Inspirational

On Saturday evening, my father in law surprised my mother in law with a vow renewal ceremony to celebrate their 35th Wedding Anniversary. All of the family was invited to sneak into a side room at their church after the service started.  As the church-goers were leaving the chapel, my mother in law's sister and brother cornered her (much to her surprise) and had her put on her "vow-renewal-attire", then we were all re-seated in the pews and the vow renewal ceremony began.  Mother in Law was absolutely shocked and had no clue Father in Law had been planning it for weeks.  It was so very sweet and touching.

In order to help Husband's brother and sister in law, who are located in Texas, share in the special ceremony in Minnesota, they were skyped through a wireless connection and were then able to watch the entire ceremony and chat with the joyful couple afterwards.

In today's mixed up world, it's a really big deal to make it to 35 years of wedded bliss!  I was so proud to share in their happy celebration! All my love to Gramma and Papa (as the wee ones call them) and we wish them at least another 35 years of awesome shared love.

Wedding of the Century - Video Trailer

On September 11, 2010, I attended the Wedding of the Century!  Husband's best friend married the most gorgeous, sweet, lovable, near perfect woman ever.  (To say the least, we adore her as much as Big M, the best friend.)  Several weeks ago, the lovely newlyweds shared a trailer to their wedding video with us.  As I viewed it, I was moved to tears once more.  The ceremony was truly one of the sweetest, most personal and touching that I have ever witnessed.  It was so awesome!!!

So, enjoy the wedding trailer as I did...  New love is so fantastic! Or view pictures that I took at The Event on my Picasa webpage.


E + M // Our Time from capture studios on Vimeo.

Wedding of the Century

Last Saturday was full of heart-crushing sadness at a morning funeral and extreme bliss as I attended the wedding of the century.  I experienced a cRaZy roller coaster ride of mixed up feelings that covered all levels of human emotions.

Husband's best friend got married last Saturday to the perfect woman.  I absolutely adore this couple.  They totally rock.  Today, I share some pictures from the wedding of the century.  (For more gorgeous wedding pics, click here.)

Small Vacation

Hello Dear Bloggy Friends,

I am on hiatus from blogging September 8-12. Our fantastic friends are getting married and, seeing as how Husband is Best Man, life is crazy for the next few days.... Lots of love. See you in a few days.

Pedalling

Tomorrow I get to go on a crazy fun bachelorette party. Have you ever heard of the "PedalPub"?! It is this awesome, fun trolley, bike thing. It's kind of hard to describe, so take a look at a few of the pictures...

The PedalPub™ describes itself as "a party on wheels! Pedal-powered by three to sixteen people, its maximum speed is five miles per hour - just the right speed for sharing good times with friends as you tour scenic routes." You are allowed to bring your own food, beverages, and alcohol (subject to local ordinances). On our ride, we will have a keg of light beer, some wine, snacks. Our local ordinances do not allow hard liquor or glass, so we will need to be somewhat behaved. However, considering we are pedaling along a scenic route in downtown Minneapolis and cruising through one of the many bar-lined streets, I anticipate there will be plenty of stops for refreshments...

And, people, please pray for good weather!

Personally, I like to at a minimum make a weak attempt at looking my best when out with the girls. Dare I say, I strive for hot or beautiful -- usually in vain, but what the heck! Who doesn't want to look great when out with a bachelorette party?!? Which brings me to my only concern -- looking sexy is not very compatible with pedalling a bike in 95 degree heat with sweltering, suffocating humidity. As I said, people... pray for me and unseasonably COLD weather.

Wedding Tagging

I saw this tag going around quite a while ago, but have just now decided to play along.

1. Where did you and your husband meet? One of my best friends from high school begged me to join her as she went boating/waterskiing with a new boyfriend. Husband is her boyfriend’s brother. And as a side note, that friend also married her beau, so one of my best friends in high school is now my sister in law. Qwinky-dink, eh?

2. How long before you kissed? First date. Never happened before I met him. Shhhh! I know…

3. Who kissed who first? He moved in and I may have met him half way. Seriously, who can remember these things?

4. How long from the time you met until you were engaged? Only about 7 YEARS. Ours is a long and convoluted relationship story. We met in 1998. We were engaged in September 2005 and married in November 2005.

5. How did he propose? It was my birthday. I was sitting on our living room couch, having just finished nursing our Little Princess, who was only ten DAYS olds. Out of the blue, he came over to the couch, kneeled down in front of me, said a bunch of sweet stuff while whipping out the ring.

6. Did he pick out the ring or did you? He picked out the ring but we had had conversations before, so he knew I wanted it simple and small.

7. Do you still like the ring? Love it!

8. Where was your wedding and reception? We were married in a tiny ceremony with only about 30 family members in Apple Valley, MN. Seven months later in June 2006, we had a traditional reception with 150 (?) people at the VFW in Cottage Grove, MN with dinner, dancing, DJ and way too much spirits and libations. (When I was younger and still lived in a idealist euphoric world, I was NEVER going to have a reception at a VFW, but when you add a few children and a large mortgage payment to the mix, the VFW price was right.)

9. How many bridesmaids did you have and who was your maid of honor? I had two maids of honor / bridesmaids – my sisters. Big E (then age 5) and Little Princess (then 2 months old) were our flower girls.

10. What color were your bridesmaid dresses? Mocha color that I still love, even if they didn’t and don’t.

11. What was your bouquet made of? Autumn colored flowers – mums, daisies, sleeping susans, roses.
12. Who gave you away? My dearest Mom. I LOVE THAT WOMAN!

13. Did you cry during your wedding? I don’t think so; I was just so nervous that I don’t remember.

14. What style was your dress? I wanted simple and classic. I had a strapless, champagne colored dress with a fitted waist and full bottom. No glitter, sequins, lace or other frou-frou stuff.

15. Was your wedding kiss sweet or sexy? Super short. Neither of us is into PDA.

16. Who caught your bouquet? I didn’t throw it at my wedding and honestly, I can’t remember if we re-enacted the bouquet or garter throw at our reception several months later.

17. What flavor was your cake? Almond cake with an amaretto filling and a white chocolate fondant frosting. It was our huge spurge for the ceremony (thank you, Mom!) since it was from Wuollet's Bakery. YUM!

18. Did you smash the cake onto each other's faces or feed it to each other nicely? Feed it nicely. I threatened Husband within an inch of his life that if there was ANY cake smashing, there would be immediate ball smashing.

19. What was "your song" that you danced to at your wedding? “I Don’t Want to Miss A Thing” by Aerosmith – of all the crazy songs…

20. What did you serve your guests to eat? After the tiny ceremony, everyone had Olive Garden catered into the wedding location. After the big reception several months later, we had traditional wedding buffet food – chicken breast, carved ham, mashed potatoes, steamed veggie medley, garden salad, bread rolls, etc.

21. What did your friends do to decorate your car? I don’t think they did anything, but I guess I can’t honestly remember.

22. What was your favorite wedding gift? Because of the time-disconnect between the tiny, family ceremony and the reception, we received almost no wedding gifts.

23. What was the worst wedding gift you got? Same answer as #22.

24. Where did you go on your honeymoon? Las Vegas, NV – four months after the ceremony.

25. Looking back, is there anything you would have changed about your wedding? I would have remembered the wedding music! I CAN NOT BELIEVE THAT I FORGOT THE MUSIC CD!!! Our ceremony was music-less -- highly disappointing.

I tag anyone that wants to play along and relive their wedding day!

Seriously Funny

Seriously funny stuff!

Hypothetically, if I were ever to get married again (mind you, not that I will. Once is enough for a lifetime) this is how I would make my entrance. Make sure you are at a place where you can watch the video and listen to the non-traditional music. LOVE IT!



SERIOUSLY FUNNY!

Thirty-Six Years

THIRTY-SIX YEARS!

Friday, July 3rd was supposed to be my parents 36th wedding anniversary.

Thirty-six is an impressive number. Or rather, it would have been if my parents hadn't divorced many, many years ago when I was in junior high school. July 3rd is always a bit of a sad day for me. Especially now that I am married...

I worry and wonder if my marriage will also meet the same fate.

It goes without saying that I am committed to my marriage 110%! I have no doubt in my heart of hearts that Hubby and I are in it for the long haul. I believe we are willing to make all of the necessary sacrifices for our marriage to work.

Yet, the inexplicitly depressing part is, I think my mom felt the same way. She was completely committed to her marriage and I think she expected it to last. It appears my mom was blind-sided when my dad came to her in April of 1991 and told her that he wanted a "trial separation". I cannot imagine the emotional scars she must have from that experience.

My father too. Yet, I find it harder to relate to his point of view. The child in me stomps my foot and hisses, "But he CHOSE to leave. Plus he wasn't left without any way to make ends meet and the scary responsibility of supporting three, insane girls like Mom was."

I am quite aware of the emotional baggage I carry around. As I have become an adult, I reflect on my life experiences, particularly those emotionally charged situations from childhood. The more I reflect, the more I have a deep rooted and new-found sense of appreciation for what my mom experienced and how she raised us, her three, crazy, strong-willed and rebellious daughters.

Wow! I have meandered and trampled all over the board as I blog today...

I am sad that my parent's marriage didn't survive. I am scared that, despite my best intentions and tons of hard work, my marriage won't make it to 36 years. I am in awe of all of the couples that have made it through the rough spots.

To lighten up things a bit, I guess statistics shouldn't be taken into account. I mean, Come on, People! Let's think about the challenges Hubby and I have already experienced to get where we are. Statistics aside, it appears the ODDS HAVE TO BE IN OUR FAVOR!

The cliff-notes version of our formerly highly, unpredictable relationship includes

* Started dating when I was 19-ish and he was 22 or 23.
* Had a rocky relationship with s couple of break ups over 2-3 years.
* Had a final, awful break-up.
* Less than 2 weeks later, I discovered I was pregnant.
* Our precious E (now almost 9 years old) was born August 2000.
* We co-parented E from separate houses, and never re-newed our romantic relationship.
* Fast forward four years -- C was in a relationship with J.
* In June 2004, my precious, step daughter H (who just turned 5 years old) was born.
* C and J broke-up.
* C and I reconciled. August 2004, Little E and I moved in with C.
* Our 3rd daughter, G was born in September 2005.
* C and I were married in November 2005.
* Our only son (4th child), D was born in November 2006.

The rest, as they say, is history.

So, give me your honest opinion... we're gonna make it, right? We've just been "blessed" enough to have our worst hardships in the beginning of our relationship, right? Right?!

Eloped -- Continued

Here are a few pictures from my eloping sister's wedding...

Many wishes for a bajillion years of wedded bliss! Always LOVE each other, even when you don't LIKE each other. Do not go to bed angry at each other and remember that compromise is of the utmost importance. Be true to yourself, as well as each other. I love you two!

What Stays in Vegas . . . ?

My sister eloped.

Hello?! Did you just hear me?

My middle sister boarded a plane with her boyfriend of over three years and flew to Vegas and ELOPED!

She got married on Wed or Thurs. She is going flying home really late tonight, so I will be able to quiz her more at the breakfast we have planned for Sunday for Mother's Day.

We knew the Wild child (middle sister) was planning on marrying Guido at some point. However, I guess I never thought they would truly elope in the sense of stealing away under the pretense of vacation, but then enter wedded bliss. Yes, we did know they were going to Vegas but that didn't mean they were going to marry for sure.

Don't get me wrong; I am happy for them but very bummed that we couldn't be there to witness their union and support them. As soon as get a few pictures from my sis, I will share them.

Wish for Eternal Wedded Bliss

I am excessively over due in reporting some earth shattering and exciting news! On August 31, 2008, in an intimate ceremony in Georgia, Chris (Husband's brother) and a beautiful woman named Melissa dedicated their lives to each other. Chris was very blessed to also welcome Melissa's four year old daughter, Ava, into their new family. This heartfelt wish for happily-ever-after and eternal wedded bliss is extremely overdue (Sorry!). Please browse the wedding (and other) pics on Mr. & Mrs. Chris Fritsche's website http://gallery.me.com/ouroutdoorfamily#gallery. He take phenomenal pics and I am so excited to welcome Melissa and Ava to the family. We haven't had the good fortune to meet face to face yet since the newlyweds reside in Texas, but I hope we can meet very soon.

Way Up North

We were "up north" and I mean WAY up north -- near Ely, MN -- this weekend for a wedding for C's cousin, Jason. The ceremony and reception were in the bride's parent's backyard. Gorgeous landscape and peaceful scenery. No other houses for as far as the eye could see.

It was wonderful with the exception of dusk. When the sun went down, the mosquitoes (that were literally as big as small automobiles) decided it was time to feast and we, humans, were the buffet.

Congrats to Kim & Jason, the newlyweds, as well as K, their daughter. We wish them many, many years of wedded bliss.