Most Romantic Day of My Life...

Here are some of the photos that we have been anxiously awaiting from my good friend, David Thompson and Aaron Matney....

We have a few more to post but will work on that later this weekend. What a beautiful day it was...

Wedding Package Photos

We just got in the CD of our photos. Here are some pics from the wedding package photog. Not that many great ones, so that's why we are so excited to see the ones taken by my amazing friend/pro photographer extraordinaire, David Thompson and Aaron Matney. We will post those as soon as we get them. I got a text from David and we shoul get them this weekend.

Broncos

It was yet another sad day for the Broncos, but at least we looked good!



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Did She Seriously Just Say That??

The random things that come out of my daughters mouth's from time to time are enough to crack me up and sometimes make me choke on food or whatever beverage that is in my mouth.
Me: You will be grounded until you bring your grades up. Period.
Allorah: I cant work at the church fiestas this weekend then?
Me: No
Allorah: But grandma and grandpa already told the church people that I would work the booth and help them out. So I still cant go?
Me: Nope
Allorah: So, let me get this right, your telling me that I cannot work for Jesus this weekend?
Me: That's what I'm saying, I will have grandma personally tell Jesus that you cant be employed by Him this weekend because your grounded and I'm sure He will understand your dilemma.
Allorah: Boo.

It's gonna be a long weekend so thank goodness my husband will be home this evening! LOL

8/12/11 Update

It seems that life is running at about 150 mph these days. No time to even pick my nose! School starts on Tuesday so we are busy trying to get the girls situated and ready for that. My parents are taking them to El Paso today for a day of shopping and lunch and then I will take them on Sunday for the same thing. Spoiled trolls!! :) It was a busy week and a half for me. I traveled up to northern NM for my job and got to see some amazing areas of our great state. I worked in Farmington on Thursday and actually loved the area, then went to Gallup and worked there on Friday. I had to then work in Las Cruces on Tuesday and then work in Los Lunas on Wednesday! I actually enjoy the traveling. I am so lucky to have a great job, wonderful boss and co-workers. It makes it so much easier.
Lola had her 6 month eye exam with her opthamologist yesterday. Her peepers are well and no serious problems can be detected. She still has that small cataract on her right eye, but it hasn't grown or deterred her vision so that is a plus. She has to see her opthamologist on a routine basis because of the 2 medications that she has taken for 10+ years and all the side effects that they can have on the eyes. The Prednisone and Plaquenil are monsters to this area. So she will be back to see Dr. Yang in February and we will discuss contact lenses at that time. I cannot believe that she is gonna be in contacts soon! She is growing up too fast.
Jo should be getting her car out of the shop today. Yikes, hide your kids, grannies and families and get them off the road! She will have wheels and is not afraid to use them! Hopefully JR will have her car done today and she can be on the road soon. So off to DMV I go today for her registration and all that jazz. Thank you Nathan for all you have done for her by getting the car and all the parts and working on it to get it ready for her. You are amazing and I cant put into words how thankful we are for all you do!
So we are 35 days out from the wedding! So many little things to get done. Today I will go drop off his suit and tie at the dry cleaners so it can be pressed and made fancy and Monday I will order the flowers and this weekend we will find Jo her shoes. Yup, still no stress or anxiety and not quit sure if I will really have any, this is just too easy!! :)

School Registration

I cant believe that it is already school registration today, that summer is almost over and that I now offically have a senior in high school! Nothing like coming to that realization to make you feel older than you already do! So having the girls register in Alamogordo was not part of our "plan" but here we are. We had planned on me already be settled in with a job and a house by this time and thats not the case. After a tearful talk that other night, Nathan and I have decided that I will no longer look for jobs and go to interviews in Santa Fe until next year. With the girls starting school already, its just not what we want to do at this time. The only way I will possibly take an interview is with the Labs in Los Alamos or a stellar position with the state. No more searching and applying until about April of next year. I can now just concentrate on the kids, fixing the house, the wedding and getting Jo ready for graduation! It will be hard on all of us and not the way that I wanted to start out our marriage, but we have done it for over 2 years already and this will only make us stronger as a family and will make us cherish the time that we do get together.

Pics from 7-20-11

Here are just a few pictures from our day in Santa Fe on Wednesday. It was Jordyn 17th birthday and also Nathans promotion ceremony. We had a wonderful lunch at Rio Chama Steakhouse and then went walking in the plaza, where the girls found some silly things.

Nathans parents and also his neice, McKenzie, joined us for the days festivities.

Pre-Application for Marriage License

We did it this morning.... we submitted the pre-application for our marriage license in Clark County!!! We are about 56 days away! We cant wait to celebrate this momentous day with the girls and our family and close friends. We have family already making airline and hotel reservations and we are finishing up some last minute details and decisions and its been such a fun process for us both. So far we have kept our sanity and just had a good time working on projects for this day. I just talked to my good friend and photographer, David Thompson, who will be our amazing photographer for the day. His work is totally amazing and I am so thankful for him and I cant wait to see him and catch up. I know he will catch some beautiful images of the first day of the rest of our lives. Thank God for PhotoShop which he will use to make me look tan, tall and skinny!! LOL. I cant wait to see the girls in their beautiful black dresses, all dressed up and even Lola in her surprise "kicks", since she doesnt do dressy shoes. Still have many things to finish and check off "the list" but we are well on our way to our goal.

Road Trip

Me and the kids will be heading to Santa Fe this evening and meeting Nathan and his parents for the NMSP promotion ceremony tomorrow morning. It is also Jordyn's 17th birthday, so text her, call her or post "happy slappy birfday" on her facebook wall. Her gift is en route and wont be delivered until tomorrow evening, so that stinks, I was hoping to have it today so that we could give to her tomorrow when we take her to lunch at Rio Chama Steakhouse. :) Oh well, we will be back tomorrow night so it will be here when we get back home. I hope she likes it.
So it will be pizza, wings and poolside when we get into Santa Fe tonight. We found a pizza joint in Santa Fe that does gluten-free pizza for Lola and she is just beaming about this. The Rooftop Pizza does GF crust so this is a plus. I can almost taste the Dions and chelada. C'mon 5 o'clock!!!

Poor Diesel Bentley

Yesterday morning Diesel started this tremor/seizure thing that has us so concerned and scared. We gave him a bath and then let him inside to rest and relax. While I was taking a shower, Nathan noticed that he started twitching his head while he laid there. He got up and asked Jordyn if he had been doing that and she told him that she had never noticed it. We just kind of blew it off as him being a little wet and cold from his bath and being inside where the air conditioner was hitting him. We took him to lunch and then for a drive up to High Rolls and then headed home. We got home and he was resting and then Nathan noticed that he was doing it again, he was moving his head side to side as if saying, no, no, no. He was alert and oriented and didnt lose control of his bladder or bowels, but it went on for a few minutes. We just laid there with him and tried to get him to snap out of it. We scoured the internet and see what this could be. It seems that this is a problem that some bulldogs get, nothing can be done since its not a "full seizure". It happened a few more times through out the day. We even gave him a handful of sugar since it could also be due to low blood sugar. We are just keeping a close eye on this and hoping that with maybe a new diet of adding extra calcium to his regimen that this may help. We just hate seeing him not 100%. Allorah and Jordyn were so sad last night when we told them and Lola's eyes started watering thinking that he might die, we just reassured her that he is ok but just needs to be loved on when he is having these "episodes".

Weekend Update

What a nice and relaxing weekend we had. Even though the girls didnt join us and we missed them terribly, we were able to relax and just unwind. On Friday I headed up to meet Nathan in Santa Fe, but on the way, I stopped in Albuquerque for my first laser tattoo removal treatment. Lets just say that I had a momentary lapse of better judgment many years ago and thought it would be fun to get a tattoo on my ring finger. Well the "art" lasted longer than the nuptials, so that hideous thing needs to come off and what better timing than before September 17th!!! It wasnt nearly as painful as I thought it would be, just a few zaps and literally 5 seconds later, my first treatment was done. I gotta go back in 4 weeks for the next treatment. I am so excited to get that thing removed! So then I hit the road again and was off to Santa Fe. We were able to look at a few condos/townhomes and get a good idea of where we will plan to live when I finally get a job and we move up. I'm thinking it will be easier for the kids and I if we find a place that has gated security, a pool and a gym and we did find a few cute places. So thats a bit of weight off my shoulders. Nathan and I went to eat at a few neat places. On Saturday we were going to head to the Santa Fe Wine Fesitival but we thought it would be better to just head over to Whole Foods and get some fresh fruit and beers and lounge by the poolside. Which we did and it was awesome! Then we got dressed up fancy and we had reservations at El Meson, a Spanish restaurant downtown that serves Paella and tapas and homemade sangria. They had flamenco dancers and singing going on too. The food was pretty good, expensive, but good, it was the service that was horrible!! We wont ever go back there. It seems that nothing compares to Rio Chama! Yummmmmmm. On Sunday morning we woke up and went to our favorite breakfast place, the Guadalupe Cafe. They have the most amazing homemade cinnamon rolls, but they were sold out before we had a chance to enjoy one! Boooooooooo! We saw a few other places and then we headed up to Espanola. Nathan took me to Los Alamos where the fire has struck and it was so sad. The smoke was terrible and after about 30 minutes in the area, our throats got itchy and irritated and be started having a headache, so we headed back down and finished off with sandwiches and a movie. I woke up early Monday morning and headed back to Alamo, as me and my mom threw a surprise 40th birthday party for our dear friend, Lydia. She was so surprised and cried like a baby! :) It was a good time for her and her family and I was happy that she enjoyed. It seemed that she had never had anyone throw her a party!
So that was our weekend and back to the grind on Tuesday. I had my tooth extracted and boy that was horrible. Either Im a big baby or it was really that painful! Probably a bit of both! So now it has to heal and Im tired of eating jello and soft mushy food, I need substance!! Tacos, chips, salsa, you name it.
As far as the wedding plans are going, we are now 73 days away! Formal invitations went out yesterday to close family and friends only. We decided from the beginning that we didnt want a circus and thats why we decided Las Vegas. Something small and intimate and yet fun and maybe a little crazy. We are both so excited and cant believe that it is almost here. I am keeping my fingers crossed for smooth sailing!

Relaxation, What Is That?

No one can seem to explain to me what relaxation is. These days its 200 MPH with no end in sight. I cant seem to not ever have anything to do. Its crazy how fast the year has gone and its now almost half over! Today I glanced at my wedding countdown app on my iPhone and gasped when I saw that we are 99 days away!

Holy schnikes, where did the time go? I will be Mrs. Nathan Barton in 99 days! Oh my goodness, I am so excited! My girls dresses have been bought and they look so amazing in them. Jordyn loves hers and she tried it on and I couldnt believe she is only almost 17 years old! Yikes, I'm in big trouble! And Allorah, well, she is no longer my baby girl, she looks so grown up. Now if I can just convince her that converse sneakers are not my choice of shoe, then we will be fine! :) I just wish that Diesel Bentley could make the nuptials. I just want to see him in a tuxedo! He would be our ring bearer but with our luck, he would eat a fairly large amount of jewelry and we would have to be scouring his turds! So, maybe leaving him at home is a more suitable option! We have decided that we are writing our own vows and we are actually already almost done with that. Can you believe how we are just so organized and on top of things? I know I cant! Here is our wedding website if you wanna take a sneak peek on what we are planning: http://www.mywedding.com/shannonandnathan/
Its cheesy and corny but so are we.

Home Sweet Home

We made it home safe and sound and we are beat! My poor Nathan did the entire drive since we all suffer from road trip narcolepsy. :) At least I can say I have the worlds most handsome chauffeur!

We are home for 12 days then we take off to Chicago on the 16th for Allorahs surgery to remove calcinosis on her right hip. Then after that maybe she can finally enjoy her summer. Thank you mom and dad for traveling with us and being there for us during this trip. The kids had a great time minus all the hospital business but it was a nice time with you. Thank you to all our family and friends for all the prayers. Love you all!


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Schools Out!

I cannot believe that another school year has come to a close. I offically have a senior in high school and a 7th grader! Wow! I can say that I officially feel old! The wrinkles and grey hair that I sport are evidence that its true! It will be a very busy summer for my family. We will be leaving for Dallas on Monday morning for a week, then heading to Chicago on June 16th for Allorahs surgery the following day and then her appointment with Dr. Pachman on the the 20th. Then Jo got a car and we will be bringing that home and working on that for her, preparing the house so I can rent it out, packing and cleaning and then moving up north and getting situated up there, then finishing up the summer with a trip to Vegas in September to tie the knot! It will be a hectic one for us thats for sure. Hardly enough time to relax.

Relax

It was a nice weekend of relaxing for me. After the emotional rollercoaster the last 2 weeks, I needed to just relax this weekend and regroup. So off to Espanola I went. We were invited to 2 parties on Saturday, a graduation party at Black Mesa golf course for a friend and colleague of Nathans and then to a dinner party at Rancho de Chimayo for the promotion of one of his bosses. Both parties were nice and we had an amazing time.


Nathan and I at Black Mesa Gold Course

 For the first time in my life, I bowled on Saturday. Yup, thats right, you heard me, I BOWLED! And not by choice! It wasnt bad, but I totally had to face my fear head on and put on shoes that did not belong to me!! I wasnt happy about it, but the 2 cheladas I drank helped with the anxiety I was having!


Nice, huh?

 It was a beautiful weekend. We even went to Abiqui lake on Saturday and then I met a good friend for breakfast in Santa Fe on Sunday morning on the way home. It was what I needed to be able to refresh, regroup and focus on next week.

Anxiety Stricken

So in the maddness that is Juvenile Dermatomyositis, a step back has been taken today. Allorah's doctor from Chicago called with some recent lab results from when she had her last appointment there on April 4th. Dr. P is wanting her to see the endocrinologist, Dr. Kaufman, in Albuquerque. It seems the long term dose of Prednisone that she has been on for almost 10 years has caused her to develop diabetes. Her insulin, glucose, Hgb A1C and triglycerides are ALL elevated!!! Why cant my baby get a break? Why does this keep happening? It seems that as soon as we think she is doing better, she is hit with a blow that knocks her down. I HATE JUVENILE DERMATOMYOSITIS, CURSE YOU, FOUL DISEASE!! So we are heading up to Albuquerque on the 17th for a consult as to what course we need to take. I am hoping that we can do this with maybe diet and exercise. It just really stinks because she is already on such a strict diet because of the celiac disease, a gluten free diet can be difficult for an adult let alone a child. So now she has even more restrictions! UGH!! She is such a trooper.

Snow Day

Brrrrrrr, it is cold out there today and let me say, I hate winter, I hate being cold and it truly stinks!! The snow came down today and the kiddos got out of school early and they have a snow day tomorrow too and I just found out that our state office is on a 2 hour delay as well, well, there is one good thing about snow, delays and closures! My poor Nathan was trying to get back to Socorro for work tomorrow and the roads were so bad that he had to turn back around and only got to Carrizozo. He said it was a white out conditions! Ugh! That makes me sick to my stomach that he is out there on the road right now. Even my sweet baby Diesel was cold and hiding from this weather!

Our wedding date, what it means

So many people have asked me why we chose September 17th, 2011 as our wedding date. So I went to Nathans blog and commandeered his post from awhile back...

"We chose the date September 17, 2011 and I couldn’t be more excited! First off 17 is my favorite number, I am marrying the most amazing woman and I will then officially be the luckiest man in the world.

Now I am kind of a weird numbers guy but found this little tidbit hidden in our date, follow along…
If we reduce the date to numbers 09-17-11 and we add 9+1+7 for the month and day we get 17. Then adding 1+7 we get 8! Turned on it side it gives the sign for eternity.
Now we take 2011 and add 2+0+1+1 and we get 4 and divide that by 2 (that variable is her and I and we will always be as referenced above, eternal) and we are 2!
Eternally the two the of us, 8 and 2!
So you see, it is meant to be, her and me on 9-17-11…"

So, how many people can say that their significant other can blow them away by just a few simple words? I know I can and he does it so effortlessly! So there you go, thats whats so special about 9/17/11.

2011, New Beginnings

Its a brand new year and a brand new time for me and my family. The old blog has been brought down and a new one arrives. As we move forward into the future, all I can say is "WOW"! So much has changed in my life in this short time that I am taken back at times at how truly blessed I am. The girls are doing so well in school and Allorah is still fighting her battle with Juvenile Dermatomyositis. Jo has a job now and is driving. Diesel is getting so big and is just a mess! As for me, this princess has found her Prince Charming! We have something that only fairlytales are made of and I will be marrying my best friend on September 17th. The kids are so excited and I can hardly contain myself! So, as you see, happiness and a wealth of love is at my fingertips.