Nicole and Keith

Just went to see Eclipse with a group of girlfriends, and guess who I held the door open for? Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban. They both said thank you in their fabulous Australian accents. I love Nashville!

Andi and Kyle are Engaged!

We recently received some wonderful news in the Wiebmer family! Kyle proposed to my sister, Andrea, on Virginia Beach, near where each other them lived in D.C. The spot has extra significance to Andi -- our mom, used to spend her summers there. Andi and Kyle's dog, Charlie was there for the special moment (yes, two Charlies in the family -- ours is Charles and theirs is Charlemagne). Andi said there were people all around them soaking in the sun, but it was as if they were the only two people on the beach...

We are thrilled to have Kyle join our family! He is hilarious -- a seemingly quiet guy who tears it up on the dance floor and has a way of making us laugh really hard. He's so sincere and interesting -- a hard worker, who carries himself with integrity. But best of all, he's completely devoted to Andi. We love to imagine the fun that Andi, Kyle, Mollie, Kenny, Rob and I will have together as our lives unfold.

Andi will be such a lovely, exuberant bride, with her grace, generosity and effervescent personality. She's a nurse, and worked in a pediatric clinic in D.C until a week ago when she and Kyle moved to St. Louis for the next step in his medical residency. They remind us of our grandma and grandpa, a nurse and ENT, who fell in love and quickly married before my grandpa left for war.

Andi and Kyle are planning a fall wedding. We can't wait! Madeline was already officially calling for "Uncle Kyle" when the happy couple visited in Minneapolis.

Amen, Brotha!

I'm so behind on blog posts, trying to catch up on our fabulous vacation and all the fun things that have happened since we've gotten home, that I've been drafting in a notebook everytime I find a minute. One page turned into two and two turned into three...

But as I work my way up to hitting the "Publish Post" button, I simply had to share a sweet moment that happened at dinner tonight. Charlie, my little guy who does a lot of grunting (and not a lot of talking), folded his hands during grace and said Amen. I looked at Rob like, "Did you hear that?" Seriously, the kid doesn't even say hi. Or bye. Or bird. Or ball. He tries, but it pretty much all comes out "Uuh." But as though to prove to me that he really did say it, he chirped out the most perfectly enunciated Amen a second time as he refolded his little sweet potato and ketchup covered hands.

On the Road....

We're halfway into a fabulous three week trip that started in Louisville with our friends the Harus, who hosted us to a wonderful dinner and surprised me with a birthday cake (32 candles this year)! Then we toured the Chicago suburbs, spending five wonderful days with Rob's family (more to come on that) and our dear friends, the Pattersons and Martens, who have both recently moved to Geneva from the city. Rob headed into the Loop to see his guys, while the kids and I zipped up to Rockford to meet my friend Buffy's sweet baby Sophie, and spent a night with the Browns in Wilmette to see their "new" home (they've lived there almost two years!). Then Rob saw Madeline, Charlie and I off at Midway for our flight to Minneapolis, which is where we are now! As the plane surged and took off, Madeline shouted over the roaring engines, "I just knew I would love this!" Rob drove back to Nashville since vacation time from work is sparce this year.

Lots of posts and pictures to come as soon as we're back home a week from tomorrow...