November 13, 2013

Our Harley Davidson Wedding: Part 2

Our wedding took place at Westfair Amphitheater. This was venue number 2 that was secured less then 3 months prior to our wedding, thanks to our original venue drowning from the crazy Missouri River Flooding. Talk about last minute stress, but it all worked out.

Clint and I chose to walk each other down the aisle as opposed to me meeting him at the front. Our lives were already operating as one unit, we had committed to each other long before our wedding date, and it just seemed appropriate to walk down the aisle together.

My younger brother, Gabriel, played guitar for us. We chose the song Beautiful Day by U2 as we all walked down the aisle. He did such a great job!

The Happy Hubby and Wife!!

Kyle is officially my step-son! Handsome kid.

Our Beautiful Families

Clint had my ring custom made. All his idea to do a bar and shield.

In lieu of a traditional guestbook.

And how amazing are these cookies? One of my besties mom made them for me. She makes the BEST sugar cookies I have ever had. Ever. Think Loft House Sugar Cookies, but better. Her cookies were the one requirement I had for food.

People ate, drank, socialized and as the sun set, our band set up to start the real party.

We hired Lemon Fresh Day and they rocked the reception from start to end. We partied until well after midnight, others even longer. I heard some pretty entertaining stories about hotel pool after-hour shenanigans. 🙂

Beer, rock’n’roll, friends, family and a happy couple. Wedding Day Success.

November 11, 2013

Our Harley-Davidson Wedding- Part 1

All pictures courtesy of Gulizia Design. My favorite photographer of all time.

Taking it back today to 9.10.11~ Our Wedding Day.

In planning our wedding we knew we wanted it to be totally us, no-nonsense, lots of fun, Harley-Davidson centered, full of our favorite people, lots of beer drinking and good rock-n-roll. I think we pulled it off with flying colors. It makes my heart happy having people still talking about our wedding day, two years later.

The Day started in a hotel suite with my beautiful bridesmaids, a lot of hairspray, makeup, champagne drinking and laughter. Perfect way to calm a nervous bride.

Yes, I am hugging my own bottle of champagne. I know how to do this right.

Time for The Dress

The Orange Sparkly Shoes

The Jewelry

Deep Breath. Let’s Go!

I will never forget his face. He cried. I might have laughed.

His First Look

At this point we loaded up the entire wedding party, plus their significant others, onto a party bus. Yes. We did a party bus BEFORE the Ceremony. It was all about celebrating that day. No stress, no Bridezilla, no worries. Just fun.

We took the bus down to the Old Market, Omaha to where the train station used to be located. A perfect place for the style of pictures we wanted.

The Girls

After pictures we hung out at a bar for a few pre-ceremony cocktails and time to just relax and let loose before hopping back on the party bus for the 20 minute drive to the ceremony.

Nothing but Shenanigans, friends.

Up Next: Wedding Ceremony, Reception and our kick ass dance with the band Lemon Fresh Day!

November 11, 2013

Big Hair, Don’t Care- Happy Birthday Mom!

Mom and I ~ 1980something

Oh, Glamour Shots. Who else thinks this franchise needs to return? I mean, seriously! Big hair, stage makeup, pleather coats and sequined pencils. Brilliant.

Today my mom celebrates 53 years of AWESOME!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!

I baked you a cake, circa 1986.

We’ve come along way from these days:

Love you! Hope you had a great day!

November 10, 2013

Chicken Noodle Soup and Homemade Biscuits: Soup Sunday Recipe

Soup Sunday: Homemade Chicken and Noodles and Biscuits. Today marks my first time EVER making biscuits from scratch and I have to admit, I was a little leery, but they turned out great!

Recipes Below. Enjoy!

Chicken Noodle Soup

8 cups chicken stock
1 medium onion
2 tsp. minced garlic
1 Bag Baby Carrots (cut to preferred size or leave whole)
4 ribs celery (cut to preferred size)
2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
2 tsp. Dried Parsley
1/2 tsp. Dried Basil
1Tbsp. Butter
Rotisserie Chicken (quick method) or 3 chicken breasts (extended method)
16 oz. Frozen Egg Noodles
Sea salt and ground black pepper to taste

Quick Method Prep:

Cut carrots, celery and onions to desired size.

Sunglasses. Saving eyes from deadly onion vapors since 2013.

In a large pot over medium heat add olive oil, chopped onion, garlic, carrots, celery, basil and parsley and cook till the veggies soften. Roughly 10 minutes.

While veggies are cooking, shred rotisserie chicken. Discard any skin and fat.

Once the veggies are softened add the chicken stock, bring to a boil and add chicken and frozen noodles.

Allow to cook over medium-low heat for 30 minutes to allow flavors to meld. Season with salt and pepper according to taste.

** For the extended method, throw everything into a pot (except noodles) to cook on medium-high for several hours. Shred chicken after cooked through, add back to pot, add noodles and cook for an additional 30 minutes to allow noodles to soften and soak up the multiple flavors.

Homemade Biscuits

Ingredients

2 Cups Flour
4 tsp Baking Powder
2 1/2 Tbsp. Sugar
1 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Garlic Salt
1/3 Cup Salted Butter
3/4 Cup Milk

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425°.

Mix the first 5 ingredients in a bowl. Cut in the butter and mix with a fork. Add milk and stir to form dough into a soft ball. If too dry add extra milk 1 Tbsp. at a time if needed