July brought a lot of joy...Geoff and Caitlyn got married!! We had a splended time in Galena, where the wedding was held. We enjoyed a long weekend that started out with tornadoes in Dubuque and Galena Territory (Iggy, Lilly, and I had to take cover in a closet for 45 min while we had no power and buckets of hail dropped on our cars and cabin, and a huge tree came down on the neighbors house) the next day we met Caitlyn's family and rented a few pontoons that we took out on the beautiful lake at dusk, then Iggy baked his cakes for the reception dinner and I did hair. Sunday was a day of preparation then the most beautiful ceremony I've ever been to. We are so honored to have been a part of this special day....Thank you Geoff and Caitlyn:)

June was full of fun as well. Daddy surprised Lilly with a swing. Now we hear "me finging" all day:) love it. And we went to Siesta Key, Florida...my favorite place on earth. This was actually Lilly's second time at the beach, but the first was when she was 6 mo. old. So we were excited to see how she would like the sand and water.....she loved it. The 100 degree heat and million percent humidity didn't seem to phase her.

Wow! This summer has flown. Where do I begin? May ended nicely with all the cousins getting together for a pool party that ended up being a big puddle party:) The kids had so much fun dancing and running in the downpour, then in the flash flood. Also in May, our garden was completely planted....time to wait and watch. More on that later...

It's been awhile since we've posted. Most evenings and weekends we are spending outside playing or at Tate's baseball games. We also celebrated Tate's 8th birthday! The kids had a great time at the Putt-A-Round. This cake is just one of Iggy's many recent creations!! This one happened to be a layered mango and bailey's cheesecake for Mother's Day...yummm! He certainly inherited his mother's baking genes. Boba sent over a stack of cooking/baking magazines in German; we plan to make at least one item a week from it. We-meaning Iggy because I can't read most of the German. I make a good sous chef, though:)

Now that the weather is beginning to show some promise of Spring we have been spending every available minute outside. Iggy has started our vegetable/herb garden:) We can't wait to watch it grow. Lilly has more fun than anyone out there digging in the dirt. Here are a few pictures of the little "Mr & Mrs" Tomas and Lilly....they're best buds.

Here are some more good pics of yesterday...Enjoy. Check out Iggy's sweet wheels! You're a real American now, honey:) This is Lilly's "big girl bed." Actually it was handed down from Tate. All I had to tell her was "this was Tate's bed" and she climbed right in saying "Teet bed, Teet bed." Oh and let me explain the ipod, the only way she will wind down and go to sleep is with this silly thing! She plays games and finds youTube for puppies. I don't know who uses this more: me, Iggy, or Lilly.