Skyler and Brenda Engagement photos

This one is going to be photos. My girl is getting married to a pretty cool guy. I am happy for her. She is so lovely. I hope he loves her as much as her father and I do. It all seems surreal that she is getting married....still cannot believe it.

There are always the fun ones as well.......

dorks

and the little brother watching ever so closely making sure there is no funny business...

Skyler is great for Brenda, he calms her and brings a new found joy to her life. She is finding much joy in life that she has not had in a while. I am happy, just hoping that they have a wonderful marriage. 

Many thanks and great love to Rachelle, you my sweet friend are amazing, simply amazing.....

Bread of life, Bottom to Top

As I am sitting here on a Sunday afternoon thinking of my life I realize that i dont have enough time to do what I want. I want to go to the movies, I want to go shopping(surprise to those who know me), I want to have an awesome car and computer. But really i dont NEED most of that. I needed some bread yesterday so I made some

This bread came out so good, I was so proud of myself. Most of it is gone...sad super sad. I was hoping to have some for work this week to have for lunch. Never works the way I expect. I also made some soup. Laura has not been feeling well and so i thought she needed some chicken soup. We had soup and sammies for dinner. It was nice to have a low key night.

This afternoon i went with Brenda and Skyler to have our sweet friend do some engagement photos. Nothing is more strange then watching your daughter kiss the young man who is going to be her husband. It was strange to watch, although seeing Skyler look at her and calm her down and treat her the way she should be, was amazing. He is a good man who is taking great care with her. She has had such a struggle in herself for the last year or so it has been difficult to have it all make sense. As I look back over what has happened to her she has been blessed beyond all measure to have this man show up for her. It would seem he just appeared when she was almost at the bottom. This man has come into her life at a time when she needed someone the most. I am grateful...so grateful. More grateful that Skyler is willing to be in our family. He takes us as we are and has come to be a part of us. It is nice. My goal as a mother is to make sure my children feel like i love the ones they have chosen. I know what it is like to be on the other end and trying to have someone like you. It is not my place to choose their spouses, it is my place to love and encourage to better things.

I hope to have some photos soon. I told Brenda my blog is a photo blog and I have to have the photos. So I am hoping in the next week or so to have new photos. I love photos. I am grateful to know people who can capture life and its joy and loveliness.

How about you? What do you do to save the moments in your family? Blogging is so easy, you can make it private so nobody sees it or make it public. Every year you can print a nice little book with all the photos and posts and have it as a family heirloom...work on it...

Rings, Birthday, Love

With the big announcement of Brendas wedding to Mr Skyler ther is much to do but frankly i dont want to do it. So you ask what are the plans??

Shane and I have been saving some money for a while and gave them the lot and said go for it. We gave them a bit of advice and sent them on their way. They have been so frugal planning everything. Skylers sister got married a bit a go and there are some lovely centerpieces that are simple. Just right for them. Brenda has a few good ideas for what she wants at the reception. They took the time to save up for the rings. Hers is so so lovely....

She wanted something different and she got something different. It is Black Hills gold with Marcasite in the middle. She has some good taste. Watching the two of them work things out has been nice to watch. It is hard to start out marriage but they are working well together. They are both still in school and working so they are super busy. I am glad to have a new son come into our family. The boys are excited as well! They both really like him and that is great. 

In other news Laura turned 16, I cant believe she is that age already. We have worked so hard with her to have her become the person she is. It has been wonderful to watch her grow and become the young lady she is now....

I realized at this birthday its the last one where i have all my kiddos. Last time as a family together. Skyler couldnt make it this night but here are my children. One is moving on with her life and the others are growing and becoming...everyday just becoming wonderful humans. 

A week ago I was at my desk just contemplating things. I know there are big changes coming in our life. I am not going to talk about any of those changes right now but they are big. I have worked very hard for a long time to be where I am in life. I am confident and ready for the changes to come. I was explaining it to one of the nurses. She is a very kind woman who is very open to the things I am feeling and what changes may come. One day she put this on my desk, she often comes by to remind me of it. This day I was struggling, A phone call came in to my direct line. It was her, she just wanted to tell me how much she appreciates me and and the work i do. She took the time out of her day to tell me I am loved and important. It was so touching for me. Reminded me of my box on my desk, that now brings me a feeling of warmth whenever i look at it. 

What about you? do you have someone in your life who will let you know out of the blue that you are important? If you dont I am here to tell you that you are important and loved. YOU, Yes YOU are amazing in all that you work on and accomplish. I am not good at doing this in real life but I am thinking of all of those who read this blog...the ones who refer to it at work during our chats, the ones who send me emails just to check on me, the ones who text me, call me however you see me. I struggle with feelings and making them known. But know this...You are loved and important...now i have to keep reminding myself....

England, Scotland, Wedding

Over the past few months i have been planning something glorious. Some people know about it. To others this will be a surprise. My daughters and I have been given a gift of wonderful proportions. We get to go to England for a few weeks this summer. I have waited a while to say anything as the inner workings were not all set up. Now, things are underway and  it looks like the trip is a go.

I have worked out a plan with some of my family in England to travel with my 3 girls to meet my mothers family. My girls are beyond excited. The deal is they have to pay for part of the trip and their passports. A few weeks ago the passports were done and sent off to the State Department. 

As an aside....we went to get the passports and Shane had to be there for Laura as she is not 16 yet. Both parents had to be there. Now Shane is quite the redneck and does not like people much let alone anyone who works for the US Government. It was a struggle for him to be there. I dont think he notices the photo of our current president on the wall either. Probably a good thing! If you have never had a passport done you have to swear an oath of sorts to the worker. That part was not fun for Shane. He struggles with any government things. 

Well anyway, have had quite a bit of chatter back and forth with my uncle aunt and cousin to get all things figured out. We will be gone for about 2 weeks mid summer. We are super excited. I think the best part of the trip will be seeing all of my aunts and uncles. Aside from my uncle Ron and aunt Iris and cousin Heather, I have not seen any of them since i was a small child. It is going to be exciting and fun. 

I had to request the time off from work really early like in December. Brenda is working on figuring out her time off as well. Laura and Makayla have a bit of a different schedule with a bit more freedom. We have been working hard at figuring everything out. The most exciting part is the passports have finally arrived so the next step is making sure to get the tickets at a reasonable price. So to my Scotland family and all those who are wanting to meet me, Brenda, Makayla and Laura we will be in England and journey to Scotland as well to meet everyone. I am beyond excited. We have been discussing what to eat first. its going to be great.

OH also we will be bringing along a fine young man named Skyler who at the time of our journey will be Brendas husband. Yes news to everyone. Brenda is getting married on May 6th to a great guy who makes her very happy. I really dont have much to post about this right now. There are so many things to do over the next few months ok 11 weeks. The best part of all the planning is that we found THE dress yesterday. Its lovely on her. I thought I would be more emotional about it but I wasnt. Its all good. maybe when i see her go off with him I will feel different.  More news to come on that.

Life is full of changes and this year life is smoothing out. I hope it stays smooth....