7 out of 12!

Amberly and Ryan at the Mihulka-Chappelle Wedding

When we look back on our past blog entries, we have noticed something that occurs quite often in our posts. It seems like every other post has some type of wedding involved! This post is no different! Actually, after this last weekend we have a "wedding break" for 2 weeks until the Rubin-Austad wedding at the end of July! Its crazy to think that we have attended 7 out of our 12 weddings this year already! This past weekend marks the date of Kelli (Amberly's Cousin) and Greg's wedding. What a beautiful day! From the flowers, to the cake, the reception area to of course the GORGEOUS Bride and her groom...the day was amazing! Congratulations Greg & Kelli Chappelle, we look forward to many more dinner dates and of course silly stories!

These past few weekends were filled with lots of fun things, Sara's Bachelorette Party, Ryan's golf tournament in Sioux Falls and Brie's arrival in Nebraska. Ryan won a putting championship at the golf tournament and Amberly gets to help Brie wedding dress shop this week for her upcoming nuptials next March!! How exciting! We're looking forward to the Fourth of July and lounging outside on the boat at Lake Okoboji! Have a great 4th everyone!

Sara the Bachelorette!

The Party Girls!

Sisters In Law!

The Boys at the Mihulka-Chappelle Wedding

Mr. and Mrs. Chappelle

Ryan enjoys the festivities

Amberly and her sister Brie...the next Bride to Be!

Feelin' HOT HOT HOT!!!

Remind me again, do we live in the Sahara? No?! Just Omaha. Over the past week we've had some ridiculously hot weather! Today the forecast says its 92 degrees...whew! Get out the sunscreen and the bathing suits! We've been keeping nice and cool in our apartment and have decided that outside runs will be limited to early early morning. No need for heat exhaustion before Kelli and Greg's wedding this weekend! We can't wait for the fun to begin as Amberly picks her sister, Brie, from the airport tonight!!! The whole Thomas clan will be together once again! We're looking forward to a great weekend, like usual! Enjoy the summer sun, but make sure and keep your sunscreen close by!

Pack, Unpack, Pack, Unpack

Another road trip to add to our long list of fun adventures! Lissapalooza was a BLAST this weekend in Okoboji! Not only did we cause quite a stir with our beautiful yellow shirts, but we all got to try out the Barefoot Bar and even got Melissa a few free drinks! Along with the celebration was a boat ride from Becky & Dan Blue, a round of golf, lounging by the pool (with sunburns as evidence), and eating everything in sight! A good weekend for sure! This Wednesday Ryan heads up to Sioux Falls to participate in the Westward Ho Golf Tournament! Good Luck Ry!

Is it really the second weekend of June?

We can't believe how fast the summer is going! May whizzed by and now we're already into the 2nd weekend in June...are you serious? We've sure been keeping busy! Joe Manasek (Ryan's college buddy) and Tristan Stauch were married the last weekend in May and we enjoyed their fantastic wedding here in Omaha. Not only did Ryan get to catch up with his Beta buddies and sing many Beta songs to the bride, Amberly enjoyed an evening with her Chi O friends Laine and Brianne.

June began and brought with it the continued training for our 1/2 marathon in September! We're up to 4 miles now this week...working up to 13! The beginning of June also brought a trip to St. Cloud, Minnesota for Nik Aamlid and Stacie Oistad's wedding. First, a stop in St. Paul to see cousins Kara and Nate and their kids Ben and Greta. Not only did Ryan teach Greta what "dropped a log" meant but we enjoyed a walk around Lake Calhoon and the 80 degree gorgeous weather!

Although the weather decided to take quite the turn on the day of the Oistad- Aamlid wedding. The high was 48 for the day and rain was in the forecast! What month is it again? The wedding went off without a hitch and we are so happy for the new Mr. and Mrs. Aamlid! Their ceremony and reception was an elegant affair!

Heading back to Nebraska on Sunday, we encountered thunderheads and tornado warnings...aaaah...there's the June weather we've been missing! Thankfully we made it through the storm and onto another week! We're looking forward to Lissapalooza this weekend, Melissa's 21st birthday celebration in Okoboji!

At Joe & Tristan's Wedding

Brianne, Amberly & Laine


Nik & Stacie Aamlid


Ryan Performing his Groomsmen Duties

Really...we didn't do much this weekend

After this memorial day weekend was over, Ryan and I sat down to read and realized that we did a lot more over this past 3 day weekend then we thought! A little description of it all, with pictures to come soon!

Friday: Dinner at Michael's in the Old Market with Sara and Mike (yum, yum) , an uneventful and nonscoring Royals baseball game, and Amberly's first trip to the casinos in Iowa! Ryan won $40!

Saturday: SLEPT IN! Enjoyed a warm run to prepare for the 1/2 marathon, Enjoyed a little trip to Mulhall's (pretty flowers and fountains), Played Catch with the football, Watched the movie Marley & Me (We highly recommend it), and sat on the porch and enjoyed a beer or two and a nice chat.

Sunday: SLEPT IN AGAIN! woo, went to church, mini-golfed 1 game, shopped for groceries at Hy-Vee, Mike and Sara came over (brought us yummy tiramasu) and played board games, headed to the movies to see Night at the Museum 2! It was a funny and family-friendly movie!

Monday: SLEPT IN AGAIN?! YES WE DID! Went to Gallup so Ryan could finish a project, Went for a run over the Pedestrian bridge, headed home for lunch and realized that the TV didn't work...bummer, Took a trip to Scheel's, bought a frisbee, "frizzed it up" in the park, played some more mini golf (3 games this time), Met some new friends at our apartment complex, and enjoyed foot rubs, reading and relaxing before the work week began!

Yes, we were quite busy, but it was all "fun stuff." We hope you all had a great memorial day weekend and enjoyed the nice weather. We are so lucky to have such amazing men and women to protect our country so we can enjoy the simple things in life (like a new frisbee or a chat on the porch!). So next time you pray, thank God for the troops who give us the opportunity to live in freedom every day!

Enjoying the Royals Game

Mini Golfing!!!

Crazy Few Weeks

May has already been a crazy month for us! Our list of crazies includes:
- driving 1,000 miles on I-29
- a wedding, a bridal shower and an upcoming bachelor party
- a 24th birthday
- dinners with friends/coworkers/cousins
- long nights of work (bootcamp)

As you can see from the last post...we've been keeping pretty busy. Not only did we attend our friends Jeannine and Todd's wedding the first weekend in May in North Dakota, we also attended Amberly's cousins bridal shower and are gearing up for Ryan's best friend, Nik's, bachelor party this coming weekend!
Amongst all of the wedding preparations/parties for our friends and family, Amberly celebrated her 24th birthday! Ryan was busy with bootcamp the first week in May, which includes long hours of work and presentations, but he made it home in time to wish Amberly a happy birthday...see the pretty flowers he sent to her at work and enjoy the happiness her new TOMS shoes have brought her! Ryan did such a fabulous job of making Amberly feel special and loved on her first birthday as his wife! :)

We would like to say thank you to all who made these last few weeks/weekends special! We're looking forward to the events of this spring/summer and will hopefully see many of you soon!

At Jeannine and Todd's Wedding in Fargo, ND

A new patio set from my mother and father in law!
We'll be using it for more porch sittin'! :)


A few birthday goodies from my hubby

Sitting on the Porch

Last night, Ryan and I enjoyed an evening of porch sittin'. It has come to our attention that our favorite thing to do is sit on the porch. Yes, we sound like an 70 year old retired couple, but porch sittin' has been part of our relationship from the start. At almost every place we've lived we've enjoyed nights of relaxing on the porch with a nice cold drink and warm conversation. Its at these times of sitting and relaxing that we can take it all in, from the hustle and bustle of daily life to catching up on what has happened in the past few months. Its nice every once in a while to turn off the TV, let the dishes soak in the kitchen and just surrender to the cool breeze of a Nebraska spring. Yeah yeah, that was kind of romance novel-esq but you'll know what I mean once you try it!

Here's our porch from our honeymoon in Jamaica! How we'd love to go back and relax there!