When my brother and my sister-in-law got married, they didn’t have a nice big wedding like my whole family expected. There wasn’t a cake or a white dress or a fancy dinner. In fact, my parents weren’t even in town! Nobody had a clue. One day my brother just said to Heather, “Let’s get married.” She shrugged and said, “Okay.” So they hopped in my brother’s little white car, drove to the next town, signed on the dotted line and lah-ti-dah! they were married. Then they went out to dinner at Red Robin. Maybe they had a brownie sundae to celebrate. I don’t know.

As you can imagine, it was a huge scandal in my very large and very close knit family. Shawn got married! Not only did he skip town and not inform anybody of his plans, he also married a girl he had only known for a MONTH!!! Of course we all predicted doom and gloom. How could he possibly know what he’s doing. This is the kid who can’t leave a parking lot without leaving two tracks of hot rubber. We thought sure, they would never last.

That was ten years ago. They’re still married.

Marrying Heather was the smartest thing my brother has EVER done. I can’t say it was the smartest thing Heather has ever done but we are sure blessed to have her in this family. She holds us together. I don’t know what we would do without her.

Speaking of holding us together, do you know who planned and cooked every single dish for the super-fun, blow-out fiesta they threw in my mom’s front yard for more than 100 people this last Saturday? Yep, Heather. My super sister-in-law. That’s her in the fancy dress and the very cute lime green apron (that I bought her). She’s amazing.

Just like every party we ever put on, I thought we wouldn’t be able to pull this one off. I thought it was a very bad idea from the get-go. How can they be making food for 100 people when funds are so tight? Their phones don’t even work right now because they haven’t been able to pay the bill. And what about my mom’s half acre yard that is full of weeds and needs be mowed and what about her falling down mobile home that needs to be bulldozed? How can we possibly get everything ready? I was having heart attacks from worry, as usual.

But just like every other time, Heather was very sure that everything would come out just fine. And if it wasn’t perfect, that was fine too. Everything always works out. Other than having to quit her job because they scheduled her to work 40 hours when she requested time off in order to cook for her own anniversary party, everything went very smoothly. Smoother than usual in fact.

It was a lovely party. The weather was perfect. The food was delicious. I always forget that May is the perfect time of year to be outdoors and celebrating. There aren’t any bugs yet but it’s still warm enough to stay out until the sun goes down. It was great. Do you get sick of me always talking about how great everything is? Usually, I’m glossing over those little things that aren’t so great but this time I’m not glossing. It really was neat. I’m so proud of my brother and his adorable wife.

And speaking of adorable, guess who was the life of the party? Baby Bug of course. No post is complete without at least a little mention of my kid. As you can see, the sidewalk chalk was a big hit. I think she conned just about everybody into “cur”ing (coloring) with her. That’s my little artist bug.