Keepin' Busy

Well, the second half of our summer flew by! I'm sure yours did too. We have been busy busy bees since B got home in July.

Chatting with a fellow blogging friend recently, we decided that most family and friends check our blogs for photos and *short* written updates. That said, I'll let our pics do the talking!

B is home! Celebrating the 4th by watching fireworks on the bay.

Surprise, Krista! We took a party bus to Temecula for some wine tasting to celebrate Krista's b-day.

Happy and stuffed after dinner at Donovan's. Happy 4th wedding anniversary to us!

It's a rough job but somebody's got to do it! I got to travel the Central Coast of California for work, spending a week visiting wineries and learning more about the growing region.

Barefoot Wines (a Gallo brand, fyi) proudly supports the LGBT community. B and I got to spend a weekend pouring Barefoot wine at the San Diego PRIDE festival. It was fun and entertaining, to say the least!! I couldn't post most of the pics...

In case you haven't heard, my little sis got engaged this summer! I went home to help celebrate at an engagement party thrown for her and Daniel.

Dad and Bob cooking tons and tons of ribs for the party! I think the final tally was 36 slabs! Dad is famous for his ribs and he didn't disappoint.

The happy couple :)

My date! Branden was in Asia, so my friend, Katie, was my stand-in hubby. She's getting really good at it after two deployments! She's even worked her way on to the invite list for Christmas in Cancun!

Beautiful baby Kate! Our good friends, the Fortune family, came to visit us in San Diego. Baby Kate is their newest addition, born in April.

Kate's beautiful big sister, Madison! This cutie pie turned three last weekend and it is amazing to see how much she grows and changes in between our visits.

Shelly, Steph, and Mad

We had a BBQ in honor of the Fortune's visit. Sadly, B left for Asia the same day, so Will had to cook for his own party!

Rachel's Wedding! College Roomies Reunited...Steph, Rach and I at Rachie's rehearsal dinner, hosted by Lynn and Frank Silva. It was an amazing night, full of love, family and friends! B and I agreed it was the best rehearsal dinner we have ever been to.

What a beautiful bride! The love between Rachel and Billy was so obvious throughout the entire wedding ceremony. They were giggling and whispering to each other the whole time. I felt so honored to be a part of such a wonderful day!

*These five (obviously) professional photos belong to the amazingly talented Suzanne Hansen of San Diego! She took hundreds of amazing photos of the wedding. To see more of her work, check out www.shewanders.com.

We made a long weekend out of Rachel's wedding, spending four days in our favorite city, Chicago! We got to spend time with both sets of parents, including a night at Wrigley Field with Branden's dad.

On Sunday we hit up my favorite Chicago tourist spot, the wonderful Museum of Science and Industry. You can do all sorts of fun things there, like dress up as an astronaut and sit on a cow!

Back home in sunny San Diego...on one of our rare weekends home this summer, we relaxed and enjoyed this beautiful city. We took a bike ride along the bay, enjoying the Tall Ship festival and a little nap in the sunshine!

Can you beat this view?!? Truly a beautiful city.

I've mentioned B's trip to Asia a few times now, so here are the pics. With his new job (working for an admiral), he travels a lot. Luckily, he gets to see some pretty cool things and visit some interesting places. On this trip, he visited Japan and Korea for two weeks. In this photo, he is in the DMZ (demilitarized zone between North and South Korea), a place not many people will ever get to see. He is standing in South Korea and that black line near his right shoulder is the line that marks the boundary between North and South Korea. The building behind him is in North Korea. The next time you talk to him, ask him about this trip. He saw some really interesting things and I learned a lot about the relationship between North and South Korea.

The bridge between the two countries. Again, ask him about this trip!

Well, that's the latest and greatest with us. I hope you enjoyed the photos! Hopefully, you enjoyed a wonderful summer and, if we didn't get to see you, we hope to see you soon.