Where do I start?

Well, hello dear readers (if I have any left after my long absence). :) 

What a busy week it has been!  

I'll try to update you quickly on some of what has happened since I last wrote.

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Last Tuesday morning, I packed my bags and headed for South Dakota to visit Dorena...

 Dorena was staying with her friends, the S. family in Glad Valley, so that is where I went.  Dorena and I had fun visiting while we weeded the garden and cooked. I asked her to be one of my bridesmaids, and she very enthusiastically said "YES"! :) 

The next morning, we headed for the B.'s farm (about another hour West of where we were). Dorena's sister-in-law, Amber's sister, Rebecca B. was getting married on the 4th of July, so the B.s needed some help getting things ready for the wedding.

Dorena, spray painting...

 It was SOOOO wonderful to see my dear friend again!!!!  

 Wednesday night, Dorena took me to a concert in Hettinger, ND. 

 The family band playing was called, "Link Union".  They were from Missouri.

 After saying goodbye to my old friend and new friends, I headed for home. I made a slight detour and stopped in to visit at David & Susanna D's home for about an hour...

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Once home again, it was time to clean off a bunch of eggs and go up to Carrie's for milk and to deliver eggs. Then, when I got back, my uncles, Russell (Montana) and Rick (Las Vegas) and cousin Ben (Grand Forks) were all visiting, so we spent the rest of the day with them.

The next day (Friday), it was back to painting again. My family accomplished a lot while I was away, as it was too wet to do farm work.

Jacob and I climbed up onto the top of the camper and scrubbed it clean. Then Andrew and I grabbed a roller and paint brush and painted on some rubbery paint stuff that is supposed to make surfaces completely waterproof. Andrew put on another layer after the first one was dry. Hopefully that does the trick. We also scrubbed Andrew's pickup clean.

 Next, it was back to painting in the new house...

(See Mom's flowers?)

 We all grabbed rollers or brushes and got the large family room done. 

 Now all that is left is some closets.

 I gave my brothers their much needed haircuts, then after supper, Josephine came over and she and my mom and I wrote up and printed off several bridal shower invitations on the paper Josephine had picked out.

  Lauretta and I are having our bridal shower together, since we both would be inviting many of the same people anyway and we're getting married around the same time. My mom and Josephine are the hostesses, but I'll be helping for Lauretta's sake and she for mine, so it's a group effort really. 

 Late that night, Michael arrived!  He stayed until early afternoon today. It was a wonderful treat to have him here for so long....and yes, he was a distraction, which is why my blog has been silent. :) 

The next day was Independence Day.  My dad and Andrew went to the parade in Mandan, and the rest of us joined them up there in the evening for the rodeo (and the huge fireworks display after that). The guys brought Grandma to the rodeo too, and then Uncle Rick and Cousin Ben met us there also.

 We got home a little before 2:00am. Nobody got up early the next morning.

Below: Me and my handsome cowboy. :)

The next day was engagement-picture-taking day!  Andrew offered to be our photographer, so we went to a few different places (as far as Linton) to get pictures in God's beautiful nature. 

Here is a small sampling of our pictures. The rest are a surprise....for the time being. ;)

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We also went to Strasburg to look at cars. Michael & I need to get a more reliable vehicle sometime before our honeymoon. How do you like the one below? ;)

 While in Linton, we bought a few more fireworks, just because...

Oh! On Saturday, my mom's childhood friend, Anna and her husband, Bill came from Grand Forks to visit and they stayed a couple days.  Anna has her own sewing business and regularly sews wedding attire. She has also been a cook for camps and things for many years, so we talked with her both about food and clothing for our wedding.

Sunday evening, we all went outside to watch the guys light off the fireworks they'd purchased.

 My mom really likes sparklers, so Michael was lighting one for her...

 Bill, Anna, and my mom......"Sparklingly" happy. :)

 Yesterday, Michael & I worked on other wedding plans (invitations and such). At 4:00, we met with Pastor Kyner and his wife in Jamestown for our first pre-marriage counseling session.  They're such loving, Godly people. I have a feeling we'll be very close to them by the time we're done with our weeks of counseling. After an hour and a half of talking and question answering, the Kyners took us out to eat at Paradiso. :)

On the way home, we stopped at Steele to get pictures by the giant Sandhill crane....

 This "landmark" is just 20 miles away, yet I'd never had my picture taken with it before. 

Too close to home to seem worth stopping for, I guess?

 As usual, it was very hard to say goodbye to Michael. Please keep us in prayer as we still have many important decisions to make---especially the one of where to live. 

This afternoon, I helped Andrew with getting the yard looking nice again (mowing and weed whacking), then Mom and I pulled weeds in the garden for a while. I also discovered that there were ripe raspberries!!!!  Picked some strawberries too. 

~Delicious~

Now you're mostly caught up again. Time to get off of here before I start going cross-eyed. 

Good night----and God bless and lead us all.