High School to Housewife...the Reception.

One on my favorite memories was my dear sweet Grandpa Red who actually came! He didn't do social gatherings like weddings and I was so excited and honored that he actually came and congratulated us at the reception!! He has since passed away. Sniff Sniff....

"Honored Guest"

What would a reception be without food, right? We served croissant sandwiches and some really yummy salads. Several salads were made my close family members and we were able to pull together a nice reception dinner potluck style kinda. It was quite good and we had plenty of food amazingly. We had a pretty good turn out especially considering there was a 15 mile drive from the church to the reception. The reception was at my parents ranch where I grew up.

On our reception tables we had live goldfish in small glass bowls and several people got to take them home to their fishponds. We even had several for ourselves, 2 lived for 10 years in our pond!!! It seemed to be a huge hit for a centerpiece.

Maybe too big of a hit.....

I wonder what he's planning to do once this cake is cut? Be nice Mr Wonderful......of course I am sure he thought about it but he was a gentleman when the time came to feed each other wedding cake....he had me worried with that look though.


We opened gifts and we were so incredibly blessed by our loved ones!

After a long day of family and fun we finally headed to our first home........for our first night of married bliss!

High School to House Wife....We Were Wed...

Our wedding day was magical....as I hope most are! Everything came together so easily and beautifully. So many special people showed up to show their love and support. I was so excited to see so many that had come.

The night before the wedding, my maids of honor stayed the night with me and we stayed up late talking and getting prettied up for the big day. Just before the ceremony I was starting to feel a little iffy in the stomach. I had not eaten much and I was starting to feel sick from lack of food. So I asked someone in the bride room to go get me some saltine crackers and gatorade from the store to help calm my stomach. What was I thinking not eating enough anyway? It had been such a busy day I guess it slipped my mind. I felt relatively calm aside from the fear of puking somewhere inappropriate like say....in front of hundreds. I hear Mr Wonderful was a little nervous in his room though......was it because he heard his bride was sick to her stomach? (as in cold feet? Which wasn't the case I assure you.).......When the food arrived I found out it was Mr Wonderful who had ran to the store for me and got me what I needed. Was that not the sweetest thing? Gulp....I am getting all tingly just thinking about it.

As I look towards my groom and we see each other for the first time this special day....I am giddy. Does my dad look TOO eager to give me away? Hey wait a minute!

Can anyone guess what he's thinking? Kinda looks like he's thinking about later that night huh?

"Good Trade"

"Sealin' The Deal!"

"Yes!"

Highschool to Housewife...His Truck.

I thought I would take a few mins to tell you about Mr Wonderful's pick-up when we were dating. I come from a long line of Chevy pick-up drivers (don't look in my driveway because we have a Dodge, we got a lot crap about it too!) anyway Mr Wonderful drove a pick-up that had special meaning for me. You see it had been in the family a while before Mr Wonderful bought it. First my Grandpa had found it for my oldest brother who was looking for a pick-up to rebuild (a project if you will). He completely rebuilt it from engine to paint job. He put glass packs on (whatever those really are, I just know it made it sound loud and fun), then he put in a large sound system with a subwoofer (my personal favorite), this pickup was NICE in it's early days, but then my oldest brother wrecked it one night the road washed out in a flood (so on goes the first few layers of bondo), then repainted it again. Anyway this poor pick-up had been thru a lot by the time Mr Wonderful bought it, including Ornery Brother. Ornery Brother sold it to Mr Wonderful.

Mr Wonderful ended up recovering the bench seat in a really neat navajo fabric and I was particularly impressed with his choice. When Mr Wonderful and I went on our first date I noticed he listened to the radio WITHOUT the subwoofer turned on......what kind of injustice is THAT? I could not believe it, because to me the best thing in the whole world was feeling that bass "move" you. I love bass......to this day when I hear a good bass in music or movies it makes me tingle. I am pretty sure it can be linked back to our time in this blue truck with the subwoofer ON!

I miss that truck sometimes, well alot sometimes. The times I don't miss it are when I think about how many repairs it was constantly needing, how is guzzled fuel like a thirsty elephant, and of course it only seated 3 people.......those are the reasons we ended up selling it shortly before we got married. Now you want to know the true sign of good husband material? A Man willing to trade this in.....

For this.....

Shortly before we got married we decided we needed a car that would be reliable and also get good gas mileage. Turns out we made a good choice because our Honda Accord ended up being with us for a LONG time, we bought it in 1997 and sold it about a year and a half ago 2006 (when we had our 4th baby and we could not longer all fit in it). I loved that car. Anyway it says a lot about a guy who is willing to give up his truck for a family car. By the way that is his dad next to him in the pic (he passed away in 2003 just 4 days after Tobers was born). I believe we were one of the only people to stubbornly hold on to a car that we loved even though we were completely busting out of the seams with 3 kids, 2 adults, and a dog on occasion. That car was a member of the family it seemed. We get attached to our vehicles for some reason they all have names.

In those above pics that is almost the exact outfit he wore on our first date! Here are some random pics with Blue Bertha in it.

Don't I look young and innocent? NOT! What WAS I thinking with that outfit (I swear those slickie pants were "in" then!) and what was up with my hair?

By this time this truck had been thru alot, witnessed a whole lot, and been the center of a lot of fun adventures.....another fun little note about this truck is that it had a back window. Callie would most of the time ride in front when I was not in the truck but sometimes she'd ride in back. When I was there she'd ride in the back more....she DID NOT appreciate this setback in her position. If Mr Wonderful and I got to flirting and tickling in the cab or something fun (get your minds out of the gutter people!) she'd start scratching at the back window and if we let her in she'd break up the fun and protect Mr Wonderful! She still does that to this day, she protects him even if he is winning!!! Doesn't she know I named her? She is very much Mr Wonderful's dog still after 13 years! Hmph!

Now I know Mr Wonderful's truck was nothing spectacular but we sure loved it, it was well worn by the time we sold it but there is a special memory there. I still really like the looks of those chevy trucks so proud and loud. We have talked about when the kids are grown that we will find a chevy pickup in that same era and rebuild it and have that be our date rig! There are just certain things that take us back and 70's chevy pick-up's do that for us.

High School to Housewife....Proposals in the Dark.

I am about to share with you the story of Mr Wonderful's proposal. We had been dating about 1.5 years and I was more than ready, I was fast approaching 18 and I could not wait to spend my life with him! I had graduated a year early from high school and attended 1 year at a community college. I really only wanted to be a wife and mother to his babies. That was all I ever dreamed about growing up, I had no desires to be a working woman or even get a degree (to this day I still have no idea what I would be interested in if and when I do go back to college). I am madly in love and feelin' impatient I kept thinking...."I know he has a ring, I am pretty sure, or at least I think so." I am just waiting, and waiting and waiting some more...and as you all know I was born with a devastating birth defect....I was missing my ability to be patient.

So it was my 18th B-Day and Mr Wonderful took me out for a beautiful night. He drove me up on a secluded ridge (I still have no idea if this was public or private land) anyway here we are driving out onto the point of a rugged ridge just as the sun is starting to set. It is bumpy and rough and uncomfortable.....the suspense is killing me...I think to myself.. "Is this the night? Is he going to propose, something is up here?"

Mr Wonderful finally parked his pick-up and turned on some romantic music (I should mention that he had this amazing sound system complete with subwoofer that I particularly found personally moving in a raging hormone kinda way). Anyway the music is set, the sun is falling, he gets out some stemware fancy glasses from his toolbox somewhere (do you KNOW what kind of yucky, dirty stuff they normally keep in men's truck toolboxes?....ignore that) anyway he has sparkling cider. He pours me some and we take a nice stroll towards the sunset glasses in hand.....the light is beautiful and romantic. Again that darn suspense is getting to me....actually it never went away. All the questions flooding my mind. "Is he really going to propose?" I think to myself "I am 18 now, it is safe to go ahead anytime, really." We chat, we laugh, I start to get impatient, I try not to let Mr Wonderful know just how devoid of patience I really am. The suspence I tell you.

Just then he turns to face me and gently strokes my cheek and looks deep into my eyes......(my knees go all wiggly) he starts to say how much he loves me and how much I have given him and how his heart needs me to be complete and just how much he looks forward to a life with me. With that he dropped down on his knee and took out a velvet box and asked me so sweetly with tears in his eyes to marry him. I of course said "Yes, I love you of course YES!!!" He put the ring on and I was so excited, we hugged and over his shoulder I was trying to hold up my hand to see the ring....but by this time it is dark...too dark to even really SEE the ring! I had no idea how big it was, the shape of it or anything! So I casually mentioned we better get back to the truck because it is dark and I am a big weany in the dark.

The minute we got to the truck I bailed into the jockey box whipped out the flashlight and gave it a click......."ah finally some light around here.".....I gave it a glance and WOW what a sparkler, it was more than I could have dreamed of! I mean here I was 18, young naive, and so hopeful. It ended up that he had done a fabulous job picking out my ring all on his own...he only asked me a few vauge questions and went with it. He ended up getting me an oval cut, slightly bigger than a half carat solitare!!! I was grinning from ear to ear. I was completely in love with my man and all the way home I kept trying out the word "fiance"....I love that word.

There is more to the story, specifically how my parents reacted to the news as well as what comes after an engagement like wedding plans, weddings, honeymoons (yes plural, but it is not all it is cracked up to be), and babies.....lots of sweet babies.

So ladies tell your sons, "If you love her.......don't propose in the dark!" Unless of course you want to test the true depth of her love.

This was our engagement picture.

High School To Housewife...The Long Wait.

After our break-up months earlier I was more sure than ever that I really did want to spend the rest of my life with Mr Wonderful. He had remained caring, respectful and honest with his feelings even thru all our struggles and I knew I wanted to be married to someone with that kind of self-control and respect for me even thru turmoil. We took it slowly and worked towards a stronger relationship for the next year. I graduated a year early from high school and he got his associates degree in Civil Engineering. Graduating early was something that I had worked towards from the 7th grade, I had seen so many seniors in high school only have to go half days that I decided to plan out all my credits when I got into highschool so that I could graduate early and forget a silly 1/2 day for a whole year. I did just that.

Mr Wonderful and I had a good relationship and we were getting more and more anxious to be married. My parents really "encouraged" us to wait, well ok forbid it for a long time because I really was too young. I sure did not think so at the time though. We had to be patient until my 18th B-day because as you probably know parents can't say much once you are 18 right?

This is how Mr Wonderful chose to express his love at times! I loved it!

Here are some other various pics from that year.

Here I am at my last county fair with another 4-H outfit for modeling.

Here we are at my Sr. Prom April 1996.

Here is my senior pics. The top photo I had broken my foot just minutes prior to the photo shoot. I had gotten my horse all groomed and ready and had went inside to grab my saddle, when I stepped off a large step with my saddle I felt my foot snap and instantly I started to feel ill. The photographer had driven all that way out to our ranch and I felt so bad about her coming so far for nothing and I was ready (it is not small feat to get a horse ready like that not to mention myself) so I dried the tears, fixed the make up and hobbled up the hill for our photo shoot, the wincing pain is barely noticable! That photo shoot was followed by getting to the ER to wait another 3 hours to be seen, then painful tweaking for x-rays and a walking cast for a few weeks. The second pic (on the bottom) we had done in a studio, injuries are less likely in a studio we confirmed. Can you tell I was all cowgirl back then? I love it!

Here is what I made him for our first Christmas together 1995.

Good times!

Highschool to Housewife....Storm Clouds Brewing.

We had been together roughly 5 months when things started getting stormy. I got anxious and nervous about things being so serious when I was only 16 years old. We had been talking about marriage already and I was both thrilled with the idea and terrified at the same time.  I was not sure I was completely ready to settle down. I knew I loved Mr. Wonderful and I wanted to spend my life with someone like him but I also was not sure I was done with my teen years and doing fun and wild stuff.

I broke his heart, I told him how I was feeling and that we needed a break, that things were getting too serious and I was only 16 and needed a little space. Of course all this time I was the one to make it more serious I mean talk about indecisive! That was not the only reason, there was another boy showing me interest and I missed that new love type attention. I explored the idea of dating someone else, but it never really happened. I missed Mr. Wonderful, I still had not been able to break the habit of calling him to talk, he was my best friend.   So I started trying to repair our relationship as best I could after I had been so selfish.

We had been broken up almost a month. During our break-up he still treated me with respect and he even gave me a sweet B-Day card about always being friends and that he still cherished our friendship. I think that was one of the turning points for me, to know that he still cared about me deeply even though I had hurt him. It took a while to build back the trust and we were pretty much only friends for over a month after we decided to try it again. It took a while for me to be ready as well, since part of the reason for the breakup had been for space because things had been moving along fairly fast. So we slowly worked our way back to each other and learned about trust and commitment. Soon our relationship had grown to be even better than before. We had a deeper relationship now and we were stronger and happier than before. It was like we had passed a test or a major bump in the road and he and I both proved we had what it took to make it work. One of the neat times we experienced in our journey back was that we had been out to dinner eating chinese food and we got our fortune cookies and here is what mine said: "Stop searching forever. Happiness is sitting next to you." It was like a 2x4 to the head, I realized it was right, he was everything I ever wanted and needed!


We also knew that lust is what had really started to ruin our relationship. After we got back together we decided to hold off on that part of our relationship and focus on doing things together as a couple but not focusing so much on each other and our attraction to one another. It was important to get our minds on something else and learn to be friends moreso than worrying about anything more even if our relationship before would have looked innocent to most people in our situation. We maintained our decision for about 6 months.....until I dared him that he could not resist me, ya don't even dare a man they can't resist you when you both have been fighting temptation for over 6 months.......turns out I won the dare and our hiatus from serious make-outs was over. See? I was such a bad influence!

Highschool to Housewife....Awakened Hormones.

No one told me about these hormones, well I heard about them but I never pictured myself being victim to them. Those kisses from Mr Wonderful ignited something in me I had never known. I was falling for him harder than I thought possible. I wanted more!!! So far we had only ever kissed gently and sometimes passionately but it never went further than that....I was becoming impatient, I wanted to him to seem as overtaken with passion as I was recently starting to feel.

We were on our 1 month anniversary date and we were talking comfortably like we always did when my impatience bone started bothering me. I had to ask......it seemed like we were more friends than anything more.....I asked Mr Wonderful why it seemed like we were more friends than anything else, did he not want anything more? He responded surprisingly. He responded with a major come on, no talk no hesitation. All that time he had been being patient and waiting for me.

The kisses were wonderful, only this time there was way more passion and there were wandering hands (I was thinking something in between being just friends and madly passionate) so I had to put the breaks on this new development. I told him I was excited to see he did have an interest in me past being friends, but that we had to slow down a little. We had to recompose ourselves and agreed to take it slow and not get into any hurry. He was a gentleman and he was of course patient, and I was satisfied that he was burning up with desire for me. He passed the test, he was respectful of my limits that night and I knew I could trust him from that point on, I never had to question his feelings for me or his respect for me.  I had found a keeper indeed!

Here is what I did with most my time when I was not with Mr Wonderful. Training and showing my horses.

Mr Wonderful captured pictures like the ones to follow on his Pentax camera in his passtime. He also did a lot of fishing and hunting. Only of course when he wasn't on a date with me or working for my family's construction business.

Didn't he take some great pics?

Highschool to Housewife...We go to prom together.

After we had been dating a few weeks I asked Mr Wonderful if he'd be willing to go to my prom with me, I kinda doubted he would want to go back to a high school prom after being graduated 3 years but he enthusiastically said YES! Whoo Hoo I had a date for prom!




I got busy sewing my dress and making plans. He ordered his tux and we were all set. I was so excited. It was my first prom and I had a serious date and not some random date I did not even know very well. I felt like I had arrived to some elite club of people who had a real date for prom.




Here are a few pics from our special day.

I am so glad we had the forsight to have him take off his glasses.....too bad he could not see a thing!

This pic my Mom took of me in front of our front door. What I would not do to be able to fit back into that dress, or anything that size.......and to think at the time I thought I was HUGE! If only we could go back and tell myself I was fine the way I was!

I was also able to use my dress for 4-H modeling and sewing so I was able to check that off my list of things to do early in the year. Here is a pic of me taking top prize at the Oregon State Fair for style review (modeling a garment you made). Too bad we did not have the forsight that day to take Mr Wonderful's glasses off. Mr Wonderful was able to come along on the trip with my parents.

Highschool to Housewife.....He Courted Me!

So after I FINALLY caught his attention, Mr Wonderful started living up to his nickname. He bought me flowers, he bought me easter Bunnies with Cadbury Eggs (my favorite Easter candy) he wrote the most romantic cards and letters (lots of them), he surprised me with sweet romantic dates. Here are a few pics of some of the beautiful bouquets of flowers he got me over the course of our early dating relationship.

It was the letters and cards that went with these flowers that was so touching. He was not affraid to tell me how he felt about me and he was so honest and open with me. I cherish every word in those cards and letters to this day. Now if I could just get him to write a few more of those now that he "has" me 13 years later.;)

Highschool to Housewife.... The Long Awaited Kiss

We had been dating 3 weeks and we were finding that we were very much compatible with one another and we could talk so easily. I loved that he'd talk to me and we could talk about anything!


We were on a drive near my parents home one day and we were talking about life and how we'd like our futures to look and Mr. Wonderful turned to me and said that he could see himself married to me someday! GULP! It was such a nice compliment and I knew I had arrived! Now at this point we had not even kissed yet and he could picture himself married to me? I admitted I felt the same way because to be able to talk so openly with a guy and to not have him constantly trying to get me into bed was a really nice change! I had some previous boyfriends that really hurt me and made it very clear that all they wanted was action and could care less about what I wanted to say or do.:( So Mr Wonderful was exactly what I needed, he was patient, kind and respectful. Anyway we had been talking and driving around spotting wildlife. I personally was beginning to wonder if Mr Wonderful would ever make a move to kiss me, he didn't. So I took matters into my own hands. I leaned in and kissed him, it was passionate, it was earth moving, it was wet! I decided right then and there that we needed kissing lessons....we laughed about it and promptly decided we must keep practicing because we had to get this right. (He teases I taught him how to kiss, so true, so true!) After several "lessons" we were able to get it just right and we of course decided we'd never be done learning to kiss one another from that point on. (That reminds me, I think we need a refresher course in the kissing department.....hmmmm..."Mr Wonderful, where are you?") That kiss started a whole flow of hormones that would soon be emerging in future weeks and I was not aware these sort of hormones existed personally.  I was head over heels for him and he appeared to be in the same state.

Highschool to Housewife....the Catch.

So last post I told you about how Mr Wonderful named his new puppy Callie after my suggestion. I was sure this was a sign that he was flirting with me.

So now I had this excuse to call and check on the puppy. I did call him, he was friendly and sweet and the puppy was doing great. I swallowed hard and asked him if he would consider going on a date with me. Sure enough he suggested we go out that next weekend that it might be fun to go out! I could not believe my ears, at first I thought it was because he felt kinda forced into it but then later after we had talked for a while it was getting close to time to hang up and he said this after I told him that I was excited that we finally get to go on a date...he said "I am really looking forward to it". I melted, I had a grin on my face for the entire week!!!

To think it all started because of this cute little puppy.

Turns out the week went by so slowly. Finally when it was that day I primped and paced and waited for him to come. He was right on time, the rumble of his Chevy truck made my heart go pitter patter. He visited with my parents for a while then we were off on our date. He was trying to get to the passenger door before me but it did not work out and he was a little disappointed that I did not wait for him to open the door for me. Awe...how sweet!! I was a little embarassed because I bolted out my parents house so fast and into Mr Wonderful's truck that it may have been considered lightning speed, plus to have not been refined enough to wait for Mr Wonderful to open the door (I guess I was a cowgirl afterall).

We decided to go to Denny's and a movie. He ordered a side salad and in the end he decided a salad on the first date is only a good idea if the other person orders a salad too. He said he felt akward eating in front of me as we were trying to talk. I was just busy thinking about how nice he looked in his Wranglers, his blue and grey flannel shirt with elk all over it, and how his belt buckle matched everything perfectly. (He still has that shirt and belt buckle, I still love it!) After eating at Denny's we were off to watch a movie, I remember thinking I should not have eaten so much because my pants were tight in the waist. Anyway we got seated in the movies and it was so fun being there with him, after all this time of wishing and hoping, here he was, a much older guy with little old me! We watched our movie but honestly I don't remember much about it, something about my mind racing because I was on a date with Mr Wonderful, but I do remember briefly putting my head on his shoulder.

After our movie we went up to the airport to watch planes take off and land (something I have always liked) and we visited for a while. We eventually drove to my house and talked for a few more hours there, it was so neat, he was easy to talk to and I felt comfortable with him. He was a gentleman, funny, good looking and kind in every way. About midnight we decided he better head home and I walked him out to our front porch. We said good bye to one another and he gave me a gentle hug and told me how nice of a time he had. I melted and from that moment on for weeks I had a permanent smile on my face even in my sleep. I was walking on a cloud from then on.

High School to Housewife.....why can't he SEE me THAT way?

I figure it is about time for the first chapter of High School to Housewife, don't you? Here it goes....

My Dad owns a construction/excavation company and he ran his business/shop from our ranch in the country. Mr Wonderful started working for our family business summer of 1991. I was the tender age of 13 at that time, he was 17. He had been working for us a few years when I started to notice what a strong, sweet guy he was.

It was always a good day for me when Mr Wonderful was working at the shop. He was funny, kind, manly, and he also had the most amazing butt! (I was 16 now and...these are serious requirements for a spouse). He wore Wrangler jeans better than any guy I knew and I made sure to sneak extra opportunities for a quick glance.

I was 16 when the first stages of infatuation hit. My brother was getting married and I flirted with Mr Wonderful who was the best man, he ignored me and played dumb to this notion that I had a major crush on him. I do remember I touched his hair once and I even got to touch the nape of his neck! I was perplexed by how thick it looked and how it never moved. It was very thick and very course almost like a brillo pad. I still have no idea why I would have been touching his hair but I am thinking it must have been some lame excuse to do with getting set to go down the isle for my brother's wedding or wedding photos or something. Here is a pic of Mr Uninterested/Mr Wonderful and Ornery Brother at his wedding.

Here is another pic of my brother and Mr Wonderful playing what we call HillBilly Golf, (golf in a pasture near the Middle Fork of the John Day River.) I rode over with my future sister-in-law for the day to bring hte guys some food while they were having a guys fishing trip. I took this pic, all the while drooling over Mr Wonderful....unfortunately at the time he was still Mr Uninterested.:(

At this time in my life I was very involved in showing my horse Bullet. After I would finish a training session in the arena I would find excuses to need to walk by on horseback past the shop doors. Then I would try to casually start a conversation or at the VERY least catch his attention. Now, I should point out that before I would head out to ride on days Mr Wonderful was working, I'd make sure to have my hair a little nicer and my make up done.....I'd try really hard to act unaffected by his presence and I'd be walking by on my horse trying to catch the eye of the illusive "Mr Uninterested".

Now one saving grace for me was that "Mr Uninterested" did not seem interested in anyone. He had not had a serious girlfriend and I was hoping that when he finally noticed girls I would be the one he noticed.

He'd say "Hi" or something nice but it was like he didn't even see me, he was friendly but that was it! This was quite perplexing to me.....I really wanted him to see me in a different way if you know what I mean. He just wouldn't. If he saw me at all it was in a little sister way.....ugh! I guess it makes sense because he was my brother's best friend but still I had to figure out a way to get him to see me for something more...but how?

Now a quick note, I openly had this crush on him, turns out one of my friends had a chrush on him as well! She had the advantage of living next door to him. UGH, this was bad news, very bad news......she actually did have luck convincing him to take notice of her. She was one year older than me. It was about a month long dating experience and she dumped him for some short kid with a face like a pizza. She said something about the pressures of both their mothers wanting to plan their wedding after date one...she ran, and I can't blame her with all that pressure so early on! This did not do wonders for Mr Wonderful's dating confidence and eagerness to try again. That did not detour me much though.

The chase was on.......