The Sincerest Form of Flattery Gone Awry

My sister, Lisa, got married a few months back. Once the truly important details were established (the choosing of the groom, the scheduling of the temple, etc.) she began to focus on the details of the event. She had very definite ideas about what she wanted - the dress, the reception venue, the invitations, her shoes, hair...etc. She put months of blood, sweat and tears into planning her wedding (maybe the blood is an exaggeration, but the sweat and tears are definitely not) She even designed her own dress and had a seamstress she found online custom make it for her.

Unfortunately for Lisa, she has a problem with following the pack. While it's great that she is creative and original, it does make life harder at times that she can't allow herself to take the easy route and do what other people are doing. She likes to be her own person, unique, a free thinker. This is sometimes taken to the extreme, in my opinion. For instance, she wouldn't see the movie Titanic in it's hey day because everybody was seeing it. If something is "the thing to do" you can bet that Lisa is not doing it. In fact, she's probably purposely doing the opposite of it. I like to tease her about this from time to time, so it will come as no surprise that her current situation is cracking me up.

Lisa, Lee, and their wedding photographer all put pictures of the wedding on their blogs. In the last few weeks the happy couple, the wedding dress and various wedding photos have been popping up all over the blogosphere with people adoring everything about the wedding and desperate to know, "Where can I get that dress?", "Who did your hair?", "Where was the reception?"...etc. It seems that everyone wants a Lisa/Lee wedding and, while flattering at first, the idea of everyone having a Lisa/Lee wedding is Lisa's worst nightmare! I am getting panic-stricken calls and emails from her on a daily basis - am I a mean sister that this is so funny to me?!

Here are the blogs they've been featured on so far (that I know about). If you're bored and have the time, read through peoples' comments and think of my sister cringing as she reads them!

Here, here, here, here, and here.

Below are a couple of my favorite pictures of the trend-setting couple themselves...just so you can see what all the fuss is about.



By the way, I know exactly who can make that dress for you, exactly where the reception was held, exactly who did her hair...even her nails! And for the right price, you too can have this sought after information ;) Sorry, Lis. I have 5 kids and there is a recession on. Priorities.

Haley's All Better!

A few weeks back Haley had yet another round of x-rays on her knee and ended up with a clean bill of health! We were all so excited to get this good news! Haley immediately had me sign her up for softball and is enjoying her return to normalcy!

Easter

Got some blog catching up to do! When life gets busier-than-usual the blog is typically the first thing to go...which is better than some of my alternatives (letting the kids go, etc.)

We had a great Easter this year! The week prior we had Brent and Barb in town visiting, which is always fun. With 8 grand kids living in Walla Walla, they ended up attending many softball games and a tennis match while they were here. They are good sports and always very supportive of the kids' activities.

Saturday morning we took Alyssa, Danny and Jacob to the town Easter egg hunt at a local park. It is just crazy there, but lots of fun. They divide each area up by age groups to try and keep things fair, so Brad took Jacob to the 3-year-old area and I had Lyssie and Danny in their area. We coached the kids a bit on being aggressive, elbows out...just kiddin'. There is definitely that element at this hunt, though - lots of parents who get way too into it. Brad and I had a good time observing, the kids had a blast collecting their cheap chocolate eggs, and we only lost Danny twice.


After the Easter egg hunt we took all the kids to "Farm Day" at the high school. Auntie Shelley called to give us the heads up on this one and we were so glad she did! The kids got to hold, pet and otherwise frighten lots of cute little baby animals! They loved it (the kids...probably not so much the animals)

Saturday night we dyed Easter eggs. Brad mostly oversaw this endeavor as I had been asked to speak in Sacrament Meeting Easter Sunday and, those who know me well will not be surprised to hear, left it until Saturday night. So...I was in and out of the kitchen while also upstairs trying to write a talk. The kids dyed dozens of eggs and enjoyed them for days afterward - our kids love hard-boiled eggs.


Easter day itself was great. I was glad to get my talk over with (never enjoy public speaking) but so appreciative of the opportunity to have prepared the talk and to have thought, at length, about Easter and the resurrection. Too often all the fun secular traditions that accompany these religious holidays start to eclipse the real purpose of the holiday for me. It's easy to get caught up in bunnies, eggs and pretty new dresses and forget the resurrection. So...it was a nice touch this year that I had to study for and prepare a talk. Now if there was just some way to do all the prep work without having to actually stand up in front of everybody, I'd be in business!

Locks of Love

Just wanted to post a picture of Alyssa's cute new do! She has been growing her hair out for months and months in order to donate it to Locks of Love. It took a lot of patience on her part, but she finally got the necessary 10 inches and had it long enough to donate. Turns out, cutting it all off at that point was a little scary! She waited and waited, built up her courage and last weekend was able to overcome her fears. She had 11+ inches cut off and donated it to children suffering from long term medical hair loss. We are proud of her and know that her donation will make some little girl very happy.

Here she is on the way home from the hair salon!