I have returned from a weekend Bachelor party celebration for Pucci (a good friend from college). An album of pictures are forthcoming, but for now I hope this picture will tide you over:

Pucci: the Man, the Myth, the Legend.

UPDATE: the album is now online.

The first picture of the year, taken just ten seconds into 2008:

Brent and Heather graciously hosted Jeff, Caroline, Reese, me, Shannon, and Libby for a wonderful new years celebration. We ate some very tasty grilled chicken, (giant) baked potatoes, seasoned green beans, and topped it all off with two helpings of a low fat graham-cracker-pudding-whipped-cream dish (I’m sure that’s not the name, but it was good).

Everyone stayed up late, but us boys drank like we were young and foolish again. We paid for it the next day… but it was worth every penny.

Life, my friends, is good. We wish you and your families a very happy new year as well!

I hosted a poker night with some work buddies a few days ago and forgot to post pictures (holi-daze).

We played a Texas Hold-Em tournament with a $10 buy-in with a winner-take-all pot (we also gave $5 to the first player out for the half-ass effort). To make sure play did not continue for too long we doubled the blinds every 30-45 minutes. I think a good time was had by all.

Last Sunday we went to a party to celebrate Elin’s first birthday. It was a wonderful way to spend an afternoon: eating cake, spending time with other parents, and watching all of our children play well together. As you can probably guess my pictures don’t hold a candle to the ones that Elin’s father takes, but here they are anyway:

Shannon, Libby, Pete, Eliza, and I all traveled south to Bloomington this weekend to check out IU’s Dance Marathon. IUDM is a 36-hour extravaganza where students raise money for Riley Children’s Hospital. This year they raised a whopping $1,041,197.20!!!

The weather was gorgeous - crisp air and multi-colored trees everywhere. I love Bloomington in the Fall. Here are a few quick pictures:

Man, it was a great weekend. For a comprehensive summary go to my wife’s blog. In summary we:

• Ate cupcakes
• Won a silver iPod Nano
• Had fun at a Halloween party
• Enjoyed the fall weather
• Went pumpkin picking

I think this picture best captures our Autumn joy (click for bigger version):

This past Sunday we were lucky to have two pairs of college friends stop by. Julia and Ben are from the Chicago area - Ben was actually the guy who was instrumental in bringing Shannon and I together back in college. Heather and Brent are also friends from college - Brent was a best man at my wedding and my near-constant roommate throughout college:

We spent the afternoon laying around, watching football, and talking. It was wonderful!

(Hi Deanna! Hope you’re doing well!!)

Two couples came over on Sunday to have a little BBQ and watch the Colts win another game: Jeff, Caroline, and their beautiful daughter Reese and Jeremy, Nicole, and their adorable son Cameron. Jeremy and Nicole just recently moved to Indiana and we are very glad to have them so close - welcome back!!

It was too hot to eat outside, but then again beer tastes better while sitting on a couch watching football. The kids had fun giving us a preview of what our living room will probably look like in a few years:

We are so glad to hear that Matt and Laura had a beautiful baby girl: Anna Louise! She was 7 lbs, 2 oz and 19 1/2 inches.

Congratulations Matt and Laura - we are both very happy for you!