I got married

On June 19th, 2010 I got married!

It was a wonderful day and it has been great ever since.

I hope that marriage is this natuaral and easy for everyone.

I am still waiting on the wedding pictures and will post some as soon as I can.

I will be posting pictures of the beautiful areas the we traveled to on our honeymoon soon.

I have started a new blog for the Ricks Family. I have made it private, so if you want access to it and haven't recieved an invite then please leave me a comment letting me know.

Girls Night Out

The Wednesday before we got married we had girls night out, a family tradition when ever we are all together.  We decided that we would go and eat and then attend a temple session.  It was a fun night - Beth, Dallas, Shelly, Cyndi, Donna, Mama and I ate yummy Italian food and then headed over to the temple.  We had a great server, he put up with all of our silliness and our constant need for water, bread and whatever else.  He even sang me a "marriage" song - "here comes the bride, all dressed in white..."  The temple was nice and peaceful - the perfect thing for a hectic and emotional week.

Family

I have been home since Sunday and it has been wonderfully relaxing. I have gotten two massages to help with my neck and back, worked on my dissertation, sewed, hung out and eaten yummy food. I get married in a week and a day! Rob and family will be here on Sunday and I am very excited. Next week will be a whirlwind I suspect but a good one at that. I am very excited to start my new life with Rob and the kids and just in case you were wondering - no, I am not nervous, have cold feet or anything else. I am happliy anticipating being sealed for eternity next Saturday to the man I love and who has become my best friend. The next weeks and months will be crazy full of things (travel, moving, defending my dissertation, family reunions, getting jobs hopefully) and there is such an incredible peace about it all that I am truely feeling blessed.

I like this quote - I pray daily that I will know how to be the mother and wife that Rob and the kids need. Lucky for me I have great examples all around me of those roles, people who are willing to talk and give advice and I am very grateful.
"Our most important and powerful assignments are in the family. They are important because the family has the opportunity at the start of a child's life to put feet firmly on the path home. Parents, brothers and sisters, grandparents, aunts and uncles are made more powerful guides and rescuers by the bonds of love that are the very nature of a family."
Henry B. Eyring, "Help Them on Their Way Home," Ensign, May 2010, 23

I hope you are all well. I look forward to seeing you all in the coming months.

Memorial Day Weekend

This Memorial Day weekend I spent with Rob and the kids.  It was a filled weekend but it was good.  Rob and I meet up on Friday at the temple where we did the temple work for Aunt Verda and Uncle Clyde (brother and sister).  It was a great day in the temple and we got to seal them to their parents after the session. 

Sister Bartholomew, Denise Black's mom, made this beautiful blessing dress for Elizabeth.  Unfortunately our baby was born big and just keeps on growing.  We tried on the dress this weekend and it barely covered her belly, but it is beautiful.  So I got some pictures to show everyone.

Saturday we worked on the house getting it ready to sell, went to the parade, and then went to the park and had a picnic and then hung out and watched movies. Sunday we to church, made fruit turnovers from scratch and just relaxed.

Marlissa trying on a hat

Monday we were invited by Rob's brother, David and his wife Stephanie to a BBQ at their home in St. Louis.  It was nice to finally meet them and we all had a good time, ate yummy food and just hung out with cousins and new friends.

Marlissa had a ENT appointment in St. Louis on Wed. so we decided to stay the night or rather nights.  We got two rooms at a hotel and divided up (the girls versus the boys).  Tuesday we went to the zoo, it is really very pretty, and had a great time swimming in the hotel pool and eating pizza in our room.

Can you find the Rhino in the picture above?

Wed. Rob and Marlissa went off to the doctors appointment and the rest of us went and had a yummy breakfast at Waffle House and then off to the Science Center.  By that time we all were hungry again and tired and ate yummy Chinese and drove on home. 

Making an arch - Sammy

Finding the best foundation for an earthquake.

Looking a cool back-lit map.

She doesn't like her picture taken at all - can't you tell?

Sunday I leave for TX.  I am still working on the last bit of editing for my dissertation but it is coming along and in 15 days I get married.  Lots of changes for everyone - we are still working hard at finding jobs and hope and pray that we will hear something soon.