summer night:

friday night we all met up at buca de bepo’s for dinner. what a treat to have so many of our favorite people gathered around one table! we ogled over baby eli and passed him around the table. we then took a head count, kudos to the trail blazing “phase one” friends (jess & brendan, beth & dan) and took attendance of the confirmed “phase two” friends (everyone else). it seemed like a momentous moment, the next time all these friends gather, so much will have changed… it is so strange & incredible to see your friends become parents to these tiny little people.

david, blythe, brenna, david (holding eli) & daniel

kristen w/ eli & beth

chad's turn

the group

this pic in front of buca took several tries…and we still didn’t fit everyone…but we gave it a good go.

after dinner we all headed to the knights for a couple rounds of the phrase-picture-phrase game. we look hard at work , and we were (example: how does one draw a picture of the word “anaerobic”?!), but it’s worth the laugh in the end every time! we were zonked by midnight. (don’t tell the phase oners!)

a busy three day weekend:

well, as to be expected, my hopes of getting a couple posts in a week have fallen by the wayside, but I have not given up! I was finally able to take pictures of the “after” state of our living room, to post the previous post, and now with my conscience cleared I can post this latest update on our july 4th weekend. it was a bit of a mixed bag, fun stuff, but a few stressful moments too! first the fun, chad’s band, van gross & the gypsies, had a thursday night gig at the mars bar. they did a great job & had a blast. :D it was so fun to watch chad be a “rock star.” ;) …yeah, i didn’t exactly know that about him when we married, and you might never guess! –but that’s just another reason why i love’im.

from left: seth. steve evan & chad rock the house at the mars bar

friday we enjoyed the day off & chad graciously took me to browse the outlet center. *grin* however i must say- man, it is soo hard to live in such a tiny place! on the way there chad repeated over & over that we would not be acquiring any more heavy pieces of furniture, “none, period.” (i think the rug was the last straw!...) i tried desperately to soften the “period” part of the declaration, but it doesn’t look good for me... (not that we have a whole lot of space to put anything in our jenga-tight little apartment!)

that night we met up at the boat on elliot bay marina with frank & sarah. we couldn’t have asked for better weather. :)

saturday morning came slow & easy. we had our token trip to hirokis & headed south to the office. there, i spent 6 stressful hours finishing my petition for a minor work promotion. in the end - it was 90 pages long! i felt like a stressed out, though satisfied, over-achiever. we shall see what ruling comes down from on high....

sunday was the perfect Sabbath, much fellowship, friends & rest, who could ask for more? for lunch we had hotdogs and long conversation with very dear friends and then continued the visiting in sammamish at the lloyd household.

jessica & i 1 week before the big arrival!

from the left: chad, david, luke & brendan at their new home for 3 in southlake union

our little nephew cole is getting soo big! here he is with his first ice cream cone. :)
...

lastly, but by far leastly, my very dear cousin is engaged to be wed! after much anticipation- a hearty “here here!” to patrick & kim, what excitement lies ahead!