Skating Party

Amelie Salada chose to go ice skating for her 6th birthday party.  Unfortunately, I somehow missed taking HER picture, but I did get pictures of her siblings, Violet and Linus.  Adeline, following her tradition of being scared of new things....especially things that have the potential to result in her getting hurt or resulting in a loud noise, was not crazy about this idea.  After much watching, we coaxed her out with her daddy and the walker.  She made it around once and was quite proud of herself.  She REALLY didn't want mommy to take her picture though...

Linus was a much more willing subject.

Violet had a BLAST!  Her cousin, Megan, hung out with her for the day.

Here they are watching the zamboni driver, but this is where both girls spent most of their time.

At least she looks like an ice princess even if she wouldn't skate much...

Happy Birthday, Amelie!  Come home from vacation....we miss you!!!

My Grandpa's 90th Birthday!!!

I wasn't sure if we would make another trip "home" before this baby, but when a 90th birthday party was planned for my Grandfather, that was a reason to go.  He is an amazing man, physically, spiritually, and mentally.  He loves the Lord and loves his family.

My mom's amazing talent shown in her fruit tray.

My grandpa with his 5 girls and their spouses.

Yep, FIVE daughters!!!  (back) Reba, Marilyn (my mom), Rachel
(front) Shirley, Miriam, and Grandpa (David Miller)

Paw paw keeping my girls entertained

Grandpa with his brother, Albert.  It was a special treat to have him there.

Four Generations

Our Love Story---The Wedding

December 22, 2001

Our good friends, Adam and Kim Forry, were our gift receivers.  They stood outside with this antique sleigh.

My aunt, Reba, did my makeup.

Rachel, Krista, Brooke, me, Jen, Heidi, Jen, Melissa

We each lost a grandmother and another close friend within a few months of our wedding, so we had this tribute table for them.

One of my favorites.  I had these black velvet capes made for the girls and I wore a white fur cape and muff.  So pretty!

We rented "Charles Dickens" type costumes for our friends, and they sang carols as guests arrived at the wedding and reception.

My mom has BRILLIANT ideas.  She froze holly and greens in buckets (like an ice mold you would make for a punch bowl), and put a cup in the middle.  Then, she removed the cup and put a candle inside.  They lit the way into the wedding and reception.  They were BEAUTIFUL!  As the ice melts a bit it is even prettier.

I love dessert!  Instead of a cake, we had a dessert bar with this ice sculpture sleigh in the middle.  There were several types of pie, cake, pudding, cheesecake, cream puffs, candy, etc.  People LOVED this!

We opted to cut a cheesecake (my favorite) for our cake cutting.

Patrick's twin brother, Eric, giving a toast.

I loved every minute of that day.....and I love you more now than I did then.

Our Love Story---The Proposal

I reread my love story posts that I started over two years ago and realized I never finished the series!!!  I left you hanging with ring shopping, so today I will share about "the proposal."  I don't feel like doing all the links, so to read posts 1-4, just click on the "Our Love Story" category on the left.

I knew it was coming SOMETIME, so of course, I was suspicious during every date.  Patrick asked my dad to lunch, and they shared a quick meal at Burger King (my dad's suggestion since that's all the time he had), and Patrick asked him for my hand.  He made the trip to PA and back without me knowing!

April 6 was our 1 year dating anniversary, and Patrick had a special date planned for us.  He came to pick me up, and he was pacing while I was getting ready....he would normally just watch TV or relax on the couch.  He took me to a fabulous restaurant for dinner.  We had a room to ourselves with a fireplace.  I thought, "this MUST be the night."  Patrick dropped his fork, and my heart skipped as he bent to pick it up....nope.  Towards the end of dinner, he got down on one knee.....EEEKKK....tied his shoe and went to the men's room.  To Patrick's credit, he wasn't messing with me.  He had a plan for when he would propose, and this wasn't it.  He didn't have a clue that I was going crazy!  Once dinner was over, he took me to watch the sunset at Loch Raven Reservoir, the place where he asked me to start dating him.  We saw more than a dozen deer....it was perfect.  The ring was in his pocket.  THEN, a fisherman slowly inched his way towards us and was right in front of us at the perfect moment.  Back into his pocket went the ring.

We headed back to Patrick's place to watch a movie.  At this point, I lost all suspicion.  If he hadn't done it in the romantic restaurant or by the river with the sunset and deer, it was probably not happening tonight.  We parked outside his house, and as I opened my door, Patrick suddenly ordered, "GET IN THE CAR!"  I quickly closed the door.  There had been some gang activity recently in the neighborhood, and Patrick spotted a group of guys coming around the corner.  We drove away as they chased our car.  Thank you Lord!!!  Patrick had the ring in his pocket!!!  I suggested we go back to MY place for the movie, but Patrick was afraid my roommate would be there, and he REALLY DID want to propose that night.  After we had called the cops and drove around for a while, he convinced me it was safe.  AFTER the movie, he started talking about some of his favorite memories from the past year.  I started to cry.  He thought I knew what was coming...the funny part is after being suspicious the ENTIRE evening, I didn't think this was "it."  I just realized what a great guy he is, and I was overwhelmed by the memories.  He slipped a ring on my finger and said, "I look forward to a lifetime of memories with you.  Would you marry me?"  YES!!!

Despite the late hour, we called all our immediate family to share the news.