Celebration of Caring "Under the Big Top"

This past Friday was the big fundraiser gala for the Peyton Manning Children's Hospital at Lucas Oil Stadium. The whole evening was centered around the circus. You might recall my previous post with images from the circus that the hospital held in their lobby for their patients. The gala's special guests included, Ashley and Peyton Manning, Archie and Olivia Manning, Darius Rucker, Jim Nance, and United States Senator Evan Bayh. Another special guest of the evening was the winner of the True Heroes award, Maddie Robertson, who began her fight with a rare form of leukemia just days after high school graduation. A very special auction with items such as a round of golf with Peyton helped raise large amounts of money for the hospital. The evening wrapped up with the entertainment of Darius. I'm sure no one in attendance will forget their night at the Big Top anytime soon. I was fortunate to be part of the photo team for this event along with the all-smiles Maya Laurent and rock star Chad Franz.

Enjoy the circus theme details...

ASCE Rain Garden

For a guest blog appearance, this is Tim, Megan's husband.

My full-time job is a civil engineer, which might sound boring to you, but I think it can be pretty fun. I am especially interested in sustainable design and low impact development. So when I heard that my professional organization, ASCE, got a grant to install rain gardens at elementary schools in Indianapolis, I got pretty excited.

Several engineering firms in town volunteered their time and services to design and install a rain garden at Crooked Creek Elementary School. The purpose of the rain garden is to capture the rainwater that flows off of the parking lot at the school and to use wetland plants to remove many of the pollutants before the water leaves the site.

The coolest thing about the project is that the students are the ones that installed the 1300 plants. They took off their socks and shoes and walked directly in the mud left over from the previous nights' rain. The teachers hosed the giggling students off before returning to class. I'm sure that it is a moment they will always remember. Enjoy!






















That's me on the left!

Courtney + Justin = Married!

After 9 years of being together, the time was finally right for Courtney and Justin to tie the knot. After what was quite a rainy stretch last week, Saturday cleared up nicely to be the beautiful day these two deserved.

The day started in Terre Haute at the Rave Aveda salon where Courtney had won a complete bridal pampering from a bridal show! Courtney and her mom (who lives in Florida) got gorgeous at the salon. Back in Rockville, the church was already busy with people getting ready for the ceremony. Props to this group, who were actually more than punctual, even early! Courtney looked just amazing as Justin gazed at her from the front of the church. Justin's grandpa, filled with joy, officiated the ceremony. After a bubble exit, we were able to have some fun with pictures at the golf course next to the reception site. Justin's mom was the coordinator and cook for the food and it was a delicious spread.

Courtney left no detailed over looked and the whole day had personal touches to it. It is really neat to see people's talents come together for a special day such as this. Congratulations to Rosedale's newlyweds!