Anniversaries

This month, both of our married siblings celebrated their 7th wedding anniversaries (congrats!). Last month, both of our parents celebrated their 39th and 41st wedding anniversaries (double congrats!!).

Everyone above dated during college. Steve and I lived across the street from each other, we had common friends, we hung out at the same bars and he worked at places I frequented during college. We never met.

He met my parents six months before we met. My mom tried to set us up that entire time but I didn't call him.

A week before we met each other, one of his best friends in Iowa called him to ask if I could move in with Steve. Steve hung up on his friend.

When we finally met in April of 2001, I recognized his college car (which he still was driving, oh my) but he really didn't look familar.

As I was packing up to move in with him a year later, I found a photo of my future husband I had taken at a NYE party in Kansas City (which was at his girlfriend's apartment) in what was probably 1997. Although I took a picture of him by himself, I still didn't talk to him or think anything about him.

From the time we were born to that late night at age 27 when we finally met, we were almost always within seconds, minutes or a couple of hours from each other.

I sometimes feel like we have a lot of anniversaries of almost meeting each other. We both agree it was a good thing we didn't meet any of these previous times in our lives...because we probably wouldn't have liked each other and definitely wouldn't be here today!

Out at The K!

Thursday night we hit The K with our neighbors and watched the Royals beat the Yankees 7-0!

Off to The Brooksider...

T-Bones!

Last Saturday night the Books and the Seilers headed out to the family oriented T-Bones baseball game.
The boys were big fans!

No shortage of food was consumed...

Nate showing off his Dance Party USA moves...

I LOVE my nephews!

Oh, all the animals!

Last Saturday morning, we packed up the mini-van and drove down the street to see the animals of Africa, Australia and of various other places.

Uncle Steve was ultra-high on the cool factor at the zoo!

Roar!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The elephants finally got out of the trees.



Andy worked hard for this carousel ride.


Nibble, Nibble.

We're FINALLY taking the train ride we've been promised since we arrived!

Goldfish, 7-Up & Shots

We kicked off last weekend on Friday with an impromptu cookout at our house since Andy, Jamie and the boys were visiting.

Nate and Ty enjoying the 2-year old snack of choice.

Who says a cracked driveway (and I mean severely cracked) can't serve as socializing central?

The boys studiously studying their bubbles.

Swiiiiiing!

Luke and Sydney enjoying the almost five-year old drink of choice.

The Storm Lake Steve's enjoying the 30-something drink of choice.

Jack/Beverly and the Seiler bros enjoy Blue Smoothies and lots and lots of food!

Just some of the girls (with a cameo from Ty)!

Another Seiler is on its way!

On Thursday night when Andy, Jamie and the boys arrived we walked down to Jalepenos. As we were waiting for our table I was looking at their photos when I came upon this:


(It says, "Mom has a bun in the oven!" I'll be able to post a larger image of this photo when we get our home computer back up.)

I got tears in my eyes and Steve's mouth immediately dropped open while he continued to stare at his brother for what seemed like many, many seconds!

Needless to say we're estatic, and we will be counting down the days until February when we get to meet our 4th nephew or our 1st niece!!

It's such a small, small world.

Yesterday I flew to my DSM to attend the opening of our first company location there. A few of my co-workers drove (some for the first time) to my beloved home state.

They arrived early so they went across the street into Target. As they entered, my co-workers commented on the cute little boys they saw. When the parents of those cute little boys saw their BB name tags, they asked them if they worked at BB and if they knew me.

It was no other than Andy, Jamie, Luke and Ty! Ironically, the Seiler clan drove down later that day to visit us!

Another reason I love Iowa.

Try To Top This.

We get to spend all weekend with our three nephews. How lucky are we?!!!

And the list stops there.

On Friday and Saturday when I was gone, Steve worked on the house, spent time with MY family (he's good like that), attended a bachelor party and...

The list stops at bachelor party.
A few weeks shy of his 34th birthday, drinking shots and closing down the bars at 3 a.m. doesn't equate to a productive next day(s) for anyone our age.

I'm glad Steve enjoyed a night and early morning out on the town with friends, some of whom, he's known since college. I'm also secretly glad my do-it-him-self, always-on-the-go husband didn't complete his original list because it made coming home and doing absolutely nothing MUCH easier for me.

A Father's Dream of his Daughter at her Wedding.

My Dad has dedicated the past 33 years to his children and has worked hard to enable his daughter to have the wedding of her dreams.


I thank him with my 20th mixed drink that I'm sure I made him buy instead of my husband, a MIA veil and my $40 barrette hanging in my face.

And, of course, Geoff was here for it all!

Those Big Blue Eyes...

I met Samantha Jaye this weekend!

I had the pleasure of spending three entire days getting to look at her smile, hear her make her adorable sounds and watch her make everyone she's around happy!

She is my best friend's daughter. At the ripe age of 12 weeks, she quietly enjoyed shopping, watching TV, sleeping, going out to dinner and letting others enjoy wine and friends!

She's the sweetest baby and I miss her already.

Where is Ty's Hair?

Oh my, Ty's curls are gone!

And for anyone wondering,that's Julie's boyfriend, Josh. Cute, isn't he?!

Like Uncle Like Nephew

Steve introduced Nate to his first fireworks experience. It was not a shock that our "no fear" nephew jumped up and down in joy every time he heard a loud pop!

Call me the Bookseller

Last night Ann was my date for Starlight Theatre's Sweet Charity broadway production. My company was the presenting sponsor so we had a dinner for our best customers. We also got to hand out BB fans as guests entered and gave them the opportunity to register to win a Spa service. If Ann ever decides teaching isn't for her, I think marketing could be in her future. She jumped right in!

While we were doing this I was wearing a name tag. I had one man ask me if my name was Beth BookSeller. And then a little girl asked why my middle name was Book. I don't think she understood my explanation.

On to the show...Sweet Charity was extremely entertaining and funny. I highly recommend it! We were in the 2nd row so we got to enjoy seeing the facial expressions and movements of the actors. A beautiful night under the stars in Kansas City.

Mickey is in the HOUSE!

Celebrating Nate's love of everything Mickey Mouse, he was the special guest for birthday #2!

The Party Warehouse warned me that Mickey may pop if sat on, hugged or stepped on. Well, all three things happened multiple times (he was even in the telephone wires) and Mickey is still going strong!

Nate and his friends LOVED Mickey. And I think Mickey had a pretty good time, too.

Wimbledon Seiler Style

Steve and I took up tennis last night.

We pulled out my brother and my first rackets and some decade-old tennis balls that had never been opened. The tennis rackets actually say "age 7-9" and we learned that ten-year old tennis balls really lose their firmness and bounce.

Small rackets and soft tennis balls did not deter us.
We walked over to two different neighborhood tennis court areas to find them all full. So we walked back to our house and started playing on our cracked driveway. Cracked concrete is not ideal for beginners.

We were then ready for an actual court. After only lobbing three balls going over the 100-foot fence and hiding from some friends who were walking by, we successfully volleyed quite a few times. Love!