Wedding Party, Ceremony & Flowers

I am participating in Kelly's "Show us Your Life" blog party.

My Flowers

The Whole Party Together Our Pastor, Brother Ted, and Great Friend Stan

They are both special people in our lives so we wanted them both to be involved in the ceremony. My Parents - We had our Mom's cary small bouquets. His Parents His Family My Whole Family The Whole Party on Stage We had a wedding wall brought in to try to bring in our extremely large sanctuary. It turned out beautifully. I have pictures of just the stage but they are not digital...I will have to scan them. getting ready to walk down the aisle with my dad

our sweet, sweet, flower girls and ring bearer

I LOVE the girls kissing balls!

the girls talking before the ceremony

checking themselves out

looking pretty the guys

the girls

I will have to take pictures of our program...I LOVED it (still d0)...and put them on the blog.

Things to Do

I have lots of pictures to post so will do my best at getting that done this week. We're back home, Josh is back home, mom is gone and Josh is getting ready to take the youth to Student Life camp Monday. Hopefully Emma and I will go up there one day...not sure if we'll spend the night yet or not. While he is gone though...I have a "to do" list that I've given myself...we'll see how much I get accomplished. Josh helped a TON today in getting things cleaned around the house...there is still more to do...as always. To Do List: 1. Dust...everything :( - Check (I think) 2. Organize and put shelves in under the kitchen sink - Check 3. Clean out and organize some of the kitchen cabinets 4. Clean out and organize the entry way closet Check 5. Go through guest bedroom drawers and closet...try to get rid of things (I'm bad at that) 6. Finish organizing our bedroom, closet and bathroom (I always but this off...and throw everything in there when guests are over so...it is rarely clean) 7. Hang pics in our room 8. Clean off back porch and outside closet - back porch - Check! 9. Emma's closet (this will take forever...probably won't be done but...wishful thinking! - later 10. Exercise Completed List: 1. Living room, clean and organized 2. Kitchen, clean and organized 3. Dining area, clean 4. Entry way, clean 5. Emma's Bathroom, clean 6. Emma's Bedroom, clean (for now) 7. Guest room, clean

A Message for Daddy :)

Amish Country

Mom and Dad took us on vacation to visit Amish country the middle of June. We stayed at a WONDERFUL bed and breakfast in Paradise, PA in Lancaster County, Beilers Bed and Breakfast. I would highly recommend this to anyone visiting Amish Country. A couple with two school age children run it. They are wonderful. They were so kind to Emma letting them go into the part that is their home and play with their kids. Emma was still talking about Mrs. Barbie after we left. The Breakfasts that she prepares each morning are DELICIOUS. I am missing the baked oatmeal and fresh yogurt from a local Amish farm!! We started off our trip with a stop in Hershey, PA where we visited Hershey World. We took the tour to see how chocolate is made and then we went and got a Masters in Chocolate Tatsting (ha). I would not advise doing that....it is a waste of money. I would like to go back and visit the Hershey Museum...it looks like it would be worth the money. The tour is free and is really informative so I would definitely do that again but I would not pay to do anything else. It was still fun and we can saywe've been there". The following day we went to a few places in Amish Country, took a buggy ride and then saw a musical at the Sight and Sound Theatre. The next day we went all through Amish country visited stores, fed goats, rode on a train and got to see Thomas! Emma thinks she rode on Thomas but we didn't want to wait in that line so she just rode the train. She had a blast! That evening we had the privelege of eating with an Amish Family in their home. The food was SO fresh and so delicious. I actually enjoed english peas. YUM! There was a TON of food and every bit of it was wonderful...even the pickled beets. Saturday, we left to come home. On our way home we stopped in Gettysburg, Dad and Josh went to the Gettysburg Museum and Battlefield while Mom, Emma and I went to the outlets. We all enjoyed our time in Gettysburg! :)

At Hershey University

Emma is EXCITED about eating the chocolate! (even thought she doesn't look that way) A blurry picture of our "instructor" aka actor

Our chocolates placed in the appropriate boxes...yes we actually paid (or mom and dad did) $10 a person for 5 pieces of chocolate and a small bottle of water per person. Just think the amount of chocolate we could have bought for that amount of money.

These are the ways you identify the way chocolate taste. For example, the darker the chocolate, the more "woodsy" and "earthy" the flavor.

Emma was so excited about eating the chocolate that she even ate some of the reeses wrapper...she wouldn't wait for me to help her...surprise, surprise.

We rode a real Horse and Buggy...the crammed 7 adults and 1 child into the buggy. Lets just say our knees were knockin. Emma was VERY excited to ride in the horse and buggy. We went through an Amish farm and learned a little more about their beliefs.

Emma riding.

We went and had fresh made ice cream from fresh milk. So rich and so delicious! At that farm there was a bull dog and a peacock. The bulldog followed the peacock EVERYWHERE. It was really cute.

Baby Goat

Emma feeding it (yes she wanted to wear dresses alot)

She LOVED feeding the goats. It was too sweet.

Emma on the train.

Hangin out the window!

You have to ride the train "in style"!

"Classy Ladies" read books on trains.

and they wave at people as they pass

and they talk to their neighbors

AND the look forward to standing by Thomas The Train! :)

Thank you mom and dad for a wonderful vacation! :)

Josh is in Bolivia

Josh is in Bolivia with a team from our church. The arrived there late last night and are going into the city today to do some sightseeing, learning about the culture. etc. I have linked their blog here so you can keep up to date (if you wish). Please keep them in your prayers this week. http://www.missionbolivia09.blogspot.com/

Happy Birthday to You!

These pictures are NOT in the order that I wanted. Blogger is not letting me move them around like normally OR maybe it is my ANCIENT computer. It is 5 1/2 years old. Let's wish it well a little longer.

Anyways, these pictures are of Emma's best little friends Birthday party, Seth, who she affectionately calls "Seffy"!

Emma and Seth at the train...we had TONS of trouble getting Emma to go to the train and look through the window but when "Seffy" was there she had no problem.

All the kids at the train...of course they aren't all going to be there, they aren't all going to be looking and they definitely aren't all going to be smiling! :) Em at the caboose

Yes, Emma definitely ate Birthday cake and went running around the yar...I was chasing her to wipe her face and she thought it was a game.

A sweet friend from church...I thought this picture was too cute!

"Seffy" blowing out the candles with Emmas help...of course!

Happy Birthday Seth!

Emma playing on Seth's new birthday toy! The kids had soooo much fun!

Emma giving the Birthday Boy a hug...they are so sweet together...most of the time. :)

Sweet Seth

The kiddo's feasting! I think Emma ended up eating 3 cookies (because she would snatch them from others and 2 pieces of cake!) We stayed and helped them clean up. Emma fell asleep before we ever got home! She was worn out from all the fun.