Todd Family Blog

Welcome! Read below for our latest news and pictures.

Friday, June 11, 2010

Back in the U.S.

The garden has been planted, and after a ton of rain it is exploding like last year. We’ve had Cheesecake Factory-sized salads with dinner every night we’ve eaten in. Dad planted me A LOT of lettuce and spinach.



Mom hung out for a week after I returned home from Switzerland in May. We worked hard that week! I just try to keep up with her. Odie and Mollie were with her, so we had all 5 dogs hanging out with us!


Mollie and the big dogs love each other. Tug was a big hit. Mollie was sure she could take on the shepherds.


Mollie’s favorite place to sleep.


My good friend, Jen Rawe, had a great clothing exchange party. We all bring the clothes we no longer want and basically shop in each other's closets. My wardrobe grew for free!


Tyler and Adrienne's Wedding!
After the beautiful ceremony at Park Tudor the reception was held at Plum’s Upper Room in Zionsville. There were wonderful cheeses and an amazing array of desserts. I had never been to Plum’s before and it is so neat inside! Gotta go back for dinner.

What a neat idea for a guest book – a chalkboard wall! Below are my signature and also Nate’s, which was very original.





The beautiful bride, Adrianne, with a well-deserved drink, or two.


Love this picture of Nate and me!

Some of the Zionsville gang (minus Brad in Switzerland, of course).
Jim, Chad, Louis, Nate and Kyle

The wives:
Sarah, Erin, Heather, Kelly, Kate, Amanda and me

Amanda Crisel and me

Around midnight we called Brad and woke him up – he was spending the weekend in France. The phone was passed around and he got to share in a bit of the fun (much to his delight at 6:00 a.m., I’m sure).

And the dancing starts.
Tyler, the groom, cracking up Hillary and Kelly

This is what happens when you take your shoes off and dance.


Tyler, Jim, Chad, Louis, Nate, Kyle, Scott and Amanda



Okay, after that beautiful event it seems wrong to post these pics. But this is what happened next and definitely defined life around here for a couple weeks. Poor Luke had a sore on his back that was bugging him. I first tried some Neosporin and wrapping it up (hilarious look for him, I know), but after just a couple days had to take him to the vet.


When they sedated him and shaved the spot this is what we found! Terrible! He then had a bad reaction to the antibiotics and for a week we had to set our alarms for 2 a.m. to let him out in the middle of the night. He couldn't stop chugging water. Many washed rugs later, we are all back to normal and he is on the mend.


Though they handle it well, the dogs prefer to not be separated. Gracie knew Luke wasn't feeling well when he came home from a day at the vet's.


Brad has only been home for about two weeks. It’s so great to have him home! He hadn't been home since Christmas - 5 months! The dogs were obviously happy.


Before Brad returned I organized some outings with friends so he could see everyone. We had a great time out to dinner with Lauren and Jason Brown, and then back to their place to meet Will.
We laughed so hard at this picture. Lauren said it was a Christmas card moment.


Aw, Lauren and Will.


Soon after Brad came home my students gave a recital. Miriam, Jen, Bob and Bonnie were all kind enough to come and watch. Then we went out for a yummy dinner at Stone Creek. Thanks for coming, guys!


I finally managed to surprise Brad! I snagged the only reservation left at Bonge's Tavern and put together a large group for a welcome home dinner. Brad was surprised as more and more friends came to join us and he got to catch up with everyone all at once!

At Bonge's you go early and tailgate in the parking lot. This is essential if you don't have 10 people or more, which is required for a reservation. By 6:00 they had already stopped taking names for the dinner wait list!


Our group after our yummy and huge dinner.