a busy day

It was a busy day. We took some time out after the wedding to feed the crowd, then on to last minute preparations for the evening. The day was perfect, the weather was perfect, the food was perfect, the company was perfect. 

There were so many small details that made the evening so adorable and so fun.  Everyone pitched in to get things ready for the evening.

our beautiful little bride

wedding plans, rain storms, first date and other randomness

I've spent a lot of time in thrift stores and consignment stores the past few weeks.  We have some ideas for Rachel's wedding reception that hopefully can be thrifted, borrowed or repurposed.  It's kind of amazing that you can look at a shelf in a thrift store that looks utterly cluttered, cheap and chaotic, then pick through it all and walk up to the register with 4 or 5 funky pieces of stuff that really look cool all together in the basket. We took a trip to to Safford a couple weeks ago and stopped in every thrift store between here and there - Apache Junction, Superior, Top-of-the-World (yes, a real place), Miami, Globe, Thatcher and Safford. In one store, I found several pieces of cool junk and took about $15 of stuff to the front counter.  The guy at the register looked at it and said, "how about $2.50 for the whole pile?"  I'm not sure what his method was. Each piece had a price tag on it.

This piece cracked me up.  It was actually in a cool consignment shop over on 7th Ave.  Can you read the tag?  It says "Cool Rusty Thing  $6.99".  Oh my heck, it's a piece of rusty plumbing. We have tons of those around. Maybe I should sell them all for $6.99 each and start a little side business.

I also asked Dave if he would walk through his junk around the house with me and look for cool pieces of iron or brass that we could use in an artistic way.  I was startled at how much stuff he keeps, and surprised at how many cool pieces of metal we found.  Most of the metal we found was painted red, because we are in the Fire Protection Industry.  I told him we couldn't use red, but Dave said we could 'fire' the pieces and then just brush the paint off.  "What do you mean 'fire' the pieces?"  He then started a fire in the fire pit in the backyard and tossed in the metal pieces. "There. We just fire the pieces for a while."  It's the middle of August and the temperature is sweltering, and we are working up a big roaring fire in the back yard. I left him to that task and headed out to run some errands. I hadn't driven 3 blocks when some hefty winds came out of nowhere. Five minutes later it was raining. RAINING! Rain like we don't get very often in the desert. Pouring down like crazy. I stopped at a grocery store, grabbed my umbrella I keep under my seat, (but rarely ever get to use) and saw a dozen people out in front of the store shocked to be coming out to that kind of downpour, when it wasn't hinting of rain when they went in.
When I finally got back home, Dave had covered the fire with one of the metal pieces he was 'firing' and was able to keep flames going through the whole storm. He's a magician with fire.
When I was in college, I drove a Toyota with no air conditioning.  When we had one of these hot weather rainstorms, it was hard to decide whether to keep my windows up and suffocate in the sweltering heat, or roll the windows down and drown.
My first date with Dave was to the movie theater at the Colonnade shopping center (which sadly doesn't have a theater anymore). There was no indication of weather when we went in, but when the movie ended, we came out to pouring rain.  We arrived on his motorcycle which was parked all by itself in the middle of an urban parking lot lake. He gallantly swam out to retrieve the motorbike and rolled it to a dry spot until it could drip dry a few minutes, dry enough to get it started anyway.
More to come about Rachel's wedding. But I have never posted all of Roxanne's wedding photos yet, so tomorrow, I'm going to post her photos. This blog becomes our family yearbook at the end of the year and I'm sure it will be mostly a wedding photo album this year.

i think kyle is going to fit into our family just fine

Dave, writing a talk, "I need to find better stories to illustrate my points."
Kyle - "You could use some missionary stories."
Dave - "Yeah, but mine are all old."
Kyle - "So are the scriptures, are you using any of those?"

Playing Taboo -- "This is a lame Buzzer."
Kyle: "How about wiring it with a Tazer."
Dave: "We could DO that!"

Melanie, trying on a new shirt.
Dave -  "It's very Orange."
Melanie - "It makes me feel like a Skittle!"

Dave, coming home from work: "I had to steer clear of everyone today. I could be a World War Weapon."
Melanie, not sure what he was talking about:  ". . . . because you were angry, or something??"
Dave "No, because I stink."
Kyle:  "More like 'chemical' warfare"

Melanie: "What's the weirdest thing you ate on your mission?" (in the Dominican Republic)
Kyle: "Hmmm, nothing really weird, I don't think. . . .maybe cow intestines, or pig intestines. I didn't know what they were."
Cynthia: "Wow, you hesitated to come up with that?  That sounds pretty weird to me. I would have come up with that answer much faster."
Kyle: "Well, I had chicken feet too, but that's not really weird."
Cynthia: "You're weird, Kyle."

Melanie, after getting a new IPhone: "I'm finding out all kinds of things I can get for my phone. There is a lot of church materials." (I was thinking she was talking about scripture study materials).  "There is an Old Testament Coloring Book!"

Yes, they were putting a Transformers Decal on Melanie's car.

a chatty girl with 2 fewer teeth today (and a little less wisdom)

Melanie had a couple of wisdom teeth taken out today. Luckily for her and for our budget, she only had two teeth to deal with.  It was a quick surgery with 30 minutes of general anesthesia and some local anesthesia. They were ready to send her out the door right when she woke up, so she was still dealing with some drugs in her system on the way home, which for some reason made her quite chatty.

To the nurse: "What is your name?"
"I'm Jen"
"THANK YOU, JEN!"

"Do you think you can walk to the car?"
"With your hand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . holding mine."

Woozy and on the way out the door, to the nurse "who is that lady?"
"That is Monica"
"Ohhhh, . . . Tell Monica THANK YOU!"

Melanie and I got to the car in the basement of the surgery center. She was still woozy, so I was holding her arm as we walked.  I opened her car door and she bent her knees real deep, like starting to squat and then lifted her leg to get in the car (which is not unusually tall, but it's not a short little car). I started laughing so hard I could hardly help her get in the car.

"How deep are we parked?"
"We are just one level down."
"I'm glad you know how to drive out of here."

Melanie: "Trader Joe's has good food."
Me: "You've been there?"
Melanie: "Yes. It has good food. Where's a True Value? (the hardware store) True Value has good food. There's always a Starbucks. I don't drink those. Is there a Paradise Bakery here?" (pointing to a banking complex)
Me: "Are you starving to death?"
Melanie: "No. I'm thirsty to death"

Me: "I'm going to get you a Frosty at Wendy's on the way home"
After I placed an order at the drive through window: "Good Job, Mom"

"Is Hayden going to eat with us?"
"No, Hayden's not in town, although I think he'd enjoy listening to this stream of conversation."

"Here, do you want my ice pack?"

"My mouth feels tacky."
"What does that mean - tacky?"
"My mouth feels dry and gooey."

"THANK YOU, Mom!"

"I think they numbed my thirstability."

"Did they take my shoes off?
"No, they worked on your teeth, not your feet."
"Ok, that's good.  But I have cool socks on, so they missed it."

Looks down at herself suddenly - "Did you put my seatbelt on?"

"I think they closed the hole in my throat. I can't swallow. But my mouth feels big. I can take big girl bites."

Melanie: "What did you order?"
Me: "A Sandwich."
Melanie: "Did they already take a bite out of it?"
Me: "No, Mel. I did. But thank you for your concern."

Looking at the bandaid on her arm from the IV. "What is that . . . an ouch?"

"I smell something good. Is it on my hands?" (then she touches my nose while I"m driving)

Melanie: "Do I still have make-up on?" (she wore no makeup this morning)
Me: "Did you wear makeup this morning?"
Melanie: "Yes. Pink "
"You put on eye shadow this morning?"
"No! I don't wear eye shadow on my face! just powder. Just make-up"

"Did you buy Vanilla Pudding for me?"
"Yes."
"Thank you Mom, You love me."

"I want to smile, but I can't. (starts making gross throat sounds) Can I smile?"
"I'm sure you can."
"Want to see me smile?"
(big cheesy smile)

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