Another Mr. & Mrs. Siefer

Wedding bells were ringing this past weekend... actually, all kinds of bells were ringing (but more on that later), as we welcomed the new Mr. & Mrs. Siefer into the family... we held the "newlywed Siefer" title for three years, it was about time to share!

Here are a couple shots from the rehearsal at the church in Sioux Falls. Jeremy's younger brother Josh was the groom and Lauren Olsen, his fiance, was the lovely bride.

We headed over to Spezia's for the dinner hosted by Marianne and John! Gotta' love fillet with Gorgonzola on top. It was an intimate dinner of 30 and a fun way to kick off the festivities.

...and the wedding day was upon us in no time! Here I am just before the ceremony with my mother-in-law, Marianne, and her best friend Cheryl!

Check out the bridal party... I've never seen my brother-in-law, Josh, smile this much and for this long! Very impressive!!!

Check out the groomsmen (Jer on far left)... wearing their Chuck Taylor's in honor of Josh.And, as the ceremony closed, out came Lauren and Josh, through a tunnel of wedding guests, all ringing bells!

We jumped in the limo, popped open the champagne, and headed to the falls for a quick break before the reception.

Jer gave a great speech! He had come up with 10 other options, but ended on the one that involved a giant rat trap as a prop. I'll let him explain that one later!

Lauren gave a surprise jazz-singing-solo to her new husband. It was amazing!

Of course, there was cake... cupCAKES to be exact!

...and the big hit of the night... the candy bar! I saw one kid walking away with almost the entirety of the peanut M&M jar!! It was every man for themselves on this candy bar! =)

The next morning we had a WONDERFUL brunch at my mother-in-laws house. Jeremy dressed up, as you can tell, sporting his famous "Bacon" shirt!

And with that it was over in a blink! So much fun!

Any guesses?

So, any guesses what we were up to this Labor Day weekend?

CLUE #1

CLUE #2 (getting any ideas?)

CLUE #3...getting warmer...check out our shadow below.

Okay, so we went on a hot air balloon ride! It was my Christmas gift this past year from Jeremy and we decided it was high time to redeem it. "High-time" - get it!! Yes, I am that cheesy!

First it required a 4:00am wake-up call and drive to Austin.
Jer even stepped in and helped get everything set-up.

It was amazing seeing all of this come out of one small little trailer!

Finally, our balloon started taking shape.

And we were airborne before we knew it!

It was so quiet up there... the only sound was each time our pilot filled the balloon with the hot air.

And then, an hour later, it was time to touch down... just in time, because the fog was rolling in. Here you can see the other hot air balloon, just making it down.

And, to finish off the morning our pilot had our official flight certificates and champagne to toast our safe return. Not sure what we would have gotten if we hadn't made it back safely...

All in all it was a great experience...so peaceful and fun to see the Texas countryside!

30 Already!!?

Earlier in August I had a chance to celebrate the big 3-0! The date was 08-09-10, which I thought was even cooler than turning 30... I'm pretty sure I need to have a t-shirt made with that date. Here is a shot of all the great flowers and presents I got to enjoy! Jer snagged the "R" that I had been eyeing at Anthroplogie. What can I say, I'm a sucker for big letter R's!!

The following weekend we headed out to Hyatt Hill Country for a weekend my parents orchestrated in honor of the big day. Here's Jer walking around the resort...

Beautiful!

Gotta love the lazy river and beach for the kiddo-s.

Okay, and they also had s'mores for the kiddos. And I think I still fit that criteria of making smores, even if I'm 30! S'mores make everything better - even if it is 100 degrees outside!

Then we headed back to the suite for a little champagne and chocolate covered strawberries (compliments of Mom & Dad). Is it bad when the hotel suite is larger than our actual home?! =)

Then finished the night with a little carrot cake!

All in all an awesome way to ring in 30! Thanks to everyone for your warm wishes!

Ping Pong Master

Ever impressed by my husband, this summer he decided to add "Ping Pong Master" to his resume. Some people take the extra summer break to travel to foreign locations or see summer blockbusters at the theatre, but Jeremy decided to hone his ping pong skills!

Twice a week he met with a local group from 6-9pm! You read that right... THREE hours of ping pong!!
Part footwork, part paddle position, part flexibility.... you can see this is a lot more complicated than one would think!
The last weekend of the camp culminated in a ping pong tournament....where Jeremy came in first place, I am happy to report. Just don't bring up the 9-year-old he had to knock off on his climb to the top!

Epic Bound

We are MORE than excited to finally have our corporate name change complete and website ready to go! So of course I had to share it with all of you.

Drum roll please....the new name is: Epic Bound

Here's the new website: http://www.epicboundbooks.com

As you know, we've been focused on creating personal memoirs for families for the past 7 years!
And now, with the addition of Jeremy to the team, we are branching out into Corporate Histories! So we are helping everyone from family owned businesses to big corporate clients like hospitals and banks.

One thing will remain the same... the great imagery and design...
And of course the fun coffee table book style that catches everyone's attention!
So, without further-ado, please check out the website and let me know what you think!
http://www.epicboundbooks.com

Family Wedding

We had a lot of fun heading up to Minneapolis for Jeremy's cousin's wedding. I have to say that Chelsea was absolutely radiant and her dad's speech had me in tears.

Check out her train... beautiful!!
We got a chance to hang out with all of his family...
Have some great wedding cake...
And, maybe partake in a "candy bar!" Okay, so what if we got caught being the first two through the line!
The next morning we had a great brunch at the bride's parents' house! Jeremy has 4 family wedding within the year! 1 down 3 more to go. The next one is for his brother, in Sioux Falls. He's already working on his best man's speech. I promise it will be recorded! =) Hopefully his brother will still be speaking to him afterwords!

Okoboji Fun

Whenever it comes time to go up to Okoboji each year, to see Jeremy's parents, he starts planning meals almost a month ahead of time! I'm serious. I can't get the kid to talk dinner options when we're cooking back home in our tiny SA kitchen, but for some reason Jeremy LOVES the idea of preparing his latest creations for his parents and their abundant kitchen.

This year he was on the hamburger train... literally... the man had brainstormed 20 different combinations, but Marianne and I convinced him that four would suffice.

So we made:
1) The Breakfast burger: egg, bacon, and cheese
2) The Southwestern burger: chipotle mayo, grilled mushrooms and onions
3) The Mexican burger: refried beans, onions, cheese, and fritos
4) The Brisket burger: ground brisket mixed with basil, sliced tomato, and mayo

Here is the Mexican burger! I have to admit... these were the best "home made" burgers I've had. If the biography business falls through, we might just have a burger stand in the works!
Good thing we are family... it was kind of a "take a bite and pass to the left" kind of night. In case you are wondering... the breakfast burger won hands down!
We had some great meals out with Jeremy's parents... which explains why we are now on the oatmeal and berries only diet. I think I had close to 7 hamburgers in 7 days. This vacationing thing is dangerous!

And we had a great martini sampler... though I have to tell you "birthday cake" martini does NOT taste like birthday cake!

It was a great trip and we're already counting down to next year... who knows what Jer will be cooking up!?!