7 Quick Takes Friday - Volume 7

--- 1 ---

I have some fun posts that need to be posted regarding recent family activities (camping, the fair, etc) but have discovered that they photos are on my mom's camera! Hopefully I can grab them tonight and then post some family updates this weekend.

--- 2 ---

Nate is not a happy camper right now. Last night he mentioned that his elbow was hurting but all I could see was a slight red spot. We figured he must have banged into something that left a little bruise but wasn't so hard that it was memorable. We were wrong. This morning he woke up with what looked like half a baseball puffing out of his elbow! Combined with a bright red inflamed splotch and extreme tenderness/pain to touch and we realized we had something bigger on our hands so off to Urgent Care he went. A few hours later it was discovered that his elbow has been affected by bursitis. The excess fluid was drained and he's been told to take is easy physically (including no beer due to medication!), but he's still hurting. I think what makes this extra difficult is that he was told to stay home from work today but work is at such a point that not working isn't possible. So he was trying to answer phone calls and emails from home amid the chaos of Abby and Haylee (my niece) playing together while my Mom and I chatted.

--- 3 ---

My Mom and Niece stopped by randomly today as Mom discovered a snake in their house! Since my Mom is highly afraid of snakes she wasn't getting near the house until she'd gotten the all clear sign that the snake was removed. I don't know which upset her more: 1) having a snake in the house or 2) repeatedly explaining that she doesn't care how big or little the snake was since that was the first question out of everyone's mouth when their heard what was going on. :-) Thankfully the snake found his way out of the house so that Mom could go home to get ready for my Uncle Bobby's visit.

--- 4 ---

My Uncle Bobby is in town! He's my Mom's brother and lives in Roseburg, OR which is about a seven or so hour drive from the Tri-Cities. Long enough that we don't get to see him very often. Maybe once or twice  a year. This visit is extra special in that it's the first time seeing my Uncle without my Aunt who passed away in June. I'm so happy to see him, but I'll admit it's unsettling to think of seeing him without Nancy. Hearing him laugh without Nancy's chiming in. I'm thankful he was willing to make this extra stop on his trip visiting family (he just came from Seattle where he was visiting my Grandma and Auntie Sue as well as attending a High School reunion) as Nate, Abby, and I weren't able to make it over to Seattle last weekend.

--- 5 ---

In other family news, Nate's parents are also supposed to be coming up from Portland this weekend. The original plan was for them to arrive today, but Linda wasn't feeling so great so it's looking more like they'll be up here starting tomorrow. In a way this is nice because it means not having to juggle two families the entire weekend. If we get a good visit in with Uncle Bobby tonight and tomorrow I'll feel less guilty over not being over at my parent's house later Saturday and Sunday. It's the rainbow through the rainstorm, if you will. I'm just happy that we're not the ones traveling this weekend. I'm a little traveled out at the moment between Nate's business trips and our family trips.

--- 6 ---

Speaking of Nate's business trips, his co-worker officially purchased his plane tickets for the September business trip which means that Nate is off the hook for business travel that month. Woo hoo! (Knocking on wood that it remains this way.)

--- 7 ---

Next week marks the starting of my Mom activities beginning for the year. I didn't realize how much I depend on my weekly Mom moments until they were gone! :-) So MOPS starts next Thursday and the following Tuesday Joy starts. I'm also thinking of signing up for a fitness class that meets three days a week, although I'm thinking I'll only attend twice a week. Three mornings out of the house with Abby in childcare (for one hour for the exercise class and two hours for Joy) seems like enough (actually a lot!). That's why I haven't actually signed up for the exercise class yet. Do I really want to put Abby in childcare that much? Do I really want to pay for a three day a week class when at most I'll go two days a week? Am I being silly for even debating this since it's only a seven week course? It's the age old dilemma regarding how much 'me' time I should have in a week...to be continued...forever (or at least until all the kids are out of the house!). :-)

Hope you have a happy Friday and a wonderful Labor Day weekend!

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

7 Quick Takes Friday - Volume 6

--- 1 ---

I am so tired this morning I can barely think. :-) A hard to sleep night, combined with a middle of the night wake-up, adding in an early morning Abby riser combines to make me a sleepy girl. Thank goodness for Backyardigans this morning. Abby's chilling quietly beside me eating breakfast while I desperately try to shake the cobwebs from my brain.

--- 2 ---

Due to the frequency of Nate's business travel some things have slid in the house as we simply haven't had time to work them. One of those items was weeding the front yard. Last night we spent five minutes and picked some of the biggest weeds I've ever seen! Thank goodness they were hidden among some decorative bushes and invisible to the untrained eye. Our yard looks really nice so I'd have to have visible weeds messing up our "perfect" yard title. :-)

--- 3 ---

Just found out that one of my parent's dogs has been diagnosed with stomach cancer. The vet doesn't think she'll make it to next summer so now we're in that long wait of seeing how long she makes it. Keola has been a really good dog since we've had her. Just the sweetest thing who wants to be loved. We actually got her without trying as she was originally my sister's friends dog that they left at my parents for a weekend while they moved. After months of not picking her up my parents declared she was ours. She's been loved ever since.

--- 4 ---

I officially signed up for the next Bible study session (Joy) at church. We get to chose from a variety of books to study and my choices came down to Don't Make Me Count to Three! and If God Is in Control, Why Am I a Basket Case?. I chose the Don't Make Me Count to Three book but I'm hoping they offer the Basket Case book next session so that I can take that study as well. Both were calling to my Mom basket, but after praying about it I kept getting signs that the Don't Make Me Count book was the one for me. So I'm looking forward to the study starting up in a few weeks.

--- 5 ---

Abby's teeth count has increased by two for a total of ten. Her bottom two molars are in with not too much fuss, but more drool than I expected. It's fun seeing her able to chew food that before was a frustration for her.

--- 6 ---

With Nate gone for a few days this week I kept putting off grocery shopping and Abby and I simply ate what I was able to scrounge up in the house (sandwiches, pasta, etc). This morning, however, I'm down to sausages and chips and dip. Guess we're going to the store today!

--- 7 ---

My Mom is visiting Maggie Lake this weekend. Maggie Lake was where she and her family went every summer for summer get aways. They had a cabin near the lake and would spend all summer swimming, roasting marshmallows, and playing in the woods. When we were little we added in swinging on the rope swing and playing with the curtain of beads that hung down from the doorway separating the bedrooms from the rest of the house. It was a sad day when my Grandparents sold the cabin all those years ago. I'm looking forward to seeing the pictures taken and finding out exactly how steep the "canyon of death" was now that I'm looking at it with adult eyes.

Happy Friday!

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Benton-Franklin Fair & Rodeo

The last week or so of August is a fun week in our town as it's the Benton-Franklin Fair & Rodeo. Growing up I loved going to the fair. No, I LOVED going to the fair! We'd arrive pretty much when the gates opened and left well after dark. We'd eat all sorts of carnival food, get sick on the dozens of rides we'd take, visit all the animal and 4H booths, peek around the demonstration and For Sale booths, watch the rodeo (where the Bull Riding event was my favorite), and then end the evening with a concert or more rides.

Last year we took Abby to the fair, but it was pretty much a bust. She was only six months old so other than sleeping and a few minutes of people watching she didn't get much out of it. This year I figured she'd be old enough to really enjoy the fair so I was very much looking forward to taking her.

The first part of our fair day was riding the bus to the fair. Sometimes parking at the fairgrounds can get pretty crazy so our local bus system has special "straight to the fair" routes from certain bus depots. For $3.00 you get a ride to and from the fair and a front-gate drop-off. It's funny but it wasn't until riding the bus this year that I remembered how motion sick I got the year before as I once again experienced that yuck feeling. While the bus is a sweet deal I think Nate and I agreed to take our own car in future years (me so I don't get car sick and Nate because he likes the ability to leave when he wants instead of on the bus' schedule). Anyhoo, we arrived at the fair and had a bit of a crazy start. My parents and niece were joining us in this adventure and Haylee (my niece) ran straight to the rides instead of stopping for dinner like we'd planned. So the first half hour or so was trying to get everyone back on the same page with dinner and after dinner activities, but we eventually figured it out. Mostly we realized that a 5 year old and an 18 month old aren't the best of fair buddies and needed different activities to entertain them. :-) After a spin around the carousel Abby let us know that she wasn't as into carnival rides as her Mama would have liked so it was off to Old MacDonald's Farm (petting zoo) and then the other animal barns.

Haylee, Abby, Nate, and I riding the bus to the fair.

Abby so wanted to go on the dragon roller coaster ride!

So I put her on with Haylee. She was totally excited until I stepped away  right before the ride started. Then suddenly the ride was no longer exciting. It was scary!

After a few tears she was back to wanting to ride the roller coaster again. 

I decided the carousel might be more up her alley.

Nope! It moved so it, too, was scary. We soon moved to the chariot and decided that the rides were still a bit too bit for Abby this year.

Oh, what a time Abby had in the animal barns! She loved seeing all the ducks, chickens, and turkeys (as birds are a top ten on her favorite animal list) and squealed when she saw the rabbits. She so desperately wanted to pet one and didn't understand why I kept pulling her fingers out of their cages. We did eventually make our way over to the 4H demonstration table where she got to pet two different bunnies (they were too cute to be called rabbits!) and was so proud of herself with using her gentle touches without having to be reminded. At this time Grandma, Grandpa, and Haylee joined us so that Haylee could pet the bunnies while Grandma gave Abby a corn dog that she'd gotten for her. After that Abby was happy to sit in her stroller and devour the dog. :-) She ate the whole thing!!! For such a little thing she can sure pack in the food when she wants to. After the poultry/bunny barn we visited the sheep/goat barn (where Abby and Haylee got to pet a friendly sheep) and then the cow barn. Although this last one we went through pretty quickly. In most of the barns the animals are housed in little pens so, depending on their mood, they can be faced towards or away from you. Not in the cow barn. There the cows are tied up near their feeding trough so their faces are away from you while their backsides are right on the aisle you walk down. I do NOT like this. It's not the poop (having horses growing up meant that I've gotten pretty used to side stepping the cow pies) it's the fact that I know these animals can kick and can wallop you pretty good when they want to. So taking my baby down an aisle with hoofs at the ready just waiting for an annoyance to kick away freaks me out! Only thing worse is when there's the occasional steer with five-foot long horns that they've tied up facing outward. Then I imagine babies being speared right and left by those massive horns! Like I've said...not a fan of the cow barn. :-)

At first Abby wasn't so sure about all these animals. 

Soon she couldn't get enough of them. Especially when she saw the baby pigs.

Who wouldn't love to watch these little guys? Especially since one was a total bully and kept chasing his siblings around the sty.

Outside Abby was able to get a better view of the piglet shenanigans.

As well as race around on the hay bales.

Abby and Haylee got to pet some bunnies. I have no idea why I look so horrified. No monster was lurking off-screen or anything. 

Haylee petting the sheep while I'm in the background washing Abby's hands. She kept petting the bunny and then trying to put the stray hairs that came off into her mouth. Yuck!

After the animal barns we toured the 4H and demonstration barns and then decided to call it a night. It was already Abby's bed time and we still had a bus ride into Richland (where we'd met my parents and Haylee to ride the bus in) and a car ride to Pasco. All in all this was a pretty fun fair trip! The only differences I'd make for next year would be: 1) take our own car instead of the bus so we can come and go on our schedule, 2) plan to attend on the Saturday if we want Nate to go (having him try to get off work early and meet us was just a disaster - he had to run out of work in the middle of a project and was still late getting home which made both of us upset for a while), and 3) better communicate the plan to all parties who we may be going with (not that I want to dictate the day but having a firm plan in mind of eating, rides, booth, etc would make the first minutes of the fair go much smoother!).

Abby chowing down on her corn dog.

The 'Akers' girls (minus Katie who had to work).

Nate getting in to the carnival food action with a Root Beer Float. His one dessert of the quarter (that boy just doesn't eat dessert. It's not healthy I tell you!).

My family!

 

On our walk out of the fair Abby wanted to walk but I'd forgotten her monkey backpack/leash. So we improvised and hooked my mom's purse strap around her sleeve. Abby had fun running in circles as she danced with her rope. 

 
Can't wait to go again next year!

Chief Timothy Camping

Due to close friends having their baby this March our group did not take our annual Memorial Day Weekend  camping trip to La Wis Wis. Our inaugural (and what turned out to be our only) camping trip this year ended up being in August to the Chief Timothy Campground just outside of Clarkston, WA. My parents had been to this campground before and really liked it, but this was my first time so I was unsure what to expect. Sometimes our ideas of good campgrounds differ, is all.

Our adventure started out on a down note, unfortunately, as Abby woke up early from her nap (after only an hour of what is normally three) and then got carsick and threw up all over her and her car seat 20 minutes from our destination. Finally, we arrived at the campground and what I saw was really great. As we came in there was a pretty decent looking swim area off the river and when we found our campsite it was far enough away from the other campsites that, while there weren't a lot of trees for privacy, we did have a feeling of being by ourselves.

The weekend was a much needed relaxation time for all of us. There was a beer festival in Clarkston that Nate, my Dad, Mom, brother, Jerry (a family friend), and I enjoyed while Gayla (married to Jerry) graciously stayed back at the campsite and watched Abby for us as the festival wasn't her thing. We also went down to float in the river close to six times that weekend. It took a minute or two to get used to the temperature but after that the river felt really good, especially in the evening after we'd been in 100+ degrees all day.

Personally, the best part of the weekend was when Nate let me sleep in on Saturday morning. Our Abby is a fantastic sleeper...when she's in a room by herself. At home we easily get 11 hours of continuous sleeping. We even get this when we're at Nate's parents house, so long as she's in a room by herself. Put her in the same room as us and she sleeps horribly. I think that when she gets to the part of REM sleep where it's lighter she hears us and it wakes her up so that she checks things out. In doing so sees us and then decides that it's time to wake up. This trip we used my parent's tent which has two 'rooms' divided by a curtain. That curtain saved my sanity. Abby still woke up a time or two (especially during the night that the next campsite over had their kids running around and they themselves partying until late into the night) but because she couldn't see us she soon settled back down. Saturday morning she woke bright and early with the sun but Nate also seemed a bit on the awake side so he took her out of the tent to give me a few more minutes to snooze. Those few minutes turned into almost three hours! I finally woke up when I felt like I was being baked to death inside the stuffy tent. Ah...a mom sleeping in while camping. Who'd have thought!

Next year I hope to get more camping in and this spot will be on my list of campgrounds to go to. Quick and easy to get to, a fun swim area for Abby (and me!), and a decent distance from your fellow campers to give some privacy.

Look how long my baby's hair is! I was sleeping in the tent where her hair supplies were so she went as Cousin It for the morning.

She had lots of fun bouncing on the floats for the river.

Gayla lovingly walked with Abby to keep her entertained. It was definitely love because my back aches from bending over to the height of the stroller when pushing and Gayla is much taller than I. Her back had to be feeling these walks!

My Honey Bunny is so proud of herself on her bike! (Oh, and my Mom found a rubber band eventually so she had some sweet 80s looking hair for a while.)

Nate brought a badminton set which we all enjoyed.

Abby eventually found the dog's water dishes. We'd just filled this one up with fresh water when she wanted to take a peak at what was inside.

Since she'd seen the dogs do this she thought she'd stick her head in for a drink, too!

Water in the nose! I couldn't pass up these pictures. Germs are good, right?! :-)

And this was my 'special' moment for the weekend. My Dad had dropped a paper cover for one of the knives behind the stove in their trailer. His and Nate's arms were too big to reach down to get it so I thought I'd try mine. It took a bit of wiggling but I eventually got my arm down behind the stove and was able to grasp something (which turned out to be a plastic bag that had fallen back there and not the knife at all) when I went to pull my arm up and found out I was stuck! And I don't mean stuck as in it took a minute to wiggle my way back out. I mean stuck like Nate had to hold my lower body off the ground so that I could get the right angle on my upper body so it didn't feel like I was ripping my arm off. Eventually I was able to squish the skin of my arm small centimeter by small centimeter up and over the back edge of the counter. When I was finally free I looked at my arm and saw a big red spot and lots of scrape marks in the bicep area. A few days later I had a nice green bruise to show for being a loving daughter. And wouldn't you know, after my mishap someone went and found some tongs and pulled that knife cover up in two shakes of a lamb's tail. :-)

Abby's 18 Month Stats

Here are Abby's 18 month stats:

                 Height          Weight               Head CM
Birth           19.5 in.         7 lbs. 0 oz.
1 Week       19.0 in.         6 lbs. 9 oz.         33 cm
2 Months     22.0 in.       11 lbs. 6 oz.         38 cm
4 Months     24.75 in.     15 lbs. 6 oz.         39.5 cm
6 Months     26.75 in.     18 lbs. 6 oz.         41.5 cm
9 Months     28.25 in.     21 lbs. 3 oz.         44 cm
12 Months   30.0 in.       23 lbs. 0 oz.         46.7 cm
15 Months   31.20 in.     26 lbs. 1 oz.         47.5 cm
18 Months   32.80 in.     28 lbs. 14 oz.       48 cm

Percentage-wise Abby has increased to the 85th percentile for height, increased to the 92nd percentile for weight, and remained the same for head circumference at the 85th percentile. So once again I have a tall, chunky monkey. One of her newest tricks is, when she's naked or running around in just a diaper, to loudly pound on her tummy and then giggle at the sound. As she has a pretty decent sized buddah-belly she gets some pretty loud thumps going on. :-)

Milestone-wise we're doing okay. I've mentioned before that at her 15th month appointment the Doctor was a little concerned that she didn't have as many words in her vocabulary as he'd like. She's been talking and getting more words lately so I thought we were in the clear. However, at this appointment I brought up her not having the average number of words (10-15 when she's saying 7) when the Doctor asked me if I had any concerns at the end of the appointment. He's recommending we go to a hearing specialist to get her hearing checked out just to rule out that as a possibility of problems. So now it's the question of what do we do. The doctor didn't bring up her lack of talking until I did so is it really that worrisome to him or is he just trying to appease a worried parent? After talking to Nate I think we are going to take the approach to wait on the hearing test and see what her verbal skills are like in two months. I keep reminding myself that she's taken a bit longer reaching every single milestone so this is par for the course for her. On the other hand at what point in time do you step in and start actively trying to determine if something is 'wrong'? It's times like these that I wish I wasn't a first-time parent so I could know if I was being silly or not. She has increased her babbling so much so in the last few weeks so it sounds like she's talking paragraphs to you, but there just aren't a lot of clear words in that babble. sigh. A lot to think about.

Other than that she's right on track! Six teeth have fully popped through on her top gums and her two bottom teeth are still going strong and hanging out by themselves. I can see some molars trying to push through but nothing yet. She's now into nodding her head yes and a combination of a nod and a shake to indicate no, which is adorable. She's also starting to get a few time-outs as she throws some pretty big tantrums. After I get her out of time-out I make sure to tell her that I love her and then she gives me love pats on my arm, too. Hee! Abby is a great helper around the house with folding laundry, picking up toys, and washing the floor/counter. I can't wait for her to be big enough to help me cook! Well, since I covered so much of Abby on her actual birthday last week I'll end this post with her 18 month pictures. Please note that Abby burst into tears the minute I set her down to get her pictures taken and continued to do so if I moved more than a foot from her side. However, the minute the shoot was over and we were leaving she gave the biggest smile to the photographer as she waved bye-bye. silly girl!  Thank goodness these pictures were pretty much free!

Abby's 18 Month Pictures

7 Quick Takes Friday - Volume 5 - Happy 18 Months Abby!

As Abby turned 18 months today this Quick Takes is all about her.

--- 1 ---

Nate has been out of town this week and I was very concerned about how Abby and I would be doing as the last time he'd been out of town (which was for two weeks) we had some difficulties. Basically I found that when Abby doesn't take a nap for a week straight I go a little crazy. :-) But this week if I was giving out gold stars for behavior Abby would be getting two gold stars every day. She's been fantastically awesome! It's been such a fun week with her. I'm still looking forward to Nate being home tomorrow, but I've also thoroughly enjoyed out Mother/Daughter time that we've had.

--- 2 ---

Abby's vocabulary has exploded in the last month. At her 15 month appointment her pediatrician was a little concerned as she was only saying Mama and Dada. His thought was that if she wasn't talking more by 18 months we may have to get concerned. (He was thinking she might have hearing issues but as she can hear the tiniest whisper and the loudest siren I wasn't too concerned. I figured she was just taking her time with talking as she did with everything else.) I'm positive that at her appointment next week he's going to be pleased with her speaking abilities now. She consistently says Mama, Dada, hot, truck (although is sounds like shut), side (outside), and pop. Yeah, she knows pop but in my defense it's because I say "That's mama's pop" when she points and grunts at it. :-)

--- 3 ---

Abby has learned to bite and it's taken me by surprise. She's had teeth for eight months now with the upper six exploding through her gums in the last two or so months, but she's never been a big biter. I never had to worry about biting or clamping while we were nursing so I figure I'd avoided this milestone. Alas, that's not the case. The other day she and I were goofing around on the floor when she went and gave me what I thought was going to be a raspberry on my stomach. Instead she bit me! Since then we've been working on not biting when she's upset as that seems to be the trigger (she bites my shoulder when I'm giving her loves).

--- 4 ---

It's crazy how much she's grown in just a short while. She's always been my laundry helper and loves to push the buttons on the dryer. I used to have to hold her in my lap so that she was tall enough, but yesterday she ran over and got up on her tippy toes and pushed the buttons herself. And my was she proud of herself.

--- 5 ---

We've been working on pointing to our eyes, nose, teeth, and tongue. She always gets her teeth correct, and is pretty consistent with getting her eyes and nose correct. However every time I ask her to point to her tongue she points to her tummy. Tongue sounds like tum which is close to tummy so I see where she's going with this. It's just cute that no matter how many times I say and then point to her tongue she still points to her tummy.

--- 6 ---

Abby's learned how to stick out her tongue and scrape her teeth together to make a sound. It's super cute as she tries to stick her tongue out as far as she possibly can with drool and spit flying everywhere and then gets the giggles.

--- 7 ---

And here she is...my 18th month old! Happy half-birthday my wonderful daughter. You make my life so happy and I'm so blessed to have you. I can't wait to see what these next months bring! I love you so much.

The Tickle Monster strikes!

If you look closely you can see two of her top teeth. The one front tooth came in before the other so it's more visible but the other one is there. It's funny that she currently has the opposite of my smile. When I smile you see all my upper teeth but not any of my bottom. When Abby smiles she's all bottom teeth with rare sightings of her upper ones.

"Look, Mom, it's an airplane!"

"Where did the plane go?"

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Neighborhood Block Party

Tonight our neighborhood got together for a block party. I was a little nervous with attending at first, which is totally silly, as it was just Abby and I going since Nate had to work. I was also a little concerned as we had just gotten back from being out of town and I hadn't managed to get to the grocery store to put together some fabulous party concoction. Instead I went with my old standby of BBQ meatballs, which ended up being a huge hit! Another point for the super easy, yet super yummy meatballs! Anyways, back to the point.

The get together turned out to be really fun as I met a few neighbors at the other end of our street whom I rarely get to meet, got to catch up with some neighbors that I haven't seen in a while, and had an evening of adult conversation while Abby played with all the kiddos. We blocked off the street so I didn't even have to worry (much) about her staying on the sidewalk or out of people's way. Everyone was super nice with her wandering all around and she even got a few people to get her more food or drinks when she grunted and pointed at them. :-) I'm glad we have Jen, who is our resident coordinator, continually push for these neighborhood gatherings. Without her I don't think our block would be as cool as it is. As it is I'm looking forward to our next get-together in September.

Some new-to-me neighbors that I met tonight. I hate that I'm terrible at remembering names because she was a lot of fun to talk to. I'll have to ask Jen who she is. :-)

I knew most of these neighbors by sight but it was nice actually talking to them in person as opposed to just waving at them from the car.

Miss Abby had a blast! Tons of kids, lots of free roaming, and oodles of food!

Abby loves watermelon and since she doesn't get it too often (Nate is allergic and I'm not a huge fan) she devours it when she can). 

Here she's showing the watermelon who's boss!

I admit I couldn't find which particular watermelon eating photo I liked best so I added them all! It's my blog after all. :-)

I'm still amazed that she ate the whole slice. I'd gotten a pretty big one thinking we could share, but Abby quickly let me know that it was all hers. She ate it down to the rind and then wanted more. That's my girl!

Jake the dog was fantastic with Abby. Here she's sitting and bouncing on the dog. Thankfully she wasn't bouncing too hard and he didn't mind too much.

Another view of Abby's love for Jake.

In other exciting news McGruff the Crime Dog stopped by! I don't even remember the last time I saw him in person. Abby wasn't too sure what to make of him. She saw that he was a puppy, and therefore awesome, but he was pretty big so she kept back a ways. When I picked her up and tried to get closer she let me know that she wasn't really a fan of that so I held off and we just had fun watching from the sidelines.

Once she saw an Explorer (it's a program for high schoolers to early adults who are interested in a law enforcement career but wanting to explore options within that field) passing out coloring books and crayons she was all for getting into the mix of the crowd. :-)

Thank you, Jen, for planning a great neighborhood party!

Scott and Stephanie Hiromura

Last weekend Nate and I had the pleasure of watching one of Nate's best friends marry the love of his life. Scott and Stephanie had a lovely wedding. It was held at McMenamin's Grand Lodge (McMenamin's is a bar that specializes in taking different locations and turning them into their business, such as a theatre, old schoolhouse, or in this case, a hotel.) The location of the wedding was in one of the upper theatre-like rooms while the reception was outside on the grounds.

Before the wedding I had a lot of fun talking to some of Scott's relatives (Hackey and Shoeco, although I have no idea if that's how they spell their names or not). Nate was off performing Best Man duties so I settled into my chair thinking I could play with my phone until it was wedding time. Instead I spent the time talking and laughing and thoroughly enjoying myself as these two wonderful ladies and I got to know each other. Let me tell you, if ever I were to attend another wedding where I didn't know anyone I'd want to sit next to someone exactly like them. :-)

The wedding itself was short and sweet with both the Bride and Groom speaking their own vows. It make my heart smile when Scott got choked up as he said his!

A view of the theater where the wedding took place.

The happy couple walking back down the aisle!

Nate giving me the "really?" look. :-)

The reception was also just their style. Laid back and easy going with a focus on everyone having a good time. There was a yummy breakfast brunch and the cutest mini cupcakes for dessert. I over indulged a bit as the red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and sugar coated rose petals were to die for! Even in the heat they were just too tasty to pass up. 

Nate giving his toast.

Scott cutting the world's smallest cupcake in two.

After the reception died down Nate and I stayed so that Nate, Scott, and a few other stragglers could smoke their congratulatory cigars. While it did make for a stinky ending to the night it was fun watching Nate get some much deserved time off. All too soon Grandpa Carstens was calling us to say that Abby, whom he'd been watching all day for us, was getting tired and needed her parents to help put her to bed.

It's love!

All in all it was a fantastic wedding and I wish many, many years of love, happiness, and laughter to the wonderful couple. To Scott and Stephanie!!!