Fall Travels!

Erik and I have really been enjoying our time lately. Once again, time slips by so quickly, but it seems like our moments are filled with laughter, fun, and the ones we love the most!

Last weekend I got the chance to go to Phoenix to spend 4 days with my grandma, mom for a girls weekend. It was SO good to finally be back together with Britt, and it was so great to get to spend some good time with Brandon, Kirstin, Caleb, Collin and Beau.  There was nothing formal about the weekend which I think made it that much better...so great to finally all be back in one place...the only people missing were Erik and my dad!  It was so fun to have some quality time with my mom, grandma and sister. We have been trying to plan a "Girl's Weekend" for a long time and I am so grateful that it finally happened. There were lots of much needed laughs shared and it was a reminder of the blessing I have in such an incredible family.

Erik got the chance to hike up Mount of the Holy Cross with Ryan and Ralph. They do an annual trip every summer but with the busyness of being a newlywed and traveling to Peru, their plans were put on hold until this fall.  Thankfully the chose a great weekend to go and the snow held off!  Hard to believe that they already ran into snow on some parts of the trail! I am not quite sure that I am ready for the season to end..but inevitably it is coming.  Check out the picture of Ralph on the tip top of his first 14er!  Erik said that Ralph did well for the most part, but was absolutely exhausted for the next two days....I can imagine why!
We both enjoyed our time away from the routine of our everyday life.  It was a breath of fresh air to be with some of the people we love the most and are really trying to not take times like these for granted!

Back! Sharing in the birth of Zuri!

Sorry for the delay in blogging...I can't believe how poorly I have been at keeping up with this since we have been married, but I am back...and have intention to keep you updated!

The last four months have been filled with memories to last us a lifetime no doubt. We rounded off the summer with Erik traveling to Peru for a month, two more beautiful weddings of wonderful friends, had a fabulous trip to Seattle to visit our dear friends Matt and Steph Waller, and just like that we were back in the swing of the school year! Erik has started his second year of grad school at CU in Environmental Engineering, and I am still working at the Office of the Registrar. Its been great to be able to go to and from campus together, and we definitely are grateful to only have to take one car! Erik has to get up a little earlier than he wishes, but its been good for him to see that sun rising and getting his day started off early ;).  I have been looking for a new job and am praying that one will come soon!

We had big news this week with the birth of sweet baby girl, Zuri Amani (which means Beautiful Peace), to our dear friends Wes and Marissa Wicklund.  Marissa was in labor for 41 hours, and is no doubt a hero in my mind! She is truly incredible and so strong, and Zuri is absolutely perfect and beautiful in every way.  Erik and I are looking forward to spending much time with this sweet family...we love you three so much! I am still in awe at the way life is created.  Congratulations you two...we are so excited to get to support you on this road of parenthood!

 I am officially back and vow to be better about blogging (thanks for the push, Steph!!).  So grateful to have you on this journey with us!

Thankful tonight for: Cool fall nights, our poochie, Ralph, who so graciously keeps me company, Zuri Amani, and friends and family who love us so well despite our failures!

We Officially Have the Same Last Name!

Oh my goodness it has been WAY TOO LONG since updating our blog. I apologize! What a crazy past two months it has been! Unfortunately we don't have internet yet so this post is going to have to be cut short, but I promise we will update it as soon as we have our own internet that does not cut in and out ;)
Let's see, where to start. Well, we are MARRIED! Thank you so much to all of you who were there both in person and in spirit with us as we finally said our "I Do's" and committed our lives to one another.  We are incredibly thankful for everyone who was there, especially those who traveled so far to be with us and gave up their time and lives to be in Colorado for the weekend. We were truly in awe and speechless at the impact each of you had during this time and know that without the love and support of all of you we could not be where we are today.  The out pouring of your love, lives, and truths have touched us in a way we never thought possible and we feel blessed beyond words for the relationships we have with each of you.  Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for allowing us the chance to share in your lives and for choosing to share in ours. We are so blessed.

From there the list goes on. We finished our house, I graduated from CU, Erik finished his first year of grad school, I started working full time, and we went on a honeymoon!!! Life is full and busy, but wonderful!!
Things we have to look forward to in the near future:
Erik going to Peru July 20th for 3 weeks!
Sara and Phil's wedding on July 31st in Denver!
Matt and Steph's wedding in Billings August 14th!
I promise more updates and stories to come, but I just had to get a thank you out to all of you! We love you!

Brianne and Erik

Life the Past 3 Weeks through Pictures

Sorry I have been slacking so much lately on the blog! Erik and I have been busy little bee's, but alas, this week is the last week of classes! Erik will have one year of grad school under his belt and I will FINALLY be a college graduate!!! I figure pictures are more exciting (at times) than words :) So, I am going to update you on our lives through pictures and fill you in along the way!

First up: Our House! We have finally gotten everything torn out, and cabinets are being installed as we speak.  Here are some pictures of the progress. First job was to scrape this wall that was covered in paper bags, thanks to an HGTV quick fix tip!

Next, we knocked down the wall between the kitchen and dining room. Paul and Erik, here, having their fair share of fun knocking it down! More pictures of the progress to come...we just have not had the camera over there in a while!

Next, Erik's aunt Lynn threw us a couple's shower where the theme was "Stock the Bar".  Awesome if I do say so myself. Now, we don't have to go buy that stuff when we want to entertain; we already have it! 

And then came Easter! I didn't get many pictures, but we had a great time over at my Granny and Gramps house with my mom's side of the family. Unfortunately, Erik had to work, but it was great to have everyone together!

Ryan's birthday came next, but we failed to get any pictures. Emily, Ryan's girlfriend, had us over to her cute little apartment that she just bought and made us AWESOME dinner! 

This past weekend Brittany was home and we had the chance to go to her good friend, Sarah Walsh's, wedding. It was the most incredible and beautiful wedding! The bride was absolutely stunning and the reception set-up left us both speechless!! It made me SO excited to be marrying Erik in just 34 short days! We are so looking forward to having all of our friends and family together for such a special occassion!

Yesterday I had my final bridal shower! It was a Pampered Chef shower hosted by a good friend of my parents and it was so great! I was thankful that Britt was able to be in town for this shower as she was for the last one.  Something about having her here just makes it that much more special and is a reminder of what a sweet time this is! 

Erik got the chance to host a booth at an Earth Week Festival in downtown Boulder for Plant with Purpose. If you have not heard of Plant with Purpose, check them out. There work is incredible and it was really special for Erik to get to host this booth for them! After we were both done with our different activities from the day, we met up with our wedding photographer to take engagement pictures! Despite the pouring rain and cold wind, we managed to get some awesome shots and we are looking forward to sharing them as soon as we have them!

Wedding Festivities

I can't believe another week has gone by! Time really is flying....I know I say it a lot, but it's so true. This weekend was a ton of fun, and of course, very busy :) Friday began with marriage counseling and concluded with an afternoon and evening painting the inside of the house. We had such wonderful help from Paul, Ryan, and Chris! Erik, Chris, and Paul were at the house until 12:30 am and finished painting every room in the house that was being painted the neutral color. I am thankful, to say the least, that they were and are so willing to help Erik and I with everything!
Saturday was spent at two separate showers for both Erik and I. Ashley Margoles is truly amazing and I feel so honored that she would host a shower in my honor. I had the most amazing time and am so thankful for all the thoughtful, loving, and supportive people that surrounded me and truly advocate for Erik and I as we start our marriage! I was so blessed to receive so many amazing gifts, but even more with the people that were there. It's such a testament of friendship and another reminder of how loved we are! I am looking forward to having them each in my life for a long, long time to come!
Erik had a tool shower with the guys and had an awesome time as well! He got lots of tools that he is REALLY excited about! They are definitely going to be a huge help in the construction and finishing of the house!
I was really excited that my sister got to be in town for all that was going on too. Beau has been out of town for work so she was in charge of the dogs! That meant the 7 puppies as well! They are growing up quickly and will all soon be gone :( They are the CUTEST little nuggets you will ever see though, and they are were so fun to have here for the weekend. Britt is an all-star for coming with all of them by herself
Here are just a few pictures from the weekend!
Thankful this weekend for amazing and supportive friends and family :)

A Weekend of Showers!

Less than 2 months and we will be married! Crazy to think about....time is definitely flying by! This past weekend was just great. Friday night Erik and I had our first shower! Erik's aunt, Lynn, threw us a "Stock the Bar" shower and it was so fun.  The idea was for people to bring the recipe for their favorite drink and all the ingredients needed to make the drink.  I have never been to a shower quite like it!  It will be perfect for entertaining or just sitting back to enjoy a nice refreshing drink on our deck. We are both so thankful for loving, supporting, and thoughtful friends and family as was evident on Friday night.
Just to share, here are some of the most interesting drink recipes we got! Here are the "Michelada" recipe and the "Moscow Mule" recipe.  I am excited/nervous to try both of them, but I trust they are good if they are truly people's favorite drinks!

Michelada:
12 oz. beer
juice of 1 lemon
2 dashes Worcestershire sauce
1 dash soy sauce
1 dash Tobasco sauce
1 pinch black pepper
salt around the rim


Moscow Mule:
2 oz. Vodka
1 tbsp. lime juice
8 oz. Ginger Beer

I also went to a baby shower for a good friend of mine from growing up.  She is due in May and looks just great! It was awesome for all of us girls to be back together celebrating the first baby of the group! Congratulations to Hannah and Ryan! Here's to hoping and praying that these last 6 weeks will go quickly and smoothly!

Spring Break!

This past week was our Spring Break...a much needed one at that! It was slightly uneventful in the way of travels and adventures, but there was much for us to do around Boulder. We have started marriage counseling with the pastor who is going to be marrying us and it has been so great so far.  We are continuing to learn so much about each other and learning how to best communicate with each other. It's funny....we thought after 3.5 years we had it all down, but its been a challenge in a good way to learn that we still have things to learn about each other.  We have been so blessed in this relationship and just desire to honor not only each other, but God in all that we are doing. Our greatest desire to serve and honor Him in a way that is wholly pleasing to Him.  As we move forward into being husband and wife we truly desire to be the best stewards with this great privilege and gift of marriage.  

 This past week our friends Bryce and Kate were in town for the evening on Tuesday from WI, so Chris and Courtney, Wes and Marissa, Travis and Rachel, and Erik and I all gathered to spend some time together! Despite the down-pour of snow, we all managed to make it to the Rio for an always memorable time.  We decided after the Rio to head next door to the Walnut Brewery where 10 min. after sitting down the power went out.  Needless to say, that ended the night, but on a funny note!

Erik and I finally closed on our house on Friday afternoon. Buying a house has been one of the most challenging, yet incredibly exciting adventures we have had! I was sure there was going to be some hiccup, but just as soon as we were in the door and the papers were signed, we were back out with the keys in our hands, free to start this very brand new adventure of being homeowners together! We started construction on it today, scraping off wallpaper, putting in bucket lights, and scraping the popcorn ceiling.  It will be quite some work and time before everything is done, but we are looking forward to calling this place HOME!!! 

Our First Nephew!

Welcome to this world, Caleb Joseph Fowler! Brandon and Kirstin welcomed healthy, sweet baby Caleb at 10:07 PM on March 23, 2010 weighing 5 lbs. 12 oz.  He is wonderful and perfect in every single way. We are looking forward to meeting you soon our sweet nephew! We love you! 

Love,

Auntie B and Big Unkie E 

Lot's Going On!

Lots and lots going on, once again..or maybe it’s just that things have not slowed down! The most exciting news of the weekend was that our friends Cassidi and Chad got engaged!! Cassidi is one of my roommates from Montana and she is just wonderful.  She had been so patient in waiting for this special time and it finally came! Yay!!! We cannot wait for this awesome wedding, whenever it happens to be! Congrats you two!

Erik still has not heard for sure about Peru. He will not be going in May but there is still a chance he will be going the end of July through mid August.  Last week he was presented with a couple of opportunities for some different things including an internship and research opportunity that he will be discussing in some meetings later this week.  For 6 months it seemed like there were limited opportunities out there and in a matter of just a few hours he was presented with 3 possible leads outside of Peru.  He is excited to say the least and it finally is starting to feel like some doors are opening in his favor!

Over the weekend we celebrated Erik’s 24^th birthday! It was quite the weekend including finishing the design of our kitchen, a visit to the natural history museum to see the Body Worlds exhibit, an IMAX about the Hubble Telescope, a day of skiing at WinterPark, and dinner over at Erik’s dads’ house with my parents! Going to the museum was something neither of us has done since elementary school, maybe middle school at best. We had a blast, and the Body World’s exhibit was amazing.  If you have the chance to see it, we highly recommend that you take the time to go. The Hubble IMAX was incredible too.  The technology aboard the telescope today is incredible allowing us to see pictures of a galaxy 10 billion light years away…incredible!

We are getting more and more excited about the house! We are scheduled to close on Thursday of this week….just 3 more short days away. It has been quite the process with the lenders and agents making sure we are crossing all of our T’s and dotting all of our I’s.  We are thankful that we are even in this process, but wish in some regards that it could have been a little easier or at least a more smooth process. As I mentioned above, we re-designed our kitchen this weekend! The first thing we are going to do is tear out the old kitchen, and replace just about everything in there. We are going to knock down a wall that currently separates our dining room from kitchen and make it one big open space, complete with an island.  It feels so grown up to be doing all of this, but it’s so fun knowing that this is the house we are going to begin our marriage in!  

Reflections

Erik and I had another great weekend! We got to spend Friday night up in Dillon at a condo with a friend of Erik's from graduate school and then skied all day Saturday at Copper. It was a beautiful day! We even got a little sunburned...definitely a good sign that spring is just around the corner.
 It's been so fun to finally be together in the same place doing the same things.  I can remember what it was like 3 years ago when Erik was in New Zealand and I was back in Longmont and we were trying to figure out how our relationship would look and work. As I think back now those times now I realize that they were challenging for us, but necessary.   We were challenged to trust each other and challenged to trust our own decision to be in relationship at such a time.  There was never any question that we shouldn't be in relationship, but it was hard to know that after just three short months of dating our lives would be lived thousands of miles apart and in completely different ways.
Thankfully, both of us trusted.  A love had been established between us that no distance could break. Love won out. Here we are just 2 1/2 short months away from our wedding day and I could not be more thankful for the passions and travels that Erik pursued in our time dating.  They have helped foster a deeper love and appreciation for travel and pursuit of adventure not only for Erik, but for myself as well, and for our relationship. I so look forward to building and creating our own adventures in marriage, and will be SO thankful that no longer will we be having to fight any distance between us in marriage! Well, that may not be true, but at least we will be married :)
Thankful today for: beautiful sunshine and spring time air and an adventurous fiance.
Not so thankful today for a 30 page paper I have to write... I better get back to working on it!

Another Birthday!

Yay! Last night I (Brianne) got to spend a wonderful evening with three of my favorite people.  Mitch, Sarah, Reba and I got together to celebrate Mitch's 24th birthday at the Cheesecake Factory! It's always so nice and so refreshing to get together with them and I feel like our conversations could go on and on.  Mitch's actual birhday isn't until Friday but she left for Vegas this morning to spend the big day in Sin City...hopefully making lot's of money :)

It was fun afterwards to get to grab a beer with Erik and continue to dream about what life ahead looks like together.  We are both becoming more and more excited as Erik takes direction in his program and studies.  There are lots of opportunities awaiting him and it feels like things are starting to fall in to place.

Tonight I am thankful for: time with wonderful friends, dreams that are being made and pursued with Erik,  and the chance to be a part of a much bigger picture

Happy Birthday, Chris!

Today is Mr. Christopher Kevin Nicoletti's big 2-4! Happy, happy birthday! We love you SO much! Glad we got to celebrate with a sweet dance party on Saturday night....looking forward to spending many more together!

Gone Live!

Welcome to our blog! We are so excited to be on this journey of life together and hope that this serves as a place to stay updated on our lives.  There is SO much going on in both of our lives (besides planning a wedding :)) so we hope that this is useful and beneficial in staying up with both of us both before and after the big day!

Currently, on the side of planning a wedding, Erik and I are in the process of purchasing our first home! We were not too serious or set on buying a house, but thought that it would be good to get out there and look.  Our first day we ran across the most perfect, quaint little house and fell in love. We decided to put down an offer just to get our feet wet with the process, and after just one counter offer, the current owners accepted! It has been quite the process to get everything together and signed (you would never guess how many different things have to be signed!) but it looks like we will be home owners on March 25! We could not be more excited and are looking forward to spending married life together in a place we get to call OUR home!

Here are just a few photos...a little preview!

Erik finds out this week if he will be going to Peru or not, and if he does get accepted he will find out if he goes either in May or in July.  He has applied to go as a part of his graduate program to gain some more experience in the field and begin to understand his direction better.  He is fortunate to have this opportunity, although the timing has been a little tricky as the wedding is in May and we will be newlyweds in July! Not necessarily ideal, but we both have faith that this is something he needs to do and will be rewarding later.  

I will finally graduate in May and am more than ready. I feel like I have been in college for years...oh wait, I have! Its very fulfilling to be at this point and to know come May I am finally home free! The real world is still intimidating and overwhelming at times, but I am just thankful I will be done with the school, homework, and studying piece, at least for a little while. There is no clear direction to what I will be doing afterwards, but at least have the open door to stay at the Registrar's Office on campus where I have been for the last year and a half.  It's not a career I hope to have forever, but in this economy its a job, and its a job I can enjoy well enough for now!

So there you have a snap shot of where we are and what is going on as we prepare for marriage! This is such an exciting time and we are both so looking forward to being married! Thanks for joining us in all that we are doing :)