How Much is That Doggie in the Dashboard?

Okay, I know this has been a very dog-themed week, but it is still Bonnie's birthday week. On Tuesday I got a call from Dad saying that he was on his way through Indy and that he was stopping by the house to fix our weed eater. What a great dad! Then an hour later I got another message on my phone that said, "Bonnie and I are headed up to the lawn care place, so if you get back and we're not here that's what we're doing."

What a smile that brought to my face at work, the thought of my dad and my Westie headed to the lawn care place together.

Dad left her in the car...and this is what he found when he returned...

Hey Grandpa!

This is the highest place in your car, so I took the liberty of hopping up here because I'm a mountain goat. Hope you don't mind!

Happy Birthday, Bonnie!

Today is Bonnie the Barbarian's 1st birthday! It's a huge milestone on her way to being a good dog who doesn't jump up on the kitchen table. Even though she is still a little naughty, we love her anyway. She is so funny and is always doing something bizarre that makes us laugh. She is celebrating today with a car ride to Effingham to see her friends Puppa Sade and Maddie, the Amazing Barking Dog. If she plays her cards right she may even get a Pup Cup from Culvers'.

Happy Birthday!

Show Us Your Life - Wedding Dress

I'm starting to really enjoy reading Kelly's Korner and regret missing all her "Show Us Where You Live" Fridays that feature different rooms of your home. But to be honest, most rooms of my house are rarely clean enough to feature on the blog and having class on Thursday nights put a stop to any hypothetical cleaning I may have done. Kelly's out of rooms for her Friday blog feature, so I'm off the hook with cleaning. She's moved on to other stuff, and this week it's wedding dresses (which is much easier to participate in).

I loved my dress...and the best part is that it was the cheapest one I tried on. It is rare when the cheapest option is my #1 pick...

The last 30 minutes before the ceremony are reserved for keeping your armpits dry.

July - In Pictures

With all that's going on with both Landon and Grandpa Pillers' health right now, it doesn't seem right to go on and on with a big catch-up post for July.

So, without further ado, and in no particular order, I give you....July - In Pictures.

But before I do that...I have to share what I saw in the driveway this morning. I stepped out to corral Bonnie just in time to see the neighbor kitty, Bob Buttons, carrying a live bird across the street in his mouth. Other birds were swarming around him, carrying on and flapping their wings at him because he'd taken one of their own. This made me sad...but the more I think about it, it is pretty neat how animals care for each other just as humans do. Except for those who eat their young, or their mates.

I digress.

Pictures, yes. Back to those pictures....

Ex-BKD Girls' Club - celebrating Baby Boy Kurtz and awaiting his September debut...

Mel and Audrey hanging at Emma's

Huddled around the Dip So Good You Can Eat It With Cardboard

We're working on appropriate behavior when guests come to the house. This is an example of what not to do.

Finally - a grill-out at the Stevenson's!

A potential Christmas card shot...except wrong dog. You wouldn't know by the way she's made herself at home!

The traditonal reception meal....yummmmmmm.

Sorry for the delay...

...but you'll have to keep waiting for another day. Not that any of you are probably waiting for a post, but I'll pretend you are since it's been almost two weeks!

I have been in Marketing Plan H-E-double-hockey-sticks this weekend. I am about to wrap it up in an hour or so...37 pages later. I'm presenting to my not-for-profit board tomorrow afternoon, but my presentation isn't quite done yet. Good thing I have lots of available vacation hours and can take a personal day!

Yikes....just get me out of this semester, please!

On a real life note, please keep tuned in to the Kutscher blog this week as they prepare themselves for Landon's surgery and test results and hope for the best possible news so their lives can get back to normal. Thanks for all your prayers and support, you guys are great!

2 Years

Happy Anniversary to us! I can't believe it's already been two years. We are celebrating tonight with the tradition of cooking the meal from our reception - walnut crusted chicken, horseradish potatoes, carrot souffle, and asparagus.



Here's to two great years of marriage and hopefully many more to come!

The (Quick) Weekend Update

We had a glorious 4th and hope you and yours did, too. The day before the 4th of July holiday is always the day of the DFAS picnic, which means you leave around noon after hanging out at the picnic for a bit. A great start to a long weekend! We took my car to Penske Chevrolet, had lunch at Scotty's, stopped at Hobby Lobby, hit the post office to mail my CPA application, and then headed home so I could get to class (the only tarnish on an otherwise perfect Thursday).

We worked around the house on Friday and went to Symphony on the Prairie with my parents that night. I just love their Stars and Stripes on the Prairie concert (or whatever it's called). The symphony always does a medley with the marches of the five branches of military, and if you served you're supposed to stand when your march is played. That does me in every year and makes me cry! I just can't help myself. I was so proud when Dad stood for the Army march and wished I could stand too. Paying soldiers as a civil servant is as close as I will get, but it is really a touching moment to look out through the crowd and see veterans standing.

It was super crowded this year and our seats were pretty crappy despite getting there an hour before it began, but after we moved away from the large, loud, ants-in-their-pants, oblivious family it was much better. Seriously, I don't think these people even knew they were at a concert. Quit talking and hopping up every three seconds!! My annoyance at them at least helped me not cry as much when the marches were played...last year I was a mess (and Brent's parents surely thought I was a headcase).

After the fireworks we had some trouble getting out of the parking lot - think 4th largest crowd in 28 years. We waited in our cars an hour and a half before even moving....which led to eating the rest of an enormous bag of kettle corn...which also led to getting home at 1:00 (not because of eating the kettle corn, but because of the parking situation)...which led to tired racers who had to be up in Carmel at 7:00 Saturday morning for the Freedom Fest 4.5 miler.

We expected to do pretty badly because of the previously mentioned conditions, which didn't bug me too much because I'm always just a participant anyway, hoping not to be last. Brent really wanted to place in his age group and thought it might be possible. Yup....it was....he actually WON his age group and got a mug. He might become a coffee drinker so he can plop it down on his buddies' desks at work (fellow runners) and annoy them with it.

We enjoyed a yummy dinner at Kincaids that night and then hung out with Justin Ware back at our house while listening to the professional grade bottle rockets being fired across the street. I'm not a big fan of fireworks, but whatever does it for ya. The dogs didn't seem to mind, so I was thankful I didn't have to restrain wild Bonnie.

Thanks for the new collar, Grandma! Once I stopped biting and clawing at the flower I realized how fetching I look in it.

Dogs...plural...that's right. We have a visitor this week! The Stevensons' Chow/Golden mix is with us while Larry and Diane are in Colorado. She is 13 years old and is already tired of Bonnie being in her face. The girls had a major spat over Roxie's food today. She eats some really yummy (puke) canned puppy food that just drives Bonnie crazy, since all she gets is Iams. Roxie has some problem going on with her nasal cavity and constantly sneezes...sometimes blood, so I hear. Grrrreeeeaaaat. She had a clot hanging out of her nose today and I was debating..."To pull or not to pull?" Looks like she took care of it herself, which I appreciate. It was grossing me out!!

What, you're grossed out now, too? Sorry. Remember that Indy 500 post when I didn't show you the maggots? Take your pic, I guess.

Whatcha doin', runnin' man?

This post is much longer than intended, but isn't that always the way. I'm off to write three papers due tomorrow night. Yeeeesss!

Happpy 85th, Agnes!

We celebrated Brent's grandma's birthday last Sunday with his family and cousins Jenny and Rick. She turned 85th last week. She told me that she hopes we get to live as long and feel as good as she does. I hope so too, Agnes!

Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis

...just meet me at the Stan Musial statue, not the fair...

Last weekend was our big Cardinals' baseball outing with my mom's side of the family. As the weekend approached, we monitored the forecast and watched the temperature prediction climb higher and higher. I busted out laughing at work Friday morning when I got an instant message from Brent saying, "Excessive heat warning in St. Louis...heat index of 110 to 115 expected". Yikes. That's pretty hot to be sitting out at a baseball game with a 12:10 start!

I was impressed that we didn't lose anyone to the heat and we loaded up the cars to set sail on what we thought could be a pretty miserable afternoon. Uncle Jeff had to stay behind to do some late planting at the farm, which I would guess was a hotter job than going to the game.

It's a convoy! One of these cars was having a Michael Jackson memorial party and would text me with the next radio station playing Michael's hits. I was with Dad and Brent, and we were not having a Michael Jackson party. We were talking about wind turbines and where troopers like to perch on different interstates. Almost as fun.

As luck would have it, we met the Kutscher mobile right before the bridge to downtown!

Ahhhhh....the gateway to the west....

The only thing hotter than sitting at the game, or farming, would be to go up into the Arch in one of those cars that's the size of a dryer...

We parked and finally found each other after some confusion over a not-so-great idea to meet at the Stan Musial statue, which required walking all the way around Busch Stadium. In the heat. When I was about to pee my pants. I'm not going to say who had that idea, but I am going to say that by the time we finally made it into the stadium, I was ready to get a frosty draft and take this photo with Mr. Busch Stadium Meeting Spots himself...

At a Cubs' game last year I was drinking a regular beer and eating a brat like it was the best thing ever. I stopped just before devouring the last little bite of bun and realized..."I am Bob's daughter indeed." So here we are, like father like daughter. Aren't we cute.

Notice we did a lot of standing around in the back of our section. That's because the other group of seats was in the blazing sun, so we rotated in and out of the 8 seats that always had shade.

All of us! This turned out surprisingly well, considering that the Twins' fan we asked to take the picture kept putting his eye up to the little hole on the back of the digital camera, looking confused.

What...only 99? Is that the best you can do?

"But they're cousins, identical cousins all the way..."

I know we're not identical cousins, but I've got this theme going of old musicals and shows that are before my time. Why not throw in Patty Duke?

The Littlest Pujols Fan and Uncle Bob...hey, sounds like a children's book title to me!

I have to say that a good time was had by all, I think, and that the Cardinals won. A big thanks to Michael for getting the tickets and going through all the trouble with Stubhub!

So what's on schedule for next summer, Cash Family? Wandering through Death Valley? I'll send out the email to pick a date!