Even a mom sometimes needs her mom

I am going to keep this short because my little one is sleeping, and those peaceful sleeps have been a rarity in our home for a couple of weeks now.

I wanted to give a shout out to an unsung hero in my life. My mom.

The older (and more stubborn) I have gotten, the more my mom and I have clashed here and there. Mostly due to differences in personality where we don't always see eye to eye. But despite that, she has and always will be one of my closest friends. When my heart and mind are troubled, I revert back to that innate nature where I just need my mom to make things seem better.

Maybe that makes me childish, irresponsible, or too dependent -- I don't know. And I really don't care. But the truth is, a mother can simply make situations seem better with just her presence. I think this is one of those special traits that God gave mothers to possess during their child's time of need.

Long story short, I got really down earlier this week. I was handling it ok until one day when Matt had returned to work, and I was overcome with my emotions and felt alone. My parents could tell how down I was, and packed up immediately to make the four-hour trip to our home to help out. (It turned into a five hour trip due to icy roads on the mountain.)

Having my parents here to help Matt and me allowed me to keep my wits about me and get a second wind. I'll go ahead and point out that my dad has gone above and beyond the call of duty as well, but my mom has a special way that just comes natural to her of knowing how to keep me calm.

Mom stayed with us for two weeks after Natalie was born (Dad stayed for some of that time as well). It made it much easier on me in particular since I was recovering from surgery and still had a difficult time physically for the first few days after I came home from the hospital.

Well, I said I'd keep this short, but my hands keep typing. So I'll get to the point ...

Even when you become a parent yourself, you still sometimes need a helping hand, word of encouragement, or just a hug from your mom. My mom always puts my needs before her own, and now, Natalie's needs as well. It's just what mothers do, and I'm thankful to have her as an example for the kind of mother I hope to be for Natalie.

Thanks, mom. I don't always find it easy to verbally express the words in my heart, but I can write them. I hope you know how much your love and help are appreciated. I am glad another generation gets to experience all the love you (and dad) have to offer.

a year as husband and wife

In my last post, I said I would tell you what happened five years after that special October day at the state fair. But first, I wanted to tell what happened in the five years between.

Matt and I in December 2005 after a day of student
teaching for me. He was visiting me in Knoxville.

Matt and I both knew we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together, but we didn't know how to logistically make that happen with us living eight hours apart at the time. I immediately started graduate school for teacher education the summer after earning my degree, and that was followed by a teaching internship. I thought I could easily get a teaching job in North Carolina after I finished up graduate school and could support myself through those means and be near Matt. Problem solved, right? 15 credit hours shy of completing my graduate degree, I decided I no longer wanted to be a teacher. It was a difficult decision, but more so for the fact that quitting the program also meant saying good-bye to the job option that would pave the way for us to not have a long distance relationship.
 

Here we were in early 2006, making our first homemade
pizza together. I remember my dad complaining about it
taking too long. He was hungry!

Matt stood by me the entire way and reassured me that we would find a way to make it work. I wanted to try out dog grooming school, but it came with a price tag of a few thousand dollars, and after sinking thousands of dollars into my college education, I didn't want to go into deeper debt for another career option until I knew for sure I wanted to stick with it. So I planned to work anywhere I could long enough to save up money. That led to a job in state government that I got comfortable in, and a temporary thing became a three year thing, and I stayed there right up until two days before our wedding.

This was taken on October 16, 2007 before we
headed to dinner for our 3rd anniversary.

In the mean time, Matt was applying for jobs that would put us closer together and was even nearly hired on at the newspaper in Knoxville on two different occasions. He ended up in Gastonia four years ago, cutting the distance between us in half to four hours. I started applying for jobs in Gastonia but had no luck.

Earlier on in our relationship, Matt really wanted us to live in the same location and date like "normal" couples, instead of having to travel just to see each other, before we got engaged. He thought it seemed silly to be engaged when you were in separate states and had no idea when you could be in the same one. As a woman, I would have been totally fine with having a pretty ring on my finger. ;-) But I understood.

We were at the corn maze in Corryton,
Tenn. in October 2008 for this photo.

As time wore on, I think the misery of being apart took a toll on us both. We never doubted we would stick together, but we were very unhappy with day to day life that didn't include us being together. Thank God for free long distance calling! Living together before marriage was an option neither of us supported or would consider, so we kept waiting for the right job opportunity where we could live in the same town. Matt also began realizing it was no longer important to him for us to live in the same location first. He just wanted me as his wife.

Moments after Matt proposed to me on February 12, 2009
at the World's Fair Park in Knoxville.

Finally, in the fall of 2008, we got tired of waiting on the perfect scenario, crunched the numbers financially, and decided to take a leap of faith. We started shopping for engagement rings at that time, and he proposed to me while in Knoxville on February 12, 2009. Soon after, we set a wedding date of October 18, 2009 -- five years and two days after we first revealed our love to each other.

Exchanging vows on our wedding day one year ago.

I just bored you with all the five-year history to help you better understand what brought us to where we are today and how much more meaningful this year has been to us because of the journey. Looking back, as miserable as I was to not be with Matt on a daily basis, it truly was the best thing for our relationship to blossom into the beautiful love we share today. That first year or two we were a couple, I thought I knew him so well and loved him so deeply. After five years together before we were married, that love and devotion grew in ways that a couple of years would not have allowed for. We had already been through so much together -- even simply to spend time together -- we knew we could last forever.

Laughing after we share our first kiss.

When we exchanged vows on this date a year ago, I was the happiest woman alive because I knew (and still know) beyond any doubt that my heart is with him and that no other possible place exists for me separate from him. Every detail of our wedding was done in a way to reflect us as a couple and our journey to the day we vowed to always be husband and wife. It truly was the best day of my life up until that point. I could not have asked for a more perfect wedding day. Since then, every day I have with Matt is a new best day.

Our first dance to "Allelujah" (see previous blog post
for back story about this song selection.)

I always heard how much of a challenge marriage is, especially during the first year when there are so many adjustments to be made. But honestly, it was the easiest adjustment ever for us. We always talk about how natural it feels to be united as husband and wife. Every day, I wake up happy. Every night, when I close my eyes for sleep, I am happy. There is no other way to describe life with Matt except to say it is complete contentment with him, with our love, and with our life. We have spent the past 365 days together -- and it has been the best 365 days of my life, and I can't wait to do it all over again for a life time.

Newlyweds!

I am so thankful and blessed to have my best friend and to have our simple, everyday life together that we dreamed of for so long. I wouldn't change it one bit for a moment. Happy anniversary, Matt! Can't wait to get started on year number two!

Finally husband and wife.

All wedding photos by Hope Photography.

my fairground attraction

 

This song will be used throughout this post. "Allelujah" by Fairground Attraction. 

Six years ago today, my life changed completely in one single day and was never the same again. 

A 21-year-old college senior, I was in love with a guy but too shy to tell him so. I would later find out that his shyness and fear of rejection kept him from speaking his heart as well. 

I see you every day 
I watch as you walk down this way 
We pass on the stairs of this council block 
Too shy to find words to say 

He and I enjoyed each other's company at the state fair, laughing together, playing fair games, and looking at exhibits. I longed so badly to tell him how I loved him but had never used those words in a romantic way before and was unsure what he would say. I never got up the courage to tell him in the few hours we spent at the fair.

As he walked me to my car in the parking lot across the street from the fairgrounds, I knew I couldn't let this day pass by without telling him how I felt. 

But your smile is a prayer that prays for love 
And your heart is a kite that longs to fly 
Allelujah, here I am 
Let’s cut the strings tonight 

As he hugged me to tell me goodbye, I said "Matt?" with my head pressed against his shoulder. He said, "yes?" And in a quiet whisper, I said, "I love you." He immediately squeezed me up tighter and said, "I want you to know that you are loved too!"  He then told me that he wanted to kiss me. And thus began the first kiss with a lifetime of kisses to follow.

So meet me on the corner at eight 
Let’s get out of this place  
We’ll kiss the first of a million kisses 
And let the past fall away 

It may seem silly to anyone other than to Matt and me, but those three words changed us both in a way I never thought possible. We started the day as two shy, insecure individuals. We emerged from the tough shells of protection we had built up around ourselves and revealed our hearts -- we no longer possessed the fears of rejection and felt we could truly be ourselves and comfortable in our own skin.  

Here we were about five years ago outside of Calhoun's. We only have
a couple of pictures of us from the fair, but that was before either of
us had digital cameras, so this is the best I can do. :-)

Here we are now -- with a little extra cargo about to join us.

"Allelujah" by Fairground Attraction (convenient band name, eh?) has been our song ever since that day because it describes the beginnings of our relationship perfectly. Two people who are too shy to say how they really feel, despite longing to be set free by expressing those feelings. They realize it is time to no longer let the past hold you back and to cut the strings of the kite and soar. That was us. After that day, we realized how important it was for us to have gone through that experience -- to be vulnerable enough to face potential rejection in order to speak our hearts.

It is amazing how such a simple experience can be monumental in your life and pivotal to the progression of events. From that moment on, the shells were completely gone, and we never looked back. Our love grew and grew from that first little seed and blossomed into the bond we are united in today. I still get butterflies in my stomach when I think back to the sweet smile on his face and the genuine love I saw in his eyes after he kissed me. That was truly the beginnings of the foundation for our unification, and I knew then I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him.

Five years later ... well, I will tell you more about that in two days. :)

a labor of love

I was sooo excited today about this completed project, and then life got in the way, and I nearly forgot to blog about it!

I must admit -- this is by far my favorite nursery project (even though I was involved in it the least!). I will give you a little background about why ...

In the late 1980s, Matt's father constructed a small dresser that went on to be used in their home and eventually moved on with Matt when he got his first apartment here. That dresser migrated on over to our home after we got married.

After we selected Natalie's nursery furniture, I came up with the great idea (great for me, since I didn't have to do the work, ha!) to strip and stain the dresser to match the cherry wood color of Natalie's stuff. Neither of us were quite sure how it would turn out, and I think Matt gained several new gray hairs throughout the process while I sat back asking him (constantly) when he was going to work on it and/or finish it.

But alas, it is done!

Here is the journey:

 I don't have a good before shot of the dresser because I forgot to take one, but you can see pretty much what it looked like in the picture to the right.

First, he stripped the dresser and drawers with mineral spirits to remove the wax coating.

 

 Then he had to sand everything to give it a smooth finish and ready for staining.

 As with most projects, the daddy-to-be came back into the house wearing the remains of his hard work!

Once the dresser and drawers were smooth, Matt stained them a lovely cherry color.

You may recall a blog post back from August about drawer knobs. Well, I decided to try painting some myself to save some bucks since I couldn't find any I liked at a cheap price. So after looking around at some of the ones I liked on Etsy.com, I came up with the design to the right.















So after this part was completed, they were ready to be attached to the dresser! More work for the daddy-to-be!  And finally, the finished product!! Great job, daddy-to-be!!

So this is why I love this project so much! It turned out better than I had expected, and it makes it so much more special since Natalie's grandpop constructed the dresser, her daddy refinished the dresser, and her mommy hand painted the drawer knobs for it. Furniture made with love!
  
After many corny (and therefore, rejected!) blog title suggestions from Matt, I finally selected the blog title to this post as he suggested.

another crafty adventure

Oh September, where did you go?

Penny, the dust maker!

The end of the month is nearing, and this is my first post of the month! Total slacker, right? Actually, September has been a busy month for us! It all began with a mega-cleaning event that was highly necessary after all the neglect the house received during my many sick weeks of pregnancy. I think Penny (our fluffier feline) is to blame for the amount of dust, kitty hair, etc. that accumulated on and in every little thing! This cleaning adventure resulted in allergies and triggered daily sinus headaches. At least the house looks much better!

After that, we had family visiting back-to-back. My parents came to town to redo the shelving in our master closet and to spend Labor Day weekend relaxing by the pool (after all the hard work was done!). Their visit was followed a few days later by my sisters-in-law and parents-in-law! It was a mini family reunion since we had not all been together at the same time since Matt and I married last year! Matt's mom made a turkey and ham with all the fixings while they were here. Thanksgiving in September! They also brought lots of awesome gifts for Natalie!

Besides that, September has been filled with doctor visit after doctor visit. Natalie and I are both doing well -- they're just keeping a closer eye on us since we are nearing the finish line in case any problems arise. Better safe than sorry! We haven't seen her in three weeks, but we expect her to be over 3 pounds by now. We'll see our little girl on Thursday, though! She is still a mover and a shaker, and she gave me two good kicks while her daddy was playing guitar in the church service Sunday morning and several kicks while he was talking to her through my belly last night. I think she likes hearing her daddy!

Before shot of shelf after the four
pegs had been removed.

We have also been busy working on Natalie's nursery. I am so happy with its progress! I wanted to share with you one of the projects we recently completed that was a mommy-daddy team effort! (I must admit, mostly daddy, though!) It all began with a $5 unfinished wooden shelf we found on clearance at Michael's. The wheels started turning from there.

Matt used an orbital sander to
smooth out any rough places.

First on the list - whip this cheapy shelf into shape! Here's where daddy came into play. He used an orbital sander to prepare the shelf for staining and to get rid of any rough spots on the shelf. And since I can't use staining products, Matt took care of the next part too -- making the shelf a nice dark cherry color to match the rest of Natalie's furniture.

Staining shelf.

Supplies to finish the shelf.

Attaching paper to shelf with mod podge

Once the shelf was stained and a coat of polyurethane was added, it was time for a crafty touch! We needed a way to hide the peg holes since the butterfly hooks we planned to add to the shelf wouldn't hide them without having to space the butterflies unevenly. The easiest and quickest solution we came up with was to cover them with scrapbook paper. I selected one of the light colored patterns I used for the name letters I made earlier for her room. This gave a nice contrast between the dark butterflies and wood and solved our problem! I used my trusty old mod podge to attach the paper to the shelf after cutting the paper to the appropriate dimensions. And mommy's brief role in the shelf transformation was complete!

Shelf with scrapbook paper attached.

Finally, we could attach the butterfly hooks! We found these at Hobby Lobby and purchased them for $5 each when they were on sale for 50% off. Nana had to come to the rescue when our local store only had one. She found two more for us at her Tennessee Hob Lob (as Matt likes to call it). This was the biggest expense for the shelf ($15 for all three), but it was worth it! Matt attached the butterflies with some epoxy glue (after much warning from the over-the-top preggo maniac wife to make sure he spaces them evenly). And here's the finished product ...

Done!

Let me tell you, it looks GREAT in her room! Every time I turn around, I am so impressed with all the work Matt has done for the nursery and continues to do. Natalie will hopefully appreciate it one day when she is old enough to understand how much love has been poured into her room, not just by her parents, but by all of her grandparents and aunts! She is one blessed little girl!

Stay tuned for an upcoming post about Matt's biggest nursery project! It turned out beautifully, and I cannot wait to share!

time has told me she's a rare, rare find

Next week, Matt and I plan to head back to Tennessee for a brief trip, particularly to visit a very sweet lady who is near and dear to my heart - my grandmother.

She has been in the hospital now for a few weeks, and I have been anxious to make it back in town to visit her. I am hoping that God will keep blessing her with life and that she will get to meet Natalie in November. After all, Natalie needs to meet the person who she will receive her middle name after!

My grandmother, Elsie, started her life in Regensburg, Germany, where she was one of the daughters of a well-to-do hotel/restaurant/butcher shop owner named Hans Hausladen. Her family lost their small fortune during WWII, and her brother and father lost their lives.

After the war, in the early 50s, Elsie met an American soldier from Knoxville, Tennessee who was fluent in German and stationed overseas. They fell in love, married, and soon Elsie gave birth to a healthy baby boy, my father.

Here is Elsie and Roger on their wedding day. I think my father looks so much like her:



Elsie and her son flew to America on her son's first birthday to live in Knoxville with her husband. She spoke very broken English at the time but eventually taught herself the language. Today, almost 57 years later, she still has a German accent and is fun to listen to. Life wasn't easy for Elsie and her family. Having six children living with their parents all in a one-bedroom shack is hardly desirable conditions. However, they made do.

More important than any material wealth, Elsie truly has a heart of gold. She loves her family (all 6 children, 12 grandchildren, and a whole heap of great-grandchildren) and would do anything she could to help anyone out, even if it means she has to sacrifice. She enjoys watching Westerns and listening to Elvis Presley, and she has an amazing green thumb (but only indoors).

When her health was better, she loved cooking. She could cook a mean fried pork chop. And nothing could top her spaghetti with a particular key ingredient - brown sugar. She is well known (in our family at least) for her Alabama cake and potato salad. I have many fond memories of lazing around on a Sunday afternoon after church over at her place after a big meal.

I think back on all the times she kept my brother and me when we were kids, and my parents had somewhere they needed to be. Mom and dad always knew when we were bad while staying with Elsie because, when my parents asked, she would say that we were ''ok'' when we had really behaved horribly (such as the time my brother and me were shoving each other near the top of the stairs and he pushed me down them!). She would never say the truth of how bad we had acted trying to not get us into too much trouble!

My grandmother has always had various health problems, and to be quite honest, I never expected God to allow us so much time with her here on earth. Every day we have been blessed to keep her here has truly been a miracle. I was telling Matt the other day how, in our minds, our loved ones don't age. We forget that they aren't physically the people we remember them being during our childhood. Time does a number on us all. This we all know. I don't know how much time my grandmother has left here with us, but I do know that I will be thankful for every day, week, month, and/or year we have with her. Knowing and loving her has enriched my life because of her example of a kind-hearted, genuine life. And I will do my best to make sure her life and memory live on in her great-granddaughter, Natalie Elisabeth, long after she is gone.

one man's junk is still just junk

It's no secret.

I am a hoarder. I hoard everything. Books, plastic bags, papers, craft supplies, nail polish, lotions, cards, clothes in a million sizes - everything.

The friend who was supposed to be our guestbook / program attendant at our wedding was a no show, so most people didn't receive a wedding program, which means I still have over 100 of them. What am I going to do with 100 wedding programs? Nevertheless, they are here.

And my biggest ... receipts. I believe receipts spawn from other receipts in our house. They appear in the strangest places, yet I insist every one of them be kept.

Before a recent visit from my parents that I was unaware of until the day before their expected arrival, my mom remarked, ''I know you are a slob. We are used to it. You don't have to clean for us,'' when I remarked that I hadn't cleaned the house yet.

I would like to think that ''slob'' is just a less fancy word for ''hoarder''. The truth is, when my sweet husband helped me clean out my bedroom and pack before we got married, we threw away at least 11 garbage bags full of junk - remnants of 26 years worth of hoarding.

I used to call my style ''organized clutter''. However, I think the organized part went out the window ages ago.

I am unsure of when all of this began for me, but I do recall hoarding things as a child. Does anyone remember Lisa Frank stickers and school supplies? Here is a picture I found online to remind you ...



I always thought Lisa Frank stuff was SO COOL! I remember conserving my stickers and pencils. I would use up other stuff not as cool as Lisa Frank items, but I lost interest before I ever used most of any of it. I was like this with other things as well. Craft sets for kids, such as those sand sculpture kits where you could layer different colors of sand in plastic bottles. I would be sure and not use it all up at once to make it last. Yet again, many years later when I was clearing stuff off a shelf in the closet, there was the majority of the sand sculpture kit saved up for a future use that never came.

As part of my hoarder mentality, I truly am a slob too. I have always hated chores (don't most people?), and I am sure my parents got tired of constantly nagging me to clean my room, empty the dishwasher or whatever the case may be. I have perfected the notion of putting things off as long as possible. It is good that we have guests every now and then, otherwise, our house would be disastrous more often.

Despite my slobby hoarding nature, I do admire and enjoy when the house is all cleaned up. It somehow creates a more relaxing environment. A sense of pride comes along with being a homeowner or at least living in a space that you (and/or your spouse) are solely responsible for. And I find myself now concerned with things related to keeping the house clean that I used to think my parents were silly for caring about. Chores don't seem to be quite the headache they used to be.

I still hate cleaning toilets.

And I still have to keep my receipts.

Some things just won't change.

Easter joys

Thought I'd share some pictures from our Easter related activities. We had a wonderful first Easter together. It's like having a new child and keeping track of all the "firsts" for the baby. We always make note of our "first" moments we share as husband and wife. It's difficult to believe the sixth month mark is already approaching. You'd think we'd be out of the "lovebirds" stage, or nearly at least. I think we'll feel like newlyweds still for a very long time.

One thing we'll soon have the opportunity to do together is both sing in the choir. Choir practice is being moved to Wednesday night, at least for a trial run to see if that day works better for people, so Matt will be able to come along with me to practice now. That makes me very happy! I love singing with him, even though we'll be singing along with many other great people.

We should have taken our "Easter" picture before church. Our choir sang our Easter medley during the morning service, and I was sweating like a gorilla at the zoo from it. We sang four beautiful songs from the "Rose of Calvary" cantata. Nevertheless, here's us after church:



Have any of you parents ever had a child who complained about eating vegetables, and well, basically anything that's good for you? That's Matt. He's my child that I have to feed and plead with to try things. I've learned that I will always lose on getting him to try stuff.

Anyway, here's our Easter lunch. When mom asked what all I made, and I told her what, she asked, "why so many things?" Simple answer. Matt. He won't eat many things - mac and cheese is his staple food. Is he still nine years old? Ah, what can you do?

Here's the break down:

Me: Ham, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, corn, deviled eggs (gotta have those for Easter!), green beans and sweet potatoes. (Matt hates these last three, of course, but I hadn't had sweet potatoes in ages so I was determined to have them.)

Matt: Ham, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, and cranberry sauce (which I don't like).

Besides the ham, potatoes, and cheesy macs, everything else we ate was different. Fortunately, all of this was very easy to make and didn't take much time. I don't know what I'm going to do with him though!



And on to egg coloring. I don't think I've dyed eggs in a few years, and Matt said the last time he died eggs was 1987 (insane!). He read the directions wrong at first and said not to add water. I was wondering how the egg was going to soak in three tablespoons of vinegar. So, we got that straightened out. (How many college degree holders does it take to figure out how to dye eggs correctly?)




I wanted them BRIGHT! So we waited ...



And waited ...



Time to check them.



I was happy to see some UT orange blazing through. I miss seeing orange every where. These people here just like UNC and Duke.



And our completed eggs! Obviously egg coloring is for kids because we young adults didn't manage to do it right. Not sure what's up with all the white lines and splotches on them.

Oh yeah, I also learned an important lesson with our egg coloring experience. Don't buy the $1 Paas box. At LEAST splurge for the whopping $1.88 box. Ours didn't include any stickers or a wax crayon to write with. Anyone know if you can use regular crayons? We didn't have any of those either, though.

Three eggs broke when we boiled them. Any egg boiling pros know how to prevent that from happening?

Maybe next year we'll improve our egg coloring skills. Next year I'm buying a more expensive Paas box!



Since Matt and his co-workers (except the big wigs, of course) had to slave away at work on Easter, I decided it would be nice to send some Easter cupcakes and cookies. We made the cookies a couple of days beforehand since they take time. The recipe is one my mother has used from many years that she borrowed from a good family friend. They are known to us as "Kelli's Cookies." We always make Kelli's Cookies at Christmas time, so I thought it would be fun to try them out now and use icing dyed something other than red and green!

Matt was a pro at putting the icing on!




Blue is my favorite color, so it was fun doing a pastel blue. I had never attempted these cookies on my own before. My mom was always the one to roll out the mound of dough. It was much harder to do than I thought. It didn't seem to be the perfect consistency like when mom makes it. It really made me miss her! And I *almost* missed us shooing away my brother and dad when they would swoop in like hawks over mom and me and steal one (or five) immediately after we add the icing. Almost. They didn't look as pretty as mom's, but I did one up her on one thing ...

No burnt ones! It wasn't for nothing that mom got the shirt for her birthday that said, "Dinner is ready when the smoke alarm goes off!"

Done!



Some of my favorites. Matt got creative with a few.



A great first Easter, indeed!

ready for retirement

No, I'm not referring to my parents (though they're getting closer to retirement) ... I'm referring to Matt and me. Ever since I have known Matt, he has called himself "Old Man Richards" (and that was back when he was 25). He feels even older now. I'm starting to really believe he's old.

Though I think he just doesn't like physical labor.

Then again, neither do I. I guess that's why Matt and I were like two broken down old mules working outside of our house this past week. I have muscles sore in my body that I didn't even know I had. The ironic part is that my parents did 90% of the yard work and are about 25-30 years older than us.

Here we are in the prime of our lives - aching, stiff, and sore from a little bit of labor. My dad used to sing a little song to my great-grandmother to tease her. The song went:

The old gray mare,
She ain't what she used to be
Ain't what she used to be,
Ain't what she used to be
The old gray mare,
She ain't what she used to be
Many long years ago.

I think this song fits Matt and I very well, minus the fact that we're not gray (yet) and not mares. We sure ain't what we used to be. Then again ... neither of us have been known for our awesome abilities at labor. Ok, I guess that song doesn't really fit us after all, but this blog post made me think of it.

Fortunately for Matt, he had to work (at his desk job) and missed out on the majority of the work outside (which my dad made sure to make note of). He loves teasing Matt (well, everyone else too). I didn't really have a good excuse, but I did get our little garden started. We ran out of time, so it'll have to be finished at a later date. (Pictures to follow later).

So our physical labor experience made me realize we need to stick to desk jobs or retire early. Since our 401K's probably couldn't keep us up for the next 40+ years ... desk jobs it is. (Maybe they'll lower the starting age for Social Security to 35?!).

Oh well. Nevertheless, here are a few pictures from our adventure. (You can click on the photo to see the entire photo if the side margin cuts it off.)

My dad supervising at the moment:



I think when I took this picture, mom was saying, "It'll be obvious who did the work when you're not in any of the pictures." Don't listen to her though (or the photo evidence) ... I really did help!




This last little jewel is for our friends Gailen and Melanie. I think you'll find multiple parts of the photo humorous:



In all seriousness, I am blessed with two great, supportive parents who would do anything for me or my brother. I don't give them credit nearly often enough for their kind hearts and willingless to always lend a hand over and over again. If you know them, you know what I mean. They have sacrificed and done so much to give me a better life than I deserve. I thank God for them and know that wonderful parents is a true gift that not every one is fortunate enough to have. Matt and I are very thankful to both have awesome parents. His parents fit exactly what I said about my parents.

Ok, enough of the mushy stuff. Can't decide what to blog about next. Think it will be food related though. Stay tuned!