It's a Circus in Seattle.

It's been awhile since I've laughed until my cheeks hurt.

This past weekend Chris and I loaded up the ol' Tribute with the popcorn maker, Ball jars and toiletries and headed over the hill to Seattle. Just the necessities ya know...

We checked in at the Red Lion downtown and headed directly for Anthropologie. I could wear/live with anything in that store with the exception of this little number:



Christmas is coming. Do not get this for me.



I then headed over to Bekah's loft for her Bachelorette party. Bekah is everything she sounds like. Smart. Beautiful. Fun. Repeat. We met at Whitworth where she was the best setter I've ever had. I'm pretty sure I was the worst middle she's ever had, but I picked it up Senior year which also happens to be the year we became soul sisters. Which I'm just now realizing our friendship hinges on my ability to play volleyball.

Jokes.

I love Bekah. And Bekah loves Matt. Which is why we were in Seattle in the first place.

The Bachelorette party consisted of Mimosas, Susan's famous enchiladas, Mariachi cut-outs awkwardly staring, lingerie and WhirlyBall.

What, you ask, is WhirlyBall? It's ridiculous. Put bumper cars, Lacrosse and basketball at the same table, give them a few stiff drinks and you have WhirlyBall. Google it. You won't regret it.



The gals! And Bek's loft wall that everyone wishes they had.

 The next day was Bekah's wedding! Bekah and Matt managed to pull off an incredibly sexy wedding. They had the reception and ceremony at Pravda Studios on Capitol Hill. Gorgeous. And Unique.

Can we talk about the umbrellas?

Having just planned a wedding I'm very attune to wedding details and Bekah and Matt had lovely, thoughtful details. The circus theme (thus, the popcorn maker) was a unique accent that screamed Bekah and the southern comfort food was a tasteful nod to the time that Bekah and Matt spent in Atlanta while she was in PA school at Emory. And Bekah rapped to Eminem so there's not really much that needs to be said after that.

And then there was the Photobooth. Enter: Sore laughing muscles.





We were completely inappropriate and loving it.



 Chris and Natalie are comedy soul-mates.



Matt: this is my all-time favorite.

So, congratulations to Bekah and Matt! And thank for letting Chris and I stay at your loft and watch after Hank and Ralph (we bonded)! We love you and in our limited marriage experience can honestly say that you will have the time of your life. In your vows you said, "I promise to love you when it's easy and when it's an effort". It's not always fun, but it's always love. We love you!

Date Night.

Last night Chris missed our date night.
You're thinking, "What a jerk!", right? Well, don't. It wasn't his fault.
One hears, especially in a time of war, about the sacrifices that men and women in the military and public service positions make in order to protect us. They carry the ultimate form of commitment to our country and their families; a willingness to sacrifice their lives, a willingness to sacrifice time with their families, a willingness to sacrifice the chance for normalcy when they return- if they return. I know, because my brother spent a year in Iraq and is confidently looking down the barrel of another tour. This commitment has affected every area of his life.
I can't tell you in actual English words (or any other language for that matter) how proud I am of my brother.
I know you're waiting for the part where I let loose on the fallacies and selfishness of the politics involved in war, but this post isn't about that. It's about the fact that we have people around us who are willing to sacrifice themselves - their whole lives, not just black and white, live or die, but the fact that the day they decide to join the service they are changing their lives forever - for us. Usually we're strangers to them. I can say for a fact that I don't have the balls to do that.
When I was a kid we used to play the typical cops and robbers games. By the end of the game I would be in such a state of terror and anxiety that I'd be exhausted after my blood pressure and adrenaline evened out. The thought of someone being after me to fake kill me was terrifying. The thought of someone being after me to actually kill me is not a thought I can entertain. Because I can't handle it. I can barely watch suspense movies. I love them, but I can barely watch them. Chris has the fingernail marks to prove it.
Does that make me a coward? Probably, but I can't help it. My brother got all the brave genes.
So last night I was sitting on my mother-in-law's leather couch watching Sex and the City, drinking a glass of wine and worrying. At around 10 pm my husband stumbles into the kitchen reeking of smoke and sweat. I gave him a big bear hug anyway.
Last night was Chris's first big fire since joining the Reardan fire department. When I asked if he was scared he said, "Nah, it was actually calming and if anything I was sad for the family." That's a hero's response. That's the response every person has who puts themselves into danger for someone else. They do what needs to be done and they have a sense of sympathy - even empathy for those they are protecting. My husband is a hero. And I find that to be quite attractive...
So, thank you to everyone who has the balls to fight for us - whether it's in the military, as a cop, fire fighter or EMT or anyone who has ever taken on the burden and responsibility of another person's life in the face of danger.

Country Mouse/Country Family

What's really the difference between a country mouse and a city mouse?
A country mouse has one option of refuge when it starts getting cold. A city mouse, on the other hand, has many options. Your house, your neighbors house, the school, the church... really, the options are endless for the city mouse.
If you live in the city you can consider yourself lucky in this conversation.
I live in the country.

When I lived in Wyoming I also lived in the country, but in a loft apartment instead of a farmhouse. When the mice started coming in during the Fall I used live traps to kindly encourage rodents to remain outside. Or to instead find a spot next to the horses downstairs. An actual loft. More barn, less city-chic. 
The mouse problem stopped after escorting a particularly insistent mouse to Grand Teton National Park to live out its last days dodging Osprey instead of in my bathtub doing the backstroke. And I stopped leaving food on the counter. Just, you know, as a precaution.

My current country mouse situation requires a little more- how do I say this?- ARTILLERY.

Remember this game? Still one of my faves.

Was it not enough to eat half of my beans and tomatoes out of the garden leaving them pitifully amputated while clutching to their vines? Or worse, to help their fat little selves to my certified organic, locally grown peaches, pears and apples that were securely stored in the barn? How rude! Now they insist on munching through bags of flour, oats and appliance owner manuals?

I understand if, after reading this, none of my friends want to come over. It's gross. And it grosses me out. I wouldn't call it an infestation, but the tally of now deceased rodents is rising. Hopefully I'm winning the battle. I'd like to win the war, really.

Family Update:
We made it through the wedding! I hate to sound relieved that it's all over, but weddings are hard work. And I'm lovin' married life. It means there's someone there to remove the mouse carcasses.
But really... our wedding was everything we imagined it to be way back in January. It's so rewarding to plan and plan and plan and then see it all come together in a single day. Pics soon... I promise!

Chris and I went on a mini- honeymoon the week after the wedding to the Oregon Coast. That week marks the longest period of time we've spent with just each other. It was so great to focus solely on Chris and to have his undivided attention. Of course, I couldn't help but to call Jackson each night to see how his day was and say goodnight. It also marked, by far, the longest period of time I've ever spent away from Jackson.

People keep asking me if it feels different to be married. The short answer? No. It's impossible for our relationship to change just because we have a party. The long answer: I love looking at Chris and knowing that he chose me to spend the rest of his life with and that I get to spend the rest of my life with him. And with that comes a security in that there's someone taking this journey with you. I couldn't ask for a more loving, generous, hard-working guy and I'm so excited to live and grow with him, Lucy and Jackson.  

I'm Normal. You're Normal. We All Scream for Ice Cream.

Remember this post? And this? Neither of these posts were all that long ago, but the underlying failure and parental insecurity I've felt since posting them has surfaced its ugly little noggin more than I'd like. I don't think it's my own convictions that cause these feelings either. That's why I love this. After reading that blog post today I feel renewed. I'm normal. I'm just not normal for saying it out loud. But maybe I'm healthier. Maybe I'll deal with the rough patches just a little better.
I love our kids. And there are days when I love them just as much, but feel like I will explode and go postal if I have to [ insert difficult parenting action here ] one more time. I think I keep bringing this up because there are so many new moms around me right now. And I see that look in their eyes too. And that's okay. They're normal. YOU'RE NORMAL!!
So that's my soapbox for the day.

And for all of you who want to have kids in the future and don't know what the heck I'm talking about, I will say this: (because I mean this from the bottom of my heart and I don't want there to be a wave of hysterectomies had) There are more moments than not when you look at your child and you feel like you can't love any more than you love them and you want to scoop them up and hold them until they fall asleep in your arms, and even then you don't want to put them down.

And then there are moments you just wish they would go to sleep.

And then there's the shopping.

Lucy and Jackson hit the big time when I came across these little numbers:

Lucy loves shoes. I'm pretty sure she owns more shoes than I do. And that's saying something.

They'll be wearing them for the wedding and I'll be wearing a larger, but just as cute pair for the reception. I'm pretty sure my mom thinks they're the ugliest things on the planet and she's not alone, but there's something comfy-earthy (which is the technical term for my kind of style) about them. And the greatest thing about Toms is their One-to-One Movement: For every pair purchased, a pair is given to a child in need. I love companies who start with making the world around them better and just happen to make money while doing it. That's karma.

So... the wedding is 11 days away. I made Chris and myself official "Last-Minute, Holy-Crap, We're Getting Married in (at the time) Less than 3 Weeks" to-do lists. We've pretty much knocked it out of the park and aside from some things that can't happen until the week-of we're ready to go! It's a good feeling to know that if I sat on my thinner, but-not-quite-as-skinny-as-I-had-planned, but-I-still-have-a-little-time-I-guess, hiney from now until the wedding day that I would still be married and it would still be beautiful. But we all know that won't happen.

Oh- and a friendly reminder to friends and family to please RSVP here.

Most likely my next blog post will be as a married woman. Woohoo! See you on the other side!

You know you live in a small town when the person in Records at the Courthouse says, "I got your invitation and I was wondering when you were coming in to do this!"

Oh, the Vanity of it all!

The following is a true email I sent to our wedding photog and friend, Whitney Tampien:

-------
Carey Guhlke to Whitney                                                                                               show details Jun 16

Whit-
10:30 works perfect. I love Auntie's so maybe we could get some pics in there for the bookstore portion and then I was thinking we could tie the two together with picnic-type shots (our goods from the farmers market while reading our books? Maybe I'm making this too complicated...) Let me know what your professional AND personal opinions are.

Also, I have a little bit of an embarrassing question to ask you. Don't feel badly if you laugh out loud after reading this:
You've probably noticed that while my teeth are straight... they're still pretty screwed up. I got into a horse accident in high school and have one front tooth that is discolored due to a root canal and another that has a half cap on it. The cap is now a different color from the rest of my teeth because my natural teeth have become whiter since it was installed. Long story short... I had planned on getting all of this fixed before the wedding, but it's not going to happen. So longer story short... can you edit my teeth? (I'll pause here so you can compose yourself). I know that might mean extra work in editing so let me know what you think about that.
Anyway, see you Saturday at the Spokane Farmers Market on 5th and Brown at 10:30. We can meet next to the market manager's booth.
xoxo,
Care
-------
Whitney is an amazingly talented photographer and editor so I know she could have managed this strange request with no problem, but I'm happy to report that I got my teeth fixed. Whitney's response to this? "Excited for you and your teeth! :)"
I'm aware that a post about my teeth is a little strange, but my messed up chompers have been an unfortunate feature of my face for far too long.
Back in my Rodeo Royalty days (let's just label this the most humiliating blog post and leave it at that) I was involved in what I like to call a "horse accident".
After I did my thang in the arena (it involved a lot of out of control horse running, sparkles and waving like I had a cramp in my elbow) I was headed back to the trailer when I heard a comotion. My cowboy hat - which doubled as a two-way radio with Robin in the Bat-cave (continuation of humilation) crackled and I heard him say,"Holy priceless collection of Etruscan snoods!" (it's a true Robin quote, I looked it up here. Chris would be proud. And Holly would be proud that I used the word "snoods") "There's a horse running wild through town!"
With that, my mount and I were off in search of the horse-run-amok. We had the haunches of the beast in our cross-hairs when it took a sharp corner to the right. My trusty steed being usually untrusty and out-of-control 75% of the time would not slow down. To be fair, the 17h (very tall) Paint was on pavement with metal shoes and we shouldn't have been running in the first place.
(Insert the high-pitched cartoon audio "whoop, whooop, whoooop" which always indicates slipping and falling.)
In slow, dramatic motion we gracefully slid around the corner. And by gracefully I mean not gracefully. And by slid I mean screached to a halt with our faces on the gravelly pavement. My trusty steed and I.
This is where the story becomes less Cartoon Network and more Lifetime Movies.
The dust settles and there lies the lifeless body of a rodeo princess. Little sparkless float to the ground as the sound of galloping horses becomes inaudible in the distance. Her trusty steed has ditched her.
(The details get a little fuzzy around this point in the story. Probably because I had a concussion.)
My eyes flutter open to see a car full of floaty-wearing, sunscreen smelling, swimsuit doning kids staring back at me. A small woman scuttles around the back of the car and I sit up in shock.
-Memory Blackout-
I'm in the car with said kids gaping at me, blood running from my face. I run my tongue across my dry lips and croak, "My teeth!" I must have just about jumped out of the car because the woman responded in a panicked tone, "Do you want me to take you ba..." Before she could finish her sentence I found my teeth. Their fragments were lodged into the inside of my lower lip.
-Memory Blackout-
I'm sitting in the waiting room at the local hospital trying to call my parents.
-Actual Blackout-
I'm in the E.R. and some guy is scrubbing at my road-rashed face with something that stings like hell. I'm clutching my teeth in one hand and the bed railing with the other thinking, "Where did that lady and her kids go? What happened to my horse?"
Soon my parents get there. The events that followed are a blur and I don't remember in what order they happened.
None of the local dental offices were open so we had to go to the next town over (Wilbur) so a dentist could glue makeshift braces to my teeth because they were all loose. At one point my mom took me back to the corner so I could look for a little angel pin that had fallen off my sash in the wreck. Sad. I don't remember if I found her or not. A little old lady came out of the house on the corner while I was searching and told me the story of the crash, not realizing that I was the subject of her story.
I couldn't get my broken teeth fixed until my remaining teeth had firmed up and in the mean time I was in a wedding. I put an ad in the local paper thanking the woman who scraped me up off the pavement and took me to the hospital, but never heard from her. A lot of people think she was an angel. I'm not so sure. I think maybe she was in town from Wenatchee visiting her sister, on her way to the public pool with her kids and nephews.
No, I'm pretty sure she was an angel.  

So for the past 10 years I've been walking around with temporary teeth that sometimes fall out if, for example, I pull my ski jacket zipper up with my teeth, get kicked in the face while practicing Jiu Jitsu, or bite into something especially crunchy. The temps have also, over the years, stayed the same color while my real teeth have gotten whiter. This lent itself to a very realistic hillbilly impersonation.

As of yesterday, thanks to Dr. Martin, I am now the proud owner of two new, white, beautiful teeth. Forever.
I understand that many of you won't appreciate the weight of this life improvement for me, but let me just say that I will no longer worry about smiling with my teeth... and that's huge.


All I wanted for Christmas were my two front teeth.
Someone had to say it.

 By the way, my horse, Mick, was fine aside from some road rash and soreness. He's now living out his last days on a farm as a pet.

Take My Hand

I've been made to feel a little bit of mom-guilt since I wrote my last post. But I refuse to take it back.
Let me explain: I refuse to believe that even the best moms don't have days like that. I refuse to believe that even the best mom's children don't ever behave badly. And I refuse to believe that my readers who have children don't relate or understand.


This is a joke.

So with that, I will say this... Even on their worst days Lucy and Jackson are the best things that have ever happened to me. That's a given.

Oh yeah... and Chris. <3 (he can get pretty unruly if he hasn't eaten at least every hour, on the hour.)

Besides, I discovered the blog stats (Eureka!) and apparently complaining about your kids drives a lot of traffic to your blog. I'm talking 35% more. (Which is like... 23 a day instead of... whatever 35% less would be. We're not breaking records here.)

Onward...

Our save-the-date video is finished! Disclaimer: Unless you receive this video in an email from Chris or me this isn't an open invitation. I wish we could invite everyone and their third cousin, but the church only seats 100 people.

I've been doing some learn-as-you-go video production for Lincoln Hospital so I know a teensy bit about the process. It's hard to make people feel natural in front of a camera especially with topics like breast cancer, robotic physicians and colonoscopies. You heard me.
Rob and Megan from Rogue Heart Media did a fantastic job. And they are the coolest people. Luckily, we didn't have to go over any EMS safety protocols so the subject was a little more natural to talk about, but it still took a lot of talent to take the raw footage and create something so great.
Here it is! Love.

When Little Fits Hit the Shan.

Tonight was pretty normal. We came home from work, made dinner (grilled steak and potato salad. I don't normally post recipes because I don't enjoy giving away tips because I need all the help I can get in being a better cook than, well, anyone. But I've made an exception because this is super easy and super, duper good. ), ate dinner outside for the first time this summer, watched the kids play, read stories, put the kids to bed and are settling down with our beverages of choice. Sounds pretty good, right? 

Insert: nails on chalkboard whining, back-talking, hands-on-everything-they've-been-told-not-to-put-their-hands-on-a-million-times, arguing, poking the dog's eyes out, refusing to eat their dinners and last, but most certainly not least, "ears? what ears? oh... those things used for LISTENING?" And now, as I write this, Chris is upstairs putting the kids to bed for the THIRD time. 

Isn't there a reality show for this? Nanny 911? Dr. Nanny? Boot Camp for 2 and 3-year-olds? 

A Moment: Chris and I are using an old type writer as the guest book at our wedding reception. Chris brought the typewriter home tonight. As the kids were wreaking havoc in the next room we were pounding out letters to God, crying out for mercy on an old Royal from the 1940's. 

"Dear God, 

Please have mercy on us. We know you're sitting up there laughing. Parenting is your form of entertainment isn't it? Well, it's not funny. Now we know why you were so willing to sacrifice your only Son. 

Please send help quickly. 

Chris and Carey"

It was an outlet of frustration if nothing else. And we're probably going to H-E-Double Hockey Sticks for it. 

You can only put a kid in time-out so many times before it becomes completely ineffective. At one point Chris started singing his communications with the kids like show-tunes. It at least made them be still for longer than 3 seconds, but pretty soon Jackson said, "Why Daddy Chris singing? He's silly." He did look a little insane. 

You know you've demanded your child's attention in the wrong way when she says "No, you need to listen to me." as her response. 

I know that every parent has these days and that it's normal to feel frustrated and it doesn't mean we have bad kids... because on any other day we don't, but I just have one question: Whose sins am I paying for here? Because I don't remember acting like this as a child. EVER. I'm sure my mother would attest to this. 

Here's that rockin' recipe that you'll slave over and your preschoolers will look at you in disgust and refuse to eat: 

Grilled Steak & Potato Salad:

2 Garlic Cloves, pressed

2 teaspoons dried thyme leaves

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper

1 1/4 pounds boneless beef top sirloin steak

3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons olive oil, divided

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 1/2 pounds unpeeled potatoes, cut into slices (we also used a one sweet potato)

1 medium sweet yellow onion, cut into slices

2 medium tomatoes, wedged

6 cups torn romaine lettuce

1. Start up the grill! 

2. Combine garlic, thyme, salt and pepper. Mix well to form a paste. 

3. Spread all but 1 teaspoon of the garlic mixture over both sides of the steak.

4. Add vinegar, half the oil and mustard to the remaining garlic mixture. Whisk until blended. 

5. Brush potatoes and onions with the other half of the oil. 

6. Grill up the steak, potatoes and onions to your liking or until done. 

7. Cut steak into strips and potatoes and onions in half. 

8. Mix lettuce, steak, potatoes, onions, tomatoes and dressing together in a large bowl. 

We (including the kids because they are both carboholics) ate this with toasted Cheesy Pleasy bread from Sawyer's. It's best if it's toasted on the grill! 

I don't have a picture of the salad because I was too preoccupied to remember to take one.