Thursday, May 21, 2009

Chivalry Isn't Dead

I took Bear with me Visiting Teaching the other day. My partner is about 85 years old, she is the cutest.

Margie, my partner, was bragging about what a big helper Bear has been calling him our future priesthood holder.

He showed her how to open her car door, he would hold her hand as we crossed the street to help steddy her, plus, he would run up to the door and push the doorbell for us.

She was quite tickled with him.

As she was bragging to one of our sisters about Bear's chivalry she looked at Bear and asked, "If you already do all this great things now, what are you going to be when you get older?"

Bear looked at her, tilted his head and without a beat he said, "Five".

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Brook and Andy's Wedding Day


What a beautiful day. I was a bit nervous when I woke up to clouds in the sky, I was one of the photogs for the wedding. They asked two of us to take pictures. I think the other guy, Andy's brother-in-law, took the pictures at her first wedding too. I don't know if they were nervous about hurting one of our feelings by asking the other so they asked both of us, but trust me I would've been fine.

I ended up getting a bit intimidated by the guy; he had all this equipment. I felt like with two of us giving commands we were going to be there all day taking pictures. I decided to let the other guy have the show I took a few pictures and then left.

Wow, this post is not about me.

We got to the temple, with blue skies over head, Brook looked so handsome in all white. It made me love him just a little bit more, you'd think I was his mother or something. Never mind, his mother, Grandma Lovely, was gushing she was so proud. At least I kept the gushing in check ;)

Big D and I got to be the witness couple, which meant we had the best seats in the temple, next to the bride and groom. Of course, Big D had to remind me my right from my left.

Lowell and Papa Guy were Brook's escorts and Lowell leaned over to Papa Guy and said, "I heard about the alligator story." Papa started laughing and leaned over to Brook and asked, "Did you hear about the alligator?"

At this point Brook was so overwhelmed trying to take every thing in that he thought there was some sort of alligator initiation in the temple he had to go through. It didn't help when Brook was sitting by Big D and Brook leaned over to ask him if he was nervous because he was bouncing his knee and Big D whispered back, "Yea, because I know what's coming". We got a good laugh out of that one.

After the endowment session we had a thirty minute break before the wedding. It was nice to just sit in the temple and soak in the peace.

Seeing Brook and Andy across the altar from each other was such a beautiful sight. I think they were a bit nervous but they were so cute. You could tell they were so excited to start their new life together.

It was funny when they were exchanging rings Andy got a bit flustered because her ring wasn't going on very easily, she turned bright red and next to her blond hair it was really red. She then tried to put Brook's ring on the wrong hand, but the sweetheart he is didn't tell her until she forced the ring on his finger.

The open house was nice as well, except for the moment when I got a phone call asking why the church was locked. I had the keys and I had just walked in the door at my house when I got the call. I showed up at the church to thirty people in the parking lot waiting to get in. Oops! I felt like a shmoe.

The open house was lovely. I enjoyed meeting Andy's family, she comes from a family of eight kids there's no way I remember all their names. She has two brothers, one I went to school with the other was huge.

It's funny because everyone has their own nickname for him. Brook calls him Little Hulk. Grandma Honey, who knows him because he used to shew her horses, calls him Thor. I've also heard someone else call him Johnny Bravo. I looked forward to meeting the real man behind all the names. He lives up to his names, not that I can remember his real name.

The brother I went to school with got real excited when he heard all the nicknames for his brother. He asked my sister Ann, "So what does everyone call me?" She shrugged her shoulders and said, "I've got nothing".

Brook and Andy stayed with in a ten foot radius of the door all night. They were so anxious to leave. The open house was suppose to be an hour and a half, finally after about the third hour Brook asked what he could do to help me clean up. I just laughed and told him to leave.

At that point I was ready to be done too I still had to drive to Salt Lake. Brook and Andy reserved a room in SLC but then my dad gave them a lodge in Yellowstone. It was too late to cancel either one so we let them choose which one they wanted and my sisters and I took the other one. We ended up dragging my mom along too so we could split the room four ways.

Monday, May 18, 2009

Goals, Goals, and More Goals

I passed off quite a bit of goals this lately. I cooked dinner for my mother-in-law for Mother's Day, which was my fourth time cooking for them (Goal #10). It's kind of sad that it took me so long to pass off that goal. I just get so nervous cooking for them.

I also passed off the goal of taking my mother out to dinner in a different city (Goal #38). I kidnapped her on Friday night after Brook and Andy's open house. We went down to Salt Lake to stay in the room the happy couple would've stayed in on their honeymoon. My dad ended up getting them a lodge in Yellowstone so they chose to go there. We stayed in Salt Lake and paid for the room because it was too late to cancel. It was fun, we had a nice adventure.

And just today I passed off Goal #29: to run 5k. I didn't actually run a race but I ran the distance of a 5k. I thought I was going to die. It took me a little over 40 minutes, which is not fast by any means. I wasn't really going for speed I just wanted to see if I could do it and I did. Of course, running on a treadmill for 3.1 miles is a lot different than doing it on the pavement. We'll see, maybe I will get the courage to run an actual race this summer. I'm just proud of myself for doing, I don't care that it was on a treadmill.

I know some people have been wondering about Big D and our wager: to lose so much weight by July 17. Well, we hit a wall for a couple months. I got discouraged with the lack of progress I was seeing, but I didn't give up. I kept going to the gym at least three times a week. I wasn't eating the best so I didn't lose any weight. But I am back on track now. I've started losing weight again and Big D is started to get a little nervous, which is making him step it up. I will have some weights posted as soon as I get them. Thanks for every one's help in keeping us focused and inspired.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Bug's Park Project



At the first of the school year Bug's class came out to this park and planted wildflower seeds. We came back to check on them and to plant some bushes. We weren't able to see any of our wildflowers growing yet but it's still early.

The kids had a good time taking turns with the shovel and throwing dirt down each others shirts. The red headed boy, Connor, was hilarious but of course all the girls think he's annoying. They will learn to appreciate that more when they get older.



The little girl in the middle sitting by Connor, holy cow she was annoying. She was one of those girls that keeps talking and following you around still talking even though no one is listening. I think she had a huge crush on Connor, she would not leave the poor boy alone. The kids were all separated into groups and he group was clear on the other side of the park but yet here she is.

It was fun, as a mom, to be able to see how Bug interacted with her classmates and in a social setting. She is quite good at making others feel included and not taking over the situation, she must get that from her father.



This isn't one of those parks that gets mowed I guess. It's a new park that is gearing more toward conservation and natural habitats. They want plants that are indigenous to our area planted all over. I had to take the boys with me and they loved playing in the grass.



They thought it was so funny that they could lay down an no one could see them.



Hey, where did they go?

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Brook and Andy's Big Day


Brook and Andy have been pushing their wedding date back, I don't know how many times. They've been waiting for her temple divorce to go through. Well, now it's a go ahead for this Friday.

Brook and Andy decided to just set a date and get married either way; if the divorce goes through they'll get married in the temple and if not they'll get married civilly and go to the temple in a year to be sealed.

They really didn't want to have a civil ceremony. Andy felt like it would put a cloud over what is supposed to be a happy day, which I don't blame her. However, they needed to set the date and get married so they can start moving on with their lives. So they set the date for May 15 and prayed the divorce would go through by then.

The good news came last weekend, the divorce went through and they can get married in the temple. We are all so excited for them. They've asked me to take some pictures at the temple, I don't think they really looked at the engagement picture I took for them. Some turned out okay but I wished they'd turned out a lot better. I have to keep telling myself that I'm learning.

Friday is going to be a busy day. Brook is getting his endowments out, then married, pictures, with the finale of an open house. They are going to be exhausted, I'm going to be exhausted.

It is going to be a day that my whole family has been waiting for for a very long time. We all knew that Brook would eventually come back to the church and now he has.

It is so awesome to see the change in him. He is so much softer, don't get me wrong he's always been the biggest softy but now he doesn't have the hard exterior to get through before you saw the gooy insides. He is adorable! I love watching him with his wife-to-be, I've been waiting a long time to see him this happy.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

My Babies are Growing Up

I just sent my two girls off to Florida for a week with their grandparents. I am excited for them but stressed for me. I've never had my kids that far away from me. The mother in me thinks of all the things that can go wrong as I'm stuck on the other side of the country.

Big D gave each of us a Father's Blessing on Sunday and that has really helped. I've actually been more excited for them. This is a once in a life time opportunity and I'm happy they get to experience it. I'm extremely grateful that Papa Guy and Grandma Honey invited them to go. I know they are in good hands.

I tried to get the girls set up for what ever they may need. I bought them snacks and activities for the plane ride. I even asked some people to write the girls letters about a vacation they had or something special about the girls. I wanted them to have something to read if they got scared or homesick, which I bet they will be having way too much fun to have that as a problem.

Thank you to everyone who helped me with that!!!

I also wrote each of the girls a bedtime story with them as the hero saving the day. I think they turned out pretty cool. I'm excited to hear what they think of them. I put the stories and letter plus some other surprises in the carry on bag and told them they couldn't peek until they were on the plane.

Big D said I went a little over board, I say it's just the mother in me wanting to cram a weeks worth of love in a tiny backpack.

I hope they have fun and I look forward to hearing from them. Grandma Honey and Papa Guy are pretty good about having the girls call me to check in. I think they just know that I freak out a lot.

I worry that I'm a bit too over protective and I'm smothering them. I guess I'll never know until down the road when I get a phone call from their therapist inviting me to a session.

Monday, May 4, 2009

Family Haircut Day



Bug decided she wanted to donate her hair. That led to everyone else wanting to lighten their load as well. Although none of us had long enough hair to donate.



She looks older. I don't think I should let her cut her hair so cute anymore. She's getting too old.



Beaner hasn't had much patients with her hair since the first time she donated it. I keep asking her if she'd like to wait and donate her hair, but her hair gets to a certain point and she wants it cut off. I don't blame her I'm the same way.



How in the world did my little girls grow up so fast? Beaner was a bit worried that people wouldn't be able to tell she got a hair cut because she only chopped a couple inches. She still looks adorable no matter who can tell how much she cut off.



I decided I was bored with my hair so long. I'm too old to have such long hair. I wanted to donate it but my hair wasn't quite long enough. I feel bad, I should have waited a couple more months and then chop it off.



Big D didn't want to be left out so he shaved the boys and himself. They all look adorable. It's nice that the boys have a simple haircut, it saves us money for one thing. It's a good summer haircut.