Whew! I’ve finally found some time to get the wedding pics up and write about the wedding. Wedding pics can be viewed here. This is the condensed version. I will be creating a web site of the wedding for a more detailed account, including our mishaps and the entire written ceremony.

Ok, the rundown. We left town Sunday morning (the 18th). Got to my parents’ house that afternoon. Nothing was going on on Monday, so my mom and I baked the shortbread cookies (which were used in place of a cake) and the pumpkin and honey wheat breads. Tuesday Crystal, my matron of honor, got into town, and we went to KMart to do some last minute shopping.Wednesday was set-up day. We all headed out to Camp Augusta (where the wedding was being held) to set up the lodge (where the reception was to be held). We got done just as everyone in the wedding party was arriving for the rehearsal. Once everyone was there we did a quick run-through of the ceremony, then had a nice small luncheon inside the lodge with cold cuts and such brought by Jay’s mom.

Thursday, November 22…the wedding day. We spent the night at a local motel with the boys. We got up early and Crystal showed up a little later to start getting my hair and make-up done. Jay went out to the camp ground. After applying make-up, braiding the sides of my hair and curling the rest, we were ready to head out.
We were running a bit behind and spent the next hour and a half getting everyone dressed, including me, and finishing any last minute set-up. We got a few pictures done before the ceremony, but family pictures had to be done later.

The time of the start of the wedding (2:00) came and went…my parents were running late. We literally couldn’t start the wedding without them as my dad was the one who was marrying us. Once they got there, we all headed down to the amphitheater, the outside area where the ceremony was held. Crystal organized the kids and the rest of the wedding party. With everyone ready, the ceremony began!

The kids, dressed as faeries and elves, walked down each side of the amphitheater throwing glitter to create sacred space. Then the bridesmaids walked down one side and the groomsmen the other, all holding candles. At the top of the hill, Jay and I got our candles lit by Elliott and Crystal, then they proceeded to walk down. Then it was our turn. We walked down each side of the amphitheater.
Once we were on the small wood ”stage”, my dad started reading. The points of it included a unity candle, the vows, the rings, and a handfasting cord.

After the ceremony, everyone went up to the lodge for the reception. Jay and I hung out for a few pictures of just us.
When we got up to the lodge, Elliott announced us. We took our seats and soon after, the toasts began. First the Loving Cup ceremony, hosted by Elliott. Then the personal toasts. Then it was time to eat! We had a big Thanksgiving-esque feast.
After the feast and the family pictures, it was time for the dances. Jay and I had our dance first. Our little niece came up and started dancing with us…it was so cute! Then it was time for the father/daughter dance. My dad whirled me around the floor and had me laughing. Then Jay danced with his mom.

Clean-up began shortly after that…though we thought everyone would stay a bit longer. My mom and I had just put out the shortbread and I had been running around the whole time and didn’t get much of a chance to visit with anyone. I was hoping that everyone would listen to music, relax, and hang out with us longer.
After we got everything cleaned up, Jay and I went back to the motel. We opened the gifts, then realizing how early it still was, went out for a dessert and to see a movie (we saw Beowulf…which we both liked).

So, in a nutshell…the day zoomed by and now it’s a week later. After 13 years, marriage feels no different than before…except for the ring that I still haven’t gotten used to.

Oooo, time has gone by so quickly. My wedding is a week from today! After a few problems with time constraints with the lady making the costumes (Crystal handled that…thanks!), we finally got them all! My dress and the two groomsmen costumes came Tuesday, and everything else (groom’s, best man’s, matron of honor’s, and two bridesmaids costumes) came today. Yay! We now have everything we need to pull off this wedding.

I have been having some not-so-great anxiety dreams (or nightmares) about something or other that goes wrong with the wedding. I know a lot of those have been brought on by not having everything. One dream was about getting through the ceremony only to find out we didn’t have a wedding license. A few days later, we got one and that dream hasn’t come back. Another was the night before my dress came…I dreamed that it was all wrong, but there was no time to change it. When I got the dress and saw how beautiful and perfect it is, that anxiety left me (though that whole day before I had it I had butterflies in my stomach). I know I won’t be able to relax too much…and the butterflies are likely to come back as the day draws nearer, but at least we have everything now and I don’t have to worry about something shipping out too late and not getting it. So that in itself is a huge relief.

So, the last week’s countdown has begun. Seven days left to go!

Wow, the wedding is getting close…less than 3 weeks left to go. I’m so excited!

I’ve been doing follow-ups with everyone today. I had to call the company making the costumes to make sure they’ll be done in time, since I need to have them in 2 weeks at the latest. They are on schedual, so that’s a relief. I haven’t received my niece’s faerie wings yet, so I had to call to make sure they’re on the way (they will be by Monday). I’m ordering my son’s and nephew’s elf costumes today. Had to wait on that to be sure the boys would fit in the costume…my son tried on my other nephew’s costume yesterday and it does fit.

It’s getting down to the wire. I’m trying to get everything organized and completed now. We’ve got the whole ceremony planned out, including the vows done…yay! I still have to finish putting the favors together, but that shouldn’t take me too long. The only things left to pay for are the wedding site (which we’re doing the day of), some rentals (linens, ect.), and the marriage license, which we’ll probably get on Jay’s next day off, since it’s cheaper in this county than getting it in the county we’re getting married in.

So…there’s the update. Last year all this seemed so far away, and now it’s almost here! I’m surprised with how fast it came.

Wow, time is flying. It’s been a very hectic last few months with the wedding planning (getting married on Thanksgiving).

I had my bridal shower on the 6th. We all had a lot of fun! Since the theme of the wedding is Celtic medieval, the theme of the bridal shower was Tir Na Nog - land of the Faerie. I even dressed up as a faerie!

The next day, Oct. 7, my hubby, the boys, and I went to a small Renaissance Faire in Anderson, California. We dressed up, except ‘G’ who didn’t have a costume, and wandered around for a few hours. We had some of their great food, I bought a couple things, and we watched the knights joust!

And now it’s back to wedding planning. I still have the ceremony and vows to write up, favors to put together, a few things left to buy…but it’s all coming together…and fast! I can’t believe there’s only like 5 weeks left! Before we know it Samhain will be here, then the wedding!

So, there’s the quick update on me.

Though this was a few days ago, I figured I’d give an update.
There was a big snowstorm that blew through here Friday through Wednesday…well more than one storm, but all consecutively. We got dumped on throughout the weekend and into the beginning of the week. Though the snow is awesome, and I’ve been waiting for it since winter started, the power outages aren’t so fun. We lost power Monday evening about 6:40…right as I was getting dinner done. Twenty more minutes and dinner would have been served. Then out go the lights, the stove…everything. We still had the propane camping stove and lanturn in the house from the last time the power went out, so I got those going so I could finish dinner.
We still don’t have a stockpile of firewood (so far we’ve mostly relied on the kerosene heater to get us through the cold months), and so having used all the scraps of wood last time the power went out, we didn’t have anything. The house stayed pretty warm until later in the night…and we bundled up in sweats, blankets and sleeping bags. We all slept out in the living room again, to keep what heat we produced concentrated in one area. The lights had flickered a few times right around midnight Tuesday…but never came back on.

Tuesday dawned and still no power. The house was a lot colder than the night before, so we decided to drive into town to get some starter logs to get a fire going with. Since it was early…about 7ish, we also decided on some breakfast. The drive into town was so pretty…the sun was peeking from behind the clouds and everything sparkled white. My camera battery had died a couple nights before, so unfortunetly I couldn’t get any pictures.
When we got into town, we were surprised to find that there was no power there, either. Jay used to work at the casino in town, so he knew they would have a back-up generator going…so we ate breakfast there…and got gas there, as it was the only working gas station in town (so of course, the whole town was there). We then stopped off at WalMart, hoping they would have a generator going, but no such luck. Off to Safeway…they did have a generator going…and a few boxes of starter logs left. We picked up what we needed, and headed home…running into the next storm the further we got up the mountain…and the closer to home.
While in town, we had heard rumors flying that the power should be back on by 1 or 2 in the afternoon. No such luck. Around 4:30ish the lights did the flickering thing again…on, off, on, off…until around 5, then they finally stayed on for good. That is, until about 9 that night…then they went off again until just after 10:30.

Now the storms have pretty much subsided, though we got some snow flurries all throughout Wednesday and some lingering through Thursday, and the power has managed to stay on (knock on wood). We have about 3 feet of snow on the ground, and it’s icy-cold out. The boys and I have been out in it a few times, running around and playing with the doggies. This is what we’ve been waiting for all winter…minus the power outages, of course.

What a fun 24 hours we’ve just had.

We haven’t gotten much out of the latest series of storms…but the other night it started to snow (finally…it hasn’t done that here since right after Christmas), and the flakes were huge. Around 11:30 or so the lights dimmed…but didn’t got out. I figured they would soon, so I shut down the computer and unplugged all magor appliances. The brown-out lasted for quite a while.

Then right around midnight or so (this would be the 9th now) there was a huge flash of light out of the living room window. We were thinking lightening, even though thunder storms don’t generally mix with snow storms…and of course, we didn’t hear any thunder. The lights then went off, and flicked back on…went off, and flicked back on…and then went off for good. We figured a transformer must have blew at the power sub-station up here…that was the flash of light we had seen.

So we lit candles and I caught up on my reading until I got tired. We slept out in the living room, as my room gets really cold without a heater going…and without electricity…no heater.

I figured the power would have been back on when we woke up in the morning. But no, it was not. And come evening…still no power. The boys were getting bored, I was getting cranky (no shower, no computer, no tv, no video games…we were all wearing thin and getting on each others nerves). And to boot, the snow had stopped sometime in the night and all we were getting now was rain.

Some time later, like oh about quarter to 1 in the morning on the 10th (yes, about an hour ago), the power finally came back on. Woohoo! Good thing, too…it was just starting to get chilly and we didn’t have any more firewood laying around (we have a woodstove and a kerosene heater).

I must say, though…I caught up on a good bit of my reading…lol!

The new year is upon us. Another year gone in so much of a blink of an eye. This was a big year for my family and I.
In February we moved from our apartment of going on 9 years into a cozy 3-bedroom house. And even better, we moved up to the mountains where we actually get snow in the winter! We’ve already had up to about 4 inches on and off since right around Thanksgiving. My hubby finally got into the job we’ve been waiting on for a year and a half, which incidentally, is the main reason for our move.
Shortly after moving, we decided to increase our family…we started looking around for a dog….a Husky or Malamute to be specific. We found a beautiful Husky rather quickly and adopted her. A month or so later, we adopted a Malamute. Being young (ranging between a year and 2 years) they can be a handful…but they can be so sweet as well.
One of my brothers got married this summer and got me into thinking of finally tying the knot with my hubby. We’ve been wanting to, but with 2 kids and all sorts of bills, the money just flew right by us. Now that hubby’s in a better job, we’ve started planning our wedding for November 22 of this year. Funny thing, one of my other brothers is getting married in the spring of this year.
Let’s see, this has been quite a creative year for me. Hubby and I bought Poser6 for Christmas last year and I’ve been playing with it a lot in the past 12 months. I have quite a few full scenes and even some signature tags I’ve created with the program…and I’ve used it to completely update the look of my design site, RavenMoon Designs. I’ve got a little something brewing with my artwork, and I’ll let you all in the secret soon.

And that about does it for my year. 2006 was quite a year, with lots of changes. It was a great year. And now, as I look forward to 2007, I can only hope it’ll be as great. Happy New Year!

The boys and I just got home earlier this evening from spending a few fun-filled days visiting wth family for the Thanksgiving holiday.

We had left Tuesday afternoon for my sis-in-law’s house and spent the night there. Then early Wednesday afternoon we headed down to GV to visit our families. ‘J’ is still in the academy (he’s been there since late September), so he couldn’t go with us. We got to my parents house later that afternoon. The boys pretty much attacked their aunt and uncle…lol. I visited with them (my bro and sis) and my mom. Later that evening I took a quick trip with my dad to KMart, giving me a chance to visit with him some.
Later, my bro and I stayed up til 3:30am visiting and playing on the computer…that was interesting, and yet fun…lol.

And now turkey day. Got up earlier than is normal for me…lol…but I knew there were goodies to be eaten. My mom always makes a bunch of stuff for the holidays. For breakfast was caramelized pull-apart bread and chocolate-chip bespeckled cinnamon rolls…mmmm. Then lunch was crackers, dips, and many other little hors-de-vours. My other bro and my future sis-in-law showed up around lunchtime. We hung out and visited and had a good time. My other brother and my sis-in-law and her neice showed up right before dinner…with my car. Well, not my car, but the one I want…a Jeep Liberty. She showed it to me…and ahh, I want one so bad. And my last bro and his girlfriend and little girl showed up a few minutes later. We then dug into a feast of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, rolls, greenbean cassarole, and many other dishes.

We all had a great time visiting before everyone started getting tired and went home. But not before a buffet of desserts was laid out for the picking…cookies, candies, pies…the works. Yummy! And I got a huge platter I brought home with me.

My sis-in-law picked the boys and I up today and we headed for home. We all had a great time and the boys loved seeing their grandparents and aunts and uncles. And we get to do it all again in a few weeks when Christmas rolls along….yay!

Ok, so I’m a bit late, but we had a great Samhain. I baked a few goodies (jalapino popper fingers…mmmm, banana bread and chocolate frosted brownies) and when my sis-in-law Crystal and our friend Kristine got here with their boys we all got dressed up and went out trick-or-treating. We had a ren/medieval theme going…with the exception of my youngest, who was Stitch from Lilo And Stitch.  As soon as I get pics developed (yeah, I don’t have one of those nifty digital cameras yet), I’ll post them. It was cold, so two blocks pretty much did us in…and by that time the boys were ready to go home and divulge in their mass of candy.

Later on, after the gals and their kiddos left, I sat down to watch a couple scary movies. I found Halloween on tv, so watched the last half of it (with my 10 year old saying it’s not scary and me saying it’s a classic) and then turned off all the lights, hunkered down and put on Stephen King’s Storm Of The Century. I had forgotten how long that movie was…so about 4:30 in the morning I finally got to bed.

Since the 31st was pretty much the boys time, I lit a candle and incense and honored the gods, spirits, and ancestors the next evening.

Oh boy…we had a bit of a scare earlier this evening (or I should say yesterday evening). Hubby and I were watching a movie (The Hills Have Eyes…a rather gross movie, by the way) and the boys were playing out in the back yard. They came in with the younger crying and our older son said a branch fell out of a tree and it hit him (the younger one) on the back of the head. (Since that freak snowstorm in late May, we’ve had small branches falling constantly…but none were ever big enough to cause damage.) Hubby and I jumped up real fast to look at him. He was bleeding quite a bit, so we jumped in the car (without shoes) and drove a few blocks to the firestation…since we weren’t sure if the nearest hospital was near here or Susanville (found out there is one near here…like I had thought). Meanwhile I was applying slight pressure to his head with some paper towels. That’s pretty much when I lost it and started crying…and when he stopped crying…lol.

Anyway, the firemen helped us and they called the EMT station (of which we do have here in town…good to know) and they checked our younger son out. They told us he was responding well and that it (the head wound) didn’t look that bad….and I felt like weights had lifted off my chest and out of the pit of my stomach, as they sounded very reassuring. They told us either they can transport him to the hospital to be checked out (to see if he needed stitches)…or we could. Since it wasn’t life-threatening we decided to drive there. First we stopped off at home to grab shoes and tie up the dogs, then we headed to the hospital. All the while trying to keep him awake…since he kept starting to fall asleep in the car. (Apparently the adrenaline rush had left him and he was basically crashing…so the doctor told us.)

After the nurse had cleaned his head up with peroxide, the wound didn’t look so bad…pretty much a goose-egg lump with a small gash in the center…not even bad enough to need stitches…yay! And the doctor said he most likely didn’t have a concussion, either, as he wasn’t showing any signs of one (pretty much alert, no vomiting, walking fine). They gave him some Motrin for the swelling and told us to apply Neosporin to the wound twice a day.

Once we got home he was acting like his normal self…wanting to eat and play. I have to watch him tonight and wake him up every 4 hours just to make sure there’s no concussion. Otherwise, he’s fine. Boy, talk about scary, though…when I saw that much blood on the back of his head…ugh, what a horrible feeling. Though now I’ve been told by everyone that head woulds bleed a lot, even when they aren’t that bad…so I’ve come to find out…the hard way.