Back to normal...

Well, it's back to normal life for my family and me. Ever since the wedding, every thing's been pretty boring. We had one week left of Christmas break after the wedding before school started up again. It was tough getting back in to the swing of things. I think it just sunk in for me this past weekend.

Alex and Venera went to Disney World for their honeymoon and had a great time! They got back on the 8th. They're now living in an apartment in downtown Waukesha right on the river. It's a really nice place! I miss Alex a lot, but he's close so we get to see him pretty often. On the 11th, it was time to send Bill back to college. After having him home for a month, it was hard to send him back again. I miss my brothers very much!

After Bill lift, my dad has been stuck with 5 women in the house! I feel bad for him not having another man around, but I think he'll be OK. I watch sports with him and manly movies (my choice, I love it). It's better then watching a chick flick every night with my mom and Rianne! ;) I think he secretly likes this whole set-up. hehe

Now that everything is settled down a bit, I'm getting ready for college. It's getting a little scary but I'm really excited! I applied to Liberty about two weeks ago as a business-economics major. I'm going to do their online school for my first two years, and then go live out in Virginia for my last two years. While I'm out there, I'm going to try out for the hockey team there. I really hope I make it! God has given me a great gift as a goalie and I'm praying that this is what He wants me to do. One other thing that I'm doing is looking for a job. I worked at Willow Run Golf Club in the summer. It was a nice job with nice people, but I'm hoping to find something else so I can start before they open again. If I don't find anything, Willow Run will work.

Showing hope -
~Katie~

Where do we go from here?

This is going to be a long post, but that's because there's been a lot going on in the past couple of weeks or so. My brother, Alex, just got married to his 4 1/2 year sweetheart Venera on Saturday. What a day! Everything went so beautifully and it seems as if there wasn't one thing that went wrong. God truly blessed us on that day. The week before the wedding was filled with excitement and lots of little things to do to make sure everything would be perfect.

The first thing exciting that happened was Venera's biological brother, Mars, coming here from Belgium. Along with him came his brother Peter. These two were so much fun to be with and I'm going to miss them very much! We took Mars to a cheeseburger place call Fuddruckers and boy did he like it. We always learned something new about his life in Belgium when we were around him. Then there's Peter. Let me tell you, he is quite the dancer! He was always smiling when I saw him and he was always making a joke. I feel very blessed to have met these two guys and I hope they come and visit again soon.

On Sunday, the 21st, the whole Watkins/Hardin family went out to eat at Marty's. There, I met Alec, Venera's other biological brother. He is one of the funniest, craziest, weirdest kids I have ever met. haha He was also quite the dancer, but in a different way. ;) I had a blast dancing with him at the reception. I hope to see him again soon, seeing as how he lives really close to us.

Then of course, there was Christmas. It was hard to get into the Christmas spirit with the wedding being two days later, but I think we managed pretty well. We still did our usual stuff, which helped. On Christmas Eve, we brought Venera and Mars to church and then to my aunt's house for our usual gathering. There was a lot of people, a lot of food and a lot of fun. I'm glad that we were able to share it with Venera and Mars. Then on Christmas, we went to my moms' parent's house at night with Venera. That night is always a highlight of my Christmas.

The Friday after Christmas, it was time for the wedding rehearsal. Everything went very smoothly there and it was a really good time. After that, we went to Wells Street Tavern for dinner. The food there was excellent and everyone had a great time. Mike and Pat Wieloch did leave pretty quickly though, because they were really sick and looked like corpses. Rianne was also sick, so she stayed in the car to sleep, then came and joined us after everyone ate. I'm happy to say that those three got better on time for the wedding and they all had their color back in their faces.

Saturday was wedding day! The first thing on the agenda was hair. My mom, sisters and I went to a salon with the rest of the bridesmaids and the bride. We had it all to ourselves, so it was a really fun morning. Hectic, but fun. Then, we went to the church to get ready. One thing that I had trouble with was make-up. I never wear make-up, but I had to do it all by myself! I think I did a pretty good job though...so I was told. After everyone was dressed, there was a lot of sitting around, waiting for the big moment. I was getting so excited and nervous! It was finally time for us to walk down that isle. We all got down without a hitch. When Venera came down, she was absolutely gorgeous! Alex's face was glowing as she was walking towards him. When she got up there, everything was smooth sailing from there. It was the perfect wedding.

After it was over, we had to go through about two hours of pictures (fun and not fun at the same time). When that was done, we headed out to the hotel for the reception. So much fun! I finally got to sit at the head table, something I've wanted to do all my life. Dinner was good, then dancing. I've never had so much fun dancing before. The band was amazing and it seemed like I always had someone to dance with. I got to dance with Alex, Alec and Peter. I never got a chance to dance with Mars, which I'm pretty bummed about, but it was still a great time! I also got to see Mark, my neighbor, who I haven't seen in quite a few years. We talked for a long time, which was really nice. If I could pick one night to live over again, it would be that night.

The next day was the gift opening. After that, good-byes. I hate those. It was really sad seeing everyone leave and seeing everything come to an end. I never got to say good-bye to Mars and Peter, but that's why we have the wonderful Internet machine. After the wedding weekend, it's time to get back into the normal, daily, routine. I'm already finding it hard to do. There's nothing to do now but wait for the next adventure that God brings into my life and live the life He has given me.

Showing hope -
~Katie~

Pic 1: Venera and Alex Hardin. Pic 2: Venera, Alec, Mars. Pic 3: Me and Peter. Pic 4: Me and Mars. Pic 5: Rianne and me.

I'm MELTING! MELTING!

Well, I'm not, but our ice rink is. We've had perfect weather thus far for the ice rink. We were getting it nice and smooth and we got to use it once. Now it's 45 degrees outside and it's melting!! Even Lumpy (the snowman) has shrunk down to about half its size and is headless. Hopefully the ice won't be completely gone so that we can get it back up and running tomorrow. The temperature is supposed to get back down to 13 degrees tomorrow, so we'll have a lot of work to do to re-freeze the rink. It's not very often that I ask for colder weather, but today I pray for it to drop below 20 again!

Showing hope -
~Katie~

SKATING!

Hey everyone,

It's been a while, but there hasn't been a lot going on. We've mostly been getting ready for Alex's wedding, which is in 3 weeks. The most recent thing that we've done is make an ice rink in our backyard! It's not done yet, but it will be either tomorrow or on Tuesday. My dad used to make one every year, but we haven't for a while. The first thing that we had to do was pack down all of the snow in the area that we want the ice. After it was all packed down, my dad sprayed it. My dad and I sprayed it for a few hours last night and then this morning, my dad went out at 4:00 and was out there for 3 hours spraying it. I have such an awesome dad for doing this for us! This afternoon, there were a lot of lumpy parts and holes, so we filled that up with snow and sprayed that again. It should be pretty smooth now, and hopefully we'll be able to skate on it tomorrow. Now my family can shoot on me every day, I can work on my sweet goalie skills (I'm watching Napoleon Dynamite), and hopefully get good enough to play on Liberty's hockey team in a few years. That's my plan, unless God has something else in mind for me. I can't wait to get out on our ice!

Showing hope -
~Katie~

Snow Man

Not much to say in this blog. I just wanted to show you our snowman that my dad, Anna, Emma and I made. It snowed a few inches yesterday and it was really good packing snow. How could you waste it? So we made a snowman. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I think it's one of the best ones ever! hehe It took most of the snow out of our front yard, but it was worth it. It's little moments like these that I will remember forever. God willing, I won't be living in the same house as my parents for my whole life. You have to take those moments and cherish them forever so you have something to look back on when you're older. Live the life that God has given you to the fullest and make it a good one!

Showing hope -
~Katie~

P.S. In the picture: Anna, Lumpy, Emma

Tanning

Hello my lovely people,

I have recently had the wonderful (NOT!) experience of going tanning. First of all, let me tell you the reason for tanning, as it is something I would never do if it weren't for this. My brother Alex is getting married next month and I'm a bridesmaid. I figured it would be nice for the bride if her bridesmaids didn't have those lovely tan marks from swimsuits. So, therefore, and thus, I'm going tanning, along with my mom and sister.

We went on Wednesday for the first time and it was fine. Having never gone before, I just did 8 minutes in the bed. After that, I figured, "What the heck, I didn't get burned, let's kick it up to 10 minutes!" BAD IDEA! Having the body that I do, I don't go traipsin around in bikini's. Because of that, my stomach and lower back have never seen the sun. EVER! So yeah, I think you've figured it out by now. I got severely burned on my back and midriff (that's a fun word!) area. If it were up to me, I would be done with the whole tanning thing. But seeing as how my mom already payed for a whole months worth, I'm going to have to go back. This time, let's just go with 5 minutes!

Showing hope -
~Katie~

Waiting...

Greetings friends,

I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am to have my big brother back! He's off at college at Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA for his junior year. He's been gone since the middle of August and I'll be honest. I never thought that I'd miss him this much. I mean, come on, he's an older brother who picks on me all the time, just like any other older brother. I'll admit though, I do provoke it a lot, but I do it in love. But let me tell you something...I couldn't have asked for a better brother. He definitely has his faults like any other human being, but all and all, he's a God-fearing, loving person and that's rare to find these days in a 20 year old. God has truly blessed my family with him. He gets home on Saturday night for Thanksgiving break (Thanksgiving already?!?) and he'll be here for a week! I pray that God will bless our time with him home next week.

Showing hope -
~Katie~