lots of thoughtful baby gifts

I love this card that came from my sixth grade math teacher and her mom. Inside it read, "Just be yourself."

***

When it came time to open presents at the baby shower, I knew I needed to be considerate and speedy. It's fun to watch someone else open presents...for a while. And then it just gets a little long. My goal was to open each card to see who it was from, open the gift, thank that person sincerely, hold the gift up and move on to the next present. I told the ladies, if you get bored, simply watch my magical inflating feet. They will double in size before your very eyes. (And they did. They do not disappoint...)

This meant that I wasn't able to read every card (because viewers get bored when watching other people silently reading) while at the shower. But now that I'm writing thank-you's I have been reading these thoughtful words, and I came across two gifts that I hope to duplicate myself for other mama friends. A breastfeeding kit. My cousins Sarah and Kathy gave me this and I think I love it so much because it is so mama-centered. These luna bars are for me. And this adorable water bottle?!! I love it! The cream and pads came highly recommended and altogether the thought and creativity that went into putting this kit together is adorable. The card explained each part of the kit and why it was chosen.

The Mom-Tool. My friend Anne gave this to me with this humorous little flip book, explaining how a mama would use each part of this swiss army knife. The flip book reads as follows:
- Tweezers: Use for removal of small objects lodged in child's nose or ear. ie: beads, beans or pebbles.
-Scissors: Use for cutting a drinking straw for child's drink which prevents multiple spills down the front of the child's shirt. (Hint: cut about 1/3 off)
-Nail File: Mom's new self-care tool-perfect for grooming her own nails while waiting for the doctor.
-Screwdriver: Use for removal of batteries in most children's toys.
-Key Ring: So Mom always knows where the Mom Tool is located.

grandma's caramel rolls

I have to begin this post on caramel rolls with a confession. I am a bit phobic of yeast. Not in a I'm-afraid-it-will-beat-me-up-in-a-dark-alley sort of way, and not even the fact that it is alive and living and tiny. My fear comes from what I might do to the yeast. What if I draw too hot of a bath for its survival? What if the water is too cold? What if the yeast hates me and then all of the work I went through to make the bread is all for nothing. I think about these things and usually opt for making things like monkey bread instead of homemade caramel rolls.

But Grandma was in town last week, and since she has been best friends with Yeast for 93 years now, it seemed like she might be able to introduce us with the most success. After all, I have made caramel rolls with my grandma a number of times throughout my childhood. (Although it should be noted I have never made them while 9 months pregnant. I was utterly exhausted by the end of our baking time together! I had to sit down a few times while my, again, 93 year old grandma stood and washed the dishes by hand!)

We were at my mom's which meant we didn't have a Kitchen Aid. And not having a Kitchen Aid meant that we had to stir in the flour by hand and knead it forever.

The stuff was so sticky. But not for Grandma. Everytime Grandma touched the dough it would become lovely and smooth. She kneaded with ease and made it look so, so easy.

And then she'd let me have a go. And within seconds, the dough would turn to sticky goo, stuck between my fingers, attached like cement to the counter. I was so awkward! This clearly is some sort of practiced and perfected skill and I am a novice. But I did improve over time, and I think Grandma saw some promise in me by the end...

Here she is, fixing my goo back into bread dough.

I kindly let Grandma finish kneading and I moved onto melting the caramel goodness over the stovetop so it would be ready for the rolls.

She rolled our dough and spread butter, cinnamon and sugar all over.

And then we rolled it up.

We cut them up and placed them over the melted caramel mixture.

Then I had to leave in order to make my baby appointment, so Grandma and my mom finished the rolls and brought them over later that night. And I ate more than one. And the baby jumped for joy all night long. Thankfully, I was wise enough to freeze most of them so we'll have some good treats for after the baby comes too.

Grandma's Caramel Roll Recipe:
1/2 cup very warm water
2 T. dry yeast
1 T. sugar
Mix together in a bowl, cover and wait for bubbles to appear.

In a different bowl combine:
1 1/2 cups warm water
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups flour
add yeast mixture to this bowl. Beat 2 minutes with a mixer

Add to this mix 2 eggs, and beat for 2 more minutes.
Then add 1/3 cup soft butter
Beat for another two minutes

Blend in 4 cups of flour gradually. If in a Kitchen Aid the mixer can handle this. Otherwise, stir in by hand. If you're 9 months pregnant, your breathing might become labored...

Put 1/2 cup flour on countertop and knead the dough for a VERY long time. If you mixed in the Kitchen Aid, you will not need to knead it for so long.

Place dough in a buttered bowl and cover with a towel under a warm light. Let rest for 20 minutes. If you're 93, you might do the dishes during this time. If you're pregnant, you might sit down during this time.

After 20 minutes, knead the dough again. Roll out into rectangle and spread butter, cinnamon and sugar on the dough. Roll into a long log.

In 2 buttered pans on the stovetop, melt the following together:
1/3 cup butter melted slowly
1/2 cup brown sugar
After melted and combine together add
1 T. Karo Syrup

With a scissors, cut the dough into 3/4 inch rounds.
This recipe will make 2 pans of rolls with 15 rolls in each pan.
Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or so.
ENJOY!

things I don't want to forget

This weekend we got the nursery put together. And I love it. I love getting to dream and vision and then to see all of those ideas and creative thoughts come together. The room is happy, bright and peaceful. Look for a full picture tour at some point on this blog...

I have spurts of energy, usually timed about every other day. I will push it one day and the next my body will kindly tell me that we're not going to do that again. Thursday, Saturday and today are busy days. Friday, Sunday and probably tomorrow will be reading-in-a-glider-rocker days. I told my brother today about this cycle and he explained that even on the lay low days I am still very productive as I am producing one product at all times, even while laying on the couch. I loved that perspective.

In the last week Rory has replaced the nursery windows, painted the sills, built a dresser, built a crib, put up shelves, installed the carseat, put together the stroller, replaced a light with a ceiling fan, assembled a glider rocker and hung all sorts of things on the walls. Next are the blinds and curtains. He is really making me happy...

You should know that all of those listed items above come in large boxes with lots of packaging. When you think about how tiny a newborn's footprint is and compare it to the baby's carbon footprint, I believe the later is quite a bit larger. Sorry earth. We do recycle.

On Saturday I washed everything for the baby in Dreft detergent. Which means that I got to fold my first loads of baby clothes. Melt my heart. I have never, ever had such joy in doing the laundry in my life. Tiny, tiny, tiny.

Last week we had our last night of baby classes. Our final task was to bathe, change and swaddle our cabbage patch kid dolls. Except the mama's couldn't talk and the daddy's had to do it all. Rory was so gentle with that baby doll and I couldn't get over how mushy my heart got watching him put a diaper on cloth-dimpled doll legs. I cannot wait to watch him use this same tenderness with dimpled wiggly legs.

I'll try this again...

I am excited to put up this slide show, but Photobucket thinks I want the pictures to show backwards of their chronological order. And if Photobucket knew me at all, Photobucket would know this would drive me insane. I tried posting and reposting five times this morning, and I'm not sure what the dealio is. Then I went and took a three hour nap.

Until I figure this out, here is a link to the slide show with the pictures in their proper order. (My North Shore pictures also displayed last picture to first...anyone use Photobucket and have any tips?)
Click here to watch the Slideshow. and enjoy!

one colorful baby shower

Alright. I've got a few pictures, and I think they sort of sum up the tone of this shower. Somehow the party planners took my quirks and oddities and turned them into a really good time. The room was decorated with paper chains, in honor of my love of a good looped countdown. They were gorgeous and made sort of a tent for the celebration.

I called this the mother of all baby showers, because it was all of my worlds come together. There was Cedar Valley Church family there, Shepherd of the Valley Church family there, Bredberg, Harrington and Groves family there, friends from Mount Carmel, friends from Flathead, and even my third grade teacher, sixth grade math teacher and 10th grade English and History teacher.

Mrs. Ice (3rd grade), Mrs. Groves (10th grade), me and Mrs. Johnston (6th grade)

To have this many women together to love on and support this little life growing inside of me was fantastically overwhelming. When God set us up in community, I believe this is exactly what he had in mind. I felt so affirmed and loved and supported as we prepare to step into this new season

I'm adding these next two pictures, because they basically sum up my mood the entire evening. I was quite excited, all night long.

Sara gave a very thoughtful devotional, focusing on the different roles each member of the family brings to the whole. She referenced The Art of Family and Real Love for Real Life and I have a feeling lots of ladies there will be ordering these books real soon.

The cake is worthy of a post all of its own, but I'm dying to share this one. First of all, this was my face when I saw the cake:

And my face looked like this, because this is what I was looking at:

Remember the Scandinavian wall hanging we are going to have in the baby's nursery?

Unbelievable. I still can't get over the colors and detail that was put into this cake! And this is how the whole night felt. The thoughtful details, all of the prep that went into every part of the shower, and the special touches were perfect. Lisa, Sara, Beth and Marlene pulled together one of the best parties of my life. I can't thank them enough. And I can't believe we didn't get a picture! But we did get this one, with all of the lovely ladies who helped pull the night off.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you to Sara, Beth, Carleen, Lisa, Maddie, Melanie and Dawn! (And Mom Groves!) This baby has so much love awaiting its arrival!

The mother of all baby showers

I am imagining our neighbors just now as they looked out their window, "Hey, come look at this. Becca is very pregnant in her pajamas and taking pictures of balloons. When is that baby due again?"

***
Last night our little baby-to-be was celebrated big time by one fabulous baby shower. I have no pictures from the evening, but will get them from others so that I can show, rather than just tell.

But let me just say that the night was more fun than I could have imagined, more colorful than even I could dream, and with more considerate thought going into every detail than I could comprehend. I literally could not sleep last night. I was wired. I told Rory all about it, and at 2 in the morning I still had a grin on my face as he tried his first attempt at deep breathing exercises with me. Then I was up at 4:30, just excited to see all of the new baby things that had been generously given and I began creating a game plan for where each thing will go in the nursery.

Lisa, Sara, Beth and Mom Groves hit this one out of the park and I'm so excited to share every detail. They outdid themselves, which is saying so much, because they always are outdoing themselves.

More than anything, to be surrounded by that many women ready to support, love and help us raise the little life inside of me made me feel strong and able. Rory and I are not raising this babe alone- we've got a deep, faithful and supportive community ready to love and help shape this life right along side of us.

sugar cookies

Last February I made frosted sugar cookies during the Super Bowl, and I remember thinking it was so fun to make these typical Christmas cookies at a different time of the year other than Christmas. This week I decided to make them again, since I have super cute fall cookie cutters and every magazine I see seems so inspired and festive for the change of seasons.

My favorite recipe as of late is my sister-in-law, Sara's. This is saying a lot, because my great grandma Anders has held her own as the favored sugar cookie my whole life long. The truth is, they're two very different cookies. Great Grandma's are the kind of sugar cookie where the dough must be cold when you roll it out, it falls apart easily and when you eat them, they literally melt down on your tongue they're so filled with buttery goodness. I love them, but they are a project to take on. You've got to be committed and patient with the super fragile dough.

Sara's are a different ball game altogether. They keep their shape perfectly. The dough is so easy to work with, and the thicker the cookie (in my opinion) the better. They only need to bake in the oven for five minutes, and the recipe doesn't make a ton of dough so making them is not an all day process. In fact, I made and baked these cookies in a bit over an hours time and had the dishes loaded in the dishwasher before an hour and a half had passed. Then I stuck the cookies in the fridge so that I could decorate them today.

These are milk dunkers for sure. Coffee is even better, if you like the stuff. They can soak up a lot of goodness before you take a bite.

Here is Sara's recipe:
1 c. butter
1 c. sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
3 c. flour
2 tsp baking powder

Cream butter and sugar, on low beat in egg and vanilla. Mix in flour and baking powder a little at a time. Do not refrigerate. Dough will not roll if cold. Cook 6-7 minutes at 400.

*I was able to fit all of my cookies onto four trays. They do not spread, so you can put them fairly close together. I also only baked mine for 5 minutes and they came out great. I really appreciated that the recipe only makes about 4 dozen. It made for quick cookies...

Cream Cheese Frosting:
I deviated from her royal frosting recipe, making my own favorite cream cheese frosting. I added enough milk to make it a bit runny and glossy. And then I used those Wilton's food gels to really punch up the color. Again, I apologize if you are anti food coloring. I just really like the brilliant colors!

cream cheese
powdered sugar
vanilla
milk

I have no recipe or real method to this madness, other than I think the milk helps it look shiny and I usually whip it with my kitchen aid for a few minutes, adding milk and sugar until it looks about right...

My favorite cookie cutter in this mix is the squirrel I got at Betsy's wedding reception. Grey frosting seemed a bit yucky to me, so they are a sweet purple in the midst of all these brilliant colors.

candy wreath

I bought these corn candies after seeing the Women's Day magazine with a cute corn candy wreath on the cover. Seemed doable, seemed adorable, seemed like an easy project to attempt. Only problem is that the rest of the bag has been mysteriously eaten. And this cute dish is almost gone too. I don't know who keeps eating them around here, but Rory is not a huge fan which makes me a bit suspicious of myself.

me and the dmv

A few tips from my week at the DMV:

1. Plan your day as if going to the DMV is the main event. Go get a new magazine and grab a hot apple cider before you arrive. Because the DMV will end up being the main event of your day, whether you are in a hurry or not. So sit back, settle in, and just wait for your lucky number to be called. It's going to be a while.

2. Plan on going to the DMV two times. For real. I don't believe I have ever been there when I haven't gotten to the front and they say something like, "and do you have two certified pieces of mail addressed to you at this location?" What? No. I have my license here, my car insurance, title to my vehicle, checkbook...

This week I truly planned on the second trip, so my rejection at the first one didn't bend me out of shape. I had even told Rory that morning that I was doing my preliminary DMV visit today. Now deep down I was hoping it would be my only visit, but when I had to return home without plates and a MN license, I was relatively less annoyed.

3. And a final bonus thought: it's not really fair to have to take a drivers license picture when you're 9 months pregnant. A bit round in the cheeks, I'd say. But, they did let me make up my own weight based on not being pregnant, so now I'll have a little piece of plastic with a magical, hopeful, dreamy number written in. Maybe, one day...

enter to win!

Rory is celebrating the 10 year anniversary of his company Swift Weather this month. It's a pretty big deal and we're excited about hitting such a landmark.

To celebrate, he has put together a month of weekly giveaways on the Weather Defender Blog. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment answering the question that pertains to the giveaway. The giveaway for this first week is awesome...and I really want it myself. But Rory told me that I can't enter because it would look bad if his wife took the loot. Point taken, but this thing is cool... and it retails at $99:

That said, I would LOVE for YOU to enter to win. It would please me to no end to see someone I know take some of these great prizes for themselves.

Just click over to The Weather Defender Blog and answer this question: Have you ever had a close encounter with Severe Weather? A winner will be picked on Sunday, so bop over now, and drop Weather Defender a line. :)

can you imagine?!!

Mom Groves just sent me an email filled with pictures of Holland in May. She said the pictures reminded her of the rainbow cake. Just look at this picture! Hello Life List...I must go here some day. I can't imagine seeing these tulips first hand.

Actually, I know that Washington grows a lot of Tulips too..and that might be more realistic than Holland and could easily be done as a trip to see my brother and his family. Hmmm...I think Rory is going to hear about this idea at lunch time.

36 weeks

Monday marked our "one month countdown" (give or take...can't make a paper chain for a due date I'll have you know.). Went to the doctor and was told, "the baby has dropped!" I have no idea when this happened, but I do know that in the last week or so I have started walking with a bit of a waddle, and I'm thinking this might be why (?!!)

We went to our birthing class that night and toured the hospital. A whole new reality came into focus and Rory and I had a really good talk about beginning to feel how this is going to change our lives forever, while still not sure what that means. But we're excited about this change and starting to actually feel a bit more mentally prepared.

We finished our baby registry at Target and Babies R Us as well that day. Let's be honest: I have no idea what I'm scanning and for what reasons. There are parents out there with spreadsheets and consumer reports...and that's great. But Rory and I operate a bit differently. Prices were either reasonable or offensive and decisions were made accordingly. Mostly we just wandered each aisle saying things like, "I like these colors together." "Okay, good, scan it."

Last night we went to my cousin Mark and Kathy's for dinner. They are our neighbors now! Just 15 blocks away and it is a dream come true. Mark made the most amazing supper for us (the lasagna had SEVEN cheeses in it and he broiled the pears for the salad!) Then I whipped out my LeSporte Sac with crayola markers from sixth grade and made Kathy draw on my belly.

Deliverance.

On Sunday we were all set to put up the crib. We've had it in the box for a while now, and Sunday was the agreed day to assemble the thing, since this project has been burning on my heart for weeks now.

But then I started to second guess the crib we got. It's adorable with a curved back, but suddenly I wasn't so sure I wanted a curved back. Maybe I wanted a flat back. You know, how would pictures look hung over a curved back. Wouldn't the lines be nicer if it were a flat back? I hemmed and hawed over such life-changing decisions aloud to Rory and he said he really didn't care. He was fine either way. I continued to lay out my case to him some more and then Rory grabbed the electric hedge trimmer and went in the backyard and took out three bushes. When I went out to check on him an hour later, he was breaking a sweat, digging the roots up with a shovel and had filled five yard bags with bush parts from all over the backyard.

I had a conversation with a Groves family friend, Joanne, at church on Sunday all about how crazy it is to live with raging hormones. I don't usually deal with such mood swings and extreme indecisiveness in my not-pregnant state, and so I am very aware of how crazy-short my fuse is, and how crazy-unpredictable my actions are in this last month of pregnancy.

Joanne told me there is a reason they call it labor and delivery.

Ah, yes, deliverance. That surely must be Rory's daily prayer: ...and deliver me from this crazy lady. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory...

In the end, we still have the crib I like the best nicely boxed in the nursery. I missed my window to get the thing built on Sunday. But on the other hand, we also have a nicely manicured back yard. Give the boy one more month with me, and we may not have a single bush left back there.

happy weekend!

I'm spending the weekend with my high school bff, Heidi. I called her about a month ago with a dream in my heart and knew she'd be the one to jump on board. You see, Heidi is also pregnant, due with her third, and I just kept imagining us spending the day at Water Park of America, not going down the slides, but instead floating our enlarged selves down the lazy river and riding the tides in the wave pool.

So that will be us today, stuffing our pregger bodies into inner tubes, ready to float round and round and round on the lazy river.

I'd like to thank the academy

My friend Jamie awarded me with this sweet honor a while back and I am now just responding to the duties that go along with such a title. The first thing I did after receiving this trophy was look up the definition of Versatile, and found that my blog has "great diversity and variety" and that I am "able to move freely in different directions."

I thought this word Versatile is probably the kindest and most accurate way to sum up my blogging. Other words that come to mind might be: scattered, random or whatever-floats-my-fancy. But Versatile sounds very nice. I had a good friend tell me this summer, "I like your blog because each day I have no idea what you are going to write about." It's true. I've got no real theme or thread...I just write what I'm excited about at the moment. Because I'm versatile like that.

Now there are things I am supposed to answer before I pass this award along, but I think I might make them into another post. One of the questions is: if you had one chance to go back and change one thing in your life what would it be? That seems like a real doozer, a good question for another day.

But I will pass the award along to four favorite blogs of mine. The funny thing is that these blogs are all way more focused with a real theme and actual topical writing. But I'm giving them the award just the same...mostly because I really think that you might enjoy these blogs too and I want to make sure you check them out...

1. The B League. This is my cousin Mark's blog, and I love it. He posts two or three times a month and I get so excited when my google reader shows a new post. This blog is all about sports, and yet I love it. This is crazy, because I don't love sports. But somehow Mark writes in a way that is helping me understand why people might enjoy a good game, why people can become fanatical over certain teams and in the process he honestly is increasing my interest through his writing. Crazy stuff, I tell you.

2. Tangled Up in Grace. My friend Meta pens this blog. She is serving in her first call as a pastor at a church just a few blocks from our house. We got together this morning and I just can't say enough good things about her. She's the real deal, and her blog posts are always thoughtful with good stuff to chew on.

3. Journe On. A decade ago, I worked with Sara at camp for the summer and then her brother married my sister and we got to wear matching dresses at their wedding. Sara is fantastic. She's honest, approachable and authentic. Her writing reflects all of these traits and each post leaves me wanting to call her up to talk more about whatever it is she just wrote about.

4. Jack's Directing Blog. Oh this one is pure joy for me. Jack is my nephew and he's really talented with video editing and production. He is absolutely identical in looks to Justin Bieber and made a super funny remake of a Justin video. Jack is in 8th grade, and I am so excited to see him use these gifts in high school and college and beyond. Just remember, you heard of him here first. (his blog isn't showing the videos anymore, so click here to get a feel for the original Justin Bieber video, and then click here and watch Jack's version. So awesome.)

Happy Reading, and Congrats to you four Versatile Bloggers :)

grey or blue?

I have five weeks until my due date and something crazy happened in my head once this countdown began on Monday. Five weeks feels like it might go very quickly. Five weeks makes me feel like we should have a crib set up. Five weeks makes me feel like we should have the nursery windows replaced and the room painted. It feels like if this baby were to arrive sooner than five weeks, this prepared, organized mama would not be ready.

It is amazing how this sort of panic shows itself in a pregnant woman. Every bit of this anxiety seems to come out directly at my husband. And he may or may not find these worries and demands to be naggy, a bit irrational and lacking in patience. But he is kind and loving and, thankfully, has a pretty good sense of humor about my crazy ways.

For example, on Monday, Rory found me in a heap on the couch crying about how I wish I could just do these projects for the nursery on my own. I have a good track record for getting things done: I painted the entire basement by myself. I painted the porch by myself too. But being pregnant, I am just too tired, get overwhelmed so easily and probably shouldn't breathe the paint anyway. But I'm left feeling so unable and I hate that feeling. It makes me grumpy.

When Rory found me on the couch, he laughed and said, "You were so quiet up here, I knew you were either sound asleep or crying sadly to yourself." Which made me cry some more. Sadly. To myself.

But while I was crying, he got up and proceeded to empty the room that is to be the nursery, wipe down the walls, fill the nail holes, tape the windows and then loaded me into the car with him to run to Home Depot to buy the primer and paint. And yesterday his brother Troy came over and they painted the nursery!

Now I don't believe it was my tantrum that got it done. Rory had this one on the calendar, and he knew he would pull it off. I just needed something to worry about, is all. You have no idea how exhausting it is to be this emotional all the time. Because now that it is done, I walk into that room every 20 minutes, tearing up for totally different reasons, dreaming of all the memories that are soon to fill that special space. Rory has taken note of this very manic mood change and I do believe he is just bracing himself for whatever extreme emotion comes next.

We were going for a very, very light, white grey paint color. And the sample really looked like it would be that color. But it is definitely a powder blue in direct sunlight, and a more true baby blue with lamp light on it at night time. But it works. And every time Rory walks into the room he says, "yeah, it's definitely pastel blue. But it's perfect for a baby."

All this to say: 1) the nursery is painted! 2) I'm a crazy lady 3) pray for Rory. He's married to an unpredictable train wreck at the moment. But I'm pretty sure that his pleasant wife is still around here somewhere...she's bound to come back at some point.

I've got another niece!

My sweet-as-pie baby niece, Svea Rebecca Liv has arrived! She is so precious and I feel very, very far away. (Her name is pronounced like Say ah but with a v in there...Svay ah.) I love her name.

Annika and Jedd brought this bundle into the world one week ago today but I held onto the news, wanting to be sure they got to get the word out to everyone first before I blabbed the news on my blog here. But let it be known, Svea is here!

Based on stories from Annika I have been telling people, "it sounds like Mara (age 5) is genuinely helpful and Sonna (age 3) genuinely thinks that she is helpful." I told this to Annika today and she added that Mara is helpful when she's in the mood. :) This is a whole lot of adjustment for those big sisters.

When Sonna was born, I basically moved out to Montana for portions of the summer because I couldn't stand being so far away. But now I cannot travel being so pregnant and I feel so stuck! Sisters of the world, here me now: plan your pregnancies accordingly! I'd give anything to hold sweet Svea. Thanksgiving cannot come soon enough!

postcard pictures

We returned yesterday after four days on the North Shore. We stayed at Cove Point Lodge, celebrating our 5 year anniversary and taking advantage of one last getaway before the baby comes and quiet dinners and not so quiet any more.

The first two days were rainy and windy, which is awesome and cozy on the North Shore. We felt no obligation to ever leave our blazing fireplace or the hottub that overlooked the lake. The waves were huge and we both had good books with an incredible view of waves crashing on the rocks just outside our window. Plus, we stocked up on the best snacks ever: peanut m&m's, white cheddar popcorn, hot apple cider, plums, easy cheese and crackers, cherry-chocolate icecream and honeycrisp (I know!) apples. We didn't ever want to leave our fire those first two days, and so we didn't.

The last two days were spectacular, providing all sorts of pretty pictures with fall colors and a bright blue lake. If you aren't able to make it up to Lake Superior this fall, count this slideshow as one giant postcard from me to you!

(If you scroll over the pictures, an arrow will show up so you can speed through the 50 pics I posted...otherwise the timing is annoyingly slow...)

the promise we made

I think it’s important to know all that I wrote about in Our Love Story in order to get the full feel for my wedding day. Because the truth is, I walked down the aisle on my wedding day with a shadow of doubt. I felt there must be some in the sanctuary who were holding their breath like I was holding mine. Could this marriage work?

I remember talking to my Grandma Harrington once about her wedding day. She said to me, “That day when your grandpa and I knelt on the alter, we made vows to each other. But more importantly we made them to God. Your grandpa and I have lived through good times and bad, and right now we’re experiencing the hardship of sickness even though we have been largely blessed by health. There have been lots of days when I am reminded that I made those vows to God just as much as I promised them to John. And that is what really holds us together.”

My grandma’s words rang in my head during the entirety of our wedding preparations. I sort of fell into a deep trust that our marriage would work because God really was at the center of Rory and my friendship and I trusted Him to hold us together. I thought of Grandma’s words nonstop, feeling comforted that God was a part of this union too, promising His love to wash over a multitude of things.

The wedding day was bliss. Being surrounded by that many friends and family was perhaps one of the greatest joys in my life. It reminded me of what heaven will be like, being surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, people who love us, people who are cheering us on. There may have been some hesitancy, but the day was joyful and fun.

Yet the day was not the happiest day of my life. The happiest day of my life came two days later.

Rory and I were on the north shore of Lake Superior, I had lost my voice entirely and was communicating with strained whisper squeaks. We were walking quietly on a beach, and I felt the weight of the world lift off of my shoulders as I realized that the thing I had just signed up for was simply to spend the rest of my life with this man: the man I loved more than anything in the world, who made life more fun, who always provided thoughtful conversation and whose company I wanted to be in all of the time. All I had done was promise to spend the rest of my life with my very best friend.

our love story

I never, ever would have thought I would marry a guy like Rory. I was looking for an extroverted, liberal Lutheran camp counselor-type, and instead I stumbled upon this conservative, more introverted, republican, pentecostal. I had heard that opposites attract, even sang the song when I was younger. But on a very logical level, my falling for Rory seemed almost impossible.

On another level though, I knew I had found my perfect companion. We weren’t actually opposites. Even though the labels and categories we fit in would make it seem that way, I had never found a guy who matched me in my excitement for life. Our church upbringings were different, but I had found my equal in someone who was striving to live out his life in accordance to his faith. Our political worldviews were hugely different, and yet, Rory was so well thought-out. He had reasons for how he saw the country best run and the conversations we shared were constructive and helpful. He was much more the public introvert in our duo, but this seemed to work out fine because I have enough extrovert for the both of us. Plus, he was funny, which always (even to this day) caught me off guard.

I fell hard for this boy. It was easy to do. He had ambition, morals, a faith that shaped his life, a deep love for his family, and let’s be honest..he was hot. Oh, and he fell hard for me too, which always feels good.

Still, I had voices that made me second guess everything. Voices that I don’t actually think were attached to any human mouths. But loud voices just the same that were saying things like, “Really? A conservative republican? Don’t you know those people are heartless, uncompassionate and selfish?” and “Assemblies of God? The word Wacky comes to mind.” These voices were LOUD and I was confused. Because Rory was painting a different picture that wasn’t heartless or wacky. He was broadening the way I saw people...most especially, him.

I was waiting for the entire world to rally behind Rory and to chant in one accord, “Marry Him! We approve! Marry Him!” But it didn’t really happen that way. Instead, one day my Aunt Jan said that she really appreciated Rory and for some reason, hearing my liberal and Lutheran Aunt Jan approve made me feel like I wasn’t just crazy and blind in love. And then my Aunt Judy told me shortly after, “You'd be a fool to let this one get away”

Very soon after I told Rory that I was ready to get married if he ever wanted to ask. Which is funny, because he had been asking if he could ask for about a half a year before I gave him the green light, signaling that now I was ready to commit my life to him.