It's a beautiful night, what a beautiful night....

Hey loves!

(that's how I greet my cats.)

It has been QUITE some time since I've been on here, so I thought I'd do some updating.

First of all, I arrived safely home-no problem. Then, the day after I got home, it rained. And rained. And rained. And went on raining for two and a half days straight. It rained 12 inches and everything was flooded. Fortunately our home dirt road didn't flood too badly, and by the time our creek went down (it crosses the driveway) we were able to make it to the blacktop and to town. However, we had to take a longer route to get to town than the usual one, because the water over those roads didn't go down for a couple more days. We all got our cameras out and went to take photos. There were little baby fish, like small sunfish, swimming across the highway! The corn fields were ponds, and the river was tickling its banks. When the water went down, there was a line of mud everywhere. But it was fun and exciting. We had a major thunderstorm, threatening tornadoes, go right over our house. There was hale, walls of wind and rain, excessive lightning and thunder, hot and cold drafts, everything. So of course Sam and I stood in the open doorway and witnessed the whole thing. We only got mildly drenched.

Almost as soon as the rains stopped, we were off to Kansas for Tom and Margo's wedding. (Tom's my older brother). We drove all day to get there, but we eventually made it. Am came with us, so it was a little more crowded than I'd expected. The day after the trip we drove several more hours to Oklahoma. Margo's grandfather was the OK City Temple President and he was to seal (marry) them. We had lunch at her grandparent's house across the street, drove back to Kansas, ate dinner, and went to the church for the reception. Everything was beautiful, especially the couple. I took several pictures where Tom has this look on his face the distinctly reminds me of little children at Christmas time. They are probably the sweetest, cutest couple I have every seen! They are the couple everyone dreams about eventually being like. Whether single or married already. As soon as the reception was over they took off. They spent the next several days on their honeymoon up in Wisconsin at Lake Superior. They had a blast and brought back freshly picked blueberries to share!

The next day everyone piled back into cars and headed for Missouri. (well, my family did.) This time we had two more cars, because Char and Aaron, and Caleb and Gina were coming back with us too. And we had another passenger, since Jo had flown out for the weddings. (Jo and Char are my sisters, and Caleb is my brother. Aaron and Gina are Char and Caleb's spouces.) We arrived in Kansas City and decided to wander around down town and do some much needed shopping before heading on. The shopping area we went to was gorgeous, with beautiful architecture and wonderful shops. It was like a mall, but you had to go outside and cross all the little streets to go to the next store. We walked around for a couple of hours, and then left for home. Char and Aaron wanted to stay there, and Caleb and Gina had to go home for work, so the rest of us crammed into our car and drove.

The next few days were spend hectically preparing for Am's wedding, the following Tuesday. We went to Columbia shopping, we spent a whole day cleaning up the yard and house and setting up her bridal shower. Saturday night we had Am's bridal shower, and by that time, we were all exhausted.

Monday we set up for the reception at the church in Kirksville. We got done at about 3 pm, and all climbed into cars and headed for St. Louis. Monday night was very busy, we had another, less formal shower for Margo and Am, and we all got to bed really late. Tuesday morning came early. There was a lot of running around, packing, last minute preparing, etc. etc. We got to the temple, and waited. Then I took a ton of photos. Am and Nathan on the steps, Am and Nathan on the lawn, Am and Nathan with friends, etc. I loved doing that. One of Nathan's sisters was taking shots too, and I really didn't get to direct them much. But I got a lot of good shots anyway.

We had lunch (catered by one of Nathan's brothers, a professional chef. Mmmm! Delicious), and carpooled to Kirksville. There we had the reception. It was a long, and fun filled night. A few time some people got out of hand, and of course we all wanted it to be perfect so we were all a bit stressed, but it went ok. We spent the night and the next morning cleaning up. Everyone went there seperate ways, except Tom and Margo, who came to stay with us for a couple of days.

Wednesday afternoon we spend digging potatoes. We dug up a snakes nest, and spied and killed a diamond back. It was quite eventful, or a little bit.

Today has been more laid back.

For the whole week the visitors were here, the weather has been hot and unbearably humid for many of them. It was horrendous. Today has been like heaven. It has been breezy and warm, with hints of cool drafts, and sunny as anything. The clouds have been light, and sheep fluffy. The sun has been cheery and beamy. But the humidity is cool and pleasant, and low. And the heat is minimum and gentle. There are butterflies and flowers everywhere, and it has been BEAUTIFUL! If you wanted to see what a perfect day looked like, it would be today. Now, as the sun starts touching to Western sky, and the shadows are long and golden, it's almost too wonderfully magical. There are birds twittering, and fireflies blinking, and breezes blowing, and I wish everyone were here to see it. I feel sorry for those western natives who now think MO is unpardonable. It's PERFECT and GREEN today.

Tonight we're going to shoot off the fireworks dad bought the day after the 4th of July, and eat tacos. Mmmm....

These are the days I try to remember to get through the rest of life.

I have a TON of pictures to show people, but our internet is too slow to post them now. I'll see what I can work out.

Bellanoche!