"Mawage. Mawage is wot bwings us togeder tooday..."

I have been planning on wearing the same dress to the 3 weddings that we are going to this summer.  It's a great dress and it looks good on me.  I wore it to the first one (Erin Wilcke) 2 weeks ago and was getting ready to pack it for Ryan and Kaylee's wedding this weekend, when it dawned on me - it's brown.  What's wrong with that you ask?  Well, Ryan and Kaylee's wedding colors are brown, brown and brown.  I can't wear brown when the bridesmaids and the groomsmen are wearing brown!  Well, I can, but I don't want to.  So yesterday I set out to find a dress.  Not really an easy task, especially with a 1 and 3 year old along.  And, don't forget.  I don't have a steady income.  Have you dress shopped lately?  They are in the range of $70 - $140.  Outrageous.  Anyway, I came home yesterday with a dress and finally decided I had spent too much and didn't really like it enough.  So, I took it back last night only to come home with nothing.  That was 5 hours of shopping at Jordan Creek Mall and I didn't even get a Cinnabon.  Life is not fair!  Today was another story.  I found a dress (3 actually - 2 need to be returned - don't tell Chris) and I am pretty happy with it.  I hope it photographs well or I hope I am not needed in very many photos!

More about the wedding the soon-to-be newlyweds; Ryan and Kaylee have been dating for about 4 1/2 years now (I think).  They are a great couple and compliment each other well.  They both enjoy camping and the outdoors and both have fetishes for clothing.  They have an entire room in their house dedicated to being a closet!  Ryan proposed while they were in Colorado last summer and now we have made it to the wedding.  It is an outdoor wedding that is being held in Kaylee's parents backyard.  You remember that we are in Iowa and it a has rained a gazzilion inches in the past week and there is massive flooding around the state, right?  Well, the weather is looking favorable and hopefully there is great drainage!  My 2 inch heels are sure to sink into the ground!  Chris is the best man and Harrison and Bennett are ring bearers.  I am very excited to see Harrison walk down the aisle.  Bennett is another story.  We have been talking to Harrison for awhile now about the whole experience.  He seems to understand and is excited he gets to stand with his dad.  I hope that he will walk, not run, down the aisle toward Chris.  And then Bennett; there is mention of Harrison pulling him in a wagon.  I really don't know how else he will get to the front.  I am not carrying him!!!

Bennett is learning to walk.  I truly believe he would like the whole process to be over with so he can just GO!  He has always done this pouty thing where he starts to cry and then puts his face into the floor to show us how mad he really is.  Well now, he starts to walk, falls down and then proceeds to pout to the floor.  Poor kid.  He took his first real steps the weekend of Memorial Day and then we left on vacation.  He has gotten much better since then but still only travels about 12 - 15 steps at a time.  I think Nathan and Meredith should put Kaitlyn on a plane so that she can come stay with Bennett and teach him how to walk.  I asked her before we left if she wanted to come stay with me and she said yes, remember Meredith!?

Harrison's quote of the day comes at the expense of my mom.  We were getting ready to go and she had forgotten her smokes on the deck.  He asked her what she had forgotten and she told him.  He then said - "Stop smoking cigarettes, Grandma.  Geez, silly grandma."  I don't mind his opinion (really enjoy it actually!) but we are really trying to work on his respect of elders.

I love this picture of Bennett.  Meredith took it while he and Kaitlyn were taking a bath.  He looks so different with his hair all slicked back and wet.

And then this is one of my all time favorites of Harrison.  My mom took this picture of him.  He was about 7 months old and was trying to climb up the deck steps at Nathan and Meredith's house in Ames.  That expression is priceless and more telling than we were prepared for!! :)

The quote at the title of this page is from the movie The Princess Bride.  Please, please, please watch it if you have not already and watch it again if you have seen it before.  You won't be disappointed.