Wild West Weddings and Bettering Bathrooms

It’s amazing where the summer is going? I love the hot weather, the bright sunshine, the long hours, the lack of a jacket, the ability to just throw any random pair of shoes on and go, the leaving windows open, the grilling, the sitting on the patio, the strolling through the yard to see what new blooms are happening, I like all of summer. I’m totally aware that Matt is a fall guy where you wake up and there’s a slight chill and when you go to bed the temp drops again, the coffee and cider in the morning weather, and the colors. But me…I’ll take summer with its sun. Hard to believe we are sitting at July 15th and before we know it, the leaves will begin to change and we’ll have our first winter in the condo.

The condo has been coming along. I’ll admit, it’s not as serious as it was. We aren’t up every night til midnight. I don’t look longly at the boxes in serious wonderment and things are settling into place. Last week while Matt was in the basement with the air conditioner, I was in the basement with boxes labeled books. I saw books that I haven’t seen in three years…and was shocked. We will be purging some of these books and it’s good to get the boxes out and make a bit of progress. Matt’s continuing to work on the master bathroom. We got the vanity in, sink on, faucet in, caulking happening, light in. I painted the trim that he cut and we are hoping to get another layer on and get that in on Tuesday night after he gets the toilet pieced together and that in as well. I have the shower curtain rod waiting and Matt needs to rig his showerhead but we are in pretty good shape considering a couple weeks ago we were staring at the wallpaperless sad walls with the carpet under our feet.

While Matt concentrated on the condo, I got started with some of the details that I had wanted for the wedding. My priority has been to personalize the wedding. I know many of the people coming know either Matt or I so we are trying to show a little about each other as well as information about us. I worked on some boards…but won’t reveal what these are until people show up to the wedding! We have a big planning day on Friday as we are meeting with the hotel, checking with some vendors, and finalizing some dress details.

Speaking of weddings, we were invited to one of Matt’s employee’s weddings and I was so glad we went. They had originally planned to have their wedding back at his hometown of Cleveland, but after making Western ND their home, they decided to bring everyone out to Dickinson. They held their wedding in Medora, in the TR National Park in Wind Canyon. What a beautiful wedding, it was very small (35 people) and very simple (no programs, no tuxes, no chairs, no centerpieces) and it was one of the most touching weddings I’ve been too. The couple was so excited to hear the words, I now pronounce you “husband and wife”…it was like they’ve been waiting a million years to hear that. Brought tears to my eyes at how genuine the wedding was to the couple. I did get in the car and ask if we were overdoing things a bit too much. Matt did respond appropriately with the fact that I’m looking for things that are important to us just as they did things true to their relationship. Made me feel a bit better.

After their ceremony, we had a bit of time and decided to use the “gift” that the couple gave us, admittance into the park. We took the loop tour, which I hadn’t done since I was 12 or 13, when my mother and father took Alaina and I for a “business”-related family trip. We saw a herd of buffalo, three herds of horses, 2 buffalos that thought that they belonged to a horse herd, 29 prairie dogs, and some amazing views. It was a great trip to remind myself that we are pretty dang close to a very beautiful place.

Best Meal: Michele and Randy caught walleye that Matt made into fish taco with margaritas and dos equis.

“I’m tired of going to weddings and not getting married!” – ALM
                             54 days