My Precious

Well, for the past few years Matt and I have discussed marriage. We've been together for almost 10 years now. We have three wonderful boys. We love each other very much. We've both grown tremendously through it all. We've had the worst of times and the best of times.

If I had it all to do over again, I'd do things differently - that's for sure. I believe he'd say the same. We messed up the natural order of things.

I've always teased that we have to go on our honeymoon before we get married in order to keep our trend going. Most people get married, do the whole honeymoon thing, move in together, have kids, etc. Oh no, not us... [Completely backwards...]

But in all seriousness...

I truly believe we belong together. I don't think there's another soul alive that would put up with my quirks. Just as I don't think there's another soul alive who would tolerate all of Matt's. Sure, we drive each other insane at time's... But what couple doesn't? Right!?

When it's all said and done, we just work. In my eyes, marriage is about the commitment. The decision to never quit. We both agree that divorce is not an option. That's what's taken us so long to really make this step. It's obviously not something we tread lightly on.

Whenever we've brought up the subject of marriage Matt has always teased me saying,

"oh... she wants her precious"

I'm sure you recognize the infamous phrase from "Lord of the Rings." Well, I guess it sort of became our cute inside joke. He was always using that phrase on me.








Well, last night - I finally got it!


Below is a couple of pictures of my ring - I took them at lunch today.




















That's right, he PROPOSED! And I said yes!

Now, the next question - How'd he do it?

He purchased the ring over a week ago. With his swing shift schedule (alternating between 1st, 2nd, and 3rd shifts every week) it was going to be a while before we could plan a nice evening out. He said he wanted to go that route... the "big proposal." He just couldn't wait... so he just left the room last night and came back ready to pop the question.

It was a very sweet, private moment.

The rest is history...



Or the beginning...

Two toddlers drown in our home town

This is so sad! Here's the story copied directly from KMOV.com - our local news:

"(KMOV) – Police are now saying two toddlers were in the care of two adults, and their teen aunt and uncle. The two brothers drowned in a pool in Warren County, Missouri Thursday. Authorities say the children, ages two and three, drowned at the grandparent's private residence. It happened in the 2200 block of Pinta Drive in Warren County. Initial reports were that the aunt and uncle were the only two in charge of the toddlers. Police Chief Pat Harney says, "There were adults in the house charged with caring for the children." Warren County Child Death Review Board will convene around 10 a.m. Friday, and discuss what happened. Then County prosecutors will decide whether anyone broke the law. The identities of the children have not been released."

There's a conflicting story being told by the media that the two and three year-old boys were in the care of a 12-year-old babysitter. I have yet to see any updates regarding this story.

The house is down just a few streets from ours - See:

I'm torn between feeling sorry for whomever was watching these boys, and being very angry with them for letting such a tradegy occur. I mean, the guilt from such an incident would be enough to kill me alone. I can't imagine what that would do to a person.

Just a sad, sad state of events. Everyone involved is going to need a lot of prayer.

Dancing Petals

Oh yeah! I also did a little doodle last night...

It's always been hard for me to draw without having a reference there to look at. This was practice... just a little something I conjured up. The scan's not the greatest, but it's no major work of art - just a little doodle! Had fun drawing it though.

Grant's Farm

Well, I meant to post back when we visited Grant's Farm around a month ago (or two). The company I work for hosted the event. I've attached some pictures below. Jessi joined the boys and I. We had a lot of fun - Western does a great job with these events!

I didn't get a good shot, but Joel was also feeding the goats through the fence from his stroller. I just couldn't get a good shot, try as I did. We saw the bird show, I taught the boys how by waving to the elephant, you can get him to wave back, and he Did - many times!