10 years of wedded bliss

This is one of my very favorite pictures of Ross and I. It was taken by a fountain just inside the doors to the Billings temple and I've since heard that they don't allow that anymore. Lucky us. We got the beautiful shot.


Here it is almost 3 months later, but I've finally figured out how to scan in my wedding pictures in celebration of our 10th anniversary.
Our long story as short as I can make it? Ross and I met through my cousin Michelle. She had dated a guy at BYU named Brian who served in the same mission as Ross. Michelle and I flew to California when Brian came home and Ross was there at Brian's homecoming talk in church thanks to a chance running into Brian at Mormon Night at Angels Stadium. Ross and Brian were roommates that fall and because I was always with Michelle and Michelle was often with Brian, Ross and I got thrown together a lot. No love at first sight in Cali, but we got more and more curious about each other as time went on.
We dated for 5 months and then were engaged for 5 months. Wouldn't do a 5 month engagement again, but we got engaged in January and figured it was easiest to wait until school was out. My little brother was due to come home from his mission in early May so we thought it would be nice to wait to him. Then it just ended up that June worked out best for traveling and what not. And.....I'm a big dork and always liked the thought of being a June bride. Blame it on "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" and a bunch of super skinny girls dancing around an attic in their pantaloons and corsets. ha ha




The engagement picture we sent with our announcements. It didn't occur to me that people would think I was taller than Ross. I was just standing on a spot of ground that was higher than his.

This is another of my favorites. It's fun and I think I like the primary colors or something.

It rained and rained the day before our wedding. We drove into a gray-skied Billings and I wondered if it would stick around. I really only cared if we could get pictures and then the rain could come down all it wanted. We were blessed with blue skies by morning and a beautiful day to get married. Not that it was all perfect. Poor Ross got the door slammed in his face when he came to the hotel to pick me up. I'd been up since 5 AM, but he still caught me in curlers and pajamas and so my bridal stressed-out moment happened then. My dad opened the door, gave Ross the "Welcome to dealing with a woman." look, and I was ready soon after. He still gives me a hard time about that though!


June 10, 2000. Our mushy kissing picture. I know it seems a little strange that I had a long sleeve dress for June, but one, this is Montana weather we got married in, and two, it's what I wanted for the temple wedding. My mom made it for me and I love it.



Everyone at the wedding. Parents, siblings, my Grandpa Tuck, aunts, uncles, and a few cousins. Mostly mine, but Ross did have a great aunt and her daughter and son-in-law there that came up from Wyoming, but aren't in the pics. (And for those of you who don't know my mom, she looks SO different now! Hooray for her!)


My silly siblings decided to lift me up for a fun picture.

Not to be outdone, the crazy fun family I married into decided to lift Ross off the ground too. I especially like Stephen trying to "steal" Ross's wallet.

Love this pic of Ross and his guys. My brothers Russ and Ryan and Ross's brother and best man, Blaine. We didn't really have or want a wedding line, but wanted them in tuxes for pictures. Don't they look great?

And now, a few shots around the temple:



I've got him in the palm of my hand! (Our photographer had the idea for this one. Goofy, but fun.)

Here's the funny thing about me marrying Ross in Billings. We'd just barely started to date when I told him I was going to Montana for the Billings temple open house. Much to my surprise, he invited himself along! I did everything I could to get Michelle and Brian to come too so that it didn't feel so much like "bringing a guy home to meet the folks" because I wasn't exactly to that point yet! No such luck. He and I drove up to Helena and then we went with my brother Ryan over to Billings where my parents were helping with the tours of the temple.

We got to the temple grounds and this weird thing happened to me. I couldn't bring myself to hold hands with him as we walked around. Growing up, I never thought I'd be able to get married in Montana because there was no temple here. Suddenly we had one and I had this image of myself on my wedding day dealing with memories of strolling around the grounds all googly- eyed and mushy with some other guy than the one I was marrying! It wasn't a rational thought necessarily, but as I said, we were at the very beginning of dating each other. My mom will still tease about seeing me looking at the double mirrors in a sealing room, but as soon as Ross walked into the view I JUMPED out of the reflection!!! Guess I didn't really need to worry because I was already with the man I was going to marry, but my silly romantic notions got the better of me that day... ;o)

We had a brunch at a hotel after the wedding and then our reception was at my parents' home that evening. I never really wanted to do a reception in the gym at church, so this was a great option. The house they lived in flowed well enough that it worked really well.

The Wedding Party. Ross's sister Melanie on the left, my cousin Michelle kneeling, and my sister Wendy on the right were my bridesmaids. I always felt bad that their dresses didn't turn out cuter, but I guess bridesmaid dresses are stereotypically not all that great! ;o)

Kissing my daddy

Our rings

My cake was an interesting thing. I waited too long to order it from anywhere very fancy. We ended up go to County Market. My mom and I asked very specifically if they had a whipped cream frosting rather than the buttercream frosting. We even taste tested the difference and then asked for the whipped cream like we'd originally wanted. We also asked about flower arrangements on the cake. The lady looked at us like we were nuts. She seemed to shrug her shoulders and say something about if we had something she supposed they could stick it on. We talked to the florist about a floral cake topper and again they looked at us like we were nuts and said that's something the bakery would handle, but maybe they could give us a few flowers for it. Lame.
I also thought I'd like the Billings temple on the top layer. Have you seen those beautiful, dainty little glass temples that they sell at kiosks in Utah malls? No problem, right? Uh, sure. There was a guy at our dinky little Helena mall selling blown glass items, so my mom asked him about doing one for us. She gave him a picture of the temple and paid him big bucks to make us a special order.
It all ended up that we got a buttercream frosted cake with no fresh flowers and topped with a HUGE disproportionate Billings temple that had gold globbed all over it. (When the topper busted, I so didn't cry!) The above picture is the only one that I felt like made the cake look sort of like I wanted it to. Good thing wedding cakes don't affect how happy your marriage will be.

I'm not a big fan of white wedding cake, so we totally had chocolate. Ross and I had made a pact, however, to NOT smash it in each others' faces. Not really our style. Not that it wasn't messy just the same as you can see in these snapshots!


Somehow it seems almost inappropriate to post this garter picture, but the looks on our faces are too funny not to share.

The bouquet "toss" to my cousin Michelle. My bouquet had irises in it which had become my favorite flower thanks to Ross bringing me one on the day I got laid off from my job while we were dating. I completely loved, loved, loved my bouquet.


I've seen car decorating be cute and I've seen it be a disaster. Best? My cousin Sam's vehicle was filled with balloons, and Oreos were pulled apart and stuck on the outside windows where "Just Married" was also written. I liked it. Worst ever? My poor former roommate Stacy and her husband had an entire phone book and probably other stuff ripped up and stuffed in their car and then a guy hid in it while they drove away from the reception. Those first few moments they thought they had alone were interrupted by this dumb yahoo popping out of the back seat at them. Terrible, but I couldn't seem to talk anyone out of that.
So, because I'd told Ross about Stacy's experience, he locked his car. That ended up being a bad thing just because his siblings had been planning on putting cinnamon rolls and orange juice in our car for us for breakfast the next morning. Whoops! ;o) Oh well. The car was kind of mess on the outside, but that's mostly because it rained off and on all day and the marshmallows and streamers melted and stuck. Messy stuff!

I don't even remember where we got the idea for these t-shirts. I probably saw it on an episode of "A Wedding Story" or something, knowing me. That's my kindergarten picture and Ross is about 4 in the pic of him.

We went on our honeymoon (so. much. driving.) staying a few nights at Fairmont Hot Springs, then a night in Jackson, Wyoming, then a night in a cabin at Sundance. Sundance was fun and free because I'd won a gift certificate in a work drawing nearly a year before when Ross and I hadn't even met!
We went to a family reunion the following weekend, and the weekend after that we went to California for our Open House at Ross's parents' home. My parents and brothers Ryan and Russ and sister Wendy came and we joked that my parents had finally fulfilled their parental duty because we all went to Disneyland for the first time. We also went to the beach. I was so excited to be there with Ross, but before I'd even gotten in the water he got stung by a little stingray and couldn't go back in the ocean at all!

Ross, me, 3 of my siblings, and my dad's finger ;o) in front of the castle at Disneyland.

Huntington Beach. Note my new hubby dramatically grabbing his wounded foot.

I'm posting a couple of pictures from the open house of random people I don't know because the spectacular floral arrangements that my sister-in-law Jane did for us are in them. I especially loved the roses and mirrors as centerpieces on the tables.



Ross and his high school buddies celebrating his marriage

I'm a picture junkie when it comes to posting on my blog, so here's us through the years.

May 2001 with our brand new nephew Dillon. My friend Denise's husband said when he saw this picture that it looks like I'm asking Ross if I can have one.

February 2002 at a park in California. I'm pregnant and tired here, but I guess asking for a baby worked! ;o)

October 2002 at a a "How to Host a Murder" party at my brother Jeff's house. Ross was a Duke and I was a socialite.

June 2003 Governor's Cup 5k race. The one and ONLY time I have ever participated in this event even though I've lived in Helena my whole life.

May 2004 at Ross's friend Corey's wedding

June 2005 at the end of a fun day with the Frutos family (Ross's sister Brenda's) at Knott's Berry Farm

November 2006 on the day of Luke Blaine's blessing

December 2007 at my parent's house for Christmas. Apparently, Ross and I decided that year not to pose for any pictures with just us. (My nephews Caleb, Spencer, and Jacob, my sister-in-law Kathy, and her sister Daisy also make an appearance here.)

August 2008 at the Rockin' R Ranch in Antimony, Utah for the Wilkins Family Reunion and 50th anniversary celebration for my in-laws. This is us (minus 3 month old Rebecca) in the talent show performing to "The Shaggy Dog Cha-Cha-Cha" that comes off an old record the Wilkins kids loved while growing up.

November 2009 posing for our Christmas card shot

For our 5th anniversary we stayed overnight at a seaside resort in Morrow Bay, California. We wanted to do something more than just dinner and a movie for our 10th as well, but me being pregnant and our current attempt to be frugal didn't allow for anything too fancy. We decided to go back to the Billings Temple on our anniversary. My parents kindly offered to take our kids for the night, so on the 9th we arrived at their house to drop them off. We didn't leave right away while we got the kids' sleeping arrangements set up and what not, but knew we needed to get on the road for the 4 hour drive. I asked Ross to check online to see what time sessions started at the temple so we could figure out when to be there. He checked. Good thing! The temple ended up being closed for cleaning for 2 weeks. So suddenly we were canceling the hotel reservation in Billings and looking up a nice place to stay in Idaho Falls. I was actually excited for the opportunity to go to the Idaho Falls temple because it's the one our stake went to while I was growing up for youth temple trips, my parents and grandparents were sealed there, etc. It didn't disappoint and we had a nice time away with just the two of us. We drove back through Rexburg, Idaho and saw a couple on the grounds of the temple there who had just been married. It was fun to clap and holler from our car that they'd chosen a great day to get hitched!

I brought the camera, but forgot to take any pictures until we were driving home. The first one I'm throwing in because it's the only one showing Ross's bandaged fingers. He'd sliced the pads off with a circular saw a week before. He couldn't go swimming because of it and I couldn't go in a hot tub because of my pregnancy, so we just watched cable instead. (But since we choose not to have it at home it was kind of a treat!) And yes, he knew I was taking the picture, so the weird look is on purpose.

Our together shot with another weird look. Lovely man. Glad I married him.

June 10, 2010

Searching for inspiration...

June 1st.
I always have hope in a new month.
Hope that I can make some good changes that will benefit me and my family.
Sometimes I get a few things done, but it's hard to feel that I've done all I can come month's end.

So, here I am at the the beginning again.

The question for myself is How do I finally break free of the same old path I always take?

It's so hard to not feel overwhelmed and pessimistic. And I'd like to think that I'm not generally a pessimistic person. I go to bed every night feeling like when I wake up I'll conquer the day. But then I actually wake up. I AM SO NOT A MORNING PERSON. (I've heard you can change that in yourself too. That'd be nice.) Most of the time, I just wake up groggy and hungry so that it takes me forever to get going. Optimism at night. Pessimism in the morning. Not the best life plan.

The simple answer is something I already know. I'm grateful to be able to look to my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ for the help and guidance I need.

My husband and I have been reading from little book called "Stand A Little Taller" that is filled with a scripture and quote by President Gordon B. Hinckley for each day of the year. Even though we've read it for a number of years there are still times when the day's thought matches exactly what we are feeling at the time. That happened for me a couple of months ago after a rough day I'd had. The day's thought was "Rely on the Lord". It goes as follows:

D & C 103:7 And by hearkening to observe all the words which I, the Lord their God, shall speak unto them, they shall never cease to prevail until the kingdoms of the world are subdued under my feet, and the earth is given unto the saints, to possess it forever and ever.

"The Lord has given you this glorious Church, His Church, to guide you and direct you, to give you opportunity for growth and experience, to teach you and lead you and encourage you, to make of you His chosen daughter or son, one upon whom He may look with love and with a desire to help. Of course there will be some problems along the way. There will be difficulties to overcome. But they will not last forever. He will not forsake you." -Gordon B. Hinckley

How blessed I feel to know that I will not be forsaken. I have read these words a number of times recently. I need to apply them in my own life somehow and fight against the adversary who works to keep me down with thoughts of inadequacy and low self worth. (Hate it when he does that!)

I've also realized that I can rise above my issues because I've seen others do it. I know many personally who have been amazing to watch as they deal with death, disease, job loss, or something else much more difficult than my seemingly small problems. I am inspired to see them come through it hand in hand with the Lord.

On the public forum, I've been reading and feeling inspired by the blogs of 3 women. They are familiar to many people.

My sweet sister-in-law Celeste sent my mother, sister, and other sisters-in-law an e-mail back in February asking for prayers for the little boy of a friend of hers from high school. Sara Staker's son was 16 months old when he drown in the bathtub in late January. He was dead on arrival at the hospital. He made a MIRACULOUS recovery to the point that you can't even tell he went through so much trauma.

Can't help myself. I have to post the video of his journey.


I came across Natalie Norton's blog because a friend of mine had posted a small excerpt from a post that Natalie had done for her friend's blog. Natalie lost her baby boy to pertussis in mid-January. He was just over 2 months old. He was even named after her brother who had passed away two and a half years earlier.

For a while I saw people putting a "button" on their blogs that said, "I read Nie Nie." (Random side note: It actually reminded me of my Ricks College roommate Nissa-Lynn because her nickname in the apartment seemed to be Ni-Ni. The "i" has an "e" sound in her name.) I never thought much of it and I don't really know when I first looked at Stephanie Nielson's blog. Sometime last year perhaps? However, I wasn't ever really a follower of her blog until I started reading these other two. And like so many, once I got into it, I seemed to find myself hooked. I guess she had a lot of readers prior to her 2008 plane crash, but her words and shared experiences of her trial as a burn survivor are reaching out to so many more now.

These women are blessed with the gift of writing well. I ramble a lot on my blog, but they know so well how to uplift and inspire with their thoughts. The wonderful thing is that their thoughts are not always central to the specific trial that they have gone through. They all say the most profound things on a variety of other subjects. It always makes me want to be better than I am and I guess that's why I want to share some of my favorite posts so that maybe they can inspire you too, if they haven't already.

The following 2 posts are from Sara and Natalie. It's almost eerie how similar their thoughts are.

Sara:
A week ago...right now...
Natalie:
Impossible

These two posts from Natalie are beautiful examples of a firm testimony in God and His watchful, loving care. I love that she and her family were even blessed with a little humor to cope in their time of sorrow.

impossible...except that it's not
Conversations

Especially in this one:

Water water everywhere and not a drop to drink

In a post titled "when the day is new" Natalie also shares this quote:

Indeed, there are times when the only way the path can be followed is on one's knees.

~Neal A. Maxwell

Both of these women spent time at Primary Children's Medical Center and they walked out of it with two very different results. Despite that, they both made the decision to rely on the Lord and wrote about it so movingly.

Sara:
Chasing out fear, choosing faith
Natalie:
Prayers of Faith

As I said, I haven't been reading "The Nie Nie Dialogues" for very long, so I'm not as familiar with her posts, but here is one I found that I love so much. It just makes so much sense. I love how she talks about the love and companionship of her husband and their connection. I love her willingness to share the moments when her plane crashed. I most of all love her testimony and her reminder of God and our Savior never leaving us alone. She says it much better than I did, please be assured.

Nie: on being alone

I also love this post which happened just under a year before her accident. It reminds me to enjoy those little moments that pass by all too quickly.

Attention all mothers:

If you're LDS, and even if you're not, you've probably seen the "My New Life" video of Stephanie and her husband that was done for Mormon Messages. So, so cool (for lack of a better word). My favorite part was what she had to say towards the end of the video and the concluding quote given by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland.

"I'm just grateful that I'm here on this earth and I have the opportunity to be a mother and do the things that I love and enjoy. And I just, I don't know, I just view, I view my role now as more divine. It's something more -- not just a mother who wakes up and makes her kids food. It's a mother who enriches and teaches about the gospel of Jesus Christ, but it's a privilege, and I see it more as a privilege than anything. To me, beauty and motherhood are one; they're the same thing. There is a plan for us, and it's a plan that will ultimately give us the greatest joy and happiness that we will ever experience, and it is only possible through Jesus Christ. And I am grateful for this trial, and it's a blessing, even though it's hard and it's challenging, and it will be for a while."

"It's our spiritual nature, though, to turn to our God, who gave us life and has given us this mortal experience -- to turn to Him either to thank Him for the happy times or to pray for his help in the hard times." (Husband Christian's words)

"I think my relationship with Heavenly Father was really good, and it still is really good, but spiritually now I have a better sense of who I am, what my divine purpose is, what I'm doing here on earth, why I'm still here. Life has a different meaning to me than it did before."

"When suffering, we may in fact be nearer to God than we’ve ever been in our entire lives. That knowledge can turn every such situation into a would-be temple.

Regarding our earthly journey, the Lord has promised, “I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up” (D&C 84:88). That is an everlasting declaration of God’s love and care for us, including—and perhaps especially—in times of trouble." Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

Stephanie's husband has been writing on the blog lately because she is in the hospital again for more surgeries. They are a good match because one of his recent posts was inspiring also. (I highly recommend watching the Mormon Message he links to of President Monson as well.)

Special Rooms

My husband and I loved Elder Bednar's conference talk from October 2009 and this recent post from Sara was a good reminder of it. Consistency, if nothing else.

A Tower of Cups and a Wheat Field

And this, also from Sara, reminds me to prioritize what I do with and for my family each day.

Leftovers

Most of us have seen the YouTube video of the little girl singing to herself in the bathroom mirror about how great life is and how she can do anything. I loved what Natalie added to it when she posted it on her blog.

i like my aunts, i like my allisons

Okay, I'll stop now. I know I have a tendency to go overboard. If you really care enough to, you surely won't be able to read all the posts I've linked to in one sitting. I hope you can read at lest a few though and feel what I have felt.
However, I will end with the first post I read from Natalie, the one she wrote for her friend. It speaks to me and my current issues of striving (Don't you love that word? It means you don't have to be perfect.) to be a better wife and mother and woman.

This was written just a few weeks after she lost her baby.

Love Meets the Crazy: guest blogger Natalie Norton.

Natalie here. I HAVE to start by saying, THANK YOU to those of you who prayed for baby Gavin. Truly. I know many of you literally lifted your entire hearts in prayer on his behalf, and I am deeply grateful to you. DEEPLY.PROFOUNDLY.ABUNDANTLY grateful. I love you.

So what am I doing here on The Coterie? Well, Heather asked me to share a few thoughts on love to kick off the season.

Disclaimer:

Truth be told?

• My house is a mess.
• My kids? Well, they definitely need a bath.
• If you come to my house, NEVER open a drawer, and enter the bathroom at your own risk.
• My kids pee in parking lots and hit strangers kids at the park.
• I don't know anything about most things and know very little about everything else.
• I don't DO any of the things I'm about to share with you all.the.time. I WISH I did. Oh, how I wish I did.
  
• At the end of the day, you just do the best you can, then hit the hay, roll out of bed, and start all over again tomorrow.
  

Alllllllll that said,

here are some tips and tricks I've learned over the years
to keeping the love ALIVE in a house full of crazy.
(oh, and one thing I DO know a lot about? A house full of crazy!)

ultimately, it all boils down to this:

Love YOURSELF
and there will always be an abundance of love left
for everyone else

In my world,

1. loving myself means putting one load of laundry in every morning, FIRST THING.

Laundry is the ultimate SUCK, and I HATE nothing more than hearing my husband and my kids say "Mo'om I can't find any clo'othes!"

I've decided that I love myself too much to allow myself to get behind. Having clean clothes to wear everyday, well, it shows my man and my boys that I love them too.

2. loving myself means, sorting my mail as I walk in from the mailbox.

If I'm not careful, every single surface in my home will be COVERED by papers in 6 seconds flat. Subsequently, I feel like I can NEVER open my front door all the way when Neighbor Nelly comes a callin' unannounced.

Junk mail goes straight into the trash (I walk past the can to reach my front door). Bills go directly into the "bill cubby" the second I walk in the door, and everything that needs to be filed is filed immediately (I keep my filing system on my kitchen counter right by my fridge, so it's always accessible).

I love myself too much to feel embarrassed by my house all.the.time. Keeping things clean also shows my boys (Richie included) I love them too much to make them live in squalor.

3. loving myself means taking care of my body.

when I'm on the ball in the love department, everyday I do four things:

1. exercise (you can ALWAYS find time one way or another)
   
2. eat sensibly (that does NOT equal "diet like it's goin' outta style")
3. shower (it helps me remember I'm alive)
   
4. go to bed at a reasonable hour (aka I have to ditch out on trash tv)

Enough said.

4. Loving myself means FINDING A FREAKING BABYSITTER.

If I love ANYONE in my life, myself, my kids, my husband, my bank teller. . . I'll get a *babysitter at LEAST once a week. If I don't have that kind of break . . . oy to the ve!

Richie and I try to go out once a week. . . at least. I know more than once a week is unrealistic for most families, but we've had some extenuating circumstances in our family recently and we've found that more time together as a couple is a NECESSITY for everyone involved. If life's a little more high stress than normal, you may want to give this a shot.

If you don't have a significant other, ditch the kids and go to a movie solo. . . I do it all the time. Not as awkward as you'd assume. Trust me.

*If you can't afford a sitter, do a babysitting trade with another family in the neighborhood. FIND.A.WAY. You won't regret it.

5. Loving myself means connecting with God.

Whether through studying sacred text or listening to beautiful music or praying or reaching out to someone in need. . . I've got to take the time to connect with God every.single.day. Ultimately, he IS love after all, right? So knowing him, well, knowing him means knowing love. :)

How do YOU show love to yourself/those around you?

Happy Valentines Day Folks!

xo.

N

Uplifting stuff, isn't it? And as for myself, I shined my sink before I went to bed. That's thanks to FlyLady and her Beginner Baby Steps. I feel great.

Happy Mother's Day 2010

We enjoyed a very happy Mother's Day this year. Ross got me a bouquet of irises on Friday and they had bloomed by Sunday. I was excited he found some for a good price! They make me fall in love with him again every time he gives them to me. (How's that for a sappy comment?)

I taught Relief Society the week before and wished the sisters a Happy Mother's Day this year. I told them how it never made any sense to me when my mom said she had many Mother's Days that she felt like a horrible mother. She always felt like she couldn't live up to the moms that people spoke about in church that day. You know, the ones who never yell, have a spotless home, and children who obey and read their scriptures every day? That's a tall order. But I knew that my mother was and is wonderful and I would get up and talk about all that wonderfulness on Mother's Day if ever I was asked. So I determined that I wouldn't spend Mother's Days when I became a mother focusing on my faults. As I said to the sisters in my ward, there's 364 other days in the year to beat yourself up about how you're not perfect, so give yourself a break on Mother's Day! :o)
(Actually, the closest I came to feeling down was a couple of years ago, but my baby was only 3 weeks old, so I blame the hormones and say that doesn't count!)

My kids and husband gave me a cute card that was four cards in one. Very sweet and very funny.

Rebecca got right up close to Ross as he was trying to take pictures. Her eyes still aren't as dark brown as her siblings and I think this shot shows how gray they look. Very cool. (She'd just finished eating and still had a dirty face, as shown here...)

My children and I with the little gifts they gave me. (Note that I am NOT a perfect mother as you can see some toys sticking out from under the couch!)

My parents came in and dropped off a present for me. I gave my mom a CD I'd made for her. She gave me a cool new oven mitt and a copy of the Lay Family Cookbook my sister has been compiling for us all. Hooray for new recipes! (And note how we had cleaned up the toys sticking out from under the couch. See? I can give myself credit when I need to!)

This makes me laugh and laugh. Samantha made it in her 2nd grade class. I am not much of a camper even though I'd really like to be. Maybe she was dropping hints? And the picture on the bottom is the best! She explained that it is Bolt the Dog and Mittens the Cat (from the Bolt movie) kissing. I'm not sure what that has to do with Mother's Day, but it's obvious that she is not yet the mushy romantic that her mother is. My nephew Caleb is in Samantha's class at school and I saw that on his he'd drawn some pretty flowers for his mom. Me? I just get a picture that says kissing is gross! :o)

V is for Vigilante

For as long as I can remember the Vigilante Parade has taken place on the first Friday in May. I'm still puzzled as to why it was moved up a week this year and took place on April 30th instead. The weather is notoriously bad almost no matter what, but bumping it up a week just seems to ensure that it will be lousy! And it was cold and there was snow still melting slowly off the ground from the spring storm we'd had the previous day, but we went anyway and enjoyed it like we always do!
It's a strange tradition to those who don't live in the Helena area, but it's an old one. I put a little history of the high school parade in the beginning of this post about our parade experience last year. (Just in case you are dying to know all about it.)


Here's a float depicting the Helena Cathedral. What a nice day for a white wedding! ;o)

We brought our chairs this year and I even packed lunches for the kids to eat while they watched. They loved that a lot!

Rebecca was a little bit restless, as you can see in this picture. She just wanted to run out into the street!

Samantha, Rebecca, and Logan watching the floats go by

A cute smile from our Becky

Just as the parade got over we saw our friend Mckinzie who babysits for us sometimes.

This picture is from that night and too funny to me not to include. We ordered a pizza from Papa John's and Rebecca tried to eat the pepper that they include in the box. I thought it might be too hot for her, so I gave her some banana peppers I happened to have instead. As I said when I posted this on Facebook, I fully expected her little face to pinch up as she tasted the intense sour flavor. Nope! She popped them in like candy and kept asking for more nummies. She is such a good eater!!! It is a saving grace for me.

The next week Logan decided to dress up as the "Wizard McSmells" from a story book we have. I loved his outfit. Especially the one boot, one glove thing.

This is my Luke in a "Take a picture of me, Mom!" moment. Cute toes.

This is one of the shortest videos ever coming in at one second long, but it shows Rebecca dancing and makes me smile. (I was still trying to figure out how to work the video on our new camera.)

Threety-3

This is a silly post. A somewhat frivolous post. Perhaps a slightly vain post because I'm writing about myself...

But, oh well!

I had a birthday.

For me, it happens every year on April 28th at 8:48 P.M. It could have happened sooner, but when do I ever do anything on time? My mother reports that that day was the FOURTH time she'd gone in to be induced. I'd been due to come 3 weeks earlier. (And oh how grateful this makes me that doctors don't let a woman go so long past her due date anymore!)

Waaaay back in 1993, I put together a photo album for a Personal Progress project in Young Women at church. Personal home computers were still not the norm and so I went to my Uncle Jim's house to use his. He helped me with some of the title pages for each section and it made me laugh when for the section containing pics of my birthday over the years he put this:

"Birthdays are good for you. Statistics show that the people who have the most live the longest!"

So for that reason, I am thankful each year to reach another birthday. Getting older is a blessing despite the grays sneaking into the brown of my hair and the crinkly lines beginning around my eyes. Let's be honest. I still fight pimples every once in a while, so that keeps me feeling youthful, right? haha

My day started with wishes for a happy day from my children and husband. Ross and Samantha headed out the door and while the kids watched Sesame Street, I indulged myself by finding some romantic movie quotes I've been wanting for a while. Find of the day? From The Princess Bride, Westley and Buttercup saying this:

"Hear this now: I will always come for you. -But how can you be sure? -This is true love. Do you think this happens every day?"

You can get it at http://www.moviesoundscentral.com/princessbride.htm.
Because you know you want to.

I then spent the morning baking myself a cake. There was a show-stopping one on the cover of my December/January issue of the Taste of Home magazine. Alas, my attempt only sort of resembled that beautiful picture, but it turned out tasty enough. :o)

I called my mom around lunch time and she said she'd come into town and take the kids and I to The RB for lunch. It's a little drive-in restaurant that been in town since 1945 and was originally called The Root Beer Stand. My family lived right behind it on Warren Street for a couple of years and I remember walking over often for their delicious fish and chips or hamburgers. Definite favorite.


(Old school photo from about 1967)

Ross got home around 4:00 and we got ready for our date. My cousin Jared's darling 14 year old daughter, Jayden, came and watched the kids for us so we could go out on a Wednesday night. I guess I have this thing about doing something to celebrate a birthday on the actual day, so it was nice of her to come on a school night!

Before we left I got some presents from my husband and children. They gave me a bag filled with a new pair of shoes, some fun new pajama pants, and the movie "The Young Victoria". I said this on my Facebook page, but -- WOW! -- did I love that movie! So fabulous. I'd done a report on Queen Victoria my senior year in high school and so I knew some about her life. It was amazing to see it on screen. It only covered a few years, but it was romantic and dramatic and the costuming was exquisite! It's no wonder that it won the Oscar for Best Costume Design. It was also very clean which is such a rarity these days that I'm grateful to find a movie that is.

In the spirit of being picture happy, which I have a tendency to be on this blog, here's a few examples of the gorgeous dresses and romance from the film:








(And yes, 3 of them are just of her wedding dress, but I love all three. And perhaps I should have just done a post on this movie all by itself!!!)

Ross and I went to a restaurant in town called On Broadway. Yes, it is on Broadway Street. Clever. ;o) It's a place I've always wondered about since I was a little girl, but I'd never been. I'm pleased to say I enjoyed it and it was nice for a fancy-ish date. We drove around town and did a little shopping afterward and that was our simple, but pleasant birthday evening.

The internet is a fun thing and as silly as it is, I really love getting birthday wishes from people on my Facebook page that I wouldn't normally hear from. I love staying connected and it was fun to check my page all day to see who sent me a little well-wishing note.

Here's the kids and I with my cake. I had to put up two pictures because Luke's face is so funny in both of them. There were a couple where he was smiling or laughing, but these are classic.



This next one is my girls and I with Jayden in the background. Those new shoes I'm wearing are 4 inch heels! Never had any quite that high. It was an adventure walking as I worked to break them in, but they are fun anyway.


And last of all, here's me being silly. I had to get a pic of these great pajama pants. My boys have Batman and Superman jammies and now I have some of my own BatGirl pj's! And they are purple to boot! The lace detail on the bottom is awesome because I know that when I think of superheroes lace is usually what comes to mind. Doesn't it for you? ;o)

Hooray for 33!