A Trip Down Memory Lane: An Addendum

My mother-in-law found a couple of pictures that I didn't have from our proms. Here's the junior prom again. I think my mom-in-law was going for some sort of refined gangster pose. :-)And here's the dress from my senior year. This one illustrates the skirt I was talking about. This was very "in" at the time!

Junkie

I love the Olympics. I can't seem to help just watching them. When I was growing up, my mom would lift the time limits on tv watching during the Olympics. Maybe that's where it started. Regardless, I love watching all these sports I don't usually get to see. Two years ago during the winter Olympics, I got into curling of all things. Now if the network would just leave off all the dramatic bios and time fillers, I'd be perfectly happy.

Anniversary

On our tenth anniversary, Kelly surprised me by taking me to Ruth's Chris Steak House. Even though we had never paid that much for a meal before, it was soooo good! We loved it and decided then and there to come back on our 15th anniversary.

So for the past couple of months we have been talking about going back to Ruth's Chris. So that's what we did. If you've never been there, you are sure missing out! Kelly had made a reservation, so when we told them who we were, the hostess replied, "Oh, happy anniversary, Mr. and Mrs. smith. Right this way." She then scattered rose petals on our table.

The hostess came over and greeted us by name every time. We started of with an appetizer of calamari in a sweet and spicy Thai sauce. Yum! Then we had a salad, followed by the main dish. I had a petite sirloin, while Kelly had two smaller petite sirloins topped with shrimp. The shrimp were so large he shared a couple with me. I paired this with a really good Riesling. (Yes I know you aren't supposed to do a white wine with steak, but I'm not big on red wines and I love Riesling!) We topped it off with a chocolate chunk bread pudding. I didn't think I liked bread pudding, but this stuff was wonderful.

Not only was the food good, but the service was unparalleled and so completely spoiling. They even used a little metal scraper thing to clean off the white tablecloth between courses. Just save up before going - I refuse to publish how much dinner was, but we could've bought enough groceries to feed the whole family for a couple of weeks! Good thing we only go every five years...

We went with very full tummies across the highway to see The Dark Knight. The best movie either of us had seen in a while. I can see now why there is Oscar buzz for Heath Ledger. His character was disturbing, eerie, all those things. The only downside was the casting for "Rachel." Maggie Gyllenhaal was totally wrong. She was too bubbly and not nearly as sophisticated or complex as the part was supposed to be. But it was such a great movie, that it didn't matter too much.

Well, I doubt this topped last year's anniversary announcement, but we still had a great time.

The other half of the girls

As promised, the other three girls.

Lauryn who loves her baby sister.

Brynna loves her glasses, and has been on a braid kick lately.

Hailey has been lisping around here with two missing teeth and two braids as well.

We have two three year olds in the house. This is Lauryn with an attitude - the my-life-is-so-rough Lauryn. The Lauryn we want to sell - no! - pay someone to take at times.

This is the cute Lauryn, the one that makes us laugh continually.

The Snips Heard 'Round the World

Or at least all around the house.

These are our two oldest girls, Kora (11.5) and Aubrey (9.5). This what they looked like Thursday afternoon.

This is what they looked like 30 minutes later.

CJ, Aubrey did this just for you - you've always wanted to trade hair, so now it is your turn to cut about 12 inches off!!
Actually, the girls are going to send in the ponytails to Locks of Love, to be made into wigs for kids who have lost their hair.


And the girls are still amazed at how easy and quick it is to wash and brush their hair now. But I'm still doing a double take every time I look at them. So many times I have wanted to cut their hair; but now, I'm a little sad.

Now for something totally unconnected to haircuts. Ashlynn! My dad requested some new pictures of Ashlynn, so here goes!




More pics of the three other kids tomorrow. And coming soon, our anniversary date and other changes around the house!

Happy Anniversary, my love

15 years of marriage
14 different hairstyles (at least)
13 trips to the hospital
12 years of pregnancies and parenthood
11 employers
10 moves
9 major appliance purchases
8 vehicles
7 years of homeschooling
6 children
5 years in the Air Force
4 different cities
3 years of college
2 souls
1 flesh

A Trip Down Memory Lane, pt 7

Engagement and Wedding Shower Pictures

Back to BIG Hair. Here are our official engagement pics, taken in March of '93.
My hair was longer by this time, so I guess that meant it had to be poofier.



I had several wedding showers. That spring my roommate and a friend of mine gave me a lingerie shower. I don't remember how this happened, but my mom AND future mother-in-law AND grandmother ended up coming to the shower hosted in a living area of our dorm building. Much as I love all three of those women, it was just a little embarrassing. I'm not sure which was redder, my face or some of the items given to me - especially one from MY MOTHER IN LAW!

Here are April, Lara, and I - the two very sweet hostesses, and one nervous bride-to-be, trying not to look as embarrassed as I really was.
My church gave me a traditional wedding shower that summer. Here are the aforementioned mother and mother-in-law. Fortunately blenders and dishes don't embarrass me.
Kelly's church gave us an old-fashioned "pounding." It was terrific. We got a quilt made by the ladies from the church who still met once a week to quilt on a frame that was suspended from the ceiling in one of the rooms at the church, as well as all sorts of handmade goodies and necessities for our kitchen.

Someone gave us this rolling pen as well. Since my cooking skills were negligible at this point, I believe I was making some comment like, "Oh, is this to keep you in line?" And Kelly was saying something like, "Keep that thing away from me!"
We had no official wedding coordinator. But my mom and I had everything under control. Here I am at the rehearsal handing out everyone's marching orders - er, I mean, handing out the order of events so that everything could run smoothly. yeah, that was it.
What a bunch of hooligans! Somehow I don't have a picture of the girls in the wedding. I think my mother-in-law was biased - her two sons were in the middle and her nephew is the red head beside Tony, my brother-in-law.
Always trust Tony to add a bit of fun to any circumstance!
My mom had to rehearse every part of the wedding - even crying!
The old-fashioned tradition of not having the bride go through the rehearsal allowed me to stand back in the aisle and direct traffic. That's why there is a red-head (Kelly's cousin Becky) beside him. I did NOT dye my hair right before the wedding.
As an aside, the little girl who is my flower girl? She is my cousin's daughter, and last year, we went to Abilene for her wedding! Talk about making you feel old!

Everyone was such a great sport at the rehearsal and we actually had a good time. Then we went to the little church Kelly's dad was pastoring for the rehearsal dinner. (This church wasn't big enough to hold the ceremony in, so we were married at Second Baptist in Odessa, where Kelly's family had been attending before FIL became a pastor. My parents' church was in the next town, and we wanted to be married in Odessa.) Kelly's mom and grandmother grilled up a ton of hamburgers and hotdogs, and it was a very fun, casual time. At least for us. My mom tells me she was pretty stressed out. I understand now - I'll probably be that way too in a few years when it is my turn to be the mother of the bride.