Back to my childhood....

As Linnea already stated, we went to our childhood camping grounds this past Labor Day weekend. It a lot of fun and I hope the moms enjoyed it!

You can't camp without a camp fire

Cam begins Gwen's conditioning

My mom and Uncle Scott line dancing....YIKES!!!





Cam melting a milk carton so we could hear it make cool sounds.

Gwen using baby sister as a pillow

Gwen is saying "don't Greta, don't" referring to me taking her picture

Scary!

Gwen wiping off her dirty face before Cam put sun tan lotion on.

Gwen is trying to make as difficult as possible for Cam to put sun tan lotion on.

Bridesmaids, Flowergirl and Bears, Oh my!

This week Linnea, Gwen and I went to David's Bridal for Linnea to try on bridesmaid dresses and for Gwen to try on flower girl dresses. Gwen had a great time! She wanted to hold the dresses that we picked out and had a definite opinion of which one she wanted to try on first (pictured below) and which one she liked the best (not pictured) which works out for me because her favorite is the one I picked! Who knew we would have the same taste.

We didn't plan this but Jenny and Kristin happened to be there that night as well so we all had a great time. Here is Kristin in one of her possibilities and Gwen. By the way, the dress that Kristin has on is the color of the bridesmaid dresses. Since I have 10 of them I picked one color and I am letting them choose which dress style they want. However, it has to be floor length and no more than 2 girls can where the same style. I had to have some guidelines.

This isn't really one of the choices but I thought Gwen would look so cute in it. I was right. However, she would look cute in just about anything.

Gwen wanted to get up on the pedestal. We didn't even have to teach her to lift her dress like that. Linnea, you have quite the little lady on your hands!

Linnea and Gwen dancing. You have to see how the dress is going to move on the dance floor, right?

Jenny in one of her possibilities.

We couldn't help ourselves. Gwen loved grabbing more purses off the shelf and I could not resist the gloves when I saw them.

Gwen wanted to try these ones on.

The dress that I picked is not pictured (for a reason) and was the third one that Gwen tried on. By then she was saying "I'm done" so we had to bribe her with ice cream to get her to put it on. Fortunately for me, she agreed and that is the one I picked! Her and Katie (Scott's niece) are going to steal the show! Now I just need to work on a plan to get them down the aisle :)

Scott and his brother got season tickets to the Bears this year which could not have come at a worse time for us with a condo purchase and wedding to pay for but that's how life works, right? I'm just happy to have them and we went to the pre-season game this past Thursday against the 49ers to check out our seats for the first time. I was expecting them to be really high up or have some sort of obstruction but we were very pleasantly surprised. We are no where close to the top, have 4 seats on the aisle and right in the middle of the field. They are great seats!

Homemade Invitations

Making my own invitations is one of those things I always imagined myself doing when I got married so it is no surprise that now that I am planning my wedding that I am in the midst of making them. I am still at the first stage and have plenty of time still before they need to be in the mail. I just have to keep in mind that I am also making the programs and place cards...

The colors are red, khaki and gold

My trusty tools

Steps one and two

We Bought a Condo!!!!!!!!

So today was an exciting day for Scott and I.....we signed a contract for a 2 bedroom condo in Arlington Heights!!! There are still several more steps ahead of us before it becomes officially ours but I was too excited not to share the news! Below are pictures of our new soon-to-be home!




Our building - We have a first floor condo



The living room - that is a bay window



Another view of the living room from the dining area



The dining area



The kitchen - I LOVE this kitchen



Master bedroom - there is a walk in closet to the right that leads into the master bathroom



The second bedroom.

AFTERGLOW 2008!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For those who know the Wallgren family even just a little bit you know how much we treasure our time at Afterglow every year. This was our 27th year there and I was very fortunate to get to spend the whole week there with Scott. He thoroughly enjoyed it as well and we look forward to many more memories at Afterglow!


Fishing with Gwen...

Gwen showing us her snoopy fishing pole and very excited to start fishing...


Uncle-to-be Scott putting a worm on her hook while Gwen is waiting in anticipation...


Daddy showing her what to do...


She got one on her very first try! She was very happy and excited...


The initial excitement is starting to fade...


She has realized that she has caught a fish that flops and squirms....excitement over :(



One of my favorite things to do is to catch frogs. This is one of the first things I do every year when I get there and has been since I was a little kid. Gwen wanted me to catch one for her so I happily obliged. It was right after she caught a fish so I was a bit surprised when I got her to touch the frog.























Another tradition within a tradition is going out one night to Alexander's Pizza, followed by the ice cream store, followed by the candy shop, which is then followed by go-carting and bumper boating. Now that I see the sequence in writing I am surprised no one has thrown up before.



Here are Kristin and Chris waiting for the pizza



My dad taking Gwen out for a boat ride. We have this same exact picture of my dad taking Eric for a boat ride when he was Gwen's age. It may have even been the same boat!