This is literally just scratching the surface of 2014! There were so many other small moments and events that I wish I could have blogged about but I decided to do my best at really narrowing it down to the most important ones. So here it is...
May 22nd, 2014,
The first post is starting in May because I had stopped blogging in April. This is the day that we lost our beloved Benji. I hate to start my 2014 out with something sad but I couldn't not mention it. Benji, a.k.a. the Dragon, had quite the personality. He loved popcorn, my grandma, chasing cars from window to window and Daisy. He got diabetes which led to him going blind and made things very hard on my Grandma. She was way too old to have to cater to a blind dog and Benji was not living a very fulfilling life anymore so it was time to say goodbye. We still miss you Benji, but I have to admit it's been nice knowing my feet are safe on Easter and Thanksgiving. :)
June 8th, 2014
Andrew and Lacey tied the knot! The reception was at the Chanhassen Dinner Theatre which was a very nice venue! Lacey did an amazing job decorating and most of it was DIY. She is really crafty and makes it look easy. I really got to see the softer side of Andrew during the wedding. He is usually a big jokester and very sarcastic so it was nice to see a new side of him. You could see how infatuated he is by Lacey throughout the day. I don't blame him, she is pretty awesome and looked absolutely stunning! I was a little nervous about going because Joe was obviously IN the wedding so he was not going to be with me the whole time. I really hadn't spent a lot of time with Joe's family yet so I was nervous to say the least. I have to admit though, looking back I am really glad I didn't have Joe as my crutch. I forced myself to be more social and got to know his mom, step-mom, dad and step-dad WAY more than I probably would have if he was by my side all day. All in all it was a beautiful wedding and I am so happy for these two! Love you guys!
June 14th, 2014
Liz's Bachelorette party!! We were pretty much banking on nice weather for this party and of course because we really didn't have a plan B in case of bad weather we got rain, and LOTS of it. The original plan was to go tandem biking but because it was literally pouring out we had to resort to bowling. Bowling was fun but only lasted about an hour so we had several more hours to kill before we planned to go back to Jessie's. Liz decided she wanted to get a tattoo she had been thinking about getting for awhile now. An M on the back of her left heal and a N on the right. For Max and Nick AND Minnesota. While at the tattoo shop Lacey, Amanda and Becky all decided to get the state of Minnesota outlined on their feet/ankle area. They all turned out very cute. We then went back to Jessie's, ate, opened gifts, and had some drinks. Liz kind of pooped out early and wanted to go to sleep. It was pretty laid back but we all had been out of the partying stage of our lives for quite some time and Liz really just wanted a day with all of her friends. She is not the type of girl who wants to get drunk and crazy, at least not anymore. Since it was her day, that's what we did, and it was just perfect!
July 4th, 2014
Twin holding a twin! This is not the day that Charlotte and Olivia were born but this was the day I got to meet them for the first time. It's hard to remember them being this tiny since they are now almost 2!! Jenna had the girls almost two months early so they had to be in the ICU for quite awhile. I can't imagine how scary this was for Jenna. She is very strong and brave. She tried to get pregnant for a few years, suffered several miscarriages and had to do insemination several times before she got pregnant with these two. I can't wait to see them grow up and am so happy for Jenna and her beautiful family.
July 15th, 2014
Liz got married! I was so honored to be in her wedding and what a beautiful wedding it was! The ceremony was unique and her Grandma gave this very memorable, emotional speech. The reception was in a barn in Wisconsin. It was beautiful, country and rustic. Of course with any wedding, there were definitely things that didn't go as planned. It started off as a nice day but eventually it started to downpour, Nick's parent's started some unnecessary drama about the seating arrangement, the food ran out right before the last table got served and the cake melted! Liz and Nick took everything like champs! I probably would have been a wreck if it was me but Liz kept her cool the whole time. The storm passed quickly and the rest of the night we danced our pants off! If I took any specific memory away from this day it's that the dance party rocked!
July 27th, 2014
Kristin's bridal shower! We have now had a lot of these parties and showers at Amy's house but this was the FIRST shower at her new house making it extra special. All of our friend's were able to come (except Jayme, but she did stop by and drop off her gift). It was a beautiful party and Kristin looked amazing! Kristin is much more laid back than me when it comes to planning and partaking in showers/parties (as you will find out come 2015... stay tuned!).
August 16th, 2014
Next was the bachelorette party! We started the day off at Sociable Cider Works brewery, which was very fun! We love our cider so this was the perfect day activity for Kristin. We then went to the Mall of America to hit up her favorite restaurant, Masu! I am not sure how much the other girls liked it, especially Borgie, but she was a good sport about it. I mean seriously, what's NOT to like about this place, it is fantastic (okay okay, I will move on but just know it's delicious, haha). We then went back to Kristin's house and set up snacks while waiting for the rest of the party to arrive (the day stuff was just for the bridal party). The girls all came, we did some pre-drinking, game playing and gift opening at the house and then moved the party to downtown Stillwater. I felt WAY too old to be at the Freight House but Kristin wasn't concerned at all. She was one of like twenty brides there so she was celebrating it up! One of my favorite memories of this day was Lacey getting a guy to give her his boxer's. This guy was really into her and was crushed to learn that she had a boyfriend. His name was Ace and Lacey referred to him as her "wild card". The other favorite memory of the day is that when we got back to the house we were all hanging out in the kitchen when we noticed Lacey was MIA. We began searching for her and someone guesses that she might be in the pool. We open the window and literally yell into the blackness, "Lacey, are you out there?" She quietly answers, "I'm in the pool". We all go outside and sure enough she is buck naked in the pool! Kristin, Jayme and Chinn join her, all NAKED. It was super hilarious!
August 23rd, 2014
The Gotch Wedding. This is going to be a hard one to sum up because there is so much I want to document about the day. It was THE perfect backyard wedding. Looking back, I still can't believe we fit all those people in their yard. I love that they had their wedding at their home and now have SO many memories right outside their front door. We started the day at the salon, of course, getting our hair and make-up done. Kristin's hair looked phenomenal! The craziest thing is that she did not even have a hair and make-up trial, she just trusted the process. Ummm, soooo the opposite of me but like I said before, she is very laid back about this kind of stuff (so jealous!). We then drove back to the house and had to hide Kristin in the car because Bobby drove by. We were all trying to wave him passed us but he thought we were waving him down so he stopped and everyone screamed and tried to cover Kristin! It was pretty funny! Back at the house, we all got ready. Kristin got in her dress and we prepared for the first look, which took place in their orchard. That's right, you heard me correct, they have an ORCHARD. Carrying on... after the first look we all took bridal party pictures. It started to drizzle out but we were then able to get some cute pics under the umbrella. After pictures, we headed over to the church and prepared for the ceremony. I still remember seeing Kristin get super emotional right before we walked down the aisle. It was memorable because they did not look like "happy tears" but instead she looked very upset. I found out later the pianist was trying to get paid right before the ceremony and trying to switch her music around, which really upset her. NOT COOL lady! Anyway, the ceremony was beautiful and afterwards we all went to a nearby ice cream shop, got some cones and took some really cute pics. Once we got back to the house we settled down for dinner. I had a hard time eating because I had the nervous nellies about my speech. I was very much prepared (I had recited it many times and had it all written down) but I was still worried because I knew I was going to bawl like a baby. I did end up crying but I was able to power through and am very happy with how it turned out. I got a lot of compliments from people about my speech and still do to this day! My sister video taped it and every now and then I go watch it. I make myself cry every time! Man, am I good! ;) Steve's speech was heartfelt, to say the very least. He literally just could not even get through a sentence of it without having to stop for long pauses to regain his composure, poor guy! He was losing his Bobby! After the speeches Bobby had some trivia questions for the bridal party. If we answered our question correctly someone at the wedding got a t-shirt. Kristin was not a big fan of this idea but she let Bobby do it because she knew it was important that he got to follow through with one of his many ideas. He was not the type of groom that left the planning up to the bride. He had plenty of ideas about how he wanted this day to go! Blessing or curse? Ask Kristin. It was a humid day so this deterred some people from dancing but this did not stop Bobby's friend's. They had the time of their lives on that dance floor and some of them brought the party into the street! :) It was all very beautiful and very unique to them. I'm so happy Bobby is my brother-in-law and I absolutely love how close him and Joe are.
September 6th, 2014
Lacey got engaged! We all went out to a celebratory dinner in Stillwater at Smallley's Caribbean Barbeque. We then just strolled around Stillwater and of course had to stop at Tremblay's Sweet Shop!
September 7th, 2014
So this is not my niece's actual birthday, but it is the day I took her out to celebrate her birthday! I decided this year that I was going to take Hannah and Hailey out individually to spend an extra special day with their Aunt Kimmy! Hannah and I started the day at Snuffy's, then went and got pedicures, then went to the Red Balloon bookstore on Grand and ended our day at Cherry Berry. These girls and their ice cream, they just can't get enough of it! It was a very special day that I always want to remember. Amy said that they still talk about it to this day. I really like this idea instead of a present and think I will do a repeat of this idea this year! Can't wait!
September 13th, 2014
Kira's bachelorette party! Her sister planned it and it was such a fun day! We did a pub crawl all day and then went out in a limo later that night. I got to ride the new monorail in downtown St. Paul, which I probably never would have had the chance to do otherwise. Her sister made us these really fun necklaces that were covered in pretzels, gummies, cheese-it's and other goodies. Definitely a memory I want to capture!
September 21st, 2014
Hailey's special day! The best thing about Hailey's day was that it was on her ACTUAL birthday. I was a little nervous that she would not want to come out with me by herself and would want Hannah to come along but NOPE. She was ready to go when I got there and left Hannah in her dust! That is the one hard part about these days. Seeing one of my niece's and then leaving them to go off with the other one. It made me feel so guilty but that is just me being overemotional. I am sure they were over it 30 seconds after I left, haha. Hailey and I went to this Corn maze right by Amy's house. They had a small petting zoo, pony's she could ride and even Elsa from Frozen was there! I tried really hard to get Hailey to take a picture with her but she was having none of it. There was a HUGE corn pit where you could jump and play in. It was really fun but we almost lost Hailey's flip flop. It took some serious digging to find. Hailey was also leaking corn kernels out of her pants the rest of the day, which was hilarious! I had some in my pants too! We also went to Cherry Berry and ended her day at the school playground, where Amy and Hannah surprised us. It was the BEST. DAY. EVER.
October 18th, 2014
Kira and Dan get hitched! It's absolutely crazy to think that these two ended up getting married. Flashback to 2003, our high school graduation, and they were just good friends! For years after high school I remember thinking they would start dating and they never did. Just remained good friends. I always knew there was something more but Kira really never admitted it. She always talked about Dan coming to visit her in college but just as "friends". He attended her sorority formal dance but as her "friend". Yeah, I wasn't buying it either. Finally, the cat came out of the bag and she admitted she had feelings for him. The second she told me they were dating I just kind of knew that it was forever. It was one of those relationships, the ones that seem too good to be true. Yup, that one! These two are adorable and I swear they live in their own little world. The wedding was gorgeous and later you will find out that Kira and I actually share very similar taste when it comes to weddings! ;) There were a lot of people from high school at this wedding and Kristin may have let the pressure of mingling get to her because she was three sheet's to the wind before dinner was even served! Bobby had to get her out of there during speeches. Jessie and Josh left shortly thereafter so it was just Joe and I the rest of the night. We hung out for a few more hours, mingled with the couple and her dad and watched people get jiggy on the dance floor. Congrats you two!
October 18th, 2014
October 18th was a twofer! Not only was it Kira's wedding day but little Logan Lundin entered this world! I remember seeing Big Ben at the wedding (who is good friends with Timmy) and he told me the good news, Jessie had her baby and it's a BOY! I couldn't wait to get the birth announcement text but waited patiently for it to arrive. In it came later that night. The birth sounds like it went very smooth and Jessie is the absolute best mommy out there. I can't say enough about how cute Logan is. He should probably be a baby model.
October 31st, 2014
Borgie and Josh got hitched! It was a very short engagement and the wedding was very small but that is just what Borgie wanted. She is very laid back and does NOT like to be the center of attention and neither does Josh. So a small wedding in downtown Stillwater, with just their family, was just perfect! Congrats to the happy couple! (little did Borgie know but at the time she was pregnant with Emmy!!)
December 21st, 2014
Who dat who? Yup, I turned my townhome into Whoville this year for our annual Christmas party. I love that we did this theme! I want to do it again some year because it was so much fun, and when am I going to ever where that sweater again if I don't, right?!? Liz won the award for most dressed up. She totally deserved it! Her hair was awesome and she had a big bow around her belly, because she was pregnant at the time, so it looked like a big present. I was so happy with how the party turned out! Love you ladies sooo much!
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 2014
I don't remember too many specifics about these days but had to mention them because whenever I look back at my year's I always categorize them by Christmas's. This Christmas eve we watched The Christmas story and ate Chinese at Jennie's, which was the only place open. We had Christmas at Amy's house and I just remember it being pretty laid back. My favorite holiday is Christmas. It is just a really special time of year.
And last by not least...
Schmidty selfies throughout 2014
I could not write a post summing up an entire year without adding some pictures of Schmidty and I! He is my baby and is very much a part of my memories this year. Momma loves you Schmee!!
