Backing Up a Bit

 I know, I know. I've been neglecting this blog and I miss it. As I was looking through my pictures recently, I realized I haven't blogged about how Hubby and I celebrated our anniversary.

Three weeks ago.  

Sigh.

(Okay, stop kicking yourself, Judy, and get on with it.)

Let's see. Where were we?

We had spent most of the weekend of our anniversary helping our son and daughter-in-law with jobs around their house.

The morning of our anniversary we drove over to Lawrence, KS to worship with our daughter and son-in-law one last time at the church that we have had at least one kid attending when they were at the University of Kansas. It's been eight years that we've joined one of our kids there (and parked in the visitor parking spots).

This particular morning our daughter was singing on the worship team. I cannot describe the joy that fills our hearts when we see her doing this.

 After lunch that day found us back at our son's house helping with a few more jobs.

Just look at how cute this house is! It's a smidge over 100 years old. Lots of character. Lots of work. 

Two weekends ago our daughter and son-in-law moved into the top floor of this house! So now we have all our kids under one roof for a while! Pretty awesome, I think.

Later that afternoon Hubby and I checked into a quite swanky hotel to have a couple of days to celebrate our 29th anniversary.

 

Just check out this view we had of the Country Club Plaza on Kansas City.

I'd love to see this at Christmas time when all those buildings are lined with lights. So pretty!

That night we took all the kids out for a celebratory dinner. Traditionally, Hubby and I have celebrated our anniversary just the two of us, but we thought this year it would be fun to treat the kids to a nice dinner.

Those two kids are a couple of the best things that God has gifted us with through our marriage. Those other two kids are wonderful bonuses.

It was a great dinner and so fun to be all together. Hubby chose a great restaurant. (Bonefish Grill.)

Our dessert

The day after our anniversary found us visiting Hubby's aunt and uncle and cousin in Lawrence. It was so good to spend some time with them.

That afternoon we also visited a friend of our who was in the hospital in a Kansas City suburb. I was so thankful we were nearby so we could pay her a visit.


Monday night, Hubby found a really yummy restaurant (Seasons 52) to take me to to celebrate just the two of us. We both had probably the best salmon we've ever had and finished it off with a couple of cute little desserts:

It was refreshing to spend some time just the two of us.

On our trip back home we made a stop at The Missouri Star Quilt Company (where Hubby forced me to buy some fabric I thought was cute), and had supper with some good friends at our favorite Iowa barbeque restaurant.

Sadly, Hubby brought with him a souvenir of his work with our son. Poison Ivy. Finally, after three weeks, it's feeling a lot better.

(This post seems to be kinda disjointed and not flow very well. Frustrating. I think I am out of practice with writing.)

Recently...

This here blog has been pretty quiet lately. If I was actually home sometime, I might find the time to write.

There is no complaining coming from this blogger, though. I rather enjoy having my weekends full. But full weekends translate into a busy few days at home filled with laundry and other neglected house work and no blogging.

So.

What have we been up to?

In the last month or so, we've made a massive road trip, helped my in-laws move out some of their furniture, ran a half marathon, sat in road construction at 11:30 AT NIGHT, and helped our son and daughter-in-law with their new, 100 year old house.

Before any readers out there get the impression that I ran a half marathon... I did NOT. Hubby is the runner in this family. While he was running those 13.1 miles (and getting severe leg cramps, sadly), I was sleeping soundly. (Those races are early in the morning...and we all know I am not much of  morning person.)  But I did feel guilty that I was just sleeping and he was struggling with cramps in his calf muscles and feet.

After that half marathon race we went on a little road trip to take care of some family business (vagueness here on purpose...not everything that happens in my life is blabbed about on this here blog). Our drive back home started out quite late in the day and that is why we were sitting on the interstate for 20 minutes after 11pm as some sort of road construction was going on. Makes for a couple of grumpy travelers. We attempted to stop at my sister's house to sleep, but due to a power outage because of storms that had gone through earlier, we decided to not go in their dark house (they were gone) and decided to keep driving home. We arrived home at 3am. (!!)

Let's just establish right now that I am way too old to be out that late. Admittedly, I have been awake that late before, thanks to my (not) friend insomnia, but there is a difference between laying in bed and trying to sleep and riding in a car until 3am and trying not to sleep. It took me 3 days to recover.

This weekend we have been helping our son and daughter-in-law with all sorts of things around their house. A couple of weeks ago they moved into their first house in Kansas City. It's a bit over 100 years old and needs a little TLC. Yesterday I sat on my butt for way too long (my back is yelling at me today) and wiped down baseboards and door frames. Hubby has been a work-horse with painting, cleaning up the yard, washer and dryer hook-up, etc, etc, etc. Our daughter and son-in-law helped yesterday as well.

This is a brother/sister team working on putting a piece of IKEA furniture together.

(I just gotta say that I loved listening to them work together on this. Made my heart thankful and proud.)

Hubby and I are hanging around a couple of days to celebrate our 29th anniversary. We are upgrading to a fancy-schmancy hotel and enjoying ourselves. Tonight we are taking our kids out for a fancy dinner. I'm looking forward to that!

Okay. Done with my catch-up post.

What a Week

We got home Saturday evening, but I'm still trying to come down from the wonderful vacation we had last week.

Where were we?

For a whole week we called this place home:

Last October we received an email from my dad saying that he and my mom wanted to take us four kids and spouses on a cruise in March to celebrate their 60th anniversary. I read the email to Hubby, we looked at each other and quickly decided we had nothing planned for the third week a March and I hit "reply" (four minutes after the email was received) and said "We're in!"

We had such a fun week. We all were so happy to get away from the Midwest yucky weather and be in the warm sunshine.

Friday, the 15th we all flew from our homes and met in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Here's the view from our airplane window as we waited to pull away from the gate:

The plane then needed to be de-iced:

 I've never seen that done, so it was kind of interesting. Even if it did make the flight late and made our connection in Dallas quite close. But we made it and so did our luggage. We had no time for lunch, but thanks to Hubby enouraging us to buy some snacks beforehand, we didn't starve too bad. We did get something to eat at the airport in Ft. Lauderdale before we waited 45 minutes for the hotel shuttle.

(Is it any wonder that I am not a fan of flying? Too many details, too much stress.)

As Hubby and I were waiting for the shuttle, my sister and brother-in-law walked up! (They were coming from central Illinois.)

We all met up at the hotel, hugged, talked for a while, watched a little Iowa State basketball, then headed to bed.

On Saturday we all piled into another shuttle to take us to the cruise ship. I took this photo with my phone over my shoulder of my dad, brother-in-law and sisters and sister-in-law behind me.

It's a pretty bad quality picture, but it's still fun!

Getting on the ship went pretty smoothly and quickly. Our staterooms were all in a row. Here's a shot of us all watching from our balconies as the ship pulled away from the dock.

 I cannot even express how beautiful it was to look at the blue ocean and the beach. Such a treat after a long dreary winter!

I stayed out on my balcony a little longer than everyone else. And I was treated to seeing dolphins jumping out of the water! It was a fun couple of minutes!

Our stateroom was comfy and cozy.

We were on our way to a wonderful week!!!

More to come....

Sixty

Today my parents celebrate their Sixtieth Wedding Anniversary! In honor of their anniversary I had some sweets made:

Yes, that is their wedding picture on one of those M&Ms. So fun! I've always wanted to get those personalized  M&Ms and finally found a good reason to!

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!!!!!

The Story

A little more than thirty years ago there was a couple of college students who were friends. They met through their involvement in InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. He was a driven engineering student with a passion for the college varsity marching band.

 She was studying about preschool aged children and still trying to figure out how exactly to be a good college student.

They knew each other beginning their freshman year in college. Over the next three years, they would talk some and go out for ice cream with the gang. (Well, when he felt like he could spare a few hours away from studying all that engineering.) (And she always had time to be out with the gang. Studying? ha.) Their third year in college led to a deeper friendship. He let her cry on his shoulder about another guy she liked. By spring, she called him her best friend. He said he would write her letters that summer. He did. Every single week. That summer they traveled across the state to attend the weddings of some friends. They held hands in the car. He came to see her one weekend in the summer. She realized she was in love with him. She was afraid to tell him, afraid he would not like something more than their friendship. She wrote him a letter. Back at college in the fall of their fourth year, he told her he didn't want anything more than a friendship. She was confused. She asked if they could go for a walk one night after the IVCF meeting. He agreed. Then wandered onto central campus and ended up sitting on a concrete bench underneath the campanile. They talked. And talked. And talked. Then, to her surprise (and delight) he kissed her. Right there on that concrete bench under the campanile.

She could barely sleep that night because of the smile on her face. But she was quite nervous the next day that he would tell her it was a mistake. He came to her dorm room and she asked if he was sorry he kissed her. His answer was to kiss her again. They decided to date. Like, officially boyfriend and girlfriend date.

She called her parents to tell them that her relationship with him had changed. Her dad asked her what had made it changed. She said the boy had kissed her. Her dad said, "Oh you mean you sucked face?" (Her dad was referring to the movie On Golden Pond. You can see the scene in this clip. It starts at 35 seconds in.)


The day of that kiss under the campanile was thirty years ago today. The boy and the girl got married, had two children, have moved six times, raised and launched and married off those two children, and have just been through a lot of life together. Side by side. Him and her. She and he. Kissing.

&

My Head Is Mixed Up

I just can't quite figure out what day it is.

Last Saturday Hubby and I left town and returned last night. Since we typically come back from a trip on a Sunday, today should be Monday. Since Hubby will be home all day tomorrow and the next day, I'll be totally confused for a while. Great.

We enjoyed some time to celebrate our anniversary. We enjoyed some time along the St Croix river. We even explored a ski area where we had both skied. Well, I think the last time either of us skied there was 29 years ago. Good grief that was a long time ago. We must be old or something. There is just something foreign looking about a ski slope in the summer.

And then Hubby had some meetings in the Big City, so as usual, I tagged along. Even though Hubby is busy all day (and most nights), I like having a whole Big City with a bunch of options to entertain myself. You gotta know I spent time at Target and Panera. In fact, I discovered at the Super Target I was at that you can buy soup from Panera there! I wished I could have brought some home.
I had lunch with a friend (believe it or not), got lost in IKEA, and had a lot of time to read.

Back home now. Doing laundry and some cleaning. Today's excitement was trying this method for silky smooth legs I saw on Pinterest. It's a combo of sugar, oil, and lemon or lime juice. I rubbed it on my legs and shaved. Maybe too much information, for you. Go to this blog to read about it. It worked! I'd do it again. The only down-side is that it makes the shower floor oily. Because of that, I scrubbed the shower (which needed it any way). Because I scrubbed the shower, I hurt my back. Ugh. 

Sorry, but this is my life. Yippee.

July Journal -- The Lazy Sunday

We went away to celebrate our anniversary. This morning was just so nice and lazy. Loved every minute of it. Kind of nice to go away and be able to be lazy and not have the "things around the house" to distract.

As we were eating lunch, we mentioned four or five names of people we knew that lived near there. All work for the same company as Hubby and we have met them over the years at the various places we have lived. And wouldn't you know, not five minutes later, one of those families walked in! So we enjoyed a nice lunch together and got caught up on each others lives.

The afternoon and evening was spent with some super good friends. You know, the kind of friends that you pay absolutely no attention to the clock when you are with them? Yep, that's these guys to us. We got to their house about 3:30 and when I finally thought about looking at the clock, it was 8pm!

I'll just keep this brief and say, all in all it was a good way to celebrate our 28 years together.

July Journal -- The 28th Anniversary

Today I am celebrating being married to my hubby for 28 years! That's TWENTY-EIGHT!
Hmmm....
Twenty-eight years on the 28th of July. Does that make this our Golden Anniversary? I think so! :)

The other day when I was listening to Pandora on my phone, I heard this song called, Love is Not a Fight, by Warren Barfield. (I learned this was in the movie, Fireproof, but I don't recall it. Not sure how I missed it.) As I was listening to it, I felt tears rolling down my cheeks and knew I needed to post this today, on our 28th anniversary.

(The words are below)



Love is not a place
To come and go as we please
It's a house we enter in
Then commit to never leave

So lock the door behind you
Throw away the key
We'll work it out together
Let it bring us to our knees

Chorus:
Love is a shelter in a raging storm
Love is peace in the middle of a war
And if we try to leave, may God send angels to guard the door
No, love is not a fight but it's something worth fighting for

To some, love is a word
That they can fall into
But when they're falling out
Keeping that word is hard to do


Chorus:
Love is a shelter in a raging storm
Love is peace in the middle of a war
And if we try to leave, may God send angels to guard the door
No, love is not a fight but it's something worth fighting for

To some, love is a word
That they can fall into
But when they're falling out
Keeping that word is hard to do

Love will come to save us
If we'll only call
He will ask nothing from us
But demand we give our all

Chorus:
Love is a shelter in a raging storm
Love is peace in the middle of a war
And if we try to leave, may God send angels to guard the door
No, love is not a fight but it's something worth fighting for

I will fight for you
Would you fight for me?
It's worth fighting for
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Hubby:
Remember this square dance? I don't think you knew at the time that I was beginning to have a crush on you. I wasn't a fan of square dancing, but I went because I knew you were going to be there. Just like the concert I got a free ticket to just cuz I knew you'd be there (with another girl) and the volleyball game I went to play with our friends. I  never could stand to play volleyball, but I knew you were going to be there. Shameless, I know, but I liked being around you.

(We are the ones in the middle.  I have a purple shirt and Hubby has the almost blonde hair and the navy blue shirt.)

Eventually, I think, you turned around and saw me following you around. Grin.

We began to talk. A lot. You let me vent and let me cry on your shoulder. (Hmmm...some things never change, huh?) You wrote me letters that summer. Every week. Because you said you would and you always do what you say.

We quickly became friends. Best friends. And some where in there we fell in love.

You have always loved me just for me. Something I'll never understand, but am so grateful for.

 I love you so much more and so much more deeply than I did that day 28 years ago when we stood in that church in front of our family and friends. Even thought I am thankful and oh so blessed to be married to you, I don't think I will ever quite comprehend this mystery that is called marriage.

July Journal -- The Anniversary

Happy Third Anniversary to our son and his beautiful bride!

They are trying to look tough...

We just love their sense of humor and how they seem to really enjoy being together. We are blessed to have them a part of our lives.

Two Years

Happy 2nd Anniversary to my daughter and son-in-law!

It was a rainy day, but a perfect day! And besides, who cares about the rain when the bride and groom were (and are) so happy?

Fifty-nine

Today is my parents' wedding anniversary. They have been married for 59 years! For some reason that has really surprised me. No, I'm not surprised that my parents are still married, silly. I just haven't been adding up the years and I hadn't realized that it was 59 years this year. That is a heck of a lot of years. (We only have 32 more to go! We have been married for 27 years and that feels like a long time. I pray that God will bless us with at least 32 more.)

In honor of today, some pictures:

Mom and Dad dancing at our daughter's wedding

 (The cool thing about this event is the fact that my mom was in the 

hospital for three months earlier in that year.)

Mom and Dad last December

Mom and Dad on their wedding day

I just have to post a picture of us on our wedding day. Not because I want to steal their thunder, but to show you all that I wore my mother's wedding dress.

The only difference was that Mom wore a hoop under the dress, I had a different veil and I did not button the buttons all the way up.  (When I watched the royal wedding last spring, the princess's wedding dress reminded me so much of this one!)

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!!!