A Week in Iowa

Nick and I made a trip to Iowa last week to be with family. As many of you may know, my beautiful (inside and out!) Aunt Melissa passed away after 6 tough months with aggressive cancer, so we were in town for her services, to see family. While we were in town, Nick's grandma passed away, so attended her services as well. It was an emotional week, but with family is where we needed to be. Heaven gained two hearts of gold. 

Here are some photos of the week in Iowa:

Typical midwestern beauty on our drive. 

The sunset from Aunt Melissa's - one of her favorite things. Out in the country where they live, the sunsets are breathtaking. 

My cousin Jenny and I enjoying the sunset. I wish I had photos with the rest of my cousins, but we didn't take those, darn it!

My dad gave the eulogy at Aunt Melissa's funeral and did such a great job. I'm so proud of you, dad! You put so much heart and soul into your words to honor your youngest sister, which you're always great with. You are truly one of a kind with such a beautiful heart (especially for your family :)) - we're all blessed to know you!

With all of the rain this season, the corn out back of Aunt Melissa & Uncle Tim's is crazy tall! I'm so thankful to have this man by my side through this journey in life. 

Once we were in town with Nick's side of the family for his grandma's services, we got to spend quality time with them too. We always love time with Hank! He's growing up so fast and is just the cutest. 

The church Nick's grandma and grandpa have attended for many years in Decorah, IA. Nick's parents were married here too.

From Decorah, we took Amber back to Des Moines to see her hubby Zach after being apart for over 2 months. It was fun to see this fam come back together and fun to see how excited Hank was to be reunited with his daddy. 

Another Iowa sunset on our way to Des Moines. 

Handsome boys!

My well dressed man. Did you know next week is our 5 year anniversary?! It's crazy. We've had some crazy 5 years, but I wouldn't want anyone else by my side through it all. Love you, babe!

Today's Pinspiration:

This poem was at Aunt Melissa's services, I really like it. We will miss Aunt Melissa and Grandma Kathryn dearly and wish we had more time with them. We know we will see them again someday, and I get teary picturing their bright smiling faces with our Healer in Heaven. I think they'd tell us to dry our tears and that they're ok and that all is well. 

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Quick Iowa Road Trip {Beautiful Wedding & Fall Colors}

We had a wedding in Iowa to attend last weekend for Nick's cousin. I loved seeing the fall colors as we traveled through the midwest and seeing family is always great. I even got to meet my friend's brand new baby:) A weekend of love for sure! And this was Ranger's first long road trip. 

Since we're not completely done with his puppy shots, we made a restroom for Ranger to use on the road. Job well done for my creative hubby! 

 This guy did such a good job on the trip. 16 hours each way and he really did better than we expected. He even got to meet his dog cousins and Nick's family for the first time. 

If you didn't know yet, let me tell you, Iowa is so beautiful.

The wedding was at a campgrounds, it was such a great day and great time of year to capture fall's beauty. 

Also a great place for photo ops! 

I love this photo of them. 

The wedding was so beautiful.

Leaves and sunshine in the grass gives me warm and fuzzies. 

Love this handsome man of mine. 

 I always enjoy this quiet small town, and when it's covered in fall colors is even cozier. 

 My date and I at the reception site.

These cuties.. so precious. I can see some similarities in their faces too:)

Hank and the beautiful bride. 

We love our Hank-man

 Could Hank be any cuter? My goodness. Those eyes, lips, fingers, just everything. Too cute. 

More beautiful fall colors.

Saying seeya next time to this guy is never easy - they grow so fast and I don't like to miss it. With social media though, we can keep a close eye on this one.

At the pancake breakfast the morning after the wedding, another beautiful site. The air was crisp, but the love of family was cozy.   

And just like that, we were on the road again. 

After a quick stop in Des Moines to meet this precious lady, we were on the road to home.

 Adalyn Grace is so precious and I love seeing my friends become parents. 

I had Ranger on my lap for a while and he fell asleep on me when, behind the seatbelt. So sweet. He's usually too much of a busy boy at home to fall asleep on me these days, so this was precious for sure.

 Sleepy cuddles on the road.

 We've had some cooler temps back here this week, but there's always beauty. I'm soaking it up and enjoying our fall transition. Saturday morning coffee, pajamas, and puppy play has been my day so far. Tonight: Iowa State vs. Baylor. Go ISU!:)

Today's Pinspiration:

Don't let the world change who you were made to be. 

You were made to be you, not to be anyone else. 

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Nordic Fest and Celebrations

Goodness, it's been a busy few weeks! As you may have already noticed, we did a lot of traveling in July. Everyone weekend except for one, was spent on the road traveling to see friends and family for different events going on. I'm enjoying a weekend at home and am trying to catch up on things.

Last weekend, we went to Decorah, IA for Nick's family reunion and fortunately it's the same weekend as Nordic Fest! We had a great time catching up with everyone and enjoying the festivities of the weekend.

The lutefisk eating contest

The contest drew quite the crowd!

Afterwards, they handed out samples for everyone to try...

He likes it! Well he doesn't mind it at least :) I like how you can see me in his left lens and his cousin, Erin and her fiancé Juan in the right lens.

It's not the easiest to see here, but the announcer lady says her family calls it "fish jello". I didn't think it was bad, I just wouldn't be able to eat more than a few bites of it :)

Now, rommegrot is a different story! It's awesome.

I took a small sip of Nick's (I couldn't resist), but the milk, sour cream and butter don't fit into my dairy free (and now gluten free...) diet.

We watched this guy who sang some pretty funny songs and was very entertaining.

The Nordic Dancers were great as usual too!

That night ended with a great fireworks show. If you've never been to Nordic Fest, it's an experience!

Next up: Family Reunion! This is Nick's dad's side of the family.

Nick's extended family is very large by the way. There are many more people not in the photo. We played a water balloon toss game which was a lot of fun!

These photos are thanks to Nick's Aunt Heather

Nick and I successfully made it through many rounds to the final match. We weren't the winners...

I got soaked. It was pretty funny and I'm impressed Heather caught it on camera! It was so much fun.

 Back home to see the pretty clouds welcome us. 

Today's Pinspiration:

In lieu of Nick and I's third anniversary yesterday...

I love you babe! 

And for my adoption day (also yesterday!):

 I'm so thankful for the date that finalized my adoption with my mom and dad and also grew our family even bigger when Nick joined the crew:) Love you, Mom and Dad!