good times

i really love weekends. especially in the summer. there are what seem like endless fun things to do, plans to make, and relaxation to enjoy. this weekend was another great one, even though not all of the plans came to pass. on saturday morning some highschool friends and i hosted a small bridal shower for alicia (the bride-to-be in last weekend's posting). i am still in touch with about 10ish people from my highschool days, 6 of us who are still in regular contact and 4 of us that get together once a month for girl time. we are spread across the country but have stayed close. somehow in h.s. we came to call ourselves the "rebels." we were all pretty goody 2 shoes, but i believe the roots of this name lay somewhere in an explanation of us being rebellious in our own unique ways... anyway, the name stuck and we still refer to our times spent together as "rebels" gatherings. hence the shirts you see us wearing in the following photos. it was lots of fun. the wedding is in 2 weeks and i'm looking forward to the trip!

i'm not sure how i managed to not capture our beautiful brunch spread on camera, but i did. there were mimosas and carmel soy lattes and gluten-free muffins and a delicious omelet/hashbrown casserole. good food. oh yes, and my hand-picked bouquet of wild flowers (my idea of "decorating").


benjamin and shelby represented for the next generation of "little rebels."

interestingly, benjamin and shelby are 2 weeks apart. shelby is swimming in her onesie, which is 3-6 month size. ben's is nearly busting at the seams, which is 6-9 months size.

poor mike did not have a tee shirt


today we got the clothesline up in the backyard and tried it out for the first time--success!

my husband says to me, "now, have you ever hung clothes on a line before? do you know how?" i thought that was nasty sarcasm. turns out there are a few tricks to the trade which he kindly demonstrated (which he learned from years of doing it on the farm.) who knew?

we had plans to go down to indianola to see the warren county fair and the hot air balloons. benjamin was all dressed up and ready for his first fair:

but mother nature had other plans. we had the car packed up with picnic food and had plans to meet friends there, where we would grill and watch the balloons pass over. instead, it rained. and flooded our backyard, as usual:


the above photo shows the sad story of our dwarf lilac bushes. we planted 8 of them earlier this summer along the fence line. the 5 on the left are doing well, growing and thriving. the 3 on the right are continually flooded out when it rains. 2 are barely hanging in there, and one is nearly dead. not sure what we'll do with that.

so we stayed IN for dinner. but the carlson family still came over, as did our old friend from drake, abby. we are so happy that abby has recently moved back to the des moines area with her 2-yr-old son, jackson (he shares a birthday with benjmain!) so that we can begin seeing her more often. jack and caleb had fun playing together (and fighting over toys), and the adults enjoyed catching up. i'm still holding out hopes to get to the balloon festival this week sometime before it ends. if so, i'll be sure to take some photos. those who have never been to one may be surprised at the sheer mass of balloons, color, and beauty!