Hint Hint

Last Friday we sat on the couch, wathing TV and purusing ads from the paper.

I saw them. Porcelain village houses. Onsale. Kmart.

I ask Sam, "Babe, do you want a big hint?" He of course said yes.

I pushed the ad to him. "See these houses? I would love a few more. Mom got me a Sugarplum Dance Studio from this set when I was first out of the house, I put it up ever year, but it's my only one. I would love more."

That was all that was said, until Saturday evening after we all got home from work and the baby girl exclaims, "WE GOT YOU A PRESENT!!" Sam started laughing and we explained that it's a secret, but it's ok since I still don't know what it is.

Then Saturday night when he asks theoretically, "You know those little Christmas houses? Is that something you want for Christmas? or something you would want before so you can decorate with them."

I smiled and said, "IF I were to recieve any I would love to get them early so we could enjoy them this year."

A few minutes later I heard the back door open and some rustling, then he quietly called to the baby girl to come help him.

She struggles to walk into the living room holding a Kmart bag, she squeels, "here is your present!!"

Sure enough.... not one set, but TWO lovely porcelain christmas village pieces. He did well, really well. A start-off kit with three buildings, many people, a small car, trees, etc. Then another big tiered piece with a frozen river and a circling train that plays Christmas carols when a button is pushed!!

Of course I had to open them right away, we pulled it all out on the dining room table to admire it, and my dance studio fits in perfectly.

I smiled and squeezed his hand as I thanked him for being so sweet and knowing me so well, he picked out just the right ones. It was exactly what I wanted. He then told me that his Mom had a Christmas village much like this one that was put up every year, including mirrors used for floating ponds, white fabric for a snowy base, etc.

His finishing touch.... the confession that he plans to make this an annual tradition. Each Christmas I get another piece to my Christmas Village. So year after year I get the pleasure of putting up my darling city landscape and being reminded that I am blessed with one heckuva man.

(notice the Grinch addition... heckuva... hehe)

You can take the kids out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the kids.

We did Black Friday.

We were in Idaho and since Sam had never had the pleasure of fighting crowds at O-Dark-Thirty the day after Thanksgiving we decided to go with his sister and brother-in-law.

First we went to Walmart, we got a few things we wanted, mostly a shop-vac. We waited in huge lines and everyone was awnery, including us.

Then we decided to stop by Cal-Ranch.... it is afterall the ONLY other store open in Blackfoot, Idaho. We waited a few minutes for them to open and then headed in to look at the only item that caught out eyes in the ad, a dog bed.

Well, over and hour later, with an overloaded shopping cart we checked out and headed home.

Yes, we did spend twice as long in CAL ranch as we did Walmart. Yes we did spend twice as much at CAL Ranch as we did at Walmart.

People asked what we got, honestly, we didn't have any "big ticket" items to report. Little things.... portable grills, gloves, socks, knife, etc....

I told Sam, "I guess the 'country kid' came out of us both this morning."

Black friday at CAL ranch.... now thats a new one.

How it is supposed to be, right?

Our house is a mess.

I have laundry everywhere (clean AND dirty). There is dog food that has been knocked over and is laying in the middle of the kitchen. Why clean it up? It can be dinner for the dogs.

I imposed a "rule" with Sam, he can't take glasses out to the hot tub anymore. Plastic only from here on out, although it's ME who keeps breaking the glasses - not exactly his fault.

We have stuffed animals that have been lovingly hidden in their "beds" around the living room and kitchen while nestled in dish towels and dusting rags (impromptu baby bedding at it's best, gotta love little kid's imaginations).

The pantry has Strawberry Nesquik and animal crackers among the hummus and miso soup.

Last night I crawled in bed with a sleepy baby girl, we read her favorite book three times until I finally convinced her to close her eyes as I turned off the light and asked what song we should sing. She chose, I sang. It took all of about 34 seconds for her to start snoring.

I sleepily made my way back out to Sam and curled up next to him while we watched a little TV and then finally gave up and crawled into bed.

This is how real life is, right? Messy houses, laughter, being constantly exhausted... yet happy.....

I hope this is what life is supposed to be like, because I like it.

Two Things

Today I was working around the house and Sam was taking a nap. I was walking through and he held up two fingers.

I said, "What's that babe?"

He said nothing, just kept holding up two fingers and looking at me sleepily.

In my most jokingly sassy voice I said, "What's two? Two reasons I'm awesome?"

He smiled and said, "Yep. One, You are super duper cute; and two, you take really good care of me."

I smiled, walked over and gave him a kiss. How could I not be good to him? Especially when he says things like that!!!

As I was walking away he gave me a swat on the butt and said, "..... Two, I'll get up at two and help you. I promise."

Only the beginning

Today I worked on getting the baby girl's room pulled together. I finally got her bed in there, decorations hung, toys put away, etc.

Now I'm jealous, hers looks WAYYYY better than ours....

I have a lot of work to do.

Long awaited....

Announcing:

WEDDING PICTURES

go to: http://laurenevans.zenfolio.com/

You will see the links for Hope and Trey's wedding (10/29/2009), also Hope's bridals and Mom's pics she had done for her 50th birthday...

Click on the picture to go to the album, when asked for the "password" enter the "hint" listed above....

Enjoy!!

Halloween Pirates

I know it's late... but here are our halloween photos....

We went to Sam's family's house in Blackfoot, Idaho. They put on a halloween carnival for anyone and everyone from the town that wants to stop by. They have a full pirate ship tree house that they deck out, lots of inflatables, halloween music, candy, cookies, etc....

It was a blast, very relaxing and a perfect retreat after a crazy wedding week.

Here's Sam's mom with his sister's dog, Snickers.


Sam..... (halloween is supposed to be scary, not cute - per Sam)

The pirate ship!

Spider lady.... spiders everywhere!! Hair, hands, neck, notice my big furry pet spider on my shoulder!!

Awww, goulish love.... :)

The moon set the perfect scene for halloween night!

Inside of the pirate ship!

Wrapped all around you, Babe.

Sam tells me quite often that my hair has a mind of it's own. Last night he went as far as to term it, "Medusa hair."

He says, "your hair is the only hair I have EVER known that can wrap itself around my fingers, around my wrist, through my fingers again and tie itself in a knot."

The other day Max (the dog) was choking on a hair ball. Sam says, "I know Maxy... her hair gets everywhere." As she shoots me a wink and half a smile.

He is constantly dealing with it in the hot tub, picking it out and flinging it at the fence.

I try to clean often (especially in the bathroom)... but I'll admit, my hair is everywhere....

It's down to my mid-back and quite thick. It has a "presence" if you will.

Today he was reclined in the seat next to me. I looked over and to my horror he had a loose bundle of MY HAIR clinging to the bottom of his beard, directly off his chin.

I lovingly touched his cheek, gave him a kiss and snagged it from his beard as my hand pulled away......

Maybe he's right, it is EVERYWHERE; but at least I avoided him pointing it out this morning when he found his beard had tripled in size and changed color from his jet black to my carmelish brown. That could have a been a little much. :)

My Beeswax

I really like blogging... its like a journal for me. I love looking back at it and reading through it, seeing the pictures. I enjoy reading about all the fun things that I've done and going over the feelings and happiness it brings...

But lately, I've felt like my business hasn't been my own; like a lot of people seem to think that they have a right to get their nose all up in my business.

So, I'm feeling a bit protective of myself and the life that I'm happy living. Don't take it personally, but I'm just not feeling like sharing anything this week. Maybe it will all change tomorrow.

I'm off to write in my journal.... my actual journal.... where my thoughts stay MY thoughts.
Love you all.

Post Wedding Hangover

So, the wedding is over. Hope and Trey are officially married and I'm officially still picking up the pieces from the festivities.

The to-do list now includes returning things to four different stores, returning vases and other random pieces that were borrowed, etc....

I finally got all the flower stems off the floor from making the center pieces, but parts of the kitchen floor are stained blue from the GORGEOUS blue flowers that were used.

All in all I think it went well. I was a brat for a couple days (bless Sam's heart to put up with my melt downs and bitchy responses when he tried to help or make suggestions). But in actuality I think it came together rather well.

In my humble opinon I think it was beautiful and went off without too big a disaster.... even if we did forget to serve the wedding cake. :)

Pictures to come.... when I get them, you'll get them (at least a link).