getting our game faces on to defeat the groom's side in volleyball match.

drinks at Genna's to get the night started off right!

In appreciation of those toiling behind the scenes

Lest we forget to express our appreciation for our hardworking parents, who have been laboring tirelessly on this wedding, I'd like to take this opportunity to say...

Thank you!

You're the best!

This is Mom, filling trail mix baggies.

She's got a real system going.

Ain't she cute?

Bachelorette Party Photos

As promised: photos from the Bachelorette party. I left after dinner, so I 'm sure there will be even more crazy ones from our other contributors later on.

The Dark and the Light. Actually, a Cab and a Riesling.

Rebecca with her free chocolaty shot. It was our waiter's "special" drink.

All the gals.

I'm Packing the Sports Stuff

Mom and Dad and I went through the sports detritus in the garage this afternoon. We cleaned up and packed a whole bunch of stuff to play with at Devil's Lake:

Two soccer balls

A bunch of footballs, most non-regulation small sizes

A volley ball

Badminton rackets and birdies (4)

Frisbees of various sizes

Croquet set

So far that's it. Hopefully that's plenty. Should be fun.

So Almost Bride Lady, How are You Feeling?

I've been wondering. With the Wedding only 9 days away, how are you holding up?

Nervous, energized, sad, excited?

I think we'd all love to hear about it.

And writing always seems to help me with the anxious/nervous thing.

Beginning of the Coconut Brooches

Challenge for you:
In the 4 pictures in this post and the next, can you find the mini picture of Becca? I assure you that the placement of that picture was entirely unintentional. :)

Coconut Brooches

So I was unsure of whether to reveal this coveted information now or to wait til later. Then I decided what the heck... after all, you all are probably starting to think about coordinating jewelry with the dresses and now shawls too (yay!). By the way- have we talked about this? Becca do you have any opinions or ideas about jewelry- necklaces, bracelets, earrings, etc.?

Anyways, as I might of mentioned a couple times, I have been hard at work hand-crafting coconut brooches to replace those silly fake diamond sparkly plasticky looking pins on the bridesmaid dresses... This process started with going to the store, buying a coconut, and eating it. That was the easy part. Then I let it dry out, sanded the outside surface, broke it up into smaller pieces, sanded edges, applied a varnish, drilled holes, and finally added decorative silver and shell bits. The only part I have left to do is glue the pin backs on to the backs of the coconut pieces. :) Here are some pictures of the process and the (almost) final products. Hope you all enjoy the pins on the day of the wedding and for a long time afterwards as well!