MistyCastle

Hobbies come and go and I am currently in transition. Sometime back around the 1st of October I ran across a startling opportunity to fulfill one of those once in a lifetime events that I’ve had in the back of my mind for some time now. You see, even though I live in close proximity to a 14,000 ft mountain, I’ve never lost my desire to make an extended road trip up through Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks continuing on to Banff in the Canadian Rocky Mountains.

I guess this comes from a certain fascination with Vintage Rallies. We Americans don’t have much appreciation for this sport but the Brits do a marvelous job of planning these events.

Many years ago I got on the mailing list of a couple of British rally coordinators and from time to time I still get a brochure in the mail that sets the imagination running wild. Peking to Paris…..or how about… Read the rest of this entry »

In the midst of all the wedding day craziness I had to run back over to Camp Pendleton and sign for our beach cottage. We had been staying in the Ward Lodge on post but planned to have a couple of days at the beach to relax after the wedding. Check in was not until 3pm but I needed to be dressed and ready for pictures by 1:30 so that was not going to work. I called over and got them to get one of the cottages ready by noon and then, since Rhonda had the rental car, had Matt Ender run me over there so I could sign for it and get the key.

The cleaning crew probably thought they were being helpful by leaving all the windows open thinking we would be along shortly but alas we did not arrive until 10pm. Despite all the hoopla about Southern California the temps were down in the 30′s by the time we got to the cottage and it was freezing cold in there! We quickly closed all the windows and turned on the little-bitty heater but it was obvious there would be no comfort to be had that night so we decided to snuggle up in bed and get some needed Zzzz’s. Read the rest of this entry »

Here is the wedding video…sorry but there is no audio. Might add some music later.

“I have found the one my soul loves” Song of Solomon 3:4

This was the verse that Kristina and Daniel chose for their wedding invitations and it’s truth was apparent in San Clemente, CA over the weekend. This is truly God’s love story. As Daniel’s Mom often states, “God took two families from different parts of the country and moved them to Colorado without jobs within a week of each other. He then introduced them through their Realtor and brought them into friendship.” Our kids became friends and our families have interacted through joyous and difficult life changing situations over the last 5 years. Daniel and Kristina are truly “two peas in a pod” as Daniel’s mother, Tanya, refers to them. Read the rest of this entry »

We are home from Cali and the wedding! So many lovely memories! Everything was wonderful and I don’t know that I have seen too many couples so respectful and honoring of one another, not to mention in love. Such a God story!

I know it will take us a few years to regroup! Just kidding! We are tired but have taken a couple of days on the beach-it was COLD-before coming home to relax! That was a good time together and we got to spend Monday evening with the newlyweds. They were gracious enough to invite us to join them for dinner on the San Clemente pier.

The pier is beautiful, especially at night. The waves coming in under us as we dined on the outside deck. It was hard to see the moon as Mr and Mrs Daniel Brown were glowing so brightly! Great to be with them an ‘extra’ time!

Wedding pics and story coming soon!

I feel almost like Santa Claus as I check my list once, twice, three times….have I remembered everything? We are packing and making final preparations for our trip to California tomorrow and Kristina’s wedding on Saturday. We will meet for a Thanksgiving dinner after traveling, pick up Kristina’s ‘sister’ who is also the Matron of Honor, Rose Miller, and her family from the train, and last but not least, attend an open house at Daniel and Kristina’s “California parents’ home”, the Enders. It will be a long but wonderful day full of blessings to be thankful for! We are tired all ready from the preparations but we can sleep later. To be sharing this weekend with Daniel and Kristina, the Brown family, the Enders and the Millers is such a blessing, I am sure we will float through the time.

The days have flown by since Daniel asked us for Kristina’s hand in marriage July 12th. It has been fast and furious! Kristina has been sick two of the almost 4 weeks she has lived in California. A lot of things she thought she would have time for have had to be compressed into smaller blocks of time or abandoned all together. Twenty four hours are just not enough hours in a day when you are trying to furnish your first home, finish wedding plans, and trying to enjoy being with your fiance who works a sporadic schedule.

Hopefully most of the preparations are in place and we can have some relaxing family time in California!

Well, a mere seven days until Daniel and Kristina’s big day and the Mother of the Bride is still working out what she will wear! I thought I had it covered a long time ago and my ‘almost’ menopausal body went through changes again! I became thick in the waist and nothing seemed to work. I went in search of a petticoat for a dress Matt found on line. A gracious woman who owns a local dance studio here told us to go to ‘the purple house just north of Union and Boulder”. Yesterday while running errands, I went in search of it. By the time I found it, they were closing and asked me to come back today.

I corralled Matt into coming with me this afternoon, promising to be good and only look for what we came for (Matt shops safari style – you go, bag the game and come home!). I’m not sure what he thought when we drove up to the light purple building, it is a bit ‘antique’ and not very well marked. The sign by the street let us know that we had arrived at Antique Mart. The items flowing out the door were just a taste of what was to come when we entered. It was such a sensory overload in all directions!! “Rooms”, if you could call them that, lined from floor to ceiling with everything you could imagine and then some. All of it vintage! There were wedding gowns, gorgeous furs of all varieties, dresses, hats, gloves, cases of jewelry, shoes, dishes, all types of vintage memorabilia, the list is endless. Read the rest of this entry »

Just counting my blessings today. God is GOOD! SO very very good. It snowed here last night, probably about 6 inches and this moring it was still snowing when we left for church but had stopped and the sun was out when we came out of service. The snow was melting away and the roads were slushy but clearing. The Grand Lady, as we call Pike’s Peak, was standing in all the beauty of her new ‘dress’ of snow against that crystal clear blue sky that only COlorado knows how to do. It was and is lovely!

We are well and excited about the events of the next couple weeks as we wind down to the 28th when Daniel Lee Brown will take our wonderful Kristina Marie to be his life helpmate. It will be a celebration for sure! It is an ‘immediate family only’ event with three exceptions-Samuel’s wife, Amy, has been deployed to Iraq; Josh and Selenda cannot attend either, so our numbers will be smaller than we had planned. We will be sad that we cannot all be together as family but we are planning other events next year when we can be. Each event makes memories that we get to hold in our hearts and reflect on later. Read the rest of this entry »