Blissful Thinking: Five Favs (vol. 3)

In honor of spending the week at home, this five fav's is dedicated to my favorite memories from my parents house!

The Trampoline

Wow, did my sisters and I spend a lot of time in the backyard on our trampoline. We'd have friends over and be out there all afternoon. When I think of childhood summers, I think of black feet and "butt jumps." We would put the sprinkler under it on really hot days and lay on it to watch the stars at night. It was kicked to the curb at the beginning of this summer (RIP) because of how old and potentially life-threatening it became but I will always fondly remember the fun it brought us!

Our Bedrooms

I am the oldest of three girls and there were two bedrooms for us to share. We switched off who had their own room and who was sharing every year or so. I have to say that looking back I am so glad that I was made to share a room for much of my life. There are so many memories I have, like chatting with Lauren after it was "lights out" (and my mom having to come in multiple times to tell us to go to sleep already!) making forts out of the bunkbeds, and having to take an entire day to clean the pig-sty of a mess we had created in our room. Now this arrangement definitely didn't come without it's fair share of sisterly-love bickering, regarding mostly space and clothing as we got older (if someone else was wearing it, then it was most definitely not hers and they needed to remove said article of clothing immediately because she did not ask!!)

Maybe we get along so well now because of all those arguments over whose shirt/shoes/skirt it really was?

The Bread

Okay, so this is weird. I am revealing a big secret here that my family is, in fact, crazy. We were really trying to keep that under-wraps, but the time has come. Sooo...there was this one time after the Easter Vigil. It's a tradition around here that we attend the Easter Vigil and then come home and throw a little party/celebration, with any foods someone in the family may have given up for Lent and also all foods that will clog your arteries immediately and all drinks that are delicious. (One year we had pomegranate martinis. They are as glorious as they sound and yes, we know we're really great at celebrating Jesus' ressurection!) SO one year, we came home, put mozzarella sticks and other deep-fried things in the oven and were hanging out gorging on ice cream or something when we noticed this beautiful loaf of bakery bread my mom had bought sitting on the counter. Turns out it had been sitting there for too long, though, and was as hard as a rock. What's a family to do? Well, play hot potato with it, of course. I kid you not, someone turned around so they couldn't see the circle and sang while we ~~passed~~ chucked this exceptionally stale bread around. Then we got bored with it so we decided to play football with it. I "hiked!" it to Lauren and she threw it to Tori who threw it back to Lauren who punted it and this loaf of rock bread flew across the room and hit my mom in the mouth. (wo)Man down! Penalty on the field!

Oh, and did I mention Brandon was there watching all of this unfold? And we had only been dating about 3 months? What a brave soul to not walk out the door right then and there, never returning to this cray-cray family who plays sports in the kitchen with old bread.

Oh how I wish I had a picture of the bread.

High School Dances

Almost every High School Dance pre-party was held at my parents house. In the afternoon a few girls would show up and I would do their hair (I sorta have a knack/love for doing up-do's!) and then about an hour before the dance other friends and their parents as well as my grandparents would show up. My mom always had hors d'oeurves and "kid wine" aka Welch's Sparkling Grape Juice for us and we'd take tons of pictures. There were definitely around 50 people here for some dances and it was super chaotic and just as fun! I have always treasured that my mom made sure that our house always felt open to everyone, and not just on dance nights. It was known among my friends--and my sister's friends--that they could always drop on by and hang out on the red, comfy couch in our living room. I can only hope that our home feels so welcoming to our children and their friends some day!

Oh, high school. Here's a pre-dance picture on the infamous red couch!

Getting Ready for Our Wedding

On my wedding day I got ready entirely at my parent's house. It was so special to have my hair and makeup done in their bathroom, put my dress and jewelry on in my parent's room, and take pictures in our living room. It was truly a little bit like all of those HS dances, and that was just the way I wanted it. I was so at peace and comfortable on the morning of our wedding, in part because of who I married, but also because I was in a place where I spent so much time: my home!