Reception

When I think back to our wedding reception, the first thing I think of is lots of tiny lights and candles.  We had a traditional church wedding and then our reception was at a nearby golf club.  The club had about a million strands of tiny, clear Christmas lights in all the windows.  We had candles for every centerpiece and a tea candle at every place setting.  There were hundreds of little candles everywhere and the whole room was filled with this amazingly beautiful light.  Even though this picture is blurry, I love it because it looks so romantic and you can see all the lights.  Shortly after it was taken it got dark outside and then all those candles were really noticeable.

We had dinner and dancing at our reception and it was so much fun!  It was such a special time for Chris and I as we started out our lives together with family and friends.  It was absolutely perfect.

And I have to leave you with one more picture from that day.  I remember seeing my maid-of-honor Shelley after Chris and I had our first dance and she was all teary eyed.  After we returned home from our honeymoon and I was looking through our photos, I came across this one and burst out laughing:

There's Shelley, looking all emotional, and there's her husband Eric, looking completely BORED OUT OF HIS MIND!  Ha!  Such a funny picture! 

And speaking of Eric and Shelley, today is their 8 year anniversary!  Happy Anniversary you guys!  Thank you for sharing your first anniversary weekend with us for our wedding!  Eric and Shelley are an amazing couple.  They battled infertility for years and finally two years ago welcomed twin girls.  I look at this picture of them and they had no idea at that time the trials and blessings that were ahead.  We have so much fun with them and I love having children the same age as them.  We love you guys!

7 Years Later

Today Chris and I celebrate 7 years of marriage.  I know this isn't long in the grand scheme of things, but it seems like we have been together a lot longer than 7 years!  When we got married it was just before digital pictures were the norm, so while we have beautiful wedding pictures, we don't have many digitally that I can post here.  The pictures below are mostly from my friend Heather, who was one of my bridesmaids.  I think this is the first time I have posted some of these candids!

The morning of the wedding almost all the bridesmaids came to my parent's house to get ready.  We watched Cinderella on this little TV while we were all getting our hair done!  My tiara was inspired by the one Catherine Zeta Jones wore at her wedding.  It was this exact picture that made me want a tiara that was flat all the way across, instead of pointed like a crown.

 I pictured my hair half-up/half-down like Shelby's in Steel Magnolias.  But, when my friend did it that way, I hated it!  So we decided to try it all up and I immediately loved it.  Here is the first attempt, and then the final up-do:

I absolutely loved my wedding dress!  I will never forget the way I felt the first time I saw myself in the mirror with it on and I walked out to show my mom and family friend, Kathy.  All three of us knew it was the one.  It was big, princess-ey, sparkley, and just a total Cinderella dress.  These days the mermaid style dresses are so popular and I have a feeling that if I was getting married now, I would choose a mermaid style dress, so I am SO GLAD I got married when I did so I got to have the big princess gown.

Don't you just love that awful yellow wall color behind me?  This was in the church basement in the room for the bride and bridesmaids. 

So I know this is a random picture, but it's one of my favorites from getting ready.  Melissa's sister Haley was one of my flowergirls and she was in the room getting ready with us.  I was all ready, and my friends had placed a stool under my big ol' dress so I could sit down and Haley asked me a question.  I turned to answer her and somebody got this picture.  I don't know why I like it so much, but it's one of my favorite pictures from that day.

My sister!  She looked so pretty.  It worked out pretty well because her homecoming dance was the same night as my wedding.  Her date came and picked her up at the reception and she was all ready to go, in her bridesmaids dress! 

My mom had to show some of the girls how to bustle my dress for the reception, so there were four of them behind me in this picture, getting very up close and personal with my behind while they figured out the bustle!  I had a little fun with the camera while they were back there.

Here's a funny story that not many people know.  I had the most fabulous shoes to go with my sparkley dress.  They were gaudy and covered with rhinestones...they were perfect!  I took them with me everywhere in the months before my wedding.  Everywhere.  I took them to work and showed them to co-workers and even some patients.  I took them to the bank and showed them to my bank teller.  I even took them to our consulations for the photographer and bakery.  I was super excited to wear them.  These are the shoes:

We got them on...and I couldn't wear them!  All those rhinestones kept getting caught in all the tulle under my dress and it made me trip.  Not exactly what I had in mind.  Thankfully, Melissa had been unable to decide between two pairs of silver shoes for her to wear with her bridesmaids dress and brought both pairs with her.  I put on the shoes she wasn't wearing, which fit perfectly and were also silver and sparkley, and they were perfect!  It was my something borrowed.

And finally, here are some pictures from the actual ceremony.  We got married at 4:00pm and there was a lightly falling rain outside.  There were candles everywhere and it was beautiful.

The wedding was absolutely perfect.  But, if I could go back, I would only change 2 things about that day.

1. I wish we would have sang some worship songs.  Melissa did at her wedding and I intended to, but just somehow forgot.  It was a very spiritual ceremony, so it's not like God was lacking or anything.  If anything, I felt especially close to God that day.  I just wish we had some singing.
2. I would have had a 7th bridesmaid, my friend Emily.  I had been in her wedding and we always said we would be in each other's weddings, but when I got married we were in different places in our lives.  She had been married for a while, and she had kids, and we were just in different places.  Plus, it was already pushing it to have 6 bridesmaids, 7 would have been a bit much!  But, I do wish that she had been in my wedding.  So Emily, someday if Chris and I do a vow-renewal, you are officially invited to be a bridesmaid!

Tomorrow...reception pictures!

Rehearsal Dinner

Tomorrow Chris and I will have been married for 7 years!  I love our anniversary and every year when it hits October I get nostalgic when I remember our wedding.  Tomorrow I'll post some pictures from the wedding, but today, you get to see our rehearsal dinner.  Since Chris and I met at a Duck game, Chris proposed at the stadium, and even had to reschedule our wedding when the Ducks had to move their home opener, it only seemed fitting to have a big, huge tailgate party for our rehearsal dinner.  Of course, this is tailgaiting Wills Family style, so there was no alcohol.  Just friends, food, and fun! 
Here was the room:

We had an awesome BBQ and football style snacks for everyone to eat.  I just remember how loud that night was, everyone was having so much fun!

I wish I had a picture of the invitation to the rehearsal dinner, but on it we said that beavers were permitted but no huskies would be allowed!  There was lots of good natured teasing going on between the fans of the different teams, but we all got along!

That night after the rehearsal dinner my bridesmaids, which included 4 friends, my sister, and my cousin, made me wear this hideous veil and we went bowling!  It was so much fun, just hanging out with the girls.

After bowling, I went home and fell right to sleep.  I remember being worried that I wouldn't be able to sleep and that I would have bags under my eyes at the wedding.  But, I knew that every little detail was ready, back up plans had been made in case something went wrong, and I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that Chris was the man God had made for me. 

Tomorrow...wedding pictures!

Gymnastics...Sort Of

This summer Sydney took a little parks and rec gymnastics class and loved it.  I didn't anticipate that Savannah, who had to sit with me on the sidelines and watch, would want to go out there and immediately do gymnastics, too.  So I signed her up for a little month long class as well.  She had her first class last week and it was...interesting?It's a class for two year olds, right?  Yet it was extremely structured.  Like, "go stand perfectly still on the white line" or "let's all hold hands in a circle."  Say what?  To a two year old?  Let alone 15 two year olds?  The class was slightly chaotic, what with fit-throwing two year olds and their frazzled parents running after them the whole time, but Savannah had a blast.  She got to take the class with her good friend Emma and the two of them had a great time running around and not listening at all.  By the way, Emma is Melissa's niece and she is such a doll! 


This picture, this blur that is Savannah running past me, pretty much summarizes how the majority of the class went.

The rest of the class can be summarized by this:

Savannah and Emma, running away from their mommies when they should have been standing on the white line.  They obviously did not care one bit to stand on the white line, and I couldn't really blame them. 


I love this one:

Doesn't it look like they're just standing there on the balance beam, having a good chat, while that parent in the background is running by trying to chase after their kid?  I can only imagine what they were saying: 

"And I was like, hey mom, you're going to try to make me eat spinach for dinner?  Yah right!"

"As if!  Hey girl, did you hear about that new french poodle line at Gymboree?  It's way awesome."

"Yah, my mom was all over that one.  You know cheetah prints are so in for fall."

"Well, gotta run, they want us to stand on that white line again so it must be time to run and jump on the trampoline."

The last 10 minutes of class was finally unstructured and more of an open gym concept, which is what I thought the whole class would be.  Savannah was especially fond of the rope swing, even though she looks terrified here.  She wasn't, I promise, but I can't imagine it's easy to have a look of anything but terror or constipation if you're sitting on a rope swing, you know?

The class was fun but thank you Jesus that it's only a month long because it was exhausting!

One of Those Days

Sometimes, it's just one of those days.  You know what makes it better?  Chocolate milk in a princess sippy cup.  Maybe this is a strategy that we should all embrace.  Going to a job interview?  Bring the interviewer some chocolate milk.  Meeting your mother-in-law for the first time?  Chocolate milk.  Seriously, what would happen if instead of bombs we dropped down cups of chocolate milk over enemy lands?  Bet they wouldn't be our enemies for much longer after that.  Who can resist it?  Instead of a debate, I wish the president and that other guy would sit around, drinking chocolate milk (in princess sippy cups, no less) and figure out how to make things better for our country.

Wishful thinking, I know. 

But I have to run, I seriously need some chocolate milk right now. 

(Bet you're wondering if I'll use a princess sippy cup!)

Oh, and HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to Matt and Melissa!  Today they mark 9 years of marriage that has included 18 months of infertility, 7 pets, starting a home business, moving, three children, two twin boys, and a partridge in a pear tree.  You guys are so much fun and we love you!

Such a Serious Face

Sydney has become quite the little artist lately.  She will sit and color for like 20 minutes at a time, which is amazing and unheard of for her.  She's always been into crafts ( I don't know where on earth she could of got that from) but it's only lately that she has developed the patience to sit and color for long stretches at a time.  She can even sometimes get Savannah to sit and color that long with her, too.  And seriously, can I get a high-five and a fist bump for those long stretches of time because in 20 minutes, this mama can shower and fold a load of laundry and clean the kitchen counters and maybe even peruse FB for a few minutes. 
I love to watch her color.  Apparantely it's a very serious business that requires lots of attention.  Look at that concentration.  And look at that sweet little profile.  I could just stand there and stare at her cute little face all day.  At least until she gives me that look of an injured artist who is having their concentration disturbed.  What a cutie-patootie.

Future Bruin

I went to college at George Fox and I loved it.  Seriously, the best time I've ever had.  I loved living in the little "bubble" of the small town, small college, and amazing daily encounters with God.  Fast forward to now and I have two children who I kind of picture attending George Fox someday.  When I had each of my babies I let the alumni association know and they send a little "Future Bruin" t-shirt and a tuition credit for the kiddos.  Let me tell you, I saved those tuition credits!  It's only for $500.00, but I paid my way through Fox with $500 scholarships here, $1,000 grants there, etc.  Every little bit added up so I know how important every little credit is!  Savannah's shirt finally fits her and I think it's pretty adorable.

Mindless Wandering's

My random thoughts for today...

1. As I type this, Chris and I are watching Justin Beiber (or, as Sydney calls him, Justin Beaver) lip-sync very badly sing on last night's Dancing With the Stars results show.  He is wearing leather pants and I'm pretty sure one of the lyrics to the song he is singing is "You can be my Destiny's Child."  Really, Justin Beaver, really?  Kind of a stupid outfit and kind of stupid lyrics.  Just to clarify, Sydney doesn't listen to Justin Beiber but she knows who he is.  I would never allow that.  I do, however, allow and encourage Prince (as in, The Artist Formally Known As). 
2. My sister, who is 23 and in law school, has always had the nickname of Boo.  I am totally going to start calling her Honey Boo Boo.
3. Who the heck is Honey Boo Boo?  Everyone has been talking about her and I have no idea.
4. Halle-FREAKIN'-lujah that my shows are starting back up again.  I have been on pins and needles all summer waiting for CSI to start back up again.  Chris is pretty excited about his reality shows starting up, too.  I could not really care less about which castaway has survived for 39,000 days on some long-lost island, or which team can make it around the world doing horrible tasks at 2:00 in the morning.  Chris should be on those shows.  I would not do well. 
5. I did, however, find a show I would do AWESOME on.  We discovered the Great American Bible challenge and before you think it's lame, it's hosted by Jeff Foxworthy.  It's totally funny and I kick Chris's butt pretty thoroughly each and every week.  It's probably not very biblical of me to gloat the way I do, but there you go.
6. Look at Savannah here.  Oh my goodness, that girl.  She is awesome and how is she big enough for ponies?!

1. Do you see how blogger started my counting over at 1 here, when clearly it should be 7?  I have no idea how to fix that.
2. Look how little Sydney looks here!  This is when she was about 20 months old.  How is it possible she is almost 6?

Details

After I posted the last blog about God's financial provisions, I got lots of questions, comments, and texts asking about Savannah's surgery.  I kind of dropped the bomb that she's having surgery and then didn't give you any details.  I'm sorry!  I wasn't really focused on the surgery in that post, it was just still so fresh that we were going to be able to fully pay for it 3 weeks ahead of schedule that had me all in a dither.  So, here are the details.  My little Savannah has to have oral surgery.  When she started getting her teeth in last year we noticed that some of them had little patches of off-white on them.  Her front three teeth are almost completely covered in the discoloration.  We immediately took her in to the dentist when we noticed the problem.  I gotta be honest, I was a little nervous.  We are METICULOUS about our girls' oral health.  As a nurse I see kids all the time, like every time I'm at work, who are there to have dental resoration because of rotting teeth.  I always sort of judge those parents, which is horrible I know, for giving their kids bottles of apple juice and not brushing their teeth (mean, mean, mean, but I'm working on it).  I knew that her teeth weren't rotting, but I was afraid of being judged when people saw her teeth.  The dentist told us she has a genetic problem that causes the enamel on her little teeth to go the opposite way that it is supposed to.  Because of that, her teeth are literally crumbling away.  A few weeks ago I went to wipe some cinnamon off her teeth and it left this HUGE gouge on one of her teeth.  Just from wiping it away gently.  They are getting pretty painful for her, she has a hard time when she drinks something or eats something cold.  Even just breathing in and out can hurt her teeth if the air is chilly.  So she is having surgery where they will place an IV (which is honestly the part I am the most nervous about), sedate her, and remove portions of her teeth and then place caps on them so they look like normal teeth.  No more pain, no more crumbling teeth.  And there is almost no chance that her adult teeth will have this same problem, since it happens when teeth are developing and her adult teeth haven't even developed yet.  I am so thankful that this happened to her baby teeth and not her permanent teeth.  And another little hopeful piece of news, since it's a genetic issue and not because of neglect or hygiene, it's possible that our medical insurance will pay for more of it than originally thought.  They automatically assume with these procedures that it's because of hygiene, but of course it's not so they are looking into it.  Yah!  I know I am making a big deal out of it when it's really minor surgery.  I have friends who have kids who have had tons of sedation and surgeries and my heart goes out to them.  I can't imagine it ever gets easier to sedate your children and put them through something that causes them pain.  My experience in no way compares to their's, and I get that.  I am just nervous about the whole thing.  I literally started to cry when the nurse called to give me the details on the procedures and she said I would have to hand Savannah over to anesthesiologist and they would take her back.  I, like, literally lost it.  They will give her a shot which will make her sleepy, then I have to hand her over.  Oh.Em.Gee.  Lord help me, but thankfully Chris will be there with me and again, it's minor surgery, but it's my BABY!!  Anyways, that's the scoop.  Her surgery is October 12 and I'll keep you all posted.

Basking in God's Provision

We had a little financial miracle happen at our house today.  For a long, long time we have been praying that Chris would get a new position at work.  He finally was offered one at the beginning of summer but, in typical Nike fashion, months and months dragged by and there was no word of when the promised job would start.  Chris found out a few weeks ago what his new salary would be.  To be honest, it wasn't great.  It sounds great on paper, but he is salaried now and with all the overtime he had been doing when he was hourly, it won't be much of a raise.  But, I'm coming across as not sounding grateful and I really am.  It is still a small raise, and he won't have to do all that overtime anymore (which is awesome), and he's in a really great team and he loves what he's doing.  But, in the middle of finding out the raise wasn't quite what we had hoped for, we found out that Savannah has to have surgery.  It's minor, but still.  Besides me having a huge fear-induced meltdown at the thought of my baby being under sedation, we found out that we had to pre-pay for the surgery.  Like, we have to pay 100% and then we will be reimbursed what the insurance covers.  That's great and all that we'll be reimbursed, but that is a huge chunk of change to just have to come up with on the spot. 
So...where's the miracle?  Well, there was nothing we could do but pray that everything would work out.  And it did!  Chris found out last week that his new position was starting that day, and that they were going to back pay him for 2 weeks of working in his new position.  WHAT?!  Backpay?  I mean, I have never heard of a company doing that before.  The paycheck came today and thank you Jesus, it will cover the surgery!  I am so, so grateful.  More than I can say or possibly express, I am grateful.  We serve a mighty God who never fails to take care of us.  Now that the financial aspect is covered, I can get back to worrying about the actual surgery...

Taking the Bus

With Sydney being back in school life has started to follow a nice routine again.  It's a much quieter year for me.  The last two years I drove her back and forth to school across town a couple days a week.  Now, Chris takes her to school on his way to work and she takes the school bus home.  Savannah and I just walk down to the bus stop and wait for her.  How easy is that?  Savannah has a very difficult time waiting for the bus, she is always so excited to see her sister.

I tried to get a picture of Sydney getting off the bus, but they were either blurry or they came out looking like she was terrified, like this:

I don't know what's up with that face!  She really has the best time riding the bus, I'm sure she feels so grown up!  I'll keep trying to get a good picture.

Babies...and No More Babies

Last weekend at our church was the move up weekend.  Meaning, kids got to move up to their next age level for Sunday School classes.  Sydney didn't move up this year, her class goes through kindergarten, but Savannah made an important move.  She moved out of the nursery and into the two's-three's class.  That's right, I no longer have a baby in the nursery.  This is very sad for me!  I tried and tried to get a picture of her next to her new class, but she wasn't having anything to do with that, she wanted to go in and play!

This is the best one I could get, the little stinker!  She was pretty excited about it.  I felt so surreal to walk past the nursery where she has been for the past two years, with baby swings and bouncy chairs, and hand her off to a class with tables and chairs and structured play. 

On a completely different note, we have some friends who had a baby a few months ago, a girl named Jovie.  Both of my girls call her "Baby Jovie."  Chris calls her "Baby Bon Jovi" because he thinks he's funny. 

He's not.

Anyway, they sent us a birth announcement quite a while ago and it's been on the fridge ever since, until recently when Sydney took it down.  She's never been the naturally maternal sort, my Sydney.  I mean, she loves her sister, but she hasn't really like babies in general until recently.  She's very good at being in charge, and organized, like a good mommy, and for the most part she's wonderful with Savannah, but she's only recently started noticing babies and expressing any affection for them.  Savannah, on the other hand, has always loved babies and would hug and smooch on every baby we come across if I would let her.  When she sees Baby Jovie's announcement, she always says, "Aaawwww, my baby Jovie."  So I was super surprised to see this in Sydney's room the other day:

She had taken Jovie's birth announcement and made it a soft little bed in her room.  She put this little ring over Jovie's mouth so it could be her pacifier.  I heard her in there saying, "It's ok, Baby Jovie, mama's here, I love you, I won't leave you." 

Oh.

My.

Gosh.

Melt my heart!  A couple times a day she goes in to check on her baby and assure "the baby" that "mama's there."  Oh Sydney, you are too sweet!

First Game of the Season

Last weekend we went to the second Duck game of the season.  The first game only Sydney and I went to, so it was fun for us to all be able to go together.   

 Savannah stood and clapped like this almost the entire game.  She is such a good little Duck fan!

 Sydney always has fun at the games.  I'm not sure if it's the football game, watching the cheerleaders, or all the yummy snacks at a game, but she is such a trooper!

 Sydney was dancing along with the cheerleaders and I love how Savannah was just looking up to her with that adoring little smile!

 Dancing and clapping along with the band during halftime.

 "Mom, please stop taking my picture!"

I love this picture of Sydney and I.  Not sure what sign she's flashing there with her hands, and not sure what's up with the kid behind us, but I still love this picture.

The Whole Gang

Last week to celebrate Sydney and Madison's first day of kindergarten, we all (meaning us, Matt, Melissa, and the kiddos) went to John's Incredible Pizza.  That place is awesome!  We had so much fun and the kids were just wild with excitement!  Melissa managed to snap this picture which besides being adorable is pretty much a miracle since all the kids are looking in the general direction of the camera.  No small task with 5 kids.

Sydney, Savannah, Madison, Micah, and Mason.

Kindergarten

Sydney started kindergarten this morning and I couldn't be prouder...of myself.  I didn't cry at all! 

Well, yesterday I did cry just a little bit, but this morning I totally held it together. 

And if you count "holding it together" as taking a million pictures of her, including her sitting in the line of all the kinders waiting to go to the classroom while all the other mom's and dad's stood way in the back while your's truly walked right up to her and took pictures all the while embarrassing the heck out of Sydney, then yes, I held it together. 

(and wouldn't you know it, not a single one of those pictures turned out)

She only rolled her eyes once at me.  Although, I think this was because she pretty much refused to make eye contact with me once I started taking all the pictures.

Anyhoo, she looked so grown up this morning and I can't believe my little bitty teeny tiny baby is already in big school.

We got to her school a little bit early so I could take some pictures of her outside.  Savannah totally wanted in on the pictures.  She's not old enough to know she should be embarrassed of me yet!

Doesn't Sydney seem like little miss future Homecoming Queen here?  I swear I can see it.  So Sydney's off to kindergarten and it's Savannah's last full year at home, next year she will start preschool.  I'm pretty sure...no, actually, I KNOW I will be crying when that day comes.