Precious Moments

There are precious moments in life that almost seem too beautiful to be real.

My niece's Baptism is now one of those moments for me.

On Sunday, we drove up to Andalusia, AL. so that sweet Madelyn could receive her Baptism from the very same Minister that blessed her father, my brother Michael. He was our childhood Minister, so it was full of memories and love for all of us. Reverend Tim is retiring soon, which means Madelyn will be one of the last children he blesses. For that, we were all very thankful that she brought us all back together.

Maddy was a perfect little doll the entire service, and entertained us through lunch and dessert at her Great-Great Aunt Maggie's. I had so much fun snapping pictures all day, and I think she has become my favorite subject. She's like a real life Precious Moments doll.

Babies are such amazing little beings that remind us to not take life so serious. The innocence and purity of soul really take your breath away even if we have all become enamored with moving forward. I am thankful that my brother and SIL created this little one so that yours truly has been stilled. I love you Madelyn, always and forever.

I Call BS On Conscious Uncoupling.

Dear Gwyneth Paltrow,
I have no problem with divorce. I would much rather someone get a divorce than remain in a bad or loveless marriage, but glorifying divorce so that you can make it 'cool' is wrong. You can tell the media that you are doing this for your kids until you are blue in the face, but it's pretty obvious that you are simply trying to validate your choice for the 'Big D'. It would be nice if people took your lead and had amicable divorces for the 'kids', but I forsee couples giving up on their marriages instead of putting effort in 'because Gwyneth Paltrow did it' and Conscious Uncoupling becoming the cool thing. Especially when you tell people that we aren't meant for monogamy. THAT IS NOT YOUR PLACE TO SAY JUST BECAUSE YOU ARE A CELEBRITY. You need to stick to following scripts that are written for you, because you are not the screenwriter for our society.

Dear Anyone That Ever Gets Married,

Be in a relationship that you would want your children to have. If you haven't found your life partner, look for the caliber that you would want for your children, and don't settle for what you think you deserve. I can guarantee that you deserve more than you think. If you have found your life partner, you {both} need to put the effort into have a good relationship, and you need to make sure that you are achieving a marriage that will show your children what they deserve. People say that our marriage is 'perfect', and even though there is no such thing as perfection, what we do have is because we WORK for our marriage. We put in 1000% effort, because the more effort you put into the marriage, the more love and happiness you get out. It's a proven fact, people.

Dear Husband of Mine,
Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for sharing this magical adventure of true love. I really can't think of something to call it other than magical or true, because I don't know how we have reached this euphoric level of love, we have become one heart, one brain with two bodies, and we defy all odds. No matter what life has thrown at us: debt, distance, immaturity, ego, fear, deployments, etc., we have found a way to work through it, and I am happy that we can give hope to others. LOVE IS REAL, and I can honestly say we prove that. As my cynical friend Todd says, "If you two don't work out, there is no such thing as love. Don't f#$% it up for the rest of us." I know we will never let Todd down, and that is the most comforting bit of knowledge I've ever come across.

Feel free to forward this on to Gwyneth, I'd love to have a few choice words with her. If she can tell the world that monogamy isn't real, then we should be able to prove to her that it is. Mark my words, she will eventually find her soulmate, and she will be eating this crap she's spreading around. Mark my words.

Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do... but how much love we put in that action. ~Mother Teresa

Coconut Sriracha Popcorn

Have you ever been the only non-senior in a Senior Center? It wasn't on my bucket list, but I went over to Grandma's yesterday, and it happened to be her brown-bag lunch day at church. We made chicken salad together, and then went to hang out with the 80-somethings. They seemed surprised to see me, but I've been going to Sunday school with my grandma and grandpa {may he rest in peace} since I was born. I think they were most surprised when I mentioned I was married. They thought I was fourteen, let alone old enough to get married. When I told them that I was twenty-eight, they 'bout fell out'a their chairs. I get that a LOT, but it still cracks me up.

The conversations ranged from sex on their wedding nights {whoah} all the way to recipes, and one that they thought most intriguing was our new popcorn recipe. The ones that didn't have crowns said they would totally try it, so I decided to share it for all of you. I got the original idea through Pinterest {shocker} and Reclaiming Provincial, and then we edited for our needs. Basically, we took out the salt and used the microwave, but hey, it worked.

4 cups popcorn (26 grams unpopped)
3 Tbsp butter
1-2 Tbsp coconut oil (depending on how much you love Coconut)
2 Tbsp Sriracha

We prefer using our air popper for the healthiest version, but you could use bagged or pop on the stove. While it's popping, mix up the ingredients in a microwave safe bowl and pop it in the microwave for two minutes. Now here's the secret, you want to slowly spoon the mixture on while stirring so that it will evenly distribute and not over-saturate the kernels, and then enjoy this slightly spicy, coconutty, yumminess while it's warm!

Just make sure you don't eat the popcorn as your dinner followed by margaritas. You will be drunk in point-five seconds. Or do, if you are into that kind of thing ;)

Now I'm off to pick up grandma to go see my aunt and uncle. I can't even put into words how thankful I am that I have this family time right now. The fact that I have one grandma within walking distance and one a few miles away makes me giddy like a school girl. Literally...it brings me back to childhood. How did I get so lucky?

You Know What's Super Awesome?

+ I got to see Will at church yesterday!

I can't go into too many details yet, but I will be getting to see him on Sundays. Thank you, Candace, for letting us in on that little secret. It was the first time that I've ever seen my husband and not gotten to kiss those amazing lips, but just being near him gave me butterflies. I kept trying to say 'I love you', and my eyes would well up. I had to wait until everyone was singing so that I wouldn't make a scene. It was AWESOME.

+ I got to dress up for church yesterday!

This particular dress is sold out, but you can find a similar cut here, and it's an extra 50% off!

+ Thirty days until Will graduates and thirty-one days until our Anniversary!

Unfortunately we will have family in town for his graduation, so we won't be celebrating right away. I'm happy that they are coming to support him, and I wouldn't have it any other way, except I kinda would...I want to be selfish and have him all to myself. He's too amazing to share, so really it's his fault I feel this way. {Momma and Fonzi if you are reading this, you KNOW we are excited to see you, so don't read into this ;} Maybe he and I can do something that weekend, since he's already mentioned it. I'd love to go to Panama City for a little getaway, but I guess we will have to wait and see.

I do know one thing we get to do! Before I left Colorado, one of my favoritist regulars ever gave us an Anniversary card, and we have been impatiently waiting to open it. Let me tell you, holding onto a card for three months through a cross-country move is hard. Usually I would just open it and pretend to be surprised later, but I waited because Dan told us too and he's the best. If you read this, Hi Dan!

+ Seeing as I have no job and no hubby to take care of, I can take off for Pensacola!

I've packed up two weeks worth of clothes and dog food, and we are heading home. I could try to cover it up for creepers reading the blog, but it's pretty hard to hide via all my forms of social media. Damn you social media! I will be back and forth, so no one will know when I'm really gone and I have people checking on the house. If you try to creep while I'm there, I'll just shoot you, and if you break in while I'm gone, make sure you take EVERYTHING because we have really great renters insurance. I kid I kid. Sort of.

I'm going to try to catch a few hours rest, but I probably won't sleep. I'm quite excitable right before travel. I'm just glad that I've gotten all my ducks in a row, I think. Considering I tend to finish packing five minutes after I'm supposed to leave, I already feel ahead of the game. Mr. Weiser and I are off to Florida for some fun in the sun. Ciao bella!