Yes To The Dress

 

My daughter chose a wedding dress! I am so excited! It is beautiful too. It was obvious in her face each time she had her dress on that it was the one.

Dress shopping was one of the purposes of our trip to Utah this past week, but we weren’t sure if that would be enough time to find the right dress. The picture above is my daughter at one of the stores we went to in the morning. When we found ‘The Dress’ it was at later in the day at Abella Bridal in Provo. We had an entourage of me, my mom, the Bride to Be and my two other daughters, and the soon-to-be sister-in-law. We got some great pictures together and lovely shots of my daughter trying on the dress, but they are all TOP SECRET for now. Her fiancé is very sweet and supportive but does not want any hint of the wedding dress until the big day.

This is one of those moments in a mothers life that is just beyond description. I thought I might cry….(my mom certainly wiped away a few tears) but I was actually just giddy with excitement. To see the happiness on my daughter’s face, and the oooh’s and ahhh’s from her little sisters, was just priceless.

Once the dress was chosen my brain left me completely and I started doing things like leaving my purse in the restroom, thinking my credit card expired on Jan 14 rather January of 2014, and coming to a full stop at yellow lights. I know it was my daughter’s moment, but I think I was as joyful as she was.

I love my girls so much. I look forward to having these special experiences with all of them and I am so honored to be their mother. The Lord has blessed me greatly.

-Lynnae

Into February

2011 is in full swing now. It usually takes me most of January to recover from the holidays. That’s why I never make New Years Resolutions. With me it’s more like a yearly ‘End of January assessment’. Once the routine gets back to normal I am able to think more clearly about how life is functioning and what would make it better. High on the the list is ‘Try to Get Enough Sleep’, and along with that, ‘More Art’. So we’ll see how it goes.

On the art front, the Burton girls are having another fun valentines swap. It’s a nice thing to do as sisters, sister in law’s, moms and daughters. Those who are too busy may bow out, those who really need it right now, like me, are in. The picture above is just a shot of the table while I was grafting. I’ve been in a bit of an art deficit, so I’m going all out with this little beauty, which is why it will probably be late! (Forgiveness- another great benefit of being in a family art swap.)

I will post a picture of the final valentine after I wait a few days for my gals to get theirs in the mail.

My Third Annual Jane Austen Day is on hold for now, because we are going out of town for midwinter break when I have had the party in the past. I will be talking wedding plans with one daughter and taking care of another who is getting her wisdom teeth out. But the Jane Austen party will happen. Our theme will be Sense and Sensibility’s 200th Anniversary. I am also thinking of a fun door prize drawing for those who come in Regency costume.

-Lynnae

Marvel Comic’s Sense and Sensibility

My sweet husband recently bought me the hardbound edition of Marvel Comic’s Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. It is so fun. I own the Marvel ‘Pride and Prejudice’ and it appears some critics didn’t like the way the Bennet sisters were drawn. I didn’t mind it, but seriously they were some hotties.

But those critics won’t have the same problem with the sweet style of Sense and Sensibility. The drawings have a different style, and it lends a real charm to the book, which despite it’s condensed nature, is pretty accurate to the story line of the book.

This book is on ‘The List’ for the Sense and Sensibility Bicentenary Challenge, which I will tell you about soon (but if you can’t wait for me to post about it, click on the gorgeous link button on my sidebar!).

-Lynnae

PS. My husband FINALLY joined me on my weekly trip to the sushi bar today. However, the guy on the other side of him was totally DISSING Jane Austen!!!! Are you kidding me? He was reading Pride and Prejudice for the first time and said the women were ‘overdramatic and catty’. I honestly don’t think he’s really reading it. I mean, sure Mrs. Bennet may be over the top, but that’s her character! That guy almost ended up with his face in the wasabi jar!

PSS. I finally broke down and got reading glasses. Small print was causing me a lot of eye strain lately, especially reading the scriptures. SOOooooo, I got some magnifiers. I figured glasses were better than wrinkles :)

Engaged!

My oldest daughter is engaged! I am so excited. She is to be married in July, here in Washington, then we will go down to New Orleans to celebrate with her fiancé's family.

I am having typical Mother-of-the-Bride episodes of stressing out and not being able to focus on much else. I want everything to be beautiful and perfect for my daughter, I want things to run smoothly.

My worry is that I am not that great of a planner or organizer. Jon is a big help making a lot of phone calls and scouring the internet for things we need. I am so grateful. And if I do get worried and overwhelmed (and yes, that happens even though it is six months away) I just think of how happy my daughter is and how grateful I am that she has found such a good man.

This was her just yesterday!

Could it really be almost 20 years ago?

And here she is with the lucky man!

 

Wish me luck everyone!

-Lynnae

Love Stories for Valentines

Karen Valentine is having a blog party on Valentines day where you can link up and tell your own love stories. Doesn’t that sound sweet and fun?

Go to My Desert Cottage and grab the button for your sidebar to spread the word. Then prepare your own story, and on Valentines day you can link to the blog and tell all about your special someone.

-Lynnae

Picasso Exhibit

The Seattle Art Museum has had a Picasso exhibit running and on Friday night my husband and I and our youngest daughter went to see it. We could not take photos in the Picasso exhibit, but later we found a place for a picture or two.

I’ve decided the woman in the picture represents ‘Utah’ which is holding my two other daughters.

It is very interesting having only one child at home. Whenever we are going to do something cool I feel guilty for leaving the others out. I have to remind myself that they are having their own new adventures, and they also had many opportunities when this one was too little to go. Still, I think of them when we go, and I suppose I always will.

-Lynnae

Christmas Tag Swap

This year the several of the women in my family had a Christmas Tag Swap. The theme was ‘The Music of Christmas'”

I was nervous about a swap when everyone is so busy, but at the same time I loved the idea of the Christmas theme, so we dove in. We did have to be forgiving and let the deadline slip a little bit, but that’s the nice thing about swapping with family.

All of my tags were variations on one of these two vintage pictures. The back reads “Merry Christmas Darling”. I was going to go in a different direction but with my husband gone, all I could think about was Christmas couples and being together again. (As I mentioned in a previous post he was at an Army Reserve training and because my blog is public I don’t like to mention when he is gone until he is home again.)

In the swap were several sisters, my daughters, a sister-in-law, nieces and my mom. Almost as fun as getting the tags was decorating with them.

 

-Lynnae