Sara & Brendan finally got married on Saturday. So big congratulations to Mr. & Mrs. Becher. I had an absolute blast and I think I even remember most of it. There might be a small portion of the evening around dinner time that is slightly blurry. Yes, right around speech time... Bet mine was spectacular. But anyway, Sara looked gorgeous, the whole thing went really well, and it all went by so fast even though we started early and didn't quit until they turned on the lights. I'm pretty sure I forced everyone who was there out onto the dance floor. I'm sure they appreciated that, but I had a great time. This is the one of the few pictures that we took with my camera (yes, we're in the heart-shaped bathtub in their honeymoon suite) so when I get more I'll try to post a few of those. Jon has some on flickr, click here to check those out.

I'm sorry, here comes a rant so if you need to just click on little Mr. X in the upper right, but I just have to comment on something in light of the recent news headlines. Someone needs to take a long hard look at both the prevalence of repeat sex offenders vs single incident offenders and the correlation between sex offenses and other crimes including murder. Check out the AG's sex offender website. These people don't just accidentally commit a single sexual assault and subsequently transform into model citizens who you would just love having live next door. I don't understand why something hasn't been done about this. These people need to experience some more severe repercussions. I think there should be two options for punishment. Castration or lobotomy. I'm completely serious. Read about some their offenses on the website and I guarantee you'll agree especially if you consider that their next victim could be your child, sister, niece, etc. The victims are permanently affected by something like that. The offenders should be too.

Just for a little perspective- there are 73 offenders within a 5 mile radius of our house here in Bismarck. 73.

Last weekend we went up to Lake Metigoshe for a little camping get-together with all of Jason's college basketball buddies and their families. Before this weekend I had never met any of them except Mr & Mrs Fruitcake so it was just me and then about 20 of the rest of them who have all known each other for a decade or so. After meeting them, this is what I have to say: they are tall and they sure know how to procreate.

The weather cooperated nicely; it probably topped out at a lovely 55 degrees or so. Since we couldn't play in the water or go golfing we did pretty much nothing except drink a lot of beer. I had to endure all kinds of oh-so-interesting college stories for the first day or so, then after they got those out of their systems we basically just sat around and they took turns making fun of each other in various ways, which was okay with me. So all things considering (like the stinky weather and hanging out with a bunch of old people) it was a pretty fun weekend.

This listening to the country station is really starting to pay off. All of the life lessons that I learn from it like that my baby should love me just the way that I am, life isn't always beautiful, size matters, etc. would be more than enough, but today it has offered me even more than that. I called in today and won something.

I think I might be a dork.

 Last weekend was nice having my brother and sister in town. Friday afternoon Mike, Dad, and I went fishing. I caught the only fish. It wasn't a keeper, but we won't dwell on that small detail. Jenny and her Sam got to town Friday evening and I am very happy to see that Jen has a little tummy. Sami and I made her some baby sleeper things for mother's day that say "my aunties love me" and "I love my aunties", stuff like that. That poor baby is going to be the target of a lot of those projects for the next few years. The sleepers, though, turned out to be very cute. We didn't do a whole lot the rest of the weekend- went golfing, got together with all of the other Schaafs for mother's day, ate a lot as usual. Jen & her Sam left on Monday to go back to Mpls, Mike left on Tues to go to work at a golf course in the Duluth area. And now I am going to start looking for jobs for both Jen & Sam that are just so good that they can't pass them up so they can move back here and I can quit my job and babysit my niece full-time.

My little brother and big sister (in age, that is. In actual physical stature: big brother and little sister. Well, Jen will only be little for a while yet, she'll be huge soon!) Anyway, sorry, lost my train of thought. They are coming to town. Mike's done with school for the semester so he has made his way up from New Mexico to ND on his way to northern MN to work for the summer. And Jen and her baby daddy Sam are here for the weekend. I am taking off early this afternoon to go fishing with Mike and Dad and then the rest of the weekend doing whatever. It's always nice to hang out with them since they usually get all of my jokes. I've been told that my sense of humor is slightly off. I disagree, however, because my brother and sisters have basically the exact same sense of humor so I think that should validate my dumb jokes in some way. So there. That means that my jokes aren't dumb, but in fact they are so highly sophisticated that it takes a Schaaf to understand them. So there.

Regardless, I am excited that they will be here this weekend. And also very excited about leaving work early.