A fine day for a wedding

Well, this entry is a few weeks overdue, but just getting to it is an accomplishment in my book. We had an eventful trip to Benton City early this month. Pamela (my baby sister) went and got herself married (picture above . . . they're the ones looking like a bride and groom). It was a lovely event - a decent reason for the whole family to get together. The top picture is of Maddie, Eli and one of their favorite cousins, Ezra - he's not afraid of pigs (this will make sense if you read on). Then we have pictures of the newly weds. And lastly, my gorgeous wife. . . and a chubby little hand. Connie adores impromptu pictures of herself.

Todd (Pam's new hubby) has now entered territory that I am very familiar with - the land of "I am the only male in the family not related by blood." For those of you who don't know, my dear wife, just as my sister, is the only girl in her family. I was thinking that Todd and I should probably form our own exclusive club since each lack a fellow brothers-in-law support group within which we can share secret glances when members of our newly inherited families do or say things that may be common place within the walls of that home, but would actually be considered borderline crazy by outsiders. I'm totally kidding of course, because my in-laws are the greatest. And I could get beat up by up to five McBride brothers if I'm not careful. And then, of course, Todd has the problem that I happen to be part of Pam's family and so divulging to much about his impressions of the Beuses could result in . . . well, let's just scrap this one. Sorry you just read all that. That was an unproductive tangent that I could have erased, but I didn't because this is my blog and I choose to keep it raw and uncensored.

There were some other fun moments during our trip to the mother-country. I was able to get in some classic Beus Bro and Daddio tennis and ping pong. All doubles all the time - and sometimes competitive (and mostly victories coming from my side of the net, or table as it were . . . look, Jer and Dad, it's my blog; it's my vision of the world). Connie took the kids to a farm. I'm afraid that this proved that we either don't get out enough, or there is something secretly terrifying about pigs that my children have identified but is somehow lost on the rest of humanity. I'm pretty sure that Maddie didn't set foot on the farm's soil even once. Grandpa McBride became her strangle victim as she clung to him for dear life per chance the devil-pigs might leap from their pens and devour her. And then there was that morning that I took one for the team in an effort to extend our vacation a little. It was no big deal, but I almost died, was resussitated, and then spent a few days in quarentine at Kadlec Medical Center. Alright, so I'm pretty sure that I didn't almost die, but I had a bad morning and did end up in the hospital for a few days. And the quarentine was just precautionary - in case I had tuberculosis. But I'm better now, and we scored a longer vacation. Hurray for Dad!

Three hours into our drive home it dawned on Maddie that we had left Gramma's house. Not cool, Mom and Dad. So not cool.