Very Thankful: NC & VA Road Trip

Greetings! I can't believe that the Christmas season is already upon us! Here is a quick overview of what we have been up to since our last post!

November 6-7
-Trip to Vedauwoo, WY with some high schoolers and middle schoolers from our youth group! We were able to enjoy God's beautiful creation by exploring some boulder formations! It was awesome!



Do you see the whale?

November 13th-14th

One of my best friends, Dani, flew in from California for the Husker game! Although she is a USC fan at heart, I believe that the Huskers are a very close second!! :)


November 19th

Nathan and I left Grand Island, NE bright and early to begin the longest road trip we had ever attempted during our 1 1/2 years of marriage.... :) We made it all the way to Clarksville, TN in time to grab a hotel room so we could watch the Husker game! We got on our way the next morning and made it to Nathan's aunt and uncle's house in Huntersville, NC by 3:30PM! We were able to spend Sunday night, Monday and Tuesday afternoon with Brian, Jen, Dylan & Brooke! On Monday, Nathan and I went to the NASCAR Hall of Fame with Jen in Charlotte, NC! It was pretty cool!





Nathan's UNL internship was where the foam SAFER barriers for all NASCAR tracks originated! He was very excited to see the display!



After spending a few days with the Carey family, we drove just about 3 hours to Holden and Rachel's house in Radford, VA which is near Roanoke, VA! We spent Tuesday night, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday morning with them! We had not yet met little Cliff Hudson so it was so wonderful to finally hold and kiss him! Riah is now 2 years old, so he was talking a mile a minute! Dad and Mom drove in from Nebraska on Wednesday night and Eric and Carley came on Thursday afternoon! We enjoyed our first Thanksgiving ever OUTSIDE! Thanksgiving afternoon was sunny and gorgeous!









We had a VERY good time just hanging out as a family and look forward to Holden, Rachel, Riah & Cliff as well as Eric & Carley travelling home for Christmas in a few weeks! Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Tons of Love

Nathan and I recently got together with some friends for a pumpkin carving contest!!!!! :) Here is the pumpkin that we carved....





We ended up winning BEST TITLE :) It was so much fun! Nathan and I are truly blessed to have an awesome church family here in Kearney. We are able to meet with 4 other couples almost every Thursday night for a meal and fellowship and it is so encouraging!

Nathan got a wall-hanger this past weekend! He is VERY excited about it.....


I am so proud of him and looking forward to the jerky and deer meat :) We are heading to Lincoln for the HUSKER game this weekend!!!! In just a few weeks we will be starting our ROADTRIP to North Carolina and Virginia for Thanksgiving!!!!!!!!!!! I can't wait....

There's an antelope head in our deep freeze...

Big news this month??? Nathan shot his first ANTELOPE! Hence the title for this blog....Nathan was able to go hunting with a high school classmate and good friend in the western part of Nebraska last weekend! They had an awesome, manly weekend of stalking out antelope! So, I came home to my hubby cutting up the meat in our kitchen on Sunday night and it don't go over very well. (I don't do well with raw meat). So then, what does Nathan ask me? "Do you want to see the head?" I gave him a quizzical look. He walked over to our deep freeze and motioned for me to come look inside. Sure enough. The entire antelope HEAD was wrapped in two garbage bags. If you're wondering, I didn't look at it very long and haven't looked in our deep freeze again. It won't be there long. Nathan will take it home this weekend and prepare it for a skull mount (that will NOT hang on our living room wall). I have to say though, I am really proud of Nathan and I am not against eating the yummy jerky and steaks :) He is such a good hunter and I love that he gets to do something he enjoys and provide for us!





September was a fun and busy month for us! Labor Day weekend I was able to drive down to Kansas City with my best friend Chelsea and pick up my best friend Dani at the airport on the way. She flew in from California and it was so great to see her! Chelsea and I visited Dani in CA in March so it was so great to have a fun girls weekend getaway! We hung out and did some fun shopping! Since Dani and I had lived with a family during our discipleship school in KC in 2007, we were able to meet up with our host family and catch up! I got lucky because the first host family I lived with was also in KC for the holiday weekend so I got to see them as well :)





I got to use my pink PSE bow at the Annual Bow Shoot this year! Nathan and I even wore our matching camo shirts....





Maybe I will get something with my bow.....after lots of practice!




Nathan & I really enjoy working with our youth group each week! They are an awesome group of teens and we pray that God uses us in a mighty way to help them grow spiritually!



We are counting down the days until our Thanksgiving roadtrip out to North Carolina and Viriginia! We are leaving the weekend before Thanksgiving to visit Nathan's aunt and uncle in North Carolina for a few days before going to Holden & Rachel's for most of Thanksgiving week! It will be the first time we meet little Cliff Hudson so we are VERY excited! It's HUSKER season so we are also looking forward to traveling to Lincoln for a football game at the end of October!

Two years ago...

Labor Day two years ago, Nathan picked me up at the Omaha, NE airport from a trip to see my friend Dani in California. On the way back to Lincoln, he suggested we take a walk through Mahoney State Park. I was all for it because we had driven by the park many times but never stopped. So we drove in and walked down on this deck by the water. It was about 9:30PM and the moonlight was reflecting off the water. :) We were talking about our weekend away from each other and then all of the sudden, Nathan takes both of my hands in his hands and starts saying my whole name, "Amanda Marie Patten..." As he is saying my name, he starts getting down on one knee and grabbing for something in his pocket. He proceeded to say something about how much he loved me and wanted to spend of the rest of his life with me (I would love to recall the direct quote but I was a bit overwhelmed at the time) and then asked me if I would marry him and become his wife!!!!!! Of course, I started squealing and smiling and jumped into his arms. He then showed me the beautiful ring he had chosen for me and I was floored! It was so beautiful and I was so excited to be marrying a man of God who loved & respected me!

Yes, two years ago on Labor Day, Nathan asked me to be his wife. I am so blessed to be married to such an amazing, humble, Godly man. I can't believe that we have already been married for over a year! It goes by so fast!

August has been a fun month! As you know from our previous post, we added a nephew to our family! Cliff Hudson Barry was born early on August 13th!



Riah is a very proud big brother and turned 2 a day before Cliff was born! Cliff was also born on Holden's birthday!



We attended our first Fries Family Reunion as a married couple so that was fun! It is a every 3-5 year reunion so alot of family travels to Nebraska for the weekend! Most of the guys went golfing while the girls hung out and went to the pool! It's nice because my best friend since sophomore year in high school Chelsea also happens to be Nathan's first cousin....so I got to hang out with Nathan's family and my best friend :)

Nathan & I really enjoying helping with our church's youth group each Wednesday night! To kick off the school year, we had a MINUTE TO WIN IT game night! Here is a picture of the kids trying to get Oreo cookies from their forehead to their mouth using only their facial muscles....no hands.



We are currently studying the book of Revelation with them and they are really stepping up and digging into the Word! We really need to be praying for all teenagers....they are facing so much every day in their schools. Many teens, even if they attend a youth group, may not have parents who challenge them spiritually. That is hard for me to believe since I had such encouraging parents...

Labor Day weekend, I was able to travel to Kansas City with Chelsea and pick up Dani from California on the airport on the way! We had an awesome girls weekend hanging out, shopping, and laying out by the pool! Nathan was able to go to the first Husker game in Lincoln with his best friend Zane. He also did some four-wheeling with his family in Halsey, NE.

I LOVE the changing of seasons! The days are getting cooler and I am so ready to pull my UGG boots out of the closet! :) Hope everyone is enjoying the change of season as well!

Weekend Update!

Nathan & I got to go tubing with friends this weekend! It was a blast! It's nice to be able to relax with friends and enjoy the sunny days before they are long gone. My mom & dad are still in VA enjoying their last few days with Holden, Rachel, Riah & Cliff before returning to NE! Nathan has been hard at work fixing up his 1999 Toyota Tacoma which he hopes to sell soon. I just finished up doing some coupon-ing online and we are now headed to Walmart for groceries! Next Monday I am hosting a Thirty-One purse party! Check out their online catalog and if you would like to order something, let me know!

NEW NEPHEW

Cliff Hudson Barry

August 13, 2010

4 pounds 15 ounces

18 inches long

Nathan & I have a new nephew! Rachel was induced on Thursday, August 12th and early Friday morning after her water broke, little Cliff's heart rate dropped. As they were prepping for an emergency c-section, Rachel was losing a lot of blood. After getting Cliff out safely, it took two hours for Rachel's doctor to get her torn uterus stitched up. She lots two units of blood and had to receive a blood transfusion the next day. Despite all the complications that led to Cliff early arrival, he was perfectly fine....just small! His lungs are great and besides the possibility of jaundice, he should go home with Rachel on Tuesday, August 17th! My mom and dad are both in Virginia for the next couple weeks! Unfortunately, Nathan & I will not get to meet him in person until we travel out for Thanksgiving! But hopefully we will Skype with him before then :) Azariah is a proud big brother......can you tell?

Patten Family minus Nathan & I

This and That

Wow! Nathan & I have had quite a summer....check it out!

4th OF JULY WEEKEND

After our Estes Park Adventure at the end of June, we headed home for the 4th of July! Since my parents met up with Eric & Carley in St. Louis, Nathan and I spent time with his family. His brother Jeremy came home from Lincoln for the weekend and brought his boat. So we headed out to the lake with Jeremy, Nathan's parents Bill & Shelly, and Nathan's older brother Scott & his family! We spent the day tubing, water skiing, and wakeboarding! After grilling some burgers, we took the boat out on the water for fireworks. The local fire department put on a great show!

Amanda & Fletcher (1 1/2)

Nathan & Barrett (3)

JULY10th WEEKEND

We traveled to Lansing, Michigan for Nathan's Uncle Doug's wedding to a wonderful woman named Kara! They had an awesome wedding in a chapel on Michigan State campus. After the ceremony, the reception was held AT the Michigan State Stadium! It was awesome! Doug even surprised Kara (HUGE Michigan State fan & alumni) by inviting Sparty the Spartan to the party (Michigan State's mascot)! All of Nathan's aunts from Nebraska drove up for the wedding as well as his aunt from North Carolina so all the immediate cousins were together for the event!

The Bride with Sparty the Spartan

Aunt Jen (from NC), Kara, & most of Girl Cousins

JULY OREGON TRAIL DAYS: Scottsbluff, NE

Nathan & I travelled to Gering, NE (about 4 hours from Kearney) to visit our good friends Levi & Ashlee! Levi is one of Nathan's best friends who stood as one of his best men in our wedding. Two months after we got married, Nathan was able to stand up as one of Levi's best men when he and Ashlee got married in August 2009! Levi and Ashlee recently had an adorable baby girl name Jovee (honeymoon baby)! By the end of the weekend I am afraid to say that I had caught a bad case of baby fever...

How can you say no to that adorable little angel?

WEEKEND of JULY 24th

Since most of the Nathan's family & friends in Nebraska did not get the attend Uncle Doug's wedding in Michigan, we had a Nebraska reception in St. Paul, NE! It was so much fun! We did alot of polka-dancing!

LAST WEEKEND of JULY

Nathan & I have the privilege to help with our church's high school youth group on Wednesday nights! This last weekend we were able to meet up with all of the other youth group leaders for food & fellowship. On Saturday morning we had a planning/brainstorming meeting about the upcoming school year and how we can be the most relevant to our teens! Our mission statement is:

Helping students and their families MEET, LOVE, & FOLLOW Jesus

We are really excited about the upcoming school year and the opportunity the Lord has given us to speak TRUTH into the lives of the next generation!

WHAT'S NEXT???

This next weekend (August 6-8) we have TWO family reunions. Thankfully one is in Boelus, NE and the other is in Cairo, NE (about 10 miles away from Boelus). So we will flip flop back and forth and be able to see both sides of the family! Hope all of you are enjoying your summer :)

Estes Park Adventure

Nathan and I recently spent a weekend getaway in Estes Park, Colorado to celebrate our 1st year of marriage :) YAY! We made it! It was such a fun weekend! We stayed at a Bed & Breakfast called Dripping Springs when was perfect: we had two awesome homemade breakfasts, a sleep by number bed, and a HOT TUB (boy was that awesome after our 5 hour hike on Saturday)! We had never been to Estes before so it was fun to explore. We had Italian one night (Nathan's pick) and sushi the other (Amanda's pick)! We saw lots of wildlife......

This little guy was my favorite...just eatin his pine cone like a little corn cob! 

Nathan was very excited to see some very large Elk on the side of the road! 

This is a marmot and this picture was taken right before I (Amanda) ran away because it was definitely ready to attack (Nathan on the other hand was seeing how close he could get to the thing with the video camera) 

We had so much fun hiking and just walking around the different shops in Estes Park! If you would like to see all of our pictures from our weekend check out our Picasa Picture sight by clicking HERE! Hope everyone has an awesome, safe 4th of July weekend! We will be spending time with Nathan's family as my parents are spending the weekend with Eric and his fiance in St. Louis!

Watch for a post about our Estes Park Adventure...

Hello! Just wanted to let you know that I am working on a post about our recent anniversary trip to Estes Park, Colorado this weekend! It was so much fun!!! Post and pics should be up by the end of the week!

Nathan & Amanda Fries

Summer here we come...

Nathan....

• is really enjoying his job designing conveying systems! He has about a 40 minute drive to and from work each day but enjoys it!
• was able to spend a "man" weekend with his uncles & cousins over Memorial Day weekend fishing, turkey hunting, and golfing
• plays softball for our church’s men’s softball team on Tuesday nights this summer
• subs for the Dannebrog men’s town team softball with his dad, brother, cousins, and uncles (pretty much half the team has the last name Fries)

Amanda....

• is LOVING her job at Collage Center (this is the new name for the pregnancy center she is working for)
• ran the Lincoln, NE Half Marathon at the end of April in 2 hrs 30 minutes!!!

• just got back from a week at Royal Family Kids Camp last week! Her heart was touched to see the God move in the hearts of Nebraska foster children
• is trying to line up her final two college classes so that she can officially get her diploma
• flew out to California with bestie Chelsea to see bestie Dani 

Nathan & Amanda....

• took our nephews to see How to Train Your Dragon
• finally feel settled into our two bedroom apartment as we recently scored a couch & love seat combo for $100 :)
• are having interesting conversations about whether our next laptop should be APPLE (Amanda) or DELL (Nathan)
• LOVE THEIR NEW 2010 TOYOTA CAMRY!!!!!
• Sub for a coed softball team on Thursday nights every couple of weeks
• Enjoy pasta and fellowship with other couples from our church on Thursday nights for life group
• Both lead life groups for the high school guys & gals for the youth group at our church

We are really enjoying summer! We have some great travel opportunities coming up soon:

• June 25-27: Driving to a Bed & Breakfast in Estes Park, CO for our 1 YEAR!
• July 4th Weekend: Possbily heading down to Wichita, KS to visit family!
• July 10th Weekend: Heading to Michigan for Nathan’s Uncle Doug’s wedding!
• Another weekend in July: Driving up to Scottsbluff, NE to visit Levi (Nathan’s best man) and his wife as they recently had a beautiful baby girl named Jovee!
• July 30th Weekend: Youth Group Leadership weekend Retreat

We have a very busy summer coming up but we are so excited to see how God will continue to grow us closer together as we reach one year of marriage already! What a great year it has been! We are blessed to have our dream jobs at such a young age! I will try to stay more on top of our blog and update about our travels throughout this summer ☺

Here are some pictures from a wedding we recently went to at the end of May:

It was a beautiful outdoor wedding that happened to fall on the first day of 100% humidity in Nebraska...

This happened after I said, "Babe, let's take a picture..."

"Okay, a nice one this time...." haha

Finally!!!!

firsts and lasts

This was a week of firsts and lasts. Thursday was my first official day working at the Life Choices Pregnancy Center, my first visit to Kearney's airport (which consists of one biulding), and my first dinner meeting with the staff at Life Choices! Friday was my last day at Cabelas and Saturday I tweeted for the first time on Twitter! After my social media meeting on Friday, "Twitter Guru" was added to my job description....which means I'm on TWITTER now (@AmandaMFries)! Please let me know if you are a "tweeter" so that we can get connected! I have been a facebooker for years so I am enjoying learning the lingo and layout of Twitter!

Nathan and I had a blast hanging out with friends in Sidney, NE! It was quite relaxing which was something we needed after a busy couple of weeks! Monday and Tuesday of this week I will be at the Center and then Wednesday I head back to the GI area to hang out with some of my girlfriends. Thursday morning my best friend Chelsea and I....



....are flying to California to visit my best friend Dani...



...I have been to California to see Dani several times since we met back in 2006 but Chelsea has never been to California AND Chelsea and I have never gone a big trip together. SO, needless to say we are super psyched to see Dani, California, and WARM WEATHER! We will be there Thursday March, 11 through Tuesday, March 16th! I had already planned this trip prior to getting my job offer so I will start consistently working at the Center after I return from CA on March 17th!

Getting Settled in Kearney, NE......

Hello! It has been awhile since our last post and for that I apologize! Nathan and I are getting settled into our apartment in Kearney!

Nathan loves his new job. He is a design engineer for Orthman Manufactoring on their conveying systems. He drives about 40 minutes to work each morning but he really enjoys it. There are a few guys from the company who also live in Kearney so they sometimes ride to work together.

I (Amanda) have been working at the Cabelas Call Center since September 2007 and was able to transfer to the center located in Kearney when we moved. I believe I shared with you about my internship at the Lincoln Crisis Pregnancy Center last semester and how much I loved it. Well, after my internship was finished, the Lincoln Center was prepared to offer me a position if we did not move. Well, after Nathan got his job, it was clear that we were going to be moving form Lincoln. It was hard for me to leave the Lincoln Center as the staff there had been so encouraging and I really felt like the Lord was building a passion in my heart for crisis pregnancy ministry. Even though I was sad to leave Lincoln, I was so excited that we were headed to Kearney because my director in Lincoln had given me the contact information for a Christ centered pregnancy center in Kearney called Life Choices. A few weeks after we moved, I contacted Life Choices about becoming a volunteer. A week after the phone call, I arrived at the center to get a tour and afterward found myself sharing my heart with the director and other staff member. The following week I spent a few days volunteering at the office and found myself conversing with the director about the need for a new staff member. She then asked me how I would feel about meeting with the board about the possibility of filling that position.

I was in shock. Our Lord is so good! Nathan came with me to meet the board and after sharing my heart with them, they offered me a position on the leadership staff! I joyfully accepted and start in mid-March! My official title is Client Relations & Abstinence Education Coordinator. I will seated at the front desk of the office and will be answering the hotline calls, scheduling appointments, and greeting anyone who comes through our doors! The second portion of my position will be coordinating the abstinence education presentations that are made by volunteers in the Kearney area public schools. It is a very unique presentation that allows teens to understand that they do have the potential to have a wonderful marriage someday and that the decisions they choose to make now will have a direct affecton their future goals.

This is a job that I have dreamed about for a long time and the Lord is so good to provide! I will be finishing my final two weeks at Cabelas and then transitioning to my new job at Life Choices Pregnancy Center in March!

Nathan and I have found a great church here in Kearney called Cornerstone Berean. We have joined a Life Group of other young married couples and enjoy meeting every Thursday night for food and fellowship. We are also helping out with the high school youth group and are looking forward to building relationships and making an impact on the kids there.

Another new development is that Nathan bought me a bow for Valentines Day! It is a PSE Pink Chaos and it is awesome! He is almost more excited than I am for me to start target shooting with him. I also plan on trying for a turkey this spring! We hope that you are all having a wonderful weekend!

Nathan & Amanda Fries