Vacation In Your Own Town

We actually had a trip to the state fair last Thursday, the first official day of my vacation. We ate a lot of Pronto Pups, wandered around a lot (gotta love those pigs ears on Jack, huh?)

Jack and Ross went on a few rides


and we dreamed of the days we will spend our lives traveling through the country in our very own motor home. Those pop out models are pretty sweet. They have everything in them, and when you park, they expand out and are HUGE! Ahhh, some day I, too, may be able to live in the trailer park. A girl can dream. After our night of bowling this evening, Todd came home with the trailer park Bowling Trophy. He kicked our butts with a 171! My average was 100, just as always. I guess I need practice before they'll let me into the bowling hall of fame. Todd said he wouldn't sign us up for a league, either, I am just too embarassing a bowler.
We also hit the Renaissance Festival, per Ross' request

aren't we cute??
and the boys got to fence

Ross was the victor, much to Jack's dismay.

We saw Puke and Snot

I think that's Puke

So that would make this Snot
and the boys practiced their hand at pre-game boy games.

and

All in all, fun was had, food was eaten, and we found our car at the end. Woohoo!
Coming up next time, Wild Mountain and Jack losing a tooth!

Wedding Pictures

Jason has posted some of the wedding pictures at

http://www.pbase.com/drumminj/toddandamy

If the link doesn't work, paste it into a new browser. For any of you who would like prints, please let me know what you want and I will put an order in for everything in a few weeks. Jason is in Denmark on business for the next two weeks, so he will be adding more pictures to the gallery after that.
There are some very nice ones and some humorous ones, like the sleeping bride at 9:26pm. I did wake up after that, but I was exhausted! See???

The wedding was fabulous and I am officially a wife...and very happy to be one!

The Eve of the Big Day

Wow, it is 11:57 the night before I get married. I think I am finally done with everything I wanted to complete today with 3 minutes to spare. It's been a very busy summer and I am delighted to end it this way.
My final words for the day:
Todd,
I love you more than I ever thought possible and I am so very proud to become your wife.
Forever,
Amy

The Wedding is Right Around the Corner

Mary, who is such a goddess, came over on Saturday to help me prep food for the reception. It was a long, yet somehow humorous experience, since Todd and Ross spent the afternoon working on this:

That would be Ross's mini-bike. It's sort of a scooter and motorcycle wrapped in a tiny package. Todd had fun riding around the neighborhood and the running joke was that he was getting ready for Sturgis. HA!
Mary and I, on the other hand were making these:

Mmmmmm, bacon. They will look much more appetizing cooked. We also made other things to eat:

Mmmmm, gorgonzola....
and:

Those are spinach and artichoke salami cups. No fat in those babies. Actually, everything we made was low in fat. We used neufchatel and olive oil, so that counts, right? I suppose compared to a tub of lard...

It's almost like a tub of lard, but there's spinach in it, so that counter acts all the fat from the feta. Scientifically proven fact, I swear.

And that is one of the many red peppers I roasted for the red pepper salsa I made. Todd even liked it and he hates everything, nah, I'm kidding, but since his favorite dinner is tater tot hot dish, his opinion only counts for so much.

I think I was going for the trailer trash look in my wife beater tank, did I succeed? Yes, I think I did. Though, I was trying to save you all from picking long blonde hairs out of your food, too.

Now, isn't that an beautiful hand shot of my rolling those little tyropitas? Mary, you are awesome! She fired herself after about 5 minutes and decided that phyllo rolling wasn't her gig.
Then we have the pictures of the peanut gallery:

This is Jack showing off how big he is, and did you know he can stretch from one side of the Yukon to the other? WOW...you know he just keeps growing, I tried not feeding him, but he just got crabby.
And here is my little princess who, with her betrothed, rang those little bells constantly because they couldn't decide if it was more fun to watch Mary and I cook and wait for us to drop stuff on the floor, or watch the boys fix the mini bike. The true entertainment was the fuse that kept blowing and Ross running up and down the stairs about 50 times throwing the curcuit.

Yea, he looks all nice and innocent, but he's waiting until we wash our hands to ring the bells to go outside. Just...wipe...them...on...the...towel...and....
And then there's Ross:

Isn't that a lovely picture? We had a great weekend, except for the part where he crashed the mini bike and messed up his foot. Spending Sunday night in the ER in X-Ray is normal with boys, I hear, though I prefer not to experience it anytime soon. He was on his way home from the store with the cherry pie filling for the cherry turnovers I was making for him when it happened, so I guess it's my fault. I'm terrible. Though, the turnovers were good and he enjoyed many of them when he got home from the hospital.
Another fun filled weekend at the Swenson/Evavold/Frazee household that makes me kind of glad that Monday is here and I can sit in my cube with a little bit of peace. Ahhh, the padded walls are so calming....

Oh, and did I mention..

Floor sanding is icky. I mean uber icky, dirty, frustrating, blah, blah, blah...
My house is coated in sawdust and I spent the weekend with Todd on my hands and knees SANDING the floor. Talk about bonding experiences, we hardly fought at all, though!

It's Almost Friday!

I've been slow in posting this week due to a delay in getting the pictures I wanted...last weekend, Todd and I helped Jessica "While You Were Out" her friends bedroom. Kevin is 28 and the Jamacian beer towel over the window and beer clock HAD TO GO. We weren't allowed to get rid of the furniture he grew up with, so we were limited in what we could do. He had no idea, he thought she was organizing his closet.
Here's what we started with, after we pulled the bed out of the room...

First, we had to come up with a game plan for all his crap. The cheap tv stand, and crappy computer desk in the background were high on the priority list of things to GO. Thankfully, they didn't fall into the "childhood memories" catagory, so they were fair game. Out they went! After, of course, we cut the internet supply to the house and screwed up everything so his brother couldn't get on the net and guilted us to no end for being "girls".
So, we painted:

and painted:

and built a headboard:

Ok, so Jack didn't really DO anything, but it sure looks like he was working hard, doesn't it?
I really wish we had more shots of us trying to do this, but we have now coined the term, "the blonde leading the blonde", because that's about what it was like when you get Jessica and I together on a project like this. Good thing Todd was there to run the tools so we didn't end up in urgent care.
After hours and hours of work, here's what it turned out like:

and

The desk counter was a great buy from IKEA for 50 bucks and basically made the whole room. Jess got a keyboard tray from work to install under it, she had a friend of hers install a ceiling fan, so that big black thing is gone, too. I wish I had a shot of the cool mirrors we installed... http://tinyurl.com/dxzns there it is! I stabbed my palm on the corner when Todd and I were installing it and was bleeding for hours...blood, sweat, and tears, right?
Kevin came home Sunday and was in shock for days, and he's still looking for all his stuff. He said he wouldn't change a thing and his brother says it's "girly". Oh well, we think it's awesome!
We also picked up Ross from camp on Saturday from Camp Ripley, I got really car sick, the aliens did NOT like the long drive, but I'm doing better, I've given up coffee, and I am trying to be stress free. For me, it's like trying not to breathe.
This weekend, Todd is sanding the dining room and hallway floors, they are awful and though we'll end up with an edge, we don't care there's NO WAY we will be able to do the whole house before the wedding. Oh, yea, the wedding, I'm in denial, everything's great!
Ok, I'm going to go hide under my desk.

It's a Monday!

Every once in a while, just when I am thinking I have most of my life together, I do something really stupid that makes me realize I'm just an idiot. This weekend, I walked right into a door frame. It didn't jump out in front of me, I wasn't carrying anything, I just walked right into it. Thankfully, the big red mark disappeared this morning. And people wonder why I say I am handicapped.
About the duplex, it's almost done!! Lei signed her new lease last night and Todd is over there finishing up...the floors look great, see??

and the kitchen is done...wait, those are the wrong pictures. Never mind, I'll post them later.
So, all in all, the place looks great. The yard and garage need some more work, but we can do that this fall AFTER the wedding.
Besides the door frame and the fact I think I have an alien growing inside of me, everything's great. I've had heartburn for 5 days now and symptoms (ok, I was in denial) for about a month. I see a doctor tomorrow and I scheduled it late in the day because I handle bad news better when I can go home and cry about it. Todd thinks the aliens may be related to stress. Wedding stress, remodeling stress, and ex stress. I just keep my fingers crossed and hope for karma, soon!
I've also been working on the cd Todd would like me to put together for the wedding. I listened to most of the songs I picked out for it while I was painting this weekend. I DO have to say, it's totally us, and completely out there and all over the board. We've got Bob Schneider (of course, heeeellllloooooo???) Sonny and Cher, Ray Lamontagne, Etta James, The Beatles, and much, much more! We are making copies for those of you twisted enough to join us for the special day and for those of you not lucky enough to come and eat all our food, tough luck. Maybe someone will do a b&p for you.
Jack and I started reading Harry Potter 6 and the little cheater skipped to the end to find out who dies! And the worst part is HE TOLD ME!!! Bah, Todd would only let him watch the last 5 minutes of the Simpons for the rest of the night. I think Jack got the point. I ended up finishing the book, so if you care to discuss any of the fine points of the book and any theories coming up, feel free to let me know. I have several ideas and can't discuss them with Jack since he hasn't read the whole book. Rotten lil' stinker.
Thankfully, Monday comes and there's no paint, no remodeling, and things are relatively quiet and safe in my little cubicle. No doors to walk into and little action from the alien, ahhhhhhhhh....