My Brother Got Hitched!

Oct. 11 finally arrived! Whether or not Jeremy was ready for us all, we arrived in Dallas on Thursday ready for the celebration. We descended on his "bachelor pad" and the fun began! By "we," I mean Dad, Mom, Courtney, Sam, Dustin, and me! Oh, I forgot to mention that Jason (Jeremy's co-best man) also stayed in the house with us, which made 8 total. Hopefully, we didn't traumatize him too much! The weekend fun started on Friday morning preparing for both the rehearsal dinner and the Friday afternoon groomsmen party. As soon as the guys left to pick up their tuxes, Mom, Courtney, and I created an assembly line and started whipping up the food. We put together quite the spread! Between Matt not being able to keep his chair upright during "Womp 'em," designing Jeremy's dream girl (don't worry Steph, we know that's you!), a horseshoe/washer tournament (Matt and I won both!!), some haircuts, and great grilling, there was a lot of laughing and jokes.

On Saturday morning, Mom, Cor, and I took off early to battle crazy Dallas driving for the bridal luncheon before getting our hair done at the church while the guys stayed in their pajamas and prepared to watch the Texas-Oklahoma football game. Man, guys have it easy on wedding days! The wedding was beautiful and it's hard to believe that Jeremy is now a married man...Although, maybe it's harder to believe that Stephanie actually wanted to marry Jeremy and join the Goldschmeding clan! The reception was a lot of fun, filled with great food and great dancing--Dustin and I learned the shuffle and the Soulja Boy dance!

The newlyweds took off on their honeymoon to the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, but the party didn't end there. The following week, my parents gave them a Michigan reception. The weather was beautiful and warm to celebrate the day. Before Jer and Stephanie left for Dallas and Dustin and I left for Ann Arbor, we played a pretty mean version of Lightning on the basketball court and rode Sam's quad. It isn't very often that we get to all be together as a family to share in jokes and jabs, but it certainly was time well spent! We are thrilled to have Stephanie join our family and look forward to the fun we'll all have together.

Halloween Weekend

Jen and I haven't dressed up for Halloween in a number of years. That may be evidence that we're getting old. I suppose we'll have to dress up for Halloween next year. Let us know if you have any ideas.

This Halloween, the Shev family (Nate, Shawnna, and Baby Lilly) joined us at our place to hand out candy. It was a good time. Since Baby Lilly is so full of energy - rolling around, laughing, and eager to grab anything she can get her hands on - she was our primary source of entertainment.

Jen and I also spent a couple hours babysitting Lilly over the weekend. Things went quite well, there was no crying or pooping. I think that's about as good as it gets. In all seriousness, however, it was great having Lilly around; with her youthful exuberance, she has a way of just capturing all of your attention. But Jen and I don't have our heads in the clouds, we fully intend to remain a family of two . . . at least for a while.