The Rehearsal Dinner and Wedding Day Preparations

On Friday, since I wasn't actually in the wedding, I went home after we finished decorating the reception hall, and decorated the house for the rehearsal dinner. Some of the balloons didn't make it all the way home, so I ended up making two trips to Bennington for them. Zachary spent every spare moment he had on my new IPad.  

 When the wedding party got to the house, we spent the evening hanging out, eating pizza and shrimp, and relaxing while we visited.

 

Left to right: Zachary, Monty, Iuli, Johnny, Seth, and David. 

Left to right: Alli, Laura, Hannah, Lita, me.

 After dinner, Mark taught Laura a few of the swing dance moves.

The day of the wedding arrived, and with it came a flurry of activity. The girls got to the church early to do our hair and get dressed.

Joanna, Hannah, and I. 

 

Ben and Uncle Bruce. 

  

Ben, Zachary, and me.

NY, and Preparing for the Wedding...

The groomsmen had shirts for the bachelor party. Seth and Mark decided to model them for us.

 Gotta love the green bow ties.  :-)

 Mark and Iuli

 Out for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory with the boys when I arrived.

 So glad to have had a chance for some quality time with my bro's.

 Not TOO serious...

 Mom and JJoy worked hard to make enough potato salad to feed over 100 people!

 Decorating the reception hall. Zachary and I were setting up the centerpieces.

 

 Hannah's mom put the boys to work washing dishes. :-)

 The groom got to make the veggie platters.

 Mark and Seth...fooling around.

 

 Hannah and I made the shrimp shooters...

 And of course we HAD to make sure they were okay. FYI: they passed multiple taste tests!

 

Driving the Road System

I was feeling very unmotivated today, and a friend suggested getting out for a drive. These are the result of my afternoon out the road system. I only made it as far as Middle Bay this time. I saw several eagles. This one was right by the road.

Middle Bay.

 Many fond memories of picnics and fishing with the family on this river.

 Drive right in, pull out the poles, and fish until Mom called us to eat. Dropping our lines in from the bridge was fun, too.

 Aww...

 The sun was just perfect in this one.

 

Freezing Winds and Puppies

We've had a good week or so of freezing, extremely high winds that, in many other places, would be considered hurricane force. For Kodiakans, it just means bundle up, put on some gloves, and get out to enjoy the sun! One night Elly brought a couple puppies she's taking care of in to work. So cute!

He snuggled up right away.

 

 Jon wasn't sure what to do with him.

 Louise wanted to keep him.

 Tom looked like he was putting a baby to sleep.

 Puppies are just so adorable! Particularly these ones!