I'm An Aunt... Again!!

Along with being called a wife, I also inherited 2 nephews & 1 niece - giving me the title of Aunt for the first time. However, on Monday, March 23rd, MY sister had her first child, Avery Victoria - giving us our first niece/nephew on our side. She is beautiful & perfect in every way. Mom & baby are both happy, healthy, & excited to go home tomorrow.

Spring Break!

Being the Creighton Bluejay Basketball fans that we are, we made our annual trip to St. Louis to watch them compete in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. We barely won our first game against Wichita and were spanked by Illinois State in our second game. AND today we learned that they didn't get a chance to play in the NCAA tourney, either. It's been a depressing few days.

After St. Louis, to lift our spirits, we went to Denver! We got to spend some time with a lot of my friends & also spent a day on the slopes. Some of our highlights included staying with my good friend Michelle, playing with her son Justin, brunch with my old work ladies, and a visit to the hospital where I used to work. When we walked out, I told Thuc that maybe I should take a 13 week travel assignment there. Being the unselfish, supportive husband he is, he said, "whatever you want". :)

Puerto Rico!

So Thuc and I have officially been together for 2 years! To celebrate that and Valentine's Day, we decided we needed to go somewhere warm. Coincidentally, his sister Thuy, husband Brad, and son Benjamin had the same idea. We decided to go to Puerto Rico because

1. it's temperature is in the mid-80s all year round

2. it's an island in the Carribean

3. you don't need a passport to go (important since Benjamin is only 8mo old)

4. nor do you need to go through customs or border control

We had a fabulous time. The temperature was prefect when the sun was out for a great day poolside. There was a constant breeze which made it very easy to bake for too long on one side since you were never miserably hot. The ocean was warmer than the pool at the hotel but there were many high waves. The last few days we were there, there were alot of people out on their boards waiting to catch some waves.

Highlights of the trip included:

1. laying next to the pool 3/5 days.

2. shopping and buying two REAL Coach purses for $230 total.

3. being around the cutest baby EVER

4. Benjamin cutting his first tooth.

5. having nothing to do and no phone to answer!

I highly recommend going for a quick, rather inexpensive getaway! This may become an annual event :)

Our Wedding

Hindsight is 20/20. Given that, if I had my wedding to do all over I would have:

1. Hired a videographer so that I could have seen what the church looked like, sounded like, and felt like while I hid in the back waiting to be revealed. It all happend so fast that I would have liked to opportunity to relive it at least one more time! This may have also provided other photos from still shots.

2. Put more effort into our photographer. I spoke with several and was pretty sure I wanted to be able to have my photo files when it was all said and done. I don't regret that at all. What I do regret is that I didn't ask for references since a friend of mine had recommended him. AND I would have wanted someone who had more than just 1 photographer. There's too much going on to have just 1 camera shooting. Truly though, he was able to capture several awesome pictures and I suppose that's all you really need to remember that special day on your walls.

Two regrets really isn't that bad considering all the elements that went into it! I do have other wishes, though. Such as, I wish our lights in our lanterns would have shined a little brighter, my hair would have stayed where it was supposed to be, and I would have made it to our reception a little earlier to have a receiving line. But, again... at the end of the day, I was married to the love of my life... and that's really all that matters.

The highlights of our wedding:

1. Having my closest friends from Denver in Omaha! I was so glad that they came to hang out with me while I was getting ready at the hotel - such great memories and I'm so glad I got to spend that time with them.

2. In the back of the church with my mom, Lisa, and Laura - waiting for the doors to open. Then, walking down the aisle with my mom trying VERY HARD to get me to slow down. I got choked up for a second and then had to talk myself out of the tears because I didn't have WATERPROOF mascara... and finally seeing my future husband at the end of the aisle. It was magical.

3. Having so many of our friends & family in the wedding made it so special. Alejandra came from Mexico to sing, Aaron from Denver. Alejandra was also responsible for my make-up and made me look & feel like the bride I always thought I'd be. Mike provided his piano talent & Thuc's cousin Scott on the violin from Arizona! Kathy Talbot designed our invitations and programs. She also gave us our unity candle. Pat Hruska made and decorated our cakes. All the Hruskas helped to decorate the reception hall. Mike Kolker was an awesome DJ and kept the dance floor rock'n the entire night. Hector Nicodemus and Lindsay Ernst were also behind the camera capturing extra special candid moments.

4. Saying "I do" and having the same thing said to me!!

5. Ollie the Trolley.

6. Carrying Thuc to the buffet line!!

7. The many wonderful friends & family from far & near that came to celebrate with us. We definitely felt supported and loved!!

8. Taking off my shoes & taking out the hair pins after it was all over.

9. Sleeping next to my husband.

Thank you to everyone who made our wedding so fun & special. I can't wait to do it again... err... renew our vows... to do it all over again!! And a special shout out to Lindsay Ernst who made me excited about our photos. Thanks for your patience and expertise!

All that work... and it's over :(

Since I last wrote, we finished decorating both the inside & outside of the house, hosted the Annual SanThuc Christmas party, finished our Christmas Shopping, packaged & wrapped the presents, attended Christmas Mass, enjoyed dinner & Christmas with the Trans, drove to KC, had Christmas with the Lueth's, drove to Wichita & met Baby Jackson Rukes, & then arrived home last Saturday evening with a sick husband. Whew! I'm exhausted just writting about it!

We also were able to attend the Nebraska Volleyball game against Penn State. For those of you who do not know, Penn State hadn't lost a set in some 38+ games, I believe. Well, Nebraska made them give up 2. We were super close to winning which made it a very exciting game. Although they didn't win, we attended the National Championship game and watched Penn state sweep Stanford.

So now that we're home, I've been searching online for a job. I'm ready to start using my brain again... I've been loosing & forgetting things left & right! Is this normal or early alzheimers, I don't know. :)

Our Christmas Trees!

We've officially decorated for Christmas! After a little home repair (courtesy of John Hruska) Thuc was able to decorate the outside of our house. It looks great, but I am too cold to take a photo of it to share.

We also inherited a second tree from Mr & Mrs Kathol. It is 9 feet tall. It really doesn't fit in our house, but we managed to squeeze it in :) I claimed that as our "pretty tree" and let Thuc have his way with the other tree.

Black Friday!

So my friend Melissa (who I will probably write about often on here) has never been shopping on "black friday"! Neither of us had anything of much importance that we needed to race out for or be the first in line however, I decided that she needed the full experience.

So, my alarm went off at 3:30 - giving me just enough time to throw on clothes, brush my teeth, and get on the road. My brother-in-law (who also appreciates a good deal) was kind enough to join us and was such a huge help!!

We started at Younkers at 4am... went to Kohls (whose line started at the registers, circled around the entire perimeter of the store, and ended back at the registers) and aborted mission, headed to Shopko, STARBUCKS, WalMart (aborted mission here, too), Lowes, and Target. Needless to say it was a tiring morning.

After dropping Melissa off at her house, my car decided to let me know that it needed a new battery. A classic ending to "black friday" shopping.