Daddy's Hands...

OK, who out there remembers The Judds? Well, when I was a kid, they were pretty big (if you listened to country, anyway). I remember jamming out to one of their cassette tapes while swimming in my friend and neighbor, Chrissy Cruise's, pool. But I also remember their song, "Daddy's Hands". I remember even at that age how much it made me think of my Dad. And as I've grown up and matured (well, grown anyway), I've gotten an increased appreciation for the lyrics and how well it applies to him. So, today, in honor of Father's Day, I'm going to post the lyrics so that you can appreciate them, too. Then, you can check out the link at the bottom to watch a youtube clip and listen to the song (it's not quite as good as The Judds' version, but it's still very touching).


I remember Daddy´s hands, folded silently in prayer.
And reaching out to hold me, when I had a nightmare.
You could read quite a story, in the callouses and lines.
Years of work and worry had left their mark behind.

I remember Daddy´s hands, how they held my Mama tight,
And patted my back, for something done right.
There are things that I´ve forgotten, that I loved about the man,
But I´ll always remember the love in Daddy´s hands.


Daddy's hands were soft and kind when I was cryin´.
Daddy´s hands, were hard as steel when I´d done wrong.
Daddy´s hands, weren´t always gentle But I´ve come to understand.
There was always love in Daddy´s hands.


I remember Daddy´s hands, working 'til they bled.
Sacrificed unselfishly, just to keep us all fed.
If I could do things over, I´d live my life again.
And never take for granted the love in Daddy´s hands.


Daddy's hands were soft and kind when I was cryin´.
Daddy´s hands, were hard as steel when I´d done wrong.
Daddy´s hands, weren´t always gentle But I´ve come to understand.
There was always love in Daddy´s hands.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nX4QVGykIA4&feature=related


HAPPY FATHER'S DAY, DAD!! I am so proud to be able to call you my Dad and to have had you as an example of loyalty, work ethic, and integrity. I've just got one question, "Are you happy to me?"
~~I love you!!

Love and Marriage...

And He answered and said to them, "Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning made them male and female", and said, "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh"? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.
~ Matthew 19: 4-6

9 1/2 years ago, Kevin swept me off my feet by asking, "So, what do ya' think?" (No, really...that's how he proposed.) And 8 years ago, today, we got married. It was truly the best day ever! We planned for a year. And when I say we, I mean my mom and me. Pretty much the only input that Kevin gave (not that I was controlling...and not that he wasn't asked for more) was just that there was to be NO Kenny G allowed! It was a simple, but beautiful wedding at my hometown church. We were surrounded by friends and family, I had a beautiful dress, and my dad stopped crying long enough to take some decent pictures after it was all over. You can't ask for much more than that! Aside from the flowers being, shall we say, not quite what I had in mind, everything else was...perfect!

After that we went on the best vacation ever...our road trip honeymoon! We drove to New Orleans, ate at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. (took our picture in front of Forrest and Jenny's wedding attire), and stayed the night. We drove along the coast into Florida. We stopped for a couple of hours to enjoy the beautiful Pensacola beach, swam yards away from dolphins, and went to a dock to take a picture of ourselves "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay". We continued to Orlando, had the most amazing time getting rained on at Sea World, and went boogie boarding at Cocoa Beach. We drove down to Miami, stayed in a cute Art Deco hotel, drove down "A1A, beach front avenue" and ate in South Beach. We drove across Alligator Alley, saw an actual alligator on the side of the road (sure, it was a baby, but whatever), and drove all the way up to Tennessee. We went to Nashville and stopped at the Country Music Hall of Fame, but we didn't want to actually pay to go on the tour, so we just took our pictures next to autographed pictures of Tim McGraw and Faith Hill (because we sound just like them, of course). Then we went to Memphis, had some great Bar-B-Q, and went to Graceland...pretty awesome. Finally, we drove through Little Rock (didn't stop and see anything there...not such an exciting place) and made our way back to Lewisville. 4,000 miles and not a single fight! We had a few missed turns, but we had A LOT of laughs, and had some baby names picked out (good thing, too, because a month and a half later, I got pregnant)!

I have my parents to thank for setting such a wonderful example of what marriage should be like. I don't ever remember seeing them fight. Sure, there were arguments (or as my dad would call them..."discussions"), but they always seemed to either resolve it or let it go for the time being. Their bedroom door was always left open...so it was just kind of an unspoken thing between us kids to stay away on the occasion that it was closed. Although they were never afraid to gross us out or embarrass us by telling us stories about "Tarzan and Jane", or kiss in front of us, or give little pats on the behind. (You remember the stories, right Jenn?) I know...gross, right?

People often say that marriage is hard. I don't think that's necessarily true. It's all the stuff that comes with it that's hard: money (or the lack thereof), parenthood, and other responsibilities. And sure, there might be a couple of things that Kevin does that annoy me (I know...just a couple...that's funny, right?!), and maybe I might have some things about me that aren't always so wonderful (although I can't think of what they would be), but I think all of those hard things in life would be infinitely harder if I didn't have him. I'm just so blessed to have my best friend with me every day! (I love you, Cakes)...OK, everyone can stop gagging now...the mushy stuff is over.

WOW! Once again, I have kind of rambled and made this post a bit longer than I had anticipated. Oh well, I think you've come to expect that from me. Anyway, I'd love to hear some wedding/honeymoon/marriage stories of yours, too. Happy Anniversary to me!!

Summer Book List...

Since I tend to be quite busy during the school year (both actually, genuinely busy as well as just preoccupied with too much TV), I usually save the bulk of my reading for during the summer. I might find time to read a book or two during the year or over Christmas or Spring Break, but for the most part, summer time is reading time.

I don't really know that I have a specific genre that I love. I really enjoyed the first few Janet Evanovich books (which are mysteries with some comedy and a love triangle thrown in). My favorite author is Nicholas Sparks (I won't call those books romance, because that brings to mind tawdry Harlequin romance. I will describe his books as love stories.), but I'm all caught up with him...I've read them all. As you all know, I am a big nerd. This, of course, means that I have also loved the Harry Potter and Twilight series (which, just in case you have fallen off the face of the planet, are fantasy...magic, vampires, suspense, and love). Last year, I was introduced to Dennis Lehane (he wrote Shutter Island and Gone Baby Gone), Jodi Picoult (she wrote My Sister's Keeper), and Jennifer Weiner (she wrote In Her Shoes). So, I'm kind of all over the place as far as genre is concerned.

Right now, I've got a list of books/authors that I have in mind. Here's what I've got so far:

~ The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo: by Stieg Larsson
~ A Drink Before the War: by Dennis Lehane
~ Good in Bed: by Jennifer Weiner
~ Handle with Care: by Jodi Picoult
~ Bitter is the New Black: by Jen Lancaster

If you have heard anything about these books (or have ever read them yourselves), please let me know. If you have any recommendations for me, please pass them on as well. I know that some people swear by Jane Austen. But I figure if I've never enjoyed the movies, or even thought they were that interesting, that I wouldn't enjoy the books either.

I am relatively new to this whole "reading for fun" business (I didn't really start doing a lot of it until about 4 years ago). But I am SUPER excited about hearing what you guys are reading...or what you think of any of the books/authors on my list...or if you have any suggestions for me. So help me out, and let's get our READ on!!

Bizzle Dizzle...

For those who may not keep up with Snoop Dogg the way that I do (you know, we're BFF's, right?), Bizzle Dizzle is just his way of saying "Birthday". There, now that everyone has had time to picture me and the D-O-double G hanging out, I'll move on...

Birthdays were always a big deal in our family. Now, they weren't the super expensive extravaganzas that people seem to have these days. But they were always done up right. We always had a theme with decorations and a cake to match. Mom was SO creative! I LOVED seeing what she would come up with. There were a few times that we got to have our parties at a place (our favorite party place was Crystal's Pizza), but for the vast majority of the time, we had our parties at home....and I loved every one of them. I've tried to carry on Mom's birthday party philosophy with my own kids, and so far I think I've done pretty well.

But right now, in honor of my 29th birthday, I want to take a little trip down memory lane with some of my favorite birthdays (I was going to have pictures, but unfortunately my scanner is not working. So, we'll just have to use our imaginations!):

~9 years old~ It had "the right stuff, baby". Yes, that's right...it was a New Kids on the Block theme!! We had plates and napkins to match, and my mom decorated the cake to look like the album cover. It was pretty awesome...

~10 years old~ Beach theme. The cake was a life buoy. The table cloth was a big turquoise beach towel. We had pails with all kinds of water/sand toys as favors. And what's even better is that the pink plates with the turquoise towel TOTALLY matched my pink and turquoise school t-shirt. Yeah, it was pretty rad.

~11 years old~ One of my all-time fav's. It was a black/white/polka-dot theme. The cups, plates, and table cloth were all white with black polka-d0ts (they had some color around the edges so they didn't all just blur together). I had a domino cake (white with Oreo dots), and we scattered black dominoes all over the table. It just turned out super cute!

~12 years old~ Summer theme. The cake was a giant pair of sunglasses. We handmade place mats in the shape of orange and yellow suns. It was on a back drop of a sky blue table cloth. We had fun plastic cups that we drank lemonade from. It was so sunny and happy...totally fit my personality, right?!

~13 years old~ Picnic theme. We had a table cloth made out of this cute material (red/white checkerboard with black ants all over it). The cake was a watermelon, and we drank out of mason jars.

~14 years old~ Cooper Cougars theme! It was the summer before I started high school, so we decorated with everything Cooper High School! I had a cougar paw print cake. We had the traditional cougar head with the mouth open, making a "C" place mats. We decorated with pennants and red/blue painted cowbells for making noise at the football games. It was greatness!

~18 years old~ It was oh-so-maturely decorated in lavender and sage green (which were the colors I was going to be using in my dorm room). And so, naturally, the decorations were all things that I would be using in the dorm: posters, bed spread, pillows, cups, etc. It was SO not a kid's birthday...it was just pretty!

Now, my kids know what their birthdays are like, and they've seen the pictures of my childhood birthdays. They just don't understand what happened. Why is it that grown-up birthdays are SO boring?! They just can't believe there are no decorations, no presents (well, maybe there will be one every once in a while), and if there is a cake, it certainly isn't a fun cake! I try to tell them that we just want their birthdays to be that much more special. But they're not buying it. They are SO not looking forward to being grown-ups...just for the boring birthdays!

Anyway, I'm sorry I didn't have pictures for this trip down memory lane. But hopefully some of you (Mom and Jenn for sure) will be able to remember, and hopefully the rest of you will be able to picture them. Either way, thanks for letting me reminisce as I get one year closer to the big 3-0!

Fascinating...

Yikes. First, let me apologize for the long absence. The last few weeks of school tend to leave a person with their brains fried...zero creativity. But as I sit here watching Scooby Doo Alien Invaders with the kids, I'm feeling a bit inspired. I've mentioned before, that there are a couple of things that I believe in and find completely fascinating: aliens and ghosts.

With as awesome as I know God is, and as vast as this universe seems to be, I find it pretty naive to think that we're the only ones out there. Don't worry, I'm not going to get into any scientific or theological discussions right now...my brain just can't handle it. Instead, why don't we just talk about movies?! I know there are many others that I'm leaving off, so if there are any you'd like to add...with an antecdote of your own, please feel free!

Alien Movies

~ The Abyss = Not your typical alien movie, but it is pretty amazing, and it is one of my favorites. But the only way to watch it is if you watch the director's cut.
~ Close Encounters of the Third Kind = Not one of my favorites, but it is a classic. My 6th grade science teacher was also my homeroom teacher. During study hall he would play this movie (when he wasn't playing documentaries about JFK's assassination).
~ Contact = Again, not one of my favorites, but I did find it very intriguing.
~E.T. = A classic! And now, my kids like it, too!
~ Independence Day = Oscar caliber....no. Awesome....yes! "We will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight!"
~ Star Wars (the entire collection) = Do I even need to say anything?
~ War of the Worlds = I'm SO not a fan of Tom Cruise, but I did really enjoy this movie!
~ Signs = One of the best! I jump every time!!
~ Spaceballs = Pure comic genious!!! "I see, your schwartz is as big as mine."


Ghost Movies

~ The Changeling = No, not the one with Angelina Jolie. This is an older movie. And it's a Halloween theater viewing tradition in Abilene. Cheesy and old...but a classic.
~ Ghost = Awe, I cry every time.
~ Ghostbusters 1, 2, & 3 = Good ghost watching, family fun. (not yet for my kids, though)
~ The Shining = Oh, man...am I right?! "Redrum, redrum, redrum!"
~ The 6th Sense = Really only awesome once. Still good to watch, but it will never be the same. Simply the best surprise ending ever.
~ The Amityville Horror = The old one is better, but the remake is more worth watching... just to see Ryan Reynolds chopping wood!
~ The Blair Witch Project = O. M. G. This was amazing when it came out! Kevin and I went to see it together, and we totally bought into it....totally thought it was real.
~ Beetlejuice = A classic. "oooOOOOooooOOH....uuuh, uuuh!" (Mom and Jaime, please tell me that quote made you laugh!)
~ Watcher in the Woods = Aahh, my first horror movie. And it was made by Disney! I watched it while on a Girl Scouts sleepover party at Embassy Suites. It was scary, and I LOVED it! Come to think of it, I need to watch it again. I don't think I've watched since I was 8 or 9. Oh, memories!


Alright, that's it. Here's hoping I get my blogging mind back quickly. But like I said at the beginning, please feel free to add to the lists. It's always fun to hear what everyone else has to say.