My Lifesong: August 2011

Friday, August 26, 2011

Kellsey's Shower/Bachelorette Party!

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!

Thursday, August 11, 2011

The Bell Reunion 2011

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.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

More Wedding Pictures!!

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!