9 days...

I'm getting SOOOO excited!!!!  In 9 days, I will become Mrs. Michael Dalquist!!!!!    He is SUCH a blessing to my life. He even brought me flowers on his last visit here. :)  God has blessed me almost beyond belief.  While Michael was here, we worked on several wedding projects (one involved varnishing), and did I mention that my dearest lady-friend, Lauretta GOT MARRIED last Saturday???  :)

She was such a lovely bride and the day was very special. I was honored to be in her wedding party with her sisters and we spent all morning of the wedding curling hair and styling it and talking.... We got to wear hoop-skirts, so that was a new experience.  Michael came to the wedding too so, of course, we had to get a picture together:

I'm so very happy for my friend!!!

 Awwww.... :)

My mom and I spent the day in Bismarck, buying wedding supplies and such.  We'll need to go up one more time next week, then hopefully will have our lists checked off.

And now, I'm exhausted and am going to bed (after talking to my sweetheart for a bit first)!

What a great day!

Michael and I had our last counseling session with the Kyners (we took them out to eat this time) AND got our marriage license in Jamestown. :)

Wedding favors...

My mom came over this afternoon and helped me by finishing up the wedding favors I made for the big day. (They're still a secret.)

I'm caught up with the tomatoes now, so somebody please tell the pink and green ones to stay that way for a month. ;)

Michael is a sweetheart!!  He's been very helpful and interested in the wedding planning project, even when the 304 miles separate us. I just learned today that my childhood friend, Kjersti (and her little family) is coming to the wedding, so now I'm even MORE excited!!  My other childhood friend, Lindsay is also coming, so maybe we can get a picture together, for old times' sake? The three of us used to be inseparable.

Tomorrow I get to start on the big project of baking/decorating cake and cupcakes for Lee & Lauretta's wedding on Saturday, October 10th. I need to get everything ready anyway.  This is going to be a WONDERFUL weekend!!  I'm so happy for my dear friend!  AND Michael is coming on Friday. :)

Please keep my mom in your prayers in the next 2+ weeks. She's had some heart issues lately and I just hope she can enjoy the wedding and not stress about anything.   October 10th is ALSO my parent's 35th wedding anniversary!  So much love and joy!

I probably won't have time to update here until after the weekend....

God is SO good!

In an hour...

...my brothers and are I leaving for MN.  Michael and James are having a paintball-bachelor-party and my brothers think that that sounds like fun, for some reason?  SO, as long as they're going, I figured I might as well hop aboard and go visit certain people that I love. :)   We'll be back tomorrow sometime.

Gotta go feed the birds.

2nd fitting...

Bill and Anna E. came today from Grand Forks. Anna has Lauretta's wedding gown finished, so Lauretta came over and tried it on and it was PERFECT!  She took it home with her for her wedding (in 9 days). :)  Anna isn't finished with my dress yet, but had me try it on. She needs to hem it up a bit more yet. I don't desire to go tripping up the aisle.

I babysat the past 3 days, then worked on putting up tomatoes in the evenings. Still have half a ton to do.

A lot of RSVPs came in last night and today, so that's helpful.  It's going to be a wonderful wedding----with so many friends coming......

A few of the ways I spend my time lately...

...no need to say that life is very VERY busy and full at present!

These are some of the reasons why:

Michael comes and visits every 1 1/2 weeks or so and is a huge distraction to me. ;)

(Here we were up at Mid Dakota, looking at the hopper bins I bought.)

Of course, he's always very helpful too. Yesterday morning, I went out to do chores and found him expanding the turkey pen so they can have more grass and weeds to peck around in. I love that guy so much!

 I still babysit for parts of 3 days every week (and this little one keeps me hopping!)

 I went and had a "Wedding-hair-trial day" with Lauretta and her sisters...

 ....making pickles and sauerkraut....

 ...trying to keep up with the tomatoes.  Today, my mom, Andrew and I picked all of the tomatoes and peppers (I pulled the onions up a few days ago), as there is a chance of a frost the next 2 nights.

 ...and going to special events!   This year, Michael was able to go with me and most of my family to the Alfred church's annual Harvest of Thanks celebration.

Then yesterday, my mom and Michael and I went to a GoDesana essential oils class in Jamestown (we were there for 6 hours). We learned a lot, and yet, I'm sure there is still a vast amount of knowledge to be had on this topic.  

This morning, Michael and Andrew worked on some projects around the house here. They assembled the little red wagon that we'll use at the wedding. Michael and I worked on our wedding programs and are almost satisfied with the wording there. :)  We've also been working through our last 2 lessons in the Pre-marriage counseling book, "Preparing For Marriage".  We're talking about Money, Money, Money now.... 

We've been getting a lot of RSVP replies recently for our wedding, so that's been very helpful. I'm getting more and more excited for THE BIG DAY to arrive!!!  

God is so GOOD!  

He's keeping us sane through all the busyness and I'm finding this planning time mostly enjoyable too. :)  I was working on a wood-burning project this evening...but I can't tell about that until after the wedding, as it's a surprise.

Hair-styling...

This afternoon, after I was done babysitting, I drove over to Lauretta's house to get in on the fun of trying out different hairstyles for her wedding. Some of her sisters were there too, so the table was full of hair clips and curling irons and bobby pins... I also tried on the dress (again) I'll be wearing as one of Lauretta's bridesmaids. Now they can finish sewing the zipper in and hemming it up.

This evening, my mom came over and we turned several heads of cabbage into 11 quarts of sauerkraut. Yummy!

The guys came yesterday to dig her telephone line in, so soon she'll have a landline at their new house.

My dad and Andrew have been very busy getting and keeping Mid Dakota Grain up and running at Steele. One or the other of them have also been doing jobs with their portable rigs. Jacob has been down with a cold (everyone else but I have had that too), so he's been helping Mom with projects over there.

And the big news:

It is ONE MONTH TODAY until I become Mrs. Michael Dalquist. :)  I can hardly wait!!!