Hello world. It's me, Amanda.

Once again, I have been MIA.  Oopsie.  Life keeps getting in the way of my blogging!  Although I guess there is something to be said for getting out there and actually living life instead of talking about it.  However, I miss my blogging and I miss all of those who take the time out to read about my life. :) 

Some fun things have happened since we last “spoke”.

• Kyley had her baby!  Yay!  He is adorable (not that any of us are surprised by this…his parents are beautiful!).  Congrats again to Kyley and Bryan on the birth of Maximus.
• Dan and I did have our final meeting before the “big day” with our wonderful photographer, John (if you want to take a look at his work go here.)  We were excited to map out the timing of our big day!
• Most of the final details were wrapped up with the Harvester.  I say most because I am sure something will come up, however, we feel we made all of the big decisions now.
• Dan had his bachelor party!  Which in turn made for a crazy girls night out here in town.  I would give details but what happens in Marshalltown, stays in Marshalltown.  However, one of the most fun nights I have had here in a long time!
• Supplies were purchased for the programs and seating chart.  May not seem like a ton to others but for me this is a huge weight off my shoulders to get this out of the way!

This weekend we will be joining a few of our closest friends (ummm… 40 or so?) and floating in tubes down a river.  Should be a great time and a nice way to slowly wrap up summer!

Last night I was in for a great surprise when I drove by my favorite local ice cream shop, Evs.  It was Peppermint day!  We just ran out so I stocked up on peppermint and chocolate (they taste so much better together).

This ice cream brings back so many memories of growing up and getting a double header cone with peppermint on one side and chocolate on the other.  It is by far my favorite summer food in Marshalltown.  Yes, even better than the Tastee Freeze chili cheese dog which is saying A LOT!

Last night I joined a couple of friends for a viewing of The Killers.  I didn’t expect much going into this other then a brain mush of a movie where I didn’t have to think much and a few good laughs.

I got just that.  It honestly felt like two separate movies to me.  A cute chick flick to start that turns into a crazy movie where everyone is getting shot at and in which everyone turns into a bad guy.

It wasn’t bad.  And Ashton Kutcher was quite nice to look at in this movie.  Sometimes he comes off looking a little blah to me but in this he did not let me down. Thank you to our home state boy from Iowa!

Worth seeing if your expectations are not too high and you want a few good laughs.

This past Saturday I had the joy of participating in a Bags Tournament fundraiser for a fellow co-worker.  He is one of the nominees for Man of the Year in Iowa for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and this was one of the many events he has organized for the months of April and May. 

We got up bright and early and headed to Ames to get there in time for registration and a few pre-event drinks and food.  The day ended up being an absolutely gorgeous one which was perfect for all those who were in Ames for the various VEISHA festivities. 

While Afton and I’s team (Team Aloha) did not do the best in the tournament we still had a wonderful time and even made a few new friends.  I look forward to the other events I will be participating in over the next few weeks that will lead to the final event, the Gala. 

PS: And yes, I did sport an ISU football t-shirt that day.  When in Rome.

Below are a few pics from the event, courtesy of Corey.

Thanks to our awesome photographer for putting together this cool video/picture blog!  I love it! :) 

Part of our picture package we purchased for our wedding was an engagement session.  I will not lie, I was VERY excited about this.  Not so sure Dan was.  For me, this was a chance to relive senior pictures all over again.  At 17, I didn’t really have much of a vision for what I wanted.  I wasn’t comfortable with my photographer so I just kind of walked around and did as he told me.  They turned out fine but I was always envious of the fun, creative shots that others had taken.

Fast forward 13 years to my engagement session. We met our photographer John in Downtown Des Moines this past Saturday.

*side note: As I was getting ready our electricity went out.  So needless to say my hair wasn’t exactly as I had pictured it being.  But alas, the show must go on*

It was the perfect day for pictures.  Sunny, warm (but not TOO warm) and just a slight breeze.  We made it right on time and got started immediately on pictures.  It ended up being one of the most fun mornings we had in a long time.  We spent the next 2 hours climbing up stairs, riding in elevators, climbing on walls, jumping in a dumpster and basically just laughing A LOT.  John had the best sense of humor and we were so relaxed with him that the day was everything I hoped for and more (take that senior picture day!).

Thank goodness John didn’t make us wait too long to get a small handful of the pictures that were taken.  Feel like checking some out?  Look at the blog at the following link titled “Danny and Amanda do Des Moines”

http://jlphoto.typepad.com/my_weblog/

Another cool incentive that our photographer does is that we get 1.00 credit towards our pictures for every unique comment that someone leaves under this blog post.  Scroll down to the last picture and click on Comment and leave us a message!

And if you are ever in need of a photographer in Iowa definitely check out John.  I can’t say enough great things about him.  We are also very lucky that another cool perk of hiring John for our wedding is that we will never pay another session fee with him for any pictures we get in the future of us and our family.  We can look forward to many unique sessions in the future.

That’s a wrap.

The past couples of weeks have been wonderful for the state of Iowa.  First a win by the Cyclones at the Insight bowl.

Then to start 2010 off right; the Hawks win the Orange Bowl.

All of this makes this Iowa girl a happy camper. :)