19

Yesterday was our 19th wedding anniversary. 19 years. That's nearly half my life at this point. It seems, simultaneously, that we have always been married and that it was just the other day that we were walking down the isle. Time is strange like that so much of the time! I can't imagine a person I would rather travel the journey of life with that my husband. We are a great team! We have a great time together and compliment each other well. He loves me way better than I deserve and is so patient. I am constantly grateful for the immense blessing he is in my life and in the life of our family. He rocks! (also, I think he's pretty darn cute!)

This particular anniversary, as it turns out, we were face to face with a few of the less favorable phrases from our nearly two-decade-old vows :: "in sickness" and "for worse". I have probably, in retrospect, not felt great for a few weeks now, but life is pretty busy in September so I just kept moving forward. Well, life also has a way of stopping you in your tracks when you've gotten to a certain point. Early yesterday afternoon I developed a headache. Not totally uncommon for me, although not normal either. I did my normal "headache stuff" and nothing seemed to help at all -- in fact it kept getting worse. Then I took a couple ibuprofen (which I don't normally do or need to do, but this was quite a headache!) and still it just kept getting worse. Monday nights, as it turns out, all 6 kids have activities. 3 with gymnastics, 2 with  football and 1 at tennis. It is the one night of the week that is always crazy. Well, by the time we needed to start shuttling kids to and from stuff, I didn't feel like I could safely operate a motorized vehicle. I had extreme pain and was feeling dizzy/weird. So I crawled in our bed about 5 pm. I got up to eat a little something at some point and finally to brush my teeth and change out of my clothes before going to bed "for real" for the night. I woke up this morning after more than 12 hours of sleep (I slept pretty well, thankfully), but still had some pretty serious pain in my head. The dizziness was gone, but had been replaced by a weird fuzzy/out-of-body feeling that was so strange -- similar to the feeling you have when you arrive home from somewhere in your car and can't exactly remember how you got home; you can't remember the streets you drove on, or the route you took, or the time in between when you left point A to drive to point B. I think most people have experienced that and know what I'm talking about. I knew that I had walked the kids to school and had conversations with a few people, but didn't really remember or register fully any of the morning. So, I called my chiropractor and scheduled an appointment for late morning. I went and he worked on my and said my neck and upper back were a really big mess of tension and misalignment. He said that he thought I should start to feel better soon and that if I woke up tomorrow still in pain, I should come back. He's a great guy and I'm thankful for him. The pain has lessened already, but the other weird feelings are still sticking around. I'm hoping to be clear-headed before the kids get home from school.

This 19th year of marriage has probably been the toughest one we've had, not on the marriage front particularly, just the general life kind of stuff has been stretching, to put it mildly. It's also been wonderful, with lots of blessings and laughter and fun. But it hasn't been easy! I'm hoping for a re-do on anniversary celebrating later this week, headache-free and am also hopeful that one of these days (weeks, months . . .) things will take a turn for us and we can quit holding our breath and finally breathe a little easier around here.

Here's to a great 20th year of marriage. I would be a disaster without this guy by my side! I am so thankful for him and that he loves me! What a blessing.

thankful thursday

We had a great weekend celebrating {very nearly -- their anniversary is on Sunday} 40 years of marriage for my parents. Our whole family {my parents, the 8 of us, my brother and his family, my best friend -- who is an honorary Carlson -- and her family, my grandma and my cousin}, 20 of us total, headed up to Trout Lake Camp on Friday afternoon for a weekend of family fun and celebration. The weather wasn't overly cooperative, but we had tons of fun anyway.

The whole lot of us {minus my Grandma, unfortunately}
Joe, Anna, Kirby, Sara, Brie, my mom, Haddon, Jacob, Lydia, me, Rebekah, Schaeffer, Jenn, Allie, Ava, my dad, Justin, Sam & Luke::

My parents and our family of 8 were the only ones who had seen, in person, the result of the years and years of hard work my dad has put into the new Timber Ridge Dining Hall, so it was fun to have the rest of our family finally have a chance to see it. It is amazing, that's for sure. He laid nearly every cement block that makes up the foundation and structure of the building, then proceeded to put stone on the {very tall} chimney and the pillars on the outside of the building -- and since the building stands on the highest point of land in Crow Wing County, saying he was up high when putting the tippy top stones on that chimney is an understatement! Praise God he was safe through it all, especially since he was often working alone, without another soul around! After that was done he grabbed a few thousand more stones and built 6 stone fireplaces inside the building. The main one of which is the largest stone fireplace in the state of Minnesota {and my dad thinks, although has no proof, possibly in the entire country}. It's HUGE! And beautiful. {and Lydia would have you know that she laid 3 of those stones too. She can even point out exactly which ones they are.}

The biggest of the 6 fireplaces
The focal point of the dining area::

When we arrived on Friday night we got all situated in our rooms for the weekend and had some hot dogs and s'mores cooked on the fire out back. One at a time, the 10 kids got tucked into bed and the adults stayed up to chat a bit before turning in as well. Saturday we ate, played some games, had a tour of camp, ate some more, climbed rock walls, went skateboarding, played air hockey, had a snack, played some board games, ate dinner, enjoyed the machine that automatically dispensed hot chocolate at the touch of a button, strained to hear my mom {who had laryngitis} say a few sweet words to my dad, looked at pictures from their wedding, toasted my parents and ate wedding cake, watched movies, played some more games, ate a bit more and turned in for the night. Sunday morning we woke up, ate again, took a "Doug and Marcia" quiz {which I won!}, had a family church service where Kirb preached on God's faithfulness, packed up our stuff, had brunch, took a walk {since the temps were a bit less arctic than they had been on Sunday}, made sure everyone went potty one final time and piled back in our cars for the ride home. It was a wonderful, wonderful weekend together. Between the 20 of us, hopefully we can find a major milestone to celebrate each winter as an excuse to do this again each February!

I am so thankful for my family and for the example of love, commitment and faithfulness that my parents' marriage is a testament to. What a blessing!

Here are a bunch more pictures from our weekend. Enjoy!

Our 6 kiddos in the bookshelves my dad built flanking one of the 2 basement fireplaces::

The Carlson boys take a turn::

My best friend, Allie & my cousin Brie::

Joe, with the Dining Hall seating in the background {aren't those windows fabulous, too?}::

Another view of the biggest fireplace::

Ama & a few of her favorite little people::

The other basement fireplace::

Singing "Head & Shoulders, Knees and Toes" on Saturday morning
{we must be at the "eye and ears and mouth and nose" part}::

I just think this is a funny picture of Sara. It makes me smile::

Cheers::

The cake cutter::

A rousing game of Scrabble::

Grandma and Allie::

Feeding each other cake::

thankful thursday

Today I'm thankful for all the years. Yesterday was our 15th anniversary. 15 years since that day of excitement, shared vows, a motorcade of VW Beetle convertibles, light rain showers, bubbles hanging in the air, clinking glasses and kisses. A decade and a half. Lots of life lived and unimaginable adventures still to come. I am so thankful for the blessing -- the grace in my life -- that is my husband. I love him more each day!

{I'm also SUPER thankful for, and excited about our just-over-24-kid-free-hours that begin tomorrow afternoon. Whoo Hoo!}