FOHNER FAMILY: April 2009

Saturday, April 25, 2009

A Documentary Short Film Entitled "An Adventure in Driving With Thew"

I'm completely aware that this is probably only funny to me. However, being the film buff that I am as well as being disappointingly aware that we have very few video footage of the day to day of our life since we first met almost 7 years ago, an opportunity presented itself the other night & I happened to have our camera.

Surprisingly, the subject of my documentary, who is usually reluctant to "act normal" when being filmed ("act normal" needs to be in quotation marks because I will never understand why there is such a discrepancy between the almost 27-year-old female's definition of "acting normally" and the almost 30-year-old male's definition of the same phrase). Anyway, if you know Thew at all, this will probably seem like "normal" behavior, though after all these years, you would think I would cease to be surprised by how my husband can turn the simple monotony of the everyday into a laugh-fest. I was actually able to stop laughing long enough to document this rare footage of the often misunderstood species known as the late-twenties human male...observe at your own risk.

Those of you who have an iTouch or iPhone know about Apple's many amazing Applications or "Apps" as they are usually referred to. Being the late-1970's baby that he is, as soon as Thew learned of the "Light Saber App" he immediately downloaded it. As you have probably guessed, you can turn your iTouch into a light saber from "Star Wars" at the touch of a button. It is surprisingly fun & turns you into a kid again with a flick of the wrist. Of course, if you already normally act like a kid, you tend to use it at completely random times. I have been accosted by this light saber at different points throughout my day, awoken to it in my ear while drifting off to sleep, had a conversation with it's sound effects while attempting to talk to Thew on the phone constantly saying, "can I talk to my husband now, light saber? I'd really like to finish speaking to him.", etc.

I present to you a short documentary film entitled, "An Adventure in Driving with Thew"...enjoy...

An Adventure in Driving with Thew from Matthew & Lynsey Fohner on Vimeo.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Happy Belated 3rd B-Day to Our "Little Girl"

I've been a bad mommy...

...I never acknowledged our "Little Girl's" (as Thew affectionately calls her) 3rd Birthday on the 13th...

...that's okay...

...I don't think she cares too much...

...here we are...the 1st official picture of the Fohner Family...with all our current members...for now, that is ;)

Welcome Home, Aslan :) from Matthew & Lynsey Fohner on Vimeo.

This was filmed the first night we had Aslan home with us in June of 2006. It was such a unexpected blessing how she joined our family.

We had locked into a contract with our first choice breeder to have the 2nd pick of a chocolate female lab months before she was born, but when the day came for the litter to be born we received an e-mail from the breeder disappointingly letting us know that it was a false pregnancy & that she had to return our deposit. We contacted our 2nd choice breeder right away & to our delight there was 1 black female available. Aslan had been born 2 weeks prior & would be ready to be picked up the first day of Thew & mine's 1st Summer vacation from teaching...perfect. We got a whole 2 months with her before we even had to crate her for the day. She went with us EVERYWHERE & we loved it.

We loved her the 1st moment we received her picture after she was born. We were actually able to pick her out from her 5 brothers & sisters when she was only 6 weeks old. She was the one puppy sitting in the back of the litter box contently looking on while the rest of the litter eagerly propped themselves on the edge of the box looking at the camera. And to this very day, she's remained true to her first days...never a barker, always easy to please, & happy to sit & snuggle rather than play (as she is in this video)...always game for fetch if there's water involved, but never one for running after something on land...that's our "Little Girl" :)

The Life of a Lab from Matthew & Lynsey Fohner on Vimeo.

This was filmed during the first summer Aslan joined our family. Ever the curious pup, this was one of her favorite pastimes that she thankfully grew out of. We thought then that it was the old have-to-turn-3-times-before-she-sits mannerisms that dogs have & that she was just doing it so she could feel "okay" about laying down on the couch. We now know that it was because she couldn't figure out how to / wasn't strong enough yet to lift up the cushions on the couch to get at what lies underneath. There are a ton of good smells that are embedded into the fibers of our living room couches (that will hopefully be banished to the basement when we finally buy the living room set we picked out at Ashley Furniture). We inherited this current set from Thew's Dad. These monstrous blue behemoths have been featured in pics way back from the '80s from the Fohner Family Albums...needless to say, we should get new couches soon.

Anyways, here she is doing one of the many few cute things that she often does...gotta love her :)

...we love our beautiful "Neck" (don't ask), but as you might have rightly assumed, it's a nickname for "red-neck"...we do live in Fred-neck & she was born in the hills of mid-PA, so it works...

...here she is on one of our many walks at my Grandparent's farm in VA...

...resting at home...

...Happy 3rd Birthday, Aslan...

...not like you care because you're a "just a dog"...

...but all the same...

...you'll always be our firstborn...

...love you :)

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

4 Years Ago Yesterday...

...on Easter Monday...

...I was asked the best question ever...

(if you can't see it, it says, "I love you, Lynsey...will you marry me?")

While putting the last piece of that puzzle into place (the one with the ring finger on the left hand pictured on it...no, I didn't pick up on that...Thew had to tell me about it later) & I read those amazing words, Thew knelt down beside me & popped open a black leather box with a stunning colorless princess cut diamond ring.

With tears in both our eyes I managed to squeak out a "yes" and we embraced into my favorite hug of all time. He slipped the ring on my finger and took out a piece of paper. He had written down things he knew he wanted to say, but knew he would be too nervous to remember...no I'm not sharing what he wrote, some things need to be private, people ;)

For a while, we just relished in the knowledge that this day had finally come. I can still remember the pure joy & excitement that we couldn't contain...I just kept staring at my finger, struggling to believe this day had finally happened. Snuggled up together, we picked a range of time that we thought would work to fit a ceremony in & then called our families. My Dad already knew since Thew had taken him to lunch earlier that day to ask for his permission & blessing and Thew's whole family already knew because he had showed them the ring, but I'm pretty sure we caught everyone else in my family by surprise.

Then, Thew & I headed over to my apartment to find this waiting for us...

...I have the best college roomies ever...

If I seem sappy, I'm sorry...I get this way every year around this time. Thew proposed right before our 2 year Dating Anniversary on Easter Monday, so from this time of the year until around September, I'm flying high in reminiscing all about our engagement & wedding. I can't help it...I still get all giddy thinking about it. So blog readers, beware...I'm just warning you that I'm a sappster & will be for the next few months. If that's going to bother you, just feel free ignore this site for a few months & check back in during the Fall :)

Until then, I'll be looking forward to celebrating the 4th Anniversary of this in less than 4 months...