Family Photos.

My best friend, Catherine, took some family photos for us. Just thought I would share some...

 

state fair.

our family came over for dinner & a little trip to the Kentucky State Fair. 
i don't think i would have had as much fun going with anyone else.
we definitely laugh a lot. 
i mean, there was a guy sleeping next to a cow....?
we had the governor's tickets(we are super special) to a horse show. that was a new experience. this is awful, but we laughed at those newborn horses who were so freaked out to be away from their mamas. it was just their eyes, they were crazy eyes. also, the calls from the audience, what?
the best part is probably the vegetables, the 4-H exhibit and the hatching chicks! 
between the eight of us, this is what we ordered: pineapple whip, bloomin onion, two raspberry swirls, chili cheese fries, a funnel cake, sugary pecans, honey sticks and two orders of spiral potatoes. i cannot even believe it.

Anniversary Month.

One evening earlier this month, we stayed in, ordered food and watched 112 Weddings. I wanted to watch it this month because we will be celebrating 4 years soon :)
This documentary is about a few couples' wedding days filmed by Doug Block over two decades & his catch up with them. The tag line is "happily ever after is complicated." Not that I have been married for so long, but looking back, you really have no idea what you are getting into. There is really no way to know (though I plan on preparing my kids as much as possible). My mind is always going a million different directions on this topic, but I can say that I am glad I am married. I believe in it, even though it is such a crazy thing that so many of us do !

I am not quite sure how 4 years have gone by. It has gone by so fast. I know it was the first day of our life together, but the wedding day was so trivial compared to the past 4 years and what is to come next. Jonas always says "we have a good life". I really like when he says that.

Here is a photo from our first year of marriage, after moving to Kentucky from Germany:

outside the city..

Caroline's Alpine Haus has been on our list for a while. We are always on the lookout for some German culture here in Kentucky. I liked it but we are really into Das Gasthaus.

After eating, we tried to visit Otter Creek Park where they filmed part of Elizabethtown. It is closed Mondays & Tuesdays, what?! So we drove around looking for a trail. We found some, also closed. We had given up and headed home until we found the Ft. Duffield sign and decided to check it out. It was a beautiful walk and drive :)

Last, we saw the new Zach Braff film and I loved it so much.

little brother returns.

My brother came home after many, many months away.
He is a marine and he is basically a big deal :)
I even got to have him at my house for a couple days. Yay !
We had a little welcome home/ birthday party for him last Sunday.
It was super strange not having him around so I'm pretty glad those days are over.
& I am sure he is too. Welcome back Keith!

Second Life.

Today was a great day. It started with Jonas helping the missionaries with transfers while I stayed home to go running and take care of some summer cleaning. We had lunch at Another Place Sandwich shop and then visited the Kentucky Museum of Art & Craft. Jonas spotted an article while I was reading the Leo a few weeks ago and he gasped- "Alyssa- taxidermy!". I was pretty excited about the exhibit (Second Life) after that. I have an interest in taxidermy (I am an embalmer after all). I would love to create pieces like this. I really, really would. SO yeah, this exhibit was the best. I think taxidermy is beautiful & the artists who contributed to this exhibit are living my dream. I feel so inspired. Reading about the pieces was interesting too, and this is not always the case at museums. Okay, I will stop talking about it. No wait, the insect wall. LOVED that too. No, more than love. Obsession. Now, I'm done.

After that highlight of my life, the day got even better. We saw Lucy and it was fantastic. I think Scarlett Johansson is amazing (I almost had that name. my mama loved Gone with the Wind). There were also snacks. I wish I had more days like this...