I'm back and I'm a Mrs.! Our wedding was great and I came home with a wonderful husband. I still can't believe how perfect our day was. When I say 'perfect', I don't mean there were no mishaps, but those mishaps made the day even more memorable (or at least funnier).

A short post I know. But for now, I'm going to leave you with a few photos of the day while I go and cuddle with my husband!

surprise bridal shower

Well last Thursday sure was interesting! My work got me good with a surprise bridal shower!

For the last few weeks, we have been planning a retirement party for a co-worker going back on retirement. The office thought it would be fun to have a full Mexican themed party with taco bar and everything! We were even going to dress to the theme.

Thursday morning, Doreen forgot a few of the supplies and asked if I could run to pick them up. She told me to go to Market Place and take my time. I thought that was pretty great, there is nothing better than grocery shopping at 11:30 on a Thursday morning. It was dead and I had a great selection to choose from.

When I got back to the office the back table was all set with food and goodies. But, the strange thing was they had also decorated with all sorts of wedding decor. Streamers hanging from the ceiling, diamond rings scattered across the table, and mini champaign flutes filled with wedding mints. Clueless me asked "who's getting married" and they told me that besides being a retirement party it was also going to be an anniversary party! I thought that was cool and very nice of us :)

It was not until Mary brought out a veil and tried to put it on my head did it finally start to sink in. I had been fooled! This was a bridal shower for me! I was totally shocked, dumbfounded, and blonde!
It was a wonderful shower! They invited a few of my previous co-workers and it was amazing to see them again. We had my friend Michelle Greenway, Julie Bruggenthies, and Mary Jo Pittman!

mr. starter

WIAA STATE TRACK & FIELD

Last weekend my dad was one of the officials and starters for the 2010 WIAA State Track & Field in La Crosse, WI.

Mom and dad went down Thursday afternoon for his begining meetings, while Jill, Cambell and I followed suit on Friday afternoon. It was hard deciding when to go down because the entire weekends forcast predicted rain. And since we would be bringing Cam with us, we could not go if there was rain. But we decided to chance it on Friday afternoon and boy am I glad we did, the weather in La Crosse was beautiful, sunny and warm!We were even able to find an area at the end of the track with a small bleacher for everyone to sit, Cam's stroller could be parked right next to us and we got great shots of dad!

parties

BRIDAL SHOWER AND JOINT BACHELOR/BACHELORETTE PARTIES!

On Saturday, May 22, 2010 my friends threw me a bridal shower and Chad and I had our joint bachelor/bachelorette parties! Of course the day started out with rain - what does not start out with rain lately :) But, it cleared up beautifully by the time the parties started.

We all met at my friend Holly's house which had a perfect layout for this party and a brand new deck for everyone to hang out on! The theme of the day was Black & Bling. Actually the full title was "Sonja's Wedding Fling - Wear Your Best Black & Bling!" And everyone looked great! We were an eye catching group when we went out later!

The shower portion of the day was a wine tasting party. All of our wine was from Wisconsin since Chad and I got engaged in Door County. Our friend Andy was even our wine sommelier!

(Andy and I)

(Back Row: Holly, Andy, Kendra, Sonja, Sally and Doreen

Front Row: Amanda, Mary, Julie, Syren, and Jill)

(Our Party Crew)

(Biff, me, & Tena)

engagement photos

HERE IS A SNEAK PEAK AT SOME OF OUR ENGAGEMENT PHOTOS!

Suzanne Wynveen did a fabulous job! We had a great time with her, even though the weather was something to be desired! Can you believe it was only 47 degrees this day!

Chad and I tease that this one looks like a country music album cover! I pretend I'm Carrie Underwood :) (If only)...

long over due updates

Wow! it’s taken so long for me to update again, 2010 has been a pretty wild ride so far!
First off I would like to say HAPPY NEW YEAR about 5 month late…

Since I have last posted, my family has a pretty great new addition!
Cambell Renee Kittilson was born 5 weeks early on February 7, 2010. One month to the date before my birthday.
She is the most amazing little girl and changes daily. I can never keep up with her tiny world and how much she can take in everyday!
A few favorites of Cam’s are 80s and 90s pep band music, her bobby pillow and my personal childhood favorite: a glow-worm!
Really this is just a small list of things, but they are the best in my book too!

Chad and I have the honor of being Cambell’s Godparents. She was baptized in the same church as her great-great grandmother Julia Flynn and the same church that I will be married in.

Then skipping ahead to May, we had the most entertaining engagement photo session ever!
Chad and I had our engagement photos taken last Saturday. When we booked these we thought May would be the perfect month, the grass is green, flowers are blooming and the weather is finally getting warmer.
Boy were we wrong – that actually just described April. May has been a totally different story. We did have the opportunity to experience all four Wisconsin seasons in one 2 hour photo shoot though.
It was a ton of fun though! I didn’t want our session to end. It was made even better by the fact that Syren came with us as our own personal stylist! (Thank you Syren – could not have done it without you!)

Coming up yet in May is my bridal shower and Chad’s and my joint parties!!! I can’t wait for this one – the weather is actually supposed to be great! Which is good since I will be in a little black dress and heels!

turkey day - black friday!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Chad and I were busy as always starting the day out at his aunt Collette’s house where we were able to hang out with his dad’s side of the family. They are always a fun group with lots of laughs and stories! This was the first time I have seen them since the engagement which made this visit even more special. We then headed for our second round of turkey to my parents house. We spent the evening flipping through all the sale ads for Black Friday and made our game plan!

4am on Friday morning came earlier than expected. But I we were all determined to get out there and get that deal (whatever it was). We love the excuse “… but it was on sale.” I headed straight to Wal-Mart at about 4:30am where I scoped out the store and was ready with our plan of attack once my family met up with me. Our group consisted of: my mom, sister (Jill), aunt (Chris) and cousin (Sara). We were able to get a few of the ‘not hot’ ticket items at Wal-Mart and headed straight to Target in EC. Usually they open at 6am so we have always been there for the baby crying, elbow shoving, evil eye door opening. This year though they opened at 4am! Yep, the exact time my alarm was going off those poor sales associates were fighting the mob back with carts and news crews. By the time we got there at 6am the checkout lines were all the way back wrapped around the toy aisle. Without risking the chance of losing each other we headed back out into the cold and made it over to the mall. This place was also crazy busy – but boy did we find the deals. And I found Chad’s Christmas present!!! Since he may be reading this before Christmas actually comes, I can’t reveal what his treat will be. We were able to hit many more locations and despite the crabby crowd and long lines – we made a haul! Several vehicles were full and so were our bellies after a great brunch at Panera Bread. I think we all got back home around 12:30pm! A full 8 hour work day had been completed by the time we got home. Of course I curled up and instantly took a nap.

I can’t wait to do it all again next year…