29 Weeks and 2 Days To Go...

I have recently displayed just how crazy I might be after all. I have recently registered, and paid for my first marathon! Crazy...yes, however it has been a goal of mine to run a marathon for a long time. My original goal was to run in the Disney Marathon in January. That was going to be my graduation present to myself-a trip to Florida and my first marathon. However, training has not really even been a possibility over the summer months or this fall. So, I have registered for one in May. I am very excited, yet nervous. I knew that if I didn't commit when I was really focused it wouldn't happen for a long time, so I did it! I have a lot of time left to train, and really focus on my marathon. One thing that I am very grateful for, is the fact that my first marathon will be in my hometown and my family and friends will be able to be there to see me finish such a huge milestone in my life. What a great spring and summer it will be! I will be able to cross off one of my life-long goals of running a marathon, but I will also be marrying the man of my dreams! I couldn't ask for anything better!

I have the countdown in my calendar, 29 weeks and 2 days until the marathon!

Welcome to the World, Mr. Landon Joseph!!

On Saturday, my sister-in-law, (and brother) brought another healthy, beautiful baby boy into this world. His name is Landon Joseph Rieber, coming in at 6lbs 15oz.

I am so excited to have another little Munchkin around! Landon looks like his big brother, and Bennett seems to be taking a liking to him. Last night when Landon was crying, Bennett kept trying to give Landon a ball to play with. Bennett then showered him with kisses!!!

End of Summer and my new journey

This summer did not end up being what I had planned. I ended up getting a factory job and working a ton!!! Therefore nothing too fun really occurred this summer, which was the reason for no posts. (Sorry!) However, as the summer now came to a close I am now one week into my new journey. I am officially a student teacher at Holmen Middle School! So far, it has been a blast! Although there will be a TON of work to do, I am so excited. Last week was the first week of school. We have a lot of great kids in our classes! I am really beginning to find out all of the work that goes on behind the scenes. If it is not meetings with the house, guidance, or curriculum teachers...it is doing something else for the classroom. I do enjoy it! The day fly's by.

I am having a little bit of difficulty adjusting all of the things in my schedule, like the additional 40 hours a week I am scheduled at my other job as well as cross country and trying to continue my training. It is rough! I get home and all I want to do is sleep!! December is NOT going to come fast enough! I am looking forward to all of the good times student teaching is going to bring as well as all of the opportunities that come along with it! I am so excited for the year, as well as graduation in December. I am finally beginning to see the light!

365 Days!

In exactly one year today... I will be getting married! I got to have lunch with Jake in-between jobs, and we were just talking about how crazy it is that we will be married in one year! We are both extremely excited! We cannot wait to see where the future takes us! Here is to breaking the one year point! :-)

Wedding Dress Shopping

Another fun thing I did while my family was in town was go wedding dress shopping. On Thursday, we had an entourage of ELEVEN people that ventured to Rochester to go dress shopping and we had another two surprise visitors once we were at the dress shop. We had a lot of fun (I think) and I tried on WAY too many dresses...four hours worth of dresses. It got to the point where we had to just about leave and I blatantly said..."I have to be done, I can't do this anymore." It was SOOO tiring! I couldn't believe it. But I was so happy that I could share my experience with my whole family. Yesterday, my mom, Linda, and I went back to Rochester and made a purchase. I am more than happy with the dress I got, although it is going to remain a secret to the others up to the day of the wedding! Wish me luck on keeping quiet!  :-)

Next step is to get the DJ, bridesmaid dresses, and flowers! I can't believe it is only a year and two days away!!!

4th of July

Above: Some of the Fam in town from D.C.

The growing Rieber family...Bennett loved the fireworks!! (Kim I have some other really good pictures to give you!)

Some of the very large group we had down for the fireworks. Our numbers keep growing every year...what would they do if I wouldn't go out at wee hours of the morning to get the best spot in the park?!?

The 4th was very special this year. Bennett was able to come down for his first fireworks at Riverfest (third firework show ever). It was so much fun to watch him. He kept saying "WOW" and "Pretty". He is such a goofy little boy. It was awesome to get to spend the wonderful night with family from out of town and a lot of friends as well. The company of friends and family keeps getting better every year. Next year we will have another addition to the crew...little baby Rieber.  Kristin and I were also lucky enough to spot Kim's best friend earlier in the night and invited her and her husband and mother to come join us. It was a great night with great company. Can't wait for next year!!

Way Too Long

For any of those that look at my blog...know that it has been an extremely long time since I have done so. There is good reasoning for that! I have been so busy since school got out, I haven't had a break yet! 

My summer started out by celebrating some of my best friend's graduation. Suzie (in photo), Cam, and Brian (in photo) have now moved on. It was a really hard time. Suzie will soon be moving to Chicago to go to grad school, Cam isn't quite sure where he is going to end up at the moment, and Brian went off to the Marines! God bless his heart...but our "Family" is now split up. :'-(

Next came Memorial Day! It was a great day. We had the whole family over to my parents house, and had a wonderful lunch. It was so much fun with all of us out in the driveway playing basketball, like old times. Except this time around, we have an addition. Yep, that's right, Bennett! He hadn't even gotten out of the truck before he saw us and started yelling for the basketball. He was so much fun to play with. I cannot wait until he is taller! He will be so much fun to watch!!!
Soon after that, I was given an unexpected night off of work. So one of my best friends, Nicole and Luke invited Jake and I to go camping on a sandbar. We jumped at the opportunity! It was a beautiful night with great company! I can't wait to get out there again!!
Next up, Logan Middle night at the Loger's game. We got tickets and some of the money went back to Logan Middle. Kim, Ryan, Bennett, my parents, Jake, and I all attended! We had a ton of fun. Bennett loved watching the baseball on the field. He also loved watching the ball that the kids were playing with behind the bleachers. However, I think throughout the night he enjoyed stealing peoples sunglasses and wearing them! This is the first of three pair he took. How cute is this??

Bennett and Daddy at the game!

The wonderful growing family! This picture turned out great!!

Then we had my friend's wedding. We had had one a few weeks prior that Jake had been in (sorry no good pictures from that one) and then my friend got married. I have known Bryan since we were in kindergarten. Some of my oldest and greatest friends were there!! This is me with Ryan and Cory. I couldn't ask for better friends than there two guys right here!!

The boys dancing and singing!! Jake totally lucked out with the color of his shirt. We had NO CLUE that their color was red! 

CONGRATULATIONS BRYAN AND MEGAN!!!

The very next day, Jake and I had to get up at 6am to head from New Ulm to Winona to drop me off. Suzie and I were about to partake on another great adventure to Chicago. This time, we were going to see her new apartment and take care of some business with her school. We also just so happened to do it on the weekend that Dane Cook was in Chicago. We also just so happened to buy tickets. Vulgar...yes, but hilarious and well worth the money!!
On an afternoon that I finally had off, Suzie and I along with Cory headed to a friends boathouse. We had a lot of fun! 

Needless to say, this last weekend Jake and I had yet another wedding. This time we were both in the wedding and it was beautiful!!! It makes me even more excited for next July. I just keep collecting ideas!! Pictures are on there way for that one soon!

In the midst of all of this, I have also been working full time!! I know it seems like I have had extra time to do things, but there really hasn't been a whole lot. I am looking forward to this week because I have the whole week off and my family is coming in town. I can't wait to see all of them again. I also get to go wedding dress shopping for my first time on Thursday...I CAN'T WAIT!