Answer me this

I'm linking up with Kendra this week! I always enjoy reading her posts and figured it was time to join in. :)

1. How did you celebrate the 4th of July?

We celebrated by heading over to my aunt's house for their neighborhood parade (it's small, but includes fire trucks, police cars, etc.) We munched on raisin or chocolate banana bread and then enjoyed a nice BBQ. I love hot dogs and burgers! Burgers more, but every so often I like a hot dog. :) After hanging out with the family, we headed home for naps, and just stayed in that night and grilled kielbasa. Kielbasa from the farm where we buy our raw milk... and kielbasa that must have had a very high fat content (it was delicious, obviously) and it was smoking... and a few pieces caught on fire. Oops. I don't remember that happening the first time we bought some! We considered heading to a local park for fireworks, but didn't... and one of the neighbors down the street put on a pretty nice display that lasted about 20 minutes. I watched it from the quiet of our back porch... C wasn't a big fan of the fireworks as they were happening, but he's been talking about them ever since. ?!?

Some pics of the weekend:

Happy with Grandma....

and Granddad!

G was very excited to wave to everyone - she wasn't bothered at all by the sirens!

Enjoy it while it lasts kiddos, mama is allergic. 

(Don't tell me that there are hypoallergenic dogs. I have enough to do. ;))

2. Do you sunburn easily?

I can if I'm not careful. I don't often wear sunscreen (gasp!), but tend to build up my sun exposure as the summer goes on. If we'll be out for a long time, I'll put it on... but I gotta get some of that Vitamin D! Fortunately, if I do burn, it turns into a tan. 

3. Hot dogs. Yay or nay?

I eat them (see above). I prefer burgers, and I don't like hot dogs boiled, only grilled. I like them either with mustard, ketchup and relish, or with sauerkraut.

4. Have you ever personally set off fireworks?

Nope. No desire to! The closest I've been is at a party when I was a kid, an once in high school I think my cousin set a few off. But I don't think they were that big.

5. Have you ever jumped off the high dive?

Yup! All the time as a kid! But the pools near us don't have high dives anymore. I told C if he would practice floating with DH this weekend that I would go off the (lower) diving board, but he wasn't tempted. Oh well. The public pool we belong to has a slide... and I really want to go down that. And I have gone down this slide... the Lightning Express at Sandcastle water park... it's 60 feet high. (not me in the picture). I'd do it again. :)

6. Do you do anything weird in your sleep?
I don't think so... but then again, I'm sleeping. ;)
I know I move around a lot, and it takes me forever to fall asleep, while DH is asleep in seconds. Jealous. :)

California Wedding!

A few weeks ago we headed out to California - Yosemite, in fact - for my BIL's wedding. I had never been to a national park before, and my hubby kept telling me I would be blown away. I was. :) I pretty much want to go to ALL national parks now. :) We had a fantastic time with my MIL's side of the family - they all live out there, and the cousins are all close in age, as are the kids! A few from my FILs side of the family made it out as well.

One of the unexpected perks was pretty much NO cell phone reception. Occasionally calls could go through, and a text might pop up a few hours after it was originally sent, but it was so nice to just have that break. We spent as much time as we could outdoors (except for naps), and the weather was perfect. Warm, sunny, with the occasional clouds and drizzle.

We left our house a little after 3:00 am, and drove to the airport. Our direct flight to San Francisco left at 6:00 am, and we arrived ahead of schedule, local time, 8 am. We loaded the kids, and our stuff into a rental van and drove straight to Yosemite, stopping for lunch midway at In and Out burger. I've been wanting to try their burgers for years. They were decent... but I'm not sure what the fuss is about. To starving travelers, though, they hit the spot. :) And the customer service was very good! We stopped quickly at Target as well, because really, what parent can go on a trip without finding and needing something at Target, haha, and then finished up the drive. We met up with my BIL and his family shortly after we arrived, and found one of the aunts and uncles, and a cousin and had dinner. Overall, the kids did well on the flight (they both slept a little), and both slept pretty well (more sleep, yay!) on the drive. We all slept VERY well that night!

The second day (Thursday) we had a great walk around the area we were staying (Yosemite Lodge by the Falls), and took lots of pictures! The rehearsal was that night, and went well - C was the ringbearer, and I was playing along with my 2 BIL who were singing.

Friday was a good day for sight-seeing, so we took the Valley floor tour with my in-laws, and some of the cousins, and one aunt. It was nice to hear some of the history of the park - around 1000 people climb every year, and there really are very few accidents. My BIL and his now wife are hikers. After the tour - it was HOT - we went swimming. How beautiful to be in a pool surrounded by mountains! :) Friday evening was the rehearsal dinner and welcome reception. My new sis A, (BIL's wife seems too formal) is amazing - and her family equally so. They were all so sweet and welcoming and we really just had the best time talking with people we've heard about for years but had never gotten the chance to meet. C ended up taking a late nap and slept HARD throughout the entire rehearsal dinner, welcome reception and slide show. He woke up near the end and ate some fruit, and the most brie I've ever seen anyone eat. :) Fortunately, he did sleep some that night!

The day of the wedding was beautiful! DH & C headed off to hang out with the guys to get ready (DH was one of the groomsmen) and I put G down for her nap so I could get ready. We made it to the chapel, and the wedding, though short (it wasn't a full Mass - a deacon presided) was lovely. My 2 BIL sang the Panis Angelicus and Ave Verum as part of the prelude music, and one of them sang the Schubert Ave Maria. I just love to play when they are singing! :) And C made it up the aisle with the flower girl, though he did pause to say hi to some of the cousins when he was almost to the front. He ended up sitting with some of them during most of the ceremony. As long as he wasn't trying to play the piano (which he desperately wanted to do), I was fine with that! After posing for pictures (C wouldn't smile for me in any of the pictures I tried to take... so I hope the photographer got some!), we headed back to the room for a quick nap for the kids, and then to the reception. 

I should also mention, that G, after months of refusing to eat anything but plain yogurt and the occasional applesauce, (and me thinking she would starve on the trip) decided that tri tip steak and filet mignon were the best. thing. ever. We have a definite meat-eater now, and she is adamant about trying the things she sees us eating, haha. :) Woo-hoo- progress!

Now, for the pictures!

He would have stayed here all day. :)

Fun with cousins!

hello insanity :)

Half dome

Yosemite valley

He wouldn't smile for me at all this trip. Little stinker. :)

The new Mr. and Mrs! They are so perfect for one another!

Pooped. I didn't care that he was flopping down, 

but I was very nervous because it was near the cake!!

First dance

Father-daughter dance. Her dad was just the sweetest man!

Dancing with the flower girl

And with cousin X

The little cousins!

Last day at the park - lower falls

We can't wait to go back! :)

Mary

After Mass this morning, C walked down the steps and I asked him where he was going.

His response:

"I'm going to see Mary."

8 years

I'm a day late posting here, but Happy Anniversary to my amazing husband!!! I can't believe it's been EIGHT years!!!

For fun, and because I don't know that I've posted that many photos of our wedding on the blog, here are some of our special day...

I am so blessed to have amazing parents 

who showed me what it means to love, persevere and have faith.

I don't know what I'd do without my sisters! We have so much fun!

My handsome groom. :)

And coming from a house of all girls... WOO-HOO!! Brothers!!!

Probably getting nervous here. :)

Funny story - the air conditioning was not working in the church. They had it running the entire night before the Mass (which was at 10:30), and it was so hot, and I seriously thought I was going to faint. We knelt the entire Mass, and while I've never fainted in my life, I was convinced for about 10 minutes that I was going to just fall over on my wedding day!! Fortunately, I did not. :)

So happy. :)

After the Mass was over, because our wedding was in the morning and we had a shorter

reception, we didn't do a receiving line, but walked down the aisle and back around to the front for photos. At this point, we looked at each other and said "We're MARRIED!!!!!"

I love my hubby's face in this one! Haha!

Jackpot. I married into an AWESOME family.

My husband's Best Man, M, has been a great friend for years. (He's now G's godfather.) 

I think at this moment, we were all laughing as he was talking about how I used to study Tae Kwon Do. (I earned my second degree black belt in college.) Anyway, at some point 

when I wasn't around, M asked DH if I had ever flipped him. 

He told us all... "(DH) who is always truthful, he looked at me... and he didn't say a word."

We only had the bite of cake that we fed each other, and it was delicious! 

At our 1-year anniversary, the cake was still good, 

thanks to my Mom who had wrapped it well in her freezer!

We were very polite!

Yes, we had that many cookies (and more). It's a Pittsburgh thing. 

And neither of us got a single cookie!

I danced to "My Little Girl" by Steve Kirwan with my Dad.

(It's a random video link, but the words still bring tears to my eyes.)

Oh, how I love this man. 

Happy Anniversary, honey. I'm luckier.