Married With Children

The deed is done. I am Mrs. Steven C. Rapids. He is mine and I am his. Our day was beautiful. I started the day making sure everything was ready for the family to come after the ceremony. I had my hair done in the early morning and my Mother took the kids for a manicure. Back at the house I helped the girls dress. As they waited for me to finish dressing Steven took some pictures. I haven't seen them yet. We left by 1:30 to allow time to get the license. Then we waited in the courthouse until his family arrived. Mom and Colby sat and talked, the girls waited at the window for the Rapids. We sat together, held hands and took it all in as we sweated in long sleeves and dress clothing. His parents with Brian and Lori and the boys soon arrived. His mother orchestrated photos and soon it was time to seek out the Magistrates office. Some moments where sureal. I sat in the office, beside Steven. He held his new nephew, Christopher. We watched Andrew and David play and explore the office. Gracie and J. sat in their Grandmother's laps, Colby sttod nearby, blushing, smiling and excited ... as if she were in a dream. The ceremony was short timne wise, but the time did not pass q2uickly for us. We held onto the moment as we listened to the words spoken by the clebrant and repeated our vows. We were both hot. The room was too warm, but that fell away .. at least for me. When Steven was saying his vows his face turned ashen, pale, white, and his eyes where dialated. I thought he was going to pass out. As he looked into my own eyes, I saw his heart and I saw myself. There is no doubt in me what-so-ever, he meant every single word he said. his vows were real and concrete. When it was my turn to say my vows, I know my voice was quiet, and as I looked at him, I saw my future. 2 families became 1. 2 hearts became 1. 2 souls became so intertwined there is no way to seperate them. As I looked over his shoulder Colby was in tears, as was his mother. J. and Gracie just smiled the most beautiful smiles. After photo's we left for the house. We served our guests wedding cake and champagne, for the children sparkling cider. His brother and his wife gave us a beautiful waterford cake knife ... and here I was asking his mom to borrow one of hers. His parents gave us our invitation framed in a handmade quilled matt. It is really beautiful and romantic and traditional. They were also very generous and gave us a gift to purchase the furniture for the house that we want/need. We left the house to go to supper at Peking Gourmet Inn (where the bush family dines lol). Everyone had a great time. There was food, laughter, a couple drinks ... what a festive occassion. Steven and I sat toward the corner near the doorway. Lori was to my right followed by Brian, Andrew, J., Sue, David, Rich, Gracie, my mom, Colby and ending with Steven back at my left. The dinner choices were made and everyone shared sometyhing from the middle of the table with rotated around. (Read a review here.) Let's see if I can remember what we all had ... Steven - Orange chicken Me - Juo-Yen Shrimp My Mom - Almond Chicken with garlic sauce, which she did not like :-s Colby - Shrimp and Scallop Imperial Lori - Orange Beef Brian - Juo-Yen Shrimp Mom - Fish Peking Style Dad - Lamb Peking Style J. - Happy Meal from Micky Dee's with chicken mcnuggets Gracie - Happy Meal from Micky Dee's with a cheeseburger Andrew - Happy Meal from Micky Dee's with a hamburger David - Happy Meal from Micky Dee's with chicken mcnuggets Christopher - sleep the enitre meal without a cry ... he's 5 weeks now :-) The table had 3 ducks with pancakes and plum sauce for an appetizer. The duck is actually worth just being a meal. Mmmmm the best duck I have ever had! It's why we keep going back. Brian and I had a Mao Tai, a fiery, 150 proof concoction that really is the equivelant to moonshine. It seems no one expected me to shoot it ... oh, well, I can hold my liquer and that shot wasn't much in comparison to tequila. A note about Mao Tai:

Follow the winding mountain roads in Guizhou province to mao-tai, home of the eponymous liquor. Like a beacon, a huge bottle of mao-tai is perched atop the mountain. Made of wheat and sorghum, this high-end liquor is enjoying a surge of popularity. A key ingredient of mao-tai is water from the Chi shui river, where the Communists and the Nationalists fought. After the People's Republic of China was founded, Mao Tse-tung, Chou Enlai and other Chinese leaders took a special liking to mao-tai and dubbed it the national liquor. Records show that the construction of chemical factories was forbidden for 100 kilometers around the area to preserve the environment. Good liquor is generally attributed to warm weather, abundant rainfall and good quality sorghum, the main ingredient. Mainstay mao-tai is marketed at more than 300 yuan per bottle. Despite being expensive and despite the general decline in the production of distilled spirits, production of mao-tai has grown by almost 70 percent in the past three years. This is significant considering that mao-tai prices are also raised regularly. Qiao Hong, general manager of Kweichow Moutai Co in Guizhou, attributes this success to ``Guaranteed quality, precise marketing and the brand name power as the national liquor.'' During the late 1990s, when the Asian currency crisis took a toll on business both at home and abroad, the company stopped its reservation-centered sales and began developing more types of products, such as those with lower alcohol content and 50- or 80-year-old liquor that sold for the equivalent of several tens of thousands of yen. That strategy helped bolster sales and enabled mao-tai to fully take advantage of the brand name recognition it enjoyed in diplomatic circles as the national liquor. But don't be fooled by these figures. Only a handful of Chinese can afford to drink mao-tai costing several thousand yen per bottle. The average annual household income for city dwellers in China is about the equivalent of 120,000 yen, while residents of rural China make just one-third that amount. ``Mao-tai? That's something that only special people can drink. I can't possibly afford it,'' says a company employee in Guizhou province. (from here)

Later we all left our ways to go home. In the parking lot, Colby says to Sue, Steve's mom, "Now you are officially my step-grandmother." Sue says, "I don't know about the step." Colby really loves Sue. shye is always pleased and happy to be in her company. We came out of the restaurant to find some rude person had parked their car at an angle and there was barely 2 inches between their car and Steven's door. He had to climb thru the passenger side to get in. OMG he was furious. And wouldn't you know it ... I didn't even have a piece of paper to leave a note to the inconsiderate bastards. I bet they were drunk or thought they were so important they could park as they pleased. Ignorant asses. It was a long day. It was a hot day. It was a great day! It was my wedding day!! :-) Oh, one more thing ... my new shoes left blistered :-s