31.

i turned 31 on may 27th. i am officially old. when i turned 30, a lot of friends told me that they enjoyed their thirties more than their twenties so i'm looking forward to this decade. i rang in the birthday on vacation in hot springs, arkansas with stephen. we rented a little house on lake hamilton and spent a week reading, relaxing, fishing, playing games, talking and enjoying the peace and quiet of being away from work. we both needed the break. on my birthday steve made me amazing french toast and brought me flowers. he also brought me some magical anti-itch cream as i had been chewed up the night before and had gigantic bug bites along with some weird rash on my arm. what a good husband. today we celebrated with my parents and kel, allen and the kids at a BBQ at kel's. next on the agenda, i'll be looking forward to cashing in the massage gift certificate from my parents!

the fish turns 2.

on may 7th, my baby nephew joseph turned 2.  it has been crazy watching my sister's kids grow before my eyes. i am lucky that my husband is happy living in kansas city, at least for now, because i can't imagine not living nearby these kiddos. my sister liss still lives in CA and she sees them a few times a year. they love her just as much as they love me and talk about her and i know that if we do ever move to another state, they'll do the same for me..but i just love getting to see their faces as often as i want. they are adorable and i love being their aunt bri-bri.

dollars for wave.

i've shared a little about my dear friend molly's struggle to complete the adoption of her youngest daughter.  the latest is that the supreme court did decide to hear the case. so incredibly disappointing. and maddening. the idea that wavybel has no rights, no voice in all of this mess is so disturbing. our justice system is certainly flawed.

so now we wait for another court date. a court date that determines her future. i feel helpless as i watch molly try to live day to day in normalcy when she can't help but live with the fear of so many "firsts" with wavy also being "lasts." in june wave will be 2 and at this point we don't even know if this whole mess will be wrapped up by her 3rd birthday. my hope and my prayer is that the court date is set quickly and the obvious decision is made quickly. the fact that this case is even being heard after numerous judges have already ruled in their favor is maddening.

i hate watching my friends suffer and being helpless to do anything to ease their fears of losing their little girl. i had to act. on may 2, my friend christie and i pulled off a very successful fund raiser thanks to the generosity of so many. another friend, brian, opened up his restaurant/bar and donated a portion of sales from a special menu to molly & her husband. other area businesses donated door prizes and raffle items. the photo booth company that stephen and i used for our wedding reception donated 3 hours of their time and paper and ink so we could provide a fun activity during the event. we were able to capture all tons of silly pictures and smiles and create a scrapbook for molly and her family... now they can turn the pages and see the faces of their supporters and read their words of encouragement whenever they are feeling scared or overwhelmed. so many people showed to the event to express their support in person and they gave and gave and gave. we raised about $2600 which will make a small dent in the constantly increasing legal expenses.

i am convinced their family is perfectly made and i trust it is going to stay in tact. please continue to believe that and pray that with me. if you would like to donate money to molly and her family, please let me know. you can do so through paypal, cash, or check.

my best friend's wedding

on april 24 my best friend married one of the best girls i've ever met. she is perfect for him in every way. the week leading up to the wedding was so much fun because i've come to love her, too. i spent a night in manhattan with trav and the boys for his bachelor party, then an evening out with jess and the girls for her bachelorette party. steve joined me for the rehearsal dinner where i re-connected with trav's family and old friends who i hadn't seen in years. the day of the wedding i spent looking after trav making sure he didn't get too nervous or too tipsy and had the honor of driving him to the venue in his snazzy wedding duds. i was so excited for him... 6 months from the day steve and i said "i do", my best friend was doing the same. the reception meant lots of celebrating. one of my justins was in town for the wedding and to play a few shows and that was an added bonus. here are just a few photos from the celebration.

bachelor party @ mae's -- trav does a handstand with a little help from some friends.

click on the picture. make it bigger. that's right. that's trav on those undies. a bridal shower/bachelorette party game ordered me to bring some undies for jess and she would have to guess who brought what pair... i made a few for her, but these were a hit. 

done and done! 

mr. and mrs. sumner eat cake.

justin hulsey, me, and travy = best friends forever

with my adorable husband....6 months later.

life on a budget.

stephen and i spent the first few months of our marriage trying to get caught up on bills.... we'd been behind since summer 2009 when he studied aboard, i paid a fortune to have my jetta fixed, and well... life happened. we ended up borrowing from the money our parents had given us for the wedding and reception and when our big day rolled in and balances were due on everything we ended up having to charge quite a few things due to never getting the wedding account re-built. so we welcomed march 2010 and the tax return it brought us along with the successful sale of my old jetta. we finally caught up on our finances - got the credit card back to $0 - and started to lay out a plan for day 1 of the budget we meant to implement when we said "i do." since april 1st, we've been following our budget...and we love it. the key is writing down every thing you spend. leave it to us to be in our early thirties to realize that actually works. it makes you think twice about that venti chai or pitcher of beer or lunch during the work day when you have an allowance you have to make last and you aren't spending blindly. if you aren't already grown up and writing down what you spend and paying attention to where your money is going, i highly recommend it.

the madness of march.

i rediscovered college basketball this past march. the last time i had really paid any attention was when i was dating a basketball lover in 2004. thanks to my friend kelly's march madness fundraiser for the nagels, i tuned in. and i realized k-state was playing...and kicking a little ass. it was so much fun to get in to the games, to cheer for my alma mater, and to celebrate the wins and grieve the losses. i was and still am proud to be a wildcat.

fail.

no excuses. i've simply just neglected the blog. this post starts a series of updates from march, april, and may that should bring you up to basics on my life. it has been a roller coaster of good days and bad days, good news and bad news, life and death...i have questions there are no answers for, but i figure it may be worth a try to  post them here. stay tuned.