The Renfrows hit Tennessee!
After preparing as well as we could for what this summer was to bring our way, we packed our bags and headed to Tennessee for Matt and Hannah's wedding (also for my last opportunity to see my family before I headed to basic training at Fort Sam Houston.)

When we got to TN, we were greeted by lots of family! Here is Timothy, the (at the time) soon to be birthday boy, with an early birthday present from Grammy and Poppy. Mario Party DS for his hand held gaming system. He was more than a little excited!

And here's Miss Madeline enjoying the "birthday" festivities at Grandma and Poppy's hotel.

Mike and the kids with Poppy....

Timothy and Grammy....
The kids came up to Aunt Laura's hair shop, Hair on the Square, for haircuts, and they were lucky enough to get to see Uncle Matt. (I won't tell you that he was there to tan in preparation for his wedding, per his future wife's instruction.....oops.)
Timothy playing some Nintendo DS while he waited for his turn to get trimmed....
The owner of the shop, Kim, had a birthday that day! Happy birthday, Kim =) She is such a sweet and encouraging friend to Laura. I'm so glad Laura found a place in her shop.
Here's Aunt Laura doing what she loves to do....give the best haricuts in town that is =)

One for Timothy too.....
"Almost Aunt" Hannah stopped by too!
Matt and Hannah had a cookout for the wedding party the day before the wedding.....here we are visiting with family....
....but we got rained out! Here's Madeline after making a rapid retreat to the car.
Back at Aunt Laura's place...playing with Harley...

...and having a snack...
At the rehearsal with Grandma....what lovely ladies!
....and how about these handsome fellas?
Madeline with Poppy, Aunt Connie, Uncle Jim, Seth and Jeremy at the rehearsal dinner.
The next day at the wedding.....Grandma did all of the flowers, including the wreaths on all of the flower girl's heads.....

Madeline and Timothy with the happy couple...
Our sweet family...
Me and my mom-in-law!
Maddy and Daddy...
The Renfrow clan...

Madeline in a sea of flower girls...
The arrival of Aunt Laura and Uncle Brent....
what a good looking pair....
"This is my silly face..."
Timothy fell asleep during the ceremony....I shed a few tears, knowing that this would be the last day in a long while that I would have the opportunity to hold my sweet boy....

Beautiful Madeline...
Swinging...
They love each other so much....
Kisses from Sissy!
Timothy getting his swing on ;)

My beautiful mom and sisters....
Mamaw and Papaw.....fifty years since their wedding....Matt and Hannah, I hope you two still look at each other like this fifty years from now =)
My little stud...
Madeline and her dancing part for the evening....these two were the best dancers on the floor!
These two stunning ladies are my marvelous moms.....and according to Madeline and Timothy the world's best grandmas. (I can't confirm that, because I was pretty sure I had the world's best grandmas....but I am so grateful for my moms and all the support they've been while I have been away.)

Me holding sweet Brooklyn Rose....the newest family member on the Rader side....she was such a good baby all day! She got passed around and loved on a lot!
Me and my two awesome dads...how's a gal get so lucky?
Matt's best man....explaining that now that he was married all the gals who were holding keys to his place needed to turn them back in....a long line of ladies obliged, and just when we thought all the keys had been secured....
Mamaw emerged from the crowd with her key to Matt's place. This was all in fun of course, and it provided a good laugh and an opportunity for Matt to get a hug from Mamaw....worth the embarrassment ;)
Mike's cousin, Alexis, super mom to Brooklyn Rose. So proud of you, Alexis!

Madeline giving Uncle Matt the card she had made for him and Hannah....
Timothy cutting a rug!
Mike had the DJ play our song (Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, It's Your Love) so, of course, I had to cry again....
One of my favoritest pictures from the day! Love from Daddy's girl!
What a great day with family. Congratulations, Matt and Hannah. Love you!

-shannon

Catching Up...
Today we're resting up and, for all of my faithful (and patient) blog readers, catching up! We've had a more than eventful summer, already, and it's going to take a few installments to get up to date. Here is the first of probably several blog entries for the day, and it encompasses the brief stretch of summer that we had between the end of the kids school year and heading to Tennessee for Uncle Matt and Aunt Hannah's wedding. (See next blog installment =))

We enjoyed the short time we had together before heading out. We visited the park a few times, visited Daddy at work for lunch, and the kids ran more errands than they would have liked to, getting me ready to leave for basic training.

Here's Madeline all smiles at the park....

The weekend before we left for TN we headed up to Michigan to visit some dear friends who used to live in Nappanee. Sang was my organic chemistry lab partner, and her husband, Song, was one of Naptown's favorite docs before they made the move. (You may remember them from my previous blog entry.)

Here are the kids at Chili's with Sang. Friday night visits to Chili's were frequent when Sang and Song lived closer....the kids talk about them every time we drive past a Chili's now.

Mike and Song catching up.....you may find this hard to believe, but Song actually gives Mike a run for the money in the talking department, so between the two of them, there's seldom a dull moment =)
What meal is complete without a giant mound of chocolate cake exploding with chocolate sauce and ice cream....not this one!
You'll see a trend in our Michigan weekend.....food. After Chili's we headed back to their place, got some rest, and the next morning headed to IHOP for breakfast. As soon as we finished, Song made the executive decision that the morning wouldn't be complete without Krispy Kremes.....seriously....so we headed to Krispy Kreme. The kids loved watching how the donuts were made. They were especially impressed with the glaze fountain.
Of course when we got home we had to sample some of the Krispy Kreme bounty.....can you say sugar buzz?
We actually had to veer Song away from Ritter's Frozen Custard after Krispy Kreme...he claimed it was for the kids.....they didn't seem to mind missing out on the ice cream though.
Afterwards we headed to Sam's Club to pick out a tube for the lake and get some life vests for the kids. Here they are debating on whether or not the boat would be able to tow this tube, which is actually about the size of the boat ;)
We worked up such an appetite, of course, that we ended up having to stop at Ritter's for ice cream after shopping.....I am not even kidding (well...maybe about the appetite, but not the stopping for ice cream part). Photo evidence.....

I think the kids were wound a little tight.....we wore them out later though.....
Madeline finding treasure on the lake.....
Timothy sporting his cool new life vest....safety first!
Getting ready to head out on the lake....READY CHECK!

Ready!
Ready!

Ready!
Here we go....with Mike at the wheel....
Song and Timothy taking their turn as co-captains.....
Me and my sweet little man.....
Having worked up an appetite on the lake, and (can you believe) playing straight through lunch..../gasp.....we headed out to dinner at Olive Garden.

Sang and Song, by photographer extraordinarie Madeline Rose....
Madeline jumping in on the next photo op....
Had to stop by and check out a boat on the way home.....Mike tried to help Song talk Sang into "investing" in this fine specimen, but we ended up leaving without it.
Madeline picking clover while the guys checked out the boat.....
Even grocery shopping is fun with Sang and Song =)
/train......
....and here's what I made for our princess from all of her clover.

She insisted that she needed to have my picture too.....Back out to the lake to try her hand at fishing.....she was so excited to report that she caught something when they came in for the night....it may have only been seaweed, but she was pretty pumped about it! Timothy was worn out and quite content to stay in and spend some time with the Disney Channel =)

Having a snack before bedtime.....
Back out on the lake the next day....after breakfast from Panera Bread, of course!
Fishing again.....
.....unfortunately (or fortunately...depending on who you ask) nothing was caught this time.
Our excursion was cut a bit short because of a storm that was brewing.....we made it back to the shore in the nick of time.

One final meal together...this one at Outback Steakhouse.....Timothy with Sang and Song.....
and Madeline with Mom and Dad....
Back at their place, the kids made some artwork while Mike and I packed up to head home.
One more hug for Sang before we headed out.
We had an awesome weekend with good friends, a much needed reprieve from the stress of the previous week. Thanks Sang and Song! Love you guys!

-shannon