Pictures from Laurie's 21st Bash

Here are some pictures... Story may follow. We'll have to wait & see.

In Honor of Laurie's Party

You Are Heineken

You appreciate a good beer, but you're not a snob about it. You like your beer mild and easy to drink, so you can concentrate on being drunk. Overall, you're a friendly drunk who's likely to buy a whole round for your friends... many times. Sometimes you can be a bit boring when you drink. You may be prone to go on about topics no one cares about.

What's Your Beer Personality?

Borrowed from Dawn

You Are Ernie

Playful and childlike, you are everyone's favorite friend - even if your goofy antics get annoying at times. You are usually feeling: Amused - you are very easily entertained You are famous for: Always making people smile. From your silly songs to your wild pranks, you keep things fun. How you life your life: With ease. Life is only difficult when your friends won't play with you!

The Sesame Street Personality Quiz

Happy 21st Birthday Laurie

Yes, Our baby sister is now legal! 21 ripe old years! To send birthday wishes, click on this address.

Laurie's My Space

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=74960084&MyToken=3c328ffb-2de2-4ed4-90b8-66e6899ef03f

Jaxon is here!

Jennifer & Brady have a new member in their family. He's the cutest little guy. To see more pictures and get all the details of his arrival, click on Jenn's blog to the right.

Riverfest 2006 Cont.

As usual, I spent most of the final Saturday downtown. Tammy had plans to go to a graduation at the lake so, Laurie & I decided to go together. She, Alyssa & I headed down about 330pm. When we got there, we went straight to the "flea market". It was basically two-three blocks of booths with people selling junk. Seeing as neither of us had much money, we mostly just looked and enjoyed the oh so warm weather.

About 5 or so, we went to walk by the river to watch some skiing and look for people we know. I had already ran into Brad W who was one of my good friends from college. It was so good to see him. As we were on the path down to the river, there was a large thing made of wood holding cords in place. The people who had set it up had forgotten to put a ramp over it. As you can imagine, this made it difficult to get passed. Laurie went on down ahead of me to see what our options were. When she came back a nice couple had stopped to offer their help. She also had found there was another road block about 100 feet down around the corner. This annoyed the _____ out of me. I mean come on. This is 2006 and Riverfest XXXV. Not the 1st annual. They should have accessibility down by now. I sucked it up & made it passed but, made sure to go to the information booth to find out who to talk to about the many issues I'd had with getting around this year. The lady I spoke to was very helpful. I plan to try to offer help to prevent problems such as these in the future. I'd hate for the city to get sued like the State Fair did a few years back.

Around 6pm or so, Andrea called so we headed up by the Hyatt to meet her. Along the way we ran into Carla & Justin. It was fun to see them for a few mins. Then I saw a hot guy from college who I took to my first sorority formal. Andrew--How Dreamy :) Anyway we met Andrea and decided to head to the food court to get drinks and an onion blossom to share. Just as we got settled in Arrowhead was taking to food court stage. They are a local country band with a cute lead singer. We had a good time chatting a listening to them sing. About 7pm or so, Alyssa begin to get hot & tired so my mom came to pick her up.

The rest of the evening we just wondered and chilled. The fireworks started about 945pm and were great. Jenn U, Grant & Braydon met up with us. We watched from the first street bridge. By 1030pm or so, wee were ready to fight traffic. Now I'm already looking forward to Riverfest XXXVI.

Riverfest 2006 First half

My favorite time of year. For most of my life, I've gone to Riverfest events. Tammy & I started going as teenagers back in high school. We'd love to get dropped off in the early afternoon on the last Saturday and spend all day in the sun before being picked up after the Fireworks late that night. We'd spend the day wondering along the river looking for "hot guys". It's amazing how much fun it would be. As an adult I still love going early and staying late. Now instead of the focus being on "hot guys", I love going to the flea market and looking for old friends. People who live in the same city that you never see. Don't get me wrong those "hot guys" are still in the back of my mind :). I just consider them a "bonus" now. I've also always loved going to the Parade and the country concert night.

This year Laurie & I went to the Parade together because the Nick Lachey concert was scheduled to start shortly after the Parade. We met my friend from poker Andrea & Jen Ulbrich plus kids at the parade. The parade has gotten fairly lame but, we made the best of it. After the parade, Laurie & I headed towards the West Bank Stage to see the concert. He was scheduled to start at 8:30 pm so we headed over there about 8pm. As we are getting close, we notice there are tons of people. As we get closer, we discover the event planners forgot to put out ramps to get up the curb onto the grass where the concert is. The had the curb cuts at the corners blocked by fence so getting where we could see was impossible. Well, people make mistakes so we decide to make the best of it. We thought well, at least we'll be able to hear. Wrong. At about 8:45pm the DJ's announced he'd be out in a couple of minutes. This went on over & over until we'd had enough. By 9:20 pm, he still hadn't taken the stage. We left & the next day, we read in the paper the he took stage at 9:30pm and was done in time for fireworks to start on time at 10pm. Pathetic!

I'm happy to say the the country concert was much different. Tammy was in town & staying with me so she & I met Chris, Jennifer W. & Katie downtown about 6:30pm. Josh Gracin was who we were headed to see. He was set to perform at 8:30pm so we wanted to get there early to get a good view. Lucky for me, he was at Kennedy Plaza instead of West Bank Stage. Anyway, by the time we got there..."Good seats" were a joke. "Oh well, we'll at leaset be able to hear". This time we got lucky. We could sorta see and we could hear great. He came out on time and sang for over an hour. As a matter of fact, he was still singing when we left. Awesome show. We sat near my little sister from my college sorority so if we she sends me pictures, I'll try to post one.

Well, there's ton more to write but, I'm tired for now. Stay tuned...

My Wish by Rascal Flatts

To those whom I love the most. This I wish for you!

My Wish by Rascal Flatts

I hope that days come easy and moments pass slow,

and each road leads you where you want to go,

and if you're faced with a choice, and you have to choose,

I hope you choose the one that means the most to you.

And if one door opens to another door closed,

I hope you keep on walkin' till you find the window,

if it's cold outside, show the world the warmth of your smile,

More than anything, more than anything,

My wish, for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it to,

your dreams stay big, and your worries stay small,

You never need to carry more than you can hold,

and while you're out there getting where you're getting to,

I hope you know somebody loves you, and wants the same things too,

Yeah, this, is my wish.

I hope you never look back, but ya never forget,

all the ones who love you, in the place you left,

I hope you always forgive, and you never regret,

and you help somebody every chance you get,

Oh, you find God's grace, in every mistake,

and you always give more than you take.

Oh More than anything, Yeah, and more than anything,

My wish, for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it to,

your dreams stay big, and your worries stay small,

You never need to carry more than you can hold,

and while you're out there getting where you're getting to,

I hope you know somebody loves you, and wants the same things too,

Yeah, this, is my wish.

I hope you NEVER doubt how much you mean to me.