we planted a tree!!
and when i say 'we', mostly i mean nick.

i was there for moral support, an occasional idea about soil placement and some border-rock-finding but mostly it was his labor. :-)

it was just before dark so it's kind of hard to actually see the tree besides it's blending-in with the other trees... but trust me, it's there. and it's cute.

how did this tree come to be? you may wonder.
well, funny you should ask, i was about to tell you!
a couple saturdays ago we had a yard sale and a neighbor came by that i'd never met before... he was super friendly and chatty about his kids going off to camp, etc. and we had a lovely little time. he bought some yard sale goods then was on his way.
then he came back later in the day with this baby tree and asked if we wanted it!
it's a dawn redwood and has many fascinating facts that go along with it.

mostly i love that...
a.) we now know our neighbor
b.) we did something nice for our environment
c.) depending on how long we stay in this house, nick and i may watch our little redwood grow up right along with our love and life and marriage to each other.

call me sappy, it's okay.

nick and i have officially been married one whole month today!
and we still like each other, wouldn't you know.
we celebrated by going to our favorite used bookstore where we gave the guy all the leftover books from our yard sale and he let us have 8 or 9 other ones we picked out from his store!
what a fella.
and speaking of fellas, look at that nicholas! isn't he just the best fella ever?
i'm a very lucky girl.

la familia corley

after the rehearsal, the whole fam went out to the grassy area behind the church and had a little photoshoot with alec vanderboom! i love the shots he captured of my family. i wanted to have pictures of each family unit. it was a little sweltering, but we all look cool as cucumbers, eh?

my grandparents, bill & rene, came from north carolina - only the 2nd time grandmommy's taken a plane in her life!

my parents, doug & melody, came to branson 3 weeks before the wedding to help with anything and everything. boy, did i put them to work!! my mom hemmed tablecloths, shopped for wedding supplies with me, made a quilt for nick & i's wedding present, baked 40 loaves of bread for the reception, assembled favors & programs - she was on fire! my dad whipped our massive yard into shape, replaced the melted siding on our house (speaking of fire, remember the house fire from a few years ago?), helped nick build a bed, he was a workhorse. i've told them both time and time again, i don't think we would have gotten it all done before the wedding if it weren't for their help! such sweet parents.
not only did we work them to death, but we also got to enjoy some really good relational interaction. we played games, had good talks, nick & dad went fishing one time... it was a great time of bonding with my folks. it seems the older i get, the more i appreciate, love & respect their unique qualities.

my dear auntie robin took a long bus from georgia a few days before the wedding and she jumped right in with the jobs mom was ticking off her to-do list, acting as mom's right hand woman. she was so much help!!

my oldest brother, dan, his wife, cari, and their four kids, peter, kira, krista & ryan came from colorado. as was the case with most of the family, i just didn't get to see enough of them!!




it was krista's birthday on my wedding day, so i had the baker add a discreet 'happy birthday, krista' on the back of our cake, just so she wouldn't feel totally sad to be at someone else's party on her birthday.

all the nieces and nephews helped pass out birdseed right before nick & i left the reception - this picture is so precious - ryan looks like he's taking his responsibility very seriously.

dan was the master of ceremonies at the reception and he did such an amazing job!! he was punctual - kept us right on schedule -, hilarious!! cracking jokes left & right, and very entertaining.

my brother, andy, his wife, kristi, and their kids, alexandria, drew & kaitlyn came from florida, all packed into a 4 passenger car! now THAT's love! andy said kristi rode in the back middle, between two kids the whole way.

kaitlyn looks like she's up to something...


my brother, ben, and his daughter, mia, (the princess) drove from colorado. that mia is becoming more and more a cutey the older she gets.

and she knows it, too :-)
my younger brother, zac, his wife, alyssa, and their two kids, brayden & trinity drove from georgia. their kids are at the age when every time you see them, they've grown and developed and have learned new words and can do new things...

like flying for one! there's others.

it's hard to say who's most adorable in a family with ten nieces and nephews, but trinity's giving them all a run for her money, by golly!

and then... all 23 of us, together at the same time!

this wedding was a time when i felt more loved and supported than i ever have in all my life. our friends & family drove miles and miles and made time in their busy lives to come and show their solidarity. there is something so special and sacred about that. it's hard to articulate the way that made me feel without sounding trite and cliche.
i know there are perfectly valid reasons why eloping is suggested to young couples so often (we heard it a time or two).
but the kind of tangible emotions i felt during those 2 days of being surrounded by my closest friends & family is utterly priceless. i wish i could bottle the whole weekend up, emotions and all and keep them on a shelf. maybe i'd pull them out from time to time to remind me.
i suppose that's what a photo album is for :-)

just a heads up - i'm going to be making batesklog a private blog.
i've toyed with the idea from time to time. then i just recently heard from another blogger how prevalant it really is for people to plagiarize/copy kid pictures/etc.
i don't want that to happen here.
i know it's a pain for people to have to sign in to view the blog, but hopefully if you're a devoted batesklogger, than it won't be too much of a hassle :-)
if you can't access the blog and want to, send your e-mail address to katefried8@gmail.com.

and now, the weekly updates!

*some of you may remember that we were applying for a home equity loan... we were denied, rejected, shot down! but we're talking to this other guy who might be able to help us. keep keeping your fingers crossed! our favorite idea for the money if we were to get it, is to convert the carport into a master bedroom. it would drastically increase the value of the house (for several long reasons) and it'd give us a normal sized bedroom. every room in our house is slightly odd-shaped.

*nick and i are still cleaning in the early mornings and not loving it as much, but still loving each other! we've come to deeply appreciate the best quality about marriage - no matter what you're doing, it's so much easier when you're doing it together.

*we're still not pregnant that we know of, but we're getting more and more okay with the idea of not waiting a year or two. maybe sooner would be better? we both love kids.
the other day i was watching nick with a little 5-yr-old girl we were hanging out with. nick had this great idea to go around the yard with her and collect leaf samples from each tree then identify them on the internet. it was very precious. it made me realize that kids can sometimes be a whole lot of work, but for the most part they bring out more of who you really are. i see so much of nick that's adorable and loving and playful and giving when he's interacting with kids.
i think my favorite idea of the future includes having babies with this sweet man i married.

*and speaking of this sweet man, he's also a very hardworking one. not only does he hold down a full-time job and a part-time job, he also finds time to keep the lawn mowed

(not a simple task when it's with a pushmower that has a broken self-propelled motor in it... and when the yard is HUGE!),

commandeer the recycling,

and hang clothesline for me.
what a catch.

*my project of the year will be writing thank you's for all the wonderful gifts, money & actions of helpfulness that came from this wedding we had! i've written about 15 and have about 100 to go!
it should only take another 8 months at this rate...

*and speaking of months, tomorrow we'll have been married one whole month!!!
wow. it's at milestones like this that i feel very young and naive. but excited for the future!

soon to come... family pictures! and there were some great ones, by golly!

the big day

so back to the wedding part of the story! if you're a zealous picture-looker and want to take in all 400 some-odd wedding pictures, feel free to head over to
http://picasaweb.google.com/katecorley where the entire wedding album can be found.
otherwise, here are my favorites (just a few mind you).

our photographer, alec vanderboom, did an amazing job! i LOVE the way our pictures turned out! he successfully made us seem about 200% cooler than we actually were! that's the mark of some good photography.


the flowers included white roses - that's what nick brought me on our date when he proposed to me - and sweet peas - one of his cute names for me, along with love poodle and sweet pants. unfortunately, i couldn't figure those into the bouquet.

to affirm nick's inner hippy, he and his groomsmen wore rope sandals. he said it was an even trade-off for wearing stuffy tuxes.

drea smith was part of the 'make-kate-look-beautiful' team along with alec. she did a fantastic job. i've never been so beautiful in all my day!




each of the family units from nick & i's families lit candles before the ceremony started. i loved being surrounded by light that represented all 36 members of our immediate family as we participated in the ceremony that joined us to each other's families.



my sweet dad kept control of his emotions the entire walk down the aisle, a significant feat for him, i'll have you know! i'm so blessed to have such a tender-hearted dad. it's from growing up with his sensitive spirit that led me to recognize how priceless it is in men and come to love it even more in nick. he and dad are cut from the same cloth.



after taking communion, nick and i then served it to the congregation as well. communion was an important part of our ceremony just to serve as a reminder of our deep need for the lord to be the center of our lives. nick and i especially wanted to remember that as we start out our life together.




the sunset off the back deck of the reception restaurant was startlingly gorgeous! who'd've known?!

we traveled en masse down to the parking garage - most popular bridal party photo spot in branson, y'know.









our reception was so beautiful!!!
it was the most magical, fun, happy party i've ever been to. all the people that pitched in to make it happen made it even more of an amazing thing. each of the tables were decorated by different ladies from our church, so they were each unique and lovely, and i wish i'd had more time to go around to look at each of them. our adopted parents, rod & donna hanley were the grand coordinators of all the festivities. they worked so hard for so many hours to make it all happen. zach & ann-victoria kuenzle coordinated the wedding ceremony and the food.
you know that old saying, 'well, i guess you know who your friends are', usually talking about when they desert you after a calamity or something... well, we sure know who our friends are after this wedding -- and they are plenteous, loving, abundant, serving, and just all-around great people!!


then all those amazing people proceeded to pelt us none too gently with birdseed. we didn't run out of there for the dramatic effect, we were fleeing for our safety.

one of my favorite memories of the day happened right after we changed into our going-away clothes. nick & i came back into the restaurant after changing and were going to run down the back deck to the parking lot. in the restaurant, there are huge plate-glass windows overlooking the deck and everyone was lined up out there looking in at us, waiting for us to come out. i just stood there for a second in the total silence of the empty room, looking at all the people through the windows, waiting with smiles on their faces, noiselessly laughing to each other, talking and gesturing for us to hurry up... it was an oddly surreal moment. i wished i'd had a camera to just snap some shots of them all looking at us.
everyone important in our lives gathered in one place, loving us all at the same time, i don't think it gets any better than that.