The Secret to Marital Bliss

We've been married a whopping 3 months (Ceej's response on our 3 month anniversary: "REALLY??? JUUUST 3 months?? It feels like it's been forever." haha). When an engaged friend asked for marriage advice (because I'm so experienced of course), this is what I said: If you are used to having your own bed and blankets for the past 2 decades, it might be a struggle to share for the next century (especially if you're like Ceej and swaddle yourself like a newborn infant). Our solution? Separate blankets! We have a "cover comforter" so it looks a little more appealing, but typically this is the state of our "his and hers" version of a Queen sized bed. It works for us, and it is the biggest secret to marital bliss I can think of! It's worked for us :).

Congratulations Journey Man!!

You guessed it- my super smart husband has PASSED his test and is now, officially, a Journey Man (Ceej says it more like "journeymen", but I like to emphasize the two words. It sounds super cool.). He did VERY well, so "passed" is slightly belittling. Nonetheless, I am SO proud of him!!

Maybe Next Year

It was my first year with having the desire to "garden", and lets just say it turned out to be more of a temporary hobby. Thank goodness they are all perennials! Maybe next year I'll be able to keep up with the watering a little better.

YESSSS.

Random update of the recent happenings of the Thurners:

1. I went to Madison to help clean out our apartment and had an awesome weekend with Mia. We cleaned and organized a ton of stuff, went to the comedy club and out on State street, went to Blackhawk (my beloved church for the past 4 years), and I got to RUNNNN in Madison twice- which is definitely one of my favorite places to do so!

2. C.J. took his Journey Man's test. A biggie! We don't know the outcome yet, but we will find out at the end of this week! Note: this test has a 25% pass rate! Good luck Ceej!

3. Mickeegan and Rylan had their 6th and 1st Birthday parties, respectively. What a fun day! We ended up having a family game of baseball, too. It was a blast! Last summer my dad bought a box of 10 very old baseball gloves from my grandpa's old neighbor's house (i.e., my grandpa had most likely used them as a little guy), and now we are reaping the benefits!

4. I OFFICIALLY start the Master of Occupational Therapy program at the University of Minnesota on September 8th! What does that mean for you? More blog updates because I'll have the internet (and probably a whole lot more free time. Riiiiiiggghhhht.)!

Peace out!

Weekends with Weddings

What fun we have had attending weddings these past two weekends! The first was Jamie and Sam's. Their "rehearsal day" entailed grilling out for lunch and boating/playing beach games all day. It was really fun! It was also nice to get to know the whole bridal party in the informal setting; this made the wedding day that much more great. Below is a picture of Jamie and Sam the day before their big day!

Jamie and her matron (and my maid and I) tubing. We didn't fall off!

The bridal party (minus Dana, who was flying in later).

They were married on the 4th of July, so we all got sparklers at the end of the night. It was ammmmaazzzinnng to watch fireworks from the Wilds Golf Course in Prior Lake. We could see about 10 different sites surrounding us. It was perfect!
The bride was beautiful! Here we all are at the end of the night (we left the day pics/non-greasy-face-pics to the pro).
Katie and Andrew were married on July 11th. Another beautiful bride and overall wedding! I tell ya- having just been married, I can really appreciate all the work that the bride and groom put into a wedding! It's fun to look around and notice all the details that you might not have before. They are a lot of work but SO worth it. Katie and Andrew's wedding was outdoors at the Eau Claire Country Club. It was a gorgeous day!

It's been a while, eh?

What a busy past month we have had! Married life is better than could be expected; we are really enjoying it! It’s pretty dang fun having your best bud around all of the time. Below is a little picture summary of what the past month or so has looked like for the Thurner family! We were married on May 23^rd, and it was perfect. The whole day was just so special! We had a great time and our guests seemed to as well; everything went very smoothly.

We took it easy the next day by attending a grilled lunch at his parents’ and then spending our second night at our new apartment opening gifts as a couple and ordering subs (our options were pretty limited as we had yet to grocery shopping). Below is what our living room looked like mid-opening. Keep in mind there were still piles in the kitchen!

The next day we left for our lovely honeymoon! We spent the week in Duluth, MN at a family friend’s cabin for part of the week and then at the Larsmont Cottages. We had so much fun relaxing together, playing lots of Scrabble, cooking, taking walks, and fishing. We also hiked at Gooseberry Falls and toured the Glensheen Mansion. It was great to be able to take the first few days of our marriage enjoying one another instead of dealing with the name changing, bank account joining, new license, new Social Security Card, blah blah blah business that consumed the following week! The first picture is of my first-ever attempt at cooking bacon for my new husband (I had lost Scrabble and the loser had to cook breakfast... little did Ceej know that he would be cooking it afterall!).

On the way home from our honeymoon we stopped in Bloomington to attend Dana's goodbye party, as she is moving to Washington D.C. to be a camp counselor for the summer. We played bean bag toss with some friends from Madison and said our goodbyes to a good friend!

Our first “Cinder City Days” weekend as a married couple was the next weekend. Actually, it was at this little carnival that I first saw Ceej! I was walking with a friend and he passed by us. My friend gasped and grabbed my arm saying, “that’s C.J. Thurner! He is SO cute!” My 13 year old self turned around and replied, “Oh, really? Well, he’s got a nice butt!” Smart girl. J Cinder weekend was WET… it poured rain practically the whole time. But we had a great time! Ceej even made a new friend because they shared the same name (Chuck).

Ceej and I hosted our first dinner party! We had 11 family members over for some grilled turkey tenderloin and roasted vegetables. It was a fun time, and we enjoyed serving them! Below is Ceej with our lovely grill (a wedding present from my dad) and his turkey grilled to perfection.

Next event: I co-hosted Jamie’s bridal shower in Bloomington. It was so great to see her again… it’s weird going from seeing someone everyday to absolutely never! Ceej met me in Stillwater on the way home, and we stayed with my dad for the night. We took a family trip to Hastings for a car show and then (of course) had my dad’s famous breakfast in the morning with everyone! OUR nieces and nephews are growing up so fast! It’s hard being so far away.

Last weekend we went with my mom, step-dad, brother, and Mitch (Hommer) to our cabin in Balsam Lake. We stayed for the weekend but wished we could have stayed all week with them! We fished a ton, my mom and I went for lots of walks, and we grilled out every day. The weather was perfect, as was the overall weekend! It was so nice to get away and relax with family.

We have 3 weddings in July, so this was literally the last weekend that we didn’t have a set plan until August. We were planning on attending Country Fest but decided against it in order to save money and avoid having a plan. We had a GREAT one... we went to "My Sister's Keeper" in the theaters on Friday. For those of you who know me well, you know I am a big fan of Jodi Picoult, the author of this amazing book. I have read 8 of her novels and plan to complete all of them because she is so brilliant. I attended two of her book talks in Madison, and below is a picture of Chel, Andrea, and I 3 years ago as we were waiting for several hours at Barnes and Noble after her talk to get her autograph on some of her masterpieces. That is such a fun memory! We kept making up funny sayings about what we would do for her in relation to the main themes of her books. Hey- it was a few hours; we had to entertain ourselves! ANYWAY- back to the movie- SOB FEST. I typically do not cry at movies, but I was a complete mess. I was hysterical and literally gasping for air for a good portion of the show. I highly recommend it. After the movie we climbed the mountain... a fun little date! Saturday night we went out for dinner with my family and then had a few drinks at his parents' for the rest of the night. Sorry about the ridiculously long post. Good on ya' reader! Hopefully it won't be another month before I update again. Until then, enjoy your week!

Queen Bee

Like most brides-to-be, I co-planned my maid-of-honor's bachelorette party 8 days before my wedding. It was so fun to be back in Madison and spending time with my girls! Here is a little picture story of Jamie's night as "Queen Bee."
We started the evening with gifts, appetizers, and wine at our apartment. Jamie's excited about her new lovelies! Below is a picture of one of the games we played. It was hilarious and actually more difficult than one would think! We had 3 teams and one partner had the broom and the other had the toilet paper between their legs, racing to get 3 rolls on. Below Mia and I are the winners!

We then walked downtown in our black and yellow attire, stopping for a few pictures along the way.

...and a shot at Wando's.Next stop was for dinner at the Great Dane. Below is Jamie's "Blow Job complimentary bachelorette shot" that we had to pay for (it didn't make sense to us, either). Jamie couldn't get her mouth around the glass, but it was so funny to watch her try, poor thing.
We walked around capital square to try different places for drinks, continuing a game of Truth or Dare and "pass the Bee wings to whoever says Jamie's name." Below is our LAST roomie picture... sad! Luckily I'll be getting another super cool roommate in 2 days.
We ended up going to Brocah's and LOVING it there! We had awesome shots and desserts, and spent part of the evening in this little lounge area. We played games and laughed a lot! The bartenders were great, too, and they showed us how to do the inch worm and played games with us, even wearing the wings!
Jamie is getting married on July 4th, and here are her bridesmaids (besides her sister, who couldn't make it to the party):
Next stop was the Ivory Room, a piano bar off of State Street. The singer serenaded Jamie very awkwardly, but she sang great and it was a very fun place to be! After the Ivory Room we went to Karaoke Kid and sang Sugarland "Settling". Such a fun way to end a night with great friends!

My Bachelorette Party!

I had such a great time at my bachelorette party! Jamie and Dana planned it, and it began at Jamie's house in Bloomington. These pictures will tell the story of my very special night!

After meeting at Jamie's house for munchies and games we all went to Victoria's Secret in Mall of America. People pooled money together for me to get some really nice gifts there, and I had fun modeling different looks for them! The pictures are below (just kidding).


From Vikki's we went to have a shot a Hooters, and then we caught the metro to downtown Minneapolis. Throughout the night I had a spinner with different "dares" in it, and I completed them all! Some of the dares were altered a bit, which I got a kick out of. For example, instead of "Kiss the bartender" Jamie and Dana had written in "kiss the bartender on the hand," and instead of "Show your bra" they wrote in "show your boa." One of the dares on the train was to walk down the middle and yelled "I'm getting married!"
From there we went to dinner at Hard Rock Cafe. Although Chel really does love bunnies (and all animals, actually), she isn't just wearing those bunny ears for kicks. Every time someone said my name or Ceej's name they had to wear them! These ears definitely got passed throughout the entire group numerous times!After dinner we went to a few different bars and clubs for drinks and lots of dancing!
At one point we went to the Shout House, a really fun club where the piano players sing silly songs about people in the audience. Although the girls had prearranged this, I was shocked to be called on stage! I sat on the piano as the guys sang silly songs to me about marriage and being a bride. It was awesome!
After bar close we all went to Sex World, where I had to get a picture on top of the giant... you-know-what. We got a taxi home, ate yummy food, and then headed to bed. What a perfect night! Thanks for everything, Jaim and Danasaur!

"...then comes marriage..."

Well, folks, our four wedding showers are officially done and that just leaves one thing... the wedding! This entry will be briefly describing the four showers, as they were all very different. The one above was this past weekend in Hartford, thrown by my aunt and gram. We had enchiladas and margaritas, two splendid things. The theme was to use a piece of lingerie as decoration in the wrapping process. How creative! And let's just be honest- it's fun to have cute new undies and outfits for my married life.
The pictures above and below are from Le Sueur, Minnesota, and this shower was put on by Becky's family. It was really nice to meet some of Ceej's more distant relatives at this St. Patrick's Day themed party. We played Pfeffer (I literally got the worst score of everyone) and ate Mexican food. We also got to spend lots of time with his aunts and uncles after the shower, which was a blast!
The next two pictures were from an evening shower in Stillwater thrown by my sister, Jenni. The first was an intense "hot bouquet" type of game (which my aunt Sue won). The second picture is me holding my ice cream cake, homemade by Jenni! It was fun to drink wine and spend time with my aunts and sisters in a non-holiday setting.


Not pictured (due to not having a camera there) was my shower in Eau Claire thrown by both of our moms. We played fun games and had a soup and sandwich buffet. This shower was lovely and had a lot of people from the area... a bonus for those unable to travel!

Showers can be overwhelming for some, but I really loved them! They were all so unique and wonderful. I feel so blessed to have such great family and friends (I know-I'm super corny). I can't believe we'll be married in 25 days... this amazing time has gone by so fast!