my hero drives a toyota

"It doesn't matter who my father was,
it matters who I remember my father was."
Anne Sexton

Paisley in Polo

she has the cutest little thing she does with her tongue.

sticks it out like a lizard.

cutest little lizard ever....

The Pinnacle

A few weeks ago, we spent our Sunday afternoon here:

A lovely little place South of here called the Pinnacle....

we hiked the trails and let the boys run wild.....a necessity for all of us! I love this picture, Tyler's feet aren't even hitting the ground....he's LEAPING through life!! That's my boy.....

and here's my other boy....grounded. controlled.inquisitive.

Man, I love these boys.....

and this one too....

we watched the sunset and i held my breath as the boys climbed out onto a ledge/huge cliff with their Daddy...they threw rocks into the river 100 feet down....no pictures of that....i just clung to Paisley and prayed!

then we came home and my girl feel asleep before her dinner.

she. is. so. sweet.

and kissable.

and snugglable.

and huggable.

and growing too fast.

and i think she's going to keep her blue eyes

oh, and she can cry LOUD!

you should really watch the sunset sometime soon....i had forgotten how majestic it is.

Life is too short to forget how the sunsets look.....

Barn Sale

Hello Friends, I'm busy preparing for our annual fall Barn sale, (between taking care of my 5 month old precious girly and 2,3,4 year old boys and loving the fun of it all, (my nephew is here for the day)....actually, it's my Mom who will have most of the stuff this time! She's cleaning out her home filled with all sorts of delightful dishes, books, antiques and the likes. It will be a huge sale with something for everyone, priced well and organized, (two VERY important aspects to having a successful garage sale)! Come on by if you'd like:

FRIDAY 09.25 4pm-7pm
SATURDAY 09.26 7am-2pm

hope you have a GREAT weekend!!!!

Labor Day Musings

This is where I spent Labor Day....lying on my favorite blanket next to my favorite daughter and her most kissable lips....watching my favorite husband play with my favorite sons....
enjoying my favorite husband unwrapping a piece of gum for me.....
chewing my favorite gum and watching my favorite boys do their most favorite thing right now: WRESTLE!

and chase each other around.....

and then we came home and Tyler found a chip the size of his face....
what a way to end a favorite day.

i can't wait to go back and do it all again.....

Hope your labor day was filled with favorites too......

now I'm off to do one of my favorite things....SLEEP!

"You only live once,
but if you work it right,
once is enough"
~unknown author~

Liar, liar, pants on FIRE!!

"I just need you to know that I do not support this!" I said as I sat on the hillside, all three children in hand. I had watched my "beast" of a husband, (used in the best of terms) tear off our old barn roof and gather the one hundred year old cedar shakes, he placed these in a huge pile, flanked it with two evergreen trees and encircled it with lighter fluid!!! What started out as a friendly little fire, QUICKLY engulfed into 20 foot flames licking the sky and coming dangerously close to the barn! My dear husband was all the while trying to contain this monster with our garden hose! It was at that time that I thought I should speak my final words: (see first sentence). After several minutes he turns his gaze my way and says, "I think you better call them!" I needed no more words....I dashed for the house and anxiously dialed 911. My husband doesn't "freak out", see this story for greater evidence of that....so, when he "called in the troops" so to say, I knew it was serious! I also had an idea that it would possibly come to this after I watched him begin to spray AROUND the fire and onto the side of the barn so as to wet the area to keep the flames at bay!!

2 minutes later.....

the boys were in their glory: the firefighters and my children!!

The Police Officer was a HOOT! When he first arrived he walked straight to Jake and pulled out his handcuffs! We both looked at each other with eyes the size of marbles....."just kidding" said the officer! Later in the night I asked him to take out his handcuffs again so I could get a picture....all the while knowing this would make for quite the post....just like this other fire incident did last Summer!!

It all turned out great: Tyler got to sit in the fire truck, we got to meet our new police officer, the neighbors were entertained on what would have been a drab Tuesday evening and our tax dollars went to good use......oh, and our barn didn't burn down.

I love my brave husband for attempting such a great feat....
and admitting when he needed a little help!!!!

caught white handed!

Lately, Luke has really been into "helping" me with Paisley!

Here is what I found the other day:

CAUGHT white-handed!

Poor Baby! Covered in diaper cream and powder!
And here's the culpret:

The Crime Scene!

And the Victims!

Oh Brother.....

Our Wedding Day

"You have ravished my heart with one look of your eyes." Song of Solomon 4:9
I spent countless hours writing out our invitations, getting the wording and each stroke just right. My most talented cousin Freiman painted lovely watercolors of Jake and I, used on our invitation and our program.

My parents front yard. They put so much hard work into making their home fit for a king!
I will never know all the hours they put into this day! THANK YOU SO MUCH DAD AND MOM!! (and everyone else that worked so hard). It did not go unnoticed!

the beautiful bridesmaids.

I will NEVER forget the feeling of floating down the aisle toward my man!
I walked to the song by Rita Springer, "Moving with the Lamb."
Bless him, he just cried and cried! I couldn't stop smiling....

TOGETHER AT LAST!!

"Perhaps it is waiting that transforms
an ordinary love into an exquisite one."
~Joyce Landorf~

We washed each others feet as a symbol of servanthood to one another.

SO handsome!

Our fourteen flowergirls....how was I to pick only a few of my darling nieces?
Why not have them all? It was so sweet. They all walked down together, sprinkling rose petals, the smaller ones being pulled along in a red wagon....

look how little?? Oh how seven years turns little girls into little ladies!!

so nervous before our first kiss....we just laughed....

and then finally....our lips met and we kissed for 20 seconds!
even now, when I watch our wedding video I get slightly uncomfortable at the length of the kiss....and it was me!! I guess that's what's happens when you wait until your wedding day to kiss for the first time....it just goes on and on and on..... this was the BEST part, he totally dipped me down....it was heavenly!!
we ran out to a song called, "Good Mornin' Life" by Dean Martin!

Our lovely wedding party! The program.... Looking back I realized I over-planned our ceremony...not something you want to do on a sweltering September day. There we were in the shade of the gazebo while our dear guests melted under the blazing sun. Sorry to all of you, if you're reading this now, for not having water for you to drink and shade for you to sleep...um, I mean sit under! Our lovely ceremony lasted a good two hours or more!! You can read this post to get another bloggers insight of our wedding day, well, he says it's not about our wedding day, but it very well could be!!!
I think it's hilarious!! Anyway, time was standing still for us.....

port-o-pots CAN be cute! the place cards hung on wash lines...
every time we kissed this guy would blow the shofar! it was GREAT!
look how young we look?? i love this picture....

we had our own little table so beautifully decorated. above us hung a gigantic grapevine wreath lit up with Christmas lights and dried hydrangea bunches....it still hangs in our living room today.

Jake's creation!! I had seen a picture in a magazine similar to this and he, being the creative, visionary man he is, came up with this idea using pvc piping...he spray painted it brown, then it was wrapped with grapevine, Christmas lights and dried hydrangea bunches. I thought it looked like Cinderellas carriage!! I loved it!!
our fabulous cake! i loved the little white dots all over it....
My Dad in the background, Jake's Mom, (Annie) in the forefront...good friends since they were babies....literally! Annie's Mom died when she was a baby so my Dad's Mom helped take care of her.

our first dance to "At Last" by Etta James....still one of our favorite songs. Dancing the night away! JOY came down rain like.....My Mom is on the left, behind Jake, in the blue dress....I can almost FEEL the fun in this picture.... "My lover spoke and said to me,
ARISE my darling, my beautiful one, and come with me.
See!! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth;
the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land."
Song of Solomon 2:10-13