Amy's wedding pictures (July 23rd, 2011)

I'm so grateful that Amy was at the wedding with her camera. She was able to capture a couple pictures of the girls and I feel so lucky to have gotten these nice shots. Miriam is very difficult to photograph and usually just frowns at the camera. But, Amy managed to get some cute ones. Not only does she take wonderful pictures, but she edits them all so nicely too.

Amy - we so appreciate your talent & willingness to photograph our children/family. Thanks, friend!

Jodi & Dave's Wedding

July 23, 2011

Last Saturday was a day that our entire family had been waiting for (with great anticipation!) a long time. It was a truly beautiful day! After a fairly short courtship (who needs to date long when you're 36??) Jodi & Dave got married in a gorgeous ceremony at Bethel Lutheran Church. Here is the lovely wedding party. Eleanor was so proud to be the Flower Girl and she did such a great job! Uncle Mark was Dave's Best Man and Jennine Staven & her son Teddy completed the wedding party as Matron of Honor & Ringbearer.

Here is the lovely Flower Girl & the lovely Bride.

And the lovely Flower Girl and the handsome Groom.

I love this picture - the good-looking guys with Eleanor.

Not only were Eleanor & Mark in the wedding party, but we all were very involved in the wedding. Michael and I sang in an octet with Matt & Melissa, Jon & Siri, and Bill & Amy. It was so fun to sing with all those talented people and it was truly an honor be a part of the ceremony.

Michael with his other (younger) brother, Mark. He's not the twin, obviously. :)

Look at these two cuties! Eleanor & Teddy - they look like they could be on top of a cake!

Mari Lee with her all-grown-up-boys.

Here's Eleanor in the Fellowship Hall. She wanted her picture taken by the cake! She was also ready to dig in to the brunch buffet (the wedding was at 11 am with a brunch reception). I should also explain the doll. Jodi & Dave gave her this American Girl doll (it's a knock-off from Target!) as her flower girl gift. She totally fell in love with this doll and named her Rosa Linda. Her flower girl dress came with a matching doll dress so Rosa Linda wore that for the wedding, but as you can see she then had to change into her reception/party clothes!

We thought we should get some family pictures...which was no easy feat!! Here is Eleanor with Grandma & Bahnka. Miriam was in no mood at that point....

The Culloton Family

The Anderson/Culloton Family

Editor's note: I should really talk about Jodi & Dave's story. For those of you that don't know (I'm not sure who you would be because I've been bragging about this for over a year!) I was the Matchmaker for these two wonderful people. After a very unique set of circumstances in the Fall of 2009, they became friends on Facebook and had their first date (a 4-hour dinner in Duluth) in March 2010. In April of 2010 Jodi seriously broke her ankle and was in bed/handicapable for months. In June 2010 she needed to go to a friend's wedding in Iowa but couldn't drive herself. I suggested she ask Dave to take her (he's off in the summers and is an excellent driver - it makes perfect sense!). The "Driving Miss Daisy" weekend solidified an already budding relationship and by the end of the summer/early fall 2010 they were already discussing an engagement. Yep...it was a perfect match. The lover of Jane Austen books (Jodi) found her romantic English teacher (Dave). I could write so much more about these two...but, I'm sure, they'll live happily ever after!

Como Zoo/Como Town (June 2011)

I've gotten behind on blogging (and by "behind" I mean that I'm just not doing it as often as I used to) but better late than never! We took the girls to Como Town/Zoo back in June. Uncle Dave came with us and we met Mari Lee, Matt & Melissa there too. We looked at all the animals first and then let the girls play in the new splashpad area before we left to eat a picnic lunch. It's always such a nice place to go (especially during the middle of the week when it's not quite so busy!).

I have a picture almost identical to this one from 2 years ago when we first took Eleanor to Como Zoo. Maybe I'll do a side-by-side comparison at some point...but, that would require more blogging, so don't hold your breath!

The following pictures are from the new splash pad area. It's part of Como Town and so does require tickets. It only cost about $8 for the two girls. It's great except we got a bit nervous for Miriam. At her age it's a bit more risky because she was slipping a lot. At one point she did fall and hit her head. I kept thinking "no running!" like when the lifeguards used to yell at us when we went to the public pool as kids. So, the concept is somewhat backward to me...small children running around on all-wet surfaces? Accidents are bound to happen. But, nevertheless, the girls loved it!

Despite Michael being in summer school this summer we've managed to do quite a few things. The MN Children's Museum, Como Zoo, & a visit out to North Dakota (pictures to follow soon!) just to name a few. I can't believe that it's almost August! Hopefully, we'll get to do a few more things before the summer is over. If so...I also hope that I can keep up with the blogging better!