Today is Grandma’s birthday!! I have been saving these images of my nephews from this weekend to share with Grandma (and everyone else) for her birthday!

Jonas is interested in everything Grandma does. From quilting….

To playing Wii Fit! Jonas is really good at navigating the Wii – except for this particular day. He logged in, started the body test (with Grandma’s help) and then the screen announced “you’ve lost 100 pounds!!” Jonas was signed in as Grandma instead of Jonas. :-)

Birthday kisses for Grandma!!

This is Isaac’s signature look – tongue sticking out and curled up. :-)

For anyone who knows my family – does this look familiar?? :-)

For everyone who doesn’t know my family – my brother (Jonas and Isaac’s dad grew up playing LEGOs. All the time.)

He’s three!!

Please, don’t judge my hair/outfit/lack of makeup. But when I have my baby nephew falling asleep in my arms, I am NOT going to get up and out of my pajamas!

Me with both my sweet nephews!

Grandpa got some holding time in, too!

I met Tyler + Lindy in Battle Lake, Minnesota for their engagement session yesterday and I’m pretty sure I fell in love.

With their smiles. With the way they laugh with each other. With their kindness. With her shoes. :-)

I am SO excited to photograph their wedding this November… and to be able to say I know the owner of Zorbaz on Ottertail… yep, this girl’s got connections. :-)

Tyler + Lindy – thanks so much for being so fabulous! You guys seriously know how to look good!! And Tyler, thanks for being such a great prop. :-)

I should really preface this story by telling you about my dad’s GPS. He used to have  “Susie” – I’m not exactly sure what kind of GPS it was, but my parents named it “Susie.” Well, Susie was one road short of a map and so for Christmas last year my brother and I got dad a new GPS – “Julie.”

Julie has much fancier imaging, easier menu options, and she shows you on a street-view-style screen which lane of the interstate you should be on for driving in big cities (like St. Louis for example). Julie goes everywhere with my parents. Even to church and back (a 5-mile drive to town from their house they’ve lived in for over 30 years).

Every time they drive someplace familiar, they bring Julie along just to see which route she would have taken compared to what they have already mapped out or traveled once before. “Oh, look, Julie wants us to take that major highway instead of this gravel road shortcut.”

It turns out that no matter where we’re going and what route we’ve planned, Julie always has something else in mind.

Which brings me to my cousin’s wedding in St. Louis. Lance and I met my parents in Sioux Falls and drove to St. Louis together. We had our maps and atlases and, of course, Julie. To avoid driving through Kansas City during rush hour, we take a divided highway across the state. We turn at St. Joseph… **recalculating** **make a U-turn** **recalculating**

After a while, Julie realizes we are going to take this highway across the state so she better just cooperate.

Then. We get to St. Louis. I have already announced which exit number we need to watch for, but Julie wants us to cut through town. At dusk. Excuse me, Julie, but my family is not used to big cities and we would prefer to stay on the road with the least amount of turns.

We make it to our hotel just fine. (Somewhat. I’ll spare you the “NO! DON’T MERGE LEFT!!” and the two cop cars in front of our hotel details.)

The next day we had free to do whatever we wanted. Sortof. Our car had a different plan. Our brakes were worn out (not because of Julie, or the quality of driving with Julie, but because of inclement weather back home). On our way to the St. Louis Arch, we spotted a Midas shop and made an emergency pit stop. The arch was only a few blocks away and the repair was going to take a couple hours, so we walked.

We’re so excited we made it to St. Louis in one piece!! :-)

Mom and dad were excited, too!

Thank goodness our motel was within 2 miles of the Arch as well as the wedding festivities on Friday. I don’t know if Julie would have survived. Because we all wanted to throw Julie out the window at one point during our trip. Except for Dad. He’s always interested in which route she’d like to go.

1. My nephews – okay, so maybe they will ALWAYS be on my ‘favorites’ list, but this month they have been so amazing. Jonas is learning his syllables (this video is the cutest thing EVER!!) and Isaac is working his baby abs by rolling over and sitting up!!

2. Walking – It’s been so nice here the past couple weeks that I’d rather be outside walking than sitting at my computer uploading photos. But then again, I can’t put off work for other people without feeling rotten. So instead I get my photography work done, put off exercise and let my muscles turn to flab. :-) And yes, this is my attempt to make walking shoes look beautiful. I don’t think it worked.

3. Keeping busy – I might have been a hermit the past week, but I did edit an entire wedding, photograph and edit a newborn session, and unpack my suitcase from St. Louis. And yes, the unpacking of my suitcase was probably the most rewarding thing I did for myself all week. That and treat myself to Armadillo’s. Twice. Key Lime with Candi on Wednesday and Strawberry Cheesecake with Lance on Friday.

4. Adele – ‘Rolling in the Deep‘ is stuck on replay on my iPod. The song doesn’t really apply to my life. At all. Her voice is just that good.

5. Being a tourist – This photo was taken with Lance’s fabulous camera phone skills after church at the Old Cathedral last Saturday while we were in St. Louis (hence the arch…). Also, expect to see a blog post from our trip to the arch in the next couple days!!

That’s right, little ol’ me from South Dakota had my very first destination wedding in St. Louis!!! I’ll expand on that more in a different post, because now I want to introduce you to my beautiful cousin Gladys and her dancing-machine-husband Matt!!

Matt + Gladys met at a swing dance event in St. Louis. She needed a ride home. He had a car. Since then, they have become great swing dancers and fallen deeply in love. I LOVE seeing my cousins marry people who make them laugh and smile, and Matt does just that for Gladys.

These guys had the most involved suits I have ever seen – they all had to help each other get ready. At one point, I think there was a line of guys putting on each others’ suspenders. :-)

Gladys couldn’t have picked better shoes to wear all day and dance in all night!

Gladys’s niece Eden is just as shy as I was when I was a little girl!

This wedding was one of the craftiest I have seen in a long time – the girls bought these flowers at Trader Joe’s and arranged each bouquet themselves.

Matt + Gladys chose to see each other for the first time during the ceremony – here’s Matt seeing Gladys for the first time.

And he could NOT keep his eyes off her! :-)

Some people are jumping-challenged… but not these guys. Holy smokes!!

For those of you who were at the wedding and chillin’ at the reception, this is what I was up to:

Gladys had fun shoes and Matt had fun argyle socks! I love me some awesome details! :-)

THIS is my cousin. Fun, gorgeous, and happy to be married!!

And Matt’s ‘button’iere? He made it. And one for all the other guys. SO much craftiness at this wedding!

Gladys’s niece Elise recently earned her angel wings due to a disease called Tay Sachs and was Gladys’s flower girl in spirit.

You can read her story here and make your own contribution to cure Tay Sachs here.

Sqwires is such a unique place and it was perfect for Matt + Gladys’s wedding reception!

The father-daughter dance…

And let the swingin’ begin!!

ceremony | Lafayette Park United Methodist Church

reception | Sqwires

bridesmaid dresses | a selection of stores

men’s suits | Men’s Wearhouse

flowers | Trader Joe’s