Don't Blink You'll Miss It

Yesterday was gone in a blink. I spent a lot of time talking on the phone but other than that I don't think I got a lot done. My mother's newest hobby is to sneak things over to people's houses to decorate when she knows they are gone. Brian and I made some of the yard work rounds last night and when we got to our house to feed the cat and water the plants a wind chime had mysteriously appeared on the back of our house. I guess it could always be worse!

Sleepy Sunday

I like to pretend that I can go at warp speed for months on end never tiring and continuing to achieve excellence. Brian knows that I am limited in how long I can run in continuous motion. Sunday was a slight breaking point. We got out of bed, rode 12 miles and then went over to our house to get started on the mowing. I begged for a few minutes of laying around with the cat and watching TV. The next thing I knew I woke up on the living room floor and an hour was gone. Brian took me home, we had leftovers for lunch and then he tucked me in for a two hour nap. I felt much better and we were able to get some laundry and grocery shopping done. This week we only have 4 days at work so that will help some. Tonight also marks our last night taking care of Elliott the cat. While he was wonderful I didn't realize how long a month is to take care of someone's pet!

Sometimes in Life

You just can't coast! This morning Brian and I went for a ride on the Jamaica North Trail that will eventually run from Lincoln to Kansas. Even though it's a flat ride it's covered in limestone shale so you have to pedal and pedal and pedal and if you coast you drop speed instantly. Tomorrow morning we'll be riding on paved trails, with hills to coast down!

Last night we made it through two wedding registrations and this afternoon we took Erik along to survive a third. Today is 10 weeks until the wedding so in my eyes we're doing pretty good, the registrations went before the invitations =) According to the wedding planner that was in the paper a few weeks ago we should have registered the week that we got engaged =)

Final Invitation List

We have been running and re-running the invitation list all week, I am sure, that to some extent, Brian is ready to give up and ignore his e-mail the rest of the day today! We are hopeful that this weekend we'll get a lot done on our nest. We have a few wedding appointments today and this weekend including a meeting with the flower consultant, a trip to pick up the earrings for the bridesmaids and trying on a few more dresses at a one day only designer dress event. We are also planning to register somewhere this weekend. Hopefully at the end of this weekend we'll come out better prepared, with a sense of accomplishment!

My Hero!

Last night in an act of heroism and machismo Brian got the air conditioner to work!!! The repair man is still coming this morning because it truly was a one night only fix but this morning the house was COLD! I really love an air conditioned house when its 90+ degrees outside!

Hot, Hot, Hot

When I got off work yesterday afternoon the heat index was 105! I went for a walk and then Brian and I went to a marching band planning meeting and spent the rest of the evening trying to get caught up.

This morning at my house the air conditioning compressor gave up the good fight. I woke up hot, sweaty and cranky and this afternoon we're going to play around with keeping the dogs cool at our new house. At least it happened now and not the weekend of the wedding!!! Tonight after a bike ride I'll work on cleaning up the laundry room and my bedroom for the air conditioning man and then once it's nearly dark I'll head out back to trim down any weeds around the air conditioner!

Proofs

Last night we did the final proof for the wedding favors and for the ride t-shirts. I hope that both go over well. Even though it doesn't feel like we got enough done, at least we were able to check something off the list.

It is scorching hot in Lincoln this week. Yesterday Erik had his first day as a day camp counselor for the cub scouts. He was hot and exhausted and asleep before 9:30. Last night Brian and I waited until almost 9pm to go for our walk and it was still over 100 degrees with the heat index. I miss spring already!

Don't Fence Me In

Friday night when we got to our house the yard was sopping wet from the rain so we called Jeff and met him for pizza and then we spent the rest of the evening working on wedding stuff. The bridesmaids officially have earrings! I'm sure I was the only one worried about that!

Saturday morning it rained again so my mom and I went dress shopping (there are 4 maybe dresses) and Brian and Erik went out for a driving lesson. We also got the wedding favors ordered!!! Saturday afternoon we got three of the four yards mowed before it started to rain again.

Father's Day we got up and went for a nice long bike ride, then got to work on the fence. Brian, Erik, Brian's brother's and his dad all came over and somehow got all the posts cemented in and leveled. Later this week (after the heat index gets back down under 100) we'll try to get the fence stretched!!!

Work Weekend

Tonight Brian's brother Jeff is coming over to help us get the posts cemented for our new fence. We're going to celebrate at the end with beer and pizza in our air conditioned house =)

Saturday Brian will get a few things done at the house and get yards taken care of while my mom and I go out to try on dresses for me =) Exciting I know.

Sunday Brian, Erik and Jeff will cut, stretch and put up all the new chainlink and I will finish painting the master bedroom and get started on the computer room. We really do know how to pack full a weekend.

Be Our Guest

We are in the process of finalizing the invitations this morning. I am suddenly jealous of people who can look at something once and know that it is exactly what they want. I think we are somewhere close to the 20th revision. With any luck we will finalize today and order tomorrow. We are hoping to mail them while we're on vacation!

Brian had a wonderful lunch yesterday with one of the groomsmen and I think he's a little more excited every day. David (the groomsmen) told him they could go for a really long (think 6-8 hours) bike ride the day of the wedding so that Brian wouldn't be nervous. I've seen Brian after an all day ride, so I hope they're just teasing me!

Wedding Stress

Ok so last night one of the bridesmaids called me with concerns about an "expedite charge" on the bridesmaids dresses. I called the store this morning and told them if we were going to have to pay extra we would just go with another store, we liked the other dresses and it would be ok. I then called all the bridesmaids to send them to the other bridal store. In the interim the first bridal store called me back to tell me that they would cover the extra charge to get the dresses here in time since it is almost 12 weeks until the wedding (for those of you who are wondering it is 11 weeks and 4 days until the wedding!). So we are staying with the dresses that we picked, I didn't turn in to Bridezilla, I stood up for my girls and the store staff were wonderful! I really love the girl I've been working with so I'll even give her some free advertising.

If you are going to get your dresses in Lincoln - please ask for Quasha at J Marie's. She's SWEEET and will do her best for you!

Thank You

While I didn't get the flower pictures posted to the blog last night I did get through two loads of laundry, three thank you cards and the final revisions to the invitation and RSVP card! Tonight after work I have a memorial service to attend, then dinner, mowing, ordering the wedding favors and picking up the rest of the paint for our bedroom at the new house! This week I want to finish our room so that over the weekend I can paint the computer room. Then I'll shampoo the carpets and we can call the movers and get Brian settled. By and large I think we're spending our summer break from school pretty well =)

Dresses

Thank goodness for summer break, I'm not sure that we could get it all done without these three weeks off from school! Last night the bridesmaids made an officialy decision on the dress, its a pretty, flowing number that will be nice and comfortable for a hot day in September.

Today Erik has a haircut, his football physical and a piano lesson so anything that we get done at the house or for the wedding will be a bonus. Tonight I will try again to post a picture of the painted bedroom and the new plants at the house. We tried on Sunday but experienced some technical difficulties.

Back to the Home Depot

Sunday morning we woke up to rain, but after a trip to visit Elliot the cat (we're babysitting) and some Starbucks, things seemed to clear up. I got 1 coat all the way done in the master bedroom and the second coat about 2/3 of the way done before I ran out of paint. Today after work I'll stop and pick up another gallon and with any luck be able to finish tonight or tomorrow.

I spent the afternoon with Sheree and Vicki (bridesmaids) and Marla, my personal attendant trying to make a final decision on bridesmaid dresses. After work today I will be stopping at the other bridal store with both of them and hopefully making a decision by the end of the night.

Brian continues his fight with the root systems in our back yard. Who would have thought finishing the fence would be such a headache??? He is planning to get together with his brothers and a few friends this week and next weekend to come up with a final plan and get it stretched and finished. With any luck we'll have a fully fenced in yard before vacation. (If you have ever put up a chain link fence and you are interested in free beer and pizza next weekend come on over, we would love to see you!!!)

The Countdown Begins

Erik made it safely home from camp, he had a lot of fun and has been connected to the television solidly. We got a lot of work done at the house, hopefully we'll be able to post pictures tomorrow. The bedroom is almost done.

We went this morning and got things finalized for the wedding cake order. We will officially have 5 different kinds of cake, some are surprises, but if you know the Moock's and Drabant's you can make an educated guess.

Today is officially 12 weeks until the wedding. Tomorrow I will be spending the day with the bridesmaids to make a final decision about the dresses and Brian, Erik and Brian's brothers, Jeff and David, will hopefully make some headway with the fence situation at our house. Hope this finds you all well, in a few short months we'll all celebrate together! Can't wait to see you!

Invitations

Last night Brian's parents (Jim and Becky) took a last look at the options for invitations and put they votes in. Tonight my mom will vote and tomorrow Brian and I will make a final decision. Picking the invitation is harder than I thought it would be. We have been very fortunate though, there is a woman in Illinois who specializes in bicycle paper designs and she has been extra patient with us while we've been trying to pick the perfect invitation!

Erik is coming home from camp tonight and we are hoping (rain, rain go away) to spend the entire weekend working on the house and riding our bikes! With any luck we'll get some pictures of our progress up this weekend!

Fun with the Boss

Brian's boss Perry was in town last night. He stopped in Lincoln to drop off an old tech van and pick up his new car on the way from Denver to Chicago. We had a very nice evening. Perry's daughter will be going to college in Nebraska this fall so we will likely be seeing more of him.

Brian called yesterday and we officially have our appointment with the "cake lady" Saturday morning. Tonight after work I need to stop at the post office to get stamps and then at a local store to get flowers for one of this weekend's projects. And of course, the mowing continues. Hope this finds you all well.

Please pray today for my friend Nancy. Her mom has decided to transition to hospice care. While the family is at peace with the decision it is still quite a bit to endure.

Dressed to the Nines

We spent about an hour at Men's Warehouse last night. Brian picked out his tuxedo and we have the vests assigned. There will be a lot to keep track of with who is wearing what. Apparently this is very trendy. I always thought that everyone wore the same outfit, which leds me to believe that I'm not very trendy! We also went to HyVee but the cake lady gets off early so we might have to take some time off work to catch her.

I got the limo ordered yesterday afternoon and we can change the pick-up time until a week before so I'll talk to the photographer some and see if I am pushing things too fast. We are taking pictures after the ceremony, before the reception, but the good news for our guests is that we will be having a cocktail party with snacks at the reception hall. If the Husker football game is close to the time of the wedding/reception there will also be a big screen tv available on one side of the hall so that fans can keep up!

Let Them Eat Cake

Tonight after work (and after I submit my final paper!!!) Brian and I will be headed to the north side of town to make cake decisions and get the order finalized. We will have multiple cakes at the wedding (we'll explain more when you get to the reception hall) so make sure to pack your sweet tooth. Once we make cake decisions we're heading to Men's Warehouse to make some tuxedo decisions for the groom and his "boys".

Please keep David and Elizabeth Hefley in your prayers. They are dear friends who are both a big part of the wedding. David's mother passed away rather suddenly on Saturday. The family is working to plan a service. May God's presence be a comfort to them all during this difficult time.

A Lovely Weekend

Even though it was finals weekend we made the best of it! Friday night the rain held off until midnight so we were able to take Erik and his friends to the Omaha Royals game. Everyone had a lot of fun and we watched an electrical storm all the way home. Overnight between Friday and Saturday Lincoln got almost 2 inches of rain (we have turned the sprinklers ahead a week) and it looked pretty cloudy Saturday morning. About 9am everything cleared, we packed Erik for camp and headed out to the columns at Pioneers Park for a wedding.

Zach and Kim had a beautiful service, they used the "Hands" poem that my great aunt Mary told us about when we were in Kansas City and then we headed to their reception at Yankee Hill golf club. Everyone had a wonderful time and we were able to make a decision on where to get our cake from!!! We left the reception to get Erik to camp (he's sleeping in an air conditioned cabin this year) and then came back to Lincoln, took care of the nice cat that we're babysitting and spent a quiet evening together.

Sunday we spent the majority of the day working on finals. Brian's grandparents gave us some more lily of the valley and 23 iris so we put those in after the rain subsided and now I can't wait to see the yard next spring. Tonight we both have assignments to wrap up and then we'll have 5 weeks off!!! Every single day we're going to take care of something for the wedding and something at the house, but at least we won't have homework on top of it for a little while.

Tours Available

Last night Brian and I walked from my mom's to our house and back as a way to get some exercise and feed the cat. On the last stretch to our house we ran into a friend from church and she walked along with us to tour the house. Sometimes its still hard to believe its ours. But then we write the check for the mortgage and remember. For anyone who hasn't seen the house and would like to, we will be there EVERY day during summer break and Brian will be moved in soon. We always like visitors. And we love company that knows how to install a chain link fence!

Whoa!

Here it is Thursday morning and our weekend is already packed to overflowing! Tonight Erik has band camp, tomorrow he'll be there all day. When he gets done tomorrow (weather permitting) we will take he and two friends to Omaha to see the Omaha Royals play. It will be our first baseball game of the year! Saturday morning we need to pack Erik for camp and then we have a wedding to go to. (Congratulations Zach and Kim!!!) After the wedding we're driving Erik to camp and then coming home to work on our finals. Sunday it will be time to mow four lawns again and we both have final exams to take that day. The good news is that next week we will get a few nights for fun.

Brian's boss will be in town on Wednesday and he has kindly accepted our invitation for a night out on the town. Thursday night I'm going to see an old neighbor who is up to something with vitamins (if you're interested shoot me an e-mail and I'll give you her number) and Friday night we're going to work on our house and spend time with a few friends. I started working on our "things to do during summer break" list this morning before I left for work. Brian's a hair nervous since its already 2 pages long, but I think we can make it!

Get out your bikes!

As part of the pre-wedding fun we are going to be having a fun bicycle ride the day before, Friday September 4 (time TBA). This ride is just another way we have come up with to have some fun. We will be riding from our house to the Lincoln zoo and back. Round trip is about 7 miles. I know that sounds like a LONG ride to some of you, but I assure you that we'll have so much fun with it that you'll get done and go WOW I DID IT!!!!!

We are talking about different things we can do for the riders who join us. One of the things we've thought about doing is giving out "ride t-shirts". If you would be interested in riding with us, let us know, and if you would like to have a shirt to go with it, let us know that too. If there is enough interest we'll get something arranged with the shirts. Please let us know by July 4th if the shirt is an interest to you. Just shoot me an e-mail at bmoock@yahoo.com and let me know!

For those of you who are traveling to the wedding, and don't want to bring your bike, or who don't have a bike, we have a few options. We have some "spare" bikes that you could ride. Also we are working with at least one local bike shop, who rents bikes by the 4 hour time frame all the way up to weekly rentals. There are other bike shops around who offer rentals as well. Let me know at the e-mail address above if this applies to you!

If you are interested in a longer ride, there have been some discussions on that. Shoot me an e-mail and we can start talking about options for that as well.

For those of you who are reading this and saying something like "not on your life", really it will be a lot of fun!!!! We won't ride super fast (unless you want to), the route is 98% converted rail-road, paved trail, with cross walk lights at every major street. The whole goal with this is to have fun, and we intend to do it! :)

And Then It Started To Rain

A few years ago Brian and I had a rain joke between the two of us because every time that we went out of town it rained. If we left Lincoln our reward was grey, wet and cloudy weather. This summer we have transitioned from mowing three yards (Jim and Becky, my mom, our house) to mowing four yards. (We just added my mom's friend Margaret.) Last night it looked a little cloudy but the weatherman promised the storms wouldn't start until after sunset (for Lincoln in the spring/early summer that means 9 or later). A few minutes before six we packed up and headed out with the hope that we would get all four done. Brian got his finished and our yard has about a 16x20 section left. I was doing great in the backyard, and then it started to rain (before 7).

Don't get me wrong, we need the moisture and it really makes the yards look better. My new lilies are loving it! I just wish that we could have gotten through our work first. Hopefully it gets it out of its system so that Erik can have a dry week at camp!

Girl Stuff

To begin this post - Erik is 15 now!!! How unbelievable! Brian and I are taking him this afternoon to get his driver's permit. Clear the sidewalks!!!

Diane and I had a fantastic time trying on dresses Saturday. We hit four of the local bridal stores and have about 5 possible bridesmaid dresses. Now to get an opinion from the other bridesmaids =) It was fun to talk about wedding stuff and spend a girl's day. We have Dava (the flower girl) with us and I think she had more fun trying on than anyone else in the store!

Brian and Greg got to use the gutter robot to clean the gutters at our nest and I think they had fun together.

We are doing a few "extra" things for the bridal party so we spent time with Brian's mom yesterday doing design work, it was really a lot of fun!