Our vow renewal: 10 years and still in love

I know that there have been a lot of naysayers out there about vow renewals. I realize that being married for 10 years is nothing in the grand scheme of forever after. But for our vow renewal, it wasn't really about having a new "wedding" although there were many things we did differently. It wasn't even about starting over, it was about acknowledging that ten years later, after a lot of life lived in a short amount of time, that we still genuinely love (and like) each other.

It was also about strengthening the commitment we made to each other when we hadn't really experienced the bumps and bruises of life. When we couldn't even possibly understand the promises we were making to each other, or how they would be tested. In Ten short years we have had a whole lot of life come crashing down on us and still, with God's help, we have remained united. This day among family and friends was a reminder of that.

Our kids were also a huge part of the equation. They have asked us so many times to recount our wedding. We felt that it was important for them to see that we are in love, that we are committed to one another and to our family. We tried to include them in every way we knew how. Making sure that they understood how valuable their presence was and the reasoning behind it.

We had them each walk us down the aisle and then walk back with us when it was all finished. We wanted them to know that this was also about them.

 

We have always loved the charm of the Diestelhorst Bridge in Redding and originally wanted it to be the charming backdrop to our festivities. When the opportunity came up, we rented the bridge out so that we could seal our vows at sunset with this being our view.

The theme was rustic charm, and there was lots of it on the bridge. We had white painted shutters as the "alter" and a burlap wreath along with lanterns and white flowers for added charm.

We said our vows in front of a small group of close family and friends as the sun was setting and were blessed by them also making the commitment to pray for and encourage us in our marriage.

 And they all prayed for us, which, if you have ever experienced is overwhelming. We felt very loved.

We wanted to remember everyone who came, so we had them each frame themselves overlooking the river.

And the consensus was made that we pretty much have the goofiest and most fun family and friends ever.


After that... it was time to party. And party we did. We moved to the end of the bridge where our rustic reception was awaiting us. Complete with down home treats and a Smores bar! I enjoyed crafting many of the items used for the renewal and especially took an interest in the chalk marker typography used for the menu. Super fun! And my dear friend Corrie comissioned her husband to make some awesome rustic crates for the event out of pallets.

And, of course, we included bugspray because when you're on the river you can't go without!

 

 

We also created a little snapshot scavenger hunt to encourage guests to snap pictures we might have missed.

We never got to have a first dance the first time around, so it was fun to have one this time. We had fun making a spotify playlist of music for the reception together. It kept the party lively.

As the sun began to retreat into the mountains, the party took on a new romantic glow. With a breathtaking view like that it was the perfect setting for slow dancing.

We also let our 6-year-old son have a camera to give his own perspective of the ceremony. I was amazed when I looked at them just what it was that he saw. Here are a few of my favorites:

It was magical. And then it came to a close. We loved every minute of it and were so happy that we were able to celebrate with the ones we love. I enjoyed sharing this with you as it was a labor of 6 months of hot glue, paint, and love. I hope you enjoyed it as well.

Angry Birds Birthday: How I did it

When Elijah started going ga-ga over angry birds earlier this year, I knew he was going to choose that for his birthday theme this year. So I did what any self-respecting girl would do: I hit up pinterest. I scoured the boards to come up with some fun ideas. I found a really cute idea to make an angry birds real life game. It really was a simple process.

An office makeover

When I came home from my 5 week stay in Georgia, I found that there was a drumset in my livingroom. I had given Tim the set 2 years before, and he never really felt inspired or comfortable enough to play it in the garage. So while I was gone, he set it up and played until his heart was content. Since I'm a firm believer in giving my man the ability to make his dreams come true, and have good hobbies, I decided to let the drumset stay in our livingroom. But this meant, that I was going to have to move our home computer.

I kept thinking of where I could put it, and no other space felt right except the diningroom. I wanted to make a nice space for the computer, but I also wanted to make it look cute. So I went to work garage saleing to see what I could find.

I happened upon this diamond in the rough of a computer desk, it was the very low price of: FREE. While my husband saw spider eggsacks and pen writing all over the top of it, I saw a small and cute replacement desk that had some great "bones".

He scratched his head and walked away. I had a plan though.

A Mom Track

So last summer I got a new iphone and set to work getting cool apps that I thought would be fun. One such app was the T-pain app. I had fun playing around with it and wrote a little song about a day in the life of a stay at home mom. I have always thought it would be fun to make a music video for it, but let's face it, it's strange as a grown woman to go around asking people if they will make a music video with you. Fortunately, I found a few brave souls and we created this little video just in time for Mother's Day.

A New Resolution

HAPPY NEW YEAR'S!! What? It's January 19th? Well, just pretend with me. HAPPY NEW YEAR'S and welcome to the blog where I reveal my new year's resolutions. Now, I'm not one of those kind of people that gives myself unrealistic expectations about what my year will look like. Usually, I like to give myself goals that I can accomplish, things I can achieve, so I don't feel like a total failure come December 31st. But this year, I'm just not so sure it's as attainable and it's scaring and exciting me all at the same time.

I've hesitated revealing this secret in my life for a few months now, mostly because I don't want to sound pretentious and also because I knew if I kept it quiet there was still a possibility that if I quit I wouldn't look like a total idiot for doing so. But, alas, it's too late for going back now, I've intrigued you too much.

I have recently started writing a book. It's a book about my struggles with being a parent of a child with special needs and finding God in the midst of the hard stuff. I've already written several chapters and my New Year's Resolution this year is to finish writing my book. I won't go so far as to send it to a publisher, but I think making myself finish should be a sufficient enough challenge. Besides, i think it sounds kind of romantic to finish writing your first book by the time you're 30. Besides, who wants to read the book of a 20 something anyway right? Well if it's not, don't tell me because it's what I am saying to motivate myself.

So there it is, my deep dark secret is a secret no more. It's going to be a year of challenge, and development and what I hope to be the accomplishment of what has been a lifelong dream. Who knows, maybe I'll even let someone read it....someday.

A hairbow organizer tutorial: Cheap and easy!

So a friend sent me a picture of a great hairbow holder and after staring at it for some time, I decided to try to make one myself. I love a good project and, surprisingly, this one really wasn't difficult at all. First, I went to a garage sale and found an amazing frame for only $5.

I got to work and started sanding it. This particular one had a lot of finishing on it, so though I spent a lot of time sanding it, I didn't strip as much paint off as I had hoped.

I bought a can of spray paint that was a shockingly flouresent pink to try and cover the dark brown of the frame. and I got to work spray painting.

In hindsight, I should have probably painted the frame with a white base coat because after I used the entire spray can on the frame it didn't completely cover the dark brown color, and it was starting to look like a pair of neon shorts I owned in 1992. Because I believe in not giving up, even when you mess things up, I rummaged through my garage and managed to find a can of paint that I used to paint Liv's nursery. Because I had used the spray paint first, the regular paint covered the frame perfectly and it turned out to work AND match Liv's room. Once it was all dry, it ended up looking like this:

Next I bought a bolt of ribbon that matched the decore of the room. I cut the ribbon in pieces that were just tight enough to be taut, then secured them to the frame using hot glue.

I cut each ribbon the same length and evenly interspersed them so that there would be enough room to clip each hairbow on it.

When it was all said and done, I had spent $11 (for frame, spray paint and ribbon) it turned out looking like this:

Super excited about it, and I can't WAIT to hang it in her room!