On the other side of 30

On Saturday, I turned 30, and Jeremy threw me a wake. Yes, you read that correctly, a wake. We mourned the passing of my twenties with some good friends, family, an awesome cake, black balloons, a memorial slide show, and a floral funeral arrangement. Yup, we saw them out in style.

Thank you, honey, for one of the best birthdays I’ve ever had. To quote Tim McGraw, “my next thirty years will be the best years of my life…” I’m glad I get to spend them with you.

Becca flew down for the night, and partied down with us.

That's Kelly. She designed the cake. Pays to know a professional cake decorator!

That's Cassie and Jason. Cassie was the mastermind behind the funeral arrangement flowers.

Commenting

I just changed the blog settings to allow comments without having to create a Google account. To comment, click on "comments," enter your comment in the box, and in the "Comment As" drop-down menu, choose "Name/URL" and then enter your name into the field that pops up. Don't worry about the URL field, unless you have a website you'd like to leave behind.

On the twelfth day of Christmas...

It's beginning to look more like Christmas around these here parts. This morning, we got our 10 foot tall Christmas tree (Jeremy wanted to take full advantage of the vaulted ceiling in the foyer.) We've got a few in-the-house decorations this year and each year the collection will grow until one day, Christmas will slap you in the face no matter where you are looking. That's how we like it around here.

Our stockings were hung from the side table with care...

Even Garlock and Brooklyn, they got a pair.

And what would Christmas be with out a Santa or two...
Tonight, with Christmas carols playing softly in the background, we decorated our first family tree...

Too cute for words

Kali's school had their Winter Formal on Friday. Her heart-breaker days are coming on fast!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas?

Jeremy was out of town for work Tuesday and Wednesday this week, leaving me with morning dog-walking duty. Putting aside the fact that it was forty degrees outside…

Today, as we walked down a court one block from our street, Garlock had what I believe was his first real encounter with an inflatable Christmas decoration. As we turned onto the street, he stopped suddenly, looking suspiciously at an inflatable several houses down, peeking through the bushes. We walked on, Garlock coming to a full stop each time he caught a glimpse of the inflatable. As we drew closer, Garlock become more and more anxious until finally, as we passed the inflatable, he ran into the street as far as his leash would allow, straining to avoid having to walk past it.

It seems Garlock is in agreement with me… there’s nothing right about an 8 foot tall inflatable Santa Claus on a motorcycle. Nothing at all.

All in the Family

We'd planned to do a family photo on Satuday, but it rained. Yes, that's right, it rained. 165 days of no rain, and it rains on the day we picked to do our photo.

So, Sunday, we tried again, and were successful.
Not pictured here? Sarah running back and forth to the camera to set the timer for another picture (or three), and Garlock wanting to play with the doggy across the park.

P.S. In spite of all of the running, I really do love my macro lens.

Christmas Lights!