The Outdoor Kansas Wedding

My cousin Sarah tied the knot! Outside, on a farm, and boy was it cold! But well worth it. A tractor took the guests to the wedding site in the field. It was an evening wedding and the pictures make it look a lot darker than it was. Check out the wedding cake...layers of chocolate brownies!!! Yum! Congrats Sarah and Hi!

Hayride on Hellar Farm

My uncles are wrestling in a buffalo wallow...this circular area of land is where the buffaloes drank and when it had no water, they wallowed in it. This was decades and decades ago, before farming, but the wallows are still there. The wallows have their own distinct vegetation because its still kind of swampy!

Thanksgiving Day and Bonfire in Kansas

Turkey Day at my aunt and uncle's house/farm in Kansas. Football, Manhattans and...fire, lots of fire. This was no ordinary bonfire...it was HUGE! The kids/younger cousins loved it. I guess when you live on hundreds of acres, it's not a concern! As you can see, we had to stand WAY back because it was so hot.

High School Girlfriends Reunion!

Four of us were able to pull away from our busy lives and have a 100% relaxing weekend in Franklin, NC. Beautiful autumn weather, beautiful scenery and we were WAAAY high up the mountain! Tracey's mom was kind enough to let us stay at her mountain house. It was me, Ju, Trace and Mere. Karen and Janelle unfortunately couldn't make it. We cooked, drank wine, watched football on the tube and gabbed for hours! It was awesome!

Halloween 2008 on the porch

I'm not sure who or what we were supposed to BE for Halloween but an old wig, cheap nose/glasses, a bandana, a leather jacket, and a plaid work shirt really did the trick. The kids were SCARED. It was our fifth Halloween at our home! We sat on the porch together and passed out candy. Bruno liked it too!

Baby Katelyn in New Jersey!

Here's some photos of us hanging with the other McGovern crew in NJ. Matthew is such an incredible little boy. He was dancing to the music at the restaurant in his chair. Katelyn is perfect and beautiful.

Our Trip to Visit Aunnie in the mountains

The Hot Springs Spa was neat! It was COLD outside but a WARM 103 degrees in the tub full of natural hot mineral water straight from the ground beneath us...or, at least that's what they told us! :-) The river is the French Broad in downtown Marshall, NC

Silly Pictures of Us

Shawn took this unflattering picture of me with the big fat leaf blower on my back, so I took a picture of him, too. Look out Batman, here comes Shawn! He's wearing my spa mask, trying to get a little R & R on the couch with Bruno. Funny man!

2nd Wedding Anniversary Getaway

Shawn and I went to The Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Here's some pictures of the hike to the waterfall and Clingman's Dome, which is a lookout tower that offers views from all sides. It was very "smoky" (foggy) up there as you can see. The trees that appear dead have been eaten by a bug that accidentally came over from Europe a long time ago. We even hiked the Appalachian Trail! Not really, but there was an entrance to the AT on the short hike to the top of Clingman's Dome so we pretended we were avid hikers and just finished an exhausting hike, haha. The wood sign says "Appalacian Trail."
We also rafted down the Tuckasegee River in a duckie, which is an inflatable kayak. There's a picture of us fighting the raging water (class II) on www.tuckshot.com. Search 8/30/08 entries.