Lynn threw a bachelorette/personal shower party with the other bridesmaids & personal attendant for her best friend, Kate!
Kate took us all to Kiln Time to paint a pottery piece! It was fun!
The shower was a blast - we played games, all wore red & black, except Kate, went to Olde Main, opened gifts, watched a movie & had a sleepover, and then had a great breakfast provided by Mrs. Shelley Larson! Yummy!
We had a variety of friends over during December. Our friends Matt & Jessi Meyer came over to hang out before they graduated & moved to the Quad Cities. We also hosted a gingerbread making party - it was the first time our friends Mark & Alan (in the pictures above) had ever made one... Lynn also got to see her friend Steph Flies, who was up visiting from AZ, which was great! We also had a great time at another friends' house, Tim & Darlene, playing Christmas games - which we won many of!
We had a lot of fun while in Clarksville for Christmas - We obviouslly enjoyed seeing our nephew Noah - who is such a cutie! We went sledding with James one day, enjoyed seeing family at both Jensen & Bolin Christmas events, sang a song based off a poem Lynn's Grandpa wrote at Christmas Eve service, and more. Ashley's mom, sister, and niece were visiting from Florida - their first White Christmas, which thankfully it was! Amy (Ashley's sister) brought here Wii up and we had both grandma & grandpa Bolin playing! And yes, as you can tell from the picture, Dan did get a violin for Christmas and is currently trying to learn to play! In the picture with his guitar, he is playing his nose whistle - taped to his face.
Next we headed to MN. We went X-country skiing with the Klisches - Dan's first time! We also saw the McDonalds' driver stop at the Taco Bell for dinner... which we thought was funny & got a picture of! The family picture above is at the Vance Christmas - it was great to see family from both coasts! And we got elves from Grandma to hide during Christmas around the house - a family tradition.
Kate's wedding was beautiful & so much fun! Dan sang a song for them at the rehersal dinner - it was enjoyed by all! We started the day at Kate's house, after all sleeping over there. She had a charm cake with a little card and charm that represented each of us. The hairdresser came to her house and did her hair and then we were off the the church, but not before a quick stop at Caribou (a rare treat for MN natives living in IA!) Dan was a great help at the church - getting poinsettas out and helping with anything and everything - we're thinking about going into professional wedding planning! :) Kate got all the bridesmaids boots to wear from the church to the reception. It was great fun to wear them! As you can see Kate was a beautiful bride - those are the Pi Phi's in our class... it was fun to see Jennifer, Jen, and Meg! It was a long day but worth every minute of it! What a blast! Dan's aunt & uncle graciously allowed us to stay at their place while we were helping with wedding stuff - it was fun to see them!
We celebrated New Year's Day with the Klisch Family - playing Bingo & wearing crazy hats! It was great to see everyone! On my third attempt at making Grandma's famous Poppy Seed Coffee Cake I finally succeeded, at least that's what everyone said! Hopefully they'll be more to come! In other very exciting news - James & Nicole got engaged on New Year's Eve - we're looking forward to an August wedding! Congrats guys!
Dan's birthday was January 2nd and we've had the chance to celebrate it a few times! We also had a chance to participate in the Iowa Caucuses - what an experience & a joy to have the opportunity to participate in choosing our next President!
