september.

It's still weird to me that we're Missouri residents and this is where we'll be for a while. It's a neat place to live there is a lot to do and there are a lot of nice people - when I run errands during the day I find myself making friends with complete strangers for about 5 minutes! WEIRD.

Deren finished his first lift assignment at his job and has been permanently placed - exact details are TBA. He's excited to be assigned to his official role at work and get settled into one organization. I've also just been accepted to UMKC and will be officially starting school in January for the Spring 2009 semester. University of Missouri - Kansas City Kangaroos. Are you serious? HA!

While Deren has been at work during the day I keep busy STILL job hunting (it's getting really frustrating but I think this week is my week!), wedding planning, running errands and getting some school stuff organized. We've been exploring things to do in KC so this past weekend we went to our first Kansas City Royals game for our 1 year anniversary compliments of 'aunt' Lora. They have an awesome stadium but they are not my MN Twins or Deren's Cubs!

The power and light district has sucked us into their nightlife - we've gone out with Deren's work friends a few times and we've (namely me) left out marks. I can't wait until our friends start visiting and we can show them all the great stuff the show-me state has to offer.

Like always we have a lot of trips to look forward to...This weekend we're heading up to Iowa City for the ISU/Iowa football game. It'll be a crazy weekend and so great to see all of our friends!! The weekend after that we're making the 8 hour trek to Madison, WI to Eric's golf outing - I can't wait to see all of Eric's friends and catch up with all of them. This will be the first time Deren has met all of them so that will be fun. Plus, this year, I'm going to attempt to golf with the golf clubs Deren got me for my birthday :) THEN, the weekend after that I'm flying home to MN to wedding dress shop with my mom and some of my bridesmaids.

So much to be thankful for and so little time! Even with everything going on and all the hustle and bustle I still miss all my friends and family back home in MN and Iowa :( I wish we were all closer but I guess this is life and we're only a few hour drive away...I LOVE YOU GUYS!

kansas city. here we are.

It's official... 8750 N. Kansas Ave #202 is the address for Deren and I. This weekend Dick and Betty came down to Ames and Kansas City to help finish moving the rest of my stuff into our apartment. It was so nice to see my parents - I felt bad they had the 6 hour drive ahead of them on Sunday. I have a feeling we'll be making that drive quite a few times :)

Today I got my Missouri driver's license so it is definitely official - Kansas City, here we are. I've been (trying to) keep busy by job searching, running errands and inspecting the pool (aka laying out and reading a good book). I'm in the midst of yet ANOTHER job search and like most things in life I'm not very patient. I'm crossing my fingers that a good full time job will come my way to keep me busy until I start school in January.

**Puppy update. Unfortunately Deren's dad and my dad talked Deren into NOT getting a puppy anytime soon...so being the good fiancee that I am, I'm trying to understand that our life really is accommodating for a dog right now. Hang tight though - we WILL get a dog :)

Here are some pictures of our apartment...

just the beginning...

Here it is, August 1. I can't believe we've been engaged for a month! It seems like just yesterday we were being introduced at the bar. I guess that shows ya how quickly the time flies.

I decided to start this blog to keep everyone updated on our life and the adventures we have in store. Lately our time has consisted of wedding planning, visiting each other on the weekends, packing (for amy) and working (for deren). Amy is really looking forward to August 16 when she is finally moved down to Kansas City, MO for good :)

We have a quite a few events to look forward to...Sweet Corn Festival in West Point is next weekend, Dana and Billy's wedding is August 23, Amy's brother's memorial golf outing in Madison, WI is the end of September, Amy's cousin is getting married on October 10 in MN, and in between there's talk about adding a puppy to the mix :) and that's just the beginning...