This year we went over to my Parents house the night before, something we had done many times in the past with success, but with Sophia this year, it ended up being a restless night with me cramped on the loveseat with Sophia in my arms and Padon in the full size pull out bed with Walter. The next morning it was wonderful to be able to get in the shower alone and have a chance to start the day fresh. Mom happily sat on the couch with Sophia while she read the news and when I came out of the shower she commented on how neat it was to see how much Sophia looked like me; that looking down on her she was looking into Baby Chloe eyes. It was the first time any reference had been really made to who Sophia looked like and it was fascinating and surreal to look down at Sophia and think how maybe this was how I had looked at one point in my parents arms.
Refreshed and dressed myself, I dressed Padon and Sophia in their Easter best and readied them for my annual Easter picture. Walter was very helpful as we got Padon to commit to a couple pictures and willing to help prop Sophia up as we positioned them in front of the beautiful view of my parents back yard. I had really wanted to put them on the bench in the back yard but it was a characteristic Northwest day; overcast, damp, and cold. Lucky for us the sun came out as we were taking the pictures and with my hand clasped behind Sophia's back we got a couple really cute pictures.
After the pictures were done I changed Padon into a more comfortable outfit yet one that would still look nice for this special day.After everyone else arrived we took advantage of the nice weather and went and dropped the Easter eggs that Mom and Sarah had generously put together outside in the backyard. Padon quickly picked up on the process of finding eggs and placing them in the basket quickly enough that soon he was monopolizing the egg finding. Something that wasn't being helped by Greg's helpful placing of his eggs in Padon's basket and Padon helping himself the the eggs in Greg's basket.
Getting pictures of Padon finding eggs, or should I say smiling and finding eggs was near impossible because he was still being very elusive of having his picture taken. He did think I was great fun as I ran after him teasingly shreaking "Get back here and let me take your picture!!!!!" as he shreaked back "Nooooooo!!!"
And of course Padon had a wonderful time running up to Greg and grabbing huge handfuls of jacket to better throw him down to the ground. It made my stomach tight everytime he would do it but then they both would be up and laughing and running and happy and so I didn't know if I should intervein or not.
The sun came out again for a bit and while Greg and Padon examined their Easter Egg loot Jane took a great picture of us under the cherry blossoms.
Sophia had been sweetly hanging out inside the whole time in her carseat, asleep on the dinning room table, and I snuck back inside to get some really cute first Easter pictures that I had planned for. My Dad came in to see that I had put her in a basket and thought it was adorable and between the two of us we probably snapped at least 50 pictures from varying angles.
Part way through she woke up but didn't mind in the slightest being in the basket and just smiled and kicked - of course more photos were taken.
My Aunt Janet had given Sophia the cute little pink hat below and I had to take a picture of Sophia in it with her little pink outfit. I couldn't wait to send her the picture so she could see how cute Sophia looked in it.
This year, Easter also fell on Walter and my 6th wedding anniversary. I wasn't sure if Walter had remembered but after waking up and getting the kids fed Walter gave me the sweetest card. Touched I felt ackward to then have to turn around and tell him that I had a card for him but that I would have to give it to him later. He totally accepted this response, however, which was awesome because I had plans for him. The previous August Walter had lost his wedding ring when we went to Granite Falls, on a hot day, to play in the river where there were wonderfully cool pools to lay in. While playing in the river with his friend Jason the cold water caused his fingers to shrink enough that his wedding band fell off without him noticing. Eventually he did notice and while he spent about about an hour with his head in the water looking and looking the ring was gone and he was devestated. -
Strangely enough I wasn't hurt or really bothered by the loss. It was a bummer that he didn't have the ring we exchanged when we got married but he was ok, the ring was jewelry and jewelry sometimes gets lost, and of all the places for Walter to loose his ring what better place then the outdoors in a wild river of winter snow runoff? It was a bummer, however, to look up the cost of replacing the ring to find that it had gone from $400 to $879 because of the increased value of gold in the economic recession we were going through. $879 was way more then we could afford and so it looked as though Walter would remain ringless.
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That was until I found that iron was the traditional 6th wedding anniversary gift. Walter and I have been pretty true and creatively so to what the traditional wedding gifts are listed as and I was determined to get Walter an iron ring. After doing a lot of online research I had evolved my idea to a stainless steel ring; one that wouldn't rust but was still founded in iron. I then ended my search at Amazon.com where there was a huge selection of amazingly inexpensive yet gorgeous stainless steel rings to choose from. Narrowing the selection down to about 2000 men's wedding rings I went through them all and then again narrowed my options down to about 20 rings that I kept eyeballing and trying very hard to choose based on Walter's likes and not my own. Finally after a week of debating with myself on which ring should be the one I made a decision. I had tried to size Walter's finger in his sleep and unsuccessful I ended up sizing his college ring instead and ordered the ring based on that size.
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I then started formulating a speach and sent an email to my family notifying them of my plan; my plan to repropose to Walter. They were totally on board with helping me surprise Walter and I was so excited! I tried on my wedding dress to find that I still was too big to zip it up without busting the zipper and found instead a beautiful dress at Nordstroms in the after prom sales that would do just as well.
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With everyone on board with the 2:30pm deadline of proposing to Walter they helped with Padon and Sophia as I made the excuse that I needed to pump and disappeared in Mom's bathroom to get ready. Walter, however, also took the opportunity to take Roadie for a walk which had Jane frantically texting Jason, who had gone with Walter, to bring Walter back. Jason was totally in a bind on how to convince Walter to come back but said something that got Walter to turn around (Walter the whole time irritated that he was trying to talk to Jason and Jason was texting on his phone).
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As they stopped near the front door to continue their conversation Sarah walked out, put down the door mat infront of Walter, which caused him to look down and as he looked up he saw me, in the dress, with my wedding jewelry, original wedding bouquet in hand, getting down on one knee, with the whole famly ringed around us. His face was priceless!!! I took Walter's hand and said:
"We have been married 6 years today. Over the past 6 years we have weathered personal storms, brought our relationship to higher levels, and done our best to support each other through thick and thin. It hasn't been easy but through it all we had each other's best interests at heart and weren't willing to give up. For this reason the loss of your wedding band didn’t break my heart because to me it was a symbol of the beginning of our relationship and we have become so much more. I look forward to obtaining your wedding band again but in the mean time I hope you will accept this traditional symbol of our 6 years of iron fortitude. (And I brought out the ring that I had slipped on my finger but that was hidden by the bouquet) As iron runs through our blood and therefore our hearts I hope this symbolic iron ring will remind you of how great a couple we are. And just like the magnetism in our planet’s iron minerals compels the plants and animals to continually follow course I hope you will feel as confident in our future path in life together. Most of all this ring signifies unity, a unity that you regularly remind me we have in your actions and regard to my feelings and our family’s goals. I propose with this ring that we continue to develop our marriage together, to keep respecting each other's interests, and to be there for each other when hard decisions have to be made. Do you accept my proposal and my absolute love for you?" He said yes and I stood and we kissed. It was awesome and everyone clapped.
"We have been married 6 years today. Over the past 6 years we have weathered personal storms, brought our relationship to higher levels, and done our best to support each other through thick and thin. It hasn't been easy but through it all we had each other's best interests at heart and weren't willing to give up. For this reason the loss of your wedding band didn’t break my heart because to me it was a symbol of the beginning of our relationship and we have become so much more. I look forward to obtaining your wedding band again but in the mean time I hope you will accept this traditional symbol of our 6 years of iron fortitude. (And I brought out the ring that I had slipped on my finger but that was hidden by the bouquet) As iron runs through our blood and therefore our hearts I hope this symbolic iron ring will remind you of how great a couple we are. And just like the magnetism in our planet’s iron minerals compels the plants and animals to continually follow course I hope you will feel as confident in our future path in life together. Most of all this ring signifies unity, a unity that you regularly remind me we have in your actions and regard to my feelings and our family’s goals. I propose with this ring that we continue to develop our marriage together, to keep respecting each other's interests, and to be there for each other when hard decisions have to be made. Do you accept my proposal and my absolute love for you?" He said yes and I stood and we kissed. It was awesome and everyone clapped.
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Walter was in complete awe and my plan of having him feel the same way I did when he came to my work at Markow Financial Group, February 18th, 2003, to propose to me the first time worked perfectly. Part way through my speech he realized that I had memorized a speech, was touched by the act, he wasn't sure of everything I had said, and that his mind was reeling from the surprise of what was going on. Hoping this would happen I was prepared and when I stood up I handed Walter my anniversary card which in it I had put the whole speech so he could read it again and know what I had said. To this day I still have no idea what he said to me in 2003 and I wish I did. The ring was too big but Walter was determined to wear it all day which he did. We did mail it back to Amazon who easily did an exchange for the next size down and in a week had mailed us the correct ring. The best thing about the ring was, later, looking back at pictures of Walter's original wedding band and finding that the new band was almost identical. How serendipodous it was and after discussing the intention of still repurchasing his original wedding band when gold prices went down, Walter said he didn't want to, that he loved this ring just a much and didn't want a different one. That made me feel so wonderful.
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Laughing and chatting about how well everything had gone according to plan, the whole family made their way back inside and into the backyard to take some memorable pictures and sit down for a very delicious dinner.
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