Anderson-Ottervanger Wedding

Kiley and Erich's wedding weekend was such a good time and every part of the celebration- Brunch, Rehearsal, Ceremony, Reception and BBQ- was beautiful, even down to the gifts given to wedding guests staying at the hotel...


Bridal Brunch
At Flarah's

Food

Favors


Wedding Rehearsal
Wedding party

Kiley and Erich at the garden party rehearsal dinner...beautiful!

Me and Mimi

Delicious salmon and salads

Gift from T.J.


After a delayed flight, Matt finally arrived the night before the wedding...phew!

Wedding Day
Getting ready in the church basement


St. Ambrose Cathedral

Pictures before the ceremony


Pictures after the ceremony


Champagne in the Limo

Reception Place Cards

First Dance

Anderson family

Giving the speech

Hannah (my cousin) and Matt

I♥Liz and Nate

Post-reception with longtime friends Emily, Mallory, Kiley, and Nicole


Macy
Meet Macy, Erich and Kiley's new Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier. Surprisingly, all of the pup's dark fur will be replaced by wheat colored fur as she gets older.

The Ottervanger family

Brandy checking out Macy...she is not a fan


Wedding BBQ
Irsfeld first and second cousins...ranging from a few months to 25 years

Matt with the "Outlaws"

Siblings

Kiley's Bachelorette Party

My first weekend in town, we celebrated my sister Kiley's last night as an unmarried woman!

We decided to make a day of it...

Workout at Prarie Life

Lunch at Gateway Market

Pedicures at Aveda

Kicking off the evening at Sara's house, with games, drinks, and appetizers!

With the aunties for dinner at Graze...

Fun gifts...


Giant Pecker-mints, direct from Deutschland...

Running into my good friend Sam at Cabaret

Kiley has a great group of friends that made this night a ton of fun!

Iowa Week 1

Happy Birthday T.J.
I departed Germany and arrived in Iowa, only to re-enter Germany at the Hessen Haus in Des Moines in celebration of my brother T.J.'s 21st birthday. This bar is made popular by the 'Passing of the Boot' (seen below).

Going, going...

Gone.


Coldplay Concert
As part of my brother's 21st birthday gift, my parents took us to the Coldplay "Viva la Vida" concert in Des Moines. They had a really neat backdrop- Liberty Leading the People by Eugene Delacroix (1830)- a symbol of the French Revolution...Below is a picture we took of this painting at the Louvre in Paris. If you're a fan of Coldplay, I would highly recommend seeing them in concert; it exceeded all of my expectations. Thanks, Mom and Dad!


This sphere was suspended from the ceiling and projected images from the main stage...the videography was awesome.

Chris Martin was an extremely talented performer, and I had no idea how well he plays the piano (also, the drummer is an awesome vocalist).


Science Center
Before Matt arrived, I spent an afternoon at the Science Center with Jessica (sister-in-law), Magnus (nephew) and Lena (neice). We had a great time, but I'm pretty sure it was sensory overload for at least one of us...

Bubbles are so fun!

Magnus, the weatherman, tells us about the temperature in Omaha (with the help of a green-screen news exhibit)...

Magnus checking out a snake

Everyone knows you run, not walk, when wearing rain boots that come up to the bottom of your athletic shorts...duh.

Lena waiting oh-so patiently in the stroller as we explore the Science Center.


Random
These birds were just taking their sweet time to cross the road...

For all of your non-Iowans out there, I have to write a little blurb about THE Dutch Letter, a delectable, S-shaped, almond-paste filled pastry made in Pella, Iowa (a Dutch colony) and in Holland at Christmastime (hence the "S" for Sinterklaas, i.e. Santa Claus). As silly as it sounds, Dutch Letters will always remind me of the moment I realized that experiencing the world beyond Iowa was a good thing...I thought everyone knew about Dutch Letters! I was lucky enough to eat two of them during our trip home.

As I learned on this trip home, those of us living in Germany in the past year may have missed out on the cultural phenomenon known as "Snuggie," a blanket with sleeves (never mind that this is nothing more than a fleece robe worn backwards). If you want to laugh, watch this info-mercial...Do you hear that, moms? If you wear a Snuggie, you can snuggle your baby in your arms AND be covered by a blanket! Amazing:)

Erich and Kiley modeling their Snuggies


Dinner with the family

Paris Between Storms