#570 The Family GROWS!

We're still building the country house, dubbed "Bootcreek Farmhouse." I predict that we have another two years of details to confront before this house is finished. It's a BIG project.

If you have followed this blog, you might know that we sold our home in Greater Houston, in 2013, then moved to the acreage we've owned since our kids were young. We didn't have a house on the property, so we bought a nice, new and shiny RV, but NEVER expecting to live in it for THREE YEARS. Selecting the spot for constructing our new home wasn't an easy task.

The goal was live on the property for a minimum of one year so we could see how weather patterns and seasons affected the land itself. Since our acreage is in a heavily forested, rural region, we couldn't just refer to the opinions of others in the area or upon documented issues because there has been no one living here to record anything whatsoever.

I'll be sharing some of our progress as I catch up with some posts.

But, the best change over the past few months has been the wedding of our youngest daughter, Stefie. It's hard to believe she's 26 years old now. Finally, she married Brice...a young man we love and welcomed with open arms into our family.

Our oldest daughter, Heather, is in the maroon dress and our

daughter, Stefanie, is the Bride. Me and Sarge are flanking Stefie.

My dad is standing next to me and my in-laws are next to him.

This is our growing family. Our sons by law are handsome,

my two grand-babies (the smallest girl and boy in arms) while

my cute niece stepped into the shot!

But, we do have more pictures with the entire clan.

Stefie's wedding was a fairy tale event.

She was a truly beautiful bride. And she actually wore my veil...the veil that survived over 30 years in storage. I must say, it looked as if it were made just for her.

The family heirloom she wore for her

wedding...the veil. There is a 30 year gap

from the time I wore it on my wedding

day to marry her daddy, until the day

Stefie wore it for her own wedding.

Stefie with her niece and our grand-daughter, Coraline.

Here is Sgt. Dave during the father and daughter dance to Butterfly Kisses.

Their wedding will always be remembered.

And I'm so proud of my daughters. They are sisters who are always there for each other.

The wedding has been a sacred event that started out 2017 with a beautiful BANG! The wedding was January 14th, and it turned out to be a BEAUTIFUL day in Texas with temperatures in the 70's. It couldn't have been more perfect.

I'll post more about the wedding and details with the decorating later.

I'm glad to be back. Happy posting everyone!

*******

There's still no answer to why my pictures disappeared from old posts...still searching for an answer and a possible move to a blog domain that won't be subjected to such severe blogger issues. Wordpress seems too expensive and analytics only come with the $20+ per month subscription. No thanks. In this blog, I've mostly copied and pasted all photos from my own photo supply, not using a third party, such as Picasso. I've never had an issue, until the past few months...it seems. If anyone has a suggestion of how to blog without such issues, I'm open to advice.

# 564 - Will You Marry Me?

I have two daughters, Heather and Stefie. My oldest married her college sweetheart, Henry, and they now have two beautiful children. That makes me a Nana. A very blessed Nana.

And now my youngest daughter is engaged to be married to a wonderful young man...Brice.

I'm going to have two awesome son-in-laws. I don't know many other women who are this blessed!

Henry and Brice and Stefie

For years we've known Brice. He's a good-hearted guy we've watched grow from being a kid to a man. The love he has for our daughter is the best kind of love to give to another person you want to spend your life with. He wants to protect, love, care for and get old with Stefie.

Stefie and Brice went through their university studies together and have been focusing on their professional lives. It was a sacrifice, but Stefie stuck with her studies until she got her Master's Degree as Brice began working in law enforcement, and they lived a good distance from each other through a brief time, but it helped solidify their commitment to each other.

They knew they didn't want to go through life without each other.

Each year, our family celebrates our own holiday called "ThanksMasTine," which is Thanksgiving, Christmas and Valentine's all rolled into one awesome event. Instead of us all running in different directions and being strained about coming together to celebrate all of these holidays within a short period of time, we elected to find an agreeable date to gather and have a Thanksgiving feast, to exchange Christmas presents and share the Valentine's sweetness. We love our unconventional way of sharing the holidays.

During our celebration, Brice asked Stefie to marry him. As the family had their first gathering in the unfinished Bootcreek Farmhouse, Brice asked his sweetheart to be his wife.

And Stefie was so thrown off by the surprise proposal...she didn't have warning to orchestrate anything. Brice had our help, but he completely decided how to handle this special moment, and he was loving and respectful enough to make it a family moment since he knows having a daughter makes this moment very serious and special.

Brice even went to see Sgt. David at his job to get a traditional blessing before he asked Stefie to marry him. Of course, we had previously discussed Brice being our son-in-law, and marriage is not something we take lightly, but we've been watching Brice for years and acknowledging that he'd be a more than suitable long-term marriage partner for Stefie.

The proposal was definitely unique. Since Stefie is an ultra-studious follower of all things Harry Potter, even with a Harry Potter room of collectibles, Brice catered his proposal to be romantically linked to Harry Potter with the "Always" mantra being used to describe the way he sees their love and future marriage.

Enlisting the help of Stefie's sister, Heather, they commissioned a drawing of the Patronus with the "Always" message, and of course, since I'm not as a rabid student of Harry Potter, as Stefie happens to be, I initially thought the deer with the cross-hair site/triangle symbolized hunting or shooting.

Silly me. But, I was actually grateful this proposal didn't involve killing a deer.

Stefie adores the incredibly talented J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books. Rowling is an author truly gifted-by-God, an individual with beautiful creative imagination to write about an orphaned boy finding a Magical escape. However, if you didn't know about the books, then you might ALSO think the drawing reminds you of a hunting moment...which actually works for Stefie and Brice as well since they are great shots.

But still, no dead deer are part of this marriage proposal. Whew!

Brice wrote a beautiful hand-written message to Stefie on the back of his "Always" proposal.

So she opened the board while thinking it was yet another Christmas present for our ThanksMasTine celebration. This gift just happened to be the last one needing to be unwrapped, so we were all gathered and watching with ongoing joy.

Then it dawned upon her that this was not a gift from a family member, but it was instead a MARRIAGE PROPOSAL!

All of us can see the reverse side as she's reading his message.
A nail-biting moment for all of us.

Her moment of melting was evident. All of us melted with her. So romantic and pure.

She began crying tears of surprised joy as he stood up to get on a bended knee --- those she loved most in life shared the moment while being silent so she could soak in the surprise proposal.

If only she would say "Yes!"

She flipped over the board to read the "Will You Marry Me?" message, and Brice took his time to get down on one knee with a gorgeous ring in his hand...the sly devil...and he officially asked her those beautiful words.

He properly asked her to marry him.

Stefie's expression gave Brice the answer that only a heart filled with love can give. But, she still said "Yes!" outloud.

There's always a sigh of relief when the girl actually vocalizes the YES.

The best part about this surprise proposal was that the following weekend was actually Valentine's Day, so Stefie thought a proposal was coming, but she imagined it happening the NEXT weekend.

Of course, she initially could have choked me and her sister because she certainly wasn't prepared for a proposal to take place. For this moment, she imagined her nails being perfect, her hair being straightened (since it's naturally curly) and that she'd be wearing an ultra-fab outfit. She imagined the proposal taking place AFTER she'd done all the foo-foo things a girl does for glorious pictures, but Brice was wise enough to know that those things are distracting and nerve-wracking.

Every day, Brice loves Stefie just the way she is, and I might be a bit partial, but Stefie didn't need to waste time or money because she's already perfect in her most natural state. And her curly hair is better than a mermaid's hair!

So, we had enjoyed our ThanksMasTine day while knowing this little gal would be engaged before nightfall.

Stefie was HER fabulous SELF during the "Will You?" and the "Yes!" exchange with her family gazing at them as closely as fluffy fur is on a bunny. You get my drift.

Brice did an amazing job.

That meant that the following weekend, on Valentine's Day, she'd get to do all the foo-foo girly things and show off an engagement ring on her newly manicured finger. On Valentine's Day, they were able to CELEBRATE their engagement with all their friends, to remember the ones who passed too soon and to show off engagement radiance with the rest of the family.

This proposal was PERFECTLY imperfect, making it even more lovely and authentic. These days, most gals know the proposal moment is around the corner and they are well-prepared, so Brice did a great job to make this a relaxing, loving proposal for her.

Through that entire day, before the proposal, all of us who knew it was coming did a fantastic job of  wrangling nervous energy; we were ready to BURST with excitement! But, we had to pretend to be chilled out; for me, I am NEVER chilled out --- I was born radiating high energy, so it was a "normal" day for me. But, Brice did a great job at leading the way, except when we'd share brief moments to exchange knowing glances of what was coming...at those moments, I could clearly see the whites of his eyes, all around. He makes me smile.

Of course, the Bride-To-Be was immediately happy to show off a beautiful engagement ring that has a vintage flair, as she loves. Brice deserved every glowing, fluttering eyelid moment that Stefie sent his way. He earned it.

We are thrilled to be gaining a son-in-law. Not just ANY son-in-law...Brice.

The wedding date is set for January 14, 2017.

Stefie and Brice went into high gear to immediately start planning their wedding and to take care of business required for a wedding to take place.

I admire these lovebirds. It will be super awesome once they are married and the triplets are on the way.

Okay. Too much at one time? I will stop putting in orders for more grandbabies. HaHa. I will negotiate, how about if I knock that down to JUST twins? Better?

So...once the twins are on the way...

January 14, 2017 cannot come soon enough, but no rushing anything! Double-trouble will come after the Honeymoon.

# 538 - Moving the Grown Baby!

Just after Christmas, we helped Stefie move out of her apartment. Stefie is our youngest daughter, a 24 year old who just finished all academic requirements for her Master's Degree. She is amazing.

It was nice to help move her out of her apartment that takes about four hours to reach by Texas Highway. She was happy to move back to Greater Houston, especially since she was born in Houston. Now, she is again close to many family members and old friends.

We had quite a great time getting her moved out, maybe a bit too much fun.



While packing, we gals are members of the Pony-Tail Club!

Our guys, Sgt. Dave and Officer Brice soon showed up to do the heavy lifting.

There won't be any complaints from us gals about cleaning and dealing the details of packing as the guys poured sweat while carrying heavy furnishings down a long flight of stairs.

Stefie had a lot to do. She had final, straggler items to pack at the last moment, but we parents had to head out for our long drive home, so the young kiddos wrapped up their final moments in San Marcos on their own.

We parents did as much as we could, as much as the kids were ready for us to do, until we headed back home while pulling a flatbed trailer carrying the bulk of the apartment items...the living room furniture, dining furniture, bedroom furniture and lots of boxes. Sgt. David and I drove for hours with no tail lights working on the flatbed trailer, in spite of every effort to make them work, so I drove lose behind him, protecting him and other drivers from pulling behind him. At least we had mostly highway the entire way home as the tail-lights could not decide whether to stay on or off. That is another project for Sgt. Dave to tackle...looks like the wiring has passed its life cycle and needs to be revamped.

Brice stayed with Stefie to help finish packing and to load the remaining boxes and items into their U-Haul style truck that they would also bring to unload in our immense storage building the following day.

Brice putting back a light fixture the apartment
complex installed in the WORST spot...in front of
the cable connections. He had removed it so they
could see the television. Here, he is using what he
can to reach the 9 foot ceiling fixture for a reinstall
of the light, but standing on a chair and then a bucket
while dealing with live wire was interesting.

Throughout Stefie's college days, we provided her with a Nissan Frontier as her vehicle...it's an old, but reliable gal. Lately, the truck had been chugging. Turns out, there were clogs in the fuel pump/filter or whatever. Since Brice is an rookie Officer and my husband is a Sgt., poor Brice ended up on the ground doing all of the icky mechanical work and he was covered in heavy grease and grime, but Brice said, "I couldn't let the Sgt. do it." One thing is for sure...Brice is a smart young man.

Thank goodness storages come in all sizes, but we had plenty of
room in ours to allow their furnishings and boxes to be included,
saving money that would been wasted on another storage room.

Our family is so unique. Brice will indeed soon be our son-in-law and we are thrilled, we love Brice, but the poor guy in law enforcement lives at work and at home with ranking respect that is in his blood to honor. He is such a good kid. We are blessed to have Brice in our lives.

Since Stefie was having problems with the Nissan, her daddy let her drive his Dodge while we took the Nissan...it chugged along the way, but it pulled the trailer loaded with furnishings and made it. I admit, there was a bit of breath-holding along the way. Stefie's daddy will be doing work on the Nissan over the next few weeks to get it in tip-top shape. It's been a GREAT truck that helped provide transportation for both of our daughters as they went through college.

At one point, Sgt. Dave and I gave each other a kiss and said, "Thank God we had our children young!" Neither of us could imagine doing this at 60 instead of in our 40's. Having kids young worked out for us.

We were also glad to get home to our furry babies...they were so good, even though they were left at home all day long.

So, both of my daughters are finished with college, at least the portion that we helped support them through.

A celebration for us PARENTS would be awesome, but we are too exhausted!

# 533 - A Proud Parent

This past week was one of the BEST that I have had in a long while!

I traveled to spend four days and three nights with my youngest daughter, Stefie, as she was being initiated into the Honor Society for her graduate degree!

Am I proud of her?

ABSOLUTELY!

Stefanie signing the pledge into her Honor Society.

The university did a beautiful job with this ceremony and brunch with the Mayor of San Marcos as the guest speaker was inspirational.

We had a fabulous time together. The ceremony was on Sunday, then on Monday she had to work, do coursework and attend class...about ten hours of responsibilities. I watched a few Harry Potter movies and had a beautiful time! Plus, I got to sweep and pick up some clothes and towels she had left on the floor, but she didn't leave me much to do as a "mom" since her place looked GREAT.

Stefie is a lot of fun to be around. Yes, we have a gal who is in her mid 20's, a graduate student nearing graduation, but she still looks 14, so the evil eye helps keep the child menus at the restaurant from being laid on our table.

Stefie, this week, on our way out to Red Lobster.

The two of us went to Red Lobster for dinner to celebrate and we ordered our usual platter to share, with an extra side of crab legs and lobster stuffed mushrooms as an appetizer. We brought a LOT of food home from our meal that we would re-heat and gobble down later. We are good at gobbling.

Being a parent is a beautiful thing, especially when your children are responsible and do their best to do the right thing in life. I love my children, and I appreciate them trying their best to be productive members of society. My daughters are definitely good-hearted people I am blessed to know!

I am grateful that God gave me a part to play in the raising of this beautiful young woman. And I appreciate Sgt. Dave for being a good sport with having his work schedule interfere with any travel plans and for staying home to take care of the dogs and chickens so I could truly enjoy a few days away!

We are blessed.