August 2015 Recap: Part 1

August has been a full month and now that it's almost over, it's time to recap the awesomeness that occurred this month before I forget it all! Warning: This is a long one!  In fact, I'm going to split it into two parts.

Awesome Adventure #1: Des Moines/Cascade
We were originally headed up to Des Moines to go to the Hinterland Music Festival, but the location moved to outside of the city and we were offered a refund if we didn't want to go.  We really wanted to have time to see Nick and Emily too, so we decided to skip the concert and just hang out in the city.  

We spent some time catching up with the Reeds and then Ryan and I had a date at Exile Brewery, which was really delicious food!  We also checked out Confluence Brewery which had a really fun atmosphere.  We sat and played cribbage while Ryan sampled a few beers.

When we got back to Nick and Emily's, we got in our cozy clothes and settled in for some Fibbage before bed.  In the morning, we headed over to Laura and Jason's new place in Ankeny for some delicious brunch.  Unfortunately, the only picture that I got for the whole Des Moines experience is this cute one of me and Laura, showing off our bumps!

After brunch, we drove to Cascade for a family camping day with my mom's side of the family.  This day was full of great food, awesome weather, lots of family time, paper lantern fun, and bags!

Awesome Adventure #2: Flaters Visit/Stolt's Wedding
On Friday, August 7th, Andy and Ashley got here just in time for us to head straight out to Le Claire for some fun.  We first went to the distillery to pick up some more of their awesome bourbon barrel-aged Boetje's mustard.  We stuck around for some samples as well...obviously, I only enjoyed the food samples, not the yummy drinks.  Then we went and put our name in for dinner and had a 45-minute wait, so we checked out the brewery in town: Green Tree Brewery.

We continued our fun, double-date night at Blue Iguana for some Mexican food and then headed to the village in Davenport to Brew for a final drink before heading home.

In the morning, we headed up to Chicago.  We met up with Nick and Emily for lunch in Libertyville before checking in to the hotel to get ready for the wedding.
After a little rest, it was time for the big party.  We got all prettied up and headed out to beautiful location for the wedding and reception!

This wedding was so much fun, I'm certain a recap can't possible describe it.  Let's just say we were spoiled with the most amazing appetizers, drink choices, dinner, and dessert spread.  We were overly satisfied and I'm not complaining!  At the end of the night, a hot dog cart even rolled out!  We had such a good time catching up with friends and dancing the night away.  Ryan and I left a pinch before everyone else, because this pregnant lady was tired at 12:30...but it was an awesome night!

On Sunday, Ryan and I stopped at IKEA to get the last thing we needed for the nursery and then made the boring drive home.

August Extras
The beginning of the month was also when I had my new teacher orientation for Bettendorf Schools.  It was so exciting to get started down my new career path.  I also spent a night babysitting little Kamelia, and loved every minute of it!

To be continued...