Showering our Britt

Last Sunday, a week ago today, we celebrated the upcoming wedding of Brittany and Chase. It was a such a lovely afternoon and the culmination of weeks of planning with a fun committee. Sally and I co- hosted the event with Ellen (Britt's grandmother), Colleen (Brittany's aunt) and Robin (Brittany's godmother). We had several Saturday morning meetings at Starbucks and many email exchanges. The planning was fun because of the ladies involved and we were all there for one reason...to shower our bride with love.

The hostesses arrived at 10am at the country club where the shower was being held, with guests scheduled to arrive at 11:30. It was such fun to watch the planning come to fruition. The room was beautiful, the food delicious, the flowers exquisite and the mood light-hearted. We had a cocktail hour, then a toast by Colleen followed by  a buffet luncheon. We played a game that Sally suggested between lunch and dessert. It was called "The Brittany and Chase Game". There were 11 questions about the bride and groom and each table had a white board and marker. Each table wrote their answer on the white board and then shared it. The final question was "What piece of advice would you give Brittany and Chase...about the wedding, marriage or just life in general?" We started opening presents and then used the pauses to have each table share their answer. It was awesome. Lots of wisdom in that room. My favorite piece of advice came from my friend Deanna's table. Deanna said a proper older woman, married 40 years, had given it to her at her own bridal shower many years before. The advice? "Pick one room to be good at and stick with it". Pretty profound and fun.

It is hard to put into words how special it was to be part of this celebration. Brittany and her whole family have a place in my life that cannot be defined by just friendship. What a privilege it is to have shared so many of life's milestones together.
Here are some pictures from the shower:

Sally, me, Colleen, the bride, Ellen and Robin

Chase and Britt open presents

beautiful MOB and bride

game time 

MOG and groom...such wonderful people

Impromptu Pizza Party

Jack and I hosted a pizza party at our house on Saturday. It was about as impromptu as it gets. It started with Wayne and Julie making plans to spend the night at our house on Saturday. I mentioned this to Sally and Matt on Friday and invited them to join us for dinner. Sally asked that I make homemade pizza. Jack and I called Bucky Friday night and asked if he wanted to join us. Sally was texting with Lauren on Saturday and invited her to come over. Lauren then relayed the info to Brendan and Sam, who ended up coming by to hang out, but not for dinner.
We had ourselves a party!
There is nothing like the younger generation to make an evening fun and full of laughs.
Oh my gosh, they are so much fun!
I wanted to get a picture of Bucky and his grandkids. Then Wayne began doing his imitation of me and my (what he calls) random pictures of unlikely combinations of people. Not true! I always have a reason as to why I want certain folks in certain pictures. It's just not always clear to other people what the connections are!
Here are some pictures from our fun night:

Matt, Julie, Wayne, Sally, Bucky, Lauren, Brendan, Sam

one of the groups Wayne called out

I also need to add that the newest member of our family, Otto, Sally and Matt's Welsh Springer puppy, joined the party, too.

party puppy!

By the end of the night, Otto was out like a light at Matt's feet. Adorable.

can't keep up with us :)

We were way past due for family time and it was a fabulous way to spend a Saturday night.

Northwoods

I enjoyed my first trip to the Northwoods this past week. Matt's folks, Bob and Mary, have a place up near Minocqua and they have been asking Jack and me to come visit. Well, we finally made it happen. It did not disappoint!
Jack and I left late Wednesday morning. Our first stop was for lunch at a cozy little restaurant named The Weary Traveler in Madison WI. We pulled into Wausau around 5 pm and had a relaxing evening. There was a restaurant next to our hotel named The Great Dane Pub and Brewery...which of course we had to go to because of our Dane.
On Thursday morning, Jack googled the best breakfast place in the area, like he did when we were coming back from Georgia earlier this summer. We ended up at a cute little place named The Mint Cafe.
Hmmm. There seems to be a theme to this post. It's all about restaurants! I don't want to give you the impression that all we did was go to restaurants. That is not true. We also went to pubs :)
We checked into our hotel, The Pointe, in Minocqua, around noon on Thursday. The Pointe has slips for boats and Matt rented one for his family's boat. Matt, Sally, T (Matt's brother), Bianca (T's fiancee) and Matt's Uncle Brian sailed over to pick us up at the hotel and we began our traveling lunch.

here they come!

 Bob and Mary met us via car at our first stop. This is where I got to experience my first Spotted Cow. I liked it. A lot.

me, Sally, Mary and Bianca

We sailed off to a few more places and then got dropped off at our hotel. For dinner, we went to a supper club named the Red Steer  and had a phenomenal meal.

On Friday morning, Sally and her puppy Otto met Jack and me at the hotel and we walked into town. Jack enjoyed hanging out with Otto for many reasons, not the least of which was all the attention they got.

We had lunch with everyone at The Shamrock. One of the things that is cool about this place is that my parents used to go there with their close friends back in the 70s and 80s. I even have a picture of my mom and her friend Char standing in front of The Shamrock. I just need to find it.

After lunch, we went boating for a while, then rested up for dinner at Norwood Pines. Another fantastic meal!

a little indoor shuffleboard

sailor Jack

A little blurry, but aren't they cute?

We are so grateful for Mary and Bob's hospitality and for our thoughtful and kind son-in-law that they raised. We are blessed!

I'm baaaaack!

Wow, this might be the longest I have gone without blogging.
I have missed you all, my faithful readers :)
Here is what has been happening in my life the past few weeks-
My sister Sue has been dealing with crazy awful back pain. Not the run of the mill pain, but the kind that makes it hard to move for over 2 weeks. I hate it when someone I love is in pain and I cannot do a thing about it. I do not want to violate her privacy or anything (though I just did!), but it has been quite a trial for Suz. I think things are on an upward trend for her, but please do pray for my dear uncomplaining sister.
I also have been winding up the summer, with Institute Day just two days away. Really.
In addition, Jack and I just returned from a three day vacation in the Northwoods of Wisconsin. That will be its own post.
Thanks to all who check in here. I appreciate your patience in between posts.