My Favorite "Happily Ever After"...

I just completed my 7th wedding this year. I coordinated 4 on my own, and assisted in 3. Every single wedding is so different from the last and they all have their unique aspects. Everybody has their own idea of the perfect "Big Day" and it is so fun to see those little girl dreams play out into their wedding days.

However, I must say my favorite to this day is still MY own wedding.

I did not have a coordinator, I did not have little girl dreams that played out in real life, I did not have it all planned out to a T like you think I should. Instead my wedding was a BEAUTIFUL mess.

A little bit of a timeline - Jason and I were both in school at CSU and wrapping up yet another semester of classes and finals. We both got all of our finals moved around, so we were able to wrap those up Thursday evening, and fly out to Hawaii bright and early Friday morning. Yes, you did read that right... we tied the knot in Hawaii:) Destination wedding? Kind of but not really. For years I lived in Hawaii from December to May because my parents are snow birds, so it wasn't like we packed up, flew to a resort that had everything planned, and got married. We got to my parents place Friday afternoon and spent the weekend getting ready and making runs to the airport for more family. We had never met the pastor before the wedding day, but he turned out to be absolutely perfect for what we were wanting. Awesome how God orchestrates his plans like that. We rented a tent, tables, chairs, tableware, etc from a place in town and pretty much just winged it all.

My wedding day pretty much went down like this - got my hair done, picked up flowers which were an hour late being ready, grabbed my dress from the dry cleaners on the way home, and rushed home to get ready. THEN once I was already in my dress I put centerpieces on the tables, did my sister and best friend's hair (bridesmaids), and we all loaded up into cars. Now, I should put a little side note here: we got married in a private beach. While I can see everybody's jaw dropping at "how awesome" that must have been.... it took some serious work. The men all went down to the beach and cleaned rocks up, set up chairs and an arch, and got the sound all set up (a CD player run on electricity from my Aunt's car). Because Hawaii is a lava flow, the trip to the beach involved bouncing around in 4wheel drive cars for about 20 minutes for all of the guests. They were troopers, let me tell you.

The ceremony was perfection. It was as beautiful as they come in my mind.. We had about 35 people there and we tied the knot around 5:30 pm on May 14th with waves crashing in the background. Scratch that - it was probably about 30 minutes later because that is just how it goes when you don't have a coordinator and have a long bumpy drive to the beach.

Afterwards we took pictures and everybody loaded back into the cars and we all headed up to my parent's house for the reception. The reception was BEAUTIFUL too! My awesome family cooked all the food, and we enjoyed a traditional hawaiian dinner followed by lilikoi cake, and Hurricanes. Dancing followed on the porch with the music coming from an ipod playlist I threw together during cocktail hour. Finally, we hugged our favorite people and headed off to our honeymoon.

The timeline went from everything being done around 9 to us finally heading out around 10:30. We almost missed our flight to Kauai the next morning because it left at 10, not 12... I put out centerpieces in my wedding dress, everything was late, half the people saw me in my dress before Jason did, and nobody danced at the reception.

We got married in Hawaii... on the beach... in the perfect dress and a linen shirt, khaki pants, and flip flops. We celebrated with our two families, ate amazing food, got awesome pictures, and loved every second of it. AND ultimately we married the person that God had put on this earth for us. This was and is by far my favorite "Happily Ever After." There may be a few things I would have changed, but in the end I tell my brides - your guests will remember the food, you will remember the pictures and who you married... so think about what REALLY matters.

Elijah Moments

Life is flying bye at the speed of light. It feels like yesterday we celebrated Eli's first birthday, and here we are a little less than 2 months out from his SECOND birthday. It has been such a fun adventure. But I feel like I will never be able to remember all the little moments with him and that scares me. Every day is a new phrase that he has picked up, every animal is a new sound to learn, and every sound is another question.

Some phrases I don't ever want to forget:
"What's dat?" - literally EVERYTHING... sometimes he even asks me when he already knows the answer. I'm pretty sure he's testing me to make sure I know what it is.
"Where'd ______ go?" - EVERY time something is not where he remembered it being, or somebody had to leave..
"What happened?" - EVERY time he hears or sees something that is out of the norm..

Today at lunch I gave him his favorite - a cheese quesadilla - but added refried pinto beans into it. After I set it on the table he looked it up and down and asked, "What's dat?" I told him it was his favorite, a cheese quesadilla. He responded with, "No, that's PEANUT BUTTER!!!"  The horror.. to think I had added peanut butter to his precious cheese quesadilla and was trying to pull a fast one on him. My stomach hurt from laughing so much. He eventually tasted it and decided it was in fact beans, and not peanut butter.

A few weeks ago we went through a phase where he insisted on calling his Daddy, Jason. Every time he was doing something with Jason, or asking where he was, he referred to him as Jason. Quite a few evening football or baseball sessions went something like this - "Nice throw Jason!" "Nice, Jason!" "Nice catch, Jason!"

He will be a wonderful oldest sibling. He constantly tries to control any and all situations. When we are at the park I constantly have to remind him that other children don't have to listen to him, only their parents. When he hears a parent tell their child to get off the playground, or stop climbing up a slide, he takes it upon himself to make sure they heard their parents - "Get off! Get down, right now."

He is a very imaginative little guy. Lately he has been having all sorts of conversations with his animals that are laying around the house. Offering his zebra water, or his huge rubber ducky a sandwich is only the tip of the iceberg. He also tells his tractors to be nice to each other, and tells his giraffe - "No, that's Eli's quesadilla. Don't eat Eli's quesadilla."

Riding 4-Wheelers with Grandma is serious stuff!

Reading books and singing songs are favorite pass times of his. He likes to grab a few books so he has options. Then, he pulls them up on the couch and says, "Mom, read a book... how 'bout Tiger book, no? How 'bout ABC's Book, No? No like ABCs book?" and on and on until we find a book that I he thinks I would like to read to him. Songs go about the same way... "Let's sing Row Row Row Boat (just as I start to sing) NO, how 'bout Twinkle Tinkle, NO... how 'bout Jesus Loves me!"

I'm constantly amazed by how smart and aware he is of everything. If you let him, he can sing all the way through the ABCs, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and a few verses of The Wheels On The Bus (his favorite being the shhh shhh shhh verse). He knows his favorite books cover to cover - one of them - Barnyard Dance (Cockadoodoo Book) has a cow standing on a table about half way through the story, and EVERY time we read it he yells, "Bad Cow!!! Get off table, cow!" He never hesitates to point out a motorcycle, train, bus, truck, tractor, balloons, or water that we might happen to drive by on the road. He is obsessed with stickers and coloring right now, and could do them for an hour if I let him - however he did get carried away when I wasn't looking the other day, and colored blue highlighter all over the rocking chair..? Ooops! Good thing the cushion flips over!

Eli is so excited to meet is baby sister, I can only hope the love and excitement carries on once she has arrived. He loves to blow raspberries on her (my tummy), give her hugs, kisses, and snuggles. And every now and then he will even sing to her.

Three Generations <3

I could go on for days about how much this sweet boy has stolen our hearts and makes us laugh till we cry, but I'll leave it at that for now. We are so looking forward to the next many many years with him bringing laughter and joy into our home, but for now, I want to remember each little sweet moment. They seem to be slipping bye too quickly right now.

A piece of pie..

Well, I said that next up would be apple pie, so I did hold true to that.. I failed however on completing this one last week. My week went from a low rumble to a rip roaring river as far as craziness is concerned. We enjoyed having my mother in law here for the weekend, and then my Mom was here Tuesday-Friday. I did something crazy and decided it was time to knock out my Real Estate Broker Exams, so I signed up to do those on Wednesday. I had heard that they were hard, and I had spent the past 5 months studying to pass them - well, long story short, I DID PASS THEM. The national exam was a close call, but the state exam I passed with flying colors. What a relief - there are no words for the weight that was lifted from my shoulders when I saw the 'PASS' for my score. Then, as if that wasn't enough, my Mom and I painted Ev's room, finished painting Eli's room, and tackled the mess that was left from Eli's younger days - so may clothes all thrown into random boxes and bags. I will take notes from second time around with Ev and sort clothes as we grow out of them, not when I am preparing for the NEXT baby. Yes, I did say next... we do want more than two;)

Anyway, we spent the weekend doing some much more relaxing things like the Farmer's Market for peaches, I got a $8.50 pedicure (winning!), went to a little concert at a local park, AND then I got bit by a spider on my lip and went to the hospital to deal with that... But when all was said and done, it was a pretty great weekend with my two men. I'm starting to realize that we are down to the final weeks of it just being the three of us, and that is a little bitter sweet at the moment. Don't get me wrong, I am beyond thrilled to be having our sweet girl join us so soon, but as we go through each different stage of life, I struggle to leave behind the ones we were just in.. It feels like yesterday I was marrying Jason, then what seemed like a few days later we were bring home sweet Eli, and now we are preparing for Ev. Life is so full of adventures and I wouldn't have it any other way.

But with the new week came a much needed break from the grind stone, so Eli and I made an apple pie and had some friends over. "How To Make an Apple Pie" was one of my favorite books growing up. It is a story about a girl who decides to make an apple pie, so she heads to the market to grab a few ingredients.. Well, turns out the market is closed, so what better decision than to travel the world collecting her ingredients - Italy for wheat, Sri Lanka for cinnamon, Vermont for apples, etc etc... Maybe that book is what triggered my love for food and traveling (and the combination of them both? perfection!!). Eli may or may not have eaten a few handfuls of cinnamon and sugar covered apples, but he was by far the most fun to cook with. He insisted on dumping every cup and teaspoon of ingredients into the bowl.

Disclaimer: I haven't baked a pie in years... I'm not huge into baking actually... It is too time consuming and requires some major patience. I probably opened the oven 5 times to see if it was going to be ready early. So it didn't look like your grandmother's perfect apple pie, but let me tell you... it tasted AMAZING. And having some friends over for coffee and apple pie on a Monday morning sure didn't hurt at all either.

Check back next week for our next cooking adventure! Looks like it's time to head back to the library for our next book:)

Cooking - A Lost Art

I've been realizing more and more lately that cooking has become a lost art. Being able to cook a beautiful meal is something that less and less people know how to do. I get the impression it is because their mothers never took the time to teach them how to cook.

I love cooking.. ask anybody that knows me, and they will tell you that I LOVE to cook. This morning my husband asked me "Why is everything you cook so good?" That was such a huge compliment to me! Pretty much as nice of a compliment as him saying "You look beautiful today." So I got to thinking, how can I pass this knowledge and love for food/cooking on to our children? Well luckily I have been blessed with a son that loves to cook almost as much as I do - actually I think he loves the finished product more than cooking it right now, but every time I ask if he wants to help cook, he is very quick to pull the chair up and help throw ingredients in a bowl.

One thing I KNOW he loves are books... he begs us to read books to him all hours of the day. So I had the idea to combine MY love of cooking with HIS love of books. Today was our first day. There are so many books that talk about food or are written about a particular dish. So once a week I am planning on digging out a new book and making up a new recipe to goes along with the book and getting Eli to help me make it! We had so much fun doing this today.. we even made it to the library for the first time EVER and I got a library card:) SO here is how our morning went ----

We went to the library and picked out a new book called "Strega Nona." While there is not actually a recipe in this book, the book is written about Italy and a girl that lives in Italy and cooks yummy pasta in a magic pasta pot. So Eli and I cooked up some pasta, made our own sauce, and consumed firsts and seconds while reading our new book. It was perfection and I CAN NOT wait for next week!

Spaghetti Sauce

1/4 Yellow Onion

2 Roma Tomatoes

1 T. Olive Oil

3 Basil Leaves

A sprig of Oregano

1 Clove of Garlic

Simmer all ingredients in a pot for 10-15 minutes. 

Place in a blender and puree

Season with salt and pepper

**Optional - I added 1/4 c. shredded Parmesan and it was mmmm mmmm goood!

Pour over pasta and devour like Eli did

Check back next week for Apple Pie!!

Elijah - 17 Months

You guys, the sweetest boy on earth will be 17 months old on Easter Sunday. How? What? Where has the time gone? There have been SO many changes in the past few months I'm shocked. I mean I thought when he was popping out teeth and learning to crawl and walk, that he was changing fast... Little did I know, it just keeps happening. 

He is learning about 5 new words/phrases a day. "Outside!" "Dono(I don't know)" "Ee Ya (see ya)" "Grandma" "Papa" and SO many more are his current words of choice. 

My all time favorite thing that Eli is obsessed with right now is praying. Every time we sit down to eat, or get ready for bed, or even for NO REASON WHAT SO EVER.... He folds his hands until I start praying. As soon as I say "In Jesus name" he says..... "Eema (amen)" yeah my heart explodes on a very regular basis.

This boy is so special to us, there are no words for it. I never could have imagined that my life could so easily revolve around one sweet little boy. Which makes this whole fever thing just that much more challenging. But we push on and he continues to change constantly.

-Happy Birthday My Love-

Today marks 365 days that I have been holding our precious bundle of boy in my arms. Today I feel excited for what our future holds and a little tearful to think that 1 year has already flown bye! I feel as though he was born yesterday and we still have a whole lifetime before he turns ONE.. or maybe that’s just wishful thinking. I do realize the importance of living in every single second though. The first year is so full of firsts.. First smile, first laugh, first teeth, first time crawling, first steps, first word, first cold, first cough, first poopy diaper, first time peeing all over dad and the changing table (nope, didn’t avoid that first). I have no doubt this next year will hold many more firsts, and seconds, successes and fails. But as I said, living in the moment.

My Dad - Grandpa Comerford - holding his first grand baby<3

My Dearest Eli,

We have spent one year with you. It is hard for me to think that one year is already over and in the rearview mirror. God has taught me so much through you. First it’s crazy to me that he can use a little boy to teach so much to a few adults. I first learned what it was like to wake up 8 times throughout the night to change dirty diapers and nurse you until the still-dark-early morning hours. Most people think it is crazy that you could sleep so little and hold a crying baby for hours and still be so happy the next day (on 3 hours of sleep) and still love that baby so much. If it is crazy, then I may be the craziest of them all. When you finally started sleeping through the night there was a HUGE part of me that was scared – is he still breathing? Is he alive? But there was an even bigger part of me that was sad – because like I said, crazy as it sounds, I LOVED rocking in the chair looking at you and falling more in love with you at 2AM. It is a love that I think only a parent can understand, and I pray every person gets the chance to feel that feeling. When you started sleeping in your crib in your own room, well don’t even get me started on that because it basically broke your mama’s heart. At 3 ½ months I felt like my little boy was becoming an adult sleeping on his own “on the other side of the world from me.” Then you got teeth, that added 2 more years to your appearance, and you started crawling, that added 5 years to my appearance ;) Now here you are starting to walk, starting to talk, signing words (please, more, thank you), crawling on the fireplace, crawling out of the shopping cart, winking at people, changing by the second. Every day, every step, every second, I learn more about being YOUR mama. I’m not sure why exactly God chose me to be your mama, but I know he knew exactly the kind of son I needed - The kind that smiles at me in the morning and has me melting into a puddle of joy and tears , the kind that makes me bust up laughing just watching you eat eggs, the kind that teaches me patience (clearly God knew I needed to work on that and a little boy would be my perfect teacher), the kind of boy that teaches me to let go and put it in God’s hands every day. You are quite the little explorer and it scares me to death.. Why you think it is a good idea to stand up on the stairs, crawl out of shopping carts, sit on the fireplace, and eat rocks is beyond me, but I think I am a better person and more forgiving/ understanding because of it. There is a saying, Eli, that when you give birth to your child it is like your heart has been taken from you and is walking around outside of your body. That statement has never been more true. You laugh, I laugh. You cry, I cry. I have learned more about love than I could possibly write down - loving you, loving your daddy, loving God, loving other people. That is the beautiful thing about children they love you no matter what your flaws or beliefs look like, and you are not any different in that area. You are such a lover. Only a child can cruise through Costco winking and laughing at EVERY SINGLE person that walks bye.

Eli, you are such a special person in my life and everybody’s life. You always light up the room. I never thought a little baby could have such an effect on so many people, but you certainly have. I pray that this next year I can continue to learn more from you and about being the “perfect” mama for YOU. I love you Elijah Paul Frink. Happy Birthday my sweet sweet blessing.

Love, Your Mama

crazy-hectic-fun-exhausting days

Today I am realizing how quickly life is flying bye. 

As I wind down my college career, it feels like yesterday that I graduated from high school, loaded all my belongings into my car and headed to Nebraska with my boyfriend. However, as I sit here and look at my calendar, it has been 5 years.

As Jason and I search for a house to BUY, I can't help but remember back to my first time hunting for an apartment to move into with Brittany. Ready for all the excitement that Fort Collins and CSU held instore for us. While that also feels like it was only moments ago, it turns out it was actually 4 years ago. 

Here I am looking forward to this new adventure of owning a home, starting a business, growing as a mother and wife and I have to remember back to my last huge adventure and step into faith I took. 3 years ago, Jason and I packed our belongings into 2 suitecases and jumped on a plane to Australia to have our lives transformed. 

On the 14th of May we celebrate our wedding anniversary.. How has it already been 2 years since we flew to Hawaii, tied the knot, and began this incredible journey of being Husband and Wife? But then when I think of everything that we have been through since we got married it feels like I have been with this amazing man forever! Well, I guess it has been 7 1/2 years..<3

Now, sitting on my couch watching my precious sleeping baby I can't help but get a little teary-eyed thinking that I have been holding him in my arms for 6 months already! It feels like its been about 1 month. But I know that's not possible because of how much my baby  has changed since he was born. 

This little hunk of 6 month old cuteness is:

• 18 lbs
• 27.5 inches
• Sitting on his own
• Has 2 teeth
• Loves eating solids - butternut squash, bananas and teething wafers
• Can get his tummy off the ground, just hasn't quite figured out leg + arm movement = crawling
• Doesn't sleep through the night anymore (wait I said he is a baby, not a newborn right?)
• Flirts with every lady he comes across (Mommy's friends, ladies in the store, ladies at the Dr., ladies at church) Quite the charmer!
• Loves his daddy so so much.. (teary-eyed again)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
   

Clearly, there are a lot of developments in all of our lives right now. Sometimes in the craziness it is hard to find time to spend with God, it is hard think clearly, and it is hard to find balance. This morning as I was feeling completely overwhelmed with what has to happen in the next 2 weeks so I can graduate, a song came on my pandora station. 

After all you are constant
After all you are only good
After all you are sovereign
Not for a moment will You forsake me
Not for a moment will You forsake me.

I am encouraged this morning by God's faithufulness, God's grace and God's goodness. He is constant in our joy, journeys, trials, and crazy-hectic-fun-exhausting lives.