30 Days of Memories: Day 10

Dinner in Steamboat during our girls' weekend. I'm still very thankful that I met them through Hall. I firmly believe people come into our lives for a reason. Part of the reason Hall came into my life was to introduce me to these phenomenal women, for which I will always be grateful.

30 Days of Memories: Day 9

My cousin Tonia just celebrated her 18th wedding anniversary to Steve. Ashinator and Digger were so super cute as the flower girl and ring bearer.

The bridal party got ready in a room with a fruit platter and my Grandma kept feeding Ashinator all the fruit she wanted, not thinking about what was going to happen to her gut with all of that fresh fruit. The fruit started to work their magic during the ceremony, and every so often, Ash would disappear with my mom to the bathroom and then sneak back into line. A few minutes later, she'd disappear and reappear again.

Luckily, it wasn't too distracting and it makes for a cute story.

30 Days of Memories: Day 8

As you have probably noticed, I like cool frames. Mom and Bill bought me this frame after Jay and I got engaged. I still haven't gotten around to having our wedding date inscribed, but maybe I will by our tenth anniversary.

The year we got engaged, we had family pictures taken, which was Jay's idea. He wanted to give his parents pictures of all of us, instead of just doing engagement photos. I love him a lot for that. Marrying into a family with teenagers and a woman who had been divorced for 12 years was no easy feat, but from the beginning, he did his best to include the kids.

Now, in the past seven years, there have been some rough patches, which was to be expected. The kids and I were pretty much it, so to have someone else join the family had its hard moments, but it has worked out.

30 Days of Memories: Day 7

This picture was taken at my cousin's wedding 14 years ago. I only know how long ago it was because of Facebook - their anniversary was last month and I remember seeing it pop up.

They had a Roaring 20s themed wedding, with all of the groomsmen in zoot suits. I'm not much of a seamstress - I can sew and follow a pattern - but my attention to detail isn't quite like my mom's. I spent every night for weeks at my Grandma Mary's house after work, sewing the boys their zoot suits. Grandpa Moe was still alive then, and Grandma and Grandpa would babysit my kids while I was at work in the evenings, so I would go over and spend an hour or two each night sewing while the kids slept on the floor and Grandpa Moe watched Archie Bunker.

The movie The Mask with Jim Carrey had recently been released and Monster was very much enamored with it, so he insisted on his zoot suit being yellow just like in the movies. I couldn't find a yellow zipper, though, so he was stuck with a black one that made me crazy. I could have taken apart his pants and re-set it, but I sewed well into the night each night and got up really early each morning to go to school, so exhaustion just wouldn't allow me to do it.

Poor Digger looks like he hit one hell of a growth spurt, with his gangly arms hanging out of his sleeves, but that was my fault - I didn't measure him well. Luckily, though, neither of the boys were bothered by my decided lack of sewing practice and were thrilled to have their own zoot suits for the wedding.

30 Days of Memories: Day 6

Yes the glass is cracked on this one too. I'll eventually get around to replacing it.

Robs is the one who took this picture at Sovigliano, the agritourismo we rented for a couple of days. The Tuscan countryside is even more beautiful than you can imagine. I had only seen it in pictures or in movies, but neither of those do it any justice.

Getting to the Italian countryside was so good for my soul - and for Robs' too. I found her sitting quietly in the swing in the yard at dusk our first night. I took a picture of her just sitting there, enjoying the peace, but haven't even printed the picture because it seems like an intrusion.

I loved Rome and the cities we visited, but the countryside is magical.

30 Days of Memories: Day 5

Back to Mexico with this picture. I made the kids go out on the balcony overlooking the pool so I could get a good "last day" picture of them. We were all rested and relaxed, but ready to head home. Being on vacation can be a lot of work sometimes.

We went to Mexico shortly after a hurricane had hit Puerto Vallarta and they were still in the clean-up repair stages. The condo's crew worked tirelessly to get the pool repaired. It re-opened about midway through our stay, but I loved the color of the tile so much I stole a piece. When we got home, I took the tile to the paint counter at our hardware store and had them mix up a gallon for my bedroom.

30 Days of Memories: Day 4

Boy am I glad I never promised to do my 30 Days of Memories in 30 days! I would have blown it the first week!

When Hall and I were together, I was the only one divorced with children. I got married at 18 and had Digger at 20, so while I was in my mid-late twenties, my friends (the ones I met through Hall) were all in their early twenties. Hall and I broke up about the time all of our friends were starting to get married, but by that time, I'd claimed my girls. I got to keep them in the "divorce".

I was thrilled when Staci met her husband. In fact, Robs and I decided that we wanted to have a "Staci" relationship when we were ready to re-enter the relationship world. Holding to that thought, of being as in love with each other as Staci and her husband were (are) served me well, and I can honestly say I'm "Staci happy" with Jay.

Staci was the first of the group to have kids. This is a picture of me with her daughter when she was just a new baby. Now that beautiful baby girl is sailing the Caribbean with her mom, dad, and little brother. A few years ago, Staci and her husband sold pretty much everything they owned to buy a sailboat to live on. While I miss Staci so very much, I also love to live vicariously through their travels.