You Don't See That Every Day

Some husbands buy jewelry, or flowers, or sweets for their wife on their anniversary. But my husband went even better than that. He bought us 3600 hazelnut trees. We even got to spend a long weekend together ... hours and hours, planting all those starters in pots. When we got married we chose Memorial Day weekend for our wedding. One, because it was a long weekend and two ,because we didn't want to wait for Labor Day. So this Memorial Day weekend we traveled to the farm and played in the dirt and water. We laughed with the kids, talked about the future and competed to see who got the most potted. We picnicked out at the farm, enjoying the quiet. peaceful atmosphere. Better than most restaurants. Being married to a farm boy has its perks. I know I won't starve as long as I like hazelnuts, or anything else we plant.

It took weeks of planning, numerous emails and phone calls, a bit of decision making ... But we pulled it off. We surprised my parents, which isn't always easy to do. So earlier in the summer we had a gathering to celebrate my parents 60th Anniversary. It was intended for extended family and friends to come to during nice weather. But my sister and I wanted to do a little something more. So we planned a special dinner with all of 10 of the siblings to come to for my parents, closer to the real anniversary date. And somehow we were able to keep it a secret for mom and dad. The look on mom's face when she walked into the restaurant was priceless. She thought it was going to be a dinner with just my sister, who drove them. Then she saw my siblings from out of state and I think that's when it hit her, this wasn't just a little dinner. It was a fun, noisy, yummy time, visiting with family we don't get to see often, catching up on what's happening in other fami...

Today is a celebration. My parents have been married 60 years. Yowzers! 60 years, 10 kids, 2sons-in-law, 7 daughters in-law 22 (+1) grand kids, 5 (+1) great-grandkids, a dozen different homes, pets, and schools, And they are still smiling.

Where did the summer go? Let me revel in it once more by going over our August adventures: I was part of the Family reunion committee. I don't know that I did much, but it was still something I had to deal with. It was a beautiful hot day at the park getting to see my dad's side of the family. The kids played on the equipment, played baseball with the cousins, and played the games my sister organized.  The Mr worked feverishly to get the upstairs bathroom shower ready before our company came, but alas, the shower company was not on our time schedule! So the tile looks great, but there is no glass on the shower yet. We - well, the girls - spent plenty of time in the water. Here is Little K's pool. The others would use it too, along with sprinklers, to keep cool this hot month. And then company came. The Mr's brother and his family came from Montana to visit. What fun! We had a beach day, in which they attempted to relocate a little river and stem the tide. I...

It has been 17 years and a day since we said our vows. And what a ride we've had so far. We didn't have a chance to go out and celebrate yesterday, so we found time today to spend together. First we went on a run together. I am in the tapering mode now for the marathon, so while I only ran 8 miles, the Mr. kept going for another 4. After a nice, needed nap, I took the girls to the park and he stayed home to recover some more, with the boy, a movie, and food. We were blessed by our neighbors last night with meatballs, which became supper for the kids tonight, while the Mr and I went out for dinner at Applebees. Oh my, that burger was good!! We used a gift card we had, so dinner was free; then we went for dessert at Jamba Juice - mmmmmm. And again, using a gift card, we got free drinks. The entire date cost us 79 cents! Woohoo - I think Dave Ramsey would say that's a win. One other nice thing about our date - we actually did not go to Home Depot, or talk about Home Depot;...

The husband and I went out on a date last Sunday. G wasn't home on our anniversary so we took some time later in the weekend to celebrate. It was pretty nice to go out to a sit-down restaurant, without children and without interruptions. And as frequently happens, my food couldn't compete with G.'s order. It never fails - I order something that sounds good, and then I look over at what he's having and I want it instead. So my chicken burrito did not taste as good as those bites of carne asada that he had. And what was funny - G knew it even before I had taken a bite. The night got even better as we had time to sit and talk about everything, again with out children or interruption. When we came home our son was in the shower, and was unaware we were back. So one of us thought it would be funny to scare him. We hid in his newly-finished closet (G's project for the weekend) and when he came upstairs - the girls convinced him it was necessary - we jumped out. The look...

16 Things I have learned in my years of marriage 1. Laugh at yourself. 2. Laugh with each other. 3. Tell him what I am thinking. 4. Don't belittle him in public. Or at home. Or ever . 5. Let him know I need him. 6. Respect him. 7. Like his family (which is easy to do!) 8. Don't be mad when he doesn't want to be with my relatives every weekend. 9. Share the load. 10. Go say I'm sorry even if I think he should say it first. 11. Trust. Trust him to do right. Trust God to take care of him. 12. Pray for him every day. 13. When my eye or mind starts to wander, I think of him. 14. Sing him silly love songs. 15. Find out his love language(s), and do it. ( Love Languages, by Gary Chapman) 16. Let him lead the family, even if it is hard to watch. There are probably more, but I'll save those for the next 60 years of lists. Happy Anniversary sweetie!

It's a little known fact ...  that 16 years ago May 23rd fell on a Friday. And the day after, I married my best friend. Hard to believe it has been 16 years since then. Hard to believe I've known G for 21 years. That's longer than I didn't know him. So ... In my corner of the world - -Today my son cleaned up at his school's awards ceremony. I guess smart genes run in the family. -My girls cracked a ton of walnuts for me; so now I can make all those terrific brownies and granola bars and cakes with walnuts in them, and be happy, happy, ... and motivate myself to run - I caught the cold my girl has earlier in the week. My throat is scratchy. All I want to do is sit, close my eyes, and not have to do anything. Unfortunately, moms don't get a sick day; so I took it easy and just did laundry and went to an awards ceremony instead of the 10,000 things I usually do.

58 years ago my parents looked like this.  Today is their anniversary, and I am hoping that in 2 more years we can throw a huge party to celebrate 60 years! They have shown us a lot about being married - about serving each other; about enjoying the little things; about living within your means; about staying committed. I look forward to getting to this anniversary with my own sweetie. Happy Anniversary, Dad and Mom!

It was time to unload all the photos from my cameras today. And I even found time to do a little blogging. What a week! My husband was able to work from home part of the week, so the computer was not readily accessible to me. It was sure nice to have him around though! I made these cream puffs and they did not last long at all. We devoured them! I went through the boxes and boxes of baby clothes that I have had stored in our 'playroom'. It's all part of my de-clutter and minimalism effort. Plus, I'm pretty dang sure we don't need the baby clothes anymore! The girls' book reports this past week were 'dioramas' that portrayed a scene in the book or an important idea from it. All three wanted to make one - so we've got the kindergartner's book, Bailey goes Camping The 3rd grader did "Princess Alice and the Glass Slipper": And the 5th grader did a Boxcar Children book: In the middle of the week we took part of the day off...

Wow what a long weekend that was! What? It's Tuesday? The Weekend has been over how long already? Oh yeah. that stomach-bug induced fog I just came out of ... that has really thrown me off. The above picture has nothing to do with our weekend, our stomach bug, or my sickness induced emotions. Actually it might. It's a picture of my dad holding the hand of my youngest. Back when I was a kid my dad was gruff and tuff y'know. Working hard to keep the family afloat and educated. With 10 kids it took a lot of work. With 7 of them being boys, it probably took a lot more on his part than I will ever know. Not to neglect my mom's role in all of this. She cooked and cleaned and canned amazing massive amounts of food to keep us fed and growing and educated. There must have been pretty good teamwork between the two of them to get all of us where we are today. As far as I know, 8 of the 10 attend church faithfully, 7 of us have children which we have raised and are raising,...

From this: To this: It has taken us 14 years, 5 kids, only 2 house-moves, 2 dogs, numerous friends, 3 pastors, 2 churches, numerous family members, and probably thousands upon thousands of dollars to get this far. And we've got a long way to go! We went out to dinner last night without the kids. It was my first experience at Chipotle - oh wow, is that good food!! And then, to mix things up, instead of going to the usual date-night-at-Home-Depot, we went to .... the mall! Oh yes, wild and crazy, that was our night. Actually we had fun just walking around the mall at 8:00 at night. There was hardly anyone around; the clerks were helpful, but not too helpful because they were tired and ready to go home. So just the right amount of helpful. We stopped in a card-store and showed each other the anniversary card we would've bought for each other. G. definitely was the winner this year on the funniest card (no surprise there!) It showed a picture of an older couple on the front of...

13 years ago this is where we were on May 24. Little did we know what was in store for us!! I was thinking the other day about how much we had gone through, both good and not so good; and how the experiences have helped us grow closer together because sometimes it pushed us away from each other. I used to lay awake at night worrying and wondering what was going to happen. But now, I think we have finally come into a new season; one of not so much wonder and worry, but more open and honest communication, trust and knowing God is going to get us through whatever comes this way. It has taken time and work, but it's been all worth it. Our faith has grown, our friendship has grown, our family has grown(!) It has been quite a ride. And I'd do it all over again in an instant.

How many husbands would spend their anniversary with their in-laws?! My dear husband is a gem! We took off to the coast for our 12th anniversary this past weekend, dragging out 4 lil' leprechauns with us. We did leave the 4 of them at my sister's house though. And then we tooled around the coastline, just enjoying time together alone. Well, as alone as one can be with a million Memorial Day tourists on the coast. We made it back to my sister's house in time to put the kids to bed and visit with my sis and bro. in-law. And the next day we spent the time with them also. And the family picnic in the evening with the extended aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers, sisters, and parents. It wasn't our typical anniversary celebration, but it was fun because we got to be together. He even said so.