Introducing Mr. and Mrs. Anthony Ruggeri!!!

My brother got married on November 7th in Fort Worth!! Nathan and I had such a blast at the wedding, spending time with family and friends. As you can probably tell from my previous posts, I have always looked up to my big brother. He has been such an incredible influence and inspiration in my life and I was so thrilled to get to be a part of such an important and monumental weekend in his life. It was an absolutely beautiful wedding and I could not be happier for my big brother and my new sister!! They truly are a perfect match! I have never seen my brother as happy as he was all weekend. I think my new favorite moment in our lives is watching Tony as Ashley emerged through the double doors at the church. His smile was so sweet and so genuine that I tear up just thinking about it! In the words of my brother, "Ashley is just a good person." I cannot think of any better way to describe her. She also has an incredible family and it was very exciting to finally join the Ruggeri and Rihani clans. We can't wait to spend much more time with her parents, sister, and brothers in the future. We all felt that the weekend went by way too fast. Luckily we'll be doing it again in 3 short months!!!

Nathan and I at the reception

My big brother and I!

Nathan's New Look

Nathan's coworkers decided to have an office competition to see who could grow the best beard. They were all supposed to grow it for 3 weeks and then determine the winners. The losers would then be required to shave all but the mustache for a week. Nathan, of course, jumped at the opportunity to avoid shaving. Unfortunately, he couldn't see the competition to its conclusion due to my brother's wedding next weekend and the scratchiness of his new facial hair. However, like all good competitors, he tipped his hat to his opponents. Due to his good sportsmanship, he is left with this...



This picture was included in the weekly newsletter that went out to his entire department. I am so proud!

Big News!!!

Nathan has started a new job! This is wonderful since he was less than happy where he was. It was definitely a wonderful time for a change! Here is Nathan's explanation of his new job:

I am working at GMAC as a loan modification specialist. I will be servicing loans that have gone into default and trying to qualify them for President Obama's Home Affordable Modification Program. This allows the homeowner to stay current on their loan and the investor will not lose the loan to foreclosure.

Anyway, I have a few more weeks of training, but so far so good! I really like everyone I am working with and I have learned more about mortgages this week than I have my whole life.

My New Obsession

Whenever I went to New Jersey to visit my family as a kid, I would inevitably end up making multiple trips to the grocery store with my grandmother. My grandma ALWAYS used coupons and would get so excited during double/triple coupon time at Safeway! Recently, Nathan and I have been trying to save money here and there because I haven't been able to work since May due to classes and student teaching. I started using coupons at grocery stores at the beginning of the summer, and we would save between $5-$10 every trip. Not too bad! Although, this summer I discovered where the major savings occur and that is at CVS!! CVS offers what are called 'Extra Care Bucks' to loyalty club members with certain purchases. These work just like cash at CVS stores and lead to some pretty incredible savings! Thanks to the help of www.survivingthestores.com I have discovered how to utilize my coupons and sales to actually MAKE MONEY on my purchases! Here are a few examples:

CVS Trip - August 18

Bought:
4 bottles of Sobe Life Water
2 BIC Roller Ball Pens
CVS Brand Aspirin (35 count)
L'Oreal Revitalift Eye Cream
L'Oreal Revitalift Mousterizing Cloths
CVS Brand tampons (10 count)

Cost Before Coupons: $34.53
Cost After Coupons: $5.83
Extra Care Bucks Earned: $11.98

What this means is that I paid $5.83 out of pocket and had $11.98 in Extra Care Bucks to spend on my next trip. Therefore, it is as though they paid me $6.15!!

CVS Trip - August 30

Bought:
Tide Stain Release Laundry Detergent
CVS Antibacterial Hand Soap
Venus Embrace Razor
Glade Reed Diffuser Air Freshener
Glade Candle
Sensodyne Toothpaste
Aquafresh Toothpaste
2 jars of Welch's Jelly

Cost Before Coupons: $43.67
Cost After Coupons: $4.34
Extra Care Bucks Earned: $18.99

It is a lot of fun to watch the total go down as they scan coupons! The other perk is that CVS gives you coupons based on how much you use your Extra Care Card. In these two transactions, I used coupons for free aspirin and hand soap that CVS had given me on previous visits. I can usually use most of what I buy, but if I really don't see myself using something I'll just donate it to the St. Vincent De Paul organization that my dad runs at our church! If you are into saving money, then I would head to the Surviving the Stores website and look at the 'Surviving CVS' link. It takes a couple trips to really get it down, but once you do, it is very much worth it!! Happy couponing!

Solidly Together!

As I mentioned previously, Nathan and I are going through the Pre-Cana process, the marriage preparation required to get married in the Catholic Church. As part of that preparation, we had to take a test called FOCCUS. It is intended to cover the major aspects of married life and deals with issues from money to children to family and friends. It was over 200 questions and took a very long time to take! However, we are happy to report that the results are finally in! According to the test, Nathan and I are "solidly together" in our relationship! Of course, we already knew we were meant to be together, but it's still nice to know that we are very much on the same page in terms of important issues we might face during our marriage! Apparently this means we'll never have an argument, EVER :)

On another note, I have officially passed my certification exams and I am now a certified teacher!! I will begin my student teaching on August 24th at a school in Plano ISD! I am so anxious and excited to be in the classroom on a daily basis!

Adventures in Bella-Sitting!!

Bella LOVES her grandparents! In fact, she goes nuts whenever she enters the Ruggeri or Nelson households. It's an absolute riot, so we decided to videotape her reaction. Enjoy!

Maui!!!

We came back from Boston late Sunday night and left for Maui around noon on Monday! It was a whirlwind, but totally worth it! My parents have a place in Maui and spend 3 months out of the year there. We tagged along for this trip and had a lot of fun spending time with them! We were lucky enough to go last year as well. Last year we did a lot of the "touristy" things, so this trip we spent a lot of time relaxing on the beach! We also went hiking, surfing, and played a lot of tennis! It was a quick trip, but tons of fun! We can't wait to go back again :)

On our 2 1/2 hour, 7 mile hike! Wasn't quite sure what I was getting myself into when I agreed to it, but we had a good time!

Nathan was a natural!

Me? Not so much!

2/12

Boston!

Nathan and I had a very busy July filled with fun travels!! For our joint birthday present, my parents gave us a trip to Boston. I graduated from Boston University in 2006 and haven't been back since. We had a great weekend! I got to show Nathan around the city and introduce him to my wonderful college friends!

Nathan by the finish line of the Boston Marathon.

By the Charles River. So beautiful!

Memorial for fallen soldiers at the Old North Church. There was a dog tag for every soldier lost in Iraq and Afghanistan. It really took your breath away.

200 Days!!!

Nathan and I are getting married 200 days from today!!!! I feel like we've been engaged forever and we still have forever left until we're married, but I can't wait!!! I am sooo ready to be Mrs. Nelson!!!

We have been very absent from the blogging world as of late. I had a hectic summer semester and I am happy to report that I have finished all of my masters coursework! I start student teaching on August 17 and will continue through Thanksgiving. Come December I will finally have my masters!!!

After finishing a crazy month of class, Nathan and I went on two wonderful trips. I promise to update with pictures and stories soon!

The Wedding Website is Up!!!

http://www.mywedding.com/natesandkatesforever/

Congratulations Mr. & Mrs. Hansen!!!!

This past weekend Nathan and I were in California for his little sister Loral's wedding! She looked absolutely stunning and the wedding was incredible! I had the chance to meet more of Nathan's wonderful family and we had so much fun all weekend long! Congrats Matt and Loral!The beautiful reception in Santa Barbara

Things We Have Learned About Bella

May 8th was the 6 month anniversary of Bella joining our little family! Here is some of what we have learned about our sweet little pup over the last 6 months!

Bella is a big fan of playing fetch at the dog park, but...

...is often distracted by stick and leaves.

She has not quite grasped the whole camera concept. She thinks it is yet another object that needs to be licked. She gets herself stuck in some pretty interesting places including underneath my hope chest and underneath her puppy stairs. She has yet to learn how to prevent this from happening.She LOVES her candy cane bone. She has been working on it since Christmas. There is only one small scrap left. I'm not quite sure what we're going to do when it's gone...She is also a big fan of puppy cupcakes from Sprinkles! She may look uncomfortable, but she's not!If you're eating, she's your new best friend!She likes to be a part of pretty much anything we're doing.

We have also discovered that Bella LOVES her grandparents! I need to get a video of her reaction upon reaching the front door of both the Ruggeri and Nelson households. She goes CRAZY!

Nathan, Bella, and I would also like to take this chance to wish our wonderful mothers a happy mother's day!! We love you both so very much!

And happy mother's day to all of the mothers out there! We hope that, at least today, you get the recognition you so very much deserve!

Long Overdue!!

In April, Nathan and I spent a fun weekend in Calgary with Peter and Anne! We wish we could have stayed longer, but we definitely took advantage of the little time we had! Peter and Anne were fabulous hosts and it was such a bummer to leave! That just means we'll have to make another trip up there (if the Mathews will have us, of course!) Here are a few pictures from our fun weekend!

The group at the top of the gondola in Banff!

It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL!

I'm a huge hockey fan and the Calgary Flames were in the playoffs. Although the games were in Chicago, the atmosphere in the city on game day was electric and so fun to be a part of! Peter and Anne took us to an INCREDIBLE sports bar in downtown Calgary called Flames Central. It is completely decked out in Calgary Flames logos, there is a huge big screen where everyone can watch the game, and everyone there was a Flames fan. Nathan and I bought Flames shirts so we could try and fit in!

Here is a video of Flames Central. Please excuse my singing. They used to play this song in between periods at Stars games growing up. They stopped playing it when the Stars moved to the American Airlines Center. Needless to say, I was VERY excited to hear it!

Thank you Peter and Anne for such a wonderful weekend and congratulations to you both on your big job news!!!!

Congrats Big Bro!!!

My big brother, Tony, popped the question last night and to the whole family's surprise, Ashley said yes!!! I could not be any happier for them! Ashley is fabulous and we're all so excited to welcome her into the family!

Hard to believe that the Ruggeri kids are both engaged! How did we get this old?!?

Not to get mushy or anything, but the fact that we're both getting married has made me seriously reminisce about when we were little. For those of you that didn't know us when we were younger, Tony was a terror and I was his (often uninvited) sidekick. Well, let me restate that; I was uninvited unless he needed someone to test out one of his McGyver-esque inventions. I will never forget the day Tony built a zipline over the pool (this, of course, was not out of the ordinary) and I was selected as the crash test dummy. Let's just say that Tony ended up rebuilding the zipline because it didn't quite hold. I, unfortunately didn't make it to the pool. From personal experience, landing on a pad from that high isn't much different than landing on cement!

Although he would never admit it at the time, he took care of me. There was the time that I got my head stuck in the front railing. I was playing hide-and-go-seek with our neighbor. Base was the front porch. I thought I could take a shortcut to base by climbing through the railing. My head was the only part that fit. Benjamin (our neighbor) had a habit of running away when I got myself in these situations because he thought he would get in trouble. I think I was stuck in the railing for a good 20 minutes before Tony got home from school. He nonchalantly walked past me into the house. I thought he would leave me there, but the second he stepped foot in the house I heard, "mom, Katie's stuck in the railing!" Tony saved me again! Also, when I fell in the pool during winter with all of my winter clothes on (and Benjamin froze and didn't know what to do) Tony was the one to yell at him to go get my parents and try to pull me out himself. Yeah, my big bro has been pretty good to me!

And, naturally, all of this happy reminiscing makes me think of the one time I thought I lost him. We were pulling Christmas decorations out of the attic. We LOVED going up in the attic, so we were pros by this point. I was having a conversation with Tony and asked him a question about one of the boxes. He didn't answer. When I turned around, Tony wasn't there. I looked down and Tony was lying in a box on the garage floor, not moving. Of course, in my little kid brain I thought he was dead. I will never forget how I felt as I ran in the house to get my mom. It is making me cry now, just thinking about it. I honestly thought my big brother was gone. Of course he wasn't. He was just unconscious. He had fallen backwards out of the attic. He hit a step on the way down and, by the grace of God, landed in a box of blankets. BLANKETS! Still, to this day, I cannot believe how much God was looking out for us that day!

So, the moral of all the blabbering is that I thank the lord everyday that I was given Tony as my big brother. I look up to him as much today as I did back then. Needless to say, I have very high standards for who should be with my brother and I never could have imagined him finding someone as perfect as Ashley! So, congrats Tony and Ashley! I love you both and I can't wait to build many more happy memories together!

Somebody went to the groomer!!!

Loving the bow so much more than the bandana they usually put on her.

Congratulations Loral and Matt!!!

Keepin' It Real

My friend Katie tagged us for a "Keepin' It Real" blog post. The point is that everyone makes their lives look perfect in the blogging world, so this is an opportunity to show how life really looks on a day to day basis. In order to participate, you take pictures of the following 10 things:

1. Fridge
2. Closet
3. Kitchen Sink
4. Toilet
5. Favorite Shoes
6. Favorite Room
7. What my kids are doing right now
8. Laundry
9. Self-Portrait
10. Dream Vacation

Now, my mother taught me to clean up for company, even if that company is visiting via the blogging world, so this may not be exact reality, but it's pretty close. Here ya go!

Fridge:

These pictures were taken right before we left to house sit for my parents while they're in Maui for 6 weeks, so there isn't much in there! Pretty much just all the basics!
(Note: Please excuse the poor picture quality. My nice camera had already been moved).



















Closet:

My closet is a nightmare! I'm pretty sure that there is no closet that can fit all of my stuff! This isn't even all of it. My summer clothes are in a separate closet during the winter and a lot of my shoes are stored in bins.




































Kitchen Sink:

Pretty boring.















Toilet:

Again, pretty boring.



















Favorite Shoes:

These are my favorites for the moment. Probably because I just bought them this weekend!



















Favorite Room:

I love the bedroom. It is so peaceful and relaxing to be in there and it's beautiful thanks to the new furniture my parents bought me for my last birthday! (Katy, they bought the bed and dresser in the Weir's clearance center for cheap!)





























What My Kids Are Doing:

No kids, but we do have a Bella. She pretty much plays and that's about it!



















Laundry:

Thankfully, I just did laundry because when it gets stacked up, it's not pretty!















Self-Portrait:

Had to get Nathan in it!















Dream Vacation:

I think it would be Fiji. I can't really think of anything more relaxing than laying on the bed in your hotel room that is suspended on stilts in the middle of the ocean! Maybe we'll make it there one day! We do have a honeymoon to plan...

Introducing Our Wedding Party!!!

Right before Christmas, Nathan and I decided (at the very last minute, which is a testament to how INCREDIBLE our wedding party is!) that since a lot of people were home for the holidays, it would be a perfect time to get our wedding party together for lunch. We went to Jake's and although not everyone could make it (some as a result of the last minute planning and some weren't in town) we had a blast! We are so blessed to have such incredible friends and family to share this amazing process with! Thank you so much to all of you that came and to every single one of you for agreeing to share this special day with us! We would also like to thank the significant others/spouses of our wedding party! You guys are all amazing and we always have so much fun hanging out with all of you! Thank you for giving up some of your time to share in this process as well! So, without further ado, here is our wedding party!

Our wonderful lunch!

Best Man - Peter and his wife, Anne
Nathan and Peter have been friends since high school.

Peter and Anne got married in May of 2007. Nathan was Peter's best man.

Maid of Honor - Margarett
Margarett and I have known each other since 6th grade. We were born in the same hospital on the same day and were often mistaken for sisters (once, even twins! Ha!)

Groomsman - Tony and his girlfriend, Ashley
Tony is my big bro!
He works for a commercial real estate company here in Dallas!

Bridesmaid - Rachel

Bridesmaid - Loral and her boyfriend (fiance?!?) Matt

Rachel and Loral are Nathan's little sisters.

They are currently attending BYU in Provo, Utah.

Groomsman - Matt
Groomsman - Steve
Matt and Steve are Nathan's older brothers.
Matt is in the Navy and lives with his wife, Adrianne, and their three kids in San Diego.
Steve is in the Army, currently stationed in Fort Campbell, Kentucky

Groomsman - Sheldan
Sheldan is Nathan's cousin.
He is in the process of moving from Bakersfield, CA to Las Vegas for work.Groomsman - Kyle and his wife, Kelli
Nathan and Kyle have known each other since they were little, but became really good friends while in college. Kyle and Kelli were married in 2005. Bridesmaid - Katie and her husband, Patrick
Katie and I have been friends since 5th grade.
Katie and Patrick were married on New Years Eve, 2006. I was a bridesmaid in their wedding.
Bridesmaid - Elizabeth
Elizabeth and I have been friends since 5th grade.
She currently teaches kindergarten in Southlake.Bridesmaid - Liz
Liz and I have been friends since kindergarten.
We were roommates and worked together at Reel FX for over a year. Flower Girl - Maddie
Flower Girl - Abbie
Ringbearer - Luke
Maddie, Abbie, and Luke are Nathan's nieces and nephew (Matt & Adrianne's children).
They live in San Diego.
Junior Bridesmaid - Samantha
Junior Bridesmaid - Caroline
Samantha and Caroline are my cousins.
They live in Plano with my Uncle Frankie and Aunt Jami.

(Pictures coming soon!)