My brother's house is a fun house. The girls love to hang out there when they are out of school. They can ride horses, swing out into the open air, and just get dirty. And at any given point, a rooster could walk right up beside you (which is really scary to me!).






The girls are always filthy when I pick them up. And they smell like little boys. Sometimes they even have war wounds.....



And they learn valuable lessons. Yesterday Alex learned that if you are riding a mule and the mule goes under something low, you duck.....fast. Unfortunately this time, she just wasn't fast enough. And like all good cowgirls who spend a day with such excitement, exhaustion soon takes over.



Love those cowgirls!!





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Crocodile Tears

If you know me, like really know me well, then you know that I don't cry much. If you go to a sad movie with me, and you are crying your eyes out, don't expect me to share the watery eyes. I just don't cry. I blame this on my past life. I ran out of tears in my past life. I cried and cried and cried, and then one day I decided I was done crying, and I moved on with my life. I usually crack jokes in sad movies, so you probably don't want to go to them with me. Just ask my friend Natalie. I had her rolling in laughter once when we watched The Titanic. Also, my favorite pastime as a child was crying. My brother nicknamed me "WH" which stood for Whiney Hiney. I'm pretty sure this nickname scarred me for life. The sad thing is that whenever he called me this name, I cried harder. I'm not completely against whining to get my way now, it can be pretty affective, but I don't see much point in crying. Not to mention, it's not very pretty.

Now, all that leads up to today, the day that I (along with help from a few of my great friends) picked out wedding music. I downloaded the songs on my phone and put on my headphones. Next thing I know, there's liquid rolling down my face. What is this?! My face was leaking. It wasn't an ugly cry, luckily I was able to stop it before my mascara ran or before a coworker noticed, but nevertheless, there were tears.

Those songs make it all so real. Yes, I know it's been real, and it's real soon too. But today it hit me. The man that I spent hours/days/years praying for, the man that I dreamed up in my mind, he was going to be standing at the end of the aisle waiting on me. I'm pretty sure at that point, I will see no one else. So forgive me if I don't look around the room and smile, because in that moment, nothing will matter. Just me and him.

My goal is to get FH to cry. I have big hopes. And he said he would bring Visine to make it look like he is crying if I really want him to. I mean a fake cry is better than no cry at all, right?! I desperately hope that the photographer gets a pic of him the moment he sees me, so I can overanalyze it later. But just in case she misses it, and you are in the "crowd", just snap a quick photo for me please. We can photoshop tears in later. Gotta love technology.

I'll probably have to talk to myself while I am walking down the aisle also. So if you see my lips moving, just ignore that. I might look like I am chanting curses on everyone, but that will not be the case. I know I will have to remind myself to walk slowly. I don't walk slowly anywhere. I'm a mom of twins, give me a break! I'm always in a hurry! And I will be in a huge hurry to get to my man, I'm tempted to get someone to hold a video camera and a stopwatch and time me, I'll carry my bouquet in a football hold. We can post it on Youtube and some other bride can try to top my pace. Everything is a competition in my life, don't you know?

Kate and Alex are walking me down the aisle. I'm excited about this. But poor Alex, she thinks the world revolves around her. I'm okay with tripping her if she starts acting like it is her show. I know that sounds harsh, but I have one free Bridezilla card and I haven't used it yet. Don't worry, I will help her up, and totally act like I have no idea how it happened. **Please note, if you are reading this when you are older Alex, I'm only joking. So if you actually fall down, I had nothing to do with it. Honest.**

I hope I don't have crocodile tears on the day of my wedding. There are no pockets in my wedding dress to hold a hankerchief. Not that I own a hankerchief. Nor am I really sure if I am spelling it correctly. Nevertheless, if I do cry, it will soon be forgotten by all. You know how I know? The bouquet toss will be epic. That is what people will leave my wedding talking about. You see, I have several friends that are close to the engagement point, but not there yet. It's normal for a bride in her early 20s to have lots of single friends, but we are all a bit more mature than that. Totally planned it that way, we were all working on our successful careers of course. I'm pretty sure there will be a brawl when I throw that thing. I can't wait to see how it goes down. I might even make sure I have a bonus one in order to stop a fight if there is one. What a fun time that will be!

I can't wait to be Mrs Michael Young!!! Pin It Now!

Pre-Marriage Counseling Round One

Ok so pre-marriage counseling round one. I love it! at first it was slightly awkward. I mean we barely even know the guy. He just told us how we should make God the basis for our relationship and then if we both put God first then we will be second to each other. That our marriage could be as successful as we wanted it to but that there would be ups and downs and we would have to work hard at it. THEN, out of the blue, he turns to me and says "So, Lora, tell me. Why Michael? Of all the men in the world, why him?" I was so thrown off! up until then, he had been doing all the talking and we were just listening. And I really was expecting him first to ask us how we met and stuff like that. so I was put on the spot. I gave a not stellar answer. If it were an interview, I wouldn't have been hired. Lol Then came FH. He nailed it. He would have gotten the job and a promotion with bonus pay. (and I probably would have slapped him on the butt if I were the interviewer since he was just so cute because he was nervous) He started off by talking about how he was 33, never married, no kids. He said he had several different serious relationships (I started getting nervous with him bringing up old girlfriends. Lol) but that he always knew none of those girls were right for him. He never even thought about forever with them. He said he had always heard that when you meet the "right one" you would know it, but he never really thought that was true. But he knew from the beginning that I was perfect for him. That he never wanted to spend another second, another minute of any day without me. That I was his absolute best friend in the whole wide world and he wanted to share everything with me. He said a few other things that I can't really remember, it was like a well rehearsed speech that almost brought tears to my eyes (and that's tough to do!). I knew all of the things that he said. He had told them all to me before. But I guess for him to say it in front of a witness was just amazing. Next time, I'm taking my tape recorder.

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Mother's Day

Of all the moms in the world, I am so grateful that God handpicked the perfect one for me. She is the perfect mom. Sometimes I have a difficult time believing that we are actually related since she looks well put together even if you catch her on a bad day, never loses her patience, and I don't believe in all of my almost 30 years that I have ever heard her raise her voice. Yep, I'm definately my father's child. But I love her nevertheless. She is the perfect role model and I hope that one day I can "grow up" to be just like her. Cute clothes and all. Until then, she is a very dependable grandma and she helps me in all shapes, forms, and fashions whenever I need her (which is pretty stinkin' often!).

Of all the kids in the world, I think mine are the coolest. I'm not even biased at all. Everyone always tells me how hilarious K&A are. I think I take them for granted sometimes because not a day goes by that I don't LOL at them.....so I don't really know what it's like to not have mini-me's around to laugh at. They can drive me nuts, make me want to pull out my hair, and then cuddle up and love on me all within minutes. Many, many times I think to myself that if I could just have 5 minutes alone, that I would be okay. If I could just take a nice long bath, or perhaps go to the bathroom without one of them banging on the door, I would survive the day. But then when I get the 5 minutes alone, the silence is not all it is made out to be. I CANNOT imagine my life without the craziness that is K&A. I look forward to every day that I spend with them and I love watching them grow into little ladies, well, little tomboys anyways.
Here's my mothers day presents from FH and the girls!



I'm so excited about laying out in my new chair!! And to spend my gift card that Alex insisted that she get me (smart girl). Unfortunately the candy they bought me is already gone......

My FH is the best man I know. I prayed for him. We are talking serious prayers, laying in the dark in my bed in the middle of the night before I could fall asleep kind of prayers. I always knew he was out there somewhere, and that he would find me eventually. It's been two and a half years, and I still get butterflies when I see his name on my phone. I still can't get enough of him, find myself staring at him while I'm suppose to be watching TV. I love that man more than I ever thought possible. Love, Love, Love. He is the perfect amount of everything that I ever wanted in a man, and it just so happens that he loves me in return too. :)

This is why my Mother's day was the best ever! I am so lucky and so blessed. Now, about that baby fever.......
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Home Sweet Home

I've waited a really long time to be a homeowner. I can't believe all my dreams are finally coming true.....and in less than 2 months, I'll have a new husband to go along with the new house. I honestly can't remember a time in my life when I was happier.
If you have ever lived in an apartment, then you can appreciate the weekend that I've had.
FH and I had our first cookout Friday night, just the two of us. We've been together for about 2&1/2 years but we've never grilled out together. So we considered this like our third date. And let me just say, FH cooked me a mean steak! It was great! We sat out on our back patio and just enjoyed every second of it. I look forward to many, many more cookouts with him! :)
Saturday, we cut grass. This doesn't sound exciting.....but it was for us because we've both been looking forward to having our own yard to take care of!
We have a wedding coming up, and those aren't cheap, neither are houses. Needless to say we have been pinching our pennies and doing what we can to save. So when it came time to buy a new lawn mower, of course FH- being a man and all- wanted a big ole expensive riding lawn mower. Me, being cheap and having grown up with yard/fields so huge that a tractor was used to cut them, insisted on a cheap push mower because our yard isnt THAT big. It's great exercise, plus it will give me a chance to work on my tan and give us something to do together. So FH said we could get a push mower if I cut the grass while he weedeated (I'm not sure that word even sounds right!). So, that was our deal.
Yesterday evening, I started to mow and FH started to weedeat. Little did I know, he'd be finished about 5 minutes later!! Apparently, his job was tiny and mine was huge!
I look over as I'm slaving away in the yard, and this is what I see:




Not only did the man come outside to gloat and silently think "I told you so", but he brought a chair to watch me and even a cold beverage to cool himself off after his exhausting 3 minutes of cutting weeds! If looks could kill, he would have been hurting! He's enjoying himself, smiling even, and instead of holding a cold beverage, this is what my hands were doing:




My hands still hurt today too! And did I mention that we didn't cut grass until too late in the evening for me to even get a tan? Not to mention, yes it was great exercise but we stuffed our faces with Mexican food for Cinco de Mayo! So the exercise was cancelled out!
I'm ready for the next time we cut grass. I'm doing it in the sun, with my headphones, and then not stuffing my face afterwards. Lesson well learned.

And the house looked pretty amazing when we got finished, if I do say so myself!




**Please note, no FHes were harmed in this post. He did, in fact, get out of his chair and cut half the yard with me, like a good little future husband. I guess he got tired of the evil glares I was sending his way.***
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