Scott and Amy

The last weekend in June, my family reunited in Austin, TX to celebrate Uncle Scott & Aunt Amy's wedding. At the groom's request, I did not take any pictures of the wedding itself, but I'll share a few of the rehearsal.

Bella and cousin Swayzee were flowergirls! Bella was so proud and excited to be included in such an important role.

Beautiful Bride, Amy

My three daughters

Gabi helped pass out programs to all the wedding guests before the ceremony. This assignment made her feel special, and she took the job seriously.

Introducing the newlywed couple (at the reception):

The girls were well-behaved at the church so they could attend the reception (a.k.a. dance party)! They enjoyed dancing with their many cousins.

The kids also decided to play a game on the dance floor. I think they were playing "telephone." The cousins basically had the entire dance floor to themselves, as none of the guests wanted to follow the bride and groom's amazing first dances.

The reception was held in a museum lobby. It was a great location, walking distance from the church.

Of course, Michael danced with his girls! He bought a tie to match the wedding colors since he was an usher.

Scott and Amy leave the reception through a tunnel of bubbles.

Our girls were exhausted after a long day and a full evening of dancing.

The next day, I met up with my high school friends Sydney and Stephanie, who drove to Austin just to have lunch with us.

Stephanie brought her sweet six-month-old baby, Ella, for us to meet.

Notre Dame in June

We traveled to Notre Dame for Michael's 10-year reunion this summer. It was great to visit the beautiful ND campus again, hang out with some of our best friends, and catch up with friends we haven't seen recently.

My friend Trevor happened to be on campus working on a project with one of the engineering professors.

Michael and I renewed our vows at the Basilica.

We toured the impressive new engineering building.

Michael, George, Cynthia, and Joe at the new entrance to the JACC:

We stayed in the dorms for the weekend. It would have been more fun if it were one of the dorms we had a closer affiliation with during our college years (specifically Knott)... or if we could have been in one of the brand new dorms (which are reserved for older alumni during reunion weekends). Overall, though, it was a wonderful weekend and a trip down memory lane.

Of course we stopped by the Grotto, too.

Michael & Melissa, Margaret & Jason, Joe, and Emmet

Margaret's son, Emmet

Outside Knott: "Whoever's bike is in the tree, kindly remove it."

View from the library of Stonehenge, the Basilica, Washington Hall, and the Dome

God Quad

George, Michael, and Joe in front of Stonehenge

Michael climbing a tree on South Quad

Back in Little Rock, all the cousins gather to wish us fare-well:

Daniel, Stephen, Tyler
Jaymie, Julienne, Gabi
Kati, Bella, Caitlin

Gabi and Isabel at Isabel's birthday party
the weekend before we move

Kati with a giant bear near the Colorado border
on our drive to Denver

Moving to Denver

Three weeks ago, Katarina and I moved all the family belongings into our new house in Denver with the help of my college friend (and Kati's godmother) Cathy. We had a few days to get the house set up while Michael finished his last week of work in Little Rock.

Kati loved having an empty house to run around and explore! Her zebra scooter was enough to entertain her while most of the toys were still in boxes.

We also enjoyed the Colorado weather. Kati enjoyed climbing the slide in our small backyard, but more often we would go out front to walk up and down the block.

Katarina met many of the neighborhood children that week. The girls were especially enamored of the new baby! Here, Kati was pointing out the ants on the sidewalk to Drew and Colette, so they picked one up and tried to teach her the word "ant."

My college friend Joe and his fiance, Betsy, came to our house one evening for dinner. They were married two weeks later in the Rocky Mountains - so you can look forward to pictures when I get around to that blog post.

Katarina is now 16 months old. She still signs more and finished and bird and eat. She says "Mama" to mean Mama/more/I-want-that/I-don't-like-it and generally anything else, and "Lolo" means grandfather/chocolate, although she is starting to add real words to her vocabulary.

She says "oo-oo" to mean woof-woof/dog/animal. She says "sister" and "ball" appropriately. She even has a full sentence that she uses frequently: "What's that?" She also says "uh-oh" and waves "bye."

Kati says "nana" for banana, one of her favorite foods (second only to corn). She can quack and meow and bellow like an elephant (while raising her arm like a "trunk"). Uncle George taught her "up" and "down." Last night when Michael asked her what they should read before bed, she responded, "A book!" Today, she said "stairs" and "cracker" and "Dada" on her own - which made Michael very proud.

Kati sitting on our front porch

Kati relaxing and reading a book

Graduation

Michael completed his Pediatric Cardiology fellowship, and we celebrated with his coworkers at a dinner in his honor. Congratulations, Dr. Mikey!

Gabi graduated from Kindergarten at the end of May. Now she's a first grader!

Bella enjoyed a class party on her last day of PreK-3.