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...

Wedding Weekened Recap 5/15/15

The day went far too quickly!  Ryan and I drove to Chicago last Friday for my dear friend Shae's wedding...and the time just flew by!  I was greeted by some great friends from high school offering up their congratulations to us.  The setting for the wedding was glamorous and I definitely shed a tear or two...or seventeen.  It went too fast, as I'm sure Shae can attest to!  Here's a little recap in pictures (the best part).

Wedding Selfie

Unity Wine!!

 

My beautiful, MARRIED friend! :)

So Thoughtful...warm fuzzies were had. :)

Grateful for these girls in my life.

I just wish we could do it all over again and again and again!

Windy City Fun

Saturday morning, we headed up to Schaumburg to Stolt and Lisa's apartment.  We headed to a delicious lunch, with drinks of course, and then headed downtown on the train!  We met up with Tim, Laura, and Jason and bar hopped around some fun neighborhoods in Chicago.

Sunday morning, we were up early to get ready to take the train (and a cab) to Soldier Field!  We donned our best Bears garb and then covered all up with winter coats...it was so cold!  We weaved our way to the stadium among thousands of other fans.  Though the Bears lost, we had an incredible time at Soldier Field.  Great seats, great weather, fun game, and a flyover!

After the game, we headed back to Schaumburg, grabbed some dinner with Stolt and Lisa and then enjoyed the night back at their apartment in cozy clothes and watched Killing Kennedy on National Geographic.  Outside of the bears losing, it was the perfect day!

We visited Brooke at her new house and then grabbed some lunch on Monday before heading back home.  Unfortunately, the snow made for an icky drive, but we made it and relaxed the rest of the night.  I hope we get to do it all again someday.  Happy humpday!

Weekend in Chicago

For the fourth of July, Ryan and I decided to go up to Chicago for the weekend. We made a hotel reservation for Saturday and Sunday up in Oak Brook at the Hyatt. Soon after making our plans for the weekend, we found out that Stephanie and Kyle were moving from Sacramento, back to the Midwest, and they were going to be living in Joliet!!

So we ended up going up to Joliet on Friday after work and staying with Steph and Kyle before we started our original weekend plans.

We had such a great time catching up with them and meeting their two little dogs, Arnie and Henna. (Henna was my favorite! She's the cute black one)



Their new place was really nice, and after a good night's rest, we got up pretty early in the morning to get ready for our respectively busy days. Steph's sister was heading up and they were going to the Taste of Chicago. Ryan and I were heading to Six Flags for the day! So we had to say goodbye way too soon...but it's nice having her closer, because now we'll actually see each other more than once a year!



We had a blast at Six Flags. We paid for The Flash Pass and it was definitely worth the extra cost. We didn't have to wait long for any rides and besides The Giant Drop, we got to ride every ride we wanted to...sometimes more than once! =)

Ryan found fireworks for us to go to that night at the Oak Brook Country Club and I am so glad we didn't miss that show. It was bizarre walking through a 27 hole golf course at night and finding people sitting all over the course. There was a massive gathering of people for the festival with lots of food stands and a McDonald's tent. Turns out the corporate headquarters for McDonalds is in Oak Brook and they sponsored the event. Which would explain the AMAZING fireworks!

The next day, we went to the Brookfield zoo. It was such a beautiful zoo and being as how I love zoos, it was also one of the best I had been to.


We watched the dolphin show from below, which was actually kinda cool! We also got to pet and feed stingrays, which was great, but not as good as the stingray pool at Sea World.


It was a gorgeous day, but definitely pretty hot. But the zoo had a lot of indoor exhibits which helped cool it off.



One of the coolest exhibits was the gorilla enclosure. They were entertaining, and we got some great pics!


After the zoo, we toured Goose Island Brewery. There wasn't much to tour, but there was a tasting which, if anything, was very informative. We got to sample great beer and get a souvenir glass.

We also went to IKEA and got some great deals on some fun stuff. I love that store and wish there was one that was closer.

The next morning, we checked out of the hotel and went to the Oak Brook shopping center...definitely Ryan's favorite part! Lol. Then we went to Trader Joe's to stock up on great groceries and headed home. It was a great weekend and I can't wait to go back. Chicago is definitely my favorite vacation spot, because there is so much to do!