I'd say that Trent and I stayed up a little too late last night and I know Mattie would agree with me. Last night, I was immersed in making some photo books of wedding and honeymoon pictures and Trent was in his room playing a computer game and, before I knew it, Trent came up to me and asked if I knew that it was 2 in the morning!?! (I did know it was that time, but I was just having too much fun to go to sleep.)
Mattie likes to lounge around and take naps, but she really doesn't go to sleep until we do. And since we were around the apartment all day yesterday and were keeping her awake, she didn't have her hours to nap while we were away at work either, so I am sure she was very tired after such a long day yesterday.
That's why, I'm sure, she was very excited for us to finally get out of bed this morning so she could take over our bed and snuggle in, which is just what she did!
Mattie's thankful for a relaxing Sunday just as much as I am!
I even noticed that after she got up from her nap in the bed, there was a nice, big, wet slobber spot (right on Trent's side thankfully!) She just might have picked up that little slobbering trait from me over the past 4 months! Whoops! :)
Last week, Trent and I spent a week in Costa Rica for our honeymoon. It was so great! All this week I have been thinking back on what I was doing last week at this time… Most likely, the answer is that we were laying next the pool or something great like that!
We arrived at our resort at Playa Conchal, Guanacaste, Costa Rica in the early afternoon on Saturday. When we got there we relaxed and checked things out and unpacked a little. That night we went to supper and then went to the show that they have each night. Saturday night was their show of songs from the 50s through the 90s. We arrived at around the 70s and were thoroughly entertained. It was pretty comical to watch actually because they were out there trying to lip sync to songs and a lot of times they didn’t have the words right, but it made me smile, so I guess that’s okay.
Sunday was just a day to hang out at the beach and the pool. Unfortunately when we got to the beach around 11 or so, it started to rain, so our beach time didn’t last that long that day. We spent the rest of the afternoon at the pool and even though it rained some in the afternoon (it rained every day we were there for at least a little while because it is the rainy season there), we took shelter in the little huts that they had next to the pool and watched the rain from inside of it while we read and took a little nap. It was perfect.
Monday and Tuesday were our excursion days. Monday we went to an adventure park where we ziplined over trees and valleys and went horseback riding and then we went to a place with hot springs and a natural pool and waterslide. Then, on Tuesday, we took a drive to see the Arenal Volcano, which is Costa Rica’s most active volcano. It was so cool to see and be right in front of the volcano. Although we didn’t get to see any lava flowing down it in the evening (there hasn’t been any activity for the past 6 months or so), it was still quite beautiful and I’m glad we got to see it. Needless to say, by the end of those two days, we were pretty worn out from all the driving (even though we were just passengers, they are quite aggressive drivers in Costa Rica and car rides are not any place where you can relax) and excitement.
The last 3 full days of our trip were great. We were lucky enough to be able to just hang out at our resort and relax and do things there. We slept in some and hung out at the pool on Wednesday, Thursday morning we kayaked out to a little area a ways away from the beach by our resort and went scuba diving (neither Trent nor myself were quite prepared for how hard of work it was to kayak), and on Friday morning we rode bikes up to the highest point we could get to and looked out to the ocean and took some pictures. All that was enjoyed with all of the food and drinks we could handle, which made for 3 great days! When we were there, it was their non-busy season, so the resort was pretty empty. We weren’t sure if we liked it at first because there weren’t a ton of people around. In the end, though, we decided it was great. We got all of the attention and service from the workers and got everything that we needed or wanted without any problems. It really made for an amazing trip and honeymoon!
Trent and I had a great time and already found ourselves talking about our next trip that we are going to take. It’s hard not to when we were hanging out with other couples who were talking about all of the wonderful places they have been in the past, so we definitely got some great ideas! I can't wait until our next adventure together!!
If you'd like to see the rest of our honeymoon pictures, you can do so here. Enjoy!
Only two more days until Trent and I get to go on our Honeymoon! At this moment, 48 hours from now, we should be at our resort and getting to see what we are going to be staying for the next week! I can’t wait!! We take off on Saturday morning at 6 a.m. for Costa Rica for a whole week.
We will be staying at The Westin Resort & Spa, Playa Conchal and I am SO excited! If it is even half as beautiful as the pictures make it look, I am going to be in heaven. As far as I remember, I haven’t been on a vacation that was 7 days long in my life. I think it will be a perfect mix of being able to lay around and relax and having little adventures and things we can check out while we are there.
We have two ‘excursions’ planned. On one, we will be going on a tour of the Arenal Volcano, which is Costa Rica’s most active volcano. We will leave around 8:30 in the morning and it is just a short 4 hour drive from our resort to the volcano. We are told it will be a 15 hour day from the time we leave until we get back, so it will be tiring, I’m sure. I’m not exactly sure what we will all experience while we are visiting the volcano, but it’s called the Arenal Volcano/Hot Springs tour, so I’m sure we’ll get to check out some Hot Springs as well J
The second excursion we have planned is to the Vida Adventura Nature Park. At this park, we will have the opportunity to go on a canopy tour, which will be zip lining over the tropical forest. I think this will be so cool (like something off of the Bachelor!). They also have mud baths, thermal waters, horseback riding, a waterslide, and trails. I think this will be a great day as well.
Other than those things that we have planned, we are just going to go for it and have a fun time doing whatever we want, experiencing Costa Rica. I am most excited about getting to spend 7 days alone with my husband and getting to experience this whole new thing with him. I can’t wait to come back and share all our experiences with everyone!
Last weekend was a fun weekend that I spent in Sioux City celebrating Kellsey’s upcoming wedding.
I went up to Sioux City on Friday night to just hang out and prepare for Saturday and then on Saturday, we had a small bridal shower for Kellsey with some of her closest friends. After the shower, we all headed out and just spent the day doing things together that Kellsey loves. (Below are pictures from the day's events)
Working on making the scrapbook/guestbook for Kellsey I think it turned out great!
Kellsey with the youngest member of the party, Jayli
Time to eat!
Notice the very yummy lemon strawberry truffle made by Nikki. It was great!
Super cute mugs from Amanda!
Me with the Bride!
At the shower
When we left the shower, we went to get pedicures.
Kellsey is pretty sensitive when it comes to her feet =)
Kellsey and I
Amanda, Nikki, and Jocelyn getting their pedicures
The girls with the bride!!
After the pedicures, we headed out to do a little shopping. We picked up some of Kellsey's wedding things from the mall and went to David's Bridal to check out what they had for veils that she might like.
We had some bonding time in the dressing room, too.
We finished up the day by going out to eat and then crashing at the hotel for the night!
It was so much fun having everyone have a little part in the planning of Kellsey’s wedding and have talk about girl stuff all day. Kellsey also tried on her wedding dress for us with all of her accessories, so we all got a sneak peak of how beautiful she will be on her wedding day! It made me even more excited for Kellsey and Wade’s big day that is coming up very quickly!
- I am happy to say that Kellsey is actually on her way to Omaha right now to spend the night here. How lucky am I?!?
Tomorrow, we're heading to Des Moines for the day. We are going to Jocelyn's White Coat Ceremony at Des Moines University in the morning, which is super cool. It's crazy to think that she's on her way to being a Physical Therapist! I'm sure it won't feel like very long at all until she's walking across a stage to graduate (it won't feel like long to the rest of us anyway).
I am also getting my hair permed tomorrow. I'm getting pretty nervous about that! Even though I have spent a lot of years with curly hair, I just hope that I'm going to like it! The end goal is to reduce the time I have to spend getting ready in the morning, so I hope it all goes well. Stay tuned for an update on that one!!
I am also happy to say that when I get home tomorrow night, Trent's family will be here. I am sad that I am going to miss being with them during the day on Saturday, but I am very happy that I'll get to come home to them all being here!
It's gonna be a very fun, but quick weekend. I hope you all have a great one, too! Chow!
Last weekend was one of my favorite weekends of the summer. It was the annual Bell Reunion. I have loved the Bell Reunion ever since I was little. I am so blessed to have a big family and to be close to them, and the Bell Reunion was always a time to see all of those family members. We eat a lot and play cards and beanbags and go swimming and talk and take pictures, it's just so much fun.
The reunion is all of the family members of my Grandma's Grandparents Emma and Pete Bell. They had eight children, so, as you can imagine, there gets to be a lot of people that show up for this big event. As my cousins my age and myself get older, it does get harder to get everyone together just for the fact that we aren't young, carefree kids anymore with few obligations. We have year round jobs now and have started families of our own and some have moved away and sometimes it's hard to make time in your schedule to get there every year, but we are all super excited to see everyone that does make it. This year, my own husband was unable to make it, but with the way the calendar fell this year and the first Sunday in August being so 'late' (being the 6th rather than the 1st of the month like it was last year) he just couldn't make it work with August being such a busy month for him.
I arrived home on Saturday afternoon and was able to spend some time at my Grandparents' house with my Great Aunt Mimi and my little cousin Cooper. Gradually, as the day went on, more people showed up and the guys got done with their annual Bell Shoot and everyone ended up there for a great supper and a late night card game for the guys.
Everyone enjoying supper and hanging out in the kitchen.
Meeting of the minds! My Great Uncle Ted and Grandpa.
And they match too :)
A picture with my mom on Bell Reunion Eve
My dad and I
My sister and I
Bill showing Aunt Mimi how much he loves her =)
Me with Uncle Paul
Then, on Sunday, just before noon, we headed into Vail for some more fun!
My mom and Uncle Paul doing the dishes after lunch.
Some people hanging out watching the bean bag tournament.
My mom and Uncle Dan in action. Dan and his partner took 1st place
Kellsey and her partner taking on Ryan and his partner.
Kellsey and her partner ended up 2nd.
My mom, Jocelyn and I
The winners of the bean bag tournament.
Kellsey was late for her team picture so she had to take one alone.
2nd place!
Cooper and I
Me and Grandma
My family.
I'm afraid that my dad has had a little influence on my sister...
The members of the Jessie Aylward family that were in attendance for the picture. We're missing a few.
Here's some more of my favorite pictures. We got a little under 800 pictures from our photographer, so there's a lot more to see. I have quite a few more favorites, but I had to stop somewhere! I'll share some more on Facebook after we get the CD of pictures.
Enjoy the rest of these!
Have a great day!
The Kock Family (minus my future brother-in-law)
The Fredericksen Family
The Groom's Attendants
Me and my bridesmaids
Taylor with her Great Grandma Fredericksen
Everyone's taking pictures! They are so cute!
Grandma Kock leading everyone in prayer
A hug from my big sister
Our first dance
Lauren and Bailey being goofballs
Dancing with my Daddy!
I LOVE this picture of Trent and his mom dancing with Chuck looking on in the background!
Giving my Grandma and Grandpa Jons the toss bouquet and special handkerchief because they were married the longest out of everyone there.
My face shows my thoughts on this whole garter situation
At least I got a kiss out of the deal though :)
Love the pictures they got of our rings!
Cooper showing everyone how it's done!
He was so fun to watch at the dance!
