Another Birthday, Another Decade

To my sweet husband on his birthday....that was last Friday....

Thanks for being the coolest. And for marrying me.

30 looks real good on you.

We spent the day playing all over the place, including: The Hogle Zoo, the ropes course up at the Olympic Park in Park City (pictured above), the Snowbird tram, and Thanksgiving Point Museum of Ancient Life. Oh and getting another foster child. But that's a different story for a different day.

Traditions

From the moment you get married and create yourself that little, newlywed family, you suddenly have all desire to make your family your own. You incorporate all the little quirks that you've learned growing up, while your spouse does the same, and eventually you figure out your own little place. This place where your family fits together like the pieces of freshly cut puzzle. I'm still not quite sure what picture our puzzle pieces have created, but I do know that in one little corner, we have ourselves a couple of pieces dedicated to traditions.

See, we're a little different when it comes to traditions. We've got those that we always do, but more so because of holiday extended family celebrations and though they are great, they were traditions that were inherited, instead of created by us. But then we've got the traditions that are us, through and through. Thought of and carried out by our little family. A tradition around these parts is something that we enjoy doing together, that we have done more than once, and that we plan to continue. There really is no timetable or obligation. We have traditions because they are enjoyable. Not because they are required.

One of our traditions is going to Yellowstone. The lengthy explanation was needed because this tradition has only been carried out three times over the course of an eight year marriage. As we all know, life gets in the way, and I could list a bunch of excuses why we have missed five of the eight summers, but I don't need to. See explanation of our traditions above.

And guys, Yellowstone has the greatest camping in all the land. Groomed campsites, flush toilets, showers, gas stations, convenience stores. That's my style of camping. Minus the grizzly that wanders through the campgrounds every couple of weeks. I could do without that.

Now, pictures!

My camping crack aka Muddy Buddies

We were hiking and had to jump off the trail to let this guy pass. 

Fairy Falls

Took 300 steps down to see the Lower Falls up close and personal. And then we had to hike back up....

Dinner over the fire.

My favorite man in one of my favorite places, the Grand Tetons!

8

It's incredible, this thing called marriage.
Day in, day out with you, best friend.
The thick. The thin.
The downright dirty.
All while containing the greatest of life's beauty.
I can truly say that in these incredible 8 years together, I have never been happier.
And much of that joy is thanks to you.
Heaven sent me one of the great ones.
There has never been a luckier girl.
Happy anniversary. I love you.

The End of the Year.

Reflecting on all the wonderful times of 2014, like our beautiful trip to Hawaii, and becoming parents for the first time, while also remembering those more miserable times, like becoming parents for the first time.

We celebrate New Years Eve by putting our 3D television and copy of The Hobbit to good use. The kids are off celebrating at visitation, who knows where, staying up until all hours of the night, I'm sure. My Christmas tree is still harboring presents, with the kids having been at visitation since before the holidays. Wondering if that will be one of our more horrible ideas, letting them stay that long, but I guess we'll find out when they get home, which is who knows when. Really.

Ready for this phase of our foster care experience to be over.

But 2015 will find us continuing on with foster care, as we've decided to give it another go. When our kids leave, we open ourselves up to be foster parents once again. We've decided to only take one child this time and we've discussed only doing 0-12 month olds. According to our caseworker, our kids will be leaving our home sometime in January, which in caseworker speak means before the end of February...probably.

2015 will also find us with a trip to Napa in March, and I'm sure many unplanned happenings, the good and the bad.

To be honest, my forecast of 2015 is rather boring. I see a year of simplicity. I see a year mundane. After the last few years that we've had, a boring year is probably more of what we need. But I already see myself wishing for something more exciting. Telling myself that if I want something more, then I need to get out and chase it, but already realizing my expectations for myself are rather low. I don't know if its the ever-changing life of foster parenting, or my inherited traits, that keep me from following the excitement, but whatever it is, I'm grateful to have another year to play it out.

Happy New Year!

Easter Weekend...

...was jam packed with lots of sunshine, lots of family time, and lots of stomach aches. All that good food got the better of me and I went to bed with a stomach ache Friday, Saturday and Sunday night. Which was just so much fun.

 

Mike got one of his more spectacular sunburns. Springtime is always such a learning curve with that man's skin. And nothing bugs him more than people bringing up the obvious. So make sure you ask him if he's been out in the sun.

 

I even got an Easter basket this year full of stress relieving lotions and candles, which means I always smell like I just came from the spa. Which I love. 

 

Mike got himself a vintage edger, for the lawn. It's broken. But apparently there is nothing better than a fun project that will turn into a fantastic tool, if he can get it working. When. When he can get it working.

 

We discussed the pros and cons of urinals, got cheated by Smiths, got a nail in our tire and had to replace the whole tire, and finally had our first tulips bloom.

 

But let's talk about getting cheated by Smiths for a second. That checker was so busy talking to us about our Easter weekend that she completely forgot to bag some makeup and two screw thingys that we bought. We got home and I realized we didn't have the makeup, which was a whopping $10. I wasn't about to let that slide. We had to hop back in the car and drove the 20 minutes back to Smiths, because of course we were at one over by our parents homes. Luckily they just let me show the receipt and go and grab another one. Then we got all the way home and Mike realizes that he doesn't have the screw thingy's that he bought. Not even kidding. Those were only $2 so we are just going to have to eat that one. So annoyed though. Lady, you don't care what we're doing for Easter, nor do I care what you are doing for Easter. I just came to buy these things, not make any friends. Please don't talk to me. Its awkward. Plus, its obvious you can't do two things at once.

 

Oh and we won the Left, Center, Right game at the Easter party which resulted in Easter eggs full of chocolate. And $13.77 in change. Cha-ching!

 

Plus....throw back to our first Easter as a married couple!

Clearance Racks Are Our Forte

And Mike was perusing through such racks on his lunch break today when he came across an incredibly beautiful, wooden hand-carved piece of art. And it was cracked right down the center. He immediately texted me a picture of it. He tells me that it's regular priced $130.00 and on clearance for $11.00 because of the crack. He loved it. I felt more of a need to see it in person. The thing was huge and I had no idea what we were going to do with it if we bought it. So once I got off work for the day, I headed straight to said clearance rack to do my own perusing. Of which I found a massive hand-painted clay pot that was 80% off. And I had just the place for it. Mike met me at the store to which we proceeded to buy both massive hand-painted clay pot and huge wooden hand-carved piece of art. Side note: Instead of bringing the car, Mike walked to meet me. Which means we had to walk back carrying a good 30+lbs each of art. Felt the burn.

 

So when we finally make it home, we flip over the stand that this large wooden ball is sitting on and there is a label explaining the origin of the art.

 

 

The last line says "Originally this decorative ball was made as a gift from the groom's family to the bride's family at the proposal ceremony."

Did I mention that exactly 7 years ago today, Mike proposed?

Isn't that awesome?

We had no idea that that label was even there, and it was taped upside down so we couldn't read it even if we had seen it. Amazing. And now some random, cracked, very large, very heavy, beautiful hand-carved ball of wood actually holds quite the place in my heart. Happy Engage-iversary Michael!

and Happy Holidays!

Nostalgia

 

 

The county fair is such the place for nostalgia. Even though I don’t recall ever going to the county fair as a child, going to a fair makes you feel like a child again. Plus, I got to go on a date with my husband. And that right there makes me feel like a giddy school girl. To make it even more nostalgic, and to use that word in a sentence again, BlackHawk was playing at the county fair. A free concert. It’s as if it was meant for us. We saw BlackHawk play a few years ago at another local fair so we knew that we couldn’t pass up getting to see them live again. My love for BlackHawk runs deep into my childhood. My sister, our across the street neighbor friend Brooke, and I would sit on the floor in Brooke’s bedroom and sing the day away to her dad’s BlackHawk cassette tapes. We knew every word. And I don’t know about Brooke and my sister, but I still know every word. And I probably own a greatest hits CD too. So there Mike and I sat, on the bleachers at the fairgrounds, tapping our toes and slapping our thighs to some of the greatest tunes that BlackHawk has ever produced. Mostly I hate when I go to a concert and people sing along. But last night, I was my own personal pet peeve. I just couldn’t help belting it out right along with my favorite old country band.

 

There are so many things about this man that I love, that face being one of them. The fact that he will eat funnel cake with me at 9:30 at night is another. After the concert we wandered the fair with funnel cake in hand. Word to the wise: eating powdered sugar while walking creates a powdery effect all down the front of you. I was wearing white. Mike didn’t get so lucky.

27

I lay in bed this morning contemplating my 27^th year while I waited for the sun to rise over the mountains and shine its warmth into my bedroom window. It was quiet. Mike was out in the kitchen making the birthday girl her favorite breakfast of French toast. And I wondered. I wondered what this year would be like. I wondered what I would do this year. I wondered what God would have me do this year. I wondered what events would cause me to remember my 27^th year; a whole year of possibilities just waiting to be had. I think it will be a good year. I think 27 will fit me nicely. I think that I will be sad to move on to my 28^th year. Look at me, thinking about 28 when I just turned 27.

And isn't it quite sinister to blog about your own birthday?

Christmas Festivities

How we celebrated Christmas in 2012...

Mike put up the tree

Abby made new ornaments for the tree

And then we decorated it with ornaments and presents, and took a really off color picture

Then the time we made a gingerbread house

And Christmas Eve came. And we partied. And the children wore us out. And we got really tired {I mean, just look at those faces}

But then Christmas morning came, and we were re-energized and Mike was so excited about our new ladder

And Abby was really excited about her Lincoln Logs

 

And to all a good night.

Thoughts on this here Eve

I'm ringing in the New Year with Chinese food and procrastination.

Eventually I'll write about the

princess bridal shower that we threw my sister, or

Christmas, or

my baby sisters wedding, or

our resolutions, or

how I'm glad 2012 is over.

Or maybe not.

What I'm Reminded of: {Grandma and Grandpa}

This is my Grandma. I love my Grandma and she loves her grand kids. To this day she still calls me her Abby-Baby. And gosh, she's beautiful. She has had that hair-do for as long as I can remember. I loved watching her poof it up each morning and then solidify it with hairspray. When we stayed at Grandma's house we would go into her room in the morning and crawl in bed with her after Grandpa had left for the farm. We would cuddle and giggle, my Grandma, sister's and I. I loved those mornings.

This is a picture of Grandma and I down on my Grandpa's farm. We spent quite a bit of time there as children. This pictures describes exactly what I remember on the farm as a child. A bunch of old dirty stuff strewn through the barn and the land and all the nooks and cranny's in between. But that's what made it Grandpa's. I have fond memories of running through the haystacks looking for Easter eggs, riding the dirt bike to the edge of the farm and back, searching for the new litter of stray kittens that Grandma loved having around. I broke my sister's foot on that farm. Sometimes Grandpa would let us ride in the back of the truck on our way to the farm. I remember when we got walkie talkies and talked back and forth from my parents car to Grandpa's truck during the short drive to the farm. Grandpa sold that farm. He still regrets it to this day. He was that farm and that farm was him. A little piece of Grandpa died the day it sold.

This is my Grandpa. My mom tells me that when I was young, I loved my Grandpa. I still love him, but there is nothing quite like a little girl and her relationship with her Grandpa. That was his hat, which I apparently thought would be funny to wear. My grandpa was always the strong, silent type. Can't you tell from the picture? But I don't feel like my relationship with him suffered because of it. That was just Grandpa. And if he has something to say, don't you worry, he will let it be known. He has a large garage out behind their house that he liked to spend time in. You would find him in there listening to classic country and tinkering around with the massive amounts of tools and knick knacks.

As I got older, visits to Grandma and Grandpa's house became less frequent. My social life became much more important, amongst the other conflicts. Then I became an adult and life was busy between school, work, and married life. They come up to visit often, but it was rare when I could make it down to their stomping grounds, which they remind me of often, and they get lonely when they haven't had visitors in a while. Grandma and Grandpa are getting older. Grandma doesn't remember as much and cooking and cleaning have become difficult tasks.

But I have a wonderful mother who decided I needed to serve. So tomorrow, my mom, two of my sister's, and my nieces head down to Grandma and Grandpa's. We will cook, we will clean, we will visit, we will do whatever we need to do to remind them of our love for them. Grandma will probably ask the same questions over and over again, and Grandpa probably won't say much. Which is perfect. Because happiness lies in the opportunity to serve and be around those you love.

What Our Fourth of July Looked Like: {D.C. Style}

Let's just start out by saying that D.C. is ca-rowded on the 4th of July. Everyone and their dog is there to celebrate the nation's birthday in the nation's capital.

Which by the way? Is it capital or capitol? Mike and I had a full on discussion about this as we lay on the west lawn of the capitol. Capital. We came up with the conclusion that its capitol when you are speaking of the building and capital when you are speaking of the city. Yes? No? {Capitalization of the word is a whole other confusion that I just don't wanna discuss.}

It was a crazy hot and humid 4th for us. We spent the day walking, museuming, shopping and watching the parade, and the evening on the west lawn of the Capitol listening to the concert, A Capitol Fourth {completely out of eye shot of the stage and the 3 large screens. Gotta love crowds}.

And Apolo Anton Ohno was on stage for like a second. Oh, I love him.

I do have a bone to pick with those capital 4th of July party planners though. If you open up the entire west lawn to the public for the concert, can you please simply stick a sign in the grass saying whether or not you can see the fireworks from that spot. A whole freaking herd of us had to get up and move because the trees were blocking our view. But then when we moved the stupid construction was blocking our view. A 17 minute firework show and we saw about half. However, what we did see was beautiful.

Hope everyone had a happy 4th!

That my friends is The Hope Diamond, via American Museum of Natural History

What this Week Is: {The First Week of July Which is the Best Week of the Year!}

In between the 106 degree weather, here is what happened around the D.C. area this weekend.

Good gosh, you'd think we were still in Oklahoma.

In other news, we went to the Holocaust Museum this weekend. Fabulous, if you ask me. {Assuming that something that is super somber can be considered awesome at the same time.} 

Oh and my birthday is tomorrow. 

And the 4th of July will be spent down with the tourists, doing all the touristy things. Must haves will be really good walking shoes, sunscreen, and fried chicken.

What We Saw: {A Dad Moment}

Before I was born, my parents took a trip to Washington D.C. 

When my parents found out that we would be living here for a little while, they told us about some of the things that I enjoyed seeing while they were here. 

My mom loved Ford's Theatre, Mount Vernon and the Library of Congress. 

My dad?

Archie Bunker's chair. 

I'm sure there were plenty of things that he enjoyed seeing in addition to that. But for some reason, that is one of the main things that he remembers from when he came here. 

Aren't dad's just the quirkiest?

So dad....this one's for you!

I blame the strange pose on the fact that Mike was struuuugggggling taking this picture and people were waiting for us to get out of the way and things were feeling suuuuuppper awkward.

But that wasn't even the best part!

You guys! I had that moment. You know, the same moment that my dad had 30 years ago when he saw Archie Bunker's chair!

I saw the Hogwart's Cape that Daniel Radcliffe wore in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone! And in 30 years when my kids decide to go to Washington D.C., I'm going to tell them all about it!

Yep, there were even some thumbs up going on because I was so excited. 

Oh and we saw a piece of the Berlin Wall. And a dress that Jackie Kennedy wore. I love her.

And tons of other pretty awesome stuff.

{National Museum of American History}

We also went to the National Archives where the Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, and Constitution are housed. But you can't take pictures in there. So here is our single picture to remind me in 30 years that I actually did go there.

 

What We Celebrate: {Easter Traditions}

I hope that everyone had a fabulous Easter! Ours was pretty low key. No Easter egg hunts or egg dying over here in the lonely OK. But we have created some traditions of our own since we have been married. Of course, we do the whole Easter basket thing. We won't once we have kids baskets to fill, but until then, we get to fill each others baskets. And being the total cheap skates that we are, we do not put any Easter candy in each others baskets. No way. Because the day after Easter its all marked down to 50% off. And then my friends, I go pretty hog wild. Easter candy is some of the best all year and at 50% off.....yes please. I wait all year for these babies to come out...

Last year I think I bought 6 bags. We ate them all Summer. I have already picked up a package and am headed to Walmart tonight to snag a couple more. It's a sick obsession. They just don't taste like the regular cups. Am I right, or am I right?

Something I learned when I got married. Mike doesn't like eggs. Or didn't. Who doesn't like eggs?! Now he'll eat them scrambled or sunnysideup. But he will not eat a hard boiled egg. Which makes the whole dying Easter egg thing suuuupper lame. Because then I have to race to eat all the hard boiled eggs before they go bad. My body can only have so much cholesterol in a day, people. And since we don't have an Easter egg hunt, just the two of us, dying Easter eggs is even more lame.

So a couple years back, Mike introduced me to something called Angel Eggs. This is poor mans food. That's what we call it. And I quickly became addicted. Apparently Mike's family had it all the time growing up. And the beauty? You used hard boiled eggs in this recipe. Masked under the taste of bread and gravy, Mike will actually eat a hard boiled egg. Hence the Easter tradition of Angel Eggs was born. The perfect way to use up all the hard boiled eggs that you dye on Easter.

Well this year I was feeling particularly lame, and so we didn't even dye the eggs. But we still kept the tradition alive and ate Angel Eggs for dinner {woulda been breakfast but being at church by 9am is hard enough...can't throw a fancy breakfast on top of anything more than the actual getting ready for church}.

Angel Eggs

The Stuff:

4 tbsp butter
4 tbsp flour
3-4 cups milk
Salt and Pepper to taste
4 hard boiled eggs, peeled and chopped
Toast

The Doing:

In large frying pan, make a rue by melting the butter and flour together over medium heat. Add milk and turn up to a simmer. Rue should slowly begin to thicken. If it's too thin, whisk in more flour. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add chopped hard boiled eggs. Let simmer for another minute. Serve over the top of toast {we like to use Texas Toast}.

What Today Is: {Easter}

 

What I Won: {March Madness}

So after all the March Madness hooha, guess who took home the gold?
I'm not talking about the teams, I'm talking about our brackets.
Well lets just show you...

This may be the first year that I feel that I have literally crushed the man.
So I said last night, what do I win for beating you?
Guess what that bugger said, 200 extra calories.
I don't know if he's mocking the fact that I'm on quite the calorie counting kick, or if by some stretch of the imagination he thinks that is a good award.
Excuse me sir, but if I wanted an extra 200 calories, I would EAT an extra 200 calories. I don't need you to gift it to me.
And I don't want an extra 200 calories.

So apparently winning the gold in our house means you get to eat more food that you end up regretting later. Yaaaaaayyyyy.

That's when I promptly took myself to Target and bought this little beauty...

$8.98

And I had a $5 Target Gift Card from my work.

Now that is what I call an award.

Thank you Target clearance.

And thank you Jason Wu.

What We Did: {Weekend}

Good Monday morning friends! I know, I know, I've been a little out of commission. I had all intentions of posting but then life got the better of me and both Thursday and Friday were over in a whirlwind.

We spent the weekend enjoying each other, family, and the beautiful sunshine!

A few things we did this weekend....

Went to the Medieval Fair. Ya know, where people ride elephants and such. {I have a small obsession with this picture. We look like we are trying to bring the camera in for a group hug.}

Ate some so-good-it-sticks-to-your-thighs food. Including these spiral spuds covered in nacho cheese and bacon bits. I know, right?

Played and played and played with these two.

Crawled in small holes.

Hung with some sharks and other fine fishery at the Children's Aquarium.

I did catch one whole session of Conference {click for more information}! Which is more than I actually see on the day of. I can't wait to catch up on the other sessions! Any favorite talks I should be throwing to the top of the list?

What I'm Thinking: {Confessions}

I like to wear my husbands shirts.



I've worn this shirt three days in a row.

Our goal to finish the Book of Mormon was yesterday. I'm currently in Alma. Don't fret, we are working hard to finish, and our reward will be seeing The Hunger Games.

I'm not nearly as excited to see The Hunger Games as I thought I would be. It better be worth the high theater prices I'll be paying.

I hate wearing sunscreen. Therefore resulting in quite the sunburn on Saturday.

Burning your hand sucks.

We don't watch General Conference. Okay, that's not entirely true. If we are home we do. But since living in OK, we have created the tradition of going to Dallas over conference weekend. We have family that come up from Houston to meet us. I know, shameful. But I do catch up on a fair amount of the talks later. Promise.

I'm going to Dallas this weekend!

Oh and I have a boyfriend.

He also happens to be Mike's best friend. Don't worry, Mike knows all about it.