Our big day is 11 days away!!

I'm always surprised at how much time has passed in between blogs! LOL


We're 11 days away from our wedding and couldn't be any more excited! We have been extremely busy with planning, appointments, and everything that comes with planning a wedding! We're also extremely grateful and happy to hear that Prop 8 was overturned and ruled unconstitutional right before our wedding. The timing couldn't have been better! We do realize we still can't obtain a marriage license, but there is NO doubt it's a step in the right direction for us and the LGBT community. This will just be an added bonus and "right", if you will, if we can get the license prior to our wedding, but it hasn't stopped us from moving forward (obviously lol) with our lives, wedding or commitment of any kind, in fact it's pushed us even harder! We're really excited about expressing and showing our Faith, Love & Commitment in front of our friends and family in just 11 days! It will be here before we know it!

We have also been SO busy this summer. We've gone Camping, had the BEST BACHELORETTE BASH EVER!!, BBQ'd with Friends & Family, Played in Downtown Sac, Visited Family in Reno, Enjoyed Lake Day with friends especially on the jet ski! It's been SO much fun, countless memories created and we wouldn't trade it for the world! Forever grateful!

Okay, let's talk about this Bachelorette Bash!!!! To say we had a blast would be the understatement of the year!! It was THE TIME OF OUR LIVES!!! Our wedding party team planned it out an executed it perfectly! It started out with a pool party/BBQ at the Kimpel house, there was fun in the pool, bean bag toss, awesome food and the Perfect Pearsmo's!! Those were delish!! We got to hang out and catch up with many wonderful people, thanks to everyone who came out!

Then the Hummer Limo showed up!! Woo Hoo! The team dressed us up in our Bachelorette sashes and tiara's and all us girls got in and continued the drinking, hey don't judge it was a Bachelorette Party! It whisked us away to Streets of London where we found our selves a table and kept drinking! Even Janae, the yougest sister (20) got to go in because the team made the arrangements!! Her first bar and it was for our Bach!! We then headed to Faces and met up with some party crashers!! Thanks guys! We loved you all being there! We danced our little (ha) butts off! More drinking of course! ;) We then headed back to Roseville and met up with most of the husbands in downtown Roseville. Again, more drinking, please don't roll your eyes! Our Limo took us home and the night was over. The next day wasn't so pleasant, DUH! But totally worth it and we can't believe how much fun we had! Thanks again Bachelorette Planning Team, you all ROCK!

Jen would like to take this moment to mention that she got her first pair of JORDAN'S!!! She is super excited and has wanted them for "her whole life!!" She even wore them to bed the first night, not a joke, she really did! Special thanks to my favorite Baller!

Ok, hopefully this will hold you all over for a bit, not sure if we will post again before the Wedding and Honeymoon, but we will try! And a quick Dunc update: He is currently twitching, barking and wagging his tail in his sleep, thanks for wearing him our Mom, Dad and Janae!

Countdown:

Family Time, Wedding Planning etc!

I cannot believe a month has passed and we haven't blogged! Time flies because it feels like we just did!

In just 34 days we will be walking down the isle to say I will. We can't wait! Plus, I'm a little extra excited to finally have some bling!! ;) My ring is gorgeous! We've done some stuff wedding-wise lately such as, completing the favors (Thank you for your help Christie and Janae), bachelorette officially on July 31st, yes 2 weeks away! OMG! :) Nicole has gone to her first alterations appt and I have done my hair and makeup trial which was AH-Mazing thanks to Lea Buehler! We've received a couple gifts off our registry, so fun and we're so thankful!! We've had a cake trial thanks to Tracy Murphy and it was FABULOUS! Met with our officiant to review our ceremony, 

Last weekend we had a lot of fun. On Saturday it was Nicole's dad's birthday! We all went to the River Cats game where they got swept, but it sure was fun & hot! Oh and the beer was good too! :) Then we woke up bright and early Sunday and drove to Clovis to visit the Marina family! That was a blast and boy is baby Ethan a DOLL! He loved us, but not nearly as much as we loved him!! ;) He is such a good baby, they're truly blessed. Their home was extremely inviting and so beautiful of course. We enjoyed each others company til Monday evening when we returned home. Can't wait to see them again!

Yesterday Nicole flew to SoCal for her god-sisters wedding which she said was just beautiful! I'm bummed I couldn't make it, but I have to work and save up all my vacation time for our wedding\honeymoon! It was so weird not sleeping next to her even for one night, but Duncan kept me company and made me feel so loved and protected which helped. Plus, I found 3 lovely little surprises throughout the night and this morning! A beautiful card under my pillow, the mascara left for me and another note in our daily journal! It's kinda crazy, just one night away and it made me miss her so much! It was nice to really have that feeling again though and probably good for us! haha I'm looking forward to her coming home this evening and I'm sure she is too!

This week was a huge workweek for me. I took a HDI Support Center Team Lead course for 2.5 days followed by the exam which I passed along with my colleague! What a huge accomplishment, I'm really proud of myself! Then yesterday I had an interview for the Help Desk Associate III (Senior) position. I think it went really well, I know I did my best so we shall see. If I don't get the first position, there will only be a couple week delay before I get the 2nd opening! I'm ready for a true leadership title and I'm hoping it comes soon! I just want to keep on climbin'! :)

All in all, life is good, wedding planning is a lot of work, but will be worth it! Can't wait to see all the hard work everyone has put into it already paid off!

Okay, off my break now, better jet! Just in case anyone needs the link again to RSVP or get details for the wedding, here it is!


http://weddings.theknot.com/pwp/pwp2/view/MemberPage.aspx?coupleid=9509411201838281&pid=1908381&MsdVisit=1

Father's Day weekend

I had to work on Saturday, but when I came home I was so happy to see Nicole had just done some baking after going grocery shopping! Huge improvement in her health and stamina. I was just telling her two days before this how much I missed her baking. Oh the little things.

Yesterday was Father's Day as you know and for the most part it's a tough day for me and I'm sure my Father too. We've only been able to spend a select few Father's Day together since he's in SoCal. It's either a surprise road trip down there or a planned flight when we were younger to celebrate Father's Day and his birthday with him. This year he's got a lot going on, on top of some pretty major health issues and as you all know with the wedding only 60 days away all of our resources are going to that! I'm hoping it won't be this way for much longer and what I mean by that is I hope he moves up here. We did however get to spend it with Nicole's amazing Father, her Grandpa and Father-to-be Jason along with tons of friends and family. It was a wonderful BBQ w\some of the best ribs I've ever had! We also stopped in and wished my awesome Step-Dad Russ a Happy Father's day (with a nice bottle of Crown!!) on our way to Nicole's parents house.

I was really dreading the scale this morning, but I felt pretty good about my technique (AKA Tammy Technique - take a bite or two and throw it away) and it mostly paid off! Nicole and I are only up .5 today! Pretty easy to recover from.. I'm just about headed to the gym and then it's lunch time with Nicole. I think if her exhaustion and coughing subside a little more she'll make it back to the gym this week!

Duncan is wiped out today! Lots of sleeping and tons of snoring along with it! He had so much fun swimming yesterday! I just love our water loving lab!

Amazing things are happening again!

First of all, Nicole is feeling better! She worked 2 full days in a row while struggling with a little exhaustion, but last night the wedding excitement helped her to get through that. I swear we talked more (Gosh I missed that) last night till like 11pm (keep in mind I had to get up @ 5am!) than we had in 2 full weeks combined! It was great for sure! She's still taking it easy, resting as much as possible cause we want this to completely go away!

Secondly, yesterday I hit a new low, well it's a this time around new low. About 2 years ago I had lost 40lbs. After gaining just about half of it back, today & yesterday I'm only 5lbs away from that! THEN, anything beyond that will truly be a NEW low! SO exciting. I've made it to the gym 4 days this week, yesterday was my only resting day and I plan on going today\tomorrow. Going definitely promotes eating right, energy and weight loss of course! It's literally just GOING to the gym. :) Sometimes easier said than done! haha

Thirdly, the Help Desk Analyst III position was just posted at my work & I applied!!This will be a leadership\Senior role and it's something I've been working extremely hard for! It's hopefully 1 of 2 openings as there are 2 of us going for it, but just the 1 so far gives me a 50/50 chance! I'm staying optimistic, but being careful at the same time. I am definitely ready for this! I'll keep you posted!

Fourthly, my sweet sickie Nicole sent me a cute little bouquet of flowers to work yesterday! It was a thank you for taking care of her! :) I'm enjoying them for a second day at work and looking forward to bringing them home to enjoy some more! So love them, thanks Honey!

Lastly, we met with our AWESOME DJ yesterday! DJ Scuba in DA HOUSE! We talked about everything we want and expect and we just know he's gonna kill it! Look forward to dancing your butts off @ our wedding! Yes you too PREGO! ;) We also met with Tracy Murphy, she's kind enough to take on our wedding cake! We've decided to definitely scale back the dessert buffet idea and go with a full on cake. Both super happy with our decision and just know she's going to do a wonderful job on it!

Thanks again everyone for all your thoughts and prayers! They've been received and felt and things are looking better for Duncan's Mommies!

Rough week - Not so great news!

Welp, I'm sick of Nicole being sick! LOL I'm sure she's even more sick of it! We're ready to resume life as we know it and with her and this nasty Pneumonia she's got we just can't! She took a couple steps forward over the weekend, but by Sunday night she took a step back and then this morning was even worse! She tried to work, then went to her follow up appt... not so great afterall. Dr. wasn't very pleased with her progress, she definitely has viral Pneumonia. :/ The antibiotics and Rocephin shot have only givin her immune system a boost, not fixed the problem! They gave her another shot and told her to rest. A few more days off work at least. Fortunately, work is very understanding and there's no worries, they just want her to get well. We're hoping she continues to fight this off as well as she has been (hard to say that, but it's true) on her own so she won't need to be hospitalized. Please keep the prayers and thoughts coming! We've got life, a wedding and all that fun stuff to move forward with!! ;)

My Dad is out of the hospital, it was his COPD (includes Chronic Bronchitis and Emphazyma) and he was just worn down. He's on oxygen and was told to never smoke again. He's on the patch, but he definitely needs strength and will power!

Amie had her little man, Caden Jack VanDenBurg and he's an adorable lil guy! Was 4lbs 11oz and 17inches long. I finally got to go visit her in the hospital and I sure wish she was doing better. Poor thing she's had a lot of complications and just now got Caden in her room. Dr. told her she has got to get some sleep and hopefully now that he's in her room she can rest easy especially with the help of her Mom and Holly!

I've had a 3 day weekend, it was both productive and relaxing, but it's coming to an end. Back to the work grind tomorrow! I start my Sun\Mon off shifts for the next two months, I'm looking forward to it. I enjoy having Sunday's off. It's sort of a family day, Saturday's feel like play days! :) Anyhow, please keep my family and my most important woman in your thoughts and prayers! Everyone needs to get well fast!

Ciao ~ Jen