The ceremony

Krisit and Dave got married at the Hilton Garden Inn in South Bend and in the morning it rained, but was absolutely gorgeous in the afternoon, just in time for the ceremony! It was a beautiful setting and you just walked right inside for the reception.

Kristi's Wedding!

Today my friend Kristi got married! I got to go in and see her before the wedding while she was getting ready. Her cousin did her hair and make-up and she looked beautiful!!

Some Friday Fun!

I had the day off today! It was wonderful and busy. :) I got started early, picked up Senica at 8:00am to head to Syracuse to watch Janae at swim lessons. Janae did a good job swimming, but it a little (to say the least) hesitant about jumping off the diving board. She does a GREAT job on the backstroke! After swimming, April, Janae, Brenna, Adria, Senica and I headed to brunch. We ate at Maria's House of Pancakes in North Webster. I had never been there before, but it was delicious!

Mom also had the day off, so Senica and I stopped there next. Mom was cleaning, so we stopped in just for a little bit. Mom was washing the walls and doing laundry and Senica played with her dolls and cleaned up the castle.

Next stop, Great Cuts! I have been wanting to get my hair cut for about 3 months now. (I am 6 months overdue) Anitra had called and said she and Ty were getting ready for a nap, so Senica went with me to get my hair cut. She did a great job waiting patiently and standing next to me while I got my hair cut. She was talking to all the ladies in the shop about how she had been there before to get her hair cut.

Brian got home and we decided we didn't feel like cooking. We treated the Zartman's to Dogg 'N Mugg (Senica's choice). They headed home and Brian and I went shopping for upcoming weddings and birthdays. We got home and were ready for bed!

I love days off, but there is so much to do, they aren't very relaxing! :)

Pictures to come later!

Happy Birthday Karen!

I'm a little behind this week...my sister-in-law celebrated her birthday this past Monday. Here are some shots I got of her when we were out in CT this past May for baby Bobby's dedication.

Karen, we hope you had a wonderful birthday! :) Sure wish were closer so we could all get together and celebrate! Sending our love your way...

Kristi & Dave - Engagement pics

Here are some of the shots that I got tonight for Dave and Kristi's engagement session. We went to the gardens on Mishawaka Ave. It was a really beautiful place for pictures. Kristi said she looked there to have the wedding, but you could only have max of 50 people. It worked for their engagement pictures though! :) Their wedding is this Saturday...it's gonna be a hot one! :)

Hey - let me know what you think. This was my first "real" session! :)

Hit the ground running

Well, this picture was taken this past weekend while we were on vacation....we don't look this relaxed now.

Monday was a long day at work. We had 30 patients scheduled and it was crazy! But we survived...then Brian had softball at 6:30pm. I didn't feel like going, so I stopped by Anitra and Seth's house because they are roofing their house. They both had worked outside all day in the heat, so I took the kids and gave them baths and ready for bed so Anitra and Seth could go to the grocery store...kid-less. :)

Today I got home and as I passed Anitra and Seth's house, I see my husband on the roof. I stopped too and brought Senica back to our house to hang out and enjoy the air conditioning! Whoo hoo! Then we went back down, picked Anitra up and went and picked up pizza. I ate dinner real quick and then headed to meet Kristi and Dave for their engagement pics. I got home a little before 9 and it was the first that I had seen my husband other than this morning before work! :( He came downstairs with me to watch TV and was asleep and snoring within 5 minutes! Before he fell asleep he did have a chance to tell me that they had to lay off 5 people today. He hates that! I don't think anyone enjoys being the bearer of bad news, but please pray for him.

Great day!

Fireworks + Cornhole + Family + Boating + Food + Sun = Tons of fun!!!

Thank you God for all that you have blessed me with!

Too many to post!

I took 829 pictures on the 4th alone! I can't decide what to post. I have such a photogenic family! Here are some pics that include all the fishermen/women! :)

Happy Birthday to You!

My mom's sister, Joanie turned 70 on the 4th. Her family put together this really neat book with each person's memories, favorite recipies and things they learned from her, along with lots of photos! It was a really neat gift that really touched her. It was neat to have the fireworks at the end of the day. Not very many people get a big fireworks display for their birthday! ;)

God Bless America and Aunt Joanie

Friday we were invited to my cousin Jon's lake cottage at Waubee lake in Milford to celebrate the 4th and also my Aunt Joanie's birthday. Brian and I had so much fun and on the way home talked about how nice and relaxing the day was!

We don't get to see our extended family often enough! Everyone is so busy with kids sports and work and the fast pace of life, it was wonderful to slow down and get to enjoy each other! Thank you Jon and Christina, Ari, David and Joey for having us to your home! :) It's beautiful!!

Too Cute

Anitra and Ty on the hammock! He was growling at her, I think he was trying to scare her...he's just too funny! He had Anitra cracking up!

Long week...

This was a shortened week at work according to the calendar, but due to it being the first of the month and a holiday weekend, our patients kept my phones ringing and the holiday couldn't come soon enough for me! We have a lot of changes going on at my office and it would be an understatment to say that I have been extremely stressed!

I was glad to see Thursday evening come! Nothing can make me more happy than getting to spend time with my family. April dropped Janae and Brenna off at my work to bring home because she had to work on the 4th and Brian had gotten called in to work too. Jackie who works at the hospital was also Brenna's Sunday School teacher. When she found out about Brenna's broken arm, she got her a kitty Webkinz and to not leave Janae out, she got her a puppy Webkinz. She met the girls at my office after work and gave the Webkinz to them. Jackie is too sweet and the girls LOVE her!!

In addition to Janae and Brenna, we asked Anitra, Senica and Ty to come down for dinner. So, we had dinner and then Anitra took all the kids home! See her blog for those details! Then Brian and I headed up to Niles for fireworks at our friends from church, August and Cindy. We had great seats to see the fireworks (just across from their house) and to not have to deal with the traffic, they have ice cream for everyone. By the time you are done eating ice cream, the traffic is gone! :) Great idea! Thanks so much to August and Cindy for having us! :)

Don't mess with the goggles!

So Ty found these goggles for the pool in the backyard. He decided he wanted to wear them, so Anitra obliged and put them on for him. He wore them for a long time, played in the garage, watched the TV get moved, drew on the sidewalk and when Anitra tried to take them off (middle pic) he wasn't too happy! So he wore those stupid pink goggles until the ice cream truck came and he took them off to get ice cream. Anitra said the ice cream man wanted to know about his "shiner" Anitra had to tell them, oh, he just had pool goggles on. What a goof!

New TV

Brian's parents bought a new TV and handed down their "old" one to us. It's ginormus!! It was quite a process to get it inside. They also gave us a TV stand to put this monstrosity on. It took, Talis, Seth and Brian to get it to it's destination, in the basement. Finally, it was all setup and Anitra and Senica were the first ones to try it out by bowling on the Wii. Brian said he wasn't sure that he like it because his Mii on the Wii fit got bigger because of the big screen. ha! So, we handed down our TV to Anitra and Seth. It all worked out well!

Stop pulling my hair

Last night was a beautiful evening and Anitra and the kids took advantage of the hammock. Ty first with Anitra and then Senica wanted up. I am not exactly sure why Ty is crying in the middle pic, but obviously we know why Senica was...and the final product, everyone is happy again!

Kids

Here are some pics of the kids at April's party. All four of the older ones eating dinner. Adria, thinking she's a dog?? Ty and Adria playing house. Brenna in her underwear and cast in the driveway trying to checkout the dead bird we hit and of course, Janae being a model!

Party time

Sunday night, we had April's birthday party. Mom made a wonderful cake, actually, two and it tasted just like when Grandma Pauly made it!

Like mother...like granddaughter

Now here is proof how we all ended up nuts!

We had a birthday party for April this weekend and ordered pizza, pasta and breadsticks for dinner. I was taking pictures of everyone having dinner and I hear mom calling my name. I turn around and she has a breadstick shoved in her mouth...and she was cracking herself up! Janae thought Grandma was pretty funny too, so she tried it out as well.

I love my crazy family!

Rick's last Sunday

So this past Sunday, we had to say goodbye to Pastor Rick and his family. The day was full of laughter and tears. I am just going to focus on the laughter part right now. We had a wonderful service and the sun came out just as the service was getting over. We had a cookout at the church and ate on blankets on the church lawn. To my surprise, my friend Dani showed up! I was so shocked to see her!! She had driven up from Memphis for the weekend. She brought her sweet dog, Paisley, with her. Of course, Ty had a hard time eating because all he wanted to do was play with Paisley. But, as you can see in the bottom right picture, he had no problem with eating his cupcake! ha

It was a wonderful day, and my friend Mindi (Rick's daughter) was home too, so I got to spend some time with her. She is a newlywed and lives in DC. I think I might have to be making a trip out East soon. :)

Beautiful!

Isn't Adria beautiful!? I just love that picture of her. She either has her fingers in her mouth, or her tongue sticking out. ha.

Anitra was having April pose for pictures the other night when we were at mom's house. Isn't the so cute with Brenna sticking her head in? The two things in this picture that are so Brenna are #1, Brenna LOVES having her picture taken. She's not shy at all. #2, how much Brenna loves being a big sister! She is always all over Adria. Even when Adria was tiny, April would catch Brenna trying to "hold" her. I am sure Brenna will be as in love with this new baby and she is Adria!