a dress.

My Grandma Marvel passed away 10 years ago this past August.  At times it seems like she has been gone for so much longer.  My life has changed so much and I have grown so much as a person since I was 23.  I think of her often and reminisce about times that we spent together.  These memories flood in a different times; like when I am playing a card game with Cash, and I can remember playing Gin Rummy with her in our kitchen on a day she came to visit.  Or on a day I make a tuna sandwich I think that that was her "go to" lunch when we would go down to see her.  I have special things throughout my house that were hers and I am reminded of her sometimes on a daily basis.  She told my Mom towards the end of her life that she didn't want to be forgotten.  I think that is all we really want, to not be forgotten about when we are gone.  To know that our lives made an impact on others, to know that our memories live on long after we are gone. 

 

I acquired her wedding ring after she passed.  It is white gold and is a perfect vintage piece of jewelry.  Scattered in my kitchen cupboards are Pyrex mixing bowls, measuring spoons that she used in her motorhome while camping, and her wedding dishes.  I have seen newer pieces that would easily replace these certain items, but the memories of her each time I pull them out are priceless.

 

One item that has opened thoughtful conversations between my Mom, Andrea, Aunt Tina and I is my Grandma's wedding dress.  My Aunt Tina took it on one of her trips down to California.  It is beautiful, capped sleeve and billows of crinoline.  It weighs a ton!  Nobody is quite sure what to do with it.  I didn't wear it on my wedding day, and Andrea and Amanda haven't shared much interest in wanting to wear it either.  So the question of what to do with it always comes up.  We have talked about each taking a snip of it and making a pillow, or whatever we each chose.  In a Pinterest search a few weeks ago, I saw that someone had made a Christmas tree skirt out of theirs.  I thought that was a pretty cool idea.  Something special that is made into a family heirloom of sorts that can actually be used.  Genius.

 

I think that everyone has high hopes of passing down their own billowy white dresses to the next generation.  But, really, our Mom's dresses aren't the right kind of "vintage".  I am sure Clara won't want anything to do with a hideous strapless gown when the time comes for her.  So in my search I stumbled across a photographer that had taken a picture of her daughter in her wedding dress every year since she was little.  So I thought I would give it a whirl.  I dressed her up, pinned up the back and started snapping.  She cooperated for a bit and I got a couple good pics. 

 

So the question remains...what do we do with our wedding dresses?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

homebound

The last week in this house has seemed to drag on forever.  Being homebound with a 5 and 2 year old can be quite wearing on a person's sanity.  Most days I do ok with the mood swings of pre-schoolers.  The last few days though, I feel like I should be opening up my own wing in the states mental hospital.  To top it off, Angus was neutered yesterday.  Nuts cut, ballectomy, whatever you would like to call it...and his dew claws were removed.  This adds a whole new craziness to the house, since he is a chewer by nature (we have already had to replace his rabies tag since he chewed the hell out of that!)  and it feels like every 5 minutes I am telling him to stop chewing on his bandaids.

 

 

Clara seems to have gotten hit the lightest with the sickies.  The other day she was whiny and clingy and I quite frankly was getting a numb left hip and arm from totting her around all day.  Best solution for a cranky kid?  A bath!  So I filled up our huge bathtub with vapor bath bubbles and plopped her in.  I thought turning on the super cool jets would be an added bonus...wrong!  Scared the crap out of her and Angus. Oops!  Lesson learned, no jets for the 2 year old!  I managed to smooth it over with cups of "bubble coffee" that she made for me.  Angus came in for his own cups and she gladly served him up some too, with some smooches for the road.

 

 

 

 

Happy 2014

This post has been sitting in my draft box for the last week.  I had such ambition and high hopes of keeping things up to date with the new year. Then along came Thursday after New Years and we were slammed with a nasty flu.  I swear, I haven't been this sick since before I had the kids.  I got it first and Cash got it a few days later.  Clara seems to have picked up a milder version of it as of yesterday.  We have been homebound for 4 days and I am going crazy!  Although, I must admit, I'm still not feeling much up to doing anything outside the house.  Whatever this crud is, it's a real ass-kicker.  Cash and I have both had temps of 101 at sometime or another.  I had horrible chills/bodyaches (thankfully Cash never complained of either one of those symptoms...so I am glad he didn't get that portion of it!)  and this nagging, hacking cough that he and I have.  BJ has so far **KNOCK ON WOOD** hasn't come down with it.  We are hoping at least one person can be spared ;)


Onto what this original post is for...twenty-fourteen! We were invited to our neighbors house to have snacks and drinks on New Years Eve.  They have two kids that are our kiddos ages and they all get along really well!  It's nice to have a family close by with kids the same age!  We lasted until 9 when Clara was over it, and we walked back home.  I didn't last til midnight (big shock!) I think the only time since kids that I did make it to 12 was when I happened to be up nursing one of the babies!  Maybe some year I will be able to stay up again! 

On New Years Day we decided to take a Jeep drive up to Hyalite.  We hiked a little ways up Grotto Falls until the kids got tired.  It was a beautiful day!  Angus tagged along and was able to be off  his leash for a bit and he was fully enjoying himself! 

On our way out, we stopped and helped FOUR stuck vehicles out of the snow!  I told BJ that we surely were starting 2014 off with some good Karma! 

Goodbye 2013

It seems the older we get, the quicker time goes by. So cliché...I know!  Actually, all of my life I have hated my birthday.  December 29th is smack in between Christmas and New Years and often my birthday parties were sparse.  My birthday pictures are a sprinkling of friends with mass cousins all around.  I complained often...probably too often that I hated my birthday.  That a summertime birthday would be so nice.  My Mom's answer would always be the same "sometimes you just can't plan those things."  I never got the full impact of that very statement until I became pregnant with Cash, headed to my first appointment and was given the due date of December 8th.  Point taken, Mom, point taken ;) 

It was just this year that I think I had the realization that having a end of December birthday is actually kind of cool.  I mean, you get all the end of years festivities, a birthday and then BAM, it's a new year and I get to start all over with another year of knowledge and learning under my belt.  I think that 33 is going to be a good year!  It's taken the last few months to realize some things.  A few nips and tucks if you will, to see the big picture.  To enjoy things a little more than I was. 

A re-cap and some highlights of our 2013....

{1} We were able to move back to Bozeman!!

{2} Cash started 3 day a week preschool and LOVES it!

{3} BJ's company is in the process of being bought out by NorthWestern Energy.

{4} We went on our first family vacation to Oklahoma for Bobby & Amy's wedding.

{5} Our family is officially complete with Angus!

{6} Clara is talking A LOT...like may eventually give Cash a run for his money...HELP!

{7} Cash played his first season of T-Ball

{8} I took lots and lots of pictures of all these events...when we are old and grey we will love them!

Looking forward to what new adventures and happenings await our family this year.  Dynamics will change as people grow.  Cash will start Kindergarten this year and Clara will learn to grow without her brother by her side.  Cash will grow by leaps and bounds I just know it.  BJ and I will have our 7th Anniversary this year and it will also mark 10 years of being together!  Things always seem to change and evolve and I am ready for what is coming in 2014.

xo
Betsy