GRADUATION

The week of high school graduations = bittersweet! Most of the wonderful young ladies in my high school dgroup are graduating. I am SO proud of each of them and SO, SO, SO grateful that they love the Lord and desire to please Him! We have laughed together, been silly together, had difficult conversations, cried together, dreamed together, played together, learned from each other, encouraged each other, prayed together…

They are my sisters, and I am SO excited to see what God has planned for them next. Love you girls!

BRETT :)

What I learned from my little brother in CA:

Ø It’s time to go to the store when you are eating bean burritos for breakfast…

Ø Errand, chores and cycle classes are much more fun with a partner in crime…

Ø Family dinners are SO rewarding and totally worth the effort…

Ø Mac and Cheese Tip: don’t add the milk to the boiling water…

Ø Matt is an excellent teacher…

Ø AZ traffic cameras = a “speeding” ticket for going 66 mph ON THE FREEWAY…

Ø Boys never grow up! 2 Wii’s hooked up in the same house + Monster Hunter = Matt and Brett on their cell phones with each other (in the same house) so they could “strategize” and defeat the “Joey.” (When their phones died, they’d improvise by yelling across the house to each other…lol)

We luv you Brett! Had such a BLAST with you in town… great times of fellowship, gaming, playing in the volleyball tournament, spin classes, wakeboarding, shopping, clearing the backyard, swimming in the ocean, riding ALL the coasters at six flags and @ FBC’s SUMMER CAMP with you! Missing you already…

Weed-eating the Savannah

Our backyard may have been considered a health hazard….

We have yet to finish it; (a 2011 project perhaps?) and so, every winter we simply “let it go.” California’s very rainy winter = a very green spring => a whole new level of backyard vegetation! Our patch of dirt was covered from wall to wall with “wildlife,” most of which extended up past my waist. (There were even what appeared to be small game trails in our little Savannah…)

Brett and I decided we are going to surprise Matt and complete this “little” project… On our preliminary walk through, we get so many stickers in our running shoes we have to switch to snow boots! (All we had at the time…) Brett’s a crazy “weed-eating” machine; making safety goggles a very necessary piece of equipment. (We are looking good now) And so, for what feels like an entire day, Brett commenced chopping all the weeds down; I raked and bagged. (It was a much bigger/dirtier job than my initial analysis …)

THEN WE GET MATT’S BELOVED TIRE… (Yes, it’s the same ginormous tractor tire that he HAD to bring home last year.) The tire sat dormant all winter and had become the cherished home to many bizarre creatures. It took teamwork to pry Mr. Tire from its resting place and we were in for quite the treat… SPIDER village!!!!! (Those creepy critters definitely make the top five on the “things I despise” list!) I had never seen a black widow in real life, but we caught three GIANT female widows… another two male black widows, a brown/white speckled one, an all white one and a furry one with green eyes….. AAAHHHHH!!!!! So gross! After securing the spiders all in an iced grande McDonald’s cup we sat back and watched them eat each other… strangely fascinating. The winner (a momma widow) received a bath of spider spray. J

You can now add “gardener” and “exterminator” to my repertoire.

Lake Luv :)

I luv the lake! I’ve always found the way the sun glistens off the water, both beautiful and fascinating!!! Being on the water never gets old… Inhaling the scenery and relaxing with friends…. definitely one of my favorite ways to spend a summer’s day!

(The Maitland’s boat = J J J extra bonus!)

We had an absolute blast!!! I am not near as brave as I once was, (I heal much slower than I did at 17) but I managed to land the “180” a few times (J).

Morgan totally showed me up… he made grabbing the board mid-air look like a cake-walk…

It was Brett’s first time wakeboarding J… within the first three minutes of getting in the water, his teeth began to chatter and his lips turned blue…. (Maybe the fact that you are 6’1 and 125lbs has something to do with it?). But his second go round made it totally worth it because he actually got to wakeboard; he even made it out over the wake. Go Brett!!!

THANK YOU MRS MAITLAND!!! We had SO much FUN!

Sister's Wedding Pt. 2 :)

SUNDAY

You know what Sunday means… church TOGETHER (such an incredible blessing) and some TC Eggington’s (Delicious)!!! What an incredible treat!

When Matt and I stopped by the rental for the concluding touch-ups, we found Danielle and Ash STILL practicing their “throwdown” (now that’s commitment) LOL!

Megan & company are back @ the hotel with their next “wedding fiasco” detail: the tuxes are all wrong; one guy ordered a 36 waist, he received at 46; another’s pants were “high-waters”… and the list continued on. The rental place informs us that “there’s nothing they can do,” because they “don’t alter rentals…” suspenders!

Rehearsal time! We arrive at the wedding venue, decked out in our purple and orange football gear. As we pull up we notice there are several other cars we don’t recognize in the parking lot… hhhmmm. Continuing on, we go venture back to where we were supposed to be and our next “wedding challenge” materializes. Apparently the venue “forgot” to write on their calendar that they previously booked a wedding (as a favor for their gardener) for the same time slot as our rehearsal… but before we can figure out what is going on, the bride, in her beautiful white dress approaches us and asks “Is there anyway you guys could rehearse another day?” My sis bursts into tears… it’s this bride’s special day and she will not be the one to ruin it. Better think fast…. “What about tomorrow (wedding day) at 7AM? With that determined, we all stroll next door to walk through our “preliminary” rehearsal…. J

Rehearsal dinner = yummy burgers and brauts, with Scott and Kristy @ the grill…. Mmmm, SO GOOD! Dad’s whistle signals both “team orange” and “team purple” to take the field for a little “friendly” flag football competition. (Note: football was the BRIDE’s idea!!!) Team orange, scores an impressive two goals in the first five minutes (Yea!!!). As we near the end of the first quarter, it’s purple ball and Matt goes up high to catch a big pass… whereupon, in a decisive defensive play, he is pushed backwards mid-air by an orange jersey. In an attempt to avoid crash landing on the unfortunate teammate beneath him he endeavored to execute what appeared to be a contorted back-flip. Sadly, there wasn’t much he could do; he and MEGAN collided and simultaneously smashed to the ground. She was carried off the field and given a plethora of ice, in a vain attempt to keep her knee from swelling up even more. “It’s just a game Mueller!!!!” With the purple team minus one player, Derek leapt high for that much needed purple TD; too bad he had to let go of the ball as he half landed on, half caught bridesmaid Jessie B…good thing us girls are tough! TEAM ORANGE pulled out a 3-1 victory!!! (I think it was Jeff’s toe-touch that truly inspired our WIN!) Go team orange!!!!

Back at the hotel, I thought I would definitely catch a bit of extra shut eye before the BIG day tomorrow… Negative-> Pow-wow (x3).

WEDDING DAY!!!

Whose idea was a 7AM rehearsal anyway???

Back at the hotel we are greeted with dead pink flowers (you have to be kidding?!?). Vickie, Kelly and mom had worked tirelessly the previous afternoon not only finding but arranging nine spectacular pink bridal party bouquets. However inopportune, it is clear that the flowers will be dead before the wedding starts (SIGH!). Back out on the pink flower hunt/bouquet redo mission, the troopers go…I quit flowers and go in search of gma.

Gma had come to Arizona “kind of” sick; the previous night she was up all night because she was now VERY sick. She was distraught because she was leaving for the hospital and had traveled all the way from OKC to see her granddaughter get married. I dial Megan (who was, at the last minute, looking for a photo-shoot location) and the decision is easy; we will be bringing the wedding party to gma!

Now it’s time to get ready! Bethany and Kacey, you ladies are amazing; thanks for the pretty makeup and the beachy curls!

Then before you know it, it’s that time… time to PUT ON THAT DRESS! Megan looked absolutely stunning! (No joke, after the photographer had snapped a few shots of my gorgeous sister, she offered her a FREE post-wedding photo shoot… she’s that pretty!) All the beautiful ladies circle up for prayer; we are so thankful to the Lord who provides every good thing.

On the way to our vogue photo-shoot we blast “Girls just want to have fun…” from our shiny black limo. J And it’s hard to imagine, but for the next thirty minutes we are waiting on the BOYS to arrive!

In front of a mountain and cactus backdrop Jeffery get his first look at his beautiful bride… (This is where you say “Awe”)!!!!

After more pictures we are officially on our way. We do make one surprise stop and grandma gets to see Megan as the strikingly beautiful bride she is! We love you gma!

Of course, minutes prior to the wedding ceremony, we must incur another wedding hiccup. The CD Megan is supposed to walk down the aisle to, is not working…. The wedding coordinator improvises and makes it happen. The setting was picturesque, Megan looked SO beautiful, flowers were a complete success and the ceremony was AMAZING (go Luke!).

I must say that Boston (Megan’s Great Dane that she INSISTED she MUST have in their wedding) did a fabulous job and was not the hullabaloo we thought he would be… (On the other hand that cute little ring-bearer and flower girl...J L!)

And now for the first time MR. & MRS. JEFF LELAND! I still can’t believe it, my little sister is married!!!!!

The rest of the evening went by in a blur; amazing Charleston’s food, giant cockroach (Ah!), the toasts (H= help each other be who God created you to be; A= adversity, bulldog through; I= no room for “I”/unselfish; R= remember the vows you made before God today), hoedown throwdown “for real”, bouquet toss (fight), garter toss, “quack, quack,” lots of dancing, cake-cutting, cupcake wars, ICING EVERYWHERE, goodbye tunnel, security called, a late-night trip to Meg’s, boarding pass mistake, calling airlines at 1:30am…

TUES

Finally an UNEVENTFUL day! A relaxing day with family, poolside! What is it about water that is SO refreshing? “Yoo-hoos” vs. “Team Awesomeness”…

WED

The older I get the harder it is to say goodbye to my family. I love being around them; I love learning from my parents, giving my brothers a hard time and being inspired by my sister. FYI: I’m not going to stop attempting to convince them that California is BY FAR the most fabulous state to live in….This is me sending you lot’s of hugs across the miles! Luv you guys! XOXO

Brett and I will be by the ocean if you need us in the next 16 days…

Sister's Wedding Pt. 1 :)

MON-FRI (a few favorite memories)

• Picking up mom from the airport (who is TOM?)
• Meg’s specialty breakfast sandwiches
• Shopping; we tried on over 30 outfits but all we managed was 3 pairs of shoes…
• Joey saving us from more cupcake tower dilemma J
• Crazy cat lady
• Megan’s dress = PERFECT!!!! Mom and I had seen hundreds of dresses on her (and they all looked great) but this was THE ONE… beautiful, elegant… everything she wanted combined into one dress! Luved it!
• Comforting the bride who was just informed that the boutique had ordered her the wrong wedding gown (her wedding was three weeks away in the Dominican RepublicL).
• Hair… because you’re our favorite stylist Meg.
• How to walk a Great Dane = secure the lead around your waist, lean back and let the dog pull you.
• Delphi’s meltdown… she not only peed on Meg’s white bedspread, but also the borrowed mattress. After all was thoroughly cleaned, she repeated the process with poo….
• Venue = romantic, whimsical, lovely, charming, picturesque J J
• Oregano’s with Jeff… oh how I love you Pablo Picasso Salad
• Bedazzle!!!
• MORE shopping + those million trips to Wal-Mart (“Megan are you nervous for your ***** tomorrow?”)
• NEED coffee…. Now I will sing you a song: “Old McDonald had a farm…”
• World Market detour = BAM!!! Where did that step come from?
• Getting our purple and orange on
• Walks with mom
• AZ house; what would our life be without that property? Plus side = Kerry
• SECRET MISSION = Trader Joe’s & Ross + Envelopes!
• Charleston’s trip #2 J (+ $400L)
• Final dress fitting… that couch sure looks nice…
• MATT in AZ J
• Dyed socks that had to be re-dyed
• Allergies/ midnight cat-attack
• There are NO gas-station carwashes in AZ (???)
• Matt’s off to do work
• NEED MORE CLEANING SUPPLIES
• Mom vacuumed the sofa for 45 minutes; she still couldn’t get all the dog hair out
• Have you ever heard of dusting your blinds?
• Let me just get my apron… domestic goddess right here...
• PENTHOUSE!!!!
• What do you mean the flowers got here yesterday?
• A family Oregano’s affair

SAT

A big thank you to my brother Derek, who helped Matt finish installing granite countertops and top-mount sinks in our AZ rental house. Although word does have it, Matt had to make several trips to Home Depot and would leave Derek to complete a few small tasks at hand… When Matt would return he would find Derek sitting right where he left him, talking with Ashley…. They probably could’ve finished sooner if Derek hadn’t been so “distracted….”J

After nails with the girls, I really needed some pool units. Just me and a book = BLISS! I see Mom and Vickie approaching… evidently not only did the flowers arrive four days early, but they were also bright PURPLE!!!! After triple checking the receipts, we know mom did, in fact, order the right, soft PINK flowers… She left a million messages, but they are closed for Memorial Day weekend; my sister even tried calling as the distraught bride, NO RESPONSE! Time for a new plan…. with Vickie and Kelly leading the charge, it’s time to start cutting any and all the light pink flowers you can find. If you drove through the Eastern metropolitan area of PHX and noticed pink shrubs missing their pretty flowers, you now know who is responsible. (Please contact me later for their information and I will gladly submit to you their full name, address, and telephone number for a small fee. J)

Saturday night also means its time to put our party shoes on and pony up for Megan’s bachelorette party! With her BFF’s gathered round,’ it was time to tip our hat’s, for the last time, to Ms. Megan Rothaus. We had a BLAST celebrating the fact that our best cowgirl had been lassoed!!! Since she has BFF’s across the country, we corralled to tell our favorite tale regarding the bride-to-be. We laughed so hard, our make-up almost came completely off in the first hour! You are loved girlfriend! After a pin the lips on mustache man, it was time to strap on those cowgirl boots and crank the “Hoedown Throwdown” to maximum volume. Learning that dance was the best; there was NFL cheerleader Haylee and then… Danielle Z…. (Ok, we will do it one more time slow for you. What do you mean you still don’t get it????) Again we found ourselves herded on the floor in laughter!!! Up next, the opening of those “necessary” gifts, with a few added twists and many more giggles…. No time to catch your breath, onward hoe, to Cadillac Ranch! We all took our turn on that darn impossible mechanical bull…. Then we started our own dance party just so we could show off our new Hannah Montana moves (The DJ had to download the song just for us LOL, and yea, they definitely loved us). We hung our hats up on that note! Luv you Megs, so glad you are riding West with your cowboy in 2 days!