Lucky in love

Paul and Ned recently returned from their Great West Adventure during which they visited the Badlands, Mt Rushmore, the 2010 National Black Angus Conference in Bozeman, Montana, Yellowstone National Park and more. I stayed behind with Evan who did all the farm chores. Paul called nightly with updates of the day's activity. Feeling myself turn green is an understatement especially when he called to wish me a happy 33rd anniversary while watching Old Faithful (I was in the grocery story parking lot at that particular moment). Still I tried to remain the cheerful listener and often countered with, "That all sounds great, but what are the quilts shops like?"
Paul was listening. I was touched when he returned with a sampler quilt booklet from Big Horn Quilts in Graybull, Wyoming. That gift immediately sent me to my stash looking for appropriate fabric selections. Naturally, my decision is far from final, but as of this moment in time the quilt will be made entirely of reds and greens. Or blacks and reds. Or maybe just reds. But first there are others to finish and start and the Great Cabin Quilting Weekend with Julaine and aprons, aprons, aprons again, oh and some curtains for the bathroom and our annual mother-daughter Thanksgiving weekend gift-a-thon-sew-along. After all those things, I'll look at my stash again on some cold winter day, pull out my rotary cutter, mat and rulers and make a color decision. And that decision will be warmed by the gift of a husband of 33 years who stopped in a Wyoming quilt shop, took pictures -- inside and out -- and bought me a gift unique to the shop. I am lucky in love.

Meet Alissa and Karl Ruesch

From Memorial Day to Labor Day our summer was all about love. Just as we opened the summer with a wedding, we closed the season with one. That's right, Karl and Alissa exchanged wedding vows in Kiel, Wisconsin on September 4, 2010.
Once again, I got the thrill of seeing my son dance with his beautiful bride on their wedding day. And, thanks to Dave Dettmann (really, this guy is phenomenal!) of Capital Photography, I get to share this photo of the happy couple with you.
From the barefoot flower girl to the beautiful fuchsia-gowned bridesmaids to the handsome groomsmen and the beaming parents of the couple, the wedding could not have been any more lovely. Honestly, it was breathtaking.
Alissa and her mom and dad and sister, and of course, Karl, did an outstanding job planning and tending to every detail. There was talk of a few stumbles in the set up on Friday, but whatever those were, they were nowhere in evidence on the big day. The Lulloffs put on one heck of a great wedding and the Ruesches gained one wonderful new daughter-in-law. What better way to say goodbye to summer and hello to happily ever after!