8 years (or 28.87% of my life)

Eight years ago today we stood in our church back home and blindly and enthusiastically said ‘I will’ to each other. At 19 years old, I’m sure some people thought we were crazy, but there wasn’t a doubt in my mind that I was marrying the best man around and I was completely confident that we would make it work. Happily – luckily – I’m here to report that Collin is still the best man around and, praise the Lord, we’ve made it work. Later that night we road off in a little black Nissan to begin our married lives together. Here are just a few of the things I’ve learned in my 2,923 days of being married to the one and only Collin Bullard:

*It isn’t a federal requirement to be a total grump in the mornings. You can be a perfectly nice and pleasant person when you wake up. Oh, and you don’t have to yell when you’re upset about something. (Truly a revelation to this girl at 19 years old.)

*There is a certain combination of ingredients that makes the perfect chocolate chip cookie and, yes, it is necessary to figure out the precise combination, no matter how many batches of cookie dough you must endure.

*You might be appalled and outraged at a particular situation, and rightfully so, but that doesn’t mean outrage is the best or most productive response. Sometimes being calm and quiet and understanding brings about the most change in a person or situation.

*Friends episodes really do make life more enjoyable. This is especially true when watched together or with friends and, naturally, with some homemade chocolate chip cookies.

*It’s okay to dream big and believe that everything will work out for the best. Sure, there are worries and details to muddle through, but it’s all going to be okay in the end. Let’s just all calm the heck down.

*Generosity is really important in a group of friends. Don’t calculate who does/gives/offers what… just keep doing, giving, offering. Generosity inspires generosity and we are all happier and understand a bit more of God’s grace because of it.

I’ll stop now, as this could go on for a while if we let it. He’s a smart man, my husband. Who knows what I will learn in another eight years. 

Cowboys and Indians

Last weekend was our baby shower, and it was the awesomest day we’d had in a while (rivaled only by what was, admittedly, an epic Easter Sunday, see here). We have such sweet friends, and when we told them that we wanted the shower to be a rockin’, co-ed, day of fun, they came up with just the thing to fit us perfectly: a Cowboys and Indians backyard BBQ.

Bandanas and boots made the food look even better; of course, this was just the pre-meal. The BBQ chicken, corn on the cob, BBQ baked beans, bacon wrapped green beans, coffee cake, and apple pie was still to come.

One of the coolest things about the party was seeing special touches from each of our friends scattered throughout the party; from the decorations to the coffee cake to the diaper cake. We saw the personalities of each of our friends in different parts of the party, and that was as fun as the party itself. Nice teamwork everybody!

Not only that, but they all actually dressed up to make the theme complete. Exhibit A:

Sarah (right) seems to be channeling the denim spirit of her Oklahoma roots; and Jackie (left), who is an Aussie, is presumably showing off a bit of the ‘outback’ spirit :). With the denim, plaid, and pigtails, you’d never guess we were in England!

Others were a little more creative with the theme:

Simon (right) seemed to misinterpret the ‘cow-boy’ theme; and Eric (left) thought that no good Western would be complete without a Mexican… I’ll leave it to my student affairs buddies to comment on the diversity issues involved.

Nicki was the only one sporting Indian garb, but Candice did technically come to the party as a Native American too.

Somewhere in the middle of the party, there were games… and good ones too. The first was a bottle drinking competition. I had the idea of trying to bite a bigger hole in the nipple in order to suck more out (there’s a sentence I never thought I’d type).

I chomped and chewed, but it was not going to give… there was no way to cheat, I was just going to have to attack it the old fashioned way. After what seemed like 10 minutes of nursing these baby bottles, no one was even halfway through, and a few people were even complaining about tongue cramps :)! Don’t worry, no people (or nipples) were seriously harmed in the playing of this game.

As for the next game, I’m not so sure the same can be said… the level of competition definitely escalated… take Jonny for example… he seems fun loving enough when watching the bottle game:

But during the next game, in the heat of competition, the gloves came off (or stayed on, depending on how you look at it) as we battled it out…

Sadly, I did not prevail over Jonny… here he is celebrating… thank you, by the way, to whoever took this picture, priceless:

(Sorry, Jonny, the pictures we got of you simply demanded an overarching narrative).

Thanks everyone for an awesome shower. Here’s one last photo of us with a ‘project’ gift from the shower… it looks even better hanging over the crib :).

I heart etsy

I discovered Etsy.com some time ago and it has potential to become a real problem.  I will get on the site to look for one thing, but of course, come across about 10 things that would either make life easier or just prettier. :) Luckily, I have been able to maintain some sense of self-control and haven’t spent loads of money (mostly I’m deterred due to the shipping costs from the U.S.) but I am so tempted! Here are a few of my recent finds:

Wouldn’t these be just adorable for a new little babe? Look for yourself. There are also a lot of shops that make these to look like miniature Uggs!

I’m not one to collect a ton of jewelry, but I’m girly enough to like it and want to wear it. The problem is that the stuff I do have is thrown into random old make-up bags, which means everything is tangled together and you can't really even see what's there. This is one reason I rarely wear any jewelry... I don't have the time (okay, patience) to sort it all out every time I want to wear a necklace or a pair of earrings. I think something like this jewelry hanger would help me be more organized, less tangled, and more frequently accessorized. Find it here. 

I love all the initial necklaces that are floating around everywhere these days. I would love a charm for my hubs and for our boy. Most of these types of necklaces are much more simple and understated than this one, which would probably be fitting for every day wear. Still, I can't help but think this one is beautiful. (Don't worry, our boy's name does not start with a J!) Check it out.

The fact that all of the stuff on Etsy is handmade makes me think that I should probably try to make some of it myself. However, since it’s unlikely that I’ll pick up knitting or silver-smelting in the next six weeks, for now I’ll have to go on admiring other people’s work.