September 23, 2009

Leading up to the 'big day'

As many of you know, my parents are now completely free of any responsibility for their 2 daughters as of Saturday, September 19.

Used to be responsible for us


Now responsible for us - Good luck boys!
Amy and Luke's wedding was the absolute most marvelous wedding I have been too. The extended weekend that Joe and I were in town was great and for those of you who couldn't share, here's the recap of everything leading up to the wedding.

Wednesday, 9/16
Joe and I arrived in ET around 7:00 pm and met Mom, Dad, Luke and Amy for dinner at Barley's. I haven't been there in forever and while the service was lacking, the beer was cold, the food was good and I almost beat Luke at darts.

Thursday, 9/17
Amy and Luke took off early to go see Grandpa (on Luke's side) and Mom and I took off to run a couple errands. We returned home and immediately put Joe to work because we were starving.

Amy and Luke got back and the 5 of us (Dad was working) had delicious burgers on the grill thanks to my hubby. Dad got home shortly after and then Joe, Mom, Dad and I took off to get the tuxes and grocery shop.

Once we got back home, the boys started dinner while open the beauty shop and worked non-stop until dinner. We ate and were relaxing when Joe peeked his head inside and wanted to know if Luke had plans for the night. Then Joe looked at me and asked if I would mind if he spent the night at Luke's. It was super funny. Joe and Luke then spent the rest of the night trying to get my dad to go spend the night too, but no such luck.

Friday, 9/18
Dad was up bright and early to meet Joe and Luke at Luke's house so the 3 of them could be picked up by Jeff (Luke's BIL) and Bruce (Luke's Dad) for a golf outing. Luke's bro, Marshall was meeting them at the course and then who knows what was planned for after.

Mom, Amy and I did some running around and stopped at Gooseberry's (where Amy got her flowers) to drop something off and got a sneak peek at the bouquets for the wedding. Seriously, all of us started tearing up in the store, the poor people who walked by us.

We got back home and I worked tirelessly on my speech while Amy and Mom dropped some things off at the apartment. We patiently waited for the boys to return and finally, around 2ish they waltzed in the door...mind you, we needed to be leaving at 4:30 for the rehearsal and 2 certain handsome young men (ahem...Dad/Joe) still needed haircuts.

Joe and I chauffeured Amy and Luke to the church for rehearsal and this was our first time seeing the church and the rest of the bridal party since the last hurrah. It was great to see everyone and the wedding coordinator at the church (thanks Kelly!) was fantastic. We ran through everything and it was off to dinner.

Dinner was fabulous (a huge thank you to Bruce and Lois!!) and we all got lots of presents!! Luke sure knew how to win Joe over by buying a book on how to play/beat the odds while gambling (Joe is now planning a Vegas vacation in his head) and an electronic dart board. The night wrapped up pretty quickly and it was back home to bed to rest for the big day...


Joe opening his dart board

September 21, 2009

September 18, 2009

State Fair in Pictures

The is a long overdue post! At the beginning of the month Joe and I ventured out to the 'Great Minnesota Get Together' also known as the Minnesota State Fair. We went twice and the first Saturday we went it was almost too cool but it was fabulous. In my opinion, the perfect state fair weather. The next Saturday we went it was super hot but we stayed the longest we had ever stayed before. I think we made it until about 3 pm (usually we're out of there by noon).

Joe and I at the start of the day


The 'trash' sculpture - it is a sturgeon
For those that don't know, every year they pull trash out of
the Mississippi and create a sculpture out of it for the fair.

Sculpture from the front


The crowd (that's Joe's back)


The crowd