Wow! Five Amazing Years!!

Today I celebrate my anniversary!!!
It has been five rather fun and eventful years since Steven and I got married.  I will forever be grateful that Lorena encouraged me to ask the Bishop if there were funds in the “Single’s Budget” to help me go to the single’s Conference. (Did you even know that there was such a thing??) If I had not asked, I would not have gone to the conference and it would have been another couple months before I even met Steven and I may not have gotten to know him, because we are both shy.  And I was very unsure about being in any relationship anyway after my pain filled marriage and long drawn out divorce the year before. 
Oh, the baggage that each person brings into any relationship…hmmmmm.  In my "monogrammed luggage" you would find quite a bit of anger at my former husband over the broken bones, broken promises and broken dreams for our marriage. Not to mention the experiences and relationships I had had from my family of origin and the boys I had dated in high school and after…each experience shaping me to be who I am.  Then there was Steven’s “totes” of past experiences. His family of origin, his mission, his wife Kim spending their entire marriage fighting kidney failure, kidney transplant and then succumbing to the effects of the disease. My heart breaks for him each time I think of it.  So we came together and are helping each other open the trunks and clean out the junk and save the precious memories and put them neatly back into the smaller, neater, happier box we call our life.
Here are some pictures to commemorate the day:


 One of our first dates. We went to a fall festival with his parents on a double date!! Fun!  We even danced while no one else was…crazy but fun.  He has added so much fun and adventure to my life!







 


We went down to Findlay to my Mom’s to celebrate her birthday and mine (they are a week apart.)  I think Sariah took this picture…this was back before I used digital.  I thought it was funny, so put it here.








 This photo was taken at my Mother’s down in Cherry Log, GA.  We drove down for Thanksgiving 2004.  Steven is wearing the hat I bought him at Cracker Barrel on the way down.  His “engagement hat”…He proposed the day after Thanksgiving as we were packing to come home.  Very sweet and I of course cried and said yes!! How could I resist such a hunk? I have always had a weakness for blue eyes, great smiles and muscles…he’s a keeper.








We were married January 21, 2005 by Bishop Dickerson in the Howell Relief Society Room.  We had decided to wait to go to the Temple as my sealing needed top be canceled first.
What a wonderful day that was!  We had 2 sweet flower/ring girls.
















Tallen arrived April 20, 2006 to make our family complete. Steven was so excited to have gotten two daughters through marrying me and now he had his very own boy, too! Bliss!





We went to the Detroit Temple in 2007 to seal and link our family for the Eternities.  The pictures are all blurry and there were other “blips” in the day but the ordinances are the same and we are striving daily to live as the Forever Family we long to be.

Thank you Steven for the past five wonderful years.  Have I mentioned how thankful I am that God thought fit to bring us together to share this mortal experience as friends and partners?  I have enjoyed the last five years and look forward to growing with you during the next five years and beyond. (The children will be almost gone by then…then the fun really begins!)

**As a side note, let me tell you what this sweet man got me as an anniversary gift.  I have coveted my friends’ Kitchen Aid “VERY fancy” stand mixers for as long as he has known me. So the other night, as we were walking through the store grabbing milk and eggs (so mundane a task) I saw a Sunbeam mixer on sale.  He grabbed it and put it in the cart for me!!  Woo-Hoo!!

I rushed home and made a space of honor on the counter for her to live!  I woke the next morning and made pancakes with it and then oatmeal-raisin cookies to thank Steven for my goodie. 

Much to be Thankful For

The girls went to Grandma Bykofsky’s with their dad for Turkey Day.  They always do. It’s in the divorce decree actually… I’m thankful they had safe travels there and back.

They went down on Wednesday – he drove up from Atlanta to Cincinnati, slept a bit and then continued all the way up to get them.  I’m thankful I didn’t have to drive them down to Ohio and then turn around and travel the same route on Thursday.

Steven, Tallen and I went down to Mimi’s for Thanksgiving.  My sister and her family were also there.  Jaden is getting so big and running around more.  Mom cornered him for a few pictures though. Tallen moves too fast, too much or something…there aren’t many pictures of him - ever.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My brother made the pie Me…trying to get him to eat

I see the “change of the guard” as it were. I remember always going to Grandma Gnew’s for the holidays and then my Mom took over as the years went on.  Now Megan, Edwin and I are taking a greater roll each year and I’m OK with that.  Grandma is not remembering things very well anymore and our days with her here are growing fewer and fewer.  I am thankful that I have had a chance to know Verna Gnew.  She is a good grandma.  I remember getting the cards every holiday with the quarters stuck in it.  Did you get those?? I know, I’m OLD.  The girls remind me often. Meg and I would play downstairs with the piano, the games and watch movies on the TV while rocking on the sofa.  Yup- rocking on the sofa.

I am VERY thankful that my Mom is a great cook and that together as a family we put together a mean Thanksgiving Meal.  Turkey (of course), dressing from inside the bird – it’s the best!, cranberry sauce, green beans, mashed potatoes…I’m sure I have forgotten parts. Meg brought fresh veggies to keep us healthy – but noone had room for them at dinner! My Brother-in-law made cornbread stuffing. I made cranberry-sauce Jell-O cups VERY GOOD and I made 26 AwEsOmE rolls.  There were 4 left when I went home.  Everything disappeared rapidly and then we sat around and talked and watched the boys play and the nocturnal-men sleep in front of the TV.

Adam brought the girls BACK up on Friday for the evening Fantasy of Lights parade.  Miranda sang with the Children’s Chorale before hand and Sariah marched with the middle school band.  I’m thankful we stayed relatively warm…more blankets next year!  I am also thankful that we all stayed SAFE!! Adam changed the “pick up after the parade location” and caused quite a fright for the Mama as I was searching for my first baby as SHE searched for his car on a VERY bust street.  All turned out OK – but we won’t be doing THAT again!! Thankful for text messages, too - so I could express my…disapproval…of the happenings.

I’m thankful for my computer which is becoming more of a tool and a bit less of a toy.  A little bit anyway…I still love to check in with everyone on Facebook and checking out the blogs on my reading list. 

I have of course saved the best for last.  My famiy:

I am thankful for my parents who did the best they could with the child I was.  I’m still not perfect and may never be the person they had planned on me being…but I do my best to live right, to live the commandments, and be the person that my Heavenly Father would have me be. 

I learned to be handy and use tools from my Dad.  And so many times throughout the day, my thoughts go to him.  I SURE do miss him! He was so good at so many things.  Just today, a friend said the same thing to me.  I was so surprised at that!  I feel so un-developed as of yet.  I guess Dad may have felt that way too.  Thus he “never decided what he wanted to be” and kept reinventing himself. He’s been gone for 13 years now and there is still a Dad shaped hole in my everyday life.

I guess I learned how to be a “Woman of the 90’s” from my Mother.  In essence it is to be true to one’s self.  I learned – through trial and error- how to cook in her kitchen.  NOW I’m told that I’m an amazing cook!! I got my first job there in PA when I had just graduated.  I worked for Nora at her home based business “Herbs For Healthful Living” and that alone has made a VAST difference in who I am today. 

I learned from my Mom all the everyday things that moms teach their daughters: To always think before you speak, to sit up straight, that family is MOST important of all, to go to church every week, how to clean my room (I don’t always USE the information…mind you).

I am ever thankful for Megan.  The best sister a gal could have.  We may not see eye to eye (she’s taller) but we weather the storms together and help each other where we can. I am thankful she found her soul mate in Sam.  They are so suited for each other!!!  Sweet Jaden is such a blessing to our family.

Edwin – my 28 year old BABY BROTHER – is a rock to my Mom and Grandma.  He’s one of the sweetest guys I’ve ever met!  I guess that part of that is, that by the time he was old enough to argue and fight with, I had left home…so we get on pretty well.  I like him, he’s neat-o!

Of course, there’s MY rock.  Steven is the best friend I could ever want.  He stands by me no matter what and yet calls me on my mistakes and flaws.  He works hard for our family and does his best. ALWAYS!  THIS is how marriage is supposed to be!  He is an awesome Daddy to all of my children.  For that I am VERY thankful.

My children!  I am in awe of the people they are becoming.  Sariah and Miranda are beautiful young women now!  Where did my babies go??? And Tallen…I can’t keep up with his mind!  Always into things…making a way to get what he needs.  He reminds me of my Dad.  I need to keep an eye on my tools, he’ll be taking apart my appliance soon no doubt!

Did I mention I have MUCH to be thankful for???

Now – to gear up for Christmas!!  Have fun…I know I will.