there's no place like home

(me, adrienne (10), sarah (11) and adrienne's cousin by the bonfire pit/chicken grill)

last weekend, i went home to wisconsin for my mom's wedding and the 4th of july. i was looking forward to this weekend for so long and it definitely didn't disappoint! i don't think i could have possibly crammed anything else in.

(these are my favorite girls, doing the ho-down throw-down. thank you, miley cyrus!)

thursday i went to 2 different showers for my mom; a breakfast little girls' shower, given by our neighbor carlene and all the little girls heidi and i used to babysit for (emma, sarah, adrienne and gillian). there was so much food and it was all super delicious! the girls were as excited to see us as we were them, and i was thrilled to be at home eating carlene's home-cooked food. mmm!

(me, melissa-friends from alpha chi, and blair-friends from middle school, reunited)

between showers i was lucky enough to be able to fit in a visit with blair and melissa. it was great catching up with them and just hearing how life is going- i haven't seen them since their wedding in cali a few years ago and that's way tooo long!

(me, donna, sue, joanie, linda, mom, heidi and tracy)

the 2nd shower was given by my mom's really good friend sue. she also put out an incredible spread of food, and all my mom's lifelong friends (like family to us) were there. what more could i want out of a day? a trip to summerfest with my dad and stepmom, maybe? yep. i was excited just to be down by the lakefront- take in the sights, sounds and smells of summer, and to catch up with pops. i felt old to be at serummerfest though! there were so many high schoolers down there and it made me remember the years i would go down 4 or 5 times with friends. we never could get enough of seeing one concert after another.

(the happy couple)

(last year for Christmas, steve gave his uncle tom, his brother rick and nephew evan bib overalls as a gift. they gave him the same wedding gift in return.)

friday was the wedding. my mom and steve finally tied the knot after almost 10 years of being together. it was about time! my mom looked spectacular- super classy, with a simple dress, an updo and pearls (given by the groom as a wedding day gift!). the venue was great- on the lake, just a few blocks from our house, with a friday fish fry dinner and a steel drum band. there was even karaoke afterwards!

(annie and i by the johnson's parade car)

(the one and only Okauchee Lake!)

saturday, for the 4th, we had a huge party at our house. our neighbor steve brought and roasted rotisserie chicken over the bonfire pit, there was a mariachi band (the band even took a boat ride and played all the while), boat rides, fireworks and all my favorite people were there (including anne, who drove up from chi-town!). the 4th of july is one of my all time favorite holidays, just because there's so much fun involved- you get to spend the day outside, picnicking, swimming and playing with fire. simply the best!

(my favorite part of the whole holiday is watching all the boats assemble in the channel, right in front of our house to watch the fireworks off this island you see straight ahead in the picture. after the show is over, the sky is dark and all you can see are stars and smoke, and the water is really calm because all the boats are sitting. after the engines are all started up, hundreds of boats migrate back out into the big lake to go home, and the navigation lights on the boats make for a beautiful sight!)