Has Jimmy Fallon always been this funny?

I never been a big fan of late night talk shows, but every time I see a clip of something with Jimmy Fallon I think, man, this guy is funny! Check out the two videos below if you haven't see them - History of Rap parts 1 & 2 with Justin Timberlake. A worthy distraction for a Wednesday afternoon :)

History of Rap Part 1

History of Rap Part 2

Camping weekend

This past weekend, Alex and I took a mini-vacation with our church small group to go camping! We headed out to Starved Rock State Park, where we enjoyed the outdoors, ate awesome camp food, and made some fun memories with our group.

Everyone pitched in to bring food, but Alex played grill master, along with our leader Joel. We had hotdogs and hamburgers, corn on the cob, baked potatoes, green beans, and lots of snacks!

We also held a couples corn hole tournament. After an early victory in the first round, Alex and I made it all the way to the finals, only to lose in the championship and take second place. We did pretty well, considering our skills were a little rusty. Here's me with two of the girls, Kristina and Katie:

And of course we got outside for some hiking around the park. We were fortunate to miss this heat wave by a day, and although it was warm, we had a great time in the shade checking out some beautiful canyons and overlooks of the Illinois River.

It was a really great trip, and I could really relax because Alex did most of the work packing for the trip :) But after 3 days of bug spray, sweat, and sleeping on the ground, we were ready to get home for a little air conditioning and long showers!

Hole-In-One!

Although I wasn't there to witness this historic occasion, today Alex shot his first hole-in-one...on a real golf course (if it were me, it would definitely have been mini-golf)!!! He was on #3 at Seven Bridges using a 9-iron. Here's the picture, which I'm told shows the divot where the ball first hit, and of course, the ball in the hole.

Way to go babe - I'm so proud :)

Thanks on the 4th (belated)

Given my line of work, on national holidays like Memorial Day and 4th of July, while everyone else is relaxing, eating a burger and grabbing a beer, I go to work. Mostly, this means corralling a bunch of volunteers around our decked out SUV and marching in parades. That's parades, plural.

This year, I owe my wonderful, dedicated, loving a husband a giant THANK YOU for driving the car in the parade and generally helping me maintain my sanity on this long, hot day. He was a real trooper, smiling and waving to parade goers, passing out t-shirts, and managing our music.

I also want to say a special thank you to our men and women in uniform, serving their country and protecting the freedoms we celebrate on Independence Day. To our family and friends who serve or have served in the military, thank you. We are so grateful for your sacrifice.