Neither rain, nor sleet, nor dark of night...oh wait, I don't have to do it anymore!

Hey, I just realized something. I was looking at my profile and it says "I am a divorced mom of a teenaged son who plays hockey. (fear me!) So I spend about 6 months out of the year hauling a teenaged boy & his sweaty hockey equipment back & forth to the ice rink a couple of times a week."

Um....Collin just turned 16 and he has his own car now. Wooooo hooooo! Those late nights coming home from the far side of Boise in the snow/rain/dark after hockey practices are over! Of course, I'll still be going out there once a week to see his hockey GAMES. But he can get his own butt to practice now. And since he has at least one good friend out here in Nampa who is on the team, they can carpool. (So that's a plus for him.)

And actually, eventually he may get a break from that far drive too. There is an outdoor ice rink being built in Nampa and the team is going to try to work out something so they can get ice time for practice. It would be SO great for them to be able to get more practice in. I'll keep you posted on that development...

Weddings, Visiting Family & Levitating Goats (oh my!)

THAT, ladies & gentlemen, is Amanda & Nevil's new restaurant in West Virginia. Amanda is my 24 year old niece who just got married over 4th of July weekend. Heck, when I was 24 I never would have been able to own/run a restaurant! I'm so proud of Amanda & Nevil for grabbing hold of their dream and making it come true. Not to mention the wedding was great!

My dad (Amanda's grandfather) walked her "down the aisle". Or in the case of this beautiful setting, down the front porch.

Amanda's sister Charlotte (far right) and Amanda's friends were in her wedding party. Also CJ & Jessica's daughter Raegan was the flower girl. I love the look on Charlotte's face in this picture--it reminds me of the way she used to smile when she was a little girl.

Nevil & Amanda with her mom (my sister Nancy) & dad

Randy, Trevor, Collin & I at the wedding (I love how we inadvertently ended up all color coordinated. The boys all in blue and me in a blue striped dress.)

The visit to West Virginia for the wedding was stretched out a little so we could enjoy some relaxing time visiting the family. Our first night there, there was a rehearsal dinner at Amanda & Nevil's restaurant and we had a nice time catching up with family and getting to meet all of the new "significant others" of all of the nieces & nephews.

Charlotte at the rehearsal dinner with my mom & dad.

The kids slept out on the big covered porch and also out in the meadow in tents, having fun scaring each other every night. They spent some time riding the four-wheeler and the dirt bike, swimming at the swimming hole, and playing basketball.

"But what about the levitating goat?" you ask....Ah yes... One of the things we did in the evenings was to go feed the sheep & goats. Might not sound like fun to you--but walking around in the dusk, watching the lightning bugs lighting up around us, hearing the sheep bleating at our approach....kind of relaxing actually. I snapped a few pictures while we were out there and after uploading the pictures to the computer we realized in one of the shots, at first glance, one of the goats looks like it's levitating behind the fence. Kind of made us laugh so now it's a favorite picture. (Secretly I think the goat really was levitating and was planning an escape...)

We've definitely decided we have to visit again soon.....