Josh and Rachel's wedding

As most wedding weekends are, this one was pretty full. It was so good to see friends, hang out, and of course eat BBQ and play N64 as part of the festivities leading up to THE festivity, the wedding. This post will be mostly pictures, since that's the best way to tell this kind of story.

Here are some of "da boys," a.k.a groomsmen, hanging out at Dave and Buster's, site of the bachelor party (Caleb and I had our own party in our hotel room-- he slept, I read on my Kindle :)  I got to go to a shower for Rachel, so I wasn't always sitting around while we were in Missouri. ;)

 Rehearsal dinner, table one-- left side, left to right: Stephanie, sister of the bride and maid of honor; Josh, groom; Rachel, bride; bridesmaid and her fiance (?). On the right are Stephanie and Rachel's cousins, the pastor and his wife, and another bridesmaid.

 Rehearsal dinner, table two-- us and a bunch of family members and friends of Josh and Rachel. It was fun to talk to some of Josh's college buddies and hear stories about him from before we met him.

 All dolled up for the wedding! Handsomest Best Man ever, in my opinion. :)

 The happy couple

 Bridal party

 Best man and maid of honor

We took this self-portrait just after the wedding, waiting outside. One thing I thought was cool about their wedding: they had a big sendoff leaving the church, with bubbles, I think, before the reception-- that way everyone gets to participate in a celebratory sendoff, and it's still light so you can see everybody! There was a second, quieter sendoff later, around 10:30 or 11, I think. Caleb and I were both pretty fried-- him from staying up late with a very stimulating crowd for company, me from chasing him around all day while Sean got dressed, took pictures, placed signs along roads, and did other best-man-type duties. It was a really fun day and we are so glad to have been a part of it!

 Mothers' dance at the reception-- both moms are so sweet!

Sean did a fantastic job recreating the Mizzou logo on the new Lt. and Mrs. Carlson's car. It was fun decorating their ride for them! And now they live about 15 minutes away from us in a cute house! We are so grateful to have them as friends. :) We definitely enjoyed our July trip to Missouri to see Josh and Rachel get married.

What we've been up to lately...

This month...

Caleb practiced his wax-on, wax-off skills using some Tupperware lids he found in a kitchen drawer. He loves sliding around the room with objects under his hands-- sometimes ice-cube trays, sometimes board books, you name it. He's a busy little guy, never still for long!

Caleb helped Mommy wrap Christmas presents. Scotch tape only occupied him for so long, then he was climbing onto the wrapping paper to investigate what I was doing, or trying to get the scissors out of my pocket, which I put there to keep safely away from him, or picking up the object(s) I was in the middle of wrapping. I finally decided to wrap presents while he was napping. :)

Caleb helped decorate the Christmas tree... by arranging ornaments on the floor, after taking them off the branches. :) He still toys with the lower branches occasionally, but we are working to keep him away from the tree, and he has lost interest, for the most part. Probably due to the fact that the bottommost foot or so of our tree is unadorned.

Caleb helped Mommy with housework; he finds the vacuum especially fascinating. It's a delicate dance, luring him to other parts of the room so I can vacuum the piece of carpet he was previously occupying. It's actually kind of fun! I can't fault him for being curious.

There you have it! We are busy this time of year, but not too busy to squeeze in fun times with friends, a car purchase, and visits with family!

Stay tuned for some catch-up posts from this summer and fall, as well as more-recent events like Thanksgiving and gingerbread house-decorating!

Gingerbread Houses!

It's not every Tuesday night you get to have friends over, eat candy, and showcase everyone's unique creativity!!! On Tuesday, December 6th, we had a bunch of friends over to build gingerbread houses! We used gingerbread-style graham crackers and each of us constructed a fun building. I for one had lots of fun and felt even a little giddy. Usually my extrovert husband is anxious to have fun and play, but this time I was excited. (Don't get me wrong, I love people, but I do tend to feel exhausted after lots of socializing.) Sean was excited too, to clarify!

Mallory, Matt, and Sean hard at work

 Sean, Cam, and Josh

The table

 Our completed houses

And... I insisted on taking individual shots of each master architect and his or her structure.

 Cameron Cunningham, one of our "old," dear friends from CA/Vandenberg days, with his radio tower. He works out at Schriever, as do Josh and Sean.

Josh Carlson, another oldie-and-goodie friend from CA (also Sean's former roommate before we got married!), with a very discriminating look on his face.

 Mrs. Rachel Carlson (as of July this year) with her welcoming little bungalow. Peppermint doormat, anyone?

 Yours truly, with a snow-bedecked rooftop.

 Mallory Hillis, the real-life artist/sculptor (and mama-to-be!), with a popcorn smoke-topped chimney.

 Matthew Hillis, dentist/resident at Fort Carson, husband of Mallory, moonlighting as Godzilla! These two are our newest friends, but good ones already! Thanks to Brandon and Emily for introducing us all at a BBQ at their place a few months ago.

Sean and his masterpiece (replete with snowdrift in the corner, not visible, and a snowman outside)

It was great fun, and we made lots of good memories! We are so grateful for our friends here. It's hard to believe we are only 18 months away from our next assignment-- which may or may not mean moving away. Just yesterday Sean and I were talking about how to balance two seemingly-conflicting emotions: contentment with our circumstances, while allowing ourselves to miss people or past seasons. (The conversation was prompted by me crying over missing my friend Amanda, and missing that season we had in California.) It was such a sweet time when we were in California: a bunch of fun, active single people who hung out all the time and "did life" together. It was relatively carefree-- no kids, marriages, or mortgages! (Not that any of those three things are bad, they just change your life monumentally.) We have been so blessed to continue that fellowship we experienced then with at least four LT's from the California group getting stationed here-- Sean, Josh, Cam, and Brandon. But life is changing. People are getting married and starting families. Both Josh and Brandon are dads-to-be now! Our tour is on the downhill side of time, 2.5 years down, 1.5 to go. For Sean and me both, Colorado has a special place in our hearts. We started our married life here; Caleb was born here; we bought our first home here; we found a thriving church home here; we've grown and matured here. I know we will continue to grow and mature throughout our lives, but there's something about the "early years" that stimulates a fond nostalgia, even when you're in them!

Anyway, before any sentimental tears drip into my hot tea, I'll sign off, with a pledge to cover Josh and Rachel's wedding next time!

Hiatus

Hello, there. I haven't blogged in forever, it seems. But I have decided to try and make more of an effort again, because it's good to document LIFE, with all its complexities, and be able to look back and see how God has worked in our lives. I get hung up on blogging when I think that every post has to be inspiring and cohesive, articulate and impressive. Sometimes I don't think I have very "deep" or meaningful thoughts to share, and that keeps me from sharing at all. Perfectionism is interesting, isn't it? I'd rather NOT do something at all, than fail at it, or do it less than perfectly. Fear motivates that kind of thinking-- fear of what others think about me, fear of looking bad, fear of what I will think about myself when I measure my efforts-- and I am working on changing that, by God's grace. He already loves me, even though I am not perfect! His love isn't based on my performance, but on His choice. There is such freedom and joy in that truth.

Caleb continues to be a great joy to us. Our 14 month-old bubbly baby boy has at least 20 words, is down to one nap a day, has taken his first steps (Nov. 9th), gives hugs and kisses liberally, says "hi" at least 100 times a day (I counted), and is growing bigger by the day! It's truly a privilege to get to spend time with him each day... even with mealtime messes and stinky diapers and helter-skelter toys. Whenever I feel tired at the thought of changing another poopy diaper, or picking up toys again, or mopping the sticky, dripped-on floor under his high chair one more time.... I remind myself what a privilege it is to have a child at all. I remind myself of all the people who desperately desire to conceive a child, and cannot. Or those who have lost a child to disease or tragedy or miscarriage. Or those who do not have custody of their child and are prevented from seeing them. Caleb is healthy and "normal," with no medical or developmental issues. He is learning as he should and progressing in all ways. That is such a gift! I need to spend less time on e-mail or Facebook (blogging excepted, right?), and more time on the floor with him, wrestling or reading or building with blocks. I should worry less about messes, and more about his maturity. I should see his temper tantrums as a reminder that I too was once rebellious and independent-- and that I still have those tendencies inside me, before God saved me and started changing me. I should see difficult moments as opportunities to invest in his life and display God's love to him-- the kind of love that is patient and kind; the kind of love that speaks truth gracefully; the kind of love that disciplines him for his own good; the kind of love that cares not for its own interests, but the interests of others; a sacrificial love that does "the right thing" even when it's inconvenient or difficult. This is a kind of love that I can't manufacture; I can't show it to Caleb or anyone else by sheer willpower, but only by the Holy Spirit's work in and through me.

Being a parent definitely teaches you so much!

Here are a few things that I hope to catch you all up on in the coming weeks:

*some recent sewing projects!
*Josh and Rachel's wedding in July
*Colorado camping this summer
*friends' visits in August
*Sean's first half marathon, and a couple 10ks for both of us
*our car issues, including a major car accident (and God's protection)

*Caleb's birthday in September (and his grandparents' visit!)
*our October Hawaii trip to see Nalani

Stay tuned!

Father's Day

Caleb approves! :)

Sean's finished "DAD" project. :) I originally sought a five-opening frame to make a DADDY collage but was unsuccessful in finding a frame with five side-by-side, upright openings. Oh well! 

Sean really liked it. :)

We had a lovely Father's Day! After church-- which was so encouraging-- we ate a lunch of open-faced spinach/Parmesan chicken sandwiches on homemade Italian herb bread (see below). It's a mouthful to say, but it was a spontaneous creation, since I didn't have any plans for a special meal. I used what I had on hand, and would have LOVED to slather the bread with some pesto, but we didn't have any. :) I used spicy brown mustard instead, which still gave it a nice little flavor-kick.

We ate outside in the back yard, and it was lovely.

I LOVE MY BOYS!

Caleb received a new outfit or two from his Grammy, sneaked into Sean's Father's Day package....

"I dig Daddy" indeed

He's only the cutest. thing. ever! :) I love the plaid shorts!!!

And here's just a nice family shot we got on our "date" last weekend to Wahoo's Tacos-- we had a couple free-taco coupons. God is so gracious and I love my family. :)

Sneak Peek

Here's a couple shots from the project I'm currently working on...


I love his little blond wisps blowing in the wind!

Bright moment outside

You'll see the finished product (hopefully) in a week or two.... :)

I'm contemplating going to a park that actually has green grass, instead of our still-mostly-dead front lawn. :) There's something wrong with our sprinklers, because they just stay on if you turn them on, and I'm not good at remembering to turn them on for five minutes early in the morning (and turn them off again), on our sanctioned days to water (M, W, F, Sat).

Anyway. Stay tuned to see what exactly it is I have up my sleeve. :)

Crib bumpers!

Why, yes, I did cut up a shower curtain, a tablecloth, and a brand-new fleece blanket to make bumpers for Caleb's crib. (That first cut was so scary! Me being me, a recovering perfectionist, I was doubtful they would turn out well, simply because I was winging it in a big way. Sean, of course, was very optimistic and certain they would turn out great.) I just finished sewing the last little edges TODAY, after starting the project a few months ago. This was a fun project, though it ended up being "The Project That Will Not Die." I called it that because of my own fluctuating motivation, really. That, and finding time when Caleb was asleep or awake, depending on what I needed to do (work with pins on the living room floor: asleep; measure crib and mark tie locations: awake). The pieces sat, pinned and partly cut out, for weeks at a time.

First, I measured the crib and figured out what size to make my pattern pieces (taped-together printer paper), and pinned the pieces to my shower curtain (a lovely Target find from my apartment days that we were not using, AND it coordinates with the blue-green color scheme of Caleb's room).

My chicken-scratch calculations

The cutting has begun!! After cutting out the floral, I pinned the two fabrics right-side together, using the floral fabric now as the pattern and tossing the paper patterns.

 

 Here are the ties (i.e. cut-up hems): I made thirty-six 10" strips to be sewn into the seams of my bumpers.

 And here the ties are tucked into the right sides of the fabric, ready to be sewn up.

 Partially sewn! I am so thankful for this sewing machine, passed down from our neighbor/friend Angela, after she passed away. 

 Short sides done (except for slip-stitching the side I used to turn it right-side out!

I had to try them on for size! The ties aren't perfectly placed, since I measured only once, and that very unofficially (holding up the fabric to the slats with my fingers and not using a tape measure).

Short sides tied on! You can see the middle of the left side is still open, not sewn shut yet.

Here's a close-up of one of the ties: some of them are half sage, half floral because of the yardage of the pieces I had. I cut off the seams of both curtain and tablecloth, and ended up using them for the ties! It was a very economical idea, there was just enough to go around, and the ties coordinate perfectly. I don't mind the frayed edges; it adds to the charm, I think.

 I just had to include a photo of my bright-eyed, bushy-tailed boy! 

 Finished product! I am soooo excited to have them finally done! Since there is only one layer of fleece to soften them, instead of a foam pad, Caleb can easily pull them down. But at least they look pretty and will cushion his noggin from the rails, as long as I keep pulling them back up into place!

Total out-of-pocket cost: ZERO!!!! I was really excited about that.  :)