one of the only pics that (kind of) turned out from the whole big wedding weekend was this one my son took with my phone. that's me and one of my cool sister-in-laws doing the signature peace sign move before the wedding.

no pictures of the stunningly gorgeous bride. or the very handsome groom.

no pictures of all 32 grandkids together.

no pictures of the conga dance line that formed before dinner even started. or of the bride's uncle who decided to do a strip tease during the garter auction. or of the groomsmen doing a tribute to michael jackson on the dance floor.

not even a picture of the husband is his nice shirt and tie.

which is too bad, because i would have used it as a post announcing that today is our 13th anniversary. i hope trevor and dana will be as happy as we are thirteen years from now.

and i hope they remember to take pictures.

biiiigggg wedding tomorrow. a favorite nephew (and cousin to the boys) is getting married to his college sweetheart. all 11 of the husband's brothers and sisters are rolling in and things are about to get crazy.

God bless to trevor and dana, officially hooked tomorrow at 4 pm.

i hope my dancing shoes are ready for this.

another installment of an "only me" moment. he he. i know you love those. so we were at an end of summer party (end of summer? dang!) saturday night and we took the new puppy. it was her first real night at home, and we couldn't leave her. she was a hit. people who hate dogs were begging to hold her. ok, not really, but a guy who doesn't really like pets let her sleep on his lap all night. and he gave her an orange towel to lay on.

the orange towel was all crumpled up and looked like someone spilled clorox on it. actually, it looked like many of the towels at my house. at the end of the night, the nice friend who owned the towel told me to take it home that night because crosby seemed to really like it. i thought that was pretty sweet.

yesterday i texted her and said "crosby loves the towel you gave her. she sleeps with it every night."

she texted back and said "actually, i'd like that towel back when you get a chance. my daughter's aunt made it for her birthday and it's kind of special."

oh! and here i was thinking it was just an old clorox-stained towel. i felt bad for just assuming my dog could keep the towel. but really, i thought it was straight out of the rag bag. i was a little perplexed at why it was so special.

i put the phone down and went to get the towel out from under the slumbering puppy. i uncrumpled it and really looked at it for the first time. in the coolest font ever it said the daughter's name in white letters across the whole front of the towel. it wasn't a clorox stain at all. it was cool. really cool. and if i would have known that it was a towel like that, i never would have assumed the dog could have it.

a head smacker if there ever was one.

first day of school, picture taken with my phone as i am running past the boys looking for car keys. that gets me off the hook for the blurriness and the look of "mom, seriously?" on little j's face. right?

i wonder if my belly will ever NOT feel a little nervous for the boys on the first day of school? i think it's just not being there to see how they are doing all day that makes me nervous. i try not to be a hovering helicopter mom, but on the inside i SO AM.

so. i think school is good for all of us. sure is quiet around here. i'm...uh...getting a lot of work done today. ha. not. this is actually the first morning in three months i've stopped to write a blog.

i am looking forward to 3:15 so i can hear all about it. i know a fuzzy little yellow puppy that will be even more excited to see the boys. she's been wandering around the house looking for them all morning.

sigh.

i know i know. but you gotta admit. she's flippin cute.

the shot of the black and the yellow lab together are of crosby's mom and dad. don't they make a nice couple?

every day i think about the things i could talk about on my blog, and every day seems to slip right past. i haven't even had time to sit down and read your blogs, but i'll try to get all caught up soon!

as for us. you have no idea what a time sucker it is to have a litter of yellow lab puppies living right next door, especially when one of them is YOURS :) we can officially bring her home saturday, but the boys have been bringing her over every day to hang out. sometimes they bring her brothers and sister, too, and it looks like the movie Air Bud around here. she's cute, pretty ornery and has already been scolded by Sidney on several occasions. let's just say she's persistent. we named her Crosby...if you aren't a hockey fan you'll have to look that one up. just remember our other dog is named Sidney, and now we have a Crosby. get back to me when you have it all figured out.

speaking of dogs, the husband has been working like one on our back deck. he's about two boards away from finishing all the top decking right now, and then come the stairs and the railings. the boys helped a little, but like i said, that puppy has been a major draw this week.

we also got a canoe and a kayak and spent about 6 hours on the water on sunday. jace and i took turns in the kayak--what fun! we went just up the river from our house on firesteel creek. i am thinking we will be getting a second, smaller kayak soon. perhaps today :) i'll let you know.

finally, we are on vacation this week. we had plans to go to the black hills sunday through wednesday, but saturday night we took a family vote and decided to have a staycation at home. the boys didn't want to leave the puppies, the husband wanted to get more done on the deck and i decided not to tell any of my clients i am still in around this week. it's been great. sunday we kayaked and canoed and had a big bonfire that night (and played with the puppy). yesterday we took the boys golfing, rode bikes and rented Clash of the Titans (and played with the puppy). today we are packing up the bikes and heading for sioux falls, where we will hit the bike trail and then the zoo. i am also going to hit scheels...i think i mentioned something about another kayak. i think tomorrrow we are going to get the boat out and spend the day on the lake, and then the boys have open house at SCHOOL.

yep, life is all back to normal again next monday when school starts. it's been a great (albeit wet) summer, but i think i am ready for a routine again. it will be nice to not have to work around baseball games, tennis lessons, swimming lessons, golf lessons and having extra kids in the house all the time. basically, i'm excited to get my brain back come monday. and i promise the blogging will get back on schedule too.

as for now, i'm just gonna hang out and play with a puppy or two.

they were born next door about a month ago. we had first dibs on a female black lab. all 13 of them were born yellow, so i figured we would be looking elsewhere--the husband is really fond of black labs and we've had excellent luck with them. great hunters and even better friends.

today the husband came home and told the boys to go next door and pick out which yellow female they liked best. i think this little girl will be coming home with us in a few weeks. her sister was cute too, but this one seemed a little more excited to meet us.

she doesn't have a name yet. the boys are thinking about it, and we'll go visit them every day to make sure we have the right one for our family. even sidney dog gets to help pick, this one got a lick on the snout.

i have secretly always wanted a yellow one--she will match my cat and my house. :)
she gets to come "home" in a few weeks. until then, it's nice to know she's right next door.

Dear Karen

What in the world was I thinking? :)

Made the mistake of watching a CNN story about "the summer of sharks." Apparently, they are closing beaches in Massachusetts, New Jersey and Florida due to Great White spottings in water as shallow as 3 feet. According to the story, the sharks usually don't show up this early... it's usually more like SEPTEMBER when they start showing up to eat the local surfers.

A related story says if a shark is heading your way, do not panic and do not swim away. Sharks can sense panic and it gets them excited. Stay where you are and if possible, hit him on the nose.

I will have to practice that at home, I guess. I'm also going to spend the next month enjoying things I can do with two legs, since I probably won't have one of them when I get back from surf camp.

Other than the part where I fight a great white shark and stuff, I am excited about next month. See you soon, Karen!

Love
Carey