over the river and through the woods

My grandparents live on the far side of South Bend. Everyone else in my family [including myself] lives in Granger and for some reason we all act like we have to cross the desert to get to their house. The 25 minute drive just totally sucks the life out of you. We all take advantage of the fact that we live so close and still complain about a car ride across town. Anyhow...

Today I packed up my baby, got some blankets, a few bottles of water, hopped on my camel and crossed the desert to G'ma and G'pas house.

Might I just say...they are amazing people. Here are a few things I adore about them...

-This past December they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary and their marriage is a

great example to all.

-They are the most self-less people I've ever met. They would do anything for anyone with out even blinking.

-They are hillarious together.

-My grandpa is incredibly handy. He can tear something down and rebuild it with out even thinking. When Andy and I were re-modeling our house [before we were married] I hadn't really seen any of Andy's handy work...so as the projects continued I kept saying, 'We should call my grandpa...I'm sure he'd love to come help you' ...all the while thinking 'please let grandpa do it...'- Luckily, Andy is quite handy and did a good job on his own.

-They are the best at making one meal last an entire week.

-They are my fishing buddies and are always willing to bait my hook...even though I'm sure at the ripe age of 23, they would prefer I finally learn to do it myself.

-They can do the 'jitterbug' and make it look really cool.

-They don't like to be apart.

-They always look like millionairs/movie stars every where they go. ESPECIALLY my grandma. She wears high heals with her sweats.

-They wear turtlenecks under their sweats so they can keep the heat at 60 degrees in the winter.

-Grandma is addicted to Lifetime movies...and Grandpa says the only kind of movies allowed on the Lifetime channel are the movies the actually last a lifetime.

-They love all their children and grandchildren with everything they have. Especially their first born grandchild and their first born great-grand child :)

-Grandma and I are both Taurus. That's why were so bossy and fantastic at the same time...and that's also why we dominate in Eucher.

-Grandpa once won a Sebring Convertible but wasn't at the Blue Chip Casino on the night of the drawing to claim his prize. My grandma tried to explain to the officals at the Casino that she was his wife...yada yada...but they said he had to be there himself to claim the prize. Ever since they have not missed one drawing. Don't ever try to plan a family event on a Thursday night [boat night] I made the mistake by giving birth to Colt on a Thursday night. haha. No No...they were there...for a little bit : )

-Grandma is an awesome housewife. She is a spaz when it comes to cleaning. When I was pregnant I wanted to hire her to come clean my house but I never got around to it...instead my house collected dirt for 9 months.

-Their twin bed in their guest room is the most confortable mattress on the face of the earth. When ever I would spend the night it was like sleeping on clouds...then I remembered the Si-Fi movie I had watched with grandma that night and instead of enjoying my sleep I stared out the window. Watching out for Aliens.

This list is getting long, but there is one more thing my Grandma can do that NO ONE else on the face of the earth can do. And that my friends...is to make a baby laugh. Not just any kind of laugh, but a really hard gut busting laugh. Colt has so much fun today. I honestly, have never made my son laugh like he was laughing tonight. When I got home from their house, I tried to do what Grandma was doing to make him laugh...but it didn't work. Which just adds to the reasons why she is awesome and totally one-of-a-kind.

have a laugh...it's on me

The Honeymoon's Over

January 27th 2007

Yesterday was our 2-year Anniversary. It feels like it's been way longer than 2 years...in a good way. We try to think back to the days of friendship before we were together and it's hard to do. I feel so blessed that Andy is the one. He is prefect for me and I'm the happiest I've ever been.

To celebrate we dropped the baby off at his parents house and had the entire day to ourselves. Which is rare. Not just the 'baby less' part, although that is rare, but him and I have not spent good quality time together in quite a while. Ever since he started paramedic school in January it's been go go go for us and all I wanted was just to hang out with no distractions. We watched our wedding video and both decided that our wedding day was amazing. If we could go back in time a re-live one day, it would be our wedding day. All our family and friends were there. It was absolutely perfect. I looked really pretty. I was skinnnnnnny. Wah! AND that is why I'm going for a run today!

At 6:30 we had dinner at LaSalle Grill. I had never been there before and it was very good. We had a gift certificate from our wedding that we hadn't used yet! Can you believe that? AND thank goodness for the gift cert because that place is not cheap! At dinner we talked about the last few years and then made a list of the 5 best days/things/moments that have happened in the last two years. These are in no particular order.

Andy went first...
1. Our wedding day
2. Our honeymoon
3. Fire department
4. Dave Ramsey
5. Colt

Then I went...
1. Wedding
2. Baby boy
3. Not working
4. Our beautiful home
5. Sex. Let's not deny it here people.

Then we listed together where we would like to be in the next 5 years:
1. More babies
2. No debt
3. Finished Basement
4. A stronger love for each other than we have now.

It was an awesome day. Just thinking about my love for Andy make me want to tear up like a big sap. He is amazing. He loves me everyday. We're happy everyday. I cannot help but stand in awe of Gods match making abilities. Thank you Jesus. I could not be a happier clam!

dress up

I saw Andy's firefighter gear in the corner of our kitchen yesterday and I decided to play dress up. I must say, I have a new appreciation for Andy's physical abilities. I can't imagine running in this gear. I felt like I was in a space suit but instead of no gravity...there was triple gravity. I could barley walk! Here are a few pics.

This mask totally reeked of smoke. I didn't want to put it completely on but Andy told me I had to so I could get the whole effect. I think he just wanted to laugh at me. It really was hard to breathe in though...you have to really work at the exhale.
Then there was a dog barking for help in my kitchen so I did my firefighter duties and saved the dogs life. No really. If there were sound effects with this picture you would hear my many 'try sounds' just to lift Copper an inch off the floor.

AND...that's how we spent last night : ) Are ya jealous?

introducing...Pretzles!

I started this blog with the thought that Andy and I would both blog at our hearts desire and share the blog. It would be our family blog...hence my url. After asking 'why haven't you blogged yet, its been 7 months since I started the blog' a trillion times Andy finally admitted that he didn't wanna blog on our blog because I had already taken it over and pretty much claimed it as mine. I huffed told him to start his own! And he listened : ) Check it out.

Pretzels!

pickles

I've been counting calories for weeks now and eat about a dillion jillion million pickles a day. Did you know their low cal and very salty? Which would explain why I wake up every morning and my fingers look like sausages. My wedding ring doesn't even budget. I can't even twist it. Totally serious. I think to myself, 'Eh...better try to get this ring off or I might have to have it cut off'...But, luckily my fingers deflate a few hours into the day. I should probably switch to eating Hershey kisses instead.

smile for the camera.

I scanned a bunch of pictures and thought I'd share. Andy and I have known each other for 10ish years. We've been together for 4 and married for almost two of them. We have a history and I'm willing to share these pictures with you under one circumstance. You cannot laugh at us. Here we go:

This is us. I was a freshman. He was a Junior. We went as friends. That dress is bad. So is my hair. And the decor. And Andy's posture. And our pasty complexion's. But we had fun.



Then we hung out with these 7 crazy people for like...4 years. No one really dated. We all just hung together.



Then Andy and Mo started to hang out one-on-one. And everyone was like 'whoa...what are they doing??' We were very mysterious. No one saw it coming. Except Aaron swears he did. But I don't really think he did.



Then one day we kissed.



The we were like 'Whelp! Guess we should get married.' So Andy asked me to marry him : )



Then we got married. And had a beautiful wedding.

(Juuust kidding. That was Halloween : )


But then seriously...we did get married.


Then we got a puppy and named her Copper. It was great to have a friend while Andy was away at the Fire Station. I wish she could have stayed this small. Sooo sweet.



Then we got pregnant. And I mutated into a large mastadon. Luckily, I got a baby out of it.



And this...is the best thing that has happen to the both of us in the last ten years. Colt : )


Now were a happy little family.


The End

toilets and my shadow.

Often times when I'm home alone and have to use the restroom I won’t completely shut the bathroom door because… a. I’m home alone…2. I don’t plan on being in there for long…and c. shutting the door all the way would be too hard.

Copper is my shadow. 24/7. Everywhere I go. She now knows to wait a few seconds after I go in the bathroom and then she nudges her nose through the door and enters. I grunt her name through my teeth [to let her know I’m really serious] and tell her to get out! Every once in a while she’ll listen…but typically she sits on the corner of the bathroom rug, JUST out of arms reach and watches me pee.

There isn’t anything I can do about it.

This is has been the drama of my morning thus far.

andy and colt

I love this picture of my boys.

Colt is always watching Andy.

Andy is a natural at this 'father' thing.

My life is the bomb.

[enter mushy-gushy mom sigh]

politics and wax.

This year I paid great attention to the election. I watched all the debates. I had big girl conversations about topics concerning America and the candidates. I was quite proud of myself for knowing what the heck I was talking about and felt like a real adult. I also drink my coffee black. Check it off. Yep. Officially an adult.

Obama won. It is what it is. I feel okay about how things turned out because God knew who would win anyways, and he holds my future, not Obami...no need for a panic attack.

When all was said and done with the election I realized how sick I was of watching the news. The 0, 5, and 4 buttons on our remote were rubbed off from tuning into the Fox News Channel everyday. I still hit up the local channels just to know enough of what's going on in the world...but I'm still too drunk from the election to get too mentally involved.

I will probably watch the inauguration. Only because I think it's on during my favorite show, The Biggest Loser and I always have that time blocked out anyway. Wahhh. No seriously though… it's historic. I'll do it for the sake of history. You watchin?

p.s. Apparently Obama is made of wax.