Spring Break '13 | Phoenix

We were so lucky to get to spend spring break '13 with Aunt Mal Mal and Uncle Shawn (R's sister & soon to be bro-in-law). I have to say, traveling with a toddler is no vacation but staying with family (and having a house so B could have his own room) is the way to do it! Mal & Shawn are awesome hosts and Aunt Mal Mal spoiled B completely rotten. (He also loved her dogs!) It was a quick trip but we had a great time!

I recently posted about the highlights (or low lights, rather) of our first day of traveling, but I promise the rest of the trip gets so much better!! And to be honest, other than my sickly ending to the day our actual travel day was way better than we anticipated. B did a great job at the airports and in the air. It was a little cramped on our plane from DSM to Detroit but we made it work. B would not nap in the air but thankfully we had brought his good stroller and he was able to get a nap in it during our layover. (It looks like he's thinking in that picture- I wonder if he's trying to figure out what the heck is going on!) From Detroit to Phoenix, there were extra seats on the plane (I didn't know that even happened anymore!) and we were able to get three seats together so we had some room to stretch out. B had quite the set up and despite the long flight, did a great job.

Our first full day in town, we all met up with my friend Christa and her little guy, Andrew at the Phoenix zoo. Andrew is just a couple months older than Beckett and I was SO excited for them to meet and I'm always excited to get to see Christa! It'd been a couple years since our last visit. Extra bonus: Christa has a zoo membership and free zoo passes so we all got in free too! Zoo highlights: The squirrel monkeys that you could get up close and personal with. They were awesome!

After nap time we headed to the mall (because it had an H&M) and grabbed a couple things. Aunt Mal spoiled B-meister and got him some sweet kicks. (They actually stay on his feet SO good and as cute as his Toms are, these are his new full-time shoes! Kid is stylin') His fave part of the day? The puppy store at the mall. He went absolutely crazy, squealing at all the puppies and wanting them to play fetch with him. He ran back and forth no less than a hundred times. He loved it!



Later we checked out Rustler's Rooste for dinner and got to see where Aunt Mal Mal and Shawn will get married. The place has an amazing view and even better cotton candy. Oh and a slide! And a longhorn. And live music and dancing. And a guy that goes around making special balloons for you. And etc, etc. We cant wait to go back!



The next day we visited the Railroad park in Scottsdale where B got to ride a train and a carousal and had a blast at the park. He's so over the Iowa snow and ready to play outside!!



For lunch we ate In N Out (likely the highlight of the trip for R). I ordered mine protein style expecting to be disappointed but it was so good! I know I previously said I had never eaten a hamburger at a restaurant between junior high and pregnancy but that is a lie- I had eaten In N Out burgers during that time. They are totally worth it and that's saying a lot from someone like me who never orders burgers out!



I cant remember what we did this afternoon. I think B might have taken a four hour nap? (Okay I might have had a little nap too?) And I'm also pretty sure we soaked up some sun poolside. It was great to just relax for a bit!



That night we headed up to the mountains. B didn't notice how awesome the mountains were but he did start tugging his ears and digging in them on the way up. Had I been thinking ahead I would have had him drink from his sippy and eat some snacks (worked great on the plane!) but I didn't. We'll know better next time! I always say Iowa would be the perfect place to live and raise a family if it just had an ocean and a mountain (and shorter winters!). We LOVE the mountains! (You can check out more of the pictures we took up there over on the {cb}h blog.)

The NCAA tournament started Thursday so you know what R was doing all morning. I quickly filled out my bracket (maybe taking 30 seconds?) and hoped for the best. I spent the rest of the morning poolside soaking up the sun. I know we should have put our suits on and got in the big pool with B but we didn't. Instead, Aunt Mal set him up with his own little paradise and he LOVED it! He drug his little blue chair around everywhere he went and spent as much time with his girls (the dogs) as he could. They quickly became good buddies!



It was super sad to have to leave so I must have just put the camera away and sulked. I did find my traditional vacation Christmas ornament at the airport reminding me that Christmas '13 is just around the corner and spring break '14 will follow suit. ;) In the meantime, we will just settle for some warmer temps. Come on Iowa! Let's move on to spring now. :)

Date With A Purpose

Do you have Gloo?

It's a handy little app with all kinds of little apps within. Or something like that.

We are just finishing the Date With A Purpose Challenge.

The challenge was to do one date a week for four weeks. Each week the app offers conversation topics. Many of the topics weren't things we would normally talk about and it was great for us to learn even more about each other.

Most of our weekly dates for the challenge were on the couch after B went to bed (hello, Yahtzee tournament) but we ended the challenge with an actual night out (thanks to B's grandma who came to hang out with him!).

Our favorite date night activity? Progressive dinner.

Since we don't get out much we love hitting up as many places as we can while we're out. For progressive dinner we do appetizers, dinner, desserts and often drinks all at different locations.

This date night included High Life bacon wrapped tots, Waterfront Sushi (and double cheeseburger for the mister), and Scratch cupcakes. We had plans of drinks at Chilis but the butter incident took priority and we ran out of time.

What is your favorite date night activity?

Do you have a date coming up? (like oh I don't know... For Valentines Day!)

If you do, check out Gloo for some date ideas and conversation topics.

date night + a cupcake review

Saturday night was date night. Like having a babysitter, leaving the house kind of date night. That's kind of a big deal because it's happened... oh about one other time since B was born.  I know, I know. That's a LOT less than our once a month goal (which we thought we were setting the bar low for since we previously did once a week.. yikes). But we don't have family in town and by the time you pay a babysitter date night becomes ex.pens.ive. I tried sending out a mass email to local moms in an attempt to set up a babysitting co-op but so far that's as far as it got. (Side note- local moms, let's trade babysitting. Puh-lease.)


But back to the point (sorry, I'm easily distracted).


Saturday night was date night. B's aunt and cousins came to hang out with him (okay so it wasn't a paid babysitter...but still) and he had an AWESOME time.

Mama and dada did too!

While B was basking in the glow of being Colson's sidekick, we were ice skating (which for the record- even though R is the more athletic of the two of us, I totally kick his butt at all things skating and snow or cold related), enjoying dinner, and grabbing dessert.



Dessert was kinda the whole point of the date night. Well, you know, besides that whole connecting with the hubby part. ;) Unfortunately, on the way to dessert I got hit hard with a migraine and we almost aborted the mission. Thankfully R knew I would totally regret it in the morning so we muddled through and were able to snag not one but four treats (for the road).


The dessert worth suffering through a migraine for?


Scratch Cupcakery!!


For those of you in Eastern Iowa, this is old (but delicious) news to you. For all my Central Iowa friends, this is something we've been anxiously awaiting. I had heard the hype for months and when West Des Moines finally opened their store this week, we knew we had to go!

A little backstory (as if the backstory above wasn't enough)- I do not like cake. Or cupcakes. At least I didn't used to. Seriously, we didn't even have a 'real' official wedding cake. We opted for cheesecake instead. So some of you may be wondering what in the world I'm doing reviewing a cupcake place.

Well.. I didn't used to like cake. But B has a major sweet-tooth and while I was feeding him in utero, I got a major sweet-tooth.

So now I like cake.


Ahem.




So off to Scratch Cupcakery we go.

Here's what I thought.

Marketing- Cute design. Easy to access through Facebook and web. I especially appreciated the cupcake description online (since I take a LONG time to decide what I want). The description for Sully (a common favorite on the employees page) was missing though. I was dying to know what (or who?) Sully was. Grade: A

Location- not exactly ideal but not so far out of the way it's not worth the trip. Mapquest showed us that it was a ways off Jordan Creek Parkway but it's actually right by it so while we don't normally take that route to the mall, we might start. Grade: B+

Storefront- It was dark and I had a migraine coming on big-time so I wasn't paying attention as I should have been but one thing that stood out to me- it's right next to a fitness center. It's RIGHT next to a fitness center! I mean come on, who does that?! I felt guilty about eating the cupcakes before I was even in the front door.  Grade: F (Okay... so I didn't feel THAT guilty, I'll give it a C+.)  ;)
The inside was simple, clean and cute. Not cluttered with too much 'ta-da' and the focus was definitely on the cupcakes. Grade: A

Service- We got there at approximately 6:52 pm. They close at 7. The gal that got our cupcakes for us was patient while we decided what we wanted and even kind when I changed my mind and had her put one back and switch it for another one. She wasn't annoyed that we were walking in the door close to closing time (at least she didn't show it if she was) and was helpful in the decision making process (choosing cupcakes is serious business). I give her an A+. The workers in the back also seemed friendly and professional (I've had a lot of experiences lately where employees have been sitting around using inappropriate language or complaining- while it doesn't necessarily affect me directly it does annoy me so I'm grading the guys in the back too...). They get an A.
The guy taking our money...... Might have been having a bad day. Might have been new (um, it was the second day they were open so he was very likely new if not from the other location). Might have just been ready to go home. Or Maybe had a migraine coming on himself. He wasn't rude but when I'm purchasing a cupcake called 'Oh Happy Day!' I like it to come with a smile. Or at least eye contact. I give him a B.


CUPCAKES: Great selection (especially since we were there so close to closing). In fact, if we would have been there earlier in the day with more options I may have been overwhelmed. They do rotate through the cupcake menu though and offer different flavors on different days. I am anxiously awaiting an available Wednesday so I can make it to Raspberry Lemon day!

We chose four- Sully, Mint Cookies n' Cream, Maple Bacon, and Oh Happy Day! Then we put Oh Happy Day! back and opted for Prince.

Descriptions from web: 

Prince: blue vanilla cake | blue vanilla buttercream | blue & white sprinkles

Mint Cookies n' Cream: chocolate cake | mint chocolate cookie buttercream | crushed chocolate cookies

Maple Bacon: vanilla bacon cake | maple cinnamon buttercream | crumbled maple bacon

Sully: description missing from web


I chose Sully because it was a common favorite listed on their website. (It was topped with m&ms and oatmeal and had peanut butter frosting so it would have been an easy sell anyway). It was delicious! Not too peanut buttery and while the oatmeal doesn't seem like enough to make a big difference, it did! I'm going to start topping everything with it. :) Grade: A+



Prince: Didn't try it but Colson told me it was REALLY good so I'm taking his word for it. A+

Mint Cookies n' Cream: I'll be honest, I chose it because mint is my current favorite color. I know that's a terrible reason to choose a cupcake but it seemed more logical than doing eeny meeny miney mo in front of the sweet cupcakeista. The mint frosting: Seriously YUM. I would be in big trouble (but very happy) if I had a tub just of that stuff. The chocolate cake was good but not great. I was hoping for it to be a little more moist but in fairness to the cupcake- it was the last one of the bunch I tasted and it had big shoes cupcake liners to fill. Grade: A



Maple Bacon: I know bacon is 'in' right now but I haven't jumped on that (super bad for us) trend. Yet. I chose the Maple Bacon cupcake because I thought it'd be the one my big brother would choose and I felt bad about ditching him for the day. So while I hadn't jumped on that 'bacon on everything' trend yet, I might just start driving the bandwagon today. Um. YUM. Seriously. To die for! I ate the whole cupcake for breakfast (other than the few bites I snuck at midnight because it was beaconing me from the other room!) and I didn't feel one bit bad about it. It was good enough to make me forget all about that gym conveniently located next door to Scratch and if I had a tub of the maple cinnamon buttercream I'd be in HUGE trouble. Emphasis on the huge. I'm gonna give this one an A++ but only because I think anymore plus signs might be annoying. It was that good. (Yes- it was so good I ate it all before there was enough daylight to get a decent picture so I present this not so lovely iPhone picture instead:)



So overall, I think you MUST go check out Scratch. Like right now. Stop what you are doing and get there immediately. Well maybe not immediately because they aren't open on Sundays and would probably frown upon you breaking in for cupcakes. But get there soon. Like maybe tomorrow.

And if you need someone to tag along for moral support, please invite me. I still have 50+ flavors to try.

P.S. Yes I did all my cupcake tasting behind B's back. Poor kid doesn't know what he's missing out on. :)

Have you been yet? What are your favorite flavors?

Happy Birthday, R!

Five years ago on his birthday, I made him a book. It was a book that listed all the reasons that I loved him. We still have it and look back at it from time to time with good memories (and him with not so good memories of the fro he had at the time).

Today is his birthday (he says 29 but he may be a few years off....) and I woke up thinking about all the reasons I've loved him in this last year. There's a ton of them and it makes me realize how lucky I am.

R, here are just a few of the things I love about you from this year.

-I love your new little (matching to mine) scar. ;)

-I love how you've made the choice to be more intentional about your walk with Jesus and to lead our family.

-I loved watching your concern for one of your best buddies and his sweet little girl. I love watching you interact with her, especially now that she'll actually smile at you. :)

-I absolutely loved how happy and carefree you were in Jamaica. It was definitely the best trip we've ever taken!

-I loved watching you try to get Baby H close to the tv for March Madness. Cant wait for you to take him to the Final Four next March while us girls have our shopping trip. :)

-I absolutely melt when you talk to our son. I love how you are the only one he kicks on command for and that you two already have a special relationship. You are going to be the best daddy.

I love you so much and I hope you have the best birthday. Something tells me it's going to be a big year for you!

Counsel

So yesterday's post left some things in the air. I fully intend to get back on here and talk about really important things (like baby clothes- ha) but I mentioned counseling and people apparently didn't know we saw a counselor.

We do! And it's great for us!

I know I've mentioned it on here before so I used that little search bar up there on the left to find it. It was in a Q&A post awhile back (and several other times)-

3. Q: You guys seem so happy. How do you do it?

A: Well thanks but I think it's one of those 'always greener on the other blog' type of things. It's true, R&I are happy, but only when we choose to be. When we choose a Christ focus and work hard at it, life is good. But we slip up. A lot. We're just like you. Scratch that. You are probably way better at it than us. Ha. We do have an awesome Christian counselor that we hang out with once a month (or six weeks or whenever we can get in). It's great for accountability. It encourages you to 'walk the talk' so to speak. I admit that sometimes we've spent our entire 50 minutes talking about basketball and asking about his kids so it may seem silly go have gone. But there are plenty of other times that I've shed tears, prayed for forgiveness, and learned a lot about life. And I recommend it.

In the post quoted above, I mentioned we were going every 4-6 weeks. We currently go every 2-3 months but will likely go more often once Baby H arrives and we have new life challenges to figure out together.

I've had a lot of friends ask about the counseling. And here are some of the most common things people want to know-

Is it hard? -The hardest thing about it for us was to make the decision to go. Just setting up the initial appointment was difficult. It felt like admitting we weren't good at it and needed help. It's hard to ask for help. It was also hard to know where to go. We tried one counselor (a woman) because where I was working would pay for so many sessions there a year. The particular person we saw at that practice was not a fit for us. It took quite awhile after that appointment to make another one. We ultimately chose a friend that is a counselor. This seems so odd because who wants to admit to someone they know that they need help but we found in our case it helped out a ton. We didn't have to explain a lot of the backstory because he already knew it. Having a friend as a counselor is both great and not so great. It's great because we get the cheapest price on his sliding fee scale. It's not so great when we don't have a whole lot of marriage stuff to talk about and the boys end up talking basketball for most of our session! :)

There are tough topics that the two of us aren't sure we're comfortable with telling our counselor about. We've always discussed these at home first and (with permission from the other) ultimately brought them up with the counselor. We've never surprised each other on the counseling couch with a topic the other didn't know was coming. I think this helps us out a lot in feeling safe going there.

How did the two of you decide to go? -We both went into our marriage talking about what we wanted it to look like but knowing we hadn't seen that modeled. We knew it wouldn't be real easy but we weren't expecting it to be as hard as it was. We knew what we were living and what we both wanted were not matching up. We both did the Love Dare devotional when that movie came out. (The movie is cheesy, but it's a great message and the book was just awesome for us.) We got near the end where the devotion for the day is about seeking counsel. We had been so disciplined at following through with the other pieces and it was working- we knew we needed to follow through with this one too.

If you don't go very often, how are you getting your money worth? - Our counselor is awesome about giving us homework. There are a lot of simple (and not so simple) things that we can do on our own at home that really help us out. He has taught us a lot of tools on how to communicate with each other and how to focus our together time. I'm a huge planner/calendar maker/to do list follower. R is not. One of the tools that helped us out a lot was a marriage calendar. There were some specific things we needed to focus on during that time and those things had to go on the calendar to ensure that we did them. It's easy to say we need to have more 'talk time.' It's hard for us to make it happen without intentional planning. Being intentional about things is huge for us.

What is a marriage meeting? -A meeting about our marriage! :) I don't think there are very many happily married couples that would say marriage is not work. At your work, how often do you have meetings? (For my teacher friends, you're thinking TOO OFTEN, aren't you?!)

If marriage is such hard work and working together involves meetings, doesn't it just make sense to have a meeting about the work you are doing? We weren't real intentional about it otherwise so the marriage meeting helps us focus. (We also have budget meetings, house project meetings, goal meetings, etc!)

When one (or both) of us feels like our marriage needs some attention, we'll call a marriage meeting. We grab a pad of paper and a pen and start making lists of things to be more intentional about.

When we started going to counseling, I didn't know of any friends that went. I thought people might think we were weird for going. The opposite is actually true. The more I've talked about it, the more I learn that lots of people go and lots of people that don't go wish they did. If you are considering it, I would definitely recommend it.

I currently have some friends that would love to go but cant get their spouse on board. Did you/do you know anyone else that faced that same struggle? What advice would you give them?

We Had an Anniversary!

Yesterday, R & I celebrated our anniversary. We both took the day off of work just to hang out.

We ended up heading to Minneapolis for the day. We did lunch at the Cadillac Ranch (we are more into doing lunch out instead of dinner- it's the same food at a cheaper price- it just makes sense in the summer). We did the Mall of America. R looked for shoes (we didn't find any) and we got a few baby clothes. (I know you'd expect me to have a lot of baby clothes by now. I don't. More on that later...)

We did an IKEA run and got everything IKEA we thought we wanted for Baby H's room. As it turns out, TODAY is the day they are switching everything out and now there is all new stuff. We missed it by just one day. Originally I had planned on IKEA this September (during Junk Bonanza) but with Baby H's history of travel, R decided not to let me head up there without him this fall. Sooo..... I'm trying really hard to stay away from the IKEA website. Please don't pin anything cute from their new stuff on Pinterest. :)

On the way home, we did the Medford Outlet. R always has to check out the Nike outlet (in his words, he's found some 'hidden gems' there in the past). We did the kid clothing ones. And Gap. Wait. We didn't do Gap. Can you believe it??? In the past, we've stopped at the Medford Outlet JUST for Gap and this time we didn't even make it in my favorite there. (And you know when I got home I had an email from the Gap Outlet in my junkmail about all the kid sales they were having yesterday!) ha.

Our big dinner out was Wendy's (R's choice). We didn't even have to get dressed up for it. :)

We played stupid car games (alphabet hunt, anyone?) and talked about life and marriage.

Our counselor has reminded us of how different/difficult our early marriage has been compared to others because of what we've been through. Even so, we are anticipating baby changing everything. We had a recent marriage meeting and talked about what marriage would be like after baby (I might have had to take back a laugh when R mentioned weekly dating).

I know I'm going to offend people by saying this, but we both (prayerfully) agree that baby will not come first in our life together. Our intention is for our priorities to be 1.) God 2.) Marriage 3.) Baby.

For those of you ahead of us, what are some things you did/do to ensure your marriage came/comes before baby? Was it/is it incredibly difficult for you to do?

Happies

After getting up early on the 4th and having a very full (LONG) day, I thought once my head hit the pillow just before 11 pm that it would stay there for quite some time. I thought wrong.

So taking R's advice, I got up from tossing and turning in bed and that somehow turned into a blog post....

I love our friend, Amy R's, blog and how she always posts her three happies at the end of each one. Taking her lead......

My Three Happies:

1.) Dakota. He has been quite the trooper with all the craziness in his life lately. He even spent his first night home alone this weekend and (as far as we can tell) did a great job. He is the most loyal, loving pup and the only dog I've ever seen that truly has two 'masters.' You can see the pain on his face when R&I are both home but in different rooms- he doesn't know where he should go! :)

2.) Healthcare. I'm so thankful we have it and I'm amazed by all the techniques/procedures they can do to ensure our health. Some of you tweeted me about that Mercy mug on the 4th of July. Baby H was already up to his first antics and causing quite a stir (literally). Our Dr was concerned (which in turn, made us very concerned) but after a few med tricks, he's straightened out (literally) and all is well. I started and ended my long weekend with such different feelings about life and I'm so thankful. (Side note, please pray Baby H stays put for quite some time. According to yesterday's tests, he is now estimated to be 3 ounces heavier than the lightest baby ever born to have survived. I simply cannot imagine him arriving this soon or this tiny.)

3.) Hubby. This one goes without saying, but he was especially my happy this weekend. This guy loves me. And I love him. I feel so blessed to have him by my side in everything. If you're admitted and need someone to sneak you McDonald's french fries, I hope you have a guy like R by your side. And did you see his photography skills? He's good. (Okay, he's going to tell that story as me setting up the shot, switching him places, him pushing the button, me straightening, cropping, and editing until I got them how I wanted them.... but who else would let me hand them a camera and do all that back and forth?) ;) Yep. He definitely is my happy.

Hope you have lots of happies your way today!

It's The Little Things

It's the little things that I don't want to forget. The little things that make my 365 posts but don't make a blog post. The little things that aren't printed off and hung in a frame. The little things that no one else will probably ever mention again. But they're important to me. And I want to remember them. Like this- the facebook conversation between my 4 year old niece and the love of my life. And the way she smiled at me and squeezed my arm when she wanted to tell him that he was for a very special girl. How is it that a little girl so young can be so overflowing with love? That such a little thing is really such a big thing?

I'm His Wife

There are some things I blog because I don't want to forget.....

Tonight I was laying (okay, propped up) in bed and thinking about R.

As his hand slips out of mine, I hear them telling him to sit. Later, when I'm aware of what's going on, I hear him say, "I don't know what happened there."

The Dr. said,

"That's your wife, man."

I am his wife. I am blessed, indeed.

A Perfect Day

If I were going to plan

a perfect day

it might involve

being unplugged from the real world

a hot drink

a favorite snack (and meals which I don't have to cook)

hunting for treasures (and finding great deals. HELLO Junk Bonanza!)

spiffing up my home

spiffing up myself

and lots of time with this guy.

Yes, Friday was

a pretty darn good day

indeed.

productive saturday

R was super motivated today. After he had completed a huge list of [boring] chores [ie. mowing, cleaning the garage, etc], he grabbed a paint brush and started painting. He never paints. He hates painting. He hates the word painting. So I was super impressed [and surprised] to see his final product (the back door and steps). Since he was on a painting kick, I grabbed a quart of paint and schemed him into helping me paint our fireplace. It's definitely different.... :) I'll have to get some pictures taken of it soon.... after Jen gets up here! R also helped me with my craft project today. He fixed the holes and shaped my metal for me. I'm thinking he's building up to ask for something big... but for now, I'll take it! :)

______
Updated: R would like for me to point out that he didn't help with "craft" projects. He did "manly things" like cut metal and drill holes. :)

August 15, 2005

I had turned 22 the day before.

I had recently taken my first real job. It was going to be fabulous. Amazing. Awesome. Too good to be true. (I had also talked one of my very best friends into taking the exact same job... she's still 'thanking' me to this day. Ha.)

This 'amazing' job was in Creston, Iowa.

Creston, Iowa. Population 7,596 (make that 7,954- but I'm jumping ahead).

None (okay, hardly any) of them my age.

I walk into the first new teacher work day. It was warm (it usually is mid-August) but I was wearing my new aqua-khaki Gap pants with the cute wooden button anyway. Paired with a plain white 'dressier' tee and a tie belt, I looked dressy, but not too dressy, right?

As I walk in the front door, I get the odd sense that I'm being watched. Nerves, maybe?

I sit in the cafeteria. I choose a table in the middle, sitting with the only person I remotely know. A college classmate. As the principal starts talking, I try as hard as I can to pay attention to every word.

That doesn't last long.

Soon I start scanning the room. In the very back was a table of guys. I guess right away that they are the PE teachers. One in particular, leaning way back in his chair with his arms crossed over his chest, was wearing shorts and a red with black pin-stripes polo. Shorts? I'm way overdressed. I immediately think the dressy pants were a bad choice. (I later find out, he doesn't think they are a bad choice, as he watched me walk in the front door in them from his car.)

I realize I'm staring and quickly turn away.

Later that afternoon, Mr. McCracken leads me to my classroom. Well not technically my classroom. But a classroom I'll be sharing for part of the day with, you guessed it, a PE teacher.

Have I mentioned I wasn't quite a rockstar PE student? Okay, I didn't even really like it. Mr. Dean would roll the softball to me to hit golf style and Mr. C sent me to his classroom to grade papers. I was that good.

Ahem.

So he introduces me to the PE teacher. I don't remember what was said. I remember I was nervous (I never get nervous!) but I immediately felt better because as nervous as I was, this red headed guy looked way worse. He had been working in his room with Mr. Clark. Dick Clark. And Dick's dog. He was an obvious dog person. Dog people are good people, right?

Later that week, we had our first picture together (a group shot of new teachers for the local newspaper), our first out to lunch (a group lunch with the new teachers), and our first time together in the backseat (just kidding. well not really, we rode together to some of the new teacher events).

The next week, a guy friend from college came down to visit. We went to the local hangout hot spot. You guessed it, Super Wal-Mart. We were shopping in the shampoo aisle. Red headed PE teacher walked by. Saw me and smiled. Saw him and looked disappointed. He walked away without saying a word.

I told college guy he couldn't come back to town.

PE teacher and I talked. We shared rides back to Ames. I fed him.

It was the first time I felt like someone got me. It didn't matter that we were in a town with nothing for people our age to do. We could eat cactus bread and check out Dan McCarney's newest Nike shirts during the Cyclone games on tv and it was the best night ever. We didn't have satellite. We didn't have a dog. There was nothing to do in our town. And we had no money. But we did have it all.

I'll never forget August 15, 2005 and the year that followed. I'll never forget waking up to my alarm with a note leading me on a wild goose chase ending on a park bench. I still get chills coming around the I-80/I-35 curve. I can close my eyes and be standing against the cleaning closet door in the kitchen of that first place. Once in awhile I crave cactus bread and the memories that come with it. I'll always be his favorite stat girl. And he'll always be my best friend.

Thanks for five years of laughs and love. You are too good to me.

Happy Birthday, R!!

My best friend turns 32 today. I remember giving him such a hard time at 27 because he was so 'old.' I just don't even have anything to say about 32! ;)

We'll celebrate the big 3-2 in Vegas this year. What a great birthday present I'm giving him! ;)

Happy Birthday, R. Thanks for everything you do for us. I love you!

Family Bike Ride

It's our Anniversary. And I'm blogging. But I can do that because he's outside working on stuff. Right? :)

We went for a family bike ride tonight. Dakota ran 4 miles. We were impressed with him.

I documented it. Without stopping. In a skirt.

You can decide whats more impressive.

Independence Day

Life. Liberty. Pursuit of Happiness. Dirt Roads. Watermelon. Laughter. Friends. Red, White, & Blue. Steak. Sun. Road Trip. Contagious Giggles. Bare Feet. Cute Kids. Sweet Corn. Swimming Pool. Pond. Bags. Horseshoes. (Waiting) Zipline. Lounging. Walks. Trees. Laughter. Fire Pit. Fireworks. Country Music. Small Towns. Side Trips. Food. Fun. Freedom.

Happy Fourth of July!

summer lovin'

There's so much I love about summer.

Here's a tiny part of it. In no particular order.

Sun. Lunch dates with R. Lunch dates with J. Swimming. Plates of Banana Bars. Sun. Fun. Watching R work. Bike rides. Bike baskets. Junking. Thrifting. Shooting. Designing. Free Tanning. Sleeping in. Peaches 'n cream. Fire pits. Lightning bugs. Tomatoes. Flowers. Friends. Family. Sun. Porch swings. Pet rocks. Being outside. Catching up with friends. Tuesdays. Sundays. Mondays. Yes, Mondays. Sunsets. Smores. Corn on the cob. Uncle Doyle's ice cream. Walks. Roller blading. Lemonade stands. Sun.

i. love. summer.

sigh

It's not often (okay, ever) that I post two posts in a row with a picture of me and the hubs together. But I just wanted to check in and say I am in fact alive. I've survived (barely) another school year. And here's the photo to prove it.

I worked my last work day today and followed it up with a really fun wedding. Long, exhausting day (okay, week, month, year), but I've survived and am now officially ready for some r&r.

Bring it on, summer.

Bring it on.

I. Miss. You.

Rain, Rain....

....created this view from my front porch swing tonight.

I think I've mentioned a time [or two] how much I love warm, sunny weather. It's true. I do.

But.

I also love a good downpour every now and again.

It makes my husband happy (he literally watches his grass during the rain to see if it's growing).

It makes Dakota lazy.

And when I have a second to sit out on my porch swing and listen to the rain, it reminds me of sitting on Grandma's porch swing and doing the same thing.

I love the rain.

[You know, once in awhile.]

More Hickstionary

I used to have all these pretty little tabs across the top of my blog about past topics.... then I realized that was way too much work and TAGS are much easier. So here's some past topics from the Hickstionary. You can search through tabs and use that handy little search box up top to find more! :)

FAITH

FAMILY

FOOD

FIRESIDE

FUN

FOREVER

ODDS/ENDS



HICKSTIONARY 365 from 2010