First Comes Love...Then Comes Marriage...Then Comes...

....A Baby Bucka in a Baby Carriage!  

Hey All!  Sorry it has been so long. I hope you all have had a great first month of 2012!  I thought after the holidays, life would get a lot less busy.  Boy was I ever wrong.  Between school, work, and life I don't know how people add babies into the crazy mix!  So much has already happened!  My best friend had a beautiful baby boy (blog about that coming soon!) and my other best friends sister (and friend) is expecting her first in the next few weeks!  I have been so blessed to know her ever since I was 7 and I could not be more thrilled!  She is absolutely beautiful inside and out!  Her love for babies has always been part of who she is.  So much so, she has been a nanny most of her life and is now an elementary school teacher.  She said one of the happiest memories of her life was when her nephew Danny and niece Charley were born.  She said in that moment she did not know if it would be possible to experience that much happiness and love ever again.  Well, I have a feeling that happiness will be 10 fold when her little bundle of joy arrives in this world.  Emily, I could not be more excited for you and Matt!  You are going to be an amazing mother and father!  I can not wait to meet your new family member soon!  Here are a few photos from the beautiful baby shower thrown by Emily's sisters Kelly & Julie!  The shower was so beautiful and perfect in every single way.  Hope you enjoy some of the moments captured at the Bucka Baby Shower!

The Baby Bucka Diaper Cake made by yours truly! Emily has always loved pigs so I though this was perfect for her!

All around the house were photos of baby Em and Baby Matt.  Weren't they the cutest little stinkers?!

FOOD! FOOD! FOOD! It was so yummy!  I need these recipes!

We had to improvise and find a way to heat all the egg bakes at once!  Mama Mary thought this one up!

Pastries and Coffee!  There was not much left at the end of the party! I love Julie's little cow for cream. :)

The HOSTS with the Most!  You both did a great job!

Sisters and Best Friends :)

Guess how big her tummy is game!

All in good company!

Mama Mary was also a great Host!  She provided a lot of the little extra details for the party as well as the salad server during brunch! 

All the love in one room for Baby Bucka!

The Gifts!

I do believe this baby will be set!  Very blessed he or she is!

Probably my favorite moment of the afternoon.  If you any of  you know Emily at all, you will understand this picture!

The Hosts with the Most, working hard!

The beautiful Mama!

2 Mama's to be!  Only a few weeks apart!  So precious!

LOVE THIS PICTURE! Wish I would have got a few other individual shots of the guest at the party, but this is definitely a keeper! 

 

CONGRATULATIONS BUCKA FAMILY!  

I can not wait to meet you little bundle of joy!  

Happy New Year!!!

Well, it's finally here, the year I have been waiting for.  Not because I'm getting married (already did that) or having a baby (that is a ways away), but because 12 is my absolute favorite number!!!  I just know, nothing but great things are going to come from 2012!  I just turned 30, 2 days ago and rang in the new year with old friends, new friends, and best friends!  Life truly does not get much better than that.  My husband threw a surprise birthday dinner with our parents, I never thought I could be surprised but he did it (I was in my p.j.'s and ready for bed when our parents knocked on our door)  man-o-man, was I surprised!  It was wonderful!  My best friend and her hubby threw and amazing New Years Eve/My Birthday party filled with Black Jack, sparkles, and bubbly!  All in all, the last few days have been very busy!  But I'm excited to get back on track and back to my daily routine.  The following area few photos of the amazing "Casino Themed" New Years Eve Party!  Thank you Nibbe's, I could not have imagined a better way to ring in 2012!  I'm excited to see what the year will bring!

Here are some final moments of 2011...

Casino Night!

Yummy Cocktails and Cigars to Toast to the New Year!

The Yummy Food!  Leftover Birthday Cake from Buttercream, Marscapone Stuffed Apricots, Kokal Artichoke Dip (made it about 9 times this holiday season), Mexican Roll Ups

Little Weenies, Chips and Dip, Keelia's Yummy Homemade fresh Pizza, Jalapeno and Cream Cheese Pretzel Dip

 The Host with the Most!

Devin, doing what he does best...milk his cow.

 Emily & Baby Bucka came too!  She's so dang cute!

Mrs. Nibbe made amazing flirtini's!

The Dealers of the Night

Trenton Family New Year!

I can't believe these two posed for this picture!  Some day, right? :)

And these two are "for real" engaged and getting married NEXT MONTH!!  Congratulations!  Their 2012 is going to be extra fantastic! 

These 2 were absolutely adorable!  She is just gorgeous and he is hilarious!

Let the games begin!  

Lot's of laughs....

Not sure who has the best game face.  You decide! :)

LOVED Chantelle's Hair!  So adorable!

These two were so cute.  All night chatted up a storm, with each other. :)

So many great memories, Thank You C.J. & Julie!

Great Friends...Great Memories!  Love you Ladies!

:)

Bubbly for to ring in 2010!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Fried Bread Dough! A Christmas Morning Tradition!

Ever since I can remember, my dad has always made fried bread dough for the family on Christmas morning.  Well, once I got married, I had to learn how to make it myself and begin the tradition with my family.  It is actually really easy to make and only takes 3 ingredients.  It is not at all good for you, but I only allow myself to have it once a year, so i can make the exception because it is SO GOOD!  All you need is:

~ Vegetable Oil (a whole bottle)
~ Rhodes Bread Dough (pictured below)
~ Powdered Sugar
~ Large Iron Skillet

So simple, yet so tasty!

The only preparation for this breakfast treat is taking the frozen bread dough out the night before, let it puff up until it looks like the photo below.  So easy!  You can make it a family tradition too, I promise everyone will love it!

Heat the Vegetable oil in a large skillet

Peel Bread dough and shape into whatever you like

CAREFULLY place bread dough into skillet

Fry for about 2 minutes or less on each side

Fry until Golden Brown on both sides

Serve Warm with Powdered Sugar and your Choice of Christmas Morning Drink!  

ENJOY! 

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Well....(BIG sad sigh)...It's over.  But it was a blast and so wonderful, and joyful, and magical, and everything Christmas is supposed to be!!  Only 364 days till next Christmas! :)  It was our first Christmas in our 1st house.  The decorations were perfect (in my opinion).  The weather was phenomenal, although a little more snow would have been nice.  Saturday, we went to church with my family, then proceeded to my sisters where she hosted for the very first time, Christmas with the Kruckas' :)  It was great!  The food was awesome, we had lots of appetizers.  The kids were adorable!  When they heard Santa's bells ringing, they ran to their bedroom, without even saying goodnight and tried to fall asleep as fast as they could so that Santa would stop at their house!  (good news, he did :)) Christmas morning my husband and I woke up, made coffee and fried bread dough, a Kruckas and now Kokal, family tradition.  :)  We went ice skating, took the puppy's for a walk (because the weather was so wonderful), then went to the Kokal's for more Christmas family fun.  I seriously could not have planned it better.  Besides my dad having the sniffles and my father-in-law having the stomach flu, I could not have imagined it any other way.  I am so lucky and so blessed to have such a wonderful family.  I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas as well!  Below are just a few of the 600 pictures I took these past 2 days.  Hope you all enjoy! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

 My Handsome Husband and a photo I took at the end of Christmas Eve Mass of my dad singing JOY TO THE WORLD! :)

My sisters first time hosting Christmas Eve at her house!  It was a sight to see!  Look at all the gifts!  We are all so blessed!

 Standing around all the yummy appetizers!  I wish I would have taken more pics of all the food that was there.  It was A LOT!

Ornaments!  Every year my mom gets me the cutest ornaments.  It's one of the things I look forward to most.  This year she got my husband and I the "New Home 2011" ornament and a baking ornament.  My sister Tara got me the Angel, since I'm such and angel! :)  

My husband took these photos, notice my excitement in the black and white photo?  I LOVE my new salad spinner!!!

Some exciting moments captured of the kids and their mama!

Grandpa helping my niece with something...my sweet nephew.  :)  He said the sweetest thing, when we were waiting to open up gifts, I was joking around with him and said, "If all those presents under the tree are for me, then where are all your presents?!" His response was, running over to me, giving me a big hug and saying "You're my present!"  It was the sweetest thing!  Love that boy!

 Some ornaments on my sisters tree.  "Let it SNOW" was fitting, being that this year it was close to 50 degrees on Christmas!  I don't ever remember a more mild Christmas in my 29 years of being a Minnesotan!  It was crazy!  The pin cone is an ornament my niece made for my mom, with "blue sparkles" my moms favorite color. :)

Just some goofy moments with my sisters!  I love them so much!

Now for the Kokal side! :)  This was my little nieces favorite gift, her sparkly shoes that light up! :)  Look at those big sweet eyes!  Don't let them fool you! :)

Before all the chaos, I got a few cute photos of the youngest member of the family.  He is such a sweet boy and has some of the most amazing blue eyes!

The oldest of the grandkids has her two favorite things, daddy and her new American Girl Doll!

My sister-in-law picked out the girls Christmas present this year, they both got dress up outfits to play "bride" it is their newest game they like to play together.  Ever since Ash's wedding this past summer, they can't get enough of it! They just HAD to put the dresses on right away, it was so cute!

There were only a few meltdown moments, this is not a a very Christmas-like face! :(  

BRIDEZILLA!  HERE SHE COMES!!!  The other momentous breakdown was when this little one opened up her P.J.s and they had "tinker bell" on them, but no princess!  She was very upset...poor little bride. :)

At least his one is happy!

The beautiful table setting, as usual!  Always so cozy!

The food, my poor mother-in-law had to cook all my herself because her other half was sick with the stomach flu. :(  Everything tasted wonderful and my husband was happy because he finally got his prime rib!

All the hard workers!

Some happy moments... :) It was seriously one of the best Christmas' ever!

All is calm....

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL

AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!