65 Years...

14 years ago Mark and I had been dating for exactly 1 month when he asked me if I had plans for New Year's Eve -(of course I didn't because I had assumed I would be spending it with him - duh!). He asked me if I would like to celebrate his grandparent's anniversary with he and the rest of his family. It was his grandparent's 51st anniversary that year and in the previous years, the whole family would get together and dance, eat, and play games. It sounded like a lot of fun to me so of course I said yes. (I was still gaga over Mark at that point and I think if he had suggested we go mud wrestling I would have said "yes" but that's besides the point!)

 That first New Year's Eve with Mark's family was wonderful. His grandparents practically sparkled with love for each other and their family. I met so many of Mark's relatives and I loved each and every one of them.  (That's the real reason why I married Mark - his family is simply awesome!)

Since that first New Year's Eve we have celebrated with grandpa and grandma some of the time and some of the time we have gone and done other things, but this year is a big year for grandpa and grandma. It's their 65th anniversary and we will be celebrating in a big way tonight.  

The party will be out in Pilot Rock with lots of friends, family, food, and festivities! Grandpa and Grandma don't know everything that is planned and I can't wait to enjoy the surprise with them!

One of the surprises involves some different picture things and somehow I have ended up as the "official" family photographer! Luckily I don't mind one little bit. I loaded up my camera yesterday and we went over to the house and took some pictures. The weather wasn't cooperating but I did get a couple that I liked.

Mark's grandpa, Marvin, is such a handsome devil. He always has a twinkle in his eye as he teases you. But beware - he is a card shark and can "shoot the moon" every time his team is losing in pinochle! 

Mark's grandma, Darlene, is the sweetest person I know and a true example of a "Godly woman". She has the most patient and giving spirit. Each person who knows her can't help but admire and love her. I know I do!

As I look at these pictures again I am still in awe of how strong their marriage is. 65 years... sheesh! That seems like close to forever to me! So many of Mark's and I's friends have struggled or even divorced after only a few years. It breaks my heart each and every time. I wish they could hear the stories of people who have made it work, who really took their vows seriously - for better and for worse - people like Mark's grandparents. 

They've made 65 years look good - not always easy - but always filled with grace and love for each other. 

My wish for all my friends and family is that their marriages will be filled with the same things. Let this new year be a time to renew things in their relationships. Things like romance, thoughtfulness, kindness. My goal is to do the same. To put Mark first, ahead of me and my own selfish desires. To pray for him and encourage him in every way I can. To lift him up and praise him for all that he does for me and the boys. To let him know every single day how much I love him and respect him for being the man that he is. 

Maybe someday, on our 65th wedding anniversary, our grandchildren will be looking at us as the example to live up to and the standard to judge their marriages by!

Happy New Year's Eve and Hello 2012!

Weekly Wednesday Update #2

Please ignore the wrinkled, 83 year-old looking, hand. I have been trying to take a picture of the house from the same spot each time so that I will be able to easily compare the before and after shots but today the sun was not cooperating at all and I was in a hurry.

I always seem to be in a hurry these days!

But no longer! I am officially on vacation now!

Whoot! Whoot!

So anyway, back to the house.

This week was a busy one down at the property.

We had the floor joists all put in and next week comes the floor.

Our friend Bob came out and moved rock into the garage so now it is ready for concrete next week. He also back-filled dirt against our foundation which gives the place a sloped look now. While he was out there he also worked on the road and dug a huge hole for us to bury a tree into.

Here's a better view from the back of the house.

This week was slated for some plumbing work to be done also. Their stands the main sewer line (or poop pipe in layman's terms).

I love how things change each time we go out there! Mark and I walked around on top of some of the "floor" trying to picture how it will look. It seems small to me but that's ok. Maybe it will magically be bigger once the walls are in.

 Maybe my house payments will be magically smaller too once I get the first bill.

A coupon-clipping, Dave Ramsey-following, girl can only hope!

A Christmas Story

This Sunday was the day of our church's Christmas program. All of the kids are included in some aspect of the program and they work super hard at memorizing their lines.

They are taught the whole story of the events surrounding Christ's birth.

They are taught the many different characters that played a part in the Christmas story.

During the rehearsals they are focused and intent, paying attention to the director, and not goofing off.

The day of the actual program? Chaos reigns. Children are putting on their costumes backwards and inside out, running around with wings on their backs and glitter flying everywhere, yelling at the top of their lungs "Where am I supposed to stand? What am I supposed to say?

What are we doing here?"

It was fun let me tell you.

Here is my own little man giving me his best "smile."

Luckily I got a better picture of him while he was laughing at himself. I really don't know how he was chosen to play one of the wise men. Maybe it's because he looks nice in a crown and his grandma is the casting director.

This guy was super pumped about his part. He played a priest named Zechariah who is an old man. He is visited by the angel Gabriel who tells him he will be having a child with his wife Elizabeth. Since his character was an old man, I put cornstarch in his hair to make it look gray.

For about 5 minutes I was THEE coolest mom in the world.

Then I had him put on his hat (turban?) and I lost some of my coolness.

Right before we headed upstairs Mom prayed with the kids after reading to them a verse from Joshua about being brave and not having any fear. It was a great verse but two seconds after praying I heard one kid say,

"I still think I'm going to throw up."

I could speak on and on about all the wonderfulness that is my mother-in-law, but I think I can sum it up by saying that she took this program on without flinching and could truthfully tell people "This is going to be so much fun!".

(I wouldn't/couldn't have done it for all the tea in China.)

The stage was all set.

Caleb was in the opening act and he was so ready. He had been practicing his lines for weeks - in the car on the way to school, before bed while I was tucking him in, while playing Uno with Owen...

that boy was ready.

During the story we had Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus.

Shepperd's.

Angels.

And then it was time for the wise men.

Owen had one line and one line only but you would have thought with the way he puffed out his chest in pride that his line was the most vital and important to the whole story.

"We have followed the story and we will bring worship to him."

Immediately after delivering it, he looked at me and beamed.

Maybe he did have the most important line...

Throughout the story, songs were interspersed and the whole congregation would sing along.

Not to sound too corny but it was beautiful - truly.

At the very end of the play, the wise men come before baby Jesus and bow down in worship.

Owen took a large step (for him) and caught the edge of his toe on the stage and biffed it. Right in front of everyone. He looked back at me and I motioned to him to just kneel down like the other wise men and thankfully enough he understood my rapid hand movements and gestures.  

Later he asked me if anyone noticed and I told him

"Nope, the whole thing from beginning to end was perfectly perfect."

And it was.

Weekly Wednesday Update

I've decided, or I should say, Mark has decided that each Wednesday I will be posting updates of our house. I tend to be so sporadic with my postings that it's probably a good thing that Mark has become bossy about this, otherwise who knows when I would remember to post updated pictures of our building process!

Since last week when the construction started we have seen lots of stuff happen as well as the outside temperatures get really, really chilly.

Last week the footings and stem walls were put in and this week concrete was poured in between the stem walls. The walls are all covered in super thick tarps today so that the concrete can stay "warm" and finish curing. My understanding (and take that with a grain of salt!) is that the next step is to put down a sill plate (?) and then TGI's. Then once those are down, they will put the flooring over the top of.

I could be wrong! Either way, the house is going to sit a lot higher than I originally thought, which is cool. In fact, our builder thinks we might be able to see the creek from inside the house which I didn't think was possible unless the creek was running really high that day.

     Owen wanted to help me take the picture so he is inside the house showing you where the garage is going to be.

This is a lot of fun now that we have really started to build!

My 1st (un)official photo shoot!

'Tis the season to be busy!

Life has been wonderful here at our little homestead.

We are not doing our "normal" Christmas things (advent wreath, a fun-family activity each night, baked goodies, etc.) because all of our stuff is in storage.

Not only is it in storage, it is buried at the very back at the bottom of our storage unit.

Doesn't matter here at the Golter house though because we have decided to just make this Christmas season together a little different.

We have a 2 foot tree instead of a 12. I let the boys decorate it however they wanted so they whipped out their markers and crayons and quickly made every kind of ornament you could think of.

We have scenes depicting snow forts with snowball fights occurring between snowmen.

We have Santa's elves.

We have Santa himself.

They were occupied for hours busily creating! It was great because the Broncos were playing and I was busy watching! (Just for the record I have been a huge Tebow fan since his college days!)

I don't think the boys even noticed that our tree was tiny.

We are focused on blessing others and thinking less of how to bless ourselves. (Our house is finally being built! What more could we ask for?)

In the spirit of giving, when my friend called me up and asked if I would come and do there family pictures I instantly said yes. Well, first she said she wanted to pay me, and after laughing for quite some time, I told her that I would love to take her pictures but that I wouldn't accept any money.

Taking these pictures was so much fun! And everyone listened to me like I was the boss or something!

"Ok, now I want you to stand over here and picture me in my underwear..."

I got great smiles every time!

I was able to practice some of the new techniques I am learning in my photography class and I learned a lot about trying to shoot pictures of other people that weren't just candids.

Not the least of which was that babies produce a lot of

fluids. I'm talking the spit up and pee variety along with the regular drool and poopy stuff. 

It was quite the crack up!

Here are a few of my favorites from the shoot: 

I can't wait until I can do some more!

(Also, I can't wait until I can save up some money for Photoshop! Then even more possibilities exist!)

Construction has Commenced!

Finally.

Finally.

FINE - AL- LY!

After months of tweaking building plans, getting bids, re-getting bids, going to store after store to price things, submitting plans, getting things inspected, etc. etc.

We are finally starting to build!

I am so excited I can hardly contain myself!

I am working on a Jedi Caleb post, a post about Mark and I's new running goals, and a post about ... couponing! I'm sure you can hardly wait! Stay tuned though, because I will also be posting soon about my photography classes, technology cadres, trainings for a race in March, couponing and my new book club!

My New Favorite

This Thanksgiving has to be one of my most favorite ever.

Ever.

Every minute of it was perfect.

Well almost.

The trip down to the beach was a little lacking in the fun department. It could be blamed on the dog vomiting in the car. Or the bumper to bumper traffic. Or the non-stop poring rain. Or the fact that I, once again in the role of the "Navigator" got us lost. Or that my deodorant quit working right when I really needed it to. But needless to say, once we reached our destination, all that other stuff was forgotten!

This year we traveled to Manzanita with some friends of ours, The Summerfields - Bob, Julie and their 4 children,  and we rented a beach house together. Let me tell you all the things I loved about this trip.

 I loved...Football on the beach. Owen pretended to be Tim Tebow.

 (And so did Mark).

I loved... Mark posing for me so I could practice using my camera on the beach. What a good husband I have!

I loved ... watching our dog have the time of her life and act like she was a puppy again.

I loved ... The weather on Friday and Saturday. No wind. On the Oregon coast you know that is rare! We were quick to take advantage of it and the kids got busy right away digging in the sand.

The kids would dig and dig and then wait with anticipation for the waves to come so they could see how their castle fortifications would hold up.

 I loved ... Seeing how much fun they were having. It made my heart sing it's own happy song.

I loved ... How men will be men. Bob and Mark braved the cold weather and got wet. They kept their sweatshirts on mind you, but they did hang out in the surf for a looooong time solving the world's problems.

Sierra was the only girl brave enough to join them. I used my camera as an excuse!

 I loved ...hanging out with people who we have so much in common with. We had the best conversations over food, games, movies, and just hanging out.

The two of them have a love for each other and their children that is awesome to see.

I loved ... How effortless everything was. A truly relaxing vacation can be hard to come by but I found it this week and while it was hard to leave, it was truly a Thanksgiving to be thankful for!