One of the joys of moving is finding memorabilia.  We have moved five times in five years since being married on July 7 2007, and each time I begin to unpack all of our stuff in our new place, I find more and more boxes I didn't know exist that are labeled "Isaiah's Memorabilia." As much as I enjoy getting the house in order, it is even more fun to uncover Isaiah's memorabilia.  Recently, I found that he had a sketchbook that had portraits of several girls he used to like.

Isaiah and I are both sentimental people and we like to keep everything.  Somewhere along the lines I became willing to give a lot of it up and Isaiah has not. When we were first married, I found five backpacks that were beaten up in his closet when I was cleaning it.  I asked him "Why do you have five backpacks?"  He answered a very long story for each of them.  I allowed him to keep one.  He can let the stories live in his memories.

If you ever wanted to rob our house, you will probably be mostly disappointed. Unless you want a golf ball from a youth group event or piles of philosophy books.  (Oh no I probably just encouraged a bugler to come who has been looking for these items.)

But these things are priceless to us.  It is very hard to get rid of them and I am glad that we can combine our memories together from the past, and make one home.

In order to write this blog, I set my oldest one in front of the computer to watch "Garfield" (from the 80's.) I handed the little one a cordless phone to keep him occupied.  So if you got a strange call from me and on the other line you heard lots of shrieks and squeals than you know why.

Andrew's Graduation Photos

Recently I had the opportunity to photograph my dear friend's son in honor of his graduation.  This is the farm that has been in this family for many many years and is a very special place for them.  I am glad to have had the opportunity to have shared in their memories.  Plus, his grandmother greeted us warmly with a batch of amazing chocolate chip cookies.

I recently had the opportunity to photograph the massage studio of Renew Massage Therapy. Tamera has given me several massages which were of excellent quality.  She took the time to give me lots of helpful suggestions and thoughts regarding the health of my back. I am pleased that I was able to come and take some great shots of her in action in her lovely and inviting studio. 

  

'Til Death do us part

"I" is "Isaiah"
"M" is "Me"


I:  I am dying.
M: Oh, what is wrong?
I: My back hurts.
M:  Maybe you need a back massage.  I can do that, you'll be fine.
I:  No, this is MUCH more serious than a back pain, I can barley walk.
M:  Maybe you need to go to the urgent care.
I: Naw, I'll be fine if I just lay here on the floor for a few minutes.  OW!  OW!  OW!
M: Are you sure you don't want a back massage?
I:  The pain is deeper than that, it feels like a muscle, but it is inside.
M:  I think you have a kidney stone.  Let me look up the symptoms.......Okay you aren't acting like you are in labor you are not having a kidney stone.
I:  OW OW OW!!!!!!!!!!! AAAK AAAK AKK!  This is HORRIBLE!!!!!  help it REALLY hurts!!!!!!!!!!AAAH!!!
M:  Okay, maybe you are in labor.
I:That's ridiculous, I am sure it's just a pulled internal muscle I'm fine.
M:  Okay, well then, I'm gonna carry on about my day.  I'll be upstairs folding laundry.......
 I: (20 minutes later) Glued to a computer screen, hunching over and moaning:  "I think I've figured out what's wrong with me."
M:  Well, what is it?
I:  Well, it's Renal Cancer.
M:  Oh, well that will go away if you just lay down and take it easy for a few hours.
I:  Oh no, it hurts way way too much.  I can't lay down OW OW OW!!!!!!!
M:  Okay well then lets go to urgent care.  There's nothing else I can do for you.
I:  No, I am fine don't worry about it.  (He then gets up and goes upstairs to work).
M:  (30 minutes later, I go upstairs to check on him)  Uh, why are you laying on the floor in a fetal position?
I:  Well, I can't think of a better way to sit and think about who I am going to leave my belongings to when I die.
M:  Well, you don't need to think too hard about that, because all your things will belong to me.
I:  But.....you have to tell Jedidiah I love him.
M:  Okay I will do that.
I: And, that I hope he grows up happy.  OW OW OW!!!!!
M:  Have you tried Ibuprofen?
I:  No.
M:  Well how about it.
Isaiah took Ibuprofen for two days and was perfectly fine. 
Because this story happened over a year ago, I just turned to him and asked him how this got resolved.  He looked at me and said "Are you writing in your blog about all the times I was about to die and I didn't?"

The end.

July 4th

Yardsale

This is how we kept our child from running in the street during a yard sale:  The shoes were kind of heavy for him to run very fast.

Father's Day

In honor of Father's day 2012:

Each year on Father's day weekend in Eugene they have a vintage model car show in the mall. We went to this show exactly a year ago on Father's Day.  I guess we are the types of people to make traditions because we get cravings to do the thing we did the year before. We never ever go to the mall but I thought it would be a fine idea to let Isaiah do this on FD because he is a good man and deserves to do something he wants to do every now and then.  So we went to the mall and I found a pair of shoes to buy and almost got my eyebrows waxed by some thread wax at a kiosk in the mall.  I forgot to add that we arrived at the mall without a stroller somehow.  This was after we parked and ate at Dickie Joes hamburger place where you can buy a very expensive hamburger and have the thrill of feeling like you are in a 50's diner eating organic cow.  I think its organic, or natural somehow.  At any rate, we had no stroller but decided to brave the mall anyway.  Isaiah carried Matheson and we let Jedidiah walk.  Just for the record, don't ever try to get your two year old to walk in the mall if he hasn't napped.  He will try to nap on the floor.  Then he will throw a tantrum when you tell him he can't do that.  Then people will look at you and judge you.  I know they are judging me because I judged people's parenting skills before I became a parent.  Getting my eyebrows waxed didn't happen because it suddenly lost its appeal when I saw my two year old on the floor. Maybe some other time.  Hey, on the positive, bringing a tired two year old to the mall can save you lots of money.

Well, in the present: Jedidiah just looked at Isaiah and said "You handsome!"  He has his pajamas on and papa has volunteered to take the child upstairs to go night-night. As they go up the stairs,  Isaiah tells Jedidiah "Rest in Peace Rodney King!"  Isaiah developed a fascination with Rodney King this week, and just because its father's day I allowed him to look up the history of Rodney king at the dinner table.

For dinner we had ribs, corn on the cob, home made baked beans, and home made potato salad.  Yum, yum.  I bought the ribs because they were on sale.  Apparently, on Father's day week, all the meat you could possibly grill goes on sale and all the men get happy because their wives come home with an abundance of grilling meat.  But the truth is that I eat grilled meat like a man.  And I LOVE baked beans and potato salad.


So it all worked out in the end because I also loved the food we had all day long and I made Isaiah very happy.  We had a good time and barely spent any money.  And my gift to him was my willingness to watch ANY movie of his choice with him.  So if you get lots of texts from me about People being lost in the woods and bears chasing after them you know why. 

I am so glad for this day.  I love that I can celebrate Fathers.