BRD is 29

A few glimpses of Brett's 29th birthday at the Portage.

Brett has a freakishly long eyebrow hair.

My mom sent a package from CA which arrived today!
Norah fits perfectly in the box.

Brett's breakfast burrito.

Norah

Reagan

putting up lights in below zero temps

voila!

the crowning present: a new band saw

birthday peppermint fudge

365 til 30

Now has begun the final revolution of my twenties. I am incredibly excited! A lot because of how close we are coming to being debt free, which is such a huge orientation of my life now. Simply reflecting on the past five years is enough to give me pause: anything could happen in the decades to come. Greater grief and deeper joy. I'm not guaranteed another day, but I am still resolved to seize the moment every day that I am given, be it sweet or sorrowful, messy or marvelous. ordinary or extraordinary.

July 17th was abundantly blessed.

beat with you

Five days away from my husband and daughter, scrapbooking five years of life together, and we chat on the last day:

R: My heart wants to beat next to yours.
B: I misread that, thought you said your heart wants to be with mine.
R: Pretty much.
 ...
R: Anything in particular you want to do when I get home?
B: Beat with you.

five revolutions

The weekend of our fifth anniversary.

Photos by our dear friend Katy Snow.

a good ache

Two weeks, three days in California; one week, two days to go. Five days until Thanksgiving... and Brett joins us!! 10 days to the anniversary of the day we defined our relationship. Three weeks one day until Brett's birthday. 27 days until The Hobbit Part One. 38 days til Christmas. 48 days until our Fifth Anniversary.

The main reason for coming to California was for Norah to spend time with her grandparents, aunts, and uncles. As a bonus, I got to come along and attend a friend's wedding, and as another bonus Brett gets to come for Thanksgiving! Our biggest sacrifice besides money has been to miss this dreary Minnesota month... and by 'dreary' I of course mean sweater weather, fall conferences, and the First Snow. But I continuously remind myself that it is worth it. People are more important than places.

Isn't it my lot to focus on the Good & Perfect, after all? This is a recuperation for my poor dust mite allergies (and perhaps the realization that my entire house needs a dust-mite-invasion-retaliation... yet how does one eradicate invisible microorganisms from a 130 year old house?). A chance to appreciate my husband anew. Opportunities for distance to make the heart grow.

Grow fonder.

Norah is adorable. She fumbles at learning new kinds of breakfast cereal. "Mama, what is this kind of cereal called that your mommy gave me? Not germs, we don't eat germs!" and then the next morning, "I want Prince Charmings for breakfast!" She came out of bed shirtless, because she wanted to "sleep how Papa sleeps." She is enthralled with all of my childhood books and toys, and we both delight in skype dates with her papa. She won my heart getting out of the car at Winston's baseball game and exclaiming "This is the best baseball game I ever seen!" before we had even reached the stands. She only occasionally asks to go home "to our red house." I try hard not to ache for it at all, but it's such a good ache. *smile*

Californiavember Photos

five years

We drove through cornfields, saw lightning and rainbows. Played a game of euchre with Ben and Silas. I walked him out to his car in the parking lot of AmericInn. He said he had an early birthday gift, reached into his pocket, and pulled out a deck of red playing cards from his summer stock theatre job. But there was one more thing, and he couldn't wait until my birthday one week later.

He asked me to share the rest of my life with him.

I said I would share forever with him.

the sweetest words

"What are you doing?"

"I'm waiting for Papa to come home. I hope he comes home soon, because I love him very much."

"Why do you love him very much, Mama?"

"Because he is honest and kind and strong and true and he works hard to take care of us and wants us to be happy."

"Is that why you love him?"

"Yes, it is."

water falling twice = minneopa

Went camping without the chicklet for the first time EVER.

Let's get married
Hold hands when we walk in the park
All right you can get a cat just as long as it barks
-The Proclaimers

The Minnesota River

This perfectly roasted mallow expresses my exact feeling
towards the man shrouded in smoke.

oh frabjous day

In the ten days since I last posted I have thought about what to blog quite a lot. Putting words to my life evades me these days. Brett's crazybus 80hr/wk schedule is halved now, what lightness! He not only gets to have supper with us each and every day, he also gets Fridays OFF for the next six weeks (Monday feels more like Wednesday and Thursday feels like Friday)! Unbelievable surreality! So thankful are we to "have" more of him. Summer planning can officially commence. More to come...

a world about to dawn

For only the 2nd time in my life I've been able to attend a cousin's wedding! Back in 1998 I got to go to a wedding in Oklahoma by God's grace, and yesterday Jonas married Andrea in Ames, Iowa. You might think from the simplicity of my own wedding that I don't enjoy them, but it has merely been location that has prevented me from the rest. Hoping to attend at least two more friends' nuptials later this year.

The three of us happened to wear red and black, the wedding colors.
Coincidence? I think not...

"Just act natural."

Silliness :)

back up plan

I have this sudden insatiable urge to travel somewhere far, far away. With Brett (who I'm not really sure even wants to go). I'd leave my daughter, my house, and my animals behind and only take what I can carry, which would include writing/documenting devices, clean underwear, a thermos, and chapstick.

Maybe it's because I'm disenchanted with the absence of winter/snow. Maybe it's because my dream of an acreage in the country and a dozen kids is taking too long to materialize so my imagination is perusing Plan B.

Either way, exotic places like Alaska. Marpent. Sydney. Seattle. ...all sound a little less real-life and a little more romantic then having mold allergies on a 50 degree day in Minnesota.

simple joys and grateful hearts

...floods of christmas cards...

Brett's gift to me wrapped in drafting and twine

he knows the way to my heart!

but wait, what's here at the bottom? a dream inside a dream...

wearing the jacket from me, playing mindbenders, drinking coffee

a new tablet for his game system

~my merry loves ~

the best part

This is Brett. He is very attractive in plaid. His birthday was this past weekend, and he got a new shotgun. We got to have pumpkin pie to celebrate. And go to Les Mis in Minneapolis.


I drew a picture OF Norah FOR Norah. She is all of three years old and she is certain that Belle (from Beauty and the Beast) does not have a green strap or a pink flower on her yellow dress. Therefore, Norah needs a NEW dress.

getting our christmas on

What a lovely November. Iowa farm visit (pony ride here: http://youtube/q_MKz-Pka9U). Loads of gamemaking and gameplaying. An inch of snow followed by a balmy Thanksgiving in Spring Valley. Today Norah and I walked downtown to run errands at the bank, drugstore, library, and post office. The air is cold but the sunshine fills our house. We'll put our tree up on Brett's birthday Dec 9th, but right now I'm plotting out the rest of small collection of decorations.

first snow

carcassonne

sunshine

curious...

puppyface

elanorabelle, snowprancer

fall 2011 shoot