Iowa

We just got home from a family reunion in Iowa. Most of my pictures turned out pretty grainy and/or washed out. (I'm going to blame it on the blazing sun and unbearable humidity.) I had to do some creative editing to make them presentable but I just LOVE the way this one of my little brother and Gwen turned out.

Ella with her cousin Lydia

Addie and her Papa

The girls with their cousin Chloe..... absolutely giddy

while trading candy they got at a parade

they went to earlier in the week

with Mimi and Papa.

Catching fireflies......magical.

Josie and Lydia.......dancing to the Blues.

And finally.......look at this action shot!

Father's Day

Hey dad. It's me.....your daughter........the one who rarely never gets anything in the mail in time for major holidays. And I'm sorry I haven't at least called. My voice is totally gone after all that screaming I did at the races this weekend. I hope you don't interpret my lack of planning or phone calls as a lack of love and gratitude for all that you've done.....all that you've taught me.....all that you are. I've thought about you LOTS today (and I DO mean LOTS) as I've spent the last 2 hours trying to make a personalized smilebox card for you....complete with personalized photos and a Lucky Kids soundtrack. But this is me, admitting defeat.....I'm having problems....and where I'd normally run to you with my technological difficulties, it seems wrong to ask you for help in creating your own Father's Day card.

So if it's OK with you, I'd like to publicly (I suppose my 5 readers makes this a "public" forum?) thank you for just a few things on this Father's Day.

• Thank you for building me that adorable dollhouse AND cradle for my babies. It may not have had 3,000 shingles, Amy Lawson, but it had carpet, curtains, a woodstove, AND a little dishwasher with pull out racks. Hear that Amy Lawson? My dad loved me more than your dad loved you!
• Thanks for taking me on a date when I "became a woman" to show me how a guy should treat a girl. As awkward as it was for me (and maybe even you), it was a very sweet gesture.....one I doubt many fathers can say they made.
• Thank you for making me feel beautiful. Even when I wasn't. (Insert photo of redhead with short boy hair and HUGE buck teeth here). Really. My insanely high self esteem is all thanks to you;)
• Thank you for loving and accepting Steve as your own son. I can't tell you how thankful I am that you guys have that kind of relationship.
• Thank you for loving mom the way you did/do. It was because of your example that I knew what to look for in a husband.
• Thank you for working hard so mom could stay home with us. Without that I surely would not be the same person today. Oh, and thanks for having a cool job as a "stripper." I sure loved telling my friends what you did for a living.
• Thank you for having a sense of humor. A dry sense of humor, but humor nonetheless:)
• Thanks for music. Music=happiness.
• Thanks for loving my kids enough to let them play with your iphone:)
• Thanks for watching the kids by yourself (including the diapered one!) so mom could be with me in the hospital for Gwen's delivery. I couldn't have done it without you both.
• Thanks for loving me, in word and deed. "I'm the luckiest girl in the world.......cuz I've got a daddy who loves me......" You are my biggest encourager. Thanks for seeing the best and ignoring the rest.

Happy Father's Day Dad.

I love you!

(now that mom and I finally got a decent picture together, I think it's time for you-n-me.....wouldn't that look nice here?)

"Linky Love" and my Love

This post is pretty funny. I'm just sad I wasn't the one to write it.

And this girl never ceases to amaze and inspire me. Between reading about the mad love she has for her Mr. Nielson and rereading listening to The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands on CD while cleaning the living room moving piles of stuff from one room to another, I am falling in mad love with this man again. 

Not that I was ever "out of love"......maybe I had just started to take him for granted. 

NO MORE.

Anyway, if you've never read Nienie's blog or The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands, I strongly recommend them both. 

Oooh, and one more link.......my lil bro is back!!! YAY!