york swirls

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Opening the Gifts



We've had a large pile of gifts in our living room for the past two weeks. We all gathered today to watch the newlyweds open them. Our family, Nathan's parents, Nathan's brothers & their families, Grandma Gainer, Grandma & Grandpa Cooper, and Grandma & Grandpa Sanders all met for lunch at our house today. Then we watched the newlyweds open their gifts and viewed pictures of the rehearsal, wedding, and the honeymoon on our television. We all enjoyed the afternoon and the finale of this big event in our lives.



Welcome home, Newlyweds!

While we were home sick, the girls took the roll of butcher paper we covered the kids' tables with at the wedding and made a banner that says, "Welcome home, Mr. & Mrs. Stratton."
One of the drawings on the banner was of a tractor with Nathan proposing to Autumn.

The proposal

The long-awaited pictures...

Doesn't she make a beautiful bride? Every little girl dreams of being a bride. How many little girls have dressed up with a sheet for a train & some tulle or something for a veil? Mine all have. Autumn felt like she was dressing up whenever she tried on her wedding gown, and she got that stary look in her eyes. Dreams do come true.
All ten of our beautiful daughters
(Nanna is holding a picture of Lainey.)

The Cooper family with their new son/brother-in-law

Nanna with Lainey's picture

Mr. & Mrs. Gary Cooper, Mr. & Mrs. Nathan Stratton, Mr. & Mrs. Mike Stratton

The bride & groom with their flower girls

The wedding party

Mr. & Mrs. Nathan Stratton


Is that the rose among the thorns

or

the thorn among the roses?

The groom with his brothers...

Shannon, Nathan, Justin

The Cake!

A chocolate lover's dream

The cake was piled with truffles made by Autumn, Nathan, Karen, Erin, & Heather

Saturday, February 18, 2012

It's been a very long week...

This is how Nanna slept Thursday night. Poor baby! Isn't she pitiful?

Krissy & I sat at the table last night & analyzed all the symptoms we've seen over the past week or so. We've decided they must all be related to the same "bug". Most everyone has experienced some or all of these at different times: a sore throat, cough, stuffy nose, stomach ache, vomitting, and diarrhea. I think it's still slowly making its way through everyone. Maybe we'll be able to leave the house by spring!

We thought we had a lot of 7Up left from the wedding. I think it was 7 2-liters leftover. We've gone through that and more during the past week. I've been making bland foods for meals, but nobody has been eating much. I'm glad I buy saltine crackers & chicken noodle soup from Sam's Club in large quantities!

Gary, Meagan, Erin, Heather, & Laura left at 3:30 a.m. Friday morning for the National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, Kentucky. They took a bucket & paper towels with them just in case the phantom bug struck one of them while they were gone. They got home at 10 p.m. Friday night none the worse for wear, except for some aching feet.

Monday, February 13, 2012

A beautiful wedding....

...and I don't have any pictures to show you!! The friends that took pictures for us are working on getting the pictures to us, so you'll have to wait just like I am. The day before and the day of the wedding seemed to be one disaster (some small, some bigger) after another, but the ceremony was absolutely perfect. Very sweet, very special.

The reception was a chocolate-y affair with a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting piled under with chocolate truffles. We also had a chocolate fountain with several different goodies to dip in it. The kids had their own special tables covered with butcher paper to color on, their own individual boxes of crayons, stencils, and bags of teddy grahams to dip in the chocolate fountain.

I will post pictures as soon as I can...I promise.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Sssshhhhhh....don't tell anyone I'm here!!

I have run out of steam. So many, many things going on these past few days!! I put on my nightgown & sat down on the couch. For a few brief moments, I was the only one in the living room. It was unusually quiet. I know they'll find me in a few minutes. Uh oh! Here they come!

Last week was a rough week with losing Gunner and Autumn's health issues. Autumn woke up two weeks ago today with a lot of pain in her shoulder. She didn't know if she had slept on it wrong or done something to it turning over in bed or what was wrong. After work that day, she went to the chiropractor & he adjusted it. By the next morning, she was complaining of pain in her chest & rib. She couldn't breathe deeply. She went back to the chiropractor after work again Friday night. He told her that her rib was out of place. He adjusted her, but she was very miserable all weekend. She went to the chiropractor again after work on Monday night. She suffered all week long. She went to the nurse practitioner at ROCC on Thursday afternoon. He sent her to Lafayette for an xray. It didn't show anything wrong. They told her it was just that the cartilage where her rib connects to her sternum was inflamed. She would just have to take Advil & wait for it to get better on its own. Friday morning, a little before 5 a.m., she woke me up gasping for breath. The pain was so great, she couldn't breathe. We went to the emergency room Friday morning. They ran more tests and told her the same thing. She suffered through the weekend again, not able to lay flat in her bed. She slept on the reclining couch, just barely tilted back for several nights. We went to a different chiropractor on Tuesday morning this week. He adjusted her & did therapy. He helped her a lot. She is slowly healing. Erin & Heather have taken turns all week going to work with her to handle all the corn samples & keep her from using her arms too much & putting a strain on her rib & sternum.

We are down to 7 days. Lots of last minute details to attend to. Some last minute changes in plans and adjustments to be made. It will all come together, and it will be a beautiful wedding. Autumn & Nathan are looking forward to 2 weeks of rest on their honeymoon. I think Mom & Dad need a vacation too!!

If I don't post again, we'll see you at the wedding next Friday night!!!