Is this an olympic sport?

I haven't watched the Olympics that much, but the little that I have watched typically gets me a little choked up. Not because I want to ski down a hill at 98 MPH, no definitely not. I get choked up whenever they show the parents in the stands cheering on their grown child, whenever they show the parents of the gold medalist crying for joy when their child wins. I cannot imagine the sacrifices those parents must have made for their child to be where they are. And I can identify with them. I make huge sacrifices for my son.
Let me tell you about one of the biggest sacrifices I make. Whenever I am in the kitchen Matty always wants to get out some bowls or cups to play with. This is a huge sacrifice when I really need to use one of the bowls he wants. But being the good mother I am, I sacrifice the bowl in hopes it will one day pay off.




Let me tell you, my sacrifices paid off the other day when I turned around and found this amazing creation.


This is a sign, a sign that my child is well on his way to doing great things. I mean look at the artistic merit of this piece, look at the skills my child had to have to get all these things to balance. He is very close to a gold medal, I just know it.

Compassion

You know what I did yesterday morning? I was so upset when my alarm went off I hit the alarm clock so hard my hand hurt.
You know what I did yesterday when I reached for my car door? I complained about how dirty my car was.
You know what I did this morning when I made coffee? I complained about my coffee machine because it is leaking water.
You know what I did this morning when a co worker asked me how I was? I told them I was "ok" and really didn't want to work today.


You know what I DIDN'T do yesterday or today or ever?

-Use my bare hands to dig through the remains of my house trying to find my child in the rubble.
-Cry out in the street for help only to find everyone else in my street needing the same help I did.
-Try to call my family and friends over and over just to find out if they are alive.
-Stare at a pile of blocks, cement, and dirt that used to be my house.
-Wonder if my husband was going to make it after being pinned beneath rubble for hours.
-Walk through the city I live in and see piles of houses and buildings and people crying out for their loved ones.

Please pray for the people of Haiti. And remember there are thousands of people in Haiti who would LOVE to have an alarm clock to wake up to, a bed to lay in, a coffee machine to make coffee, a car to drive, and a building to work in.

Sweet Dreams

What is it about taking pictures of sleeping babies and children?


Really what is it about taking pictures of anything sleeping? Why is it so fun? I have taken pictures of Steve sleeping may times and every time I do, I chuckle. Why??? Hmmm...

While you ponder that, I will share with you a few pictures of Matty napping.
Lately he has been putting his hands behind his head to sleep, which I think is hilarious.



Can't you just eat him up!!!!

I cannot wait to show him these when he is a teenager. He will say, "Why would you take pictures of me sleeping?" And I will say, "I don't know. I think it is cute."

To which he will roll his eyes and wonder why he has such a crazy mother.

I can't wait!!

Dear Matthew

Dear Matthew,

I am thrilled that we were blessed with many, many fun Christmas toys for you to play with. I will always remember the joy in your face when you were opening and playing with all your new toys.

However I would like for you to realize the sacrifice I am making with all these toys. I have been losing sleep and chewing my nails more than ever in the last few days as I think about and stare at the toys taking over my house. I am running out of room and my clean, orderly house has turned in to a disorderly Toys R Us.

You will understand as you grow up that mommy enjoys order and cleanliness. And since having you, mommy has had to bite her lip, take a deep breath, and "just let it be" on numerous occasions because of you and your toys. So...with that said, You are welcome, Matthew.

Oh... and I should also mention; thank you, Matthew, for teaching me patience I never knew I had and for showing me that spending time playing with you, laughing with you, and cuddling with you is more important than my house being clean.

Love,

Mommy

Real Thanksgiving

I will share a post about our weekend soon with pictures and all the usual stuff, but I felt led to share this instead. I love to write and have not written much in the last several years. Recently I have been writing short little essays (I am not sure I would call them essays, but I am not sure what else to call them) and I wanted to share one I wrote about being thankful. It was inspired by another writer I follow that wrote a similar post about being thankful. If you are not in the mood for some talk about God and thankfulness, than go ahead and skip it. I will have another less serious post soon :)

"Put him in time out. He needs to learn not to do that." My husband says immediately after our son throws a truck across the room. I quickly tell my son, "No!" and put him in his time out chair. Amidst crying and screaming I watch the clock until his 2 minutes of time out are up.

As a mother, hearing and seeing your child cry is not easy, no matter the circumstances. But I know discipline is necessary. I discipline him because I love him and it is needed to make him in to the person I want him to be. Does my son ever say, "Thank you Mommy for teaching me a lesson. That certainly will help sculpt me in to a well behaved boy."?

Ummmm.....No- definitely not. But he does say thank you when I give him a cup of juice.

It is so easy to be thankful for good things. I often close my eyes and thank God for the sunny weather, the wonderful dinner I had with my family, the perfect afternoon at the playground with my son, the delicious dinner we had with our friends, the shiny new car in our driveway. Those things are easy to be grateful for, they are comfortable, beautiful, and fun.

What has truly shaped me into the woman, wife, and mother that I am? Not those comfortable things. The days that have shaped me and taught me the most are the days when my foundation has been rocked. The days when I close my eyes at night and pray to God for help, strength, and faith. I don't usually thank God on those days.

Thank you God for the argument I had with my husband.

Thank you for the horrible review my manager gave me.

Thank you that we don't have enough money to pay the mortgage.

Thank you for my child's temper tantrum in the middle of Target.

Thank you for the death of my dog.

Thank you God for the fact that I don't fit in to my favorite jeans anymore.

Thank you God for the conflict I am having with my friend.

These are not prayers that God has ever heard from me. Yet as I reflect on my life, times like these were when God put his hands on me and sculpted me. My prayer should be:

Thank you God for continually molding me and for loving me enough to want to make me that woman you always intended me to be.

His priority is your peace, your wholeness, and your character. His purposes are good. His plan is perfect.

"So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness." Colossians 2:6-7

The Curse

My poor, poor child.

He has inherited a lot from me. One of them being my curly hair. Since he is a boy and can always have his hair cut very short, the curly hair really doesn't matter too much. In fact I think many women think men with curly hair are adorable, so I may have to beat some of those women off with a stick when Matty gets older. The curly hair may end up being a good thing, rather than a curse.

The other thing he inherited from me is a sweet tooth. When I say sweet tooth, I don't mean I like a piece of chocolate every now and then and enjoy an occasional scoop of ice cream. No, that is normal. My sweet tooth is very abnormal and should probably be studied by some sweet tooth scientist, not that there is such a thing, but if there was, let me tell you....they would definetly want to talk to me.

I have a problem. I love sweets. I love them so much I often ask Steve to hide them from me. Yes, that is right, Steve hides food from me for 2 reasons:

1. If he doesn't, he will not get any for himself.

2. I am trying to keep my butt to a size that is smaller than a school bus, and if sweets are just laying around I will literally eat them all.

Matthew has inherited this unhealthy obsession with sweets. The other night we were out to dinner with some friends and we all ordered a dessert to share. When Matthew saw the plate of cake and ice cream he literally squealed with delight, grabbed a spoon, and started digging in before the waiter had even put the plate on the table. 5 minutes later I took the picture above. My poor little boy, hopefully he will find a woman who will be nice enough to hide sweets from him.

I'm exhausted

It has been a while since I last wrote. I have been very busy and then was exhausted from being busy. Well, I have recovered and can now collect my thoughts. Really, the weekend wasn't too crazy, I have had crazier, it was just really full and also really great.

On Friday was our friends wedding. I was the Maid of Honor and Steve was the Best Man. It was a fantastic, beautiful wedding.

Steve's sister, Cyndi came in to town from Texas to photograph the wedding, so we got to spend the whole weekend with her. She got this picture of Steve and I at the wedding. Steve was wanting to throw me in the snow.

On Saturday we got a pretty good amount of snow, so we locked Matty and Cyndi outside. Not really, but they probably would have liked it if we did. Matty had a great time with his Auntie.




And Steve used the snow blower while wearing shorts and sandals, of course.

Sunday was my birthday. Which was horrible because the Broncos decided to lose to a really bad team, the Washington Redskins, which ruined my entire birthday. No, not really, but almost.

I did realize that being 28 sounds a lot older than being 27, because I am really, really close to being 30, and I have always thought that once you reach 30 you are not cool anymore. So, I might have a "more than a quarter way through life crisis" soon....just thought I should warn you.

At least I have done a couple good things in my 28 years of life, the best one by far has to be this handsome little creature.

Never Forget

Today is Veteran's Day.

All the veterans alive and gone are the reason I can write whatever I want on this blog.
Veterans are the reason I can go to work, sit at my desk and earn a living.
Veterans are the reason I can go to sleep at night and sleep soundly.
Veterans are the reason I can put my son to sleep and close his door.
Veterans are the reason I can go to the grocery store, spend my money and talk with the cashier about the beautiful weather.
Veterans are the reason I was able to marry the man I wanted to marry.
Veterans are the reason I was happy to bring my son in to the world.
Veterans are the reason I can sit on my couch and watch the Denver Broncos play football.
Veterans are the reason I can get on a plane and fly to go see my family or friends.
Veterans are the reason I can plan a Thanksgiving dinner with my family.
Veterans are the reason I can make a meal every night for my family.
Veterans are the reason I can sit on my back porch with my girlfriends, sip red wine and giggle about whatever we want to giggle about.
Veterans are the reason I have a house over my head and car to drive.
Veterans are the reason I can live comfortably without worrying for my safety.

American Veterans past, present, and future are the reason we all can live the way we do.
Please thank a veteran today, pray for our veterans today, and remember the selfless sacrifices they have made and continue to make for our freedoms and safety.



Thank you Grandpa Dinkel for your life and your sacrfices. I wish my son could have met his Great Grandpa Dinkel and could have thanked him for his service.

Thank you to all the veterans that have touched my life.

I am in awe of your service.

Fear

Last night Matty was sitting on the arm rest of one of our couches thinking about jumping over to the arm rest of the other couch. I noticed this active thought process and let him sit and negotiate whether he should jump or not, as I watched. He began reaching out for the other couch with his hand and started leaning with his body over to the other couch, then he would get scared and lean back on to the couch he was sitting on. He continued to lean back and forth, reaching his hand out and then changing his mind over and over again. Finally he looked at me and said, "Mommy, hand" so I reached out my hand, he grabbed it and jumped over to the couch using the assistance of my hand.
I let him do this many times. Each time he would get back on the couch and think about jumping without my assistance, but then he would get scared and ask for my help.


I had the opportunity to go to a seminar my work sent me to a couple weeks ago. There were many speakers and they were all there to motivate us to work hard and be successful. One of the speakers was Rudy Giuliani. He talked a lot about courage, the point that stuck out to me the most was this; "Courage isn't the absence of fear. It is the management of fear."

Matthew was scared to cross that chasm between the 2 couches, he was afraid he might hurt himself. After thinking about the potential of falling and the potential of making it to the other couch with a sense of accomplishment, Matthew decided he was indeed scared, but that he would still cross that chasm. He decided to cross it with the help of someone else.

Matthew wasn't being a wimp. He was being courageous; he managed his fear, negotiated his fear and decided the best way to manipulate that fear would be to ask for help. This little 2 year old is a pretty good teacher, who would have thought?

P.S. Thanks Cyndi for the beautiful picture of Matthew, as always you are so talented!!

Mr. Potato Head

Matty got a Mr. Potato Head for his 2nd birthday from the Combs' family down in Texas. He was not so sure what to do with it at first. He just kind of stared at it and pointed at it. Then I started taking the pieces off for him and he got the point of Mr. Potato Head quite quickly.

He loves Mr. Potato Head and has even demanded that he sleep with him a few nights.


Here is the first night he played with Mr. Potato Head. He inspected him thoroughly, even his booty opening (which a little disturbing- the toy making people crack me up!)

Check out that forehead of his...Unfortunately he gets that forehead from his mom. Poor guy!!

Now where does this go??? Hmmmmm....

This was the finished product. For some reason he got every body part correct except he mixed up the mouth and the eyes. We have played with Mr. Potato Head many times since and Matthew always does the same thing, the mouth and eyes are always reverse. Can a psychologist please tell me what this means? My son will be a dentist? My son is psychic? My son can read lips? My son thinks I talk too much? My son is trying to tell me my teeth are yellow??? Hmmmm......

How many years? Are you kidding me? Really?

Guess what today is? I'll give you a hint, on this day 5 years ago Steve wore a tux. This is a big hint because he has only worn a tux twice in his life. Once was for my brother's wedding and the other time was......

Our Wedding!!!

5 years ago on October 9th 2004, Steve and I pledged to stay together forever.


We have endured a lot in these 5 years together. Steve has not always been a perfect husband and I have not always been a perfect wife. But we have grace on our side and we are committed to each other.

Happy 5 year Anniversary!!

Someone asked me once, what do you think is the key to a good marriage? I answered very quickly with, "A sense of humor."
Sometimes when everything else fails all you can do is laugh and remember not to take everything so seriously.




“My wife and I were happy for twenty years. Then we met.”-Rodney Dangerfield

What do we do on Monday Nights?

Monday nights, this time of the year are a very busy, productive time for us. We run for 15 miles, then go to a soup kitchen and serve the homeless, then we organize our pantry, then we make a meal of tabouli with a nice spring salad.

Wait...maybe I am exaggerating a little bit. We actually don't always organize the pantry, sometimes we organize the coat closet.

Wait...you know what? I cannot lie any longer. We are a very typical American family and I am not ashamed!!!
On Monday nights we sit on the couch and watch Monday Night Football!!!
Last night was definitely no exception, I mean who could not watch Brett Favre play his old stomping ground, Green Bay? It was a great game and a lovely night, even though we ate pizza instead of Tabouli and spring salad.


Shorty, our dog, like usual sat on the couch with us. He gets irritated when we yell at the TV while watching football, as you has no trouble hearing.
Peter came over with his crutches and he forced me to serve him beer and pizza since he still cannot walk. I then in turn made him hop on one leg to the kitchen before he left and put all the glasses in the sink. Not sure if he will ever come over again.

As you can see, Matty gets a little irritated with the camera flash.

Peter brought over his dogs, 2 big yellow dogs that weigh about 40 pounds each. Usually these large dogs are continually growled at and beat up by our 2 dogs that weigh about 6 pounds each. Hmmmm....

Steve saw that I was trying to take a cute picture of all the boys taking a drink while watching football and he quickly tried to ruin it. He thinks he is so funny- whatever.

Matthew is really starting to watch football, kind of. He definitely knows when football is on the TV and he knows that he should react when the people on the screen are moving. He often will throw his arms up in the air and yell, "Ohhhhhhh!!!" or "Yay!!!" He just is not so sure when to react, he will often yell "Yay!!" when the team we are routing against scores or when there is an instant replay. None the less, Steve and I are very proud of him for trying to be a part of something Steve and I like so much, football. I pray someday he will spend his fall and winter Monday nights sitting on the couch watching the age old tradition of Monday Night football and will fondly remember the days he did it with his mom and dad.

Gotta' Have More Cowbell

I was a bad mother this weekend...I took no pictures of my child and all the cute things he did. Go ahead, slap me on the wrist with a ruler like the nuns used to do in Catholic school, only I didn't go to Catholic school. Since I have no pictures to share I wanted to share a couple of other things.
On Sunday night we went to a friends house for their housewarming party and we all were playing volleyball in their yard. Matty was so cute, he HAD to be a part of the volleyball. He pretended he was a part of the teams and was mimicking what everyone was doing. Chasing after the ball and pretending to hit it and giving high fives when everyone else was. It was adorable to watch. I love that he always wants to be around people and wants to be a part of everything. He is not shy at all and is becoming quite the social butterfly. Times like these remind Steve and I that he is ALWAYS watching us and wants to be like us and mimic what we do...so we better be mindful of everything we do and say.
Secondly, I had a hard time getting out of bed this morning and needed a little pick me up once I got to work. I read something that reminded me of this skit, so I went looking for it, watched it, and it instantly gave me the "little pick me up" that I needed. This is one of my all time favorite SNL skits. I love Will Ferrell and when I say love I mean, I would leave Steve, run away with him, and marry him. Sorry Steve. Anyways, for anyone who needs a good laugh on this Monday morning. Here is a link....Enjoy!

http://www.funnyhub.com/videos/pages/snl-more-cowbell.html

2 years ago...

2 years ago today....

I was packing to go to the hospital. I was supposed to check in to the hospital at 6:00pm on September 18th for my induction to begin. They were going to give me some medicine to prepare me for induction that night and let me sleep, and then officially start the pitocin at 6:00 am on September 19th. And this is exactly the way it all started.





2 years ago....

-I weighed almost as much as Steve

-I waddled and had a slight limp when I walked

-Every morning I would go in to work and at least 3 people would look at me and say, "Oh darn, you are here again. No labor, huh?" I wanted to cry every time someone would say it.

-My pelvis throbbed when I would sit in certain positions and every time I would stand up it would feel like a brick was being pounded in to by hips.

-I had heartburn approximately 37 times a day and ingested 48 Tums a day.

-I had a hard time taking a deep breath and had a hard time breathing in general, something was pressed up against my lungs :)

-I was doing everything possible to induce labor. Eating spicy food, drinking raspberry leaf tea and Steve and I were walking about 2 miles every night.

-I had to pee every 30 minutes (that is no exaggeration)

-Every time I called Steve he would say, "Is it time?"

-I would have sawed off all my fingers and then poured alcohol in the wounds if it meant I wouldn't have to be pregnant any more. (that is maybe a slight exaggeration)

-I had dreams every night about labor; giving birth to a dog, bleeding all over the hospital room, having 500 people in the birthing room, etc.- Those dreams were really beneficial to my mental health- Not!

-My ribs ached from being kicked so often.

-I was very short tempered and was not the most pleasant person to be around. (Sorry about that!)








Do you think it was all worth it?

P.S. Both pictures were taken with Steve's phone. The first one was taken right after we checked in to the hospital on September 18th, 2007 and the last one was taken 10 minutes after Matty was born.

He is so green!

I am really sick of all the "Go Green" stuff. The media has definitely out done the green movement. I understand trying to save our resources, but the saturation of the word green has been too much for me to take. And "nobody puts baby in a corner"- okay that made very little sense, but I adored Swayze in Dirty Dancing and I am obviously thinking of him today.

On that note let me tell you a story about my "green son".

Last night he reminded me 3 separate times to turn off the kitchen light while I was leaving the kitchen. He would follow me in to the kitchen, hang out with me while I was in there, and then I would walk out of the kitchen and Matty would stand right below the light switch and say "light". He would continue to say the word "light" until I would go over there and turn out the light. It was so adorable, but so annoying at the same time. I think Steve secretly taught Matt to do this because he is quietly annoyed with my wasting electricity disease which I have always been plagued with (just ask my parents).

My son is so trendy. Soon he will be asking us for a Prius, demanding solar panels on our roof and will start to bathe every other week. He is totally cool.

What???

Yes, that's right. That is Jay Cutler. The whiny, cry baby Jay Cutler, who was traded to the Bears by the Broncos because his feelings were hurt by the new head coach of the Broncos.

Let me tell you why I am so utterly confused-

When the Broncos signed Jay Cutler a couple years ago I said to Steve, "Why can't we get a good looking quarterback?!!" Because isn't that what is most important for the team, that the quarterback be good looking?

Now, I am not going to go over all the quarterbacks we have had since John Elway (who, let's face it ladies, was not the all American gorgeous quarterback we all dreamed off when we were 15) and tell you why they were unattractive, because that would just be mean. But I will say they have all been either unattractive or major wusses with attitude problems, and Jay Cutler was no exception to that, he encompassed both.

That is until he was traded to Chicago and they took this picture of him. What???!!! I have to admit it, he looks VERY good in this picture. This picture makes me want to run to him and live out my fantasy of being a quarterback's wife. Then I am brought down to reality and realize, this is what he looks like with no makeup and no computer touch up and I quickly run away from him.

"The Terrible Twos"

If you think this is going to be a post about the fact that my child is almost 2 and is getting to be "terrible" just like all other 2 year olds....you are absolutely incorrect.

If you think this is going to be a post about my "angel" child who is almost 2, and is not terrible like all the other "terrible 2 year olds"....you are completely off track and how dare you think I would be so huge headed that I would think such a thing!!

This post is about my disdain for the term "terrible two". I absolutely loathe this label. It is almost as bad as the term "big boned", sorry to tell all of you... but if you are called "big boned" you are being called overweight.

(Sorry to break it to you!! I know this is a little disheartening, as I have been called "big boned" a few times in my life.)

And if someone comments about your child being in the "terrible two" stage, they are most likely calling your child a misbehaving brat.

Giving a stage of a child's life the label of "terrible" is like giving the child and the parents an excuse to allow their child to be "terrible".

I know this year of Matty being a 2 year old will be hard. I know I will often be at my wits end, I know my child will often get a dirty look from a stranger for misbehaving and I know my friends and family will gasp approximately 146 times this year because of something absolutely appalling that he will do.

BUT...I will tell you one thing I will NOT do; I will not allow him to misbehave and be a brat simply because he is 2. I will discipline him and teach him to behave correctly regardless of his age. I will NOT use the "terrible 2" excuse at all this year. Mark my words people, I will not use his age as an excuse for bad behavior.

I will tell you one thing I cannot promise...I cannot promise that I will not use the "big boned" excuse as to why my jeans do not fit like they did last winter. That excuse never gets old, and people totally believe it, right? Right?

Speaking of fitting in to jeans (or not), isn't this picture funny? Matt and Alaina are staring each other down while they drink out of their sippy cups. What are they thinking?

My juice is totally better than your juice.

I bet I can drink this entire thing without taking a breath.

I can drink you under the table.

Thinking about Motherhood...

I was thinking this morning about motherhood. I have a confession to make, it really isn't as hard as I thought it would be. Well, maybe that is not completely true, only partially true. It is amazing how Steve and I have adapted to having a child in our lives, we just make it work and most of the time it works very smoothly. Let me share with you some things about being a mother- One list will be things that are harder than I had imagined and one list will be things that are easier than I had imagined.

Things that have been harder than I ever imagined.

-Keeping a clean house. I used to be quite clean, people would comment about how clean my house was. Don't get me wrong, my house is still clean, most of the time. But with a child it doesn't stay clean for very long and sometimes I just don't want to clean, I have a million other things to do.

-Leaving Matty with anyone. I thought for sure I would always be relieved when I would leave him and get some time away from him. But now I just plain don't want to leave him, I like being with him and I miss him when I am not with him.

-Recovering from being pregnant and having a baby. Although this was quite awhile ago, it feels like just yesterday. It took about 6 months for me to feel "normal" again. Your body and mental health goes to hell and back when you have a baby!! Whew!!

-Discipline. I knew that I would have to discipline my child, but you just have no idea how hard it is going to be and how often you are going to have to do it until your child reaches "that age". Teaching your child good behavior and discipling bad behavior is not for the lazy, laid back parent. It is hard and always will be hard, but you have to do it or you will have a bratty child.

-Losing the baby weight. I easily lost most of it. But the last 10 pounds are still sticking to me- 2 years later. Oh well!!

Things that have been easier than I ever imagined.

-Changing diapers. Piece of cake. I had that down after the first day.

-Integrating a baby in to our life. Like I said before, it just works, it isn't that hard.

-Bringing him out and about. If I need to go to the store, go to a friends house, etc etc, I do it. It isn't hard to transport him and he behaves very well most of the time.

-Sleeping. He has always been a pretty good sleeper, we have had our moments, but all in all I have not ever been extremely sleep deprived.

These lists can potentially go on and on and they can change with time. Being a mother is very fluid it is always changing and moving because that is what your child is doing. This list would probably be very different next year. All in all I believe God gave women an inate ability to be a mother and when us women become mothers we fit right in to that role and it comes to us easier than we thought it would. I am so thankful for being giving the gift of motherhood.

Because it is Friday-

I wanted to share with you this picture that has nothing to do with my post. Isn't it cool??? It is Steve and our friend, Matt, with the fish they caught in Fairplay. I absolutely love this picture.

Isn't he lovely?

When I was pregnant, like most pregnant women, I had many worries and fears. I was worried about the health of my baby and myself, the pain of labor, the expense of a child, breastfeeding...I can go on and on. There was another fear that would keep my up at night, it is shameful to admit, but I am not too scared to admit it because I believe every mom has the same fear regardless of her vanity. My fear was that my baby would be ugly.

As you can see my baby did not turn out ugly.

Or did he?

Seriously, I think my child is the cutest child in the entire universe. There is absolutely no child in the world that is as cute as my child. Don't laugh... I honestly believe this.

Look at those chunky legs, don't you just want to take a bite out of them? No.... that is weird?... oh okay, sorry.

I am not so dilusional that I think everyone in the world thinks that my child is the cutest kid in the universe. I am aware that I am one of the few that thinks he is the cutest kid in the galaxy (or any galaxy for that matter).

I will admit, sometimes I wonder; "Is he not as cute as I think he is? Is he actually ugly, and I just cannot see it?"

Whatever the case, I think it is such an awesome gift that mother's and father's get. Every mother and father gets the cutest baby in the world. God made every child perfect looking in their parents eyes. Thank you, God, for giving me the cutest baby in the world :)

Weddings!!

The theme of this summer/fall is weddings. My life is full of weddings right now and has been for most of the summer, and it looks like there is no end in sight.

In July my hubby, and 2 of our friends ventured to North Carolina to visit a friend who was getting married. I had never been that far East/South in my boring life so it was rather exciting for me. It was a great small town wedding. My favorite part was the fact that the beautiful bride, Carolyn, wore a tea length dress. It was so unexpected and so sickeningly cute, I loved it!!

The weekend after our visit to North Carolina we went to yet another wedding. It was at this gorgeous ranch in Loveland. I was a little shocked when I learned that the reception would be held in a barn, but I have to say it was one of the most fun weddings I have been to, in fact I had a little too much fun as you can see here....

and here....

This is what happens when you give me a night away from my child, put all my friends and I in a room (or barn) and give us an open bar... I love weddings!!

These 2 weddings are not the end, I have more to go. My hubby's brother is getting married in September. They live in Texas and they are getting married here in Colorado. So, I have been on the phone with them, emailing them, texting them, trying to help them with all the wedding plans- it is not easy for them to plan a wedding that will be held in another state, but it is going to be another great wedding. My favorite part of planning this wedding is the bride. She is the most laid back bride in the history of the world. Seriously, if there was an award for the bride that is the least bridezilla ever, Mandy would get the award. She actually kind of freaks me out.. come on Mandy, show me your bridezilla side, I know it is hiding there somewhere.

There is another wedding that will happen in November. Our good friends are getting married and I am the maid of honor and Steve is the best man. Without sounding too cliche, I would like to say that Steve and I are truly honored to be standing up with this couple, they are the most caring, faithful friends and I am so happy they are finally getting married!!

My favorite part about this wedding, so far, is the trick the bride played on her fiance. She had him believing the dress she wanted to buy encompassed the entire wedding budget and "she just had to have it". This pic was his reaction, well not really but it could be! I just love it when the brides don't take their wedding planning too seriously.

And there is one more wedding worth mentioning. It is not until next summer, but it is going to include our wonderful friends getting married in the mountains and my cute little son will be the ring bearer. So from now until next summer I will be living in constant fear of my child ruining their ceremony :). So far my favorite part about this wedding is the engagement ring. Whenever I am around the bride I stare at her finger and drool, she thinks I have some sort of hyper salivating problem. I am not usually a materialistic girl, but this ring is so beautiful and sparkly and the diamond is so big- I cannot help myself!

Can you tell I love weddings? They represent the start of a new partnership and a new chapter. They are so beautiful, exciting, and full of hope and love. I will admit, I also love weddings because of the free food and drinks, but don't tell anybody I said that.