Vacation

So Peter and I just got back from our two week vacation home to Michigan. It was wonderful! We really enjoyed seeing our family, friends, water, and the color green. After waiting in the airport an extra hour before we could board the plane to Chicago and being rerouted mid-air to MADISON due to storms and lack of fuel, we finally got to the mitten.
We started off vising in Grand Blanc before going on an overnight canoe/camping trip down the au sable river. Needless to say, while I like being in nature, I'm not sure if I'm that much of an outdoor girl..... We started off roughly with me accidentally tipping our canoe over and Peter swearing he'd never canoe with me ever again :) After getting the hang of things a little better, we got to the VERY remote campsite to find that it's Fly-Hatch season - meaning bugs EVERYWHERE! We put up our tent in record time to escape those awful pests. After sleeping in partially wet sleeping bags (Sorry Peter!) we loaded up the rest of our completely soaked gear and clothing into the canoe to finish our trip. Although I am NOT the best paddler by any stretch of the imagination, it was beautiful to see the river and animals and fun to have an adventure with my husband.

After that 35 mile trek, we headed up further north to go camping with one of my favorite families, the Sheltons. Jackie and I have been friends since the seventh grade, and camping with her family was a yearly occurrence for me growing up. Sadly, Jackie was still in Europe for this trip (we missed you!) We had a lot of fun camping on their beach front site right on lake Michigan. We ate great food, went to Mackinac Island, and had a wonderful time with Larry, Beth, Scott, Beth (Scott's fiance - yay!), and their kitty philo. One of the highlights of this had to be taking "trash the dress" pictures with Beth. After our wedding last year, Beth had told me this idea to take extra pictures following your wedding where you can be a little more creative, hence "trash' the dress. Well, we didn't trash my beautiful gown, but we had lots of fun taking pictures in the sand and even under Mackinac bridge.

Following these two days, we had to head back down to Grand Blanc where we celebrated Peter's birthday with my family and his. I even made him a delicious red-velvet cake, although Peter cheated and made the frosting for his own cake! Another momentous occasion celebrated during our trip was our first wedding anniversary! It's incredible to think that one year has already flown by. It was fun driving to East Lansing to visit the place we were married and to walk around campus.

Our final part of the trip was spent visiting with Peter's grandfather, mom, and brother in Grand Rapids. His grandpa told us so many neat stories from his time in the "old country" (The Netherlands) and from his starting out in the United States. I always really like hearing these kinds of things. That weekend we also got to see Peter's mom and brother and chill with them which is always fun. Back home in Grand Blanc, my sister took us all out to a new Japanese bistro-buffet for Peter's birthday which was delicious! With rows of sushi, hibachi, dim sum, and noodles, there was something good for everyone.

Overall we had a great trip home and we loved seeing everyone. Hopefully I will get better at updating this thing!

xoxo

Erin

The happiest day of our lives

July 18, 2009. It's so strange to think that almost a year has passed! Time has certainly flown by. It all started with a beautiful bridal shower thrown about a month in advance.






Mom and Dawn prepared a ton of food and Peter's mom Joanne brought the beautiful cake. Everyone was incredibly generous and Peter and I were so thankful for the gifts. In addition, it was great to see so many lovely ladies that I hadn't seen in way too long.

The next big happening was the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. Out of all of the wedding events, this was the most nerve wracking for me. After checking into the hotels, everyone headed over to the MSU alumni chapel. Miraculously, everyone was pretty calm.

We went through our service twice and after that we were much more calm in knowing exactly what we were supposed to be doing, when, and where. We were definitely happy to have that over with. Now onto the food! We had our rehearsal dinner at this cute little one-of-a-kind Italian place in downtown Lansing called Emil's. The food was delicious and it gave everyone a chance to talk and relax for the day ahead. At the end, Peter and I gave our parents engraved picture frames to use for our wedding photos. They were all very helpful in making our wedding day happen!

Our wedding day started with me and the girls making a meijer run to get some breakfast foods and some snacks for the day. After that my hairstylist Heather came to help us get ready. A girl has to look her best (especially on her wedding day) so of course this beautifying process took several hours:)

After a minor sewing repair to the veil, we were off to the chapel! Since the veil had to be sewn slightly after my hair was done, Liz had the unenviable task of trying to get my veil on. I think this time with Heather's counter pressure, we were successful :) After the boys were done creating an extra handkerchief, we were ready to go.









After waiting downstairs for what seemed like an eternity they finally let me come upstairs. After not tripping too many times coming up the stairs I finally reached the main floor to begin the processional. Right before she opened the doors, the wedding consultant helping us asked if this was my song. Honestly, I had NO idea! I remember hearing the harpist play a bunch of songs and I really liked one, but I couldn't remember how it went. After waiting a bit we figured it was time, and my daddy escorted me down the aisle :)





Thankfully we both made it down the aisle without tripping although I did almost fall on my face going up the final stairs to meet Peter.













After the going through the hands ceremony...

Our vows...

Exchanging rings...

Lighting the Unity candle...

YOU MAY KISS THE BRIDE!

This past (almost) year has gone by so fast! We are both so grateful for each other and are enjoying our life together in AZ. We will update more on the things we've been up to in the past year to bring you all current.

Thanks to Beth Shelton and Darren Oxford for the great pictures!

Much love,

Erin

Our new blog

To make things easy, I decided to start a little blog to update our family and friends on our lives. Just a nice place to put pictures and info on our current happenings :) I thought this name (teamreen) was funny and appropriate because whenever we do something together the cheerleader in me always says "Go Team Reen!" :)

Much Love,

Erin