17 Years Ago Today...

• I had to send a message to the groom's changing room to warn Jeff not to put my wedding ring all the way on my ring finger. I'd accidentally snipped it open in the early hours while finishing up my wedding flower arrangements. It was a gusher. Lovely.
• The reason I'd done my own flowers was because my very talented florist, who was also one of my bridesmaids, had just had a baby 6 weeks earlier and that baby had a frightening allergic reaction to her formula that evening which involved a trip to the ER.
• Thankfully, her baby recovered just fine on her new formula. However, this bridesmaid's mother had made her dress months in advance of the wedding. A dress which beautiful but a size too small in the bust post-baby, and required emergency last minute alterations (literally sewing her into the dress and praying that it held up during the ceremony).
• Have I ever mentioned before here the whole 'meet everyone' BBQ for the families of the Bride and Groom which took place a couple of days before our wedding? A neighbors goat followed my sister-in-laws back from a walk down my mom's country lane, and was mingling with the guests in my mom's yard for who knows how long before my sister noticed something was amiss and hauled the beast back down the street to it's home.
• The goat got out a second time and came back to the party (a true party animal, lol)...at which point it walked up the deck steps, and right into my mom's kitchen. My mom was just pulling a big veggie platter out of the fridge when she saw the goat, shrieked, dropped the veggie platter, and cauliflower, cherry tomatoes and olives went rolling across the floor. The goat had the audacity to take some for the road before being chased out of the kitchen by shrieking women, lol. My sister, bless her heart, hauled the goat back to it's pasture again and made some much needed repairs on the neighbors fence to ensure he wouldn't be back.
• We very nearly found out the hard way that there is a weight limit for second story decks. Our guests had to be asked to stay off the deck on one side of the house because it had began to shimmy under all the weight.
• I was running on about 2 hours of sleep for my big day.
• The ceremony went off without a hitch. Not counting our getting hitched, that is.
• There was an uninvited guest in attendance. One day I'll have to post the clip from the video my uncle took in the reception hall, where this person was skulking around amongst the guests in filthy, straight-from-work clothing.
• Our wedding photographer was very short. I have nothing against short people, but this was an important detail that none of the wedding planning books ever mentioned. Most of the photographs he took look up everyone's noses. From our photographers vantage point, the pews were visible in most every shot, as were the knees of the pastor who was watching the whole proceeding in the front row.
• We bought only the book of proofs, which had the photography logo stamped larger than life in the corner of each photo and came with a pre-printed note that contained legalese which warned against making copies of his copyrighted photos.
• The photo in this post was taken on a disposable 35 millimeter camera by my mother-in-law as we finished up the wedding photos, and is probably my favorite one of the entire day, even if my bangs were a bit short.
• Somehow, all the disposable cameras we purchased for tables at the reception were left in a box in my changing room. Which actually turned out to be a good thing, because we were poor college students at the time, and I probably wouldn't have otherwise had any photos of our first year to scrapbook without them.
• A dear lady I used to babysit for in high school had offered to make the cake as our gift, knowing we were on a shoestring budget. She was 7 1/2 months pregnant at the time, and was ordered to bedrest a couple of days before our wedding. She said she could still decorate it, but we'd have to do the baking.
• Jeff and I baked our own wedding cake (with her pans) the largest pan of which barely fit in my moms oven. The oven door had to remain open slightly, which drastically increased the baking time. It took all day long. Months later, I learned that my sister (the same one who wrangled the goat back to it's home) and who was something of a nanny for that same family by this time, had actually done the honors.
• Our ringbearer, who was about 3 at the time, heard that they were supposed to throw rice on the bride...and hurled the whole decorative bag of it at my face moments before we got into our getaway car.
• Much to Jeff's dismay, I fell asleep on the ferry which took us to our honeymoon on Vashon Island.
• The kind proprietess of our Bed & Breakfast heard we were college kids and gave us a huge discount on her usual rates. We returned for our 10th anniversary, and she remembered us and again gave us a discount.

• Though the fiasco was all very real and somewhat stressful then, we've long since been able to look back on all that and laaaaaugh. It definitely made for a memorable day.
• The best part of all, however...I married my best friend.

I ♥ you, Jeff!!!

We're Expecting!

Hope I didn't give y'all heart attacks, but perhaps I should have stated that a bit more clearly.

I'm referring to our garden.

As in we're expecting quite a garden this summer! (Sorry, mom.)



Yes, we finally got the garden fully planted and wonder of wonders, things are beginning to grow!

I've hesitated to say much about it before now, because last year's attempt at gardening in the desert didn't produce a single, edible thing. We learned a bit too late in the season we just weren't watering our garden enough.

Yeah, it turns out that plants need enough water to grow. Duh!

A thorough soaking every morning might be fine in Western Washington where I grew up, in the arid desert climes of the American Southwest, twice or three-times-a-day soakings are a necessity. It gets hot here.



So far, the squash, pumpkins, beans, cantaloupes and corn are all coming along nicely.

Judah excitedly dragged me outside to show me that we've even got dahlias about to bloom. Woot! Woot!



I think someone else in the 'hood has been after the pesky ground squirrels besides just us, because they have disappeared completely.

The squirrels I used to see sunning themselves atop our neighbors block wall? Gone. Every single kernel of corn that was planted? Knee-high stalks! And I couldn't be happier.

Providing things grow well this summer, we may also add a few more raised beds for next year's garden. We'd like a tomato/pepper bed, a berry bed and a salad greens/cilantro bed. Oh, and one for root veggies and green onions.

Did I mention that we've already harvested some lettuce?



This was the first one. We made P.F. Chang style chicken lettuce wraps with it. Yummo.

So far, so good...and a very satisfying endeavor for the whole family.

Frump Family Randoms

While cleaning out our Jamboree the day after we got 'er home, I found these:

The ones pictured at top are dated April of '09, the ones below were of unknown factory origin.



The hot dog buns were hard as a rock, but still looked exactly the same as the day they were bagged up.

I was thinking that the old 'sliced apple in the bread bag' trick might just bring those babies back to life.

Totally kidding.

But it just goes to show what a person is putting into their systems when eating starchy white, over-processed bread. Still not broken down after a year! It might as well be wallpaper paste. Ugh.

The hamburger buns...well, they, too, were hard as a rock, but covered in a greenish-black powdery mold. Yum.

Hamburgers, anyone?

:: :: :: ::

Oh, and while speaking of the Jamboree...see the lovely dent?



See the fallen roof tiles?



See the corner of our roof?



Oh, yes...I did.

However, upon inspecting the roof from a ladder, I found that no real damage had been done. Nothing to file an insurance claim over or anything. Just a small split in the facia board.

Plus I found a dead baby bird up under the roof tiles that simply must be disposed of.

So see? We wouldn't have known about the decomposing baby bird had the little snafu with the Jamboree not occurred, and we simply can't live with a decomposing animal up under our roof tiles, so I'm pretty sure it was destiny.

At least that's how I have chosen to look at the whole incident.

Well, that and reviewing some the First rule of camper ownership: NEVER back up a camper without first pulling back all curtains so that one can see where one is going.

Second rule: NEVER back up without first adjusting all mirrors for best view.

Third rule: NEVER rely on taking your (four-year-old) son's word for it (while he watches out the back window of the Jamboree) to be sure you didn't take out the heavily fruited plum tree nearby.

Yes, my bloggy peeps, whilst backing up the camper for the very first time, I took off a couple of corner tiles in our roof...and didn't feel a thing! Seriously...no bump and no scraping metal sounds or anything.

In my periphery I just suddenly saw something fall and thought, "Hmm...what was that?" and stopped to look.

My heart pretty much plummeted to the bottom of my stomach when I realized it was roof tiles.
It didn't help matters that when Judah heard my exclamation, he came running from the back to the cab of the camper to look out the nearest window and said, "You broke da house, Mama!"

**cringes**

I'm still not entirely sure what happened exactly, because I'm really a very excellent driver.

:: :: :: ::

Some of our Awana and youth group kids were showing livestock in our county fair's livestock auction this year.

We hadn't ever been to an auction before, rounded up the fam and headed down to watch.









It was a lot of fun.

Judah was thrilled to see so many people he knew there.







And of course the animals.







When it got to the poultry portion of the auction, I got a real kick out of how this farmer was holding the turkey to hand him over to his daughter who was trying to keep her pristine 4H uniform nice and clean until just before it was time to make the sale.



Later, when some friends from church showed up in the back of the arena so that their children could get a feel for what belonging to 4H or FFA was like, Jeff tossed a wave their direction.

Their son was making a goofy face at us which was why I took the following photo.



The father (seated on the straw bale in white) waved back.

And suddenly, the auctioneer shouted, "300! Do I hear 3 and a quarter? Three twenty-five? Anyone for $3.25?" along with a bunch of that whole stuttering kind of mumbo-jumbo they do in between.

My mouth dropped. Did I just see what I thought I saw happen?

Our friends eyes went wide.

There was a sudden moment of panic and confusion in which he shook his head and did a frantic (low) shake of his hands as if to say, "No, no...there's been a mistake!" His wife, too.

When I glanced at Jeff I saw that his hand had covered his own mouth in a big giant, "Oh, NO!" kind of a motion...and I knew...it was all true.

Yes, my friends, and if that wasn't bad enough, the amounts they were calling out were the price per pound one would have to pay for the animal being shown...currently a 300+ pound hog!

Um, can we say, "Ooopsie"?

Fortunately for them, just then from further back in the arena, someone held up an actual paddle and the auctioneer said, ""3.25! Do I hear 3 and a half? Three fifty? Anyone for $3.50?"

Immediately our friends rushed over to where we were standing and we all laughed in relief as he said, "You very nearly cost me a $1,000!"

Yes, we newbies learned a very important lesson at that livestock auction this year...NEVER ever wave (or even raise your hand) during an auction!

:: :: :: ::

While finishing up breakfast one morning recently, Judah called to me, "Mama...lookit! My toast looks like a animal!"



And by golly, it does! Move over Texas Toast...Buffalo Toast is in the house!

:: :: :: ::

We had our end-of-the-year Awana Carnival recently.

I was responsible for the face-painting booth. For boys, we did mostly snakes, lizards and spiders.



For girls, we did butterflies and flowers.





We also painted hands and arms, because some children opted to come back more than once.





At one point I had to put up my paintbrush for a time as I was locked into the jail.

As were several of our other Awana kids and leaders.



Jeff, too. For a very long portion of the day, I might add. Someone was totally gunning for him.

Judah, however, refused to go, cleanly evading the authorities.

He's been on the lam since, though on-site cameras did catch him at a watermelon eating contest around 1:25 that afternoon.





His brother, too, was said to have taken 2nd place in the contest with 7 large slices of watermelon.



:: :: :: ::

On his last day of school, Jeff always does some wild and crazy haircut.

He'd been growing his hair out since February, and this year decided to go with a mohawk.

He really wanted Liberty spikes, but his curly hair made that a bit of a stretch. Even with toothpaste as his styling medium.

We've since learned that Elmers glue works best.

On the teachers last day of school (the day after students are out for summer), the teachers children are allowed to come to work with them.

Judah couldn't have been more excited about going to school with daddy.

To do so, not only did we decide to cut Judah's hair to match daddy's, but he had to look all official and carry a backpack and everything.

But alas, it is hard to look appropriately tough and intimidating when one wears a "Lightneen MaKeen pack-ack".



Or later, while sitting in time-out for whining about not getting candy.



Really, if you ask me, neither one looks too terribly intimidating.





Somehow, I'm thinking that a guy who wears a GI Joe t-shirt doesn't pose a serious threat to anyone.

Did I mention that he also won Teacher-of-the-Year for his school?

AND that he's in the running for District-wide Teacher-of-the-Year.

You da man, Jeff!

**Ahem**

Now we're off for what I believe is the last thing on our list before our summer officially begins...a college graduation ceremony for our friend Lo.

Congratulations, girl! We're so proud of you!!

Oh, and lest I forget, I must give a congratulatory shoutout to her parents, our friends Steve & Chrissy as they have just celebrated their 25th Wedding Anniversary!

Our Summer Plans

There she is...our new summer home camper.

A 1978 Dodge Jamboree.



All for the price of free!

Which fills our hearts with glee!

I am still in awe...it's something we've wanted for a long time, especially after we passed up a wonderful deal on a 5th wheel in favor of going to see my family in Washington and attend my class reunion last summer.

Then, about a week ago, after seeing a couple of blog postings about renovated older model RVs and Campers, it really made me itch to get one of our own.

Not even a week later, out of the blue, some friends called and asked if we'd like to take their old-school Camper off their hands. They'd decided taking on such a project was more than they were ready to commit to, and basically just wanted it off their property.

Of course we said, "YES!"

Our friends had begun some work inside (painting it white), which is exactly what I would have done anyway.



Oh, the plans I have for our Jamboree...just you wait and see!!



The only thing that I'm not exactly wild about is this ladder.

Which extends the full length of the back-end of the camper.

I fear it is just going to prove to be too-tempting for our Judah.

Who, if he's anything like his mom and grandma (with a penchant for climbing up onto house roofs from clothesline poles at a young age), will likely use it as a jumping off point to get up on the roof of the house. Lord, have mercy!



'Scuse me just a sec...I need to go out and move that camper far, far from the house.

**crickets**

Okay, I'm back.

And I am SO loving the fan on the dash.



For some odd reason, as a child of the 70's and 80's, I always wanted my parents to own a vehicle with a fan on the dash.

We never had one, but I can hardly complain because we did have the next best thing... a state-of-the-art yellow-gold grocery getter (station wagon).

It sported electric windows which my mom could control from her seat, including the rear window which, when we were seated in the one, oddball reverse-facing seat in the back of the car, would beg to have our mom roll down for us.

Come to think of it, this is probably why car exhaust is one of my biggest asthma attack triggers to this day, lol.

Yesirree Bob...we were living the high life in those day.

**ahem**

Getting back to our Jamboree...you can see that the radio has already been removed...in anticipation of a sleek new iPod port, no doubt.

Because what is a Jamboree without some source of music to tap your toes to?

Yes, my friends, those forrest green drapes and the 1990's faded sunflower motif curtains throughout, along with the garish rust/gold/brown (vintage 1970's) upholstery will soon be a distant memory...switched out in favor of something bright and cheerful!



I must say, however, that the brown wall at the back wall of the upper bunk is a bit suspect.

It doesn't coincide with the shape of the outside of the over-cab compartment (see first photo).

I just hope there are no 'surprises' in there. You know...like a 'telltale heart' or a 'skeleton in the closet' or anything. **gulp**

Or critters. I simply can't abide critters.



All I know is that there is not a window up there.

Yet another of my childhood dreams was two-fold:

a.) for my family to own a camper

and

b.) for me to get to ride in the over-the-cab compartment during the entire vacation, peeking out of the front window in this pose.



Now our boys will be able to live the dream (minus the window) for me, lol.

Here is another view of the kitchen.

I happen to have a roll of a contact paper type product that mimics the look of stainless steel.

I plan to cover that faux wood grain on the refrigerator door, and bring that baby into the new millenium.



I SO looooove that the stove is black and not that ugly brown that was so common in the 1970's. It's going to make my renovation job sooo much easier.

I also love that everything still works...including the A/C.

And that there are only 56,000 miles on the engine.

Frankly, I feel like we just inherited a windfall!

I'm so excited to get out there and get to work!



Incredibly, we have tons of very useful supplies left over from our home renovation (which is still undone, but hey...who cares? We want to co camping! ), including trim, thin plywood, fabric and paint.

These items, along with the purchase of a very few space-saving things from IKEA and DIY materials from Lowes, we plan to get the job done for far, far less than we would have paid for a good used camper.

What a blessing!

The challenge?

Get it done by July 1st on a shoestring budget, using as much as possible of what we already have on hand.

Oh, I forgot to mention that we sent the boys to Grandma's while we went and picked up the camper yesterday afternoon.

When we all arrived home from church that evening to unveil the big 'surprise'...the boys were thrilled.

Okay, so Jericho was acting a bit goofy in this one, but it didn't stop him from climbing through every nook and cranny of the thing.



Judah exclaimed in his little sing-song excited voice, "I'm so proud we have a camper"...which is his way of saying, "I'm so excited we have a camper."

They climbed all through it, trying out every switch and button in sight.

I only hope the battery still works whenever we take it out on our inagural trip.



They climbed all over it.

And I do mean all over it.



"This is the perfect place to set up my [Nerf] sniper rifle."

I didn't take photos, but poor Raisin was doing the zig-zag formation as she ran through the yard trying to avoid the Nerf darts Jericho was raining down on her.

Poor girl.

She is a longsuffering devoted animal.

And Judah?

Judah's been very seriously talked to about the dangers of climbing the ladder without permission.

We let him climb around on the ladder this one time, and even to climb up on top of the roof just to get it all out of his system.



To satisfy his curiosity.

As my grandma would have said, "Oh, heavens!" As Judah was yelling (while jumping), "I'm the kind of the world!"

After this? Let's just say we're not above scaring the tar out of him by tossing around news of recent predatory pteradactyl sightings in the area in order to keep him off the roof of that camper.

We always tell him we're teasing, of course, but can we help that his overactive little pre-school imagination goes wild?

Yes, in our family we do what we must to keep our kids safe.

And so it begins...our Summer O' Fun.

And now, Judah and I are off to assess things for our preliminary checklist!