Blessed by Guests and Yes to the Dress

Our weekend started on Thursday when our friend Mike and his wife Mickey came to the lake for an overnight visit. Mike was our associate pastor back in the 80s, and it was fun spend some time together to visit and catch up. His son Aaron and his wife are visiting from Las Vegas with their 2 children, and they had a big time on the lake.

They did some paddle-boating,

and some tubing, along with some water-matting and water ski-attempting.

We enjoyed an evening boat ride, with card-playing on board. Who's driving the boat?

It was fun to see Aaron all grown up, and meet his beautiful family.

We had a campfire,

roasted marshmallows for s'mores,

and sat around the fire enjoying the quiet of the evening. The only thing missing was a guitar.

We got a group photo on the deck before they left on Friday afternoon.

On Friday evening, Andrew and Darci hosted their 'LSDR' weekend, made up of 4 couples, kids, and a new baby. Jim and I are happy to be able to share in the fun too.

They did some tubing on the new 'Big Mable' tube, which has been a hit so far.

A sunset shot on the watermat...

and another to see the cute faces. Buddies Matthew, Abbi, and Makenna.

The 'kids' all dressed up and ready for their night out for dinner.

They enjoyed their evening at Big Woods, as always.

Grandma Becky came to spend the day with this little guy, and got him tucked into bed before heading back north, leaving Jim and me in charge of the 6 kids, who were all sleeping soundly when their parents returned. (At least I think they were.)

On Sunday morning, I packed some cold water and met up with Courtney and her entourage for a wedding dress shopping excursion.

She had quite a group assembled to make the trip to Cincinnati in the Silver Bullet. She's a brave girl!

Courtney let each of us choose a dress for her to try on, and then she tried to figure out who had selected each dress. It was so much fun to see her model lots of beautiful dresses, and decide on the perfect one for the wedding in March. She said yes to the dress!!

Here she is with some of her beautiful bridesmaids.

And with her sister, her mom, her grandma and her aunt.

The whole group!! It's so clever how they have the board for brides to stand behind for a photo. It was a successful day, and so much fun to share in the excitement of finding the perfect dress. So many special days ahead for Courtney and Adam!

We wrapped up a very busy long weekend by celebrating my dad's 82nd birthday. Haleigh and Ella helped him blow out the candles. Happy Birthday, Boomie!!