a few weeks back. She's the one setting with Jesse outside of the bank. Ruby lives downtown with her family which includes Henry a rambunctious 3 almost 4yr old. I believe this picture was actually taken after Jesse, Ruby, and I put Henry to bed. Apparently Jesse and Ruby couldn't stay awake until the adults came home. Henry is a lot of fun, but he can definitely wear you out.

Next up Jesse with Dakota (she's got the black coat) and Cheyenne (she's got the brown coat).

These two lovely ladies are 1/2 sisters. They're labradoodles that live with their family, The Jeongs, downtown a couple blocks from Ms. Ruby in fact. We house/dog sat for the Jeongs over the weekend. These girls can be high energy, but they're pretty well trained. We took them for a 3+ mile walk on Saturday to the Farmer's Market. When we got home we were all pooped. The 4 of us napped the afternoon away.

Here's the girls walking Jesse.

They really are well trained, but when they saw me walk out of that farmer's market they were so excited. They almost ripped Jesse's arm off trying to get to me. They become very attached to their friends.

*Side note: If you notice Dakota looks almost identical to Ms. May the first dog we ever dog set for and oddly May & Dakota are next door neighbors. Sometimes people in the neighborhood get them confused. It's easy to do, but they definitely have different personalities once you get to know them.