Happy Birthday and Happy Anniversary

Happy birthday Dudela! (Your pressie will be in the mail shortly.)

Happy anniversary mom and dad!

Sorry I am just now posting this. I love you all and hope you all had a great day.

5 Years Ago Today

5 Years ago today, my life became the best it had ever been. I married the love of my life, my sweetheart, my rock, and my strength.

You made my life wonderful, and complete in the way I always dreamed was possible. You made me your wife, and the mother to our daughter. I cannot imagine this world without you, because without you, this world is no place for me.

I Carry Your Heart

i carry your heart with me (i carry it in
my heart) i am never without it (anywhere
i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling)
i fear
no fate (for you are my fate,my sweet) i want
no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

~ E.E. Cummings

I will love you always

Anniversary Recap

Our fourth wedding anniversary day started out great. I left Hubs a card on his desk chair before heading to work, which he found upon walking into his office. I sent him an IM once I got to work telling him happy anniversary and to check the blog for his next surprise. He loved the writeup and the video.

I had made up and printed out a coupon to present to him at dinner that night for a tree in our new back yard. We had a landscape plan drawn up and received it two days before our anniversary. Hubs has always wanted a pecan tree, so I wanted to buy him one as an anniversary gift. Call me sappy and sentimental, but I really like the idea of our children growing up with that tree and always knowing I gave it to their daddy on our anniversary. Next year I plan on having a garden plaque made up to go on the ground in front of it or on the fence behind it to always immortalize our marriage and the tree.


Hubs bought me a new MyTouch phone (the TM.obile version of an iP.hone) for our anniversary a couple weeks before. Awesome gift! I still love it.

That night I took him to Papp.adeuxs for dinner. It is our favorite Cajun seafood restaurant and comes with a nice little price tag. It is always a treat. We usually use family and friends being in town as an excuse to eat there. Everyone wins on that one. On top of taking him to dinner, I bought him a whole pecan pie from the restaurant. His fav!

By the time we got home from dinner I was starting to cramp a little bit. I had been spotting a little throughout the day, but my visitor wasn't due for another week. I figured at first it was just the IUD acting up again. But within a an hour or so of getting home, I was in so much pain I could barely stand up straight or breathe. On top of it, my spotting had turned into bleeding, leading me to believe my visitor was early. I apologized to Hubs and asked if he would be upset if I turned in early, without pie and ice cream. He didn't mind, so I took a pain pill and mozzied off to bed. The next morning the pain was gone and the bleeding had completely stopped. I started thinking about it this week and wondered if the cyst on my left side had ruptured that night. When I looked up the symptoms, they were consistent with what was going on, right down to still being tender a couple of days later. What a wonderful anniversary present to myself.

We made up for all of it the next night though by cuddling and watching a movie while eating our delicious sweet potato pecan pie complete with Blu.eBell ice cream once Baby Bean had been put to bed. Our anniversary was wonderful, and I look forward to our next one.

Happy 4th Anniversary!

To My Sweetheart,

Four years ago today, I walked down the aisle to become your wife. It was by far, one of the happiest days of my life. I had waited and searched for many years to find the man I knew would become my companion until the end of time. On June 25, 2004, you walked into my world and turned it upside down. I knew the moment I saw you that there was something special, and within a few short months, knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you and have a family with you.

Over the past four years, my love for you has grown exponentially stronger. Our marriage and our love for one another has been tested and proven it can weather anything. We have seen each other at our worst, had our fights, and held each other when it seemed like all hell was going to break loose upon us. Through it all, you were by my side, holding me, and sometimes carrying me. You helped me to be strong when I was weak. You guided me when I needed a push in the right direction. But most importantly, you stuck with me and helped me achieve the one thing I wanted most: to be a mother to your children.

There have been many moments in our lives together that your love for me has been proven time and again, and in those moments, I remember how very blessed I am to have you in my life, as my husband from now until the end of time. I want to be with you forever, and I am willing to do whatever it takes to keep our love for each other and our marriage strong. You are a wonderful husband and father. Your love for me and our baby is astounding at times. I am so blessed with your patience and unconditional love.

You help make sense of a crazy world. You help keep things in perspective. You're my hand in the dark. The gentle reminder that life is not only worth living, but that it is great. You're my sun in the morning, and my moon and stars at night.

I am honored and blessed to be your wife, and I will love you all the days of my life and beyond.

Happy Anniversary!

5 Years Ago

5 years ago today I was a happy-go-lucky, single gal who hung out with my best friend (who happened to be a guy) every single Friday night, stayed in touch via text every single day of the week, and went to church just to meet up with him and make fun of all the other people there (it was a singles church). But this Friday was different. I had no idea what I was in store for when I woke up that morning.

N and I had made plans to go visit the local radio station who hosted a "psychic" every Friday morning. We thought it would be fun to go down with my little brother and have her read our cards. I was up first. I sat down, and as she pulled out my cards she informed me that I would be heading back to school in the fall, that I wouldn't find my spouse for at least another 6 years, and that once I did, we would plant roots and never travel. Yeah, I laughed at her. I told her I was going on a blind date that night and asked if I would end up marrying the guy. She told me no. She was adamant that I would not end up marrying him.

My little brother opted to have his cards read over the air. She told him that he would meet the love of his life in the next few months, that he would be married in just over a year, and that he would travel the world with his spouse. Again, I laughed. N and I decided that because my little brother and I are so close, she got our cards mixed up. My little brother protested very loudly and angrily and told me that she had read his cards right, even though he was the one returning to school in the fall (I had already graduated and had ZERO intention of ever going back to college), and I was the one who was dating every weekend while he didn't have any prospects.

That night my little brother helped me decide what I would wear on my date. I got all dolled up and headed downtown to meet the face of the sexy voice I had been speaking to over the phone. I arrived early and sat patiently waiting in the B&N. Then I saw him walk by outside the window. My first thoughts, "Nice! I hope this one works out!" Needless to say, we hit it off instantly. He first took me to dinner, then we hit an art fair that was in town for the weekend, then we went for the biggest piece of chocolate cake I have ever eaten. We rounded out the evening by making out in the parking lot for so long the lady in the parking lot toll booth left before we did and we ended up getting to park for free.

I knew within hours of meeting him that he was something special and that I was interested in seeing him again. I secretly wondered if I had met the love of my life.


4 Years Ago

4 years ago today it was the anniversary of our first date (obviously). I told Hubs I wanted to do something really special. I had hoped we would go to the second-nicest restaurant in the area, since the last time I had eaten there was for my high school prom my sophomore year. That afternoon, Hubs came and picked me up for our date. I excitedly asked what we were going to do. He told me to dress to go hiking. Needless to say, I was kind of ticked. You don't go to the restaurant I wanted to eat at dressed in anything other than formal attire. We were going hiking instead. But before we headed out, he told me I should bring some makeup and a few things to freshen up with after our hike. I was intrigued and no longer irritated.

We drove up the canyon to our favorite trail and took a nice 2-hour hike that ended in us getting caught in a downpour and getting soaked clear through. We laughed and waited out the storm under the roof of a public loo. When the rain let up, he took me to a hotel room just outside the mouth of the canyon where he had two dresses waiting for me that he had picked out himself, along with a pair of shoes. He told me to pick a dress and get myself gussied up. I knew exactly where we were going next!

We pulled up to the restaurant I had wanted to eat at, and Hubs had the truck valeted. While we were waiting to be seated, I looked on at a wedding reception going on outside and wondered if tonight would be the night. We ate our dinner and then headed out front to take a walk around the property. Hubs took me in his arms and we kissed and hugged for a bit. Up until this point, he had never told me he loved me. Yeah, for a whole year I never once heard those words and it killed me, but he always said he wouldn't say it unless he planed on marrying me. I looked into his eyes told him I loved him. He replied, "Yeah? That's a good thing, because I love you too." I stood there, shocked. I finally heard the three words I had longed to hear for months. Then he pulled out my ring, a fantastic 1+ carat heart-shaped diamond solitaire, and asked me to marry him. It was one of the most fantastic nights of my life.

June 25 will always be a very special day for us. The anniversary of our first date and the day we got engaged.

Card Reader Lady, eat your heart out and get a new deck of cards!

Sidenote: My little brother returned to school in the fall. He has not yet met the love of his life, but he travels the world and lives up the single life. It hasn't been 6 years yet. ;)

Happy Anniversary

One year ago today I started my new job in Texas. Friday the 13th marked the one year anniversary of when we rolled into Texas to begin our new lives.

The past year has been absolutely remarkable for us. I had no idea so many wonderful things were going to happen, but I knew that after the hell of a year we had before it, something good had to be coming our way.

It seems like it was just yesterday we drove away from our town home and drove 1300 miles in over 24 hours to Texas. The movers had been there the morning of the 12th to pack up everything we could not fit in my tiny car and hit the road a couple of hours ahead of us. That evening after we had made sure we had everything and given away all of our food to the neighbors, we loaded Mags in the car, and my dad and I had a tearful goodbye. By 6:00 that night, we were on our way. I remember crying as I watched the mountains I had grown up in for the first almost 30 years of my life fade off into the distance. Feeling nostalgic and sad to be leaving my family and my home, yet being excited for the new life we were embarking on. As a parting gift from my home state, I came down with the first cold I had had in over a year and a half.

That night at around 1:00 a.m. I convinced hubs to pull off the road and stay in a hotel, rather than driving straight to Texas. Mags didn't know what to do, since it was her first night in a hotel. All she wanted to do was sniff around, rather than sleep. The next morning we were back in the car by 7:00 a.m. The next 14 hours were painfully dull and long. We literally drove 100 mph the last 5-6 hours of the drive because we were so sick of being in the car.

Around 9:00 p.m. our GPS was giving us the final directions to our corporate housing. I was filled with so much anticipation. Everything was new and exciting! We were pleasantly surprised at the corporate housing digs. The two bedroom apartment was wonderfully laid out and came with everything we needed live there for the next 30 days, minus food and personal items. I just couldn't believe all of it was actually happening. I felt so incredibly blessed and lucky to be living my life.

That weekend we looked at about 40 houses, trying to find our current home. Then came Sunday night. I didn't know if I would be able to sleep because I was so excited. I also lamented the fact that I was starting my new job sporting a fantastic cold.

Monday morning came before I knew it, and I was all dolled up for my new job. I excitedly greeted the receptionist as I waited for my new PM to come get me and show my the ropes. When G showed up and heard my voice, he asked if I wanted to go home because I sounded so terrible. I told him absolutely not and promised him that no one else would get sick from me, and no one did. That first day was fantastic. It was the first time I started a new job where I didn't feel bored and sleepy. Everything interested me, and all of the people were so friendly. I knew I was going to love it there.

Here I am, a year later in a great house with my wonderful husband, our beautiful daughter, and two almost perfect pooches. This move was the best thing that has happened to us since we got married. It was the culmination of a perfect life.

Happy anniversary to me!