Where Did the Summer GO??

Yes, we're alive! We have been the worst bloggers this month.. Sorry to those of you who emailed us waiting on our next post.. Life has been absolutely ridiculously busy since June, where we basically wake up around 6:30am and leave for work/school and do not get home until around 9pm most every night. At that point it's hop into bed because we're exhausted. Weekends have been super busy, too, with a mix of work and FUN! I have those promised pics of Dave at Grandma's Marathon! And we'll fill you in on some of the fun stuff we've done on our time off these past few weeks. First, let me catch up on JULY BIRTHDAYS!

Phew, where did the past 4 weeks go?? July is seriously almost already gone?? Dave and I were just talking about how we have barely gotten to relax this summer, and here it is, already half way gone..We'll have to make some changes for August and get out to the pool! (It's pretty sad..our apartment complex has a pool area, and we have only been there ONCE this summer where we were only able to stay for half an hour before having to go babysit and study. Pretty darn sad.)

July has The Week of Niece and Nephew Birthdays! Julia on the 7th, Dominic AND Calvin on July 8th, and Sean on the 10th. Happy BELATED birthday to each of you!! Wish we could have been there to share in all your parties and fun!
We like to point out that Calvie is our Godchild (my adopted godchild thru marriage.. :). He's extra special to us. We hope you had a GREAT birthday, Calvin!! Other July birthdays include our aunt Ruth on the 22nd (let us know if you got our message, Ruth!!) and Mrs. Ashley Bekks ToDAY! Happy birthday to you BOTH!! Ash's first birthday with her little one. :) 

Back a month ago, on June 19-20, was Grandma's Marathon in Duluth. Dave and our friend Nick ran it. Here are a few pictures we took that day that I couldn't get uploaded last month when I tried. Had to do a software update it turned out, and voila! Here they are:

Swift Nick is in the yellow shirt

Dave is right in the middle of this picture, wearing the black hat and black shorts

This is Dave from the back after he rounded that corner. Black shorts, no shirt, by the ones with white shirts. Maybe you can see his sweet tat?

This is the lift bridge. Sam and I were walking around a little while we waited for our boys to meet us after they finished. It was a beautiful day for pictures, but soooo hot and humid out.

Dave and Nick after with their medals. Dave's knee is still wrapped here, well, half wrapped. He lost one of his bandages while running. It just popped off he said!

Kinda gross, I know..but he insisted I take a picture! Dave's one and only blister, huge as it is. Sorry the camera's focus was off, but I think you get the idea of how big and disgusting it was..

We hope everyone had a Happy [belated] 4th of July! That weekend, we checked out. Friday Dave picked me up immediately after work and we drove out to Nick's parent's camp, about 2 hours from our home in the Cities. Loretta was with us as well. We had just the best time being away from our cell phones, TV, & PEOPLE. Nick's parents Sam and Michael fed us extraordinary meals and we got to know some more of Nick's family while we hung around the lake, did some boating and swimming, and sat around the fire relaxing. It was a much needed relief from our every day lives. We even got to see fireworks the night of the 4th. All the surrounding camps had purchased the illegal fireworks and they sort of took turns shooting them off. All we had to do was sit back and look left then right then left then right. :) Glorious.

July 9 to the 12th, Chris and is business partner (and friend) Rick stayed with us while they were in town for a training seminar. It worked out really well as the seminar was only a few miles from our apartment. We didn't get to hang out much with them until Saturday night. They treated us to dinner at our favorite restaurant, Good Earth (an all-natural and organic restaurant). Then we treated them to dessert at another favorite, the Cheesecake Factory. It was so funny. This restaurant has about 50+ different flavors of cheesecake, and Chris was trying to decide what he wanted. I looked down at their glass case of cheesecakes and happened to see the one out in front was called Chris' Outrageous Chocolate Cake. So, he got it. After they packed it up for us and we were on our way home is when we noticed how much bigger his slice was than our puny little cheesecakes. Seriously, his cake was outrageously large and outrageously chocolaty. The container was double the size of our cheesecakes'. Chris couldn't even finish it. We ended our night with wine, beer, popcorn and games. Chris and Rick headed out Sunday after their last hours of the seminar. Thanks for the visit, guys!

This past Friday was Christina's wedding. Christina is my co-worker at Revolution. She has been fabulous on training me in and I actually took on most of her work this past week while she was out preparing for her wedding and then this coming week while she'll be gone on their honeymoon. Dave and I attended her and Paul's wedding. It was on Friday 7/17 and they had a candle lit ceremony at their Methodist Church in Edina. The reception was at the Lafayette Club in Minnetoka. We took a few pictures, but with the dim lighting at both the reception and the wedding, my camera struggled to get clear shots. Here are a couple of the best ones. Congrats to Paul and Christina! We love you both!!:

Here is the entire wedding party just before the vows were passed. Dr. Suzy is at the front of the girl's line. She and Christina are sisters and co-own Revolution. Suzy was the Maid of Honor.

Christina and Paul left in style in a rented white Rolls-Royce.

The beautiful couple ready to get moving to the dance floor to celebrate!

Some of you may recognize this young lady. Casey Carlson was one of the finalists of this past season of American Idol. She was also a member of Christina's sorority in college, so she came to sing at the wedding reception. She did a great job! It was neat because she came and sat at Dave's and my table thru the dinner and toasts, so we got to talk to her for a while.

So these were the highlights of the more relaxing and fun things we've been doing these past few weeks. Today I have the morning off from work until 2pm. No babysitting today either as the family I usually work for this morning is on vacation, so I got to sleep in a little bit and am now catching up on all the Internet stuff I have been meaning to get to for a month! After this I'll be attending to Craigs List postings and returning 85 emails. Have a great day everyone! Make the most of Ashley's birthday!! :)

- Elise