BUT…

I love that he takes care of me. I love that he will run to the store to buy me cold medicine. Or candy. Or soda. Just because I ask. I love that he puts gasoline in my car without me even asking. I love that he goes to the store with me because he knows I hate to shop alone. I love that he will pick me up from the bar after a night out with my friends no matter what time it is. I love that he makes dinner several nights a week. I love that is such a good dad. I love that he has such a big heart. I love when he spoons with me at night. I love that he wakes me up every morning to give me a kiss good-bye. I love that he lets me park in the garage while he parks in the cold and has to scrape his windows every morning in the winter. I love that he’ll miss watching football for the kids’ events or a family event…even though he really doesn’t want to. I love that he was a stay-at-home dad for six years. I love that he’s determined. I love that he worked so hard to go back to school and get his degree. I love that he made a commitment to stop drinking and has been sober for over five years. I love that he’s a great role model. I love that he loves me unconditionally. I love that he supports me…even when he disagrees with me.

I love you Lee! Thank you for the last 17 years. It’s been a [mostly] wonderful 13 years of wedded bliss. And I can’t wait for many, many more!

© 2004-2010 The Bean Blog - All Rights Reserved. Visit The Bean Blog for more great content.

Follow me on Twitter @ thebeanblog.
Find me on Facebook and LinkedIn.

However, the morning after the renewal, I was really starting to reconsider my decision to drink peppermint schnapps the night before. Lots of peppermint schnapps. On the rocks.

I don’t remember what time we had to leave for the airport. But I do remember it being way earlier than I would have liked. When I had a hangover. Lee had to basically push me out of bed and in to the bathroom to get showered and ready to go.

My head was pounding so bad and my stomach was sour. I laid on the floor in the bathroom using my towel as a pillow, willing the room to stop spinning. Lee banged on the door, “Are you in the shower yet? I can see you laying on the floor.” So I dragged my sorry butt off the floor and got ready for the airport.

Once we got to Florida and checked in at our hotel (the Wilderness Lodge), we walked passed the hotel bar to get to our room. I almost hurled right there on the carpet ’cause I could smell the peppermint schnapps from the bar. It was a rough trip.

But once I got some sleep (and drank lots of water) I was feeling much better. And we had a fantastic trip. Watching Keaton and Justis get so excited as they dragged us to the next ride or when they saw another Disney character who’s autograph they could add to their autograph book was the best sight ever. It took me back to my first trip to Disney World when I was a young teen.

We went to Magic Kingdom, Epcot, MGM Studios, Animal Kingdom and Blizzard Beach. Keaton and Justis were very brave at just 4- and 6-years-old. They rode all the rides I thought were scary; including the Tower of Terror and the HUGE drop slide at Blizzard Beach. Keaton was disappointed when he discovered he was too short for some of the rides. He wanted to do it all.

At Animal Kingdom the boys each got a big dinosaur toy. One day when we came back to the room after a long day at one of the parks we found the dinosaurs in the bathroom. The maid staff had strategic placed the dinosaurs with toilet paper strung around the toilet and in the dinosaurs’ mouths. It was hilarious. And a great surprise. All Disney employees sure know how to make little boys’ dreams come true.

And then we all lived happily ever after…or something like that.

© 2004-2010 The Bean Blog - All Rights Reserved. Visit The Bean Blog for more great content.

Follow me on Twitter @ thebeanblog.
Find me on Facebook and LinkedIn.

During the ceremony the pastor read 1 Corinthians 13:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Keaton and Justis joined us to light the unity candle. It was such a sweet moment that I will cherish forever.

We said traditional vows …till death do us part… and then exchanged our new wedding bands.

After the ceremony we headed over to our reception. It was a traditional wedding reception in this huge party room behind a popular bar. We had a big head table with all of the wedding party. There were purple and silver balloons all over. And purple candle centerpieces.

There was food. And lots of it. Since our renewal was at 7pm we didn’t have a meal per say. Instead we had lots and lots of hors d’oeuvres.

Of course, there was dancing. Lee and I danced to LeAnn Rimes’ How Do I Live for our first song.

And there was definitely cake. Thankfully Lee and I kept it clean. We didn’t shove the cake in each other’s mouths.

Plus there was tons of alcohol. Oh WOW was there a lot of alcohol. I was really hurting the next day when we were catching our plane for our “honeymoon.”

© 2004-2010 The Bean Blog - All Rights Reserved. Visit The Bean Blog for more great content.

Follow me on Twitter @ thebeanblog.
Find me on Facebook and LinkedIn.

This hanging out the ER syndrome is something Lee passed on to his boys. Especially Caleb. Caleb’s had stitches in his head three times. And on his face twice. He’s also broken his arm. And he’s only 8. He hasn’t even really started playing sports yet. I shiver just thinking about what lies ahead for us.

Last Tuesday Spencer had a friend over to play video games. I have really thought about giving our xbox away to charity because the boys fight over it so much. “Mom Spencer won’t let me play Red Dead Redemption.” “Caleb you’re supposed to go to the left.” “Why did you just kill me.” It’s enough to make my head explode right off my body.

Caleb swears he wasn’t mad [but I don't really believe that...I think they were AGAIN fighting over the video game] when he threw a pair of Spencer’s shorts. He says he was just trying to throw them in to the laundry room [which really is just a throw away from their bedroom]. But the shorts hit Spencer friend.

The friend reacted by throwing the shorts back at Caleb who had turned around and was walking away. The shorts [along with the belt attached] hit Caleb in the back of the head, cutting it open. I was upstairs straightening my hair for my upcoming meeting and I heard them yelling at each other but tried to drown them out. I could hear the friend telling Caleb, “Go tell your mom.” I figured he was just making fun of him for being a tattle tale or something.

But when Caleb reached the bathroom and told me his head hurt, I sighed and told him we’d get him some ice. That’s when I noticed the blood dripping down his neck. I yelled, “OH MY GOD! WHAT HAPPENED?” and then remembered I needed to stay calm or else I’d freak him out.

Caleb was whimpering “Do I have to get stitches? I don’t want to get stitches.” I started to clean up the cut. At first it didn’t look too bad. I said, “No I don’t think it’s bad enough for stitches.”

But after I got all the blood cleaned up I realized he had a pretty deep gash in his head. And YES it likely did require stitches.

It was after-hours for the doctor’s office so we headed over to the closest walk-in clinic. The place was empty so we got right in. The nurse took a look at it. Cleaned it up some more. And then told us the doctor would be in to either put in stitches or staples.

Caleb’s eyes got really, really big. STAPLES! He was horrified.

When the doctor came in Caleb meekly asked, “Are you stapling my head?”

The doctor assured him he was just going to use stitches. But as he was answering the question he turned sideways and Caleb could see the big needle with Novocaine in it. He gasped. The doctor turned to try to hide the needle. But the damage was already done.

We assured Caleb that it would just pinch for a minute and then it would be all numb. All he’d feel after that would be maybe a little tugging. The doctor put in the needle and Skyler & I held Caleb’s hand. That kid sure has a tight grip.

A few minutes later the doctor poked Caleb in the head a few dozen times with the needle. Caleb didn’t even flinch. So the Novocaine was working.

Caleb ended up with three stitches in the back of his head. He was so proud of himself. He doesn’t remember any of the other times he’s had stitches. So he went home and bragged about how brave he was. Now he has a war story to share with all his friends.

Today we went back to the walk-in clinic to get the stitches out. The place was packed today. And it smelled like sickness. You know me and my OCD. I was freaking out. I had to go outside for a little bit to get some fresh air. After about 30 minutes in the waiting room they finally called Caleb’s name. With relief I signed “THANK GOD.”

Caleb’s hair is dark. And the stitches are dark. So the nurse tried to cut them out without also giving Caleb a haircut. She struggled a little bit with the first one. But eventually got it out without Caleb even realizing it. She went to through it away, but Caleb was trying to see it. So she set it next to him. I’m pretty sure he would have taken those stitches home for show-and-tell if she would have let him.

The next two stitch removals were a little bit painful. I could see him tense up a little so I grabbed his hand. He told the nurse, “That one hurt a little bit.”

But the last one came out easy too. So he’s all stitched up. And all better. He’s such a brave kid.

I hope this is the last emergency visit. But somehow I doubt that.

© 2004-2010 The Bean Blog - All Rights Reserved. Visit The Bean Blog for more great content.

Follow me on Twitter @ thebeanblog.
Find me on Facebook and LinkedIn.

My childhood friend Laurie was my Matron of Honor. Laurie and I met in elementary school. She was (still is) a year older than me. She lived in a house right behind my apartment complex. We were best friends and inseparable all through elementary school. Right until she moved to Illinois with her family. I was devastated. But, miraculously, we stayed in touch. We wrote letters. We called each other a few times a year. And now, with all this new fangled technology, we’ve connected on instant message and Facebook.

Lee’s sister Tana was a bridesmaid. Lee has two sisters on his mother’s side. And a brother and sister on his father’s side. But since he was raised by his grandmother and have very limited contact with his parents he didn’t meet any of his siblings until he was an adult. Back in the mid-90s Lee’s mom sent us Tana’s wedding picture. We framed it and put it on the wall with all of our other photos. One day Necole and her then husband Kyle were at our house and saw the photo. “That’s Al,” said Kyle. He was friends with Tana’s husband. So Necole and Kyle set up a dinner date with all of us shortly after we got married. And that’s how we all met. We were so happy to finally have a relationship with Lee’s sister. And to be able to include Tana in our wedding.

Lee’s friends Chad and Dustin were groomsmen. Chad and Dustin are two of Lee’s best friends. Lee has a lot of friends he’s known practically his whole life. They are a tight knit group. Chad and Dustin went to a different school, but lived in the neighborhood just across the street from the neighborhood Lee lived in. [The school lines are a little tricky here in our city.]

Lee’s friends Jaasen, Trent & Troy were ushers. Jaasen, Trent and Troy are some friends Lee’s known his whole life. They all lived in the same apartment complex and went to the same school as they grew up. Trent and Troy are identical twins.

From left to right: Back row is Troy, Chad and Trent. Middle row is Dustin, Me, Lee, and Tana. Front row standing is Laurie, Dave, Necole. Front row kids and kneeling is Kyria (my sister) Justis, Keaton and Jaasen.

My little sister was our flower girl. Kyria is 16 years younger than me. So at our renewal in 1998 she was just 7-years-old. I also have a brother Le who is 12 years younger than me. I asked him to be in the wedding too, but, at 11-years-old, he was too shy at the time to partake.

Keaton & Justis were ring bearers. They were sooo adorable. They were just 4- and 6-years-old. They had matching suits. And matching ring bearer pillows. And they held hands as they walked down the aisle together. They also lit the unity candle with Lee and I. It was too cute for words.

© 2004-2010 The Bean Blog - All Rights Reserved. Visit The Bean Blog for more great content.

Follow me on Twitter @ thebeanblog.
Find me on Facebook and LinkedIn.

I’m thankful for the people in my life.

My husband who is not only my best friend, but my biggest supporter.

My kids who make me so proud every single day.

My parents who love me unconditionally. And thankfully I got to spend the day with both of them.

My friends who make me laugh every time we are together. And they are there whenever I need them. All I need to do is throw the Care Bear sign up in the air (a la Batman signal) and they’ll be there.

I’m thankful we have the resources to build our new house.

I’m thankful we have such a fantastic builder who is going above and beyond to build us a beautiful house that will fit our whole family.

I’m thankful we have such a wonderful mortgage guy who has done everything he can to get us a great rate on our loan.

I’m thankful we have a great realtor who is getting our house out there to find the perfect buyer. [I hope to soon be thankful to have sold our house.]

I’m thankful I’ve been pretty healthy this year. Only a few visits to the doctor for my asthma.

I’m thankful they found my aunt’s breast cancer when they did and that she is handling the chemo well.

I’m thankful I get to celebrate my Grandma’s 80th birthday on Sunday with her and the rest of the family.

I’m thankful I’ve had another year to be thankful!

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. And got to celebrate with yummy food, great family, and good laughs.

© 2004-2010 The Bean Blog - All Rights Reserved. Visit The Bean Blog for more great content.

Follow me on Twitter @ thebeanblog.
Find me on Facebook and LinkedIn.

I was never one of those little girls who played wedding with my friends. I never sat around dreaming up all the details of my perfect wedding. I never cooed over bridal magazines or bride shows on TV. I always planned on getting married, but never really thought much about how the wedding would look. Or what I would wear. Or what our colors would be. Or any of that stuff.

For our Vegas wedding I didn’t even pick out colors. My maid of honor and best man wore whatever they wanted. All I asked is that they dressed up. The church put our flowers together without any real input for me. And that was ok with me.

So when it came time to plan this big church wedding (vow renewal) I didn’t really know what to do. I really looked to my friends for help. My maid of honor (Necole) had a sister that was a florist. So I reached out to her to create some bouquets. And I let her pretty much whatever flowers she wanted to in the bouquets because I know nothing about flowers. She did a great job. The flowers were beautiful.

As for colors, I decided to go with deep purple and silver. Purple was Lee’s favorite color. I HATE pastels. So deep purple sounded good. And I couldn’t think of any color that went with purple except silver. But the colors turned out nice and really complimented each other.

For bridesmaid dresses, we found some nice (but simple) deep purple dresses. My matron of honor was pregnant so I didn’t want anything too tight. Babies need some breathing room after all. And I wanted her to feel comfortable. So the dresses had a strip just below the breasts and flowed out from there. Very nice.

I wore the same dress I wore to the Vegas wedding. But for our renewal I wore a veil and a long detachable train. The dress also came with some, um, I don’t know what to call them…sleeves that don’t attach or gloves without the glove part?!? They had elastic that held them up at around my bicep. And then came down to my wrist. But they seemed, well, odd to me so I scrapped them.

As for a photographer, caterer, and DJ, I didn’t really interview people like I think you’re supposed to. I didn’t even ask for suggestions. I just pulled out the phone book, turned the yellow pages, and hired the first person that answered the phone. I didn’t even haggle over price or try to find the cheapest. Clearly I’m a total pro at all this. If you are looking for a wedding planner I’m totally available.

But I did spend a lot of time on new wedding rings. Since Lee lost his ring it was my opportunity to really spice things up. I took several trips to the jewelry store trying to find the perfect rings.

I found this gorgeous band with five or six rubies going across the band. I thought it would really accentuate my engagement/wedding ring. So I bought it.

But after a few weeks I decided it set up too high and would never look right together with my other rings. And I’d never be able to get it soldered with the rest of the rings.

So I decided to call that ring my “anniversary ring” and where it on my right hand instead. [You didn't really think I'd return jewelry did you?] And Lee and I went in search of new bands.

After some thought we went with regular gold bands. Lee was so tough on his hands (and ring) with his job, it didn’t really make sense to get something fancy with diamonds and the works [again]. And I wanted my ring to match his. So now he has a gold band. And I have my engagement ring and wedding wrap soldered together. Plus a small gold band from our renewal (which I never did solder to my wedding ring anyway).

So all the deets were set. All that was left was to renew our vows.

© 2004-2010 The Bean Blog - All Rights Reserved. Visit The Bean Blog for more great content.

Follow me on Twitter @ thebeanblog.
Find me on Facebook and LinkedIn.

Rubies are my favorite stone. Because (1) red is my favorite color. And (2) rubies remind me of my great-grandma, Bubby. Her name was Ruby and she had a lot of ruby jewelry.

So we picked out a wrap with four rectangle rubies and four diamond chips on each side. I love it.

For Lee’s ring we picked out a nice band with three or four small diamonds going diagonally across the band. It was a really nice band.

I say was because, just a couple months after the wedding, Lee lost his wedding ring.

He was working as a semi trailer/tank washer. Which was a very messy job. He came home reeking every single night. He wasn’t allowed to come to bed until he showered. And I thought him working in a kitchen smelled bad. The tank wash put the kitchen to shame.

Since it was such a messy job, Lee would take off his wedding ring at work and put it in his pocket. In hindsight, why not put it on the desk in the office. Or even better, just leave it at home. But you know what they say. Hindsight is always 20/20.

So one day his ring was in his pocket. And by the end of his shift…the ring was gone. Likely down one of the big drains and sitting in a disgusting pile of syrup or who knows what.

But thankful we were planning a second wedding…er, uh a vow renewal. And now we had an excuse to buy some new rings.

UPDATE: Turns out I was incorrect on how Lee lost his wedding ring. He sent me the following email this morning (because I’m still sleeping when he leaves for work in the morning AND we are total nerds who communicate through email and text message).

I lost my ring while removing product transport hoses from a tanker. The hoses have caps on the ends with two fold down ears that have sealing rings on the ends. The sealing rings have circular (almost like key rings) for placing seals on. While removing a hose, the seal ring snagged my wedding band and yanked it off. We did not see where it landed; leading us to believe it fell in the pit. I spent four hours that day, and all my breaks for the week, digging in different sections of the pit to no avail.

© 2004-2010 The Bean Blog - All Rights Reserved. Visit The Bean Blog for more great content.

Follow me on Twitter @ thebeanblog.
Find me on Facebook and LinkedIn.

Although we did go back to Iowa, Lee and I didn’t just go home. We stopped at home briefly to repack and spend a little time with Keaton. And then we headed off to…

…Muscatine.

What? Did you not know what a total hotspot Muscatine, IA was? Well you are totally missing out.

Ok, so Muscatine may not be the vacation mecca. But we had a lot of fun. We stayed at the Fantasuites in the Grecian Getaway room. We hung out in the hot tub. Spread out in the big round bed. And even played a sexy board game.

For two days we stayed in our hotel room having some kid-free alone time. We only left our room to go eat. And to go to Walmart. [Somehow this honeymoon just keeps getting more and more redneck.]

I have a lot of photos of our stay at the hotel. But none of them are appropriate for my blog. Not that I’m against R rated blog material. But I am against XXX blog material…when I’m the star. So you’ll just have to take my word for it. We had an awesome time.

© 2004-2010 The Bean Blog - All Rights Reserved. Visit The Bean Blog for more great content.

Follow me on Twitter @ thebeanblog.
Find me on Facebook and LinkedIn.

Right after our wedding Lee’s mom and stepdad treated us again. This time they took everybody (all of our family and friends) out to dinner at the Flamingo Hotel. It was like our wedding reception. Except there was no bad karaoke. Or dancing.

But there was food. And cake.

We had our choice of prime rib or chicken. And tons and tons of vegetables. It was a delicious meal. And we were stuffed.

But we still left room for cake.

They got us a multi-tiered cake to celebrate our wedding. So even though we were hundreds of miles from home. In a strange city where we know nothing about where to find the best bakery. We still got the luxury of a traditional wedding cake. And it was yummy.

I hear that it is tradition to keep some of your wedding cake in the freezer so you and your spouse can eat it on your one year anniversary. So we attempted to do this. Even though we would have to take it on the plane. We boxed some up and took it with us. Shoved it in to our luggage.

And when we got home and saw how smooshed and gross it was? We promptly threw it in the trash.

But we still had wedding cake on our one year anniversary. Since we renewed our vows in a big ceremony. Complete with a huge reception. Filled with bad karaoke. And dancing. And lots and lots of alcohol.

© 2004-2010 The Bean Blog - All Rights Reserved. Visit The Bean Blog for more great content.

Follow me on Twitter @ thebeanblog.
Find me on Facebook and LinkedIn.