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Memories of our wedding – 7 years ago today

Posted on June 24, 2008 6:56 am by TheAngelForever

In 1999, I met JL online. I was a goof and did not realize that I was in a chat room. Something caught my eye in his profile so I messaged him. We talked online and on the phone many times before we met in person half way between our homes. I brought my friends with me, just in case because you never know!

From the fall of 1999 to 2000 we had a long distance relationship.

It was rough, but at the time we drove (gas was cheap – 99 cents or less a gallon) or we flew (fares that were $49-79 each way) and visited often. I remember too vividly the days when JL would leave. I would sit and cry for hours wondering when I would see him again.

On July 2, 2000 JL proposed to me and soon after his employer allowed him to move here to telecommute (being a webmaster has perks ya know). Once here we went to hockey games from time to time, because I had to convince JL that hockey is THE sport. If you know JL he is not a sports nut.

That year was hectic. JL was getting used to this area, the company he worked for folded, he found a new job, I was student teaching, and we were wedding/honeymoon planning. This included lots of road trips to pick up my wedding dress about an hour north of here.

Finally our wedding day arrived. June 24, 2001 was a gorgeous summer day. Almost all of our family and friends were there to celebrate our special day. Below are some memories of the amazing day that JL and I became husband and wife. . . . the day I married my best friend.

Photos from the Bedeken, which is where the Ketubah (Jewish marriage license) is signed and we technically are married. Be sure to hover over the photos for explanations.

03 Ketubah signing at Wedding

04 Our ketubah

05 Veil over me during Bedeken

After the Bedeken it was time for everyone to go in for the traditional (basically Orthodox) Jewish wedding ceremony. One of the things I love about the Jewish ceremony is that both parents walk the bride and groom down the aisle to the chuppah. What you may notice in the one of me is lots of smiles and laughter – even my father (SHOCK). He was laughing that I had to go to the bathroom and had a wedgie. Glad I shared that with you aren’t you?!?!

09 JL and parents walking down aisle

10 My parents walking me down aisle

11 Under the chuppah

Thanks to being a smart bride I made my own bridal sneakers and wore them for the entire wedding. I was not going to chance sores on my feet when we were going to Disney World for our honeymoon the next day. Here are some photos from the reception.

13 Horah time

14 My father actually SMILES!!!

This is when I was lifted into the air on a chair and nearly dropped during the Horah.

15 Help me . . . I'm going to die!

Our first dance was to the Bee Gee’s "Wedding Day" that was released right before our wedding. Thanks to my father for introducing us to this beautiful song. You can see a video of the song here.

16 - Our first dance

It is a tradition for the eldest male member of the family to say the blessing over the challah and slice it. My Poppy did this with the help of my Uncle J and Dad.

17 My Poppy cuts the challah

18 My grandparents and all of their grandchildren

19 Finally at our table for a few moments

Soon the time came to cut our wedding cake. There was a little mishap with JL’s kippah as you will see.

The next morning we flew early in the morning to Disney World and had an amazing honeymoon.

JL thank you for seven wonderful years of memories together. Who knew seven years ago that we would have two little boys now. You are such an amazing person, husband and father.. You are truly my best friend and I look forward to many more wonderful years of memories together as we grow old and watch our boys have families of their own.

Categories:
family friends jl looking back me moments photos

Beware of Dino Conga Line

Posted on June 23, 2008 7:00 pm by TheAngelForever

If you ever come to visit, please be sure to watch your step. You never know when a dinosaur conga line may break out in the middle of our living room!

Conga line of dinosaurs

What types of toys would I find at your house?

Categories:
fun nhl photos play time

Another 6 pound strawberry adventure

Posted on June 21, 2008 10:38 pm by TheAngelForever

Today it was beautiful so we opted to head out and get more strawberries and meet up with friends. Believe it or not, hardly any strawberries remain from the 6 1/2 pounds picked last Sunday. The boys did an amazing job gobbling them up. JL and NHL have had them everyday in their lunch, JL found a yummy recipe for Stawnana bread (see photo below), and we made some jam.

This is the strawnana bread that JSL actually asked for by saying "Dada Yum!"

The containers of jam that we made quickly on Thursday evening. Thanks to everyone for all of the recipes and suggestions.

These are a few photos from today. Be sure to hover over the photos to see the captions.

The fields were amazing today. The berries were huge, red and everywhere. JL and I were amazed with the number of people there today and all of the strawberries being picked. JL did most of the picking today and finished in less than 40 minutes!

Please note that NHL picked this shirt out at the store!

NHL was allowed to have one strawberry out in the field.

Had to taste test at least one

Yes, these will do

NHL was not as into picking today. I think it was too close to going last week, plus he had a friend that he wanted to play with. The fields and their flowers were more interesting today. Here is one he picked for me.

We had a great time out in the gorgeous weather picking another six pounds of strawberries. Tomorrow thanks to rain, JL plans on making more strawnana bread, possibly making more jam, and figuring out other things to do with the berries. I on the other hand will be busy doing laundry that was never touched all week.

Categories:
food glorious food fun nhl photos weekend yummy

6 1/2 pounds of strawberry picking fun

Posted on June 17, 2008 12:14 pm by TheAngelForever

Last year JL wanted to go strawberry picking, but it just did not work out with an infant less than a month old. This year he was quite persistent and gathered information about local pick your own patches. We finally narrowed it down to a place not too far away. On Father’s Day after having breakfast with my dad (mom was at work) we went to pick strawberries. NHL was beyond excited and could not wait to get there. Here are some photos from our time picking about 6 1/2 pounds of the yummy red goodness!

*** Be sure to hover over the photos to see additional captions. Warning that this is photo heavy. Since my family does read this I wanted to share lots of the photos with them as well.

First JL took NHL out into the field while I stayed trying to rock JSL in the stroller (this never did work).

Comparing their finds

Hmmm. . . any over here?

After a little while NHL and JL came back to get more containers for strawberries. Plus they wanted to show me all that they had collected.

YUMMY!

Macro shot of strawberries

At this point the little guy made it crystal clear that he was not about to stay in his stroller. JL took him and all of the boys went back out to get more strawberries. Apparently at one point JSL got a hold of a strawberry from the container when Daddy was not looking and squished it. He was then given a sample to taste and LOVED it!

Picking strawberries

Eventually all of the boys wandered back to show me more strawberries and to let me head out into the field. Believe it or not I believe this was the first time I had ever gone strawberry picking. Poor JSL was really tired from lack of a nap – thus the reason his binky was in (that and teething).

I want some

P1080406

After a while we had four good sized containers of strawberries. Both of the boys were tired from the heat and humidity so we went to pay and head home.

So if you made it through all of these photos you can see we had a great time. So much so that one of us never made it very far before falling asleep.

One tired baby after picking strawberries

Depending on the weather we may go again this coming weekend. So I ask those of you reading this – any suggestions on things to make with strawberries?

Categories:
fun holidays jl jsl nhl photos weekend yummy

Majorly Missing Moe’s Tasty Tomatoes

Posted on June 15, 2008 9:47 pm by TheAngelForever

After spending the morning strawberry picking (photos to come later) we decided to head out to dinner. Kids eat free on Sunday at Moe’s so we went there for a quick meal before tub time.

When you walk into a Moe’s they greet you with "Welcome to Moe’s" across the restaurant and then you get on line to order your food. Today we quickly noticed a paper posted at the counter. It certainly is a sign of the times given the constant food contamination problems plaguing us these days. As we all know the latest victim is the friendly tomato, a summer time favorite and especially important part of Mexican food. Moe’s decided to make customers laugh at the current situation with the following poster.

We certainly missed the tomatoes in our food, but are happy not to have to worry about the consequences of eating them. The boys loved their food. This is the first time JSL was awake for a visit to Moe’s and he loved his meal.

JSL enjoys his food

As always JL and I were amused by the fun artwork at Moe’s. This is one of our favorites . . . be sure to read all the way around it.

Hopefully next time when we head in and hear them say "Welcome to Moe’s" we will not be greeted with the tomato sign. Moe’s just is not the same without the tasty red summer goodness.

After dinner we went to a local ice cream place for JL to have his free Father’s Day scoop. It was a fun day . . . now we just need to figure out what to do with six and a half pounds of strawberries!