The Huskers Can

Again inspired by Pintrest, I decided to reuse our cans for a Big Red purpose. With Brian's birthday coming up, it seemed like another good opportunity.

So basically, I used a hammer and nails to punch holes in cleaned soup and Spaghetti O cans. I made them spell out the Huskers. Then I painted them red, wrote Huskers in white (which coincided with the holes I made), and then tried to super glue them together.

Easy instructions... painfully long time for execution.

And for those of you who don't care about this craft... perhaps you'll enjoy hearing about this:

9/3: Nebraska 40 vs. Chattanooga 7
9/10: Nebraska 42 vs. Fresno State 20
9/17: Nebraska 51 vs. Washington 38
9/24:Nebraska 38 vs. Wyoming 14

Shine Huskers shine!

Brian Turns 30

Yesterday Brian turned 30. The big 3-0. If there is any fear, nervousness, or overall emotion distress or excitement, you'd never know. And the same can be said with his interest in doing/planning anything for his birthday. I think I probably asked him what he wanted to do for his birthday easily ten to twenty times. Each time it was "maybe this...", "eh... what do you think", "I don't really care", "I dunno... just pick something".

So, I picked something- a surprise birthday party with some of Brian's friends from work and friends from SMU. Charlie Bogan was a huge help in calling all the SMU troops and convincing Brian to "go play golf" with him on Saturday. I contacted the few people I knew from Brian's work, called the restaurant and made a chocolate Reeces Peanut Butter Nebraska Cornhusker cake.

Brian had no clue. However, he will claim on the day of he had a few things that sent up little red flags, but not much.

Anyway, it was a (hopefully) good surprise and I enjoyed doing something special for his 30th (I think this was his first surprise party). Thanks everyone who showed up and celebrated with us. And thank you Charlie Bogan for your help in getting Brian to "play golf".

Mother's Legacy

While she probably looks a lot like Brian.... this she gets from her Mom!

Barton-Neely Wedding Fun Facts

After years and years of planning on Elizabeth's end, and I do mean years, her wedding day arrived.

And while I'm not going to give a play-by-play of the event, I will divulge some Barton-Neely Wedding Fun facts.

Not all the pictures will be placed with a fun fact, but most pictures will be placed in order of the event.

#1 Britt's dad, Jim, wore shoes. And I have it on good authority from his family that it is extremely rare for him to not to wear boots. He even wore boots to his own wedding.

#2 Ben, my brother and an usher, wore boots instead.

#3 The wedding colors were red and orange. Most everyone was in red, with the exception of the maid of honor (Suzi, our sister), the best man (Jay, Britt's brother), and 2 ushers with orange ties.

#4 All the bridesmaids grew up in Kansas, but live and traveled from different states (Nebraska, Texas, Oklahoma, and Minnesota).

#5 The wedding date was 9/10/11. Easy to remember, no?

#6 Neither the bride nor the groom cried during the ceremony (or ran out)... both good signs.

#7 Elizabeth's retired band teacher (Mr. George Naylor) and Ashley's current band teacher (Ms. Cathy Ferroc) both played instruments at the wedding (trumpet and cello respectively).

#8 The ring bearer met and fell in love with the flower girl in a span of 2 days.

#9 For the wedding pictures, the groomsmen tried to put Britt in the trash and the bridesmaids tried to help Elizabeth escape via Suzi's car

#10 Liz wore a K-State garter

#11 One of Britt's grandmas and our only surviving grandma both made an appearance.

#12 During the Dad-Daughter dance, our father rocked it to the BeeGees

#13 Brief episode of 'planking' took place

#14 When the DJ announced the Bridal party at the reception, they did so in the wrong order

#15 The Best Woman (Suzi) carried the Best Man (Jay) into the reception hall

#16 Elizabeth covered the right side of Britt's face with icing, while she only got a dab of icing on her cheek

#17 Most I remember about the best man's speech was something about hang in there and there's a 50/50 chance of divorce

#18 Aunt Alice caught the Bridal bouquet and a kid caught the garter (the single adult males mostly kept their hands in their pockets)

#19 Bets won the dollar dance challenge, but stole from the bar tip jar in order to do so.

#20 And everyone knows that something ALWAYS goes wrong at a wedding. What happened at this one? A few little things- Jay stepped on Elizabeth's dress and tore the bussle; BBQ sauce spilled all over the kitchen floor; and lastly the previously mentioned blip from the DJ.

*Please feel free to share your memories or fun facts as a comment below*

Rain & Redecoration

After the Rehearsal we were treated to a sudden downpour of rain! It was so beautiful and refreshing! I've been longing for rain, specifically because Texas has been denied decent moisture for months.

And with the church hall's big beautiful windows you could really soak up the atmosphere from the comfort of a shelter... and pizza and more (provided by the Neely family).

After eating, we rolled up our sleeves and transformed the weekday school cafeteria into a butterfly house.

Making these butterflies was difficult, but after making perhaps 20 of them I'm planning on putting on my resume, under specialties "hanging and threading butterflies". Not sure how that will look on a resume, but we agreed that the skill deserves recognition.

And while it wasn't easy... it was probably the most elegantly decorated wedding reception I have been too. *Side Note: The pictures below are not the final product. More was done the following day prior to the wedding.*

So kudos to my sister for thinking of the idea, and for telling us to "suck it up and get back to work". Just kidding she never said that... she might have wanted too, but she's too nice to actually do it. Love you Elizabeth!