The 'To do list'

We all have them, some longer then others. Mine, is getting smaller and smaller every weekend. I have written in past posts about the endless projects Brad and I have created for ourselves in the preparation for this summers festivities. Yesterday I finished a major project I had been avoiding by coming up with all sorts of other things I just had to do.

Our house sits right on the creek bank, I realize how lucky this makes me and I often just sit on my porch and stare. I used to drive by other 'old people', my neighbors, who just sat on their porches and watched cars drive by, and think 'what weirdos'. Who just sits on their porch and does nothing? An answer I was not expecting to come across was, me. I sit on my porch and do nothing. It is the most relaxing thing I have ever done. I encourage everyone at one point or another to do it with me. I will even make you some tea : ).

Back to the point...I just get so distracted thinking about 'nothing'. On many of my porch sittings, my eyes were drawn to the path that led to the creek. It was half stairs, half dirt trail. Whoever started making it, realized how hard it was to lug boulders up and down the hill to make those pretty Home and Garden magazine stairs everyone wants. I started revamping the stairway about 2 months ago. After one step, I myself, gave up and saved it for another day.

Well weekends came and went and the project two people had now started and gave up on was taunting me. I wanted so bad for it to be done. I thought maybe if I let it sit there long enough Brad would just do it. Ha, I should know better. He always has more patience than me, and knows I will eventually finish whatever grand idea I once had. After finally running out of projects to keep me busy enough for a few hours, I figured it was time. After I got started, it all just kind of fell in to place. I have found procrastination to always work in my favor. If I do things when fully motivated they turn out better than I would have wanted them to. I am in love with my stairs.

I have found that stairs are hard to photograph.

Also this weekend there were a few rugrats running around, constantly trying to distract me and make me play. Rugrats that I can proudly call my niece and nephews. The fun thing about getting married, besides the obvious, is that you gain a whole new family. Coincindently, their parents had tried to get us to go play at the coast with them to go ride our quads, and somehow yard work won. Sorry Chrytsal, I hope you had a fun birthday weekend, but know I had so much fun with your kids! I found a few minutes here and there to play. Of course for me, playing is watching others and taking pictures. By the end of the day I somehow had 341 pictures....here are a few of my favs.

I mean, how can you say no to this face?

This boy is a little harder to photograph, he's always on the move!

This girl, well I think the picture says it all, she's a beauty. But don't let her fool you, she's got the brains and wit to match.

With the heat finally deciding to grace us with a little sunshine, we broke out the sprinkler! Luke, Jake and Nichole were running around like the crazies they are, I found it REALLY hard to choose a favorite from this bunch of photos, as they were making the funniest faces and jumping over the water with every ninja kick in the book. But I managed to choose a few...

I think this picture captures his excitement completely.

It was really hard to not jump in line right behind them!

For a while the sprinkler 'wasn't a cool idea'. Then, she came running from no where and joined the fun!

Overall, I think it was successful weekend.

A weekend to document.

This was one of those weekends that felt more like four or five crammed in to one. It begins Thursday, life decided to start with the bad news. Brad and I were headed to town to get some items from the local hardware store, and stopped by the in laws just because when you live in the country it's proper to tell your neighbors your every move. I stayed in the car, thinking it would only take Brad a minute or so to rattle off our checklist. After about five minutes, and me starting to debate joining them inside, Brad and his step-dad Mike appeared on 'the stoop'. They were talking quietly, shrugging their shoulders and saying 'I don't know, I mean, we'll see'. I felt it, I knew this wasn't good. The local news had apparently announced plans to drain all the local resevoirs to repair the dams. I was in denial at first, I figured they heard it wrong, something, I mean THEY CAN'T JUST DO THAT - can they? I called first thing friday morning, it took about 45 second until I wanted to throw the phone across the room. I instantly started crying, I CAN'T GET MARRIED IN FRONT OF A MUD PIT, sobs, followed by more sobs. Later that evening when I got home from work, I confirmed the Core of Engineers plan to ruin our wedding with Brad. We sat in silence for a while, just kind of in disbelief. Did we really just send our invites out, and not 5 days later half the information on them was void. Sweet, glad I spent 30+ hours on them...

The next morning we scoped out different locations on our property where we could have the ceremony. Luckily we were already planning on having the reception there so we were well on our way to making it all 'pretty'. We went back and forth between about three spots, I think I cried about 6 times, or maybe it was just continuous. "But I wanted a lake back drop"- I was having a hard time letting that go. It took me about a hour to readjust my 'vision'. Finally, we agreed on a new location. I sat and stared at it for about 20 minutes before I said 'O.K. this will work'. I re-thought my aisle walk, the music, the back drop, the seating....Trust me it's hard to do twice, for one wedding.

The rest of the day I proceeded to re-organize my kitchen. Throwing away everything hidden in the corners and caves of my cupboards, using dining table chairs for the high ones. I didn't care what it was, If I hadn't used it within the past month, out it went. After that I weeded my flower beds and planted some new ones. I read in Bride magazine (somehow I have a subscription now) that 'organizing' is a major stress reliever. I am a complete believer of this now, and highly recommend it. By the end of the day I was finally excited about my wedding again. Coming up with all these new ideas. My friends and family had all been saying this was probably a blessing in disguise and I was starting to see why. I won't bore you with all the 'It's better because details' because honestly I still feel a little bratty about it, and tend to end that list with a 'But I still WISH we could have had it at Sky Camp'.

The next day (I told you it was a long weekend) I had an appointment to get my wedding dress altered. I was actually dreading this, assuming something bad was just bound to happen. I was pleasantly suprised, It turned out to be the perfect ending to a horrible weekend. My mom, Brad's mom and Step mom, My brother his girlfriend and their two kids all came. FYI: I don't think your supposed to bring that many people to an alteration appointment. They have them in the back in a little room that fits about 4 comfortably. An hour and a half later my dressed was all pinned up and fit me just right. I think it was at that moment I really felt like a bride. As I walked away from my pedestal to hang my dress back up, I heard someone squeal and say "It's really happening!' in excitement for me. Yes, I thought, it really is happening! I stood in the dressing room for a moment and stared at myself a little more than I would in front of people and did a little freak out dance. I am a Bride, I am getting married. I fell in love with my dress more that moment than the day I bought it. Being as short as I am it was hard to picture any dress actually looking good on me, unless the look I was going for was mass amounts of fabric swallowing me whole. This appointment cured my funk of 'planning sucks' mode.

After the fitting me and my family went to my aunts house and had a BBQ. I love going to my aunts house. Her house, is that family members home you just love going to, its so comfortable. I got to play with my niece and have mean muggin' contests with my nephew. My cousin's Katy and James were there with their baby Isobel, she is a little blond haired gem. I also love babies-NO, that doesn't mean I want one, I am just a window shopper. I like to shoplift every now and again, but I always put the item-errr, baby back.

Now, it's monday, we will see what this week holds for me.