10 years of Wedded Bliss

I do have a few more updates from LAST weekend to write about, but today is reserved for our 10th wedding anniversary! We celebrated back in March with a lovely trip to Asheville (based on Zach's school schedule), but  today is the actual day. We had a big, beautiful ceremony filled with white tulips and tons and tons of music. I walked (danced!) down the aisle to Irish fiddle music and my brother's a capella group from Wake Forest, Chi Rho, sang to us throughout the ceremony. Because I'm so old, I have no digital evidence of this day. Also because I'm so old, I can't figure out how to use the scanner, so I just took some pictures of my wedding album to post here. Is that lame? Or just old school? Oh well.

Without further ado, our wedding day:

My sweet bridesmaids! Corrie, Hannah A, Anne, Susan, Cindy, Cara, Hannah VZ

Seeing Zach before the ceremony... not too much bad luck for that move :)

waiting with my girls before the ceremony... love my huge family! 

Love these moments with my mom and dad

Dad walking me down the aisle

ceremony

we're hitched! 

the whole crew

our college pastors who married us! 

we still like each other

So there's a little glimpse into our celebration 10 years ago! On hollywood standards we've been married for like 50 years, y'all! Thanks to everyone who made that day special and to everyone who has been in our lives since, supporting us through life. None of us can do this alone! Happy Anniversary Zach- my very best friend in this world!

the weekend: Nieces Edition

Did you know I have TWO awesome nieces? I do. I'm a lucky auntie! I got to see them BOTH this past weekend, making it such a joyful few days.

I got to meet sweet baby Caroline for the FIRST time! Her mommy and daddy (my brother Tyler) were stationed in Alaska when she was born, so I didn't get to meet her until now. Do you remember me asking you to pray for her? She is doing so well. Medicine is working well and she's happy, healthy, and thriving. She is beyond sweet and completely delightful! Ginna is an amazing mommy (hi Ginna!) and I know Tyler is an awesome dad, based on Caroline's pure love for his face, via skype :). She is so adorable! I got to babysit her one night and loved every second of it. Sam decided he didn't totally hate her, or my sweet niece Laela, which we've been struggling with (he does NOT like being dethroned as the "baby" of the family. He's had a realllly hard time with it, poor little dude. But he's dealing with it and getting better :).

Hangin' with Caroline!

the babies meeting for the first time... and their gorgeous mamas

just chillin', getting to know each other ;)

Sammy getting some love from Uncle Kyle, assuring him that he still has a solid "cute" status in the family

Hannah and her fiance, Chase (fellow Romanian adoptee! Yes, that is cool!), holding the babies with Leah. I think Caroline is actually doing a cute little laugh here, but maybe she wanted mama? Regardless: she's awesome. 

Cousins! All together for the first time! 

PopPop chatting with Caroline :)

And relaxing with Laela :)

My Grandparents attempting to get a picture with 5 of their 10 (TEN) Great-grandchildren. TEN! And we're not even Catholic or Mormon! (I have a lot of Catholic and Mormon friends. You all  know I love you and I'm kidding :). Also, it's hilarious, b/c we're the stiff kind of protestants that have no more than 2.4 kids, and here they are, with this many great grandkids... love it!!!) 

So that was the Niece Weekend. So much fun, and so soul-filling to get to have our kids all together. My brother Tyler was sorely missed (Army) but we hope to see him at some point soon. At this point we just want to see his cute kid, anyway ;-).

Our final fun element of the weekend will be blogged about soon. Just in case you're interested. Have a good Wednesday!

so much...

The past week has been nuts! I'll have to update you a few items at a time...

First, my sister Hannah came home from London, where she's been living for a few months. So I've been busy with these little gifts:

these are a few of my favorite things... 

Then that same sister got ENGAGED to her boyfriend, Chase! woot woot! I think they're still 10 though, so maybe they should wait a few years. what's that? They're both over 21? That's impossible!!!

Moving along... Leah had a little recital and did beautifully!

Prima Ballerina

Then, Pete graduated from Kindergarten! (I'm pretty sure he was just born?!?!) 

He INSISTED on wearing his red chucks. He loves these shoes more than anything. Pretty cute! 

waiting to sing... 

while the kindergartners were singing, this is what was going on the back of the gym... 

Shenanigans! Dancing along to the songs :). Sam, "S" (Leah's bff at school), Leah, and "W",  a fellow 2nd grade friend and older bro of one of our soccer players. CUTE KID ALERT. 

That's my boy! (and his teacher- one of the BEST OF ALL TIME!)

growing up fast :). sweet pete! 

That was only the beginning of the weekend... more to come... stay tuned!

musings

Do you love avocados? I LOVE them. I'm developing an addiction. My favorite way to eat them is on toasted (with melted Cheddar) sprouted wheat bread. Just slice one up and throw it on a sandwich. Delicious! But here's the thing. Why don't we do anything with those gorgeous avocado pits? Or maybe we do, and I just don't know about it? They are so beautiful. Like we should be able to make hardwood floors out of those guys. Or at least do something useful with them. Throwing away such beauty seems cruel. (when I'm not super, crazy busy, these are the kinds of thoughts running through my head. I'm interesting to live with).

One more random thought for the day: Fleetwood Mac. One of my favorite bands of all time. I remember sitting in the parking lot of my high school, after having received a mixed tape (yes, I just wrote that) from one of my boyfriends. You see, I did have a few boyfriends before dating Zach. Yes, this is shocking considering we started dating at 16. Also a bit frightening. DAD. Letting your daughter date that young.

Anyway, I would sit there and listen to this music, some of the greatest of all time. I'm so drawn to words- how they are sung, at what pitch, how they weave together to reflect something. Anything. As a teenager trying to figure out who the heck I was, music was my beacon. Still is. Fleetwood Mac was fun and serious and gave me a glimpse into real life, and how it would feel to keep growing up. I thought I wasn't cool, listening to Fleetwood. I hid it in my car, but one day my friend John (fellow moody deep thinker) heard me listening to my tape, and gave me the look of approval. Like, "wow, you are cool. This music is what moody deep thinkers listen to and we are cool." Once I saw that a friend liked them too, my love for Fleetwood grew deeper. I still listen to them all the time- it is perfect music for long runs and reflecting. And remembering the boyfriend who made that mixed tape, and laughing at myself for thinking that guy was worth it :). But hey, thanks for the tape!

Mother Schmother

Happy Mothers Day to all of you who love kids... whether they're "yours" or not! It takes a village! I think this "holiday" is dumb with a capital D, but only because it was invented by Hallmark. But I did get to go out early this morning with two good friends and run 6 miles! Yes, there it is folks, I'm nutso! My idea of a great morning is to get my ass out of bed at 6:30 and go running for miles and miles! WHO KIDNAPPED THE REAL ME??? Anyway, we did have a great run and my foot felt... the same. Which is awesome, considering it could have felt a lot worse. So I'll take it. I iced it down and stretched really well and it feels okay. So we're going to diagnose this as a tendon thing, not a stress fracture thing, and if the pain holds steady or gets worse over the next 2 weeks, I'll go see a person who is actually qualified with a medical degree to tell me what's up. For now, I'll do the self-diagnosis and treatment thing.

May is one of those crazy-busy months, with tons of end-of-dance, end-of-sports, end-of-school parties and on and on and on for 3 different children, plus some work for me, so I'm in one of those "head spinning around like a crazy person" modes. (Zach's back in school and realizing that "summer semester" does not equal "easy semester). Once next week is over things should calm down, and we'll (me and the kids) settle into a summer routine. That means going to the pool, and that's about it. So excited!

Here's a glimpse into why being a mom is fun: Spitting contests at dinner. We're so mature.

strange children... 

Captures their personalities perfectly... (notice the top button on Sam's shirt. One must always button the top button, in Sam's world...)

so attractive

the wars begin... such drama

Karma Sam, Karma... 

Notice Mom (me) in the far left corner swooping in before the fist actually hits a face... 

"Every single thing I know about one thing is true for the other," she said. "I can talk about writing, or faith, or motherhood. All of them are messy, beautiful, screwed up."--Anne Lamott

Thanks Anne. That's truth, right there. Happy Weekend, all. Enjoy your messy, real lives... it's all worth it! 

daredevil!

Oh look! I'm blogging again! That's what happens when you have an injury and can't run, are done with your class, have taken care of all the teacher end-of-year thank you notes, and believe that cleaning your house should be against the law. Or at least someone should come clean for you. And cook. And do laundry.

The actual point of this post: my blond-headed child. He's crazy. Total daredevil and makes me nervous on a daily basis. Recently he wanted to make a bike ramp, and so he did.

A 6 year old with power tools! Not dangerous at all! 

A 6 year old with power tools and no teeth... I'm sure he's really careful in everything he does... 

whoa! 

He got air! 

Being a mom is fun :). And scary.

I have nothing to say

Really, nothing.

Just plunking along through the week, and worrying about election results, which I will not discuss here, although most of you who know me know that I'm a liberal Christian and I don't like laws that define too much... so... I may or may not be living in a state that is about to over-step the "separation of church and state" thing in the constitution that my Army brother and many good friends defend on a daily basis... our constitution... So you know, just hoping that our state doesn't over-step its rights and actually take freedom away from various people. Also, I really like this song by my friend Derek Webb. Well, he doesn't know we're friends. Wait, does that make me weird? probably. I think he'd want to be my friend though, right?!?! :)

In other news, I ran 5 miles today- not at the pace I wanted (averaged a 9 minute mile) but DARNIT my foot hurt like a b*@%$. It's been sort of bothering me, but was fine at the beginning of the run, and then got worse, and now it's been a couple of hours and it still hurts, and hurts to walk. What's a girl to do??? Google "stress fracture," of course. And the proceed to get very pissed off at a bone that may or may not be broken, so that wasn't very fair of me. Sorry bone. I'm going to wait-it-out and see how it feels in the morning.

Happy Tuesday to you all! If you're in a state with primaries or amendments on the ballot, exercise your right to VOTE! Go! vote! xoxo.