Last week was -- and still is -- an absolute blur to me. Not only did I get married on Wednesday, but we also had lots of Easter plans with our families. Factor in the sessions I did and BAM!....you've found yourself smack dab in the middle of Cah-raaazeee! Welcome to my world.
Needless to say I have some catchin' up to do. So stay tuned for:
Joel and his twin brothers (and the rest of the family) A scrumptous little Kash Career Day at Valley View Jr. High School Easter at Aunt Wanda's Duncan turns 7 and Foulk Landscaping
And since my posts are so much more fun with pictures, here's one of that cute 'lil Kash I told you about. If you can look at this picture and not smile or laugh, then you're missing a whole lot! The interactions between mothers and their babies make me swoon. And just look at how proud that dad is!! That is raw emotion. And it's absolutely beautiful. (Kate, we need to make this one a canvas. K?)
Since the boys were at their mom's house, and the girls were at their dad's, we woke up to a fairly quiet house that morning. Chris got up that morning with a little work to do and left the house relatively early. I woke up earlier than normal with butterflies already in my stomach. I managed to keep busy with my normal morning routine and a quick trip to the store for belts for the boys.
By late morning everyone was back at home. It was the most beautiful day of the year (so far) and the kids took advantage of it outside. Other than the hand towels prominently displayed in the master bathroom, you never would have suspected a wedding was going to take place that day. The song of a slamming front door and kids giggling danced through the house on the breeze from the wide open windows.
But their was a wedding that day. Our wedding.
There is something fun about the element of surprise. No one had a clue what we were up to that day. Not our parents, not our friends, and certainly not our kids. It's a plan we had had in place for nearly a month, and with the exception of our photographer disguised as one of our best friends, no one was none the wiser.
We didn't start out planning our wedding like this. Originally we wanted a traditional wedding, with a pastor reading our vows, our parents in attendance, and fancy dresses. But the more we started planning, the less meaningful it was quickly becoming. We thought our kids wanted the "normal wedding" -- as they so called it -- only to find out the only thing they really wanted was the party.
So, after a wonderful conversation with my Aunt Leah, the plans changed. We had decided to go to the courthouse -- just the six of us -- and exchange our vows in front of the Justice of the Peace.
Everyone had brand new outfits for the occasion, right down to Bryce's skull-and-crossbone tie. (Those of you that know him, know how fitting it is.) The girls were in cute polka-dotted dresses and each wore a flower in their hair. The boys -- all three of them -- had crisply ironed shirts and coordinating ties. I wore a blue satin blouse and black pencil skirt (to which Bryce affectionately commented on my resemblance to Erkel). We were a good looking bunch. And we looked like we belonged together.
About 12:30 on Wednesday, March 31st, we all piled in the truck and headed to the courthouse in New Lebanon. The ride was only 30 minutes but felt like 3 hours. I was anxious and excited and the drive was nearly stress-free. No worries about DJs, bridesmaids missing jewelry, groomsmen drinking too much in the parking lot, or what time the cakelady was arriving. It was just us, our happy kids, our photographer, and our marriage certificate.
We were greeted by the judge's bailiff, Amy, who showed us into the courtroom. None of the kids had ever seen a courtroom -- however I'm pretty sure it won't be the last visit for at least 2 of them -- and were excited to be in such a cool place. Amy explained how the ceremony would unfold and moments later the judge came into the room.
He was an older gentleman with glasses and white hair. He wore a dark green robe and a tender look on his face. And although he kept our ceremony serious, you could tell he was a family man with a soft heart.
As the ceremony began, I remember looking at Chris thanking God that he put him in my life, and the girls' lives. I remember thinking "gosh, I'm so lucky to have all of this for the rest of my life". For richer or poorer, I have 4 incredible kids, I get kitchen-table-conversations with my 17 year old son about his girlfriend, I get the joyous phone call of our oldest daughter when she's giving us the news of our first grandchild. In sickness and in health, there will be deaths to mourn through, births to celebrate, heartaches to heal and disappointment to defeat. Until death do us part, we will stand by one another happily traveling down God's path He laid for us.
All the days of our life.
Although it only lasted 5 minutes (tops), it will forever be etched in my mind. It was absolutely perfect. We stripped it down to what was important to the most important people. It was sentimental, it was intimate, it was romantic.
I fought it in the beginning....I fought it HARD. I was stuck in a difficult, dark place. I was so confused with life and couldn't really make sense of why things were happening. I was on the end-cap of a horrible marriage with an alcoholic and Chris had just left a relationship of 17 years with his ex-wife. I had sworn off men (and was preparing myself for a No Man Plan) and he was in no shape for a relationship after what he'd been through.
I asked myself 'why' 100 times. "Why is this happening? Why him? Why NOW??"
And then one day it hit me like a cartoon anvil.
Our lives were SUPPOSED to intersect at that exact moment.
What I lacked, he provided. What he lost, I found for him. We helped each other heal and encouraged the necessary changes to get there. We held hurdles for each other to leap. And little bit by little bit those bad memories, those awful feelings leftover from our past relationships, were replaced with positive ones.
We are uncannily alike and swear we share a brain from time-to-time. We usually know what each other is thinking and can finish each other's sentences. We've had conversations without speaking a word. Except for the unfortunate sour cream discrepancy, we have similar food likes (our favorite sandwich is bologna with potato chips and mustard), we watch the same shows (a lot of Reality TV) and live by the DVR. Our religious beliefs are in agreement. We have a tendency to take in stray kids for dinner.
He thinks my quirks are cute. I think his sincerity is stunning. He thinks my photography and writing are amazing. I think his chosen profession is admirable. Our children "get" one another. We fit perfectly together, like the last two pieces of an unfinished puzzle.
He is the most thoughtful and compassionate man I have ever known. He is an incredible father to our kids. And loyal to our friends. He is honest and fair, genuine and tenacious.
We support each other's dreams and our friendship knows no boundries. We have the endurance to face the hardships and the determination to pull through them. Our relationship is comfortable and our love is effortless.
We both realize what a blessing we are to the other and the gift that we share. We respect the people that each of us are, and appreciate the faults we bring to the table. We recognize what we have been given here and have the dedication to see it through. I fully believe that we will be that family, that couple, everyone is green with jealousy to be. We will be that couple that still makes-out in the driveway after "date night" when we're 40, and that old couple strolling thru the grocery store some 50 years later.
I am happy. It's been a long time since I've felt happiness without fear or trepidation or waiting for the other shoe to drop. For the first time in my adult life, I feel like happiness is not a temporary emotion.
I have no idea what it is about my name that makes it soooooo hard to pronouce for a little kid, but whatever the reason....it is. I have been called Eh-nika and Eka. My cousin, Sarah, couldn't say Ericka and called me Urlicka forever. My Aunt Jean will still call me that when she calls me on the phone. My sister couldn't say Ericka when we were little so she just called me Ketchup. (Of course, that could've had something to do with the fact that I ate ketchup on practically everything.) And Danicka is just carrying on the legacy.
"Aunt A-ka".
A couple weekends ago (I know!! I've been so busy I couldn't even find time to post these until today!!)....Anyhoo....a couple of weekends ago, I kept Dani so my sister could go out to celebrate her birthday with some friends.
I love this kid.
The only time she didn't have us in stitches was when she was sleeping. We laughed so hard at her, the things she said, and the things she did. I kept my camera handy for most of the day just to catch her in action. Don't worry, I'll save you the bare toosh pictures.
See what I mean?! This girl is a comedian in her own little world. I wish I would have taken a picture of the aftermath of the Spaghetti O's. Oh my gosh. Bryce is our messiest eater in this house, and Dani put him to shame.
This picture makes me smile so hard....from the inside out.
The cool thing about being an aunt is spoiling the kids. You know, letting them do the fun things at your house that they'd get in trouble for at home -- jumping on the beds, eating Spaghetti O's with no silverware, eating candy before dinner -- the really cool things that make "Aunt A-ka" really cool. (I'm always up for some extra cool points.)
I took this set of pictures in about ten minutes. As in, ten minutes total. Once she crashed, she crashed hard.
Once the plans were made for Dani to come to my house, I immediately started scheming ideas for a photo shoot. The last time I did a mini-session of her (remember these?!) she ended up winning a Cute Kid contest. I think she'd win again......I'm just sayin'.
These were actually taken in my kitchen in front of a half wall next to my patio door. It was late afternoon and I was losing the available light pretty fast...so I had to work quickly. And with a 2-year-old, it was probably a pretty good idea. I fired off about 20 frames and ended up with some pretty amazing shots in the little time that I had. This one was, hands down, my absolute favorite!! Now, if I could just get my nephew for a couple hours........
If you've stopped by my website, you had to have noticed the big change. It wasn't subtle. In fact, it was shockingly obvious!
Yep! Out with the orange, in with the new. And, I like the new. Alot!
I've been in need of an update for quite a while and I've been working on it for the last couple of months. I absolutely la-la-LOVE my logo (thanks, Reata!!) and wanted to really build my site around that.
Not only have I given the website a facelift, but I have also revamped my branding -- so, everything matches!
My blog is next!!! But that update will be sometime this summer. For now I've had enough HTML, SEO, and meta tags.
So, if you haven't checked it out yet, head on over and have a look.
Growing up, she was the kind-of-shy-sports-player. And I was...I was more of the social-butterfly-band-dork. She was a picky eater, I'd eat anything. She was coordinated, and I'd manage to run into doorways. I'm right-handed and she's a lefty. I'm creative, she's super-smart. I'm brunette, she's blonde.
And we've seen it all together.
We were right next to each other thru bowl haircuts and feathered bangs, missing front teeth and braces. We were there thru pegged jeans and "Just Do It" t-shirts. We had our share of bad relationships and heartaches together. We stood shoulder-to-shoulder and stared death in the face when we lost our mom. And supported each other when we were raising ourselves.
We've shared marriages and divorces...and new marriages. We've celebrated the lives of our children they day they were born, and weaped when one became an angel. Thru birthday parties, engagements, holidays and everydays. We were there. Together.
And our love is unconditional.
It knows no boundries and has never waivered in 31 years. It's not contingent upon who you marry or divorce, what we do for a living, or where we live. It is as constant as the sun rising in the east. It has never faltered on the rocky roads of life, but rather filled in potholes with it's determination, support, and love.
Today my little sister turns 31. She no longer has the bowl haircut or those Eastland shoes with the funny knots, but she is still as important to me as she was when she wore them and our love is as durable as the leather those shoes were made of.
The interactions between mothers and their babies make me swoon. And just look at how proud that dad is!! That is raw emotion. And it's absolutely beautiful. (Kate, we need to make this one a canvas. K?)
