Shannon and Rick's Reception!

October seems to be the month for love.

After going to a wedding and a couple's shower, we took another road trip, this time to Sioux Falls, South Dakota for Shannon and Rick's open house reception. We weren't able to make it to their wedding in Arizona, so we were glad to be able to go to this celebration!

Aileen and Shannon

Shannon's husband, Rick, Shannon and Aileen
(Brian not pictured because he's behind the camera.)

We hadn't seen Shannon since she left Boise before we got married in September 2006.
It was so nice to catch up and meet her wonderful partner in life!

Jeannette and Adam's Couple Shower!

The second weekend in October, we drove from Houston to San Antonio for Jeannette and Adam's shower. We haven't seen them since leaving Boise in January. It was so great to catch up again, even just for the afternoon. Here they are opening their massive pile of presents.

Jeannette drinking a beer, out of a cowboy shaped glass, of course!

Adam giving Jeannette his winning-smile!

Unfortunately, my camera battery died, so we don't have any pictures of us with them. Don't worry, I'll definitely have it fully charged for their wedding in December!

At Aileen's Parent's Home...

We stayed with Aileen's parents for a week between Paige's wedding in Austin and Jeannette's bridal shower in San Antonio. During that time, we helped my parents with the house, cleaning up debris from Hurricane Ike and driving around doing a bunch of errands.

Here you can see Aileen's mom giving Bailey a bath in a pail. After helping in the front and backyards, Bailey got dirty and needed to be cleaned before sleeping on the guest room bed.

Looking at the series of pictures, you can tell Aileen's Mom cares for Bailey as her real human grandchild! Isn't it sooo cute!!!

Paige and Clint's Wedding!

Aileen's college friend, Paige married Clint during the first weekend in October in Austin. The ceremony was at an Episcopal Church downtown with the reception at Laguna Gloria. Beautiful setting and beautiful couple, you can see them below!

Here's a picture of the inside of the tent, where we enjoyed dinner made from Paige's recipes along with wine pairings for each course.

You can see many of Aileen's college friends in the picture -- Lauren is on the right, Melissa is on the left with Emily next to her and Carolyn next to Emily.

Here's a wide shot of the tent.

A picture of us!

The next couple of pictures Brian personally wanted posted to the blog, so here they are.
Don't know what the funny faces mean... it's up to you for interpretation. (Oh, and Roland's the one taking the pictures)



Here's one of Roland and Brian doing the Thriller dance.

A picture of the Gamma girls.

From left to right -- Laura, Emily, Carolyn, Paige, Melissa, Lauren, me.

A picture of the guys.

From left to right -- Brian, Clint, Roland.

We traveled on buses for transportation from the church to the reception.

Here's a great pic of Roland giving Laura a little affection.

Gotta love weddings and the love in the air!

Race for the Cure

During the last weekend in September, we took part in our first Race for the Cure in Wichita.

It was a beautiful day. We walked the 5k in honor and celebration of life for my mother, a breast cancer survivor for 9 years now.
Thanks to everyone who donated and pledged their support to us.
It means more than you know.

At the finish line with girls from my station.

Aileen's Sister Comes to Visit

Jennifer came to visit us in mid-September. Here we are eating at Luciano's (again). This time we ate on the patio. It was really noisy for a Saturday night, apparently the kids in the small town like to gather downtown to hangout and scream and shout. Brian says he used to do the same thing when he wasn't old enough to drive, in his small hometown. We still had a fabulous dinner, despite the noise!

Jennifer's trip was super short -- about a day and a half. Here, she and Bailey are having some quality time before she leaves for the airport.
On the way to the airport.

Jennifer was in town to celebrate Bailey's 3rd birthday. Bailey is posing with the gourmet treat we got her while in Kansas City for our anniversary.

Party Bus Time!

So this weekend, we celebrated the birthday of one of our friends, Krystle. Her actual birthday is September 11th. She rented a party bus to take us around the bars in Wichita. Apparently, these vehicles are BIG here... They're pretty much modified school buses (disco lights and steel pole included). And we must admit, we had a lot of fun! After 10 inches of rain the day before, the weather was wonderful! The wind was blowing through our hair through the windows. As you can tell!

Here's a group pic on the bus.