Camping

So I haven't been camping very much. My family's idea of vacation was flying someplace, usually warm, and staying in a nice hotel with points my dad earned in his business travels. Camping wasn't something we normally did. I was an Indian Princess however. Indian Princesses was a group I was in with my dad from 1st-3rd grades. We got together every month with the other dads and daughters and wore our Indian (or is it Native American??) headpieces and vests and discussed our upcoming meetings, events, and campouts. We were the Sioux tribe and I honestly made my first friends through Indian Princesses-my family is still friends with some of the original group. Anyhow, every year we always had a fall, winter, and spring campout. The winter camping trip we did stay indoors but the fall and spring ones were spent in tents. These were my original memories of camping with my dad. For one of our first fall campouts, we had to decorate a pumpkin for the pumpkin contest. We knew this ahead of time and brought a bunch of vegetables and things from home to decorate our tribe's pumpkin. Little did we know that we were supposed to have gathered our decorations from the woods where we were camping (is that how the Indians do it?)...so we got disqualified that year. But the next year I think we won first place, partially thanks to my dad's great pumpkin carving/decorating skills. He always loved Halloween.

So this brings me to my first camping (?) trip as a married woman. We were to go camping this past Friday night with some of our friends here in Des Moines-the McGargills, Aaron (Jamie's brother), Justin, and Mike. The forecast all week was iffy-was it going to rain or wasn't it? Well we debated all day about if we should go or not but it looked like the rain was going to hold off til Saturday or Sunday. Right before we were about to leave, the McGargills called and said they weren't going to spend the night (being that Jill is 7 months pregnant and wasn't loving the idea of sleeping in a potentially wet tent all night...understandable). We still decided to head out to Jamie's parents house (where we would be camping) and at least build a fire, eat dinner, roast some marshmallows and decide a little later if we would spend the night. Once we got there, we realized that mine and Jamie's bag of clothes to sleep in hadn't made it in the car so I was definitely not sleeping in a tent without my fleece pants and sweatshirt. Shockingly, even though the weather has been nice (in the 70's and sunny for the most part) for the last several weeks, mother nature decided to give us some frigid temperatures and rain the weekend we wanted to camp. I'm cold blooded and wasn't about to camp without warm clothes. So at that point it was decided to head back to Des Moines that evening. We made hobos (combination of meat, potatoes, veggies, and gravy in aluminum foil) for dinner, courtesy of Joe and Jill, made S'mores and lit things on fire during the course of the evening. Now I know what goes on during the guy's camping portion of Labor Day each year....no more lighter fluid.

At around 11, we were all ready to head back home and get a good night sleep in our own beds. But we had to get the fire to go out first. So we're pouring whatever liquid we have left on the hot coals in the fire pit-including egg yolks, ice from the cooler, and the finale-urine. I luckily wasn't involved in that part. We made it back to Des Moines at around 12:30 that night and had a wonderful night sleep in our own beds.

The best part of the night was the massive thunderstorm that swept through central Iowa at about 3am. I was glad I wasn't in a tent that night. And I'll never trust the weathermen again.

Lost!

So I (Rachel) decided to catch up with the rest of America and start watching Lost. I always figured it would be a show I might like to watch but I always had schedule conflicts and then never got into it. But now that I'm married and my husband watches it, I felt like I should try and catch up so we can talk about it together. Plus since I'm not currently employed, I have some free time to able to do just that. I started watching Season 1 last year and only got through a couple episodes so last week I started where I left off. I borrowed it from my brother-in-law, Aaron, and love it! I finished Season 1 in less than a week (all 25+ episodes!) and tonight finished Season 2 disc 1. They definitely do a great job of leaving you hanging, keeping you in suspense, and playing to your emotions all at the same time. I've shed a few tears (when Michael, Sawyer, Jin, and Wyatt leave on the raft, when we find out that Rose's husband, Bernard, is still alive) and also jumped at some of those scenes when they're running from strange, wild animals, and the mysterious "others." Jamie is also enjoying watching old episodes with me in the evenings and loving that I'm enjoying them so much too. Hopefully I'll finish these next three seasons before they start up again in the fall... :)

We Got Married!!

This is our first blog entry as a married couple! Jamie and I got married in Naperville, Illinois on March 29, 2008. The ceremony was held at Grace United Methodist Church and the reception was at White Eagle Golf Club, both in Naperville. We were very happy that so many of our family and friends were able be with us on our special day. We were especially thankful for the people who traveled from afar to be able to celebrate with us.



The day started off early for the girls who got their hair and makeup done at my mom's house in Aurora. It was great to have everyone get ready together that morning. On the way, a few of us made a stop at Starbucks to get my last chai tea as a single woman. We arrived at the church in plenty of time to get dressed, get makeup touched up, and take some formal photographs. The guys enjoyed a relaxed morning too, being able to sleep in and meet at the church around 1:15. The ceremony started at 3:00 and it was great to finally see Jamie when I walked down the aisle with my brother, Colin. We joked earlier in the week that it was going to be the Colin Show because he had so many jobs during the ceremony-candle lighter, ushering in my mom, groomsmen, aisle runner un-roller, and giving me away. I was glad that he was such a big part of my wedding day.

After the ceremony, Jamie and I went around the block in the Naperville trolley and then came back to take some pictures with our families and bridal party. Then we all took off for the Riverwalk in downtown Naperville to take some outside pictures. Our bridal party was a great sport because the air was a little chilly. Of course the guys were gentlemanly and gave up their coats to the girls who were wearing strapless dresses and they in turn gave their shawls to the guys who used them as capes and headpieces. :)


After taking pictures outside, we made a quick stop at Starbucks and got a chai tea. We then spent some time cruising around Naperville before heading over to White Eagle for the reception. It was great to spend some time with family and friends who we don't get to see very often. The night was a blast and we think our guests had a good time too!