I can hardly express my happiness and joy that I felt all day – it was surreal and more fun than I could have imagined. I hardly took any photos throughout the day, but am so glad I could capture of few of the in-between moments for Ben and Becky. I shared some of them over on Ingman Photography – congrats again to Ben and Becky!

These videos that I took at the dance are awesome! I can hardly stop watching them because they make me so happy.

Where the heck did the summer go?

What happened to all those weekend camping trips? Bikes around the lake? Concerts in the park?

Yeah, that didn’t happen.

But WOW, what a summer. I guess we were too busy eating slow carb, doing squats, shooting client weddings and portraits, having our house on Apartment Therapy, being featured on Style Me Pretty, hosting and going to backyard BBQ’s, biking to the State Fair, and celebrating Ben and Becky’s wedding!

After the wedding weekend we drove home and went straight to the Fair! It was such a TREAT to just splurge and eat through our exhaustion!

YUM. Deep fried Snickers.

Mmmmm, sweet corn.

And wedding season is not even over for me — I have four more weddings. And a few scattered portrait shoots. Whew.

But then I will get to coast right into winter retirement…or something like that.

Someone asked me what I was planning on doing this winter and I was like, “Ummmm, NOTHING.”

Quite possibly the best part of this summer was Ben and Becky’s wedding a few weeks ago! It was amazing! We were home helping with all the preparations and celebrating for five days! It was so fun to be on the other side of a wedding. Both Ben and Becky looked beautiful, and the entire weekend was so emotional. Jake killed it with his best man toast and I was so proud!

I seriously only snapped a few photos at the wedding because I had other duties (like, being a bridesmaid!) but I was able to get this pretty bridal portrait of Becky. GORGEOUS.

And p.s. I LOVE MY FAMILY. I can’t believe how lucky I am. Seriously. They are the best. THE BEST. The Ingmans and the Lindbergs are my favorite people in the whole world.

And now Kate has a fantastically handsome, funny, and super nice boyfriend named Andy, and I already love him as well. Hi Andy!!! Welcome to chit chat!

Here we all are late into the night — I had about 15 seconds to get this photo:

Totally switching gears now — in true chit chat fashion:

Judy almost died last Friday. Well, not exactly but she scared the shit out of me!

You might have heard (or seen) from my tweet last Friday that she jumped out the back right back passenger window.

WHILE I WAS DRIVING.

It was beyond insane. She got spooked when the license plates, I had put in the rear window, flew forward and hit her. She was like, I need to get out of here — so she just JUMPED OUT OF THE CAR.

WHILE I WAS DRIVING.

I mean, WTF, Judy?!!!!  There are so many scary scenarios that have run through my head that I can’t even believe how LUCKY she is. For some reason there were NO cars right behind me or next to me — so she wasn’t hit by a car. She jumped out while I was driving around 25-30 mph, and when she hit the road I think she rolled because of the scrapes on her ear, mouth, and legs. I actually saw her, out of the corner of my eye, leap out the window — things happened very fast but there was a split second as I was putting the car in park where I looked back and saw her in the middle of the road looking dazed.

I just wanted EVERYTHING TO STOP and no one to move!!

It was honestly CRAZY. I stopped the car diagonal in two lanes of traffic and was already 50 feet away from her. Things happened very fast and all I could see were the cars that had stopped and the cars that were about to come towards her. Again, I just kept feeling like I WANTED EVERYTHING EVERYONE TO STOP. I ran to her, and by that time she had made it to the grass, was hunched over, and her right paw was limp and she wasn’t putting any weight on it.

She has a few of these scrapes but nothing too awful – sooo lucky!

I scooped her up and carried her back to my car. I was totally and completely shaking. I was scared that she had broken her leg. She laid in the back seat, I saw blood on her leg, and started to panic even more.  A woman pulled up next to me and asked if I was okay and if I needed any help. I told her that I thought I was going to be okay but was in shock.

After a few frantic calls to my Mom and brother — no one was picking up, I left a message for Jake (who was in Canada since Tuesday and I didn’t think it would go through because of the spotty cell coverage). By the time I made it to the vet I had spoken with my Mom and Jake had called me back. So lucky that Jake had some cell coverage!

Once we were at the vet Judy jumped out of the car like nothing had happened. She was of course, totally pumped to be at the vet and meeting new people. All the while I am freaking out and on the brink of a nervous breakdown. The vet thoroughly checked her out and found some scrapes and cuts but nothing horrible. So relieved!! She said she probably had adrenaline pumping through her and she would be sore the next day. I mean, she did leap out of moving car going 30 mph! Just a little backyard hurdle practice, no big deal. OMG. It was crazy.

So yeah, Judy is so damn lucky. I can’t even imagine what I would have done if something worse had happened. It drives me crazy to think about what COULD have happened.

Replacing that thought with a positive though – Judy jumping for a Frisbee in the backyard.

After our traumatic afternoon I made her take it easy the next day and of course, I did as well. Didn’t get out of my PJ’s all day. I needed to recover as well.

I have already ordered her a harness seat belt thingy that she will now be wearing in every car ride for the rest of her LIFE.

Jake returned from his climbing and camping adventure on Sunday night and we decided it would be fun to go canoeing on Lake Calhoun for Labor Day. It was a beautiful day and so much fun!

Judy came along and we put her in a kids life vest and she of course, loved it. I am sure she thought the lake was just a big bathtub totally and completely designed for her enjoyment. She kept biting my paddle and licking the lake. She peeded like 15 times when we got home – she drank SO MUCH lake water! We avoided capsizing for the entire ride until the very end when Judy tired to jump out. He life vest got stuck on the edge of the canoe and she completely flipped over with only her right side submerged and hanging herself by the life vest.

Yeah, it was pretty awful.  AGAIN.

All was okay, I got the life vest off and she didn’t mind getting a little wet — but the whole hanging by her neck from the side of the canoe was not so great.

Geez. I am exhausted.

Summer is over and it was a blur. Thankfully there are a few photos, tweets, and videos to remember how great it really was.

More fun photos here!

They are retired and way over the long Minnesota winters.

They can’t really fly but they do drive to their second home in Mesa, Arizona right after we open presents on Christmas Eve (not really but practically)!

They leave behind the snow, ice, and freezing temps for three months and get in as much golfing, hiking, and biking as they can.

They come back in April with a very nice tan.

I am happy for them because I know they enjoy their time in Arizona…but I do miss them while they are away!

I pledge to give handmade gifts this holiday season! Online, local, or in my kitchen. I am giving it a go and I encourage you to do the same.

Learn more about why it is important.

It was an absolutely beautiful weekend full of family, reminiscing, and laughter.

I was able to take photos all day along with the photographer they had hired — it was great practice for me.  Here is just one ‘sister shot’ of my beautiful cousins Rachel, Abby, and Stacy.  More to come later!

If you think about it, your wedding is really one of the only opportunities to force all your friends and family to look at mostly adorable photos of you as a baby, toddler, and at times really awkward teenager.

Luckily, I have this blog where I mostly talk about myself and me and myself a little more.

Here is the full set of photos on Flickr.