Hello?

Yes, I'm still here! You may have been wondering where I ran off to the past month or so. I wish I had a good answer and funny story to tell, but I don't. Things have just been really bust here around the Ritter house! Turns out working 50 hours a week makes you pretty exhaused when you get home. :) Here's a short (or probably not so short) summary of the last month around here:

August 1: Mike and Danielle's wedding!

We drove out to St. Clound with all of Dan's old roomates to see off fellow engineer, Mike, and his wife Danielle. We had a great time - the ceremony was beautiful, the food was good, and the company was the best part! Come to think of it, we probably should have all gotten our pictures taken together as a group... Anyway, it was a fun day and we are really happy for Mike and Danielle!

Some time mid-August: Dan celebrates his first year with Medtronic!
Hard to believe that it has already been a year since Dan started working. He's so happy, and so good at what he does. It's fun to pop in and see him because he's made so many neat friends and has a great department. I've even gone scrapbooking with his admin! It's so cool to be part of such a great place. anyway, a few times a year Medtronic holds a ceremony to honor those who have been with the company for a year. Dan got to go and was even give a really neat medallion. The best part for him, though, was meeting the founder of Medtronic and the inventor of almost all of the modern day bio-medical devices, Earl Bakken. Mr. Bakken's biggest claim to fame was that he invented the pacemaker. Dan said he told the story of how he came up with the idea: he watched Frankenstein and was listening to a metronome. So cool! After the ceremony he stood and talked with anyone who wanted to come say hi, so Dan made sure to get a picture. It was an honor for Dan to get to meet him. He's such a cute old man!

Last week: A huge quilt for our bedroom!

Dan and I have been looking at bedding sets for a few months now, and haven't found anything we love, so we decided I should make us a quilt and the n we can spend the cash on really soft and comfy sheets. Here's the fabric we picked out - lots of greens, browns and blues. I love the fabric and will post more as I get working on it!

This past weekend: Willow gets a pool!

We saw pools were at a super cheap end of summer clearance, so we decided to get one for our Willy since she loves the water. She was really not so sure about it, but seemed to have some fun as time went on. The flowers are sprinklers, so when we turned those on she have fun playing in them. I'm betting a few more outings to her pool and she'll be sold. Maybe for once it will even get hot enough around here for her to use it!

Otherwise, work is going well for me. I am LOVING every minute of being with the boys. They are 6 1/2 months old now and are so fun. I am so in love. :) Next week, their parents are going out of town so Dan and I have the babes here for four days. Should be fun being pretend parents! I'll document with lots of pictures and tell you how our practice long weekend goes!

And lastly, because nothing melts my heart the way these two do, he's Dan and Willow on the ride home for Dan's parents house. Dan wasn't feeling the best, so he dozed off and Willow curled right up on his chest. (She woke up when the flash went off - shoot!) These two are so sweet and I am so totally in love with both of them!