No more Seadog

Well I'm officially done working at Seadog, today was my last day. We didn't even cruise today b/c the weather was crappy and there was nobody down at the pier, so it was a pretty uneventful day. I really had a great summer despite this anticlimactic ending. Rachel and I still have plenty of packing to do, seeing as how we leave in 2 days we should probably get a jump on that. Tomorrow night we are going out with some friends one last time to say good bye...again. I mean we did just leave Chicago "for good" last summer. Who knows maybe we will actually stay gone this time. Don't worry we do plan on visiting as often as possible. I guess I'll just leave you with a little video I took at work using my fancy new phone.  

The Big Day!!!!

Our big day was finnally here. The girls started our day off at 730am. We all met at the hair salon to get hair and make-up done. It was a nice spending the morning with my girls, then off to the church we went. 2pm the ceramony started. Everyone was there and everything went as planned. The whole ceramony was relaxed but went very quickly. Before we knew it, it was time to start the reception. Kendall, one of the bridesmaids had a really good idea. Each couple picked a song that they wanted to dance into the reception hall to. Everyone was very creative and had alot of fun. The night lasted untill midnight, when Nathan and I headed off to our room. The next day, we were very excited to head off to our honeymoon, the Bahama's!!!

Wedding Day Prep... Hair and Make-up here we come!!!

Our wedding day started quite early for us women. We all met at Xeno Hair Salon at 730am to get our hair and make-up done. It couldn't have been better being greated at the door with Mamosoes and the invite to get pampered. I had my 6 bridsmaids and Teresa with me. We were able to get all hair and make-up done with in 2 hours.Then we were off to the church with a couple of hours to spare.

The Rehearsal...

The day before the wedding, August 7, 2009, we all met at Rockford Fist Assembly of God to set up the church and run through the rehearsal for the next day. We went out to dinner after the rehearsal and heard 3 great speeches. Pardue, James and Nathan all did a great job. We were very excited to see how many people showed up at the reception hall to decorate for the next days events. It was great seeing everyone chip in and help with the seat covers, tieing bows and arranging the favors. Unexpectedly, it turned into a party, but we loved it:):)Before we knew it, it was 2AM, time for bed.

Nathan's NC friends in town, Bachelor Party and 7 days of partying non-stop!!

One week before the wedding Nathan had 4 of his friends come into town from NC. Pardue and McIntyre were standing up in the wedding and Courtney and Justin came along for the ride. Nathan had his bachelor party that started with 2 cops banging on the door at 8 am. To Nathan's surprise he was being arrested with furry red handcuffs.Now that look on his face was priceless.....After some tense moments, we all had some laughs after Nathan figured it out that it was all a joke. About 11 guys all met up to take Nathan paintballing in Joliet, IL. I was thankful to know that no one was hurt in the day's activities. Now the rest of the night has really not explained to me in detail. I don't know if I want to know what they did the rest of the night. All I know there are VERY FEW pictures taken. ( no proof of what really went on):):)Needless to say I am glad that Nathan had a good time and was home safe to me the next morning. It was a crazy week after many long nights that ended in the morning, many pitchers of beer and short days of site seeing we all had to get ready for the wedding.

The Bachelorette Party!!

Another night of fun for me, July 18,2009. My bridesmaids and I all met at my apartment for drinks before dinner and a night out on the town. Again I received many interesting and fun gifts, to say the least. I was very happy to have my bridesmaids with me as we headed out. We went to many different bars and ended up at "Viagra triangle". We called it a night around 2am. I think the pictures will tell the rest of the story. he he!!

The First of the Wedding Celebrations: The Bridal Shower!!

June 6, 2009, JK and the bridesmaids threw me a bridal shower. It was a great turnout, Nathan's aunts and grandma were there and a lot of my family and friends also came. I was very excited about all the presents we received. We played some games and has a lot of giveaways. Nathan's Aunt had made the best shower favors for everyone. It was great day!!!

Back to Chi-town!!!

We are back! Yes, we all have survived our trip back to the mainland. Busy couple of weeks just getting into the swing of living downtown again. It is really good so see all of our friends and family again. We have a really awesome apartment, which is right downtown, and we are both back to working full-time. The wedding planning is coming along pretty well, there are only a few more details to get wrapped up and everything should be in place. We are still waiting on ALOT of people to RSVP so if you are reading this and you haven't RSVP'd please do so immediately. The deadline was set at July 1st and that is just around the corner. Which also means that the big day is only 6 weeks away!! The webcam is back in business, but it won't be up as often is was before so check back regularly. That't all for now. BYE!!

Our last days in Hawaii:(

Well all good things must come to an end. Nathan and I are packing up the last couple of itens to move back to Chicago. We both feel very blessed and fortunate to have been able to live in Hawaii for about a year. We have done most everything that we wanted to do. We spent long days in the sun, swam with sharks, parasailed, surfed and just lived the Hawaiian life style. We have met so many new people that we really become close friends with. We will always have great memories when we look back on our life in Hawaii. But now we have decided to close this chapter in our lives as we open many more. The wedding is coming up on 2 months, we are very excited about starting new. The best thing about that is that Nathan and I are doing to together. By the grace of God we have found each other at just the right time in our lives. I have made my career and Nathan is just starting his long journey of college. His dreams of becoming a vet will take a while to achieve but without a doubt he will get there. My dreams are coming true everyday, I am marring the man of my dreams and moveing forward to starting a family. I never could have imagined that I would be living in Hawaii with Nathan but we have. I wonder what is in store for us next. As our lives evolve we will keep you updated. The next time we update we will be liveing back in Chicago and staying in our new apartment right downtown again. We plan on staying in Chicago for 6 months then moveing to NC. We will keep you todated on our lives. Please keep in touch with us, see you soon:)P.S. Nathan will have the web came back up and running when we get to Chicago, it wont be sheila cam but family cam...Maybe....

Just a quick update:)

Well not much as changed since I last blogged. Nathan and I are finding out everyday how truly blessed we are. Our lives are only getting better. As you know we are planning on moving back to the mainland. That means everything that does not fit into a box must go. Craigslist has been our new best friend. We or should I say Nathan has been able to sell mostly everything that needed to go. We are holding off on selling the bed and couch until the last min. We have sold the Harley!!!!We are sad and happy at the same time. Sad to see it go, it was passed down from Nathan's dad to Nathan, we would have loved to have kept it in the family. We were very fortunate to be able to get a good price for it. We can now ship the Jeep and pay off some other things, this is a blessing. The latest excitement for us, we had our engagement photos done! Let me tell you, we love photo shop!! Nikki our friend and photographer is just starting her business up and she did an amazing job. We took about 700 photos but kept 106 of them. We are very happy to have these done, we wanted something to remember Hawaii from. Now my favorite, the wedding! 3 MONTHS away, can you believe it, I will soon be Mrs. Rachel Riddell:):):):):) The invites are done and sent, they turned out really good dispite the glass or glasses of wine I had. I typed everything out for the second time, spell check saved me. Now we just wait for my parents to get bombarded with RSVP's. Well as usual I am blogging your ear off. We have 4 weeks until we arrive back in Chicago. Our newest stress is getting Sheila home. She is too big for the cage that we bought to ship her in and to fit into the plane. We don't really know what we are going to do yet, I trust that it will all work out. We will keep you updated, and I called it, I found the web cam in the living room!!!!!