Holly has mastered it.

Every year we take her out to the front yard, where we can see the city fireworks. This year we goofed and missed the city’s show by ten minutes, but our neighbors were happy to oblige Holly with a show of their own:

She isn’t scared of them, doesn’t try to chase them, she just stands there and enjoys the show. So stinkin’ cute.

The flag is flying, the smoker is ready for ribs, and I am about to attempt to make my aunt’s famous baked beans. We are ready.  Be safe, and have fun this 4th, everyone!

Holly says bring on the fireworks!

Some super fun wedding posts to come, VERY soon!  Emily and Chad, don’t worry, your sneak peek is on the way!

Stretched thin, for sure. But graduation is behind us, and I can finally look ahead to some of the fun things coming up with anticipation instead of stress. (Chicago, look out, I’m coming back! And I’m bringing Josh with me!)

Saturday, as the tornado sirens blared (from FOUR in the morning until TWO the next morning, AWESOME), we celebrated with my dad his nearly 28 years of service to the police department.  And as we watched the news and saw the families affected by the flood waters rising all around our community, I was once again reminded how lucky we are.  Lucky that none of us had any flood/tornado damage.  That my dad put his life on the line for so many years on the department and was never seriously injured.  Lucky to have a job that I love, even when it gets crazy busy.

When things pile up and get overwhelming, it is sometimes hard to remember life is good.  But how can it not be when you have a buddy to play Christmas-Chicken-Tug-of-War?

A couple days ago I got a phone call from my mom containing several words that made my heart stand still.  “Skill saw,” “Accident,” “Ambulance,” “David.”  I sat frozen at my desk, waiting for information as my mom followed an ambulance carrying my stepdad to the hospital.

Thankfully, he is going to be fine.  Thankfully, my mom is a nurse and happened to be home when my stepdad cut a gash through his thigh.  Thankfully, she did a good job tying a tourniquet and he didn’t lose much blood.  Thankfully, David kept his cool and knew to put pressure on and hold together the wound when the safety feature on his skill saw failed.  Thankfully, that skill saw is now in the dumpster.

Moments like this remind you to take time and be thankful for the ones you care about.

Josh, Holly, and I headed over to their house that night and were relieved to see that everyone was in good spirits.  As we drove home and I watched Holly enjoy the fresh air, I reflected on how thankful I am that my Saturday morning breakfast buddy will be good as new after taking some time to heal and recuperate.  I am thankful that he has a built-in nurse, my mom, to check in on him.  I am thankful that my brother stepped up to the plate and ran around picking up prescriptions and taking care of the chickens.

(did I mention they have chickens?  Justin:  How do you get all the chickens to go in the coop?  David: I usually shake some feed to get their attention.  Justin:  Ohhh.  David:  Why, how did you do it?  Justin:  Uh…I used the water hose.)

I am thankful for all of my awesome family members.  I am also thankful that I have a husband who makes me laugh when I am stressed, and a dog who likes to let her lips flap in the breeze.

Josh and I were unwrapping and putting together some furniture this afternoon.  I left the room for a minute and came back to this:

Josh:  I dub thee “Saran-Ass.”

Holly: Da-aaaad!

It was such a gorgeous day, we decided to walk over to the park for a bit.  Tragedy nearly struck when Holly’s beloved squirrel flew right over a barbed-wire-topped fence.  Luckily for us, Holly has seen enough prison break movies and knew what needed to be done:

She was even kind enough to take a break and pose for me.

While this isn’t the greatest, composition-wise, or terribly creative, (and highlights nicely my tendency to scatter things across the floor, willy nilly…hmm) I love this photo because it was taken in a dark room in my house where I have never been able to get good photos before.  Love this camera!

Holly would like you to know she does not work for free:

She works for Snausages.  (Excuse the blur, I just love that wild, Snausage-loving glint in her eye.)

I had vacation blinders on and spent way too much to obtain this tacky vacation photo, but come on.  When you have the opportunity to get a photo with a guy in a dolphin suit, you just gotta do it, right?

(Josh thinks I need a refresher course on aquatic animals as I kept referring to this as our “shark picture.”  He also said next time maybe he will just rent a dolphin suit–it’s probably cheaper than what the gift shop charged us!)

Yayyyyy beach-side margaritas!  You can’t tell but this drink was so tall I had to take it off of the table to drink it. Josh took this one, isn’t he getting good at this?

I have lots more, but I’ll have to post the rest sometime in the future.  For now, I’m just happy to be home, sleeping in my own bed again, and snuggling with my Holly: