Puppy photo shoot

After mowing the grass tonight, I took advantage of the beautiful light and snapped some photos of my pups in the evening sun:

But Lilly just wanted to play catch ...

... and Dakota just wanted to roll around and explore.

Bloomin' chives

I love the color and fragrance chives add to my garden:

Maybe Meow Meow misses him most ...

Brian is spending his last night in St. Louis tonight. He's lucky that Meow Meow didn't escape to Missouri with him as a stowaway. She was helping him pack ... perhaps a little too much. Good thing he packed a lint roller!


This image may look a tad bit familiar. Let's review:

Meow Meow in:

• a Scrabble lid
  
• a guitar case
• a picnic basket
• a Miller Lite box
• a blouse
• the morning paper
• an inbox
  
• a suitcase (again)
• a quilt (in a bag)
• laundered sheets
• wrapping paper
• a Christmas tree box
• a brown paper bag
• a laundry basket

Bring treats!

This is the photo I e-mailed Brian in return for the one he sent me:

Nice cards

Brian is in the midst of a Verizon conference in St. Louis. In addition to staying at a fabulous hotel, he spent the evening at a St. Louis Cardinals game. He e-mailed me this photo tonight as a little surprise hello. In the meantime, the household debate is this: Who misses him more, me or the dogs? (Dakota, for instance, has been sleeping with Brian's baseball jersey. Silly Snoders.)

Life & soul of the youth party

Tonight was the annual end-of-the-year youth shindig. There were messy games (egg toss, competitions with shaving cream, a Gatorade shower, etc.) and some great conversations with an amazing group of young people. Brian and I have been involved with Aldersgate's youth program for more than four years. Our lives are better because of it.

If these are the youth group sponsors, who's their chaperone?


The egg toss was fun ... no yolk!


You can't have a youth bash without shaving cream!


Brian says he was retrieving a runaway basketball. Hmm ...


The cross at Aldersgate UMC as dusk set in.


(Find more photos from the event in my newest Facebook album.)

Water therapy

A trip to the garden center this afternoon with Brian to buy veggies, herbs and some flowers lifted my spirits. We decided on a whim to buy a new element for our renovated deck. I'm looking forward to it setting a soothing backdrop to many evenings and afternoons in our little oasis:



My weekend had many other bright spots, including attending a friend's bridal shower, seeing "The Soloist", trying out a new Mongolian grill with the young adult group at church and feeling very young-at-heart at the end-of-the-year youth group party. (Watch for a post about that to come soon!)