Happy 50th Anniversary, Mom and Dad!!

How do you celebrate the wedding anniversary of your parents who have turned the calendar to 50 years of marriage?! I wish it were possible to wrap up all the joy, happiness, love, and peace to fill the world and hand it to them. They deserve every speck of gratitude and congratulations.

My parent's zoomed off for the weekend road trip style to celebrate this day. Before they left we secretively did this to their car - complete with pop cans attached to their back bumper and paper white wedding bells hanging from the two outside mirrors:

The behind the scenes story is one I don't want to forget. So, here goes.

My parents have two vehicles. A Suburban that is parked in their driveway all the time, and a Toyota that is parked in the garage more times than not. I needed to know which vehicle they were planning to take on their road trip and somehow weaved it into a conversation with my mom. They would take the Toyota. Great. Now our job just got a little harder as we'd have to find a way to get that car on the driveway the night before they left.

This is what I wrote to my dad via email: Don't ask questions - don't share this conversation - do not park your Toyota in your garage tonight - have your Toyota parked with front windshield facing the street tonight. Send me a note that you got this message - then just remember as you were told - follow through with the direction - but otherwise forget this conversation.

My dad replied: Ok, except one small issue. Who's going to handle your mother when she takes Splash out in the morning and the Toyota is missing? Will the EMT's be standing by? :)

My reply: That ... will be your issue ... My issue is that you just play lazy tonight and never move the car into the garage, and don't let her move it into the garage. =)


My family headed over there after 10pm on Thursday night and upon arrival we saw that the Toyota was not in the driveway. Sigh. He either forgot, or he's waiting before he heads to bed to park it outside - which could be at any hour of the night! So now what?! We parked across the street along the wooded side with our lights off, and a peek-a-boo view of their garage through the island of trees separating their house from their neighbors.

We were trying to figure out how to remind him, with out getting my mom involved. As we sat pondering, their very good friend and neighbor came out of his house, carrying a flashlight, walking across his lawn towards our car that is parked the opposite side of the street. Oh man!

My hubby got out, introduced himself, and shared the story of what we were doing. Talk about a great Block Watch Neighborhood!!! I didn't even know they could see us, or that they had been watching. HA!

Eventually my hubby called my dad, told him to say it was the wrong number, but that he needed to follow through this his directions. I could hear my dad chuckling as he said "Sorry, you've got the wrong number." So cute - and moments later we saw his garage door open, and the Toyota backing up ...

What a fun night - the kids were enjoying every second of suspense!!

Moving forward, upon arrival to their Anniversary Suite my parents were to find a beautiful bouquet of flowers from us too. Adding little surprises throughout their vacation to remind them how much we love them, how we are very grateful for their marriage, and for their legacy of building a strong family through their strong marriage.

I asked my mom over an email this week, "What were you doing on this day fifty years ago?"  I love her reply. I love thinking about my mom as the young bride, about her family support, and about my dad and what it must have been like starting their life together. Not knowing truly if they would celebrate fifty years in the year 2011 together. Anything could have happened. But God happened in their life, their love, their family.


Beautiful.
I love you, Mom and Dad! 
Happy 50th Anniversary! 

From my mom:
As I remember we had a house full of relatives and one thing I remember was Aunty Maud saying she thought Susan's dress would be cute with little swoopy scallops around the bottom and we went out and bought tiny flowers and she "scooped" up the top layer of very thin pink fabric. It was so much cuter. It was also very hot. Like really hot, but that wasn't unusual for August. It was 104 degrees on Sunday for our 4:00 wedding. Fri night was the rehearsal dinner.

I don't remember any big catastrophes, but I know my parents did a lot of food prep on Saturday because the wedding dinner - that we didn't attend - was after the wedding at our house. My father seemed extra nervous, but so happy to have so much family around all at once. It was a great story time and what he didn't have to tell Willene's father filled in. He was full of it and a lot of fun. And there were little kids everyone kept trying to entertain or take some place. A lot of relatives stayed in motels or hotels, but were at our house all the rest of the time. I was probably the oblivious bride and everyone put up with me.

It rained Sunday morning - in Spokane that means a few sprinkles and cloud cover that lasts 20 minutes. Aunty Maud and Aunty Margit each told me separately that it was Norweign good luck to have rain on the morning of your wedding. If they each made it up they were on the same wavelength. And 50 years later, I'd say it's true.

Late Night Water Fun

My daughter had a friend over on Wednesday and then she spent the night. It was a fantastic twenty four hours of pure laughter and lots of chatter between these two sweet girls. They met while in third grade and have maintained their friendship despite different classrooms, and changes in schools. What a treat to see two girls just picking up where they left off.

Fortunately, we had one of the rare sunny days of the summer and they spent all of their time outside. It wasn't until all the neighborhood pack went in for bed, that our kiddos decided it was the perfect time for a late night water fun.

Really? When the sun goes down here it is chilly. But why not - that is what sleepovers are all about - just having fun.

They lasted about twenty minutes in the water; nineteen minutes longer than I had anticipated. But the screams of laughter proved that they were enjoying the moment and building great memories.

Towel posed ready for their friend to finish her slide

They look really cold!

My husband lit the Tiki Torches and built a fire in the firepit to create a warm glow and "for warmth." The kids hung around the fire getting warm - until they heard branches crackling in the woods behind our fenceline. They made a bee-line inside and decided it was time to rotate through the warm showers.

Ahhh, memories.

The Master's Golf Tournament

My husband learned earlier this year that The Master's Golf Tournament 2012 was holding an application process to select a group of citizens to attend the practice rounds, and the tournament play, at a reduced rate. The winners did not receive any monetary item for being chosen, but would be given the opportunity to purchase a ticket at a reduced rate. Only a limited number of applicants would be selected.

My hubby also learned the price of the ticket if he was not chosen would be significant. He would have to buy it "off the street" at regular price. The difference would be hundreds to thousands of dollars; not in your favor. He decided to take a chance with the application process, knowing that if his application was not chosen, then he would not even consider attending - as it is out of our budget in how we choose to spend our money.

I am glad he decided to take the time to fill out the application and send it in on time. It paid off.

He woke earlier than usual this morning in order to get a jump on the multiple work To-Do-List that he needs to complete before we head off next week for our last vacation of the summer. I stayed in bed with two sleeping tweens downstairs, and my boy tucked in his room.

My hubby came back to our room about fifteen minutes later with this wake-up call, "Hey, Honey ... are you awake? Wanna go to The Master's next year? They accepted my application!"

Yep, wide awake!!! He opened his email to find this nice greeting.

We shared the news with the kiddos just before dinner tonight.

Three numbered bags sat on the table with certain clues inside. With each bag's contents they had to guess what this was all about.

Bag #1 simply had a Coca Cola can inside. This signified the Coca Cola Headquarters tour that we can take in Atlanta. They thought that the word "Can" was part of the clue, not Coke specifically.

The next bag had a golf ball, the Master's postcard my hubby whipped up on the computer, and the Magnolia branch. My son thought we were headed to Palm Springs to play golf. The kids have been in private golf lessons this summer, my husband has up'd his game in the last few years with private lessons too and many early mornings on the course, and we have talked to them about someday going to Palm Springs to play. It was a valid guess, but no.

The last bag - which was obvious - had the Georgia Aquarium DVD that my son received as a Christmas present years ago and has been longing to go to ever since, and the paper with the words Spring Break!  They put it together on bag 3.

Our Master's tickets have been purchased, secured, and it's a real vacation already plugged into our calendar. The planning of the itinerary will come in the later months. But we always find that we build a great road trip out of one idea. So while The Master's will get us on this vacation - I know we will branch out to other states and cities during our week's vacation (ie: South Carolina beaches).

This couldn't have come at a more perfect timing in so many ways and details - but I will leave that private for us to remember. Truly perfect. We are so excited.

My day ...

.... has been so lazy and I am proud to type that!

It has consisted of ....

.... sitting in the sunshine in my backyard.

I also have read ....

....and emptied the dishwasher.

I fixed lunch for three kiddos ...

.... and dinner.

Other than that ...

....I've done lazy.

My day ...

.... can be repeated for the remaining two-point-five weeks of summer.

Another new smile

In my book - my mouth is d.o.n.e. with all medical procedures. YeeeHaaaaw!!!! I have another new smile and this one, surprisingly, makes me more happy than the dental fix via Orthodontics just a few short years ago.

I was the kid growing up with the frustrating dental experiences. It seemed that every yearly check-up concluded in a cavity needing to be filled, or something major had been missed.

The fillings just irked me because my brother skimmed by with barely any at all. It was always me receiving the bad news. Never mind the fact that between the two of us I had the better home routine. To a kid - it was a big deal. Looking back as an adult (with children now of my own) I see it was just the way it was.

But this part still puzzles me how a dentist missed that I had a baby tooth that had never fallen out, and instead had wrapped it's roots around my jaw bone. This was discovered by my next dentist rather quickly - without any xrays when I was 18 years old and nearing the start of College. It resulted in surgery to extract, leaving behind a very short permanent tooth. To fix the hole, I have a crown.

As you can see, dentists and dental work have never been one of those cozy feelings throughout my entire life.  But this past week, the dental field has been redeemed just a tad to where I am actually happy enough to say it was all worth it.

My crown was replaced two years ago shortly after my braces came off, and this past week I had all of those silver fillings I had received as a child replaced with the new and improved filling that is tooth color and blends perfectly. Seeing my teeth now makes me feel like I am peering into another person's mouth. It looks drastically different and I LOVE it.

The right side was worked last week, the left side was worked today. For some reason, today hurts more than last week. I think perhaps it is due to the fact that I had this done at eight this morning, whereas last week it was towards the end of the day. By this time post-procedure last week, I was sound asleep and happy. Today I am counting the hours until bedtime.

But I am done. D.O.N.E. with all dental care, minus bi-yearly checkups. Why do I think I'm done?! Because I said so - everything has been replaced, my mouth is shaped now as it should be, and I am ready to move forward with my new smile. YeeeHaaaaw!!!!

Homemade Tortillas

It was last Tuesday night and the day was spent with the kids running outside. My son zoomed into the house requesting to help make dinner. The menu I had planned called for basic barbecue chicken with a salad, but I was all for having some help.

I turned around from the kitchen sink and found my son getting out flour, baking powder, salt, and Crisco. Surprised, I asked him what he was doing, as I saw my computer screen had changed to a recipe. He said with a confident smile, "I'm going to change the menu. We'll be having Homemade Tortilla Chicken Wraps."

I love that my son is capable and eager to cook!!

It was delicious! The yield of Tortillas was at least 18, so we had plenty to spare (and found ourselves consuming them in nothing flat over the next few days).

The cutest part was that my son assembled each tortilla wrap specific to the family member he was serving it to - and I especially liked the napkin wrap around it! Some had Caesar dressing, others had Ranch, some had  chives included, others had guacamole. All of us gave two thumbs-up!!

Thanks, Son, for a fantastic dinner!!

A wonderful day

We woke up for early church service today. The message was so fantastic - the kind that speaks to exactly an event happening in your life. Then our family parted ways. The boys went home to enjoy an afternoon spent outside, while the girls took a little girl time for school clothes shopping.

Part of our journey took us to the university campus where my daughter dreams of going to school. We went to the universities bookstore for some logo school supplies, but diverted to a logo'd tee instead. We had a fun conversation for much of the afternoon about college - and seeing her get so excited about all the possibilities ahead of her was a bonus. She is just so stinkin' cute - I love spending time with her giggles and laughter and cute one liners.

We traveled to there and back hitting different stores along the way. I appreciated that this year she is all about her own style. She is now thinking big picture, mixing and matching, creating styles and outfits with a purpose for a look that she has pulled together. She has a good eye - and I am glad that she is not just shopping the stores where media/trends/whomever it is that says this store is the one to shop at.

Not saying it will always be this way - but embracing her energy and her personal style while it is a current happening.

She is just growing before my eyes. I heart her so very much. A true sparkle glistens in her eye when she tells a story, full of smiles, her blond hair growing with incredible cuteness (never a bad hair day - she got her Aunt's gene on that one!! Lucky girl), and just a heart of gold. Hmmm, could just smother her with love!

What a wonderful day.