Date Night!

During the week at Family camp, we do have periods of time when we can just get away for awhile and spend time alone or with friends, just for fun. We try to take advantage of this because we're constantly going all day and night with students, so when we get the opportunity, we take it! On Wednesday night, we had a few hours, so we went to this little town in Wisconsin and found a great coffee shop. We went with Ryan and Ellie, two of our great junior high volunteers and our friends too. Travis has been discipling Ryan for a few years and I spent last year discipling Ellie. We LOVE them and always have a great time hanging out together. We discovered some games at the coffee shop, and decided on Star War's Monopoly. We played for 2 hours and Ellie won! It was nice to be off-campus for awhile and to "re-fuel" for the rest of the evening. Oh, and they had really great coffee too!

Family Camp with the Junior Highers

We spent all week leading the junior high group at Family Camp and we had a great time! We only have a very small group of students, which is very fun. We get lots of one-on-one time with the students and we get to know each of them pretty well by the end of the week! We spend our mornings doing things like mini-golf, go-karting, swimming, and just hanging out together. Of course the rest of the week we also hang out during the activities and free-time. So, needless to say, we are wiped out from constant activity!! But we love our junior highers and we're very thankful that we get paid to spend time with them and their families! We love Family Camp!

Kristian and Emily's Wedding

The newly married Mr. and Mrs. Kristian Bush...congratulations!


Our friends Ellie and Ryan were also at the wedding with us...such a cute couple!


The reception was at a historic mansion in downtown Minneapolis that had a beautiful rose garden where we hung out with drinks and appetizers until the ballroom opened. It was very pretty out there!


I like this picture of us, except for the rose in my neck!!


Travis and the handsome groomsmen. It was fun for him to see some of our Naples friends again!


Travis and I at the church, before the ceremony began. I matched the carpet!



The best man. I liked the silver vest and icy pink tie...it was a pretty color scheme.





Travis and Kristian, waiting for Emily to walk down that aisle. She was a beautiful bride!


The obligatory ceremony shot...Emily had a gorgeous dress. She looked great!

The Rehearsal and Groom's Dinner

Travis and some of the guys, on the tee-box at Minnesota Valley Golf Club


Two of my sweet friends, and Kristian's sisters, Kasey and Karlyne, and me!


They call him the "best man" for a reason!! He's my best (and only) man too!


The guys with the groom-to-be, Kristian (in black). They were all a little tired from a late night on Friday night in downtown Minneapolis, followed by a 6:00am tee-time on Saturday morning!


The bride-to-be, Emily, and her sister and girlfriends...love the minnie mouse bride ears!


Practicing the most important part...the vows! I'm a little worried about Travis and Kristian standing so close together...they tend to distract each other when they're side by side!!


Emily and her Dad, doing the "walk" all dads dread...it always makes me a little sad!


The wedding party in Wooddale Church...quite a traditional looking church, check out the HUGE organ pipes in the background!

Wedding Fever

We are officially in the middle of another wedding this weekend, so I thought it would be fitting to share this highlight video with you from my sister Jennie's wedding. The link will take you to a portfolio page and you'll just need to click on "highlight video" to watch it. There are also some short videos from the day, that are under "jennie and dave," and they are great too! My Mom called this week to tell me about it and I forgot to watch it until this afternoon. I am totally and completely biased, but it is beautiful!! The videographer did a wonderful job, and this is just the highlight video!! Anyway, hope you love it as much as we do!!

We are headed to the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner tonight for Emily and Kristian. Travis and Kristian have been great friends for years, so Travis will be standing up for him this weekend as his best man. We were thrilled when Emily entered the picture and we are very excited for them this weekend, as they take this important step into marriage. I'll take some pictures tonight and tomorrow to show you, but in case it takes awhile for me to get to it, you'll know why! We are in full-tilt wedding mode right now and we leave for Family Camp on Monday, so it's going to be another one of those crazy weeks! Hope your weekend is going well. Enjoy the video!!!

Smiling Again!

Thanks for praying for Travis yesterday. His root canal went well, although I'm not sure he'd like to have another! It was scheduled for 7:30 am yesterday, but after only getting about 1-2 hours of sleep the night before, he went in early, just hoping they could get started and relieve the pain. The dentist asked how he was doing and he told her, "I've never liked to go to the dentist in my whole life, but today I'm here early...what does that tell you??" He is doing much better and going back to work today, but I was proud of him last night, because for once in the last 2.5 years, he took a Wednesday night OFF!!! We didn't go! Now that he has a full-time associate in junior high, we could just leave it in her hands...that is a beautiful thing!! I'm also sure it's partly due to the fact that he was still on strong pain meds and therefore not totally Biblically sound! But whatever, we got to stay home and just rest. I catered to him, which of course he ate up, and then we watched a little TV and took a walk with Ryley. It was one of those beautiful nights and we just thoroughly enjoyed it. So, I think we're good to go now for this busy weekend and with family camp approaching...I've got some catching up to do with you, but I'm waiting for a chunk of time to do it!! Hope this week has been a good one for all of you!

Root Canal in Progress...

After another horrible night of NO sleep and lots of pacing due to the pain, my poor Travis is getting his root canal done and finally getting some relief...I hope! I felt so badly for him last night. The pain was so constant, even the vicodin wasn't cutting it anymore. You know that's bad. I'm hoping this makes a huge difference for him, although I know he's probably not enjoying the procedure right now. I also feel sad for him because today is supposed to be a "fun day" with his youth staff. They all have tickets to go to Valley Fair (an amusement park here that my husband LOVES!) and sadly, he won't be able to join him. So, if you happen to read this blog early in the morning, please say a little prayer for Trav's procedure, and if you're reading this later in the day, say a little prayer for his recovery time. Thanks! I'm asking because I know my faithful blog friends will pray. We love you!