So Long 2014: a year of change

2014 was a year of ups and downs and huge changes.  We lost a few friends and were reminded that nothing is guaranteed, life is precious, and never take anything for granted.  We spent time traveling Texas, going to ballgame a, planning a move and a wedding, getting married, and settling in to our amazing new life. 

The year started out with a little NYE party with the kids and included a Super Bowl party for adults later on and by Febuary we had snow! 

We spent the early spring hunting and fishing and seeing my nephew play ball. I love the times all the kids get together.  Then came Opening Day.  It was GREAT fun and in the middle of the ballgame, he popped the question!   I said "Yes", of course! 

There were trips for spring break to Caddo Lake and summer break to San Antonio and in between we spent a ton of time enjoying Lake Lewisville and our land out east.   Oh and Concerts!  There was Luke Bryan and Blake Shelton and Tim McGraw for starters! 

There was a ton of packing and saying goodbye to my home of 15 years. While we waited to move into our new home and marry we spent a lot of time with my good friend Shanna. 

There was a beautiful, amazing wedding filled with family and friends who are family.  It was perfect!  

There was an early snowstorm, Halloween, Thanksgiving and a new truck. 

We said goodbye to baseball and I said hello to a house full of new furniture and eyeglasses for the first time in my life. 

When I look back at 2014 in years to come, I know the pain of loss and tragedy that started early and the missing people who left out lives by choice or not, will fade and the good memories they leave behind will be all that matters.  The amazing love that we have is what we hold onto in times of struggle and 2014 has been polka dotted with bits of sad news for the country and trials.   I look forward to 2015 but I thank God for 2014.  I will never be sorry for this year! 

After 'I do': Life can get real, real fast!

One month ago today was the happiest day of my life.   I married my soulmate and gained a daughter.  

Two days later we closed on our 'dream home' and then life got real....real fast. 

I'm not going to go through the list of real but it runs the table from plumbing problems, badly wires that wanted to start a fire, and an overnight hospital stay (don't ask) yesterday. 

In the middle of all of the drama, tears, sickness, health, arguments over stupid stuff that doesn't matter, and dealing with children...lots of them sometimes,  I realized that nothing is that serious that we can't get through it if we just work together. Well, almost nothing, health you can't take for granted because we are fragile. 

I think everyone should spend a few hours/days in the hospital just so they remember how lucky they are. Go sit in the ER and watch the people go in and out.  When you see the 80 year old woman come in with her son after they found her slumped over at home, a slip and fall, ask yourself if you would feel lucky to get to 80.  When you see the car accident victim come in with the head brace and looking perfectly fine, ask yourself if you are tough, honest, or stupid. When you see the kid with the broken bone from skateboarding ask yourself how you would feel if that was your child then kiss your healthy kid.  Finally, when you see the 20-something woman following behind her husband on a stretcher carrying his stuff while he is being wheeled in, on oxygen, clearly in poor healthy, and you immediately think of how someone you know has cancer and could be doing that today, thank your lucky stars that your pain in the bottom spouse is not the one dying young. That's what I did.  

We all get comfortable but today I feel like God doesn't want me to be comfortable, He wants me appreciative, challenged, and gracious.   He wants me strong, faithfull, and honest.  Mostly, God wants me to think before I act and see the beauty in the chaos. Yes, Lord, even when the chaos is bad old pipes that need to be dug up and replaced.   (The house not my hubby). 

Wedding Recap: Finding my Perfect Happiness

What can I say about our wedding?  It was perfect.  It was so much fun.   It was a beautiful day.

I was surrounded by amazing family!

Our wonderful wedding party. 

We had such a good time playing and being silly.

Everything turned out just lovely!

I don't know what I dreamed in the past but I can't imagine a more perfect wedding.  It was simply wonderful, fun, and very us.

*Most photos courtesy of  Lori Carr Photography

Being a Bride: 5 Thought

This is not my wedding dress...just one that didn't make the cut.


So the day is getting closer and I have a few thoughts and bits of advice about getting married. Here in no particular order are the things I have learned along the way.

-Never try to sell and buy a house in the same 3 week period that you are getting married. You don't have time to cry, stress, and pull your hair out about one thing because there are five others happening at the same time. Every single day. The good news is, I didn't have time to be a Bridzilla because I have too busy being a buyerzilla. You think it's easy trying to make a ginger happy when you are messing with me on my dream home?

-Don't worry about 'stuff'. The great thing about having all the house buying problems has been that the wedding planning has been nothing but a distraction and a welcome one at that. I never have worried about anything going wrong on my wedding day. I know it probably will. It isn't a big deal. As long as he makes it, I make it, the minister makes it, and our families make it, we are good. We have the rest of our lives to work on getting to perfect.

-Have your dream wedding, whatever that is. I'm wearing cowboy boots under my dress and I have just enough sport related stuff at the wedding that you know, it's me getting married. It's not my mom's idea of a perfect wedding but short of having the ceremony at the Ballpark, it's mine. Since I got engaged at the Ballpark, I'm good!

-Realize in the end that it isn't about who can't or won't show up but about the people that love you as a couple and have been there to support you individually and as a unit. They will also be there in the future. All that truly matters in the end is that love wins.

And last but not least you realize, OMG, I'm getting married!!!

Simply me

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Wedding Wednesday: My DIY Project

I said I wouldn't ever do it. I probably won't do many if any others, but since I came out of the closet about the wedding I had to share one little tiny thing...and only one, my project this week!

I have mentioned already that we are busy closing on my house. I am still in shock over all of that. I could use a lot of prayers that it goes smoothly and that we find our 'dream' home. In the meantime, I have been focusing my 'free time' on working on some wedding things. This week specifically it has been the centerpiece and candle holders.







Here is a sneak peak at a few. The smaller Mason jars are for candles and the larger ones are for the flowers. I am totally in love with these and in spite of the hot glue burns I have developed as a result I am so happy with the results!

These are super simple and, thanks to bulk Mason Jars from Walmart and the rest of the supplies from Michael's, pretty inexpensive. I even got a "those are nice" from the FH who couldn't care less about any of the wedding details, in general.

Alright, so what kind of project did you or are you completing for your wedding?

Simply,
Laura


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Enjoy the Ride!

Simply,
Laura