Chuck & Dawn’s home is landscaped so beautifully. I enjoyed wandering their yard so much as I’ve had trouble getting any of my plants to look healthy this year with the cold, wet and windy spring we had.
No home is complete without an outhouse, right?
The view from the hammock in the backyard.
Bliss!
Our son Joe and his fiancé Kristen were married this past Saturday, June 4th in a very nice, casual ceremony held at a friend of their home. Their wedding was rather unique as it included a car show. A car show? Yes, a car show. Joe & Kristen spend much of their summer attending various car shows and thought it only appropriate to ask their guests that have a classic car to bring it to their wedding.
They were married by their friend, Ernie on the patio of the home. Joe’s friend Steve was best man and Kristen’s sister was maid of honor.
A couple of weeks ago, Joe called DH and asked him to say the prayer for the ceremony. DH was honored to be asked. He thought long and prayed hard about what to say.
In keeping with the car theme, here is what he said….
It’s pretty cool to look out and see all these cars here today.
Getting married is like buying a car.
You go from place to place checking out the different models, maybe take a test drive or two and then settle on that perfect vehicle.
The proposal is made and accepted. Papers are signed and the title is issued. In this case…Mr & Mrs Miller.
You drive away “Just Married”! What a great day!
Down the road the miles start to wrack up. The 3 year/36000 mile warranty expires and that new car smell is replaced by those small children odors. The initial excitement of the marriage may have worn off.
Joe & Kristen, I want you to look at your marriage as a classic car. Care for it properly and it will become a “Survivor” vehicle worthy of any show.
I know of someone who deals exclusively in classic marriages. When you get your marriage through Him, He doesn’t require any money down, you don’t have to make monthly payments and He always issues a clear title. Best of all, His warranty period never expires.
All He asks from you is to keep your marriage clean. Read the owners manual! (hold up the Bible). And bring it back only to Him for service. He has service outlets everywhere and of course, they’re open Sundays!
You can go there and get your tank filled and your battery re-charged and it’s free! Even if you have a major wreck, he can do a perfect restoration and get you back on the road like nothing ever happened if you just bring it to Him.
Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus,
These are the special times in our lives. We’re turning to you to ask for guidance and favor on Joe & Kristen’s marriage. You have given us this beautiful institution of marriage intended to give us a lifetime of friendship and satisfaction. All you ask from us is obedience to Your truth. Lord, please bless this union of Joe & Kristen. Amen.
I was so proud of him saying what was on his heart.
The cupcakes I had been trying our for the last couple of months turned out well. We had Espresso, Banana Pecan, Lemon Curd, Key Lime and Chocolate Peanut Butter cupcakes.
Their friend Chuck, even offered hayrides for people to enjoy.
and no wedding is complete without a family picture. It’s tough to get a good picture with our guys as someone is usually messing around.
After a few trys we were able to get a good one.
I’ll be back tomorrow with a few more pictures of the beautiful grounds around the home.
you can start with checking out the Crossroads Construction outreach blog. This should explain where some of the month of May went for me. I’ll be posting a few of the other activities that have kept me occupied in the very near future as well.
Not only was my day at work yesterday sideways….
After work, I needed to stop at the grocery store to pick up a few things for a meeting we are having tonight.
As I was walking into the grocery store, I thought my jeans felt funny in the backside. However, I didn’t exactly want to be feeling that area of my body walking through the parking lot so I dismissed it. As I was wandering through the store, I couldn’t figure it out and tried to sort of twist the waist a bit as again, I didn’t want to be feeling my backside in the middle of the grocery store. I assumed something didn’t quite get put back in the right place after going to the bathroom when I left work.
I gathered my groceries and headed to the checkout. I leaned over the cart to unload it as I typically would. I noticed when I stood back up that the lady standing behind me was giving me a snooty look. Of course, in my mind, I’m thinking ‘what is her problem?’ and calling her some not very nice names.
I purchased my groceries and headed on home. I sat down in the chair to take my shoes off and when I crossed one leg over the other, I heard a small tear.
It finally dawns on me what’s going on. Yeah, I’m a little slow like that most some days.
I had a huge rip in my jeans, just under the pocket exposing more than I would have liked for the world to see. And of all days to have worn bright underwear! No wonder the lady behind me was giving me that snooty look.
So today, these pants are heading to that big black burn barrel in the sky. Good-bye my favorite jeans! [sniff sniff]
The moral of this story…if your pants feel funny, for goodness sake stop in the restroom and figure out what the heck is going on!
your computer monitor does this.
and no this isn’t an optical illusion or a photo that has been turned the wrong way. I went to put a parenthesis into an email and wallah, everything went sideways. Apparently I hit some kind of hot key sequence.
However, there is beauty of working in the technology division. I hollered down the hall, literally, it’s pre-session for summer and there is hardly anyone around. And my personal tech support at work aka our Information Technology instructor came running and fixed it with a few quick key strokes.
The moral of the story is…make sure you’re really hitting the shift & 9 key when you want a parenthesis or you too might have a sideways day like mine.
I’m not sure what a blog is anymore. It’s been over two weeks since I’ve posted anything and it feels like even longer. I miss not posting but the time has just not been there.
I’ve got no excuses either, other than life has been a whirlwind these past couple of weeks and doesn’t show any sign of slowing down until maybe mid-June. :/
I’ll try and catch you up a bit. Easter weekend we celebrated a very special little boy’s 3rd birthday. He was beyond excited!
Not sure what he was examining here. The cake must have passed inspection though by the look of his face below.
This little guy is such a joy to be around and is the spitting image of his daddy at that age. He looks like Daddy, has his Daddy’s mannerisms and his Daddy’s stubbornness. He’s giving his parents a few fits as he tries to assert some independence. He is 3 though and our guys were worse at 3 & 4 years old than they ever were at 2.
I mentioned to Jon last night how much Owen reminds us of him. He replied how that was encouraging and frightening all at the same time! 
All the boys were home for Easter service at church with us. It’s always such a blessing for us to fill a row with the family that we love so much. The rest of the day was spent at two, yes, TWO Easter dinners. Can you say stuffed beyond imagination??
Some of the guys raided Luke’s truck for hats before we all left for home after the second dinner. Are seed corn hats and machinery hats as big a deal in your area as they are here? They seem to be a precious commodity, to the point of saying, I’ll trade a t-shirt from my company for a hat from your company. The bartering system is well and fine in this family for sure. Hagie is getting plenty of free advertising in this area after Easter Sunday for sure.
We had a craft day to work on items for our Relay For Life sale coming up in a couple of weeks. Mothers Day was wonderful! I planted flowers and DH planted our little garden (more to come on that another day) and we joined J&H and the kiddos for an impromptu picnic in the park.
And you know what? I don’t’ have pictures of any of it. My camera has barely been out of my purse in the last two weeks but that’s going to change, I promise!
I have a bridal shower to go to for our new DIL, Kristen this coming Saturday and their wedding is a little over 3 weeks away! I am so excited for them. It’s going to be a great day, I can tell already.
Oh, and in the meantime, because we have nothing else going on, we’re taking a group to Northern Alabama to help with storm clean-up in ten days.
Whew, I’m tired now and think I’ll go to bed. I’ll try not to be so absent again but no promises until I get past June 4th.
Hope all is well in your world!
Before we did our pre-wedding scoping, we had a pre-wedding scoping lunch. Doesn’t everyone do that?
Joe had been telling us about his favorite restaurant, the Crystal Lake Rib House.
Oh be still my BBQ soul! It was hands down the best BBQ we’ve had on the northern side of these United States.
The place looks a bit dumpy but it’s decent inside. It only seats 26 at a time.
I had my favorite, the pulled pork sandwich which in no exaggeration was at least 4” tall. I ate it yesterday, again for supper tonight and still have enough left to take to work for lunch tomorrow. 
Joe had the ribs. 
and DH had the rib tips. 
And as if they weren’t full enough (we all took home doggie bags), the guys decided we needed dessert too!
Look at the size of those pieces!
Their menu says the place is a gift from the God’s of BBQ. They’ve got that right!
So if you’re ever in the Crystal Lake, IL area you’ve got to stop in and have a bite or two or three or four or until you bust!
We took a drive into the burbs yesterday to check out the location our son is getting married at in early June. You can read a bit more about the style of wedding they’re having here.
Joe’s friends, Chuck & Dawn have graciously offered his beautiful home and yard for the occasion.
This is where the ceremony will take place.
And here is where the reception will be. 
They have a few cars to move out of here first though. 
This might have a bit to do with why they’re having a car show wedding. They’re thinking of parking the cars here along the driveway. 
I’m excited! I think this will be a bunch of fun. Now we’re praying for great weather!
Tomorrow I’ll show you where we had lunch. Oh be still my BBQ heart!
