Par-Tay

While home we got to enjoy a nice evening with friends, games, delicious food and Dad's traditional bonfire, all in honor of a super late 18th birthday party for the Butt/going-away party.

Of course, included in the games, Ducky Wucky. Wouldn't be a Kretchman party without that.

My favorite part, that sadly seemed to go by so fast and I already can't wait till the next one... the bonfire. There just seemed to be so much going on at this point. So much food to continually dish out and people to entertain (especially Anna's friends grandma from Puerto Rico... holy Puerto Rican Spanish).

But it really was nice while it lasted. I just love being out behind the house, surrounded by green, relaxed, listening to dad play the accordion. Definitely something that I look forward to whenever I go home.

The master at work

Happy late late late late birthday Anna!!! I mean, who says we have to celebrate our birthday on our birth-day? Or even in our birth-month for that matter. Happy 18 1/2 birthday Anna!

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Last Monday I was in Washington D.C.

Just me and the Man, trying to figure the capitol out and how to find a parking lot to the Nationals/Braves game that wasn't $40. Lucky for us, we finally found a cheaper lot at $20. Unlucky for us, the cheapest one we could find was $20. Seriously?! People can really charge that much for PARKING!?!

We basically planned the dates of our east coast vacation around:

 1. Scott and Laura's wedding

2. Where the Braves would be playing (It's Chippers last season!)

The Braves helped us out quite nicely by playing in Philly at the beginning of the month and Washington at the end of the month. Darin is scared of losing his life in Philly as a Braves fan and frankly, I just don't think he could handle being around so many Philly fans all at once, so we went with Washington. We were excited to see Bryce Harper play as well considering last summer we were watching him play in a single-A game in Delmarva and now he has become a star of the big league.

Darin had never been to batting practice before (crazy right? he's from Idaho. there's only so much you can do). So we made sure to get there a few hours early so that Darin could turn on his inner child and chase down balls with all the other 9 year-olds. He really did look like a little kid in baseball heaven. AND... he was inches away from catching one of the balls that Chipper hit. If only his arms were a teensy weensy bit longer.

You would be just as excited as Darin was if you were this close to some of your idols (minus Uggla. Thanks for ruining the game buddy!).

And the clouds came in and the rain came down and the tarps went out. I was crossing my fingers the entire time hoping that they wouldn't call the game since we were getting back on an airplane for UT in 2 days.

Yay! It turned out only being an hour delay.

Darin was really adamant about me taking pictures of the president race (love the nationals mascots, classic D.C.). Not so sure what I'll ever do with these pics but to show that I did record this moment in history, here they are for your viewing pleasure.

Pretty sure Mr. Washington won.

Chipppppppper!!!

Starting to get ansy as we move into the 11th inning.

In the 12th we decided to move down and sit with the cool kids in the hundreds of dollar seats. We were SO close!

Not many people left in the stadium in the 13th inning when the game ended embarrassingly by our very own Dan Uggla. Could have at least tried to make a play, any play, something... but we're over it, can't you tell?

Game ended at 1am, got home to PA at 4am. Long day but it was worth it (even with Uggla's mishap). Baseball with my baby. Nothing better.

Scott and Laura's Wedding

I think that 2 ½ months away from the blog is a sufficient break. Time to get back at it. I would promise more blog posts in the near future but we all know what happened last time I did that (ie. My last blog post made that promise… embarrassing!).   But not so embarrassing that I just spelled embarrassing correctly for the first time in my life. I was waiting for the red squiggles to come, and they didn’t!!  That’s right, I’m graduating college this year. Don’t hate.

So I won’t promise you LOTS of posts, rather, I’ll promise you a few days of vacation posts. I know, I know, really not cool on my part, but school starts tomorrow, gimme a break will ya?

We flew out to PA on the 9^th of August. RED EYE. I would take the red eye any day. I hate losing an entire day traveling, but I could care less about the night. Too bad Delta freaking stinks at leaving on time. How do you leave an hour late when your plane is supposed to leave at 1am? What else is going on at that time?

We got to Detroit about 15 minutes before our connecting flight was supposed to leave and were nowhere close to our next gate. (These Delta workers sure didn’t know how to comfort me either, not impressed). We RANNNNNNNN to the gate (I thought I was going to die running behind Darin, I must have looked like a complete idiot). Got there just to find out that this flight was ALSO delayed due to a bathroom maintenance issue on the plane (not exactly something you want to find out about the plane you are about to board).  In the end, we made it to Harrisburg where my sweet mother was waiting patiently to pick us up.

The very next day, we left for Maryland, still a wee bit sleep deprived… 

Luckily we slept beautifully in a cool hotel room on Friday night and were able to enjoy Scott and Laura's wonderful wedding without interruption. The wedding ceremony took place at Burba Lake. It was short, sweet and to the point and now they are MAWEEED. Here's the pictures to prove it.

Waitingggggg

Look at that best man!! Don't you just want to squeeze him!!

Just for the record, Matt is holding LAURA'S bouquet... not his own.

They had their reception at the exact same place that we did just a year and a few months ago. It was nice being there again and without the stress of my own wedding. Lucky for them, the air conditioning worked!! I'm allowed to be just a teensy bit jealous right? Well, I was, maybe I even still am, but I sure am glad it was working this time around.

They had a beautiful Hawiian themed reception with delicious pulled pork, sweet potatoes, hawiian rice, chicken, rolls, fruit salad etc. etc. and the most FABULOUS meatballs in the world. YUM. There were fun toasts (A.J. was so great!!), bouquet and garter throwing, tons of dancing and the incredible cake by Lisa Evans (she is a master! She made our cake too and I was so excited to hear that she was also making theirs).

I already miss these boys SO much!!

Stephanie caught the bouquet, A.J. caught the garter. Do I hear wedding bells??

The entire family together. Hasn't happened in 5 years. It was great.

Darin and Scott moshing. haha...it was pretty hilarious

Back at the hotel after a LOONG but wonderful day

Congratulations again to Scott and Laura! We are so happy for you two! Being married is the ssshhhhiizzzzz. We love it, in case you somehow missed that memo...

Have a wonderful life together!!!!