10 Years and Counting...

10 Years ago today, J asked me on told me we were going on our first date.

Now here's the back story for those of you who don't know it yet...

August ??, 2004 I was hired by a bank in town (I had been working for another bank for 2 years in a nearby town) and a few days later I went to the local Wal-Mart branch of the new bank to open my account. The male teller (J) opened my account for me. Now, while there was nothing overly special about this guy as far as appearance goes (a bit too skinny for my usual liking), he was nice.
The following week, I started my new job and resumed night classes at the local university. J was in a couple of my classes, as we were both Business Management majors. He tried showing off a few times of the next couple of weeks, but I didn't pay him much attention. But our co-worker Amy had different ideas...she thought J needed a date and the new girl at work seemed like just the right girl.

So she fired up her matchmaking skills, and on Saturday, September 11, 2004, while we were working a shift together at the bank, J gained up some nerve was told to just take a risk and ask me out. So while I was at lunch, he left a note on my computer that read; "We are going to that concert together tonight." (I already had plans to take myself to a close by town for a southern gospel concert of a group that I loved)
When I got back from lunch, he was already gone and taking his own lunch break, I found the note and started laughing. Amy chuckled too and we decided a date with J would be just what I needed.

After work, we each went home, changed and he picked me up. We attended the concert (he sang to me while we were there), ate dinner and then spent the rest of the night (until about 1:00 AM) talking about just about everything. Over the next few days, we saw each other as often as possible with church, work and school....

Fast forward 5 days (yes, you are reading this correctly) and J called me before work. We were scheduled for the same shift at the same branch that day and he was going to stop by my apartment and pick me up for work. Well, what happened next was the real surprise...when he got to my place, he PURPOSED!!! He had went and bought the ring that morning and decided I was the one...and more surprisingly, I said yes!
Now, I should mention here, that only a few people even knew we were dating and we hadn't really told people from work; but that all changed very quickly on that Thursday morning!

His parents thought he was crazy and hung up on him. My mom laughed and my dad told me to make sure I didn't start making him doubt my judgment over this. (My parents are clearly the laid back ones here) We met my mom and sister for dinner that night and picked a date, June 11, 2005. My mom informed she was NOT paying for Tulips in June (and since she owned a flower shop and was clearly paying for and designing the flowers, I had to listen) so we picked a new date, March 12, 2005. (J was mortified that I moved the wedding date for a flower. He clearly had NO idea just how stubborn I could be and clearly didn't realize the extent of which I had dreamed of tulips for my wedding and just how much I basically detest roses for myself (not as a flower in general).)

March 12, 2005 rolled around, we got married and then we started our Happily Ever After.......

9 1/2 Years of marriage later and we have accomplished and been through so much together.

Would I have liked a lot of it to have been easier...Yes
Would I go back and change any of it...No
It has been hard, trying, scary, and down right horrible at times, but the bad has never out weighed the good and with our continued faith that God will take care of everything; we will make it 10 more.

Happy First Date-aversary J. I love you!!!

MommyShelle

Taking The Ordinary out of Extraordinary...

**Warning-this is my attempt at being Philosophical

Have you ever thought about...
Ordinary: to be regular, normal, run of the mill (my definition)
Extra: more, plus some, to be in excess of (again, my own definition)

Extraordinary: to most people and common acceptances of this word; it is said to be great, extravagant or super-duper.

Does that even make sense? To be more normal? To be in excess of regular-ness?

I for one want to take the ordinary out and start living more EXTRA!

For the last 10 months, I have been anticipating trying not to think about one of my dearest friends moving out of state (in 4 weeks). Her little family of 5 is moving 9 hours away to pursue an incredible new opportunity.
So...to make life with more EXTRA, we are cramming as much time together in this summer as possible. We have celebrated her birthday, I have kept her kids for a day, she is keeping ours a couple of times, we are having a good-bye BBQ (lots of kids, food and slip-n-slide fun) and we are planning a couple more girls night dinners and shopping days.
And to add to the EXTRA, her new geographical location will become a new, fun place to visit and vacation with the kiddos for spring breaks and summer weekends.

EXTRA: we had new family pictures taken and the pictures of the boys are incredible. I love our photographer and the job she does. Her country farm setting (and I ordered way too many pictures but I can't help it) is blending beautifully with my new and old decorating style I am trying out in the new house.
*The friend from above helped me plan my entire picture wall, Pinterest style, and once the pictures I ordered come in and the wall is complete, I will post some pictures on here.

EXTRA: J and I took a mini-vacation and couple of weeks ago and went out of town for a couple of nights. We didn't go far or do anything overly great, but we enjoyed a couple of nights with no kids. I did convince beg J to go zip-lining with me and he gave in, once. It was not the normal harness style, but more of a ski lift chair that took us up the hill backwards and then rushed us back to the starting point at somewhere around 43 MPH. It was a blast and I did another 2 times without J. Each ride only took about 50 seconds (I recorded it once on my phone, while clutching my iPhone with a death grip so I wouldn't drop it in the lake I was flying over).

EXTRA: J and I will also get one more kid free night this summer; July 4th. We are going with some friends of ours to a nice dinner at a resort in a near-by town and then staying to watch the spectacular fireworks display. Of course, there will be outlet shopping before dinner!

EXTRA: I am going to make myself enjoy the next 8 weeks until school starts back. I am going to be less harsh and ridged. I am going to loosen up and have some fun with these boys. I am going to be okay with a house that isn't always is almost never a clean I am happy with. I am going to finish decorating my house (I know we have lived here 4 months and that I have only hung pictures in the last 4 days). I am going to spend far more time thanking God for all the little blessing in life. I am going to continue to love my job and try to be less high-strung about the little things at work that irritate me. And finally, I am going to love my husband more deeply and less critically.

Its all these EXTRAs in life that I am going to use to make life more and in excess and far less ordinary.

Being less ordinary,
MommyShelle

Summer Time, Summer Time, Sum Sum Summer Time

Ask anyone who knows me well, and they'll tell you...I love music and can break out in a bit of a song at anytime and for all sorts of reasons.

Today's songs would have included "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" and a made up song about how much I love the new wedges I just bought.

They are Gianni Bini, brown, tall and lovely.

B had his first baseball game of the summer tonight.

13 boys between the ages of 6 & 8, many very loud parents/ grandparents and a coaches wife who doesn't know how to properly run a batting order; all made for an interesting ballgame. B loves baseball and the idea of playing baseball, but not so much the actual playing and paying attention to the game. In the last inning, he was far more interested in sitting in the grass in his Left Field position.

Oh well, he also loves to sing and listen to music. He will probably end up my band/ choir kid. And that's cool. He comes from a long line of beautiful singers and band geeks.

L has learned to ride a big kid bike in the last couple of weeks and every chance he gets is spent riding his B's bike in the driveway and garage. I am so proud of him, despite the fact its a little sad that he's growing up so fast.

Once August gets here and both boys are in school (B in 1st grade and L in pre-K) I'll be singing a new song; "All By Myself."

The new house has 3 rose bushes that came with it. I don't really like roses as a general rule, but I am so excited that they have bloomed, that I can't help but love them.

L got several bubbles for his birthday. We spent quite a while one morning playing with a bubble blower he received. I was able to catch a couple of really cool shots.

B has 1 1/2 days of school left before summer break. Yes, that means he has to go back to school for 1/2 a day on Tuesday; after a 3 day weekend. Kind of silly but in MO, the winter weather usually causes some make-up day requirements.

Here a few of the pictures I promised the other day:

My younger sister (Aunt T), our mom, Tanner (the puppy) and myself

First picture of the 3 of us in a few years

Mother's Day

Food art at work

Tulips are my VERY favorite flower and this is one that came with the new house

L's birthday breakfast at the restaurant

J's grandpa turned 92 on the day of L's party, so I made each of them blow out candles. This will be one of those pictures that I treasure for a lifetime!!

 L, B and K digging into a 'Pazookie" in Oklahoma City when we all went outlet shopping

 

Family time is rare these days, but sometimes we all pile into our bed, laugh, snuggle and pose for awkward selfies.

Rare moments of brotherly love are worth catching on camera

These 2 beautiful girls took me to dinner to commemorate my 30th birthday.

We had steak!

We ended up with some free birthday cake!

I am NOT embarrassed about the cake, but slightly embarrassed about how we came about getting the cake.

It was FREE. From the table next to us. Another girls was having a birthday too.

They offered us all some cake and we decided to go for it.

The cake was fabulous! And totally worth it. And it makes for a great conversation.

Red Velvet Cake

My Favorite (so I didn't have to bake my own)

Made by a friend (so I

The frosting was TO DIE FOR!!

The New House

We only moved about a block and a half from the old house (2 streets over to be exact)

A lady at worked teased that she wanted a picture of me moving stuff down the street.

J ended up rolling the dumpster to the new house the morning of the closing

 

 

Hope you enjoyed the picture filled journey,

MommyShelle

 



 

Date Night

So, tonight was date night for J and I.
With 3 hours to spend with your spouse and no kids, what did we do?
We went to watch the newly released movie: 'Courageous.'

One word: Awesome! It is a faith-based movie by the makers of 'Facing the Giants' and 'Fireproof.'

The movie was centered around a team of Sheriff's Deputies from Georgia that all decide to not only be 'good-enough' dads, but to be better dads (and husbands). The movie revolves around what we really need more of: good Dads that are involved in their children's lives and genuinely care enough about them to lead them in the right directions in life.

I can't say much more without giving a lot of it away, but it is a great movie that will having you laughing & crying. I needed more than the one popcorn covered napkin for this movie.

Then after our movie (which was the 4:00 matinee) we decided to go get our favorite Chinese food for supper. We haven't had it since before I became a SAHM, so it was a real treat! I enjoyed every calorie laden bite & even had a few bites to bring home and love tomorrow for supper.

And finally, a trip the old Mega-Mart to get some ice cream for dessert. We also picked up B's birthday present, but I will let you know more about that in 30 days when he turns 4. :(

BTW: we also got a new member of the family today. His name is Slick & he is a terrior mix of some kind. The best part; he is already house broke, so no potty-training the dog; which is great since we just got done potty-training the almost 4 year old!

Until next time & go watch this movie,
MommyShelle C

Love

I heard this song a little bit ago on my lunch break. I really like this song and it has such a powerful message. In a time in which Love & Marriage are taken lightly, I want to remind us all what it really is:

Love is not a place
to come and go as we please
It's a house we enter in
then commit to never leave

So lock the door behind you
Throw away the key
Work it out together
Let it bring us to our knees

Love is a shelter
in a raging storm
Love is peace
in the middle of a war
And if we try to leave;
May God send angels to guard the door
No, Love is not a fight
but its something worth fighting for

To some love is a word
that they can fall into.
But when they're falling out
keeping that word is hard to do

Love is a shelter
in a raging storm
Love is peace
in the middle of a war
And if we try to leave;
May God send angels to guard the door
No, Love is not a fight
but its something worth fighting for

Love will come to save us
If we'll only call
He will ask nothing from us
but demand we give our all

Love is a shelter
in a raging storm
Love is peace
in the middle of a war
And if we try to leave;
May God send angels to guard the door
No, Love is not a fight
but its something worth fighting for.

Cause I Will Fight For You
Would You Fight For Me
It's Worth Fighting For

This song is by Warren Barfield and is from the Movie "Fireproof." If you haven't watched the movie; watch it. If you haven't heard the song; find it and listen.

That's all I have to say about that!

MommyShelle C