I'm Dreaming of a PINK Christmas!

For all of you that know me well, you know that my FAVORITE color is PINK! And much to Dave's chagrin, lots of things at our house seem to turn PINK. Take for instance my potato peeler. The blade broke and could not be fixed and one Sunday while walking through Kohls, Dave and I walked through the kitchen section. They happened to have the PINK KitchenAid "Cook for the Cure" utensils and gadgets. Low and behold my PINK potato peeler! Then, this spring, after the crops were put in, spraying was in full swing. Now, Dave and John don't fool around with the spraying! They have a semi trailer designated to holding the chemical and water tanks and to fill that sprayer, you need a garden hose. So, Dave took my GREEN hose one day and replaced it with a PINK one. Needless to say, his nephews will NEVER ask to use my hose! This Summer we had 2 communities celebrating their 125th Anniversaries. Knowing what the bars charge for beer,soda and water, we thought we would stick it to 'em and bring our own beverages in a cooler. I had a blue one which was last used to hold beverages at my sisters wedding rehearsal and had water freeze in it. I honestly believed that it was ruined!! On a trip to Grand Forks, walking through Target, it hit me that we needed a new cooler. They had an awesome sale and such neat colors to choose from I first spied the turquoise, and DAVE pointed out the PINK one. Which ended up being the one he bought for me saying "don't put beer in it--it will turn into some sort of wine cooler!" So PINK is a common joke between us. When I asked him what colors for the wedding, all he stated was "NO PINK".

Here we are on November 23rd, preparing to give thanks for all of our blessings in the last year, and I just put up a Christmas tree. It doesn't really look Christmas like aside from the fact that it is in the shape of a tree and contains lights and ornaments. This tree is SPECIAL!!

Lights on and off!!

It is a WHITE tree, with white lights and decorated with PINK, LIME GREEN, TURQUOISE, ORANGE, PURPLE, & RED. I put a glittery BLUE thingy on the top, and added some PINK and LIME GREEN ribbon garland. It looks fantastic!! Today, Dave and I went on a grocery run to Grand Forks, and found that Menards had 16 function sets of 150 lights on sale. So he got some colored ones for outside and clear ones for our "living room tree". He also found PINK light sets. Now when we got home this evening, he swiched out each individual bulb for the PINK, so that I could have PINK lights on my "dining room tree"!!! Thats love I tell ya!!

Isn't it pretty !!

Wedding Stuff!

I can honestly say that all of the family now knows about our wedding on Jan. 17!! We are READY!! We have the Church, the Pastor, the readings, the music, and now, the flowers. I had been contemplating using crystal bouquets rather than flowers but quickly changed my mind when I saw how much they cost. Then, last Tuesday, I went into Michaels craft store and as a fluke, I found the PERFECT flowers. I get an all cream rose bouquet and my maids, get to carry hydrangeas. Also at Gordmans, I found what will be on the alter. Silver vases with frost/snow covered branches that sparkle.

alter flowers

box of corsages and bouts

Close up of a corsage

Since my moms dress would only fit my thigh, I decides to use it a different way! I removed the cuffs which are satin covered with lace. They also have a couple of pearl buttons on them so, I wrapped my bouquet with the cuffs instead of ribbon. That is my something old!!! 33 yrs old to be exact.

This is the finished product. Its blurry I know, but you get the picture! I think it looks very victorian!! I can't wait!! 2 months to the day! WOOOOHHOOOOO!!

In times of sorrow and in times of joy.

We have had a rough couple of weeks. Thursday Nov. 6, brought lots of rain, lots of ice, power outages and a death in our "extended" family. Our friend and coworker, Darrell passed away at 56 years young. He had recently moved back to Lakota after living in Kansas for the past few years. We all thank God that he had the opporunity to spend time with his 2 grandchildren Ethan, 1yr. and Keira 5 weeks. It was a very tramatic experience for Sarah and Trent because his death occurred in their basement while trying to fix the water leaking in from all of the rain, in a power outage. Sarah performed CPR on her father-in-law for nearly 20 minutes before help arrived. We are all saddened by Darrells passing but know that he is in good hands! This past Sunday, Keira was baptized along with her 2 cousins Laura and Levi. It was a happy day in the

midst of sorrow.

Picture #1 Sarah and Keira

Picture #2 Sarah and Trent with Keira, Father Aertz, Josh (Godfather), Nicole (Godmother) Alisa (Godmother)

Picture #3 John and Brenda with Levi and Laura, Nathan, Phillip, Roman, Jack, and Father Aertz giving the hug.

Picture #4 Laura Lee held by Grandma Steffan

Picture# 5 Levi John held by Aunt Judy.

This Picture was taken 11-1-08 at Daves' brother Gerald and his wife Chris's 30th wedding anniversary party.

This is their entire family from l to r Back row: Trent, Sarah, Josh

Front l to r: Chris holding Keira, Gerald, Breanne holding Ethan, and Sam (Josh's girlfriend)

It is so neat to think of all of the great examples of marriage God has given Dave and I !!