Adam and Alisha's Wedding

Last weekend it was Adam and Alisha's big day; they are now man and wife!  It was a big day for the whole family as Eric was best man and Alicia was the maid of honor.  I got the boys little dress outfits with clip on ties for the wedding.  I love dressing my boys up!  They looked like such little men.  I actually spent more on their little outfits than I did my own.  Anyone that knows me knows that I love scoring a deal.  I got my vintage cut pink linen dress on clearance at Marshall's for $20.  Holla! I figured I could splurge on the boys.  And due to the generousity of our family and friends with gift clothes and hand-me-downs, it was the first clothing I ever purchased for them.  A&W did really well the whole day considering how greatly their schedule got thrown out of whack.  I did pretty well towing them around in three inch heels for the day.  Can we say work out?

The wedding was beautiful and the bride was of course...beautiful.  I love weddings.  I love seeing two people so obviously in love and just the joy that exudes from them on their special day.  The ceremony was Christ-centered and there was no doubt what those two young people are basing their marriage on. 

It was also a very exciting weekend because Abraham and Winston got to meet their great grandma Guddat, their great great uncle and aunt (Eric's grandfather's brother and wife), their great uncle and aunt and lots of Eric's cousins. 

Without further ado, some pictures in no apparent order (because Blogger likes to drive me crazy sometimes):

 The family with the bride and groom

 Winston with great aunt Cindy and great grandma Guddat

 Grandpa and Grammy with their grandsons

 A proud mama with her boys

 The boys with Uncle Jason and Auntie Rachel (Eric's cousin and his wife)

 The best man- Mr. Beef

 Great grandma Guddat and Auntie Alicia deep in conversation

 Abraham found a good place to nap

 Speeches and toasts

Alicia's turn

Summer Recap

The Guddats at Riverside Youth Conference 2009

Well a lot has happened in the last months so I will just lay it all out:

• Our summer basically got off to a really fun start when my best friend Kathy and her husband Dave came to visit us for Memorial Day weekend. We had a great time together which involved seeing Tahoe, Virginia City, getting awesome Basque food and them teaching us how to mix a mean margarita. Kathy and I have been friends since 9th grade and what makes our friendship so special is that there is no pretense. If we don't talk for weeks or months at a time we fall right back into place.
  
• June was busy. My childhood friend Case came to visit (he grew up on the dairy next door to my dad's dairy). Our good friend Dave married a lovely lady named Tiffanie. Dave's family was able to stay with us during the week and the next day after the wedding we headed down south for the Riverside Youth Conference. For those of you in the know, Eric and I met in 2007 through this event when we were both chaperones. This year we had 35 kids attend from Grace Community! Now that is quite awesome. It was a bit interesting getting the caravan down there but I think DH did a great job executing all the plans, details and cracking the whip (kidding with the last part). Stephen Gambill from Nashville, TN was the speaker and he addressed the kids on "Living Christianly in All of Life." It was pertinent and convicting to all.
• July was visitor month. We had my mom, stepdad and little bro come up 4th of July weekend. More driving around Tahoe and Virginia City with Truckee in the mix. We had a BBQ on Sunday night with Jeff, Harmony and Alicia. We utilized our fire pit a lot over the summer to make s'mores...mmmmmh. We made an incredible 36 hour trip to So Cal for our friend Cameron and Joy's wedding. Adam came with us and it was so much fun. Our friends Dave and Robyn put us up for the two nights while we were there. The wedding was a lot of fun and it was wonderful getting to see our friends down there. Later that month my dad and stepmom came up. Virginia City again, no Tahoe. We went shooting (but unfortunately not long enough). Lots of margaritas (I made sure to put that after the shooting).
  
• We started off August by hosting Newly Marrieds at our house. We had 7 couples, the food turned our great and the discussion/fellowship was really edifiying. August also means that we have been married a year and what better way to celebrate than to hang out with family? No, seriously. My brother-in-law (for lack of a more clear term, maybe I could call him my Mike-in-law?) has been working in Reno a lot lately. He is a professional navigator for trophy truck races. The company he races for sold a truck to a racing company in Reno which means he is up here during the week a lot. Reno is still too far to see him on a regular basis (especially when I work in Bridgeport). All that to say, Mike, Zabrina and the kids decided that they were gonna be here the weekend of our anniversary. Mike was up here already so my dad and stepmom drove up with all the fam. We rented a boat on Tahoe and it was a lot of fun! We also did some more shooting this time. I shot the AR for the first time and I must say that I kind of like that. The following weekend Eric had a bachelor's weekend for his buddy Brandon. He was gone camping and fishing and I hung out with some girlfriends. I played Bunko for the first time and, went to Dawn's bridal shower, exercised, watched movies and stayed up way too late. I eventually got my special date night for our anniversary which included a nice dinner at Walley's (for those that don't live around here please don't think I am talking about Walmart) and a blingy watch as a gift. The next day we went to see G.I. Joe (I know, I love my husband) because I had already seen my girly movie choice, Julie and Julia, with my friends the weekend earlier. Later we went to Firkin & Fox and watched the UFC fights.
  
• September and Labor Day weekend mean the end of summer but apparently not our busy lives. Our friends Brandon and Dawn got married Labor Day weekend and it was a great experience with very happy bride and groom. I got better acquainted with Eric's firefighting compadres and spouses or SOs which I enjoyed. Labor Day we actually labored and went woodcutting...all day. I was sore later but it felt good at the time.
• In general, Eric is busy teaching the high school/junior high age at church on Wednesay nights. He tag teams on Sunday mornings. I have started working 4-10s which is fantastic in that I get an extra free day (I am choosing Fri.) but difficult in that 10 hour days are 13 hour days with the commute. Some days go longer and when I leave at 6 something and get back at 8 it's hard physically because the drive really takes it out of me (especially the 300+ mile field days). I am blessed to have a husband who packs my lunch, makes me my protein shake, my green tea and helps get me on the road. He really shows me how he loves me everyday. I am trying to get back into exercising after my back injury which is hard but overall I am feeling better. I had an MRI and I have a disc that potentially is damaged or it might just be degenerating. I was bummed when I was told I couldn't run because that is what I love but remembering I am blessed to be able to exercise in general. Eric's shoulder is doing pretty good. He is going to be going back to the swim center for work outs since that is good for his rotator cuff.

Check out the photos from our summer plus others at the following link from our Facebook album (and if you are on there please add us!)

March Vacation

Eric and I were thrilled to get away recently for close to a week. Our friends Matt and Tiffany got married on March 14th so we combined attending their wedding with seeing friends, fam and going to the happiest place on earth...Disneyland! We headed down after work and did the night time drive again. I think we are pretty committed to doing the drive down south at night now. It makes it go by real fast when you don't have to look at the desert. The sunset driving out of Bishop was lovely however. It got dark just outside of Lone Pine and by then it gets pretty boring. Sand and Joshua trees. We got to spend some time with the nieces and nephews, Grandma Ida, my Grandpa and Grandma Dykstra and my parents.

Matt and Tiffany's wedding was beautiful and we really enjoyed getting to be at a Christian wedding with so many mutual friends. For pics check out their photographer Marlin Munoz's blog. Robert Elliott, the pastor who performed our ceremony, also officiated the ceremony of Matt and Tiffany. It is wonderful to hear people say their vows when you know that they are committed to the mutual foundation of Christ being their Lord and Savior. Oh, and there was a sweet party afterward as well.

We headed to Disneyland with some good friends: James and Michelle Elliott and their adorable kiddos, Dave and Robyn Lamberth and Dave and Kathy McGuire. Eric and I had not been to Disneyland together since our engagement (Eric proposed to me at The Vineyard Room In CA Adventures). It was fantastic weather and we thoroughly enjoyed catching up with our So Cal friends. The new Toy Story ride is our latest favorite.

Wedding Pictures

For those of you have not seen the wedding picture slideshow from our awesome photographer Bobby Earle, please check it out:


http://bobbyearle.blogspot.com/2008/09/joleen-eric-full-post.html


It really was a beautiful day. We will continue to post pics as we see them!

Mike and Zabrina's Wedding

Eric and I got to go on our first road trip together this last weekend. We drove down to So Cal for a family wedding. From Gardnerville, NV to Riverside, CA it is about a 7.5 hour drive which gave us plenty of time to talk, sing, goof off and just enjoy each other's company.

 

It was wonderful getting to see my family for the first time since after our wedding especially for such a happy event. For those who are not too filled in on my family life, Zabrina is my former sister-in-law who we are very blessed to have such a close and positive relationship with. Mike and Zabrina actually said their vows in April in Las Vegas. They wanted to have a ceremony for family and friends to witness as well as a celebration! The wedding was held at my dad and stepmom's home that they recently built in Hemet, CA. It really was a great day and wonderful to see how happy and whole this family now is. At the reception, Mike made an announcement and asked Jaymie, Zabrina's daughter, to become an Emerson like her mom. He wants to adopt Jaymie and gave her a necklace with engraved with her new name. It was so touching for me that I did not get photos of that moment. For those of you at our wedding, Jaymie was one of my bridesmaids. Eric just loves the idea and role of being an uncle now and I can tell the kids love him too.

We got the chance to have my Grandma Ida stay at the house with us too all weekend which was a lot of fun. She seemed to really enjoy herself. On Sunday we went to church at my former church, Reformed Baptist Church of Riverside. My grandma came with us and my younger brother Jeremy, a freshman at Cal Baptist University, also showed up. It's amazing to see my brother basically out on his own and maturing into his post-high school self. It makes me so excited to see the kind of man he is becoming. It was so great seeing so many of our close friends at church that were there at our wedding and had been so important and supportive of us during our whole courtship process. It was a quick weekend but we really enjoyed our time.