Celebration of Marriage

Dwayne and I were married at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Fallon. It is the church we still attend together today. The priest and a group of church members got together to get a celebration of marriage under way. All the married couples of the church were invited to come to a mass in their honor followed by a sit down dinner at the convention center afterwards.

So it started yesterday, Saturday, August 29, with 5 o'clock mass. We attended mass together. We had been asked to read the prayers of the faithful so of course we did! We were a little nervous about it but it went well and afterwards several people came up to us expressing how well they thought we did. The mass was nice and had a special blessing for all the married couples. The messages delivered were about how marriage may not always be what we dreamed it would be but that it is a journey full of different turns and how with God in the marriage the journey is doable and well worth it. Concepts we really believe.


After mass it was off to the convention center for dinner. When we first walked in the doors, we checked in at the table that had our last name. We were given name tags to wear that had both our names, the amount of years we had been married and what table we were seated at on them. In the lobby of the convention center tables were set up with all sorts of different appetizers. There was a drink fountain with water flowing for us all to drink from and we mingled for about 45 minutes or so while everyone arrived and the final touches on the dining room were set in place. Before long it was time to eat and the doors to main room of the convention center were opened!


We found our table, table 15. We were seated with two other couples and one widow. We hadn't ever met any of the people at our table so it was nice to hear their stories. When we all first sat down we were served salad. It was a very nice salad. They had the high school NJROTC students there as our servers that night. They were very good and made sure our places were cleared and our drinks were full. They also served us our main course of tri-trip steak and red potatoes with cantaloupe and rolls. The food was wonderful and all the planning and work that went into the event was amazing!


While we were eating and visiting with each other, we were all supposed to write down some advice about marriage on a card that each couple had. The advice we wrote down will be compiled into a book that will be given to all the couples who get married at St. Patrick's within the coming years. After the dinner dishes had been cleared away, one person from each table stood and read aloud what the table had decided was "good" wisdom. There were some very profound sayings, some very sentimental sayings and of course some very funny comments.


It was nice to hear all the different words of wisdom from all the years of marriage. They announced that in the room, between all the couples, there was something around 2,078 years of marriage (I can't remember the exact number they announced).

One of the couples got up with a guitar and microphone and lead the room in the song "Only You." They sang it all the way through once and then the second time around, they instructed all the husbands to get down on their knees and take their wives hands and serenade them with the song. The above picture is my husband down on his knee preparing to serenade me. It was pretty funny to watch a room full men down on their knees singing away. It was really neat.

The shortest married couple in the church was 3 months. They were not in attendance though so they named off the next shortest married couple. It was one other couple and us with 3 years. The longest married couple in attendance was a couple who had been married for 60 years.

On the stage they had a wedding cake. They asked the longest married couple and us, the shortest married couple to come up on stage and cut the cake. Each couple had a knife, and we took our position on each side of the cake and on the count of three we cut the wedding cake.

After the cake was cut it was cut up and served for all to enjoy. It was delicious!

With our 4 year anniversary approaching, this was a nice night to have together. We were married in the church that held the special mass that evening and we had our wedding reception at the same convention center with many of the same guests as the couples that were there that night. It was like a complete circle for us.

We had a wonderful time and look forward to the next one as they are saying they want to make this a yearly event!

As part of the decor in the room, they had hung up a quilt that the women of the church had made about 9 years ago. The quilt was made to honor Mary on her feast days. All the women of the church were invited to create a square of the quilt that represented them. As I was looking at the quilt I was able to find the squares that my mom, my sister and I had made all those years ago. The above picture is the square my mom made. It has my mom, me, my sister and my brother on it. The bottom is a verse out of the bible and it reads: "...As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord."

This was my sister's square. Funny, not much has changed since she made this square. Her passion for art has not gone away and she still enjoys playing outside and doing such things as basketball.

And here is the square I made. I still am strong in my faith, I still love music and theater (although I don't actively participate in either these days) and I still look for the sun to come through in tough times. It was neat to see this old quilt.

After we had gotten home from the celebration, some friends called us up and let us know they were in town and out at a local spot. So, we went and met up with them for some drinks.

We didn't stay out for long but it was nice to see Erin and Dan, Diane and Dalton and Candace and Waylon.

Overall, it was another really nice night to have together before the fall semester of school goes into full go mode. And on that note: If the blog seems to fall behind I apologize in advance. When school gets going it gets hard to keep up sometimes. Throw in everything else and it can get downright crazy. I will try and keep up though.

Love and blessings to everyone!

The Braces are Gone!

Since February of 2007 I have had braces on. Just 5 months shy of three years it was time to get them off!

This picture is a little scary but that's kind of how I was feeling on the inside the day we left the house to drive to Reno so I could get my braces put on.


I had several unseen reasons for needing braces. I never thought I would be getting braces but I did.


So, I went to Dr. Andrews in Reno and had my braces put on.


I wasn't all that thrilled to have them put on though.

When it was all over, I had a mouth full of metal!

Today was the day I got to drive to Reno to get them off!

I ate my breakfast in the car on the way so I needed to make a pit stop at the sink to brush my teeth.

This would be the last time I brush with all the metal and brackets and hooks in my mouth.

It was time for the big moment, the braces were taken off!

Then she had to scrape off the cement that was used to hold all that stuff in my mouth.

Here is a look at some of the tools they use to do my adjustments and to take off my braces.

And there they are, the braces that were on my teeth.

Two hours later, it was all finished! My braces were off and they gave me a water bottle filled with treats that I wasn't able to eat while they were on. It had laffy taffy, bazooka bubble gum, starbursts and hard little candies.

And here is my smile today. No braces, just me! It feels so good to have them off. I keep getting asked how it feels to have them gone. Some people have heard that teeth feel slimy when they come off but I feel differently. I tell people that it feels like I have fake teeth. I think it may take some getting used to with them gone but I don't have any complaints about that! It is nice to have them gone!

August Date Night!

As always, we try and work in at least one date night a month. Since the Aces baseball team came to Reno we have been really wanting to catch a game. But there was always something keeping us from making a game. So we figured, August date night was the perfect chance to go to a game!



We shot this picture just outside the entrance to the park.


We made it to our seats. Dwayne picked our seats and bought our tickets for them hoping that by sitting in our section, we would have a chance at catching a foul ball. A few of them headed our way but none came just to us. Maybe next time!



Date nights are the best!

A little bit of the game action.

We decided to do the whole ball park experience. We had dinner at the game. Hot dogs, nachos and pretzels! It was so yummy and fit the night perfectly!

We were having a really good time. Can you tell?

Yep that's us and that's what we do!

I thought this guy was the only cute one on the team. So, every time he was up to bat Dwayne would say: "your guy's up...he he he."

The only thing about "my guy" was that he didn't play all that well that night. He kept striking out.

Before long it was time for the good ol' singing of "Take me out to the ballgame" with the little baseball head guy. He popped up from behind the speakers and we all sang along.

In between another inning, they had a human hamster ball race. It was pretty funny to watch!

When it was all said and done the Aces won! 17- 6 in fact! It was a really great game to watch and they played the team Round Rock Express, which is fairly close to where Dwayne is from.

Dwayne got a new hat to sport to support the team and I got a new hoodie sweater.

After the game, they turned out the stadium lights and we were able to watch some fireworks. They do fireworks after every Friday night home game.

It was the perfect ending to a perfect date night!

Our self shot with the field behind us.

A very nice lady took a regular picture for us. Here we are...until next time!

The Most Recent On the Yard

So here is what we started with when we bought this house:


Just thought I'd put up a visual for reference.

Here is what our house looks like today:

We pulled the old sod, planted the new sod, made a brick border for our flower/bushes bed, planted trees along the side, one tree in front, and put rock all along the side. A lot of labor and love has gone into this house!


In a previous blog I posted a picture of our first line of bushes. Look back if you'd like to see them. This picture above, shows our second line of bushes. This bed is closer to the door and also has a row of Calla Lilies in the front. Along with the Tulips I planted earlier in the year in the other flower bed, Calla Lilies are my other favorite flower to have in my flower beds.


My plants are just babies this year but a few of my bulbs have sprouted right up and here and there I have little blooms!

The backyard was no better than the front when we moved in and it has taken us quite some time to get it sod ready. The people that lived here before us had several little gardens with a variety of plants that were growing in them all over the backyard and we were left with the chore of leveling out the dirt and clearing out the dead old plant stuff. When it was finally ready we put down the sod.

Due to scheduling conflicts it actually took two different days to put it all down when usually it would have only taken one full day.

Eventually though, it got done. Now we have to put in a sprinkler system (that will be done in September. Dwayne's family is coming for a visit and while they are here Dwayne and his dad are going to work on that), put in the brick border so we can plant the bushes along the house in the back and of course someday we will have the concrete poured for our patio. The backyard has taken us a little longer than we would have liked but, we're not going anywhere soon so I guess we have the time!

I hope to get some full yard pictures up soon of the backyard with the full sod. The high heat of the summer days was not too kind to our little newly planted sod and we are left having to slowly bring back to life a good sized patch of grass that went "a little under the weather" if you will.

Hey wait, you can kind of see the grass in this above picture! The "mess" you see are the tons of parts that came out of a very slender box for our shed. Yep, we bought a shed and we put it together. Well truth be told, I helped Dwayne build the doors and the frame, and then on a different day, my brother, Steven and Dwayne finished the construction.

We put the shed on the side of the house closest to the street. Before that could happen we cleaned the side yard and put rock behind where the shed will sit. Then Dwayne leveled the ground and laid down the brick foundation for the shed to sit on top of.

After all the pieces were sorted and put together, some 10 hours total later, we ended up with a very nice shed!

Here Dwayne stands in front of his wonderful construction job! He has since filled it with various yard things.

And here we are, hanging out in the shed!

More on the house updates to come later as we approach our one year anniversary date of being home owners!