Showing posts with label wedding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wedding. Show all posts

Friday, July 17, 2009

Emptying the Nest

Our oldest daughter got married in June, and I was fine with that, but now she's moving out. I'm not as excited about this!

Her husband (wow, that is weird to say) is in the Navy and stationed in Charleston, South Carolina. Like newlyweds, they want to live together. Crazy kids. Don't they know living on opposite coasts makes a marriage strong!

She's living here, he's living there. They have been patiently waiting for the Navy to put them up in base housing and give him permission to send for his new little wife. Permission Granted! He has keys to a three bedroom cottage on the Navy base and she can join him on the other coast.

The Navy will come and get their stuff, all except for Katie's car. They'll fly her across the country, but not the car. It'll cost a grand to get the car shipped over there. However... driving it across will take aprox 95 gallons of gas costing around $300. Not a hard decision to make when you do the math.

We got her all moved out of our house. She boxed up everything she owns and their wedding gifts, and we loaded it up along with: a flock of guitars, her queen sized bed, her dresser and mirror(which is the biggest bureau ever made), gigantic nightstand, and a futon. She also took a bike for fun! Everything went to her In-Laws' home where the Navy will pick it up. Aren't they lucky!

Tonight, after its dark and cooler across the high desert, Katie is leaving for Charleston. Driving her car across the nation, singing songs and talking on her cell phone the whole way. Nothing but a girl and the road. And probably a cup of coffee and a cooler full of pop and snacks for 2495 miles.

She's going to pass through California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, a little corner of Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and then, she'll drive across South Carolina to find her new home.

If you see her, smile and wave!

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Tidbits not big enough to Qualify as Ramblings

Lots of little topics today:

Libby is constipated. Hey, don't look shocked! If you are going to read my blog, you are going to hear about Poop once in a while. This child is a poop champ and never fails to fill her diaper to capacity or beyond a couple of times a day. Well, today begins day #4 of nothing accomplished on that end. She's fussy and her belly is pretty dang big. I think she's gonna explode any time. Gosh, I sure hope so! Watch Out, World! And hold your noses!

Teeth are coming in. Libby got a new top tooth this past week. She knows it too, she grins like she's showing off a full set. So cute! And sharp.

The happy little couple had a busy week of newlywed bliss. Katie had jury duty and she had to run around getting her name changed and getting her car in her name instead of her dad's. That was a wedding gift, she no longer has to make payments on her car and she got the title. Of course, the courthouse, the county offices and the DMV are nowhere near each other. But, she got it all done, jury duty, wedding paperwork, and car registration! Plus went to the insurance company and the bank and whatever else she had on her list. Andrew had to work at the Navy recruiting office all week. Plus, his ring didn't fit so they were back at forth at the jeweler's getting that done. They managed to spend time with us, and time with Andrew's family and time with their friends too. Married life is busy! On Saturday morning Andrew flew back to South Carolina and Katie is here waiting for him to line up housing and all that jazz. It could be a couple of weeks or a couple of months while they live on opposite coasts.

I filled my mini-van with newborn baby things and cleared out some storage space. Sad to let the newborn things go, but glad to reclaim some space again! There are two newborn babies who we are passing thing on to. One is a baby boy in Las Vegas who probably doesn't need anything but he's getting it anyway since we're friends. His name is Eden and he's getting a bouncy chair, exersaucer and a small bag of baby boy clothes. Not sure why I have boy clothes, but I do. The other baby is here in town, a little girl named Ella. She's a week old now and already has enough of a life story that she could write a book! Here is a blog with her story; in summary for anyone who doesn't click to it: she was born to a prison inmate and her 19 yr old half-brother (college student) from her father's side got custody of her until inmate-mom's release in 4 yrs. Poor little kid doesn't have anything so I was more than happy to donate. There will be a baby shower for her soon, so she'll be loaded up and ready for anything shortly. But, I was able to pass on my bassinet, pink bouncy chair, baby monitor that I never use, baby gym, soft carrier, tons of baby clothes, blankets and whatever else I tossed in the back of the van. It was full! It really feels good to pass on the baby things. I tried to sell them on Craigslist, but everyone is selling everything and nobody is buying (darn economy!). And I tried to donate them, but I missed the truck when it came by picking up donations. Finally, I have cleared my little space of things I'll never use again. I'm sure it'll fill up fast since Gracie and Libby are growing quickly!

I'm working on getting a space set up for my sewing machine and my new serger. I still haven't even taken it out of the box! I found a group of women online who post tips and tricks and projects and all sorts of discussions about using the same serger machine that I have. It's called Viking 936 Users. That'll be me! As soon as I get it out of the box! I need to look into the classes that are offered at JoAnn Fabrics so I can learn how to use my new machine. It's a lot like rocket science and brain surgery; ok, it's not. But I still think taking the class would help a lot!

We went to a birthday party yesterday for an adorable 4 yr old. The party was in a backyard pool in Vista. The sun was shining and it was such a beautiful day! I put sunscreen on the girls, but I see now that I missed spots on Gracie. I didn't get it rubbed in right up to her straps, so she has a little bit of sunburn right on the edges where her swimsuit straps were. And I didn't account for her perpetual swimsuit wedgie. Her little cheeks are red! Oooops! Why can't they make swimsuits that don't ride up anyway?

Sounds like everyone got home just fine and enjoyed their vacations to Southern California. It was so nice to have all of our families out here to celebrate our daughters' big events with us. Gracie wants her cousins to come back; she's been wondering where they are. She wants to go to the beach and look for them, maybe they are there. Cousins! Come Back!

Thursday, June 25, 2009

More Wedding Photos

Everyone at the wedding watched it through a camera. When I looked back, all I saw were people with cameras stuck to their faces. Yay! This makes for lots of wedding photos!

The professional photograher did an amazing job! His photos aren't bloggable since he has them all password protected, but, here are a few from my sister!

Other guests are slowly sharing their shots. Can't wait to see more! Here are a few for your blogging pleasure courtesy of Mrs. Caveman



Sunday, June 21, 2009

Wedding Photos

Our photographer, Micheal Fletcher, was amazing! He already has the wedding photos online in a password protected album, but he has these two photos on his flickr site for public view (which means I can share them on my blog!). For those of you who do not have access to the wedding album, I thought I would share these two pictures of my girl.






Oh, and I have this one that I sort of stole from his site, I hit print screen!

Friday, June 19, 2009

She's married!

I'm home from the wedding, it's 1am, I'm in my jammies and out of all things that lift and bind, I have a glass of wine and my feet up. Ahhhhhh... feels so good!

It was the most beautiful wedding I've ever been to in my life. And Katie was the prettiest bride I have ever seen in real life and movies, she was absolutely stunning!

I charged my batteries, cleared my memory cards and took both of my cameras. Got there and thought, what am I thinking, I'm not taking pics, I'm just going to enjoy! And I did! First photo I took was when we got home and Gracie looked so adorable sleeping in her poofy flowergirl dress. What a cutie!

Everyone had such a wonderful time. The wedding went as smooth as if it had been planned for years by experts. And now I have a son. Life is good. Heart

Monday, June 15, 2009

Because she's getting married...

I just have to share this little tidbit of a memory from a few years back.

We used to send her to 4-H Camp every summer for a week or so. When she got older she went for three weeks. Ahhh, good times!

Anyway, when she was 12 or 13... far too young in my opinion for learning what you are about to learn that she learned... she came home from camp and stepped in the front door dropping all her stinky smelly stuff and she says with a big proud grin...

"Guess what I did at camp?!?" We could feel her excitement radiating. This had to be good! We guessed all sorts of cool things: Swim all the way across the lake? Hit the target in archery? Get to work in the concession stand? Make some cool craft? An award for having a clean cabin? What? What? What amazing accomplishment did our little girl do this summer?

"I kissed a boy behind the bathhouse!" Big grin.

We settled back into the couch cushions and went pale and numb. Speechless.

This little girl is getting married in two days. I wish her well, especially when her sweet children come home from camp and announce how much they've broadened their horizons. Marriage is when you are speechless together, feel each other's feelings in exactly the same way, and ride that roller coaster from proud to stunned in no time flat - together. She's lucky and has a good guy to spend the rest of her life with; I'm so glad it's not the kid who kissed her behind the bathhouse at camp.