Hindsight is pretty funny sometimes.  At the end of 2008, after all of our wedding planning and the wonderful day itself, Jack and I had resolved to make 2009 the year of nothing-- just fun times, get settled into our life in our condo and make no major plans.  It turned out to be a much more eventful year than I had thought it would be, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

After a mellow beginning to the year, we were fortunate to be able to take our real honeymoon- one full week in Maui to just spend together.  Words can't do it justice, but it was FANTASTIC!  It is a trip we both look back on with the fondest of memories and is a place that we hope to return to someday. 

As the year continued, we were able to celebrate the marriage of a few of our very close friends.  Wedding season started with a trip to Florida with friends for Jen & Ken's beach wedding.  What a spectacular time and a unique wedding experience.  A few weeks later was the wedding of my high school best friend, Kristen, and her fiance, Jay.  It was so wonderful to stand as a bridesmaid for my good friend on this important day just as she did for me a few months before.  Other friends of ours (Kate and Jared) got married the same day as Kristen and Jay so we weren't able to attend their big day, but were thrilled for them none the less.  Later in the summer, we traveled to Detroit for the wedding of Jack's college friend, Joe, and his fiance, Jessica.  As Jack and Joe had lived together for a while in Chicago, I got to know both Joe and Jessica and was so excited to celebrate this day with them.

We were also able to celebrate my parents' 40th wedding anniversary- an event truly deserving of a celebration!  My brothers and I wanted to give them whatever kind of celebration they wanted and they chose a small gathering at their house with just our immediate family.  With the help of my brothers, we planned a wonderful day with much food and even more merriment.  Later on in the fall, my parents were kind enough to let me use their house for another celebration.  I decided to throw a birthday party for Jack.  Although it wasn't a milestone birthday (he was turning 29), I wanted to get in a celebration that included both friends and family before the baby was born.  Since Jack and I both enjoy being kids ourselves at times, I themed it "Let's be kids before we have a kid", so the day included games outside, party favors for the little kids in attendance and just a relaxing day for all to lounge outside and enjoy.

In and amongst all the wedding excitement earlier on in the year, we discovered that I was pregnant.  Boy was it ever tough to keep that a secrect until everything was confirmed with the doctor and we had made it to the safe point of 12 weeks.  With this news, our life felt like it took quite a turn- a turn that was filled with both nerves and excitement.  We knew we had wanted a family together, but had planned on a little more time where it was just the two of us.  As the weeks continued though, we both worked to understand that this may not have been in our plan right away, but it clearly was in God's for us right now and that if He felt we were ready, who were we to question it.  That certainly didn't mean that the nerves went away, but I can at least say for me, that that thought always provided some comfort when doubts surfaced.  As the year continued, our focus started to switch more and more towards prepping for baby's arrival- from shopping for a crib, to cleaning out our second bedroom, baby registries, baby showers and just our own mental preparation that our little family of 2 + Bentley, would soon be 3 + Bentley. 

As the year went on, we made sure to enjoy our time together as much as we could, as we knew it wouldn't be like this again for quite some time.  We also tried to just focus on us for a while, something which sounds really selfish as I type it but that we knew we needed to do.  I think we both wanted to feel more settled in our life together in our condo before adding a baby to the mix.  We worked to go through boxes of old stuff, catch up on all the home projects we had on the list for "sometime" and make our condo a true home.  I am thrilled to say that we closed out the year having caught up on much of what we had wanted to do.  Rooms got repainted, stuff was gone through and we combined our two lives into one.

An absolutely wonderful thing happened along the way though.  After we got married, I thought I couldn't love Jack much more than I already did.  I had felt I was the luckiest girl to have found a man who held all the qualities I had looked for, who treated me so wonderfully and was my best friend.  But this past year, I discovered what so many others have said- that I grew even more in love with Jack than I thought I could.  As we combined our lives, it felt so wonderful to feel in sync with someone else all the time.  I know that we both got by for many years without each other, but in this past year, I sometimes wonder how we did and I pray that I never have to know what that feels like again, as I can't imagine life without him.  I am sure much of these feelings came from the emotional roller coaster of us being pregnant with our first child and all that went along with it, but how exciting also to know that the person we have created is going to be a part of a love that is just so strong between the two of us. 2010 is sure to have many new experiences and adventures, the first of which will likely be the birth of Baby Minster (whenever he or she decides to arrive), but it feels good to know that we are ready for whatever happens because we are in this together.

Happy New Year!

I have been a bad blogger.  Thank goodness for Jack who has kept our blog alive over the past month or so with his entries or everyone might have given up on looking at our blog (if they haven't already)!  The summer seems to be flying by and I am embarressed to realize that my last post was back in May.  I cannot believe that July 4th weekend has come and gone.

Since then, my trip to New Orleans to work with my dad went really well.  I love working with him, we had some good meals and got to spend a lot of quality time together. 

Once I arrived home, I quickly got ready and headed to the rehearsal and dinner for Kristen and Jay's wedding that weekend.  The following day I was back to work for part of the day, headed to meet the girls for manis/pedis and headed home to get ready for the wedding weekend.  We got to Kristen's parents' house bright and early to start getting ready and everything went very smoothly.  Kristen looked absolutely fantastic - a picture-perfect bride!  They had beautiful weather that day, things went very smoothly (minus a few bumps that thankfully didn't impact the success of the day) and a wonderful time was had by all.  The food was delicious, the DJ kept us on the dancefloor, and we all got to take cupcakes home with us, along with some candy from the candy buffet they had put together.  Jack and I stayed in one of the hotels right next to the reception and the following morning we went to meet everyone for breakfast.  We assumed that we would be lucky enough to say "hi" to the bride and groom amongst all the family, but somehow we lucked out that just for 4 of us sat at a table and we got to hear what they thought of their big day. :)

The following weekend, my immediate family got together to celebrate my parents' 40th wedding anniversary!  I had originally offered to throw them quite a shin-dig, but they opted for a dinner at home with just the close family.  Since this was to celebrate them, I wanted them to have what they wanted.  They also wouldn't take no for an answer and provided the main dish for the meal (steak, scallops and lobster for all!), and my brothers and I made up all the rest of the food for the event.  We had the most perfect weather that day, so we spent most of our time on their deck and just enjoying one another's company.  They said that it was exactly what they wanted, so I couldn't ask for a better reaction than that. :)

To say the least, May was QUITE a month!  June seemed quieter, but we had a number of items we were working to accomplish and some fun times with friends and family.  We have also been working on finalizing our wedding album so that we can receive all the digital negatives from the photographers and be able to share them with everyone.  You would think this would be an easy task, but I assure you, it is not!  We were lucky to get to visit with my Uncle Paul and his family while they were in town from Texas, we spent Father's Day with Jack's side of the family and then some time the following weekend with my parents and grandparents to celebrate.  We had dinner with the newlyweds (Kristen & Jay) that Jack blogged about, Jack had a guys' night and a boating outing, and I spent an evening with Gina shoe shopping and having dinner. 

I am looking forward to what the rest of the summer holds for us.  I'll save all that for some other blogs. :)

It's been a quick week since we've been back from Florida.  And although I am relieved that it is Friday, I head out first thing tomorrow morning to New Orleans to work with my dad for most of the week.  I am glad that we'll be together as I love working with him, but having just gotten home from Jen & Ken's wedding in Florida, I don't feel quite ready to be away again.  And once I come home, it's non-stop still as the night I fly home is the rehearsal dinner for Kristen and Jay before their wedding, then back to work on Friday and mani/pedis with the ladies on Friday for the wedding and then the big celebration of their wedding on Saturday!  It's going to be a fun couple of days, but I am also looking forward to next Sunday when I'll get to be with Jack again after all the non-stop action of the coming week.

I hope everyone has a nice weekend!

Last week, I was in Los Angeles for work Sunday through Wednesday.  The trip was very productive, although, my work trips always seem to generate more work.  I flew home Wednesday afternoon from LA.  Coming back always seems to take longer because of the two hours lost in changing time zones.  My flight left at 9:30am, but when I landed in Chicago it was 3:30pm.  By the time I got my bag and took a cab home, it was already 5:00pm.  Blah.

Anyway, the next day, I went into the office as I had some meetings first thing in the morning, then I left around 12:30pm to go home, finish packing, and drop off Bentley at the Kennel before heading back to the airport to fly to Florida.  Mary and I made it there with plenty of time to spare.  Steve and Kati, made it just in time!  Kati had been in New York for work at the same time I was in Los Angeles.  Her flight was canceled, delayed, and canceled some more.  Fortunately, they made it.

The trip to Florida was for Jen and Ken's wedding.  The whole weekend was great!  All the events and accomodations were at a resort near Panama City called Carillon Beach, which is on the Gulf of Mexico side.  Friday we spent most of the day on the beach.  This was a great way to relax, until that night when the sunburn kicked in.  One day I'll learn.

The ceremony was on the beach the next day.  Although it was VERY hot and VERY humid, it was a great ceremony.  Afterwards, we went right to the reception for cocktail hour.  Everything went off without a hitch, and everyone seemed to have a great time.  I'm just glad Mary and I are both home again (for now at least)!  Pictures to follow...

This past weekend, the guys went out to celebrate for Ken's bachelor party.  It was organized by Ken's brother-in-law, Tom, and we all had a great time!  The only part that was a little tough was the travel to and from all our destinations.  We spent time in Downers Grove, Addison, St. Charles, Elgin, and West Chicago! Fortunately, we had a couple guys volunteer to do most of the driving.

The first activity was by far the best.  Tom had organized racing for us at Chicago Indoor Racing in Addison.  This place was fantastic.  It was like a huge man-cave!  Aside from the race tracks, they had multiple bars, tables, games, leather couches, tvs, and even whirlyball!  If they had one of these in the city, I have a feeling we'd be spending a little more time there.

The racing itself was great.  We raced on track seven in what were basically high-performance go-karts.  We got up to about 30-40 mph around the track and raced four times total.  The first three races earned us points, and we took turns starting toward the beginning of the pack.  The driver with the most points from the three heats started in the poll position for the final, championship race.  Jen's brother, Steve, ended up winning the whole thing, which we pretty much all attributed to him being the lightest. 

After the racing, we drove out to St. Charles and ate dinner at Al Capone's Hideaway and Steakhouse.  Aside from the several wrong turns, and a reservation mix-up by the restaurant, this was also a great time.  The meal came with a LOT of food.  I ordered a ribeye steak, which was great, and it came with cream of potatoe soup with bacon and cheese, a chef's salad, bread and garlic mashed potatoes.  Had we known, we probably wouldn't have also ordered the appetizer platter! 

The restaurant was completely decked out with '20s style decor.  Large photographs of Al Capone and family were everywhere.  It also seemed as if the restaurant couldn't have actually been in operation in the days of Capone.  After dinner, we ended up bar hopping a bit, at the end of which we took at $100 cab ride from Elgin back to Downers Grove.  Only a few more weeks, and Jen & Ken will be married!