Recipe #1 - Little Cheddar Meatloaves

At our last shower Jeff and I received a handwritten recipe from each guest at the shower! I am SO excited to try every single one. It is my goal by our 1st Anniversary to have tried each recipe! So here we go!! The first recipe is called Little Cheddar Meatloaves. It was given to us by Jeff's Aunt Sandy. 

Here is a picture of the first step: combine milk, egg, onion, oatmeal, salt and shredded cheddar.

Step 2: I mixed in one # of ground beef and placed the meat mixture my new loaf pan!

3. I combined ketchup, mustard and brown sugar and then spooned them over the top.

4. I put the loaves in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes. I served my mini loaves with baked potatoes. They were scrumptious!!! I highly recommend this recipe!! It will be in the Williams Dinner Rotation!!

My Madrid Kitchen Shower

Last Saturday I was given a truly wonderful shower by four lovely ladies from Madrid and Boone. The shower was thrown by Jen (Jeff's sister), Jennifer (Jeff's sister-in-law), Kris (Jeff's cousin) and Courtney (a friend of ours from church). It was a kitchen theme and each guest received a kitchen themed invitation and a recipe card that looked like this.

 My gift from the hostesses was a matching recipe box that ADORE!!

The shower was held at the Corn Crib outside of Madrid. It is an old corn crib that has been renovated to hold events! It is so beautiful!

We had so many wonderful new friends from church at the shower. Some of Jeff's family traveled to be at the shower too!  The food was so yummy! It was a brunch with quiche, pastries, muffins and scones!!

After we ate our meal I opened presents. Jen and Jenn were my helpers, along with my nieces and nephew! Nolan stood up there most of the time. He had one little fall but recovered quickly. I loved having my mom and sister there too!!

 Each guest shared why they had given me that specific recipe! I can't wait to try them all!! Thank you to everyone who made this a beautiful shower! I loved it!!!

Invitations

Here is a picture of our BEAUTIFUL wedding invitations! When Jeff and I picked them out we fell in love with the lower case lettering for our names. We also loved the teal background with the swirly design and ivory lettering. We also wanted some sort of icon with the W and M in it. Jennifer, Jeff's sister-in-law, did an awesome job designing them!! Jeff's brother, Ken, and Jennifer run Wilcox Printing and they printed them for us! Check them out if you are needing invitations printed! They did a great job!!

Here is a picture of the invitations I took on my phone. You can see that the teal is actually more blue than the first picture shows!

We also included our response card with the invitation. We chose the RSVP card to be the opposite color scheme with an ivory background and teal swirls. Jennifer also had the idea to put our W M icon in the upper left corner on the response card! SO cute!!

The responses have been starting to pile into my parent's mailbox. They are really enjoying keeping track of accepts and regrets. I look forward to my daily phone call where I find out who can come. Jeff and I knew that having a wedding around Christmas would make it hard for people to come. We are just thankful for those who can make it. We are also praying for good weather!!

Shower at the Lake

Last Saturday my Aunt Melodee, cousin Amanda, and cousin Lisa threw me a beautiful beach theme bridal shower!! Here we are! (Left to Right: Lisa, me, Amanda, and Melodee)

The shower was at Lake Panorama at my Aunt Melodee's condo. It was decorated SO cute!

The shower started with gift opening and a game "How well do you know the bride?" Each person at the shower was asked a question about me and they had to see if they knew the answer. Questions were like "Alicia's favorite color", "What Alicia loves about Jeff", etc.  We got SO many nice gifts!! Here I am hugging my Aunt Donna! To her left is my Aunt Marlene. It meant so much that they made the drive to Panora for the shower!!

It was a wonderful day!! I am so thankful for great family!! Just one more...my sweet nephew Nolan  has been such a trooper coming to all these girlie events!! He deserves a shout out!!

A Walk Down Memory Lane

Fall of 2011 - Soon after we met...our first wedding as a couple. Thanks Kate and Ryan Netz!!

Winter of 2011 - After a dinner at Americana we walked around the Sculpture Garden. I remember being SO excited that we took a picture together!!

Winter of 2011 - Jeff's first trip to the Civic Center! We sat in the first row for Wicked! It was incredible!!

Christmas 2011 - One of my favorite pictures! We were at the Bentzinger's Annual Christmas Bash!! 

Spring of 2012 - We went to a improv show at the Temple for the Performing Arts. It was hilarious!! I remember this night we also had dinner at Spaghetti Works!

Summer of 2012 - Every summer the Menefee family has a baseball game at our family reunion. Jeff was a great addition to the team!

Summer of 2012 - My dear friend Betsy's wedding! I was a bridesmaid and had a blast!! It was in Mason City so we had the pleasure of staying with Jeff's brother and sister-in-law in Clear Lake at their lake house.

Summer of 2012 - My birthday!! Jeff gave me beautiful earrings for my 30th birthday!!

Fall of 2012 - We didn't take many pictures in the fall of 2012 so I decided to put in one of another member of our little family. Bailey is Jeff's baby. She has really warmed up to me and I love her!!

Christmas 2012 - Opening presents at my parents house! Look at that killer mug from my sister!

February 2013 - Our year and half anniversary! We almost forgot to take this picture. We snapped this right before Jeff went home for the night! 

March 2013 - We didn't take any pictures together but we spent many hours working together on fixing up the kitchen in Jeff's house. It turned out great!

March 2013 - Jeff's favorite part of the kitchen redo - a vintage fridge!

May 2013 - We headed to Osky to watch Addie play T-ball. It was a beautiful but chilly night!

Summer 2013 - Our summer was filled with enjoying cookouts with friends and family. We love our new patio!

August 2013 - To celebrate my 31st birthday we went to Centro for dinner and to see the show "Jersey Boys". It was so fun!!

August 2013 - Waiting for the show to start...

Fall 2013 - One of our engagement pictures!

 It is so fun to look back at the two of us over the last two years! I can't wait for many more reasons to take pictures together!!

Time to celebrate with my girls

I remember having a conversation with my sister and best friend soon after I got engaged about having a bachelorette party. I remember telling them that all I want is a gathering with my girlfriends, good food, and a good time. I was THRILLED with what was planned for me!

My sister-in-law to be designed the cutest invitations!!!

My bridesmaid Ali hosted the first part of the night at her house! It is newly remodeled and is BEAUTIFUL!! 

All the girls at the party have played an important part in my life. Some of the them are girls I met at HOPE, some are from Madrid where I go to church with Jeff now, some Wartburg girls, and some Drake girls. I was overwhelmed with LOVE in that room!! Here I am doing introductions of how I met each gal.

Evie and Ali had made fancy appetizers that were so YUMMY!! You can see them in this picture!
I also opened some adorable gifts!

 Then we headed to one of my favorite restaurants for dinner - BRAVO! Here I am with each table of friends!

 Left to Right: Hillary, Rachel, and Kat

 Sarah K, Sarah N, Nicole, and Ali

 Esther, Jen, Jenn, and Tara

 Alyssa, Shanon, Cassie and Chelsey

 Courtney, Amanda and Danelle

Evie, Anne, Betsy and myself

It was everything I had ever wanted for a Bachelorette party!! I am so thankful for great friends!!

Decorations

Today my mom and I set out on a BIG mission - finding table decorations!

A month ago my bridesmaid, Ali, and I had gone to Hobby Lobby looking for ideas for my table decorations. I came home with lots of treasures that day!!

Today I went back to Hobby Lobby and finished what I had started. First I started by deciding what to put in my eiffel vases. I will have 11 tables with eiffels. Each eiffel vase will have two teal picks and one silvery leaf pick. I am thinking I will use some of the teal mesh ribbon on the table as a runner.

On 14 of the tables I have have smaller flower vases with sparkly flowers.  Seven will have white flowers and 7 will have teal flowers. I am thinking I will fill the bowls with white sand or sugar.  I think I use the teal ribbon as a runner and add votive candles around it.

On the last 5 tables I will have candlesticks with large teal ornaments on top. I will have silver candlestick holders instead of gold. I think the gold is really pretty too! I think it is going to be beautiful!!