More Home Movies

As I started posting these pictures it went thru my head... is this the equivalent of like strapping someone in a chair and forcing them to watch your home movies or vacation slides? Bwa ha ha ha ha... I sure hope not. I mean I supposed you can always click on that next web site if you are sick of me by this point... but again... I hope not. I have really been enjoying sharing our story with you. It has caused me to remember and re-live a lot of old memories and really has me thinking about the girl I was then vs. the woman I am now and what has changed... More on that in a moment. Anyway... since I am having fun.. I thought we would move on to the honeymoon! The photo above ladies and gentlemen is my very first scrapbook layout. I started scrapbooking in 2001. I wanted a special gift for Darrel for our 15th wedding anniversary and what I decided to do was make a scrapbook with highlights from those 1st 15 years together. I started with our honeymoon. Back then I used to do a lot of my own art work and lettering on my pages. I have always liked art and took classes in high school. I drew the tree on the right and then cut it out and added punched leaves to create my tree. Not too awful huh?











So as I mentioned, our honeymoon was at Bull Shoals Lake Arkansas. We drove there the day after our wedding and it was a miracle we made it because we were both exhausted. I don't know how either one of us stayed awake long enough to drive that whole way. We stayed in cabin number 5 at Shady Oaks Resort. It wasn't like "luxurious" but it was nice and had a little living room, small kitchen area, bedroom and bath. It had an ancient window air conditioner that I LOVED because it blew like artic cold air. I like the A/C set on like "snow." Just ask my husband. We spent the week being very lazy by the pool, going to some nearby towns to shop and I can't remember if we went out on the lake. You got a small like fishing boat with the cabin rental, but no motor... handy huh? We went out for dinner each evening and mostly stayed in for breakfast/lunch.

We also had 3 of us in our cabin... Darrel... me... and the mouse. Are you remembering I HATE mice. We were sitting on the couch one of the evenings and across the room we see this mouse pop out of the stove burner and look at us. I of course screamed loudly. Darrel got a mouse trap from the resort office and set out to do some mouse hunting. He also got broken in really quick to the whole husband routine because he had to be on mouse patrol for several days. That was the loudest most obnoxious stinkin' mouse I've ever seen... Since I was just sure it was going to crawl all over us while we were sleeping, Darrel actually closed the bedroom door and like stuffed towels under it to make me feel better. I know, he is pretty sweet isn't he? In the morning before I could get up to head to the girls room... I would like want him to make sure the mouse wasn't in there... I am not that bad these days but again remembering I was only 20 at the time. One night the stinkin' mouse woke me up scratching at the door/wall trying to get in where Darrel had stuffed towels under the door... I of course woke Darrel up... He was sleepy and tired of being on mouse patrol and I remember he got up and slapped the door/wall and the scratching stopped. This had been several days since we first saw the mouse and no luck with the trap. Well after slapping the wall... less than 5 minutes later we heard the trap go off. It was on the opposite side of the other room and it was like Darrel had scared it and it had ran over there and found the trap. It was too funny and I was very relieved that the mouse was gone. Did I mention I HATE mice?












Darrel took this photo of me at the Bull Shoals Dam. I used to be all about the matching and noticed right away here I had on an orange tank top and orange earrings to match my shirt. I think I had khaki shorts. This is another photo where I remember being unhappy with how I looked because I had gained weight. This is also another one where now I am going... why couldn't I see what I really looked like. I mean goodness... it wasn't so bad was it?

Besides going to Bull Shoals, we also stopped in Branson MO, and St Louis MO. We did some shopping and sight seeing in Branson and in St Louis we went to the zoo and to Six Flags. Remember the shirt from the first photo I posted?

Our first home was a mobile home in Minooka IL. It was such a cool God thing. We had been saving for a down payment and every tiny little penny counted. We didn't have quite enough for what we would need. Darrel's job had been negotiating their contract and right at that time it was not only settled, but they got a raise, AND the raise was retroactive to the end of the last contract and that amount made up the amount we needed. In all the time Darrel worked for that company that had not happened before (with the retro pay) and did not happen again.

So our mobile home was brand new. We ordered it and got to pick colors, wall paper and furniture that came with it. While we were on our honeymoon Darrel's sister Renita decided to decorate to welcome us home.













You will be noticing lots of blue and mauve... that was so THE thing at that time in the 80's and I loved it. Um now... not so much. I am noticing how bare everything looks from being so new! Ha! We had things quite a bit fuller 15 years later when we moved to Indiana.













She also decorated the bed.... subtle huh? Ha! If I remember correctly when we turned the bed down... there was rice IN the bed. If I also remember correctly, we returned the favor when she got married. OH! Have to tell you another story about rice. The 1st morning of our honeymoon, Darrel was in his suitcase getting his clothes and I hear him say "I'm gonna kill Bill!" Seems he was finding all this rice all through his suitcase and he was certain his friend Bill, one of the groomsmen, had been the one that had done it. Several times on our honeymoon he mentioned he was going to get Bill for doing that. Well guess what? It wasn't Bill. It was his MOM! HA!!! Seems that the last day he was home, he was loading his stuff into his car and every time he went outside with another box, his Mom had grabbed a handful of rice, ran to his room, opened his suitcase and stuck her hand in and scattered the rice... She did this several times. It was so funny to find out later his Mom had been the culprit.

I moved into our mobile home about a month before our wedding. One day I came home from work and noticed the spare bedroom door was closed. I had not left it closed... so I go to open it trying to figure out if Darrel had been there and look what I found! A kitten. The kitten and I scared each other! Ha. I had been wanting a kitten and Darrel had gotten us one and surprised me. We named him Teddy and we had him for several years. I am not remembering why we had to give him away.

Looking at all these old pictures and talking about old memories has made me remember so many things about myself. I am realizing that somewhere over the last 22 years I had kind of lost that girl a little bit. It seems like because of having more and more weight issues over the years that I forgot I was and can still be that girl. That girl felt pretty and more confident and you know what? I am realizing I am feeling more like her these days. I am realizing she isn't gone, I just forgot about her and pushed her aside but I want her back. I want to not only be that me again but incorporate her into all the good things about me now. I am thinking if I was good at 20 I can be even better at 42. I don't think that is just a dream or wishful thinking. I am thinking that is up to me and it has way more to do with how I think than anything else. God made both girls and I think he is showing me she is all the same girl and that all these good things I am seeing are the things He made me to be.

Old memories also reminded me of all the music I used to listen to. When Darrel and I were dating was when I first discovered Christian Contemporary Music. I still remember getting my first album (yes... old.. vinyl.. big round black record...) and it was Amy Grant, Age to Age. I was home alone. I put that album on my stereo (records/cassette/8-track combo....) and turned up the volume and out came the sounds of "Sing Your Praise To The Lord..." which has an awesome orchestra like opening. I was hooked from the first minute. LOVED it... Got to thinking about that today and thought.. .well duh.. why haven't I checked itunes for that stuff? Guess what? They had my old favorites, Age to Age and Straight Ahead albums, plus I also found a couple others that were my fav!!! Beautiful Music, and Mountain Top.. plus then I found "Nobody Knows Me Like You" by Benny Hester. OK.. turned that one on and I was right back sitting in the middle front seat of Darrel's car... He had a cassette with that on it and we listened to it allll the time.

Have had an interesting week walking. Especially the last 2 days. Monday I was near the end of my walk and getting ready to loop thru the last campground area. I suddenly hear someone talking to me so I look up and there is this man sitting at a picnic table at a camp site and he is asking me how I am doing, etc. I thought it was a little odd that I hadn't seen him or looked at him yet he was making a point that I saw him and trying to have a conversation with me. I just like said I'm fine and kept going. As I am walking away I start to get one of those weird vibes... because I realize he doesn't belong at that camp site. I know who does, and I've never seen him around. Then I realize there is no one else around and start to feel kind of creeped out. If I kept walking the road I was on, I was going to go back by him again... so I followed my gut and where the road curved, I kept going straight right thru the grass and headed for my car. Just had that weird/creeped out feeling and usually when I don't follow my gut I regret it. I told Darrel about it and he didn't like it (of course) and told me I did the right thing.

Ok - so next day... Tuesday... I am walking along.. .listening to my music.. minding my own business and I hear a vehicle coming up behind me. This is normal but it was going slow enough that I am thinking I wish they'd just pass already... sometimes people seem to slow down rather than just go around and keep moving. Well this is a big silver pick-up with the big tires and pipes and the whole bit and a guy in it by himself. He slows way down and says to me "would I like to do some walking for him too...." I did not even know how to answer that. I just looked at him... and kind of waved him on, put my eyes back in front of me and kept moving. I don't think I said a thing. He pulled away. He was not just making small talk. I mean Darrel would never pull up by some woman who was by herself and start talking and it was kind of a weird thing to say. So as I am walking I realize he was probably going to a camp site and there was a good chance as I walked my route I could go by him again. I did go by him again but just kept moving and praying and he and his friend didn't seem to see me. This little encounter bugged me enough that part of my walk I had my little pink pepper spray in my hand. Probably didn't help that it was 2 days in a row and maybe he was just being nice, or maybe even "just" flirting or something but I'd just like to be left alone please. I mean with the slow driving up and then the whole exchange it felt like he was checking me out. I came home again and told Darrel about it. I came in the house and said to him "am I particularly cute in this outfit or something?" (and um totally kidding because I never think I am cute enough that some guy is looking at me ok....) And Darrel says why... did some guy say something to you again? Then of course he tells me I did look cute. Um NOT! I walk in walking shorts and an old tank top... no make up... and um completely slimy sweaty by that point... not seeing any cuteness in that! Ha! And NO - Darrel was NOT liking this either. I think he is ready to go find some people and beat them up... ha ha ha ha.... (He is so cute... he gets this look on his face and says "I don't like it..." ) Both incidents were actually kind of annoying...I am old fashioned and conservative but I thought it was totally inappropriate for either guy to go out of his way to make contact and conversation with a woman who was alone. Why do some men just seem to think its their right to look and make comments? Anyone got an anwer for me?

Since I whined and cried about the 5K people.. I have to tell you what they did. If you recall after the 5K we did earlier this month, we got to the walk to find out they did not have our registration therefore we did not get our shirts or goodie bags. I was very disappointed about this and was doubtful they would follow thru and send us our stuff. Well I was wrong. Quite wrong. Today not only did our shirts come, but also 2 goodie bags that were very decent AND a note that said they were sorry for the hassle AND a $50, yes.. I said fifty dollar... gift card from Casey's. Um... that is like $50 worth of GAS. I was stunned. So big wow and thank you to the 5K organizers at St Mary's Hospital in Boonville. We appreciate you going above and beyond to correct the situation.

Day at home tomorrow. I have sooo much cleaning and things to do so this will make NO sense... but I am tempted to blow it all off and either go to the beach or scrapbook or maybe both. I posted something about it on facebook and I got 5 votes plus my husband telling me the cleaning would be there later and they voted for the beach and scrapbooking! Ha! One friend even said and I quote "summer is too short. cleaning is for winter!" HA!!!! I told her I was going to print that out and hang it on my fridge! Ha! I may do the minimum tomorrow and try to catch a break. Life has been moving way too fast and when I get overwhelmed sometimes I tend to retreat. Sometimes it helps though cause I get a second wind and then get back in the game and get something done. Plus.. I started a new book and wouldn't it be fun to sit with my feet in the water and read? (I am reading Melody Carlson's I Heart Bloomberg which I just started but am really enjoying.) I told my facebook friends it was nice to have so much support for my being a slacker. ha!! I must say... weight loss and all I still have issues with going to the beach. I really want to go, but last time I went (a few years ago) some kids made some cruel comments and I came home hurt and sad. 75, almost 76 lbs later I feel like a new me... but the old things are hard to forget. However - I may not be, may never be a size 6 but I am finished being unhappy with myself and hiding at home. So - I just may brave the beach after all....

Blessings!

22 Years Ago

22 Years ago tonight, right about this time actually 8 PM Illinois time, this is what I was doing. Sitting at Babas's restaurant having our wedding reheasrsal dinner. My husband is hugging me and looking sly there because he was about to give me this....

Do you see that box in my hand? Do you see my Mom trying to act lke she has NO idea what it could be.... She lies. She knew! Ha. Well Darrel had just given me my wedding gift from him and guess what it was? LOOK...












Pearls! Yes, he got me a string of pearls. Loved them!! Loved them , loved them. I wore them on our wedding day and lots and lots of times since them. My Mamaw and his mamaw always had pearls and I always thought they were such a cool heritage keepsake, heirloom kind of thing and was (am) so thrilled to have my own strand. He is good.. I keep telling you.

So it's date night and we are sitting at Zanders, the fabulous gourmet ice cream place. Did you know they have free wi fi? Love free Wi Fi! Why doesn't everyone have it so I could just bring my pretty pink laptop with me where ever I go? Makes sense to me. Since we are having the big anniversary celebration tomorrow, we needed a low key inexpensive evening for date night. A very sweet lady from church had blessed me with a gift certificate at Christmas time and we put it to use tonight for dinner. It was good. Then we headed over to Zanders and enjoyed a little um ice cream before soaking up their Internet... OK - the ice cream... they have something called Vanilla Jimble. Oh my goodness... my new favorite. Homemade vanilla with oreos and chocolate chips! YUM. It ranks right up there with my first favorite here which is mint chocolate chip. PLUS I asked for extra chips on top. I meant chocolate chips. She thought I meant the waffle cone chip they give you in your ice cream cup and she gave me like 8! YUM.. Did not even know you could get extra of those so thought I'd share that great tip! We were staking out the best table but someone beat us to it. (the square glass table in the window) Well since we are hanging out for a bit, when they left we took up residence. Ok 2 problems with the "best" table. One... it's glass.. my pretty pink wireless mouse does not work so good on glass so I am currently using my date book as a mouse pad! Ha. Two.... the seats in these chairs are DEEP... they are for TALL people like my husband. I sat back in it and asked my husband if I could sit at the grown ups table! Seriously... my legs were like dangling and I felt like a little kid in her parents chair! Bwa ha ha ha... I have since discovered my purse makes a pretty good back cushion and solved the problem. I know you were worried.

Ok awwwwwwww! While I am sitting here blogging to you Darrel left a comment on my blog on yesterday's post. He is going to get me all emotional here.... You have to see what he said... Check it out here... Awwww he is the sweetest thing ever.



















Here is the promised wedding dress photo. Not too shabby huh? I LOVED my dress... I think I mentioned that yesterday. This was it.. THE Wedding Day! I think I can remember every moment. This photo was taken at my parent's house. I met here with my bridesmaids to get dressed and ready for the wedding. It was HOT and HUMID and rainy. I did not care. My hair did not come out like I wanted. Didn't care. My makeup wasn't perfect... um yep didn't care. I was so calm, happy and peaceful this day... I didn't care about any of that stuff. I was just so happy to be getting married to Darrel and had never been more sure I was with the right person doing the right thing according to what God had planned for us. God's peace was the peace I felt that day. You can get so wrapped up in wedding details that you think it will matter if everything is not perfect. Wrong.. it isn't about that stuff. It was about the two of us finally becoming one and nothing could have been more right or perfect and all the stuff just didn't matter.

Noticing the pearls right? Weren't they even the perfect length? The one thing I would change about my wedding day was my wedding bouquet. When I got to my Mom's and saw my flowers I was disappointed. They were beautiful, but they were not the picture I had in my head. You know what I mean? This was the first time I remember learning that if you think you are on the same page with someone, and that you both have the same picture in your head... you never really know that till you see the results. You need to show people like actual pictures/samples not just describe it to them because they can put together a way different image. When we were dating, not even engaged yet, a friend of my Mamaw's had shown me her granddaughter's wedding photo and she had this beautiful cascading bouquet that was all purple flowers. It was gorgeous. That was what I wanted but red. A beautiful cascade of red roses. So not what I got. My first thought was what is all this white stuff in here? See one thing I kept running into with wedding planning was florists, photographers, dress people that wanted to sell you and tell you about what a "traditional" wedding bouquet or a traditional wedding whatever they were selling should look like. I didn't care about that. I wanted this cascade of red. Never knew we were adding all these white flowers and things cause um I don't even care for carnations. Even though I am whining now... that day.... I really didn't care. It was quickly forgotten. (Ask Darrel about how we can be watching a wedding on TV and the bride will have a beautiful all rose bouquet and how even today I'll go - "see how come she got to have an all rose bouquet?" ha ha ha ha ha)



















It's very cool to look at a 22 year old picture and be typing about it and look down and see the same ring on your finger. Love that! Only thing that has changed is the brushed look on the bands wore off and I now also wear an anniversary band he got me on our 10 year anniversary.












Hot, humid and rainy, our wedding day was still beautiful. Random memories would be: Talking to Darrel on the phone before the wedding. Seeing all of my bridesmaids um exit the getting ready room when one of the girls decided she was using like tape and bandaids for her support under her dress... enough said.... Watching my Mamaw weave back and forth behind the photographer trying to take a picture of me. Too cute. Driving up to the church and seeing my brother in his tux and my Mom's reaction to that. Getting out of the car at the church and the first one I saw was my Grandma. She had been SO excited about the wedding and was such a blessing. I remember she told me she had even been on time today and Grandpa hadn't even said anything. Going to the bathroom before the ceremony and running right into my Aunt Mary whom I didn't know was coming and not recognizing her at first. Too Funny. Waiting outside the sanctuary to go down the aisle and being soooo stinking excited to see Darrel. Getting to the end of the aisle and wanting so bad to hug Darrel but not doing it because I thought I wasn't supposed to before the vows, etc. Still regret to this day NOT hugging him. I mean WHY did I care about what I was supposed to do? Seeing the look on Darrel's Mom's face when I came towards her to give her a mom's rose. She is so sweet. Giggling during our vows because each one of us had kept stumbling over the words in one section at the rehearsal and we made it thru at the ceremony. Hearing you may kiss the bride.... Answering to Mrs. Koontz as soon as they called us back into the sanctuary for photos and they were talking about Darrel's Mom! Ha! Getting in the car to head to the next location and informing Darrel that I had a 2nd garter on that was for him to keep. (he had removed and thown a blue one. I had another red fuzzy pretty one). It took him all of 30 seconds or had the sentence even left my mouth before he had that puppy on his arm.... Let just say he wasn't shy....













After the wedding we did photos and then a cake and punch reception in the church basement. I loved our cake. It had a fountain and little bridges to side cakes.




















And NO we did not do the smearing of cake in your loved ones face. I hate that and would not have been happy about having cake in my hair and veil and nails and dress... I had enough problems with the rice later! Ha. We calmly polietly fed each other cake. We also opened our gifts at our reception. That was fun. We were supposed to go to the park and take outdoor photos but again..the rain. After that was a family dinner so we ended up having time to kill because of no park photos. Well it stopped raining for a minute and he took one or 2 pics right outside of the church. This is my favorite wedding photo.




















The family dinner was great and I have good memories of seeing everyone together. We stayed at a hotel in town for the night and then headed to our honeymoon destination the next morning.



















We drove to Bull Shoals Arkansas and stayed in a cabin there for a week. They have a beautiful lake there and its just pretty and peaceful and quiet. We had a GREAT week. We went out most evenings for dinner and found a favorite pizza place (which we have visited again in other years we went back there) and the nice restaurant I mentioned which was Gastons.

And so tomorrow we celebrate that 22 awesome years that came next... the happily ever after part. No, it's not been perfect. There was and I'm sure still will be some really hard stuff... Stuff like depression, infertility, serious financial struggles.. but we got through it stronger and more united and more in love. When you put God at the center he can see you thru anything. Happy Anniversary Honey. I love you more than there are words to say. You are my friend, my husband, my companion.... I am so blessed by every moment we have had and will have together and I will continue to thank God for blessing me soooo much. ILY... P.

After She Said Yes...

This picture was taken at Christmas which was just 15 days after we got engaged. We were at Darrel's parents house and my hand is around his shoulder like that because his sisters were trying to get a picture that showed the ring! HA! Have I mentioned I love my ring? Yes, still, 24 years later. I am gazing at it lovingly as I type. Ha. Ha.




















The day after Christmas our wedding announcement was in our local Joliet paper. It is the small one on the right. In Feb. of 1986, Darrel's Mom surpised us and put the larger announcement with the photo in their local paper in Morris IL. How cool was that? She worked at the paper at the time. I can't remember what her job was. Darrel and I had the picture taken a few months before we got engaged, but we liked it so much we used it as an engagement photo a couple of times. Darrel worked at a department store in the mall at the time (Bergners, which turned into Carsons which turned into Macys....) and they were doing a photo special for customers and employees got like a 50% discount. As you can see we wore the famous pink and gray outfit that was in that picture with my birthday roses! Ha! I still love that picture. And um yes... my middle name is Yvette. Bet you would have never guessed that one right?



















Then it was on to wedding planning and details. We had a year and 1/2 to plan so plenty of time, but wow what a big job right? When we settled on a wedding photographer part of his package included taking engagement photos so these are a couple of the ones that he took for us. Can you tell I liked big hair? Still do. Ha! I am trying to remember if I had color on my hair or if that was the real me at the time? My hair has gotten darker as I have gotten older.



















I am just noticing that once again we matched. I am sure we must have planned that but I am not remembering for sure. These would have been taken in 1986. It's goofy the things that stick in my head... because I am remembering that the photographer liked "the line of the pearls and the line of the tie" in the composition of his photo! Ha.




















Next it was on to the dress shopping. Oh my gosh how fun was that? I went to look for my dress knowing that I wanted a wedding dress.... Know what I mean? I wanted a princess dress, a foofy dress a wow that is a wedding dress kind of dress. Can you believe I still have this magazine page complete with notes? I am a scrapbooker of course you can. Ha! OK first of all like a good little bride I went right out and got myself all the latest bridal magazines. That is a requirement right? But I did not pick this dress out of a magazine. I had thought I wanted like victorian, sweetheart neckline, long sleeves... Um so not what I got. It seems once you start trying on things you find out in a hurry you can like something completely different than what you thought. Of the many shops we went to one was this ritzy, fancy kind of shop that really was kind of snotty and not all that nice.... however they put me in this dress. After trying it there I found the picture of it in one of my mags. The snotty shop wanted $625. Well once I had the picture, I took it with to any of the other shops I visited later to show what style I liked. One of those shops saw my notes and did better on the price and then the next shop which I liked the best and went with matched the better price of $550. I can remember the week or so trying to decide on a dress. I swear I was completely distracted and could not think straight about anything except which dress to pick. My Mom was like worried about me driving and stuff! Ha!! Don't worry I survived and went with my gut and have never been sorry about my decision. Loved this dress. Still do. I'll show you a picture of me in the dress tomorrow or Sat on the big day!




















Our wedding colors were red and white. At first my favorite color was purple and the wedding was going to be purple... However in my bridal magazine I spotted a picture that had a bridal party with the girls in red, guys in black tuxes and red roses. I loved and adored red roses and loved that look so I did what any woman would do and quickly changed my mind! Ha. I later found out that Darrel's sister Dee was making us a precious moments cross stitch picture of the wedding party and she had already stitched a purple flower in the brides hair... oops... She fixed it though. She is good and yes, she is still speaking to me. These were our wedding invitations. Aren't they pretty? I loved that verse on the front and I loved how they read inside. It was not the traditional Mr and Mrs Davis and Mr and Mrs Koontz invite you kind of thing. It talked about Darrel and I being "the children God had entrusted" to our parents and wanting God's will for our lives. It was very cool and did I say pretty?

Almost anniversary day.. I guess tomorrow is officially anniversary eve. My present came the other day... It was on the porch when I got home Wednesday in a pretty good size box. Normally Darrel gets home first but of course this day... it was me. I saw who the box was from... but have no idea what is inside and yes.. I am very curious. Guess I will find out Saturday! You know what comes after Saturday don't you? COUNT DOWN TO BIRTHDAY WEEK. yay!!!!! I just love birthday week. Had you heard?

Hope you have an awesome Friday. We probably aren't having a big date night tomorrow because we are going out Saturday, but I am sure we will do something together. Then Sunday - Father's Day! We are going to go and have lunch with my Dad and see him for a bit. Will make for a busy but good weekend. Blessings!

Happy Birthday Honey!

Do you remember this birthday dinner honey? It was 3 days before our wedding. June 17th, 1987. I was living in what would be our new home and you were living at home with your parents. I was up past my ears in wedding details and decisions and decided to take the 3 days before the wedding off. I stayed home and avoided anyone who wanted me to make one more decision! Ha! I was determined to make you a birthday dinner and a birthday cake that we would enjoy in our new home together. So because we were young and um poor.... our new home did not have air conditioning. Do you remember how summer in a mobile home with no A/C felt? It was stinkin' HOT.... Did I let this deter me? NOPE. I wanted you to have a special birthday. So I decided on Pizza Casserole (which had to be baked in the oven...) and a 3 layer chocolate cake (from scratch) that had a whipped cream filling between the layers and homemade icing. Ok, 22 years later I am seeing that these were not the best choices. First I made the cake. Now I should have gotten a clue that this was going to be an uphill battle when I read in the recipe that both the whipped cream filling and the icing were to be beat with a mixer with your mixing bowl sitting in a bowl of ice so it stayed chilled. OK - it must have been about 100 degrees in our mobile home on this June day BEFORE I turned the oven on. I'm just saying.... Still determined, I set out to follow the recipe to the letter and make you this cake. I had trouble getting the whipped cream to set up.... I had trouble getting the icing to the right consistency. I had to keep adding more powdered sugar to have some hope it would ever like stick to the cake! Ha! I finally got it all in one piece and decorated with your name and candles. Now on to dinner. The pizza casserole came out OK, but instead of removing the Italian sausage from the casing, I forgot and just broke it up in pieces in the casing. It still came out tasting OK, but the sausage would have crumbled and been better throughout the casserole had I done it right. Of course NO ONE could have convinced you to tell me anything else but that everything was delicious. I knew this was NOT true about my cake for sure although to this day, you swear it was good. I remember after our wedding rehearsal 2 days later you and your Mom came back to our house and took most of that cake back home with you to feed to your sisters and relatives staying with you for the wedding. No one died... so maybe it wasn't too lethal! ha!!!! I remember even your Mom kept telling me how good the icing was and asked how I'd made it. She is so sweet.

I love looking at that picture and remembering that day. Our first official dinner in our new home. I got to use new dishes from my Aunt Delores from my shower. The drinking glasses were from my Grandma. They are crystal and she got them one at a time thru Dominicks for me. I still have both of those things. I remember buying that table cloth, placemats and napkins and how proud I was of them. I see Grandma's gold decorative dish on the hutch behind you. I had forgotten she had given that to me then. Still have that too. It was a good day and a good beginning.

Now here we are 22 years later and it's Darrel's birthday today! Happy Birthday Honey! I love you so much! I am so proud to have shared your last 25 birthdays with you! You are the best husband ever. Seriously! Let me share a few reasons you are the best with the blogging world.

1. 25 years together and he still opens doors for me, sends me flowers, writes love notes, holds my hand.... all that romantic mushy stuff that just melts my heart.

2. Every Saturday morning he makes me breakfast and he is the best pancake/waffle/french toast maker you'd want to meet. He often makes dinner too so that I can do my walking after work.

3. He is a good Christian man and has standards and morals like the Bible teaches and he sticks to them. I have never once seen him compromise them. He continually surprises and amazes me with his knowledge of the Bible as well. I can bring up a passage or question and he often knows the answer or has insight.

4. He LIKES to go shopping with me. He says if shopping is one of my favorite things and I am like "in my element" during that time why would he want to miss out on that? Isn't he awesome?

5. He knows how to do everything.... not only that... .he's really good at it doesn't matter what it is.

6. Um did I forget to mention how cute he is? He still makes me weak in the knees... especially when he is all dressed up or doing something that shows me how strong he is... hubba hubba...

7. He is always there for anyone who needs help. He will pitch in and work on whatever needs doing and it will be done well and with precision and detail.

8. He knows me like no one else. He makes me feel beautiful and special and loved.

9. He is so smart and good at his job. I have been told many times by bosses and co-workers how well liked he is, what a hard worker he is, how good he is at what he does. When we were young and struggling with money he worked extra jobs and did whatever it took to provide for us.

10. He is patient, loving, kind, affectionate and not ONE day has ever gone by where I have not been told "I love you."

I could give you a 110 more reasons, but hopefully that just gives you a taste of how special and amazing this man is. I love you so much honey. Happy Birthday.












This was Darrel's birthday week gift this morning. A little post it cube for his desk and his favorite mints. It has been so FUN celebrating birthday week. So glad someone invented it... oh wait... that was me! Ha! No actually it was my friend Judy. Thanks Judy for the whole birthday week idea. We have definitely run with it. I am working now on an expansion to birthday month... Had you heard?! Ha!!


















Did you check out the Jennifer McGuire Thinking Inking Class? I LOVED the first techniques with the Tim Holtz/Ranger Distress inks. I was wanting to make Darrel a birthday card so I had some time this evening (in between cake baking) to give it a try. Here is what I came up with. Cool huh? Love the blending technique and the embossing ink/water spray technique she taught. The video was great and easy to follow. I am hoping I can stick with the class to at least some extent and complete some more projects. Here is a closer view of the card detail. I love the layering of the inks and stamps...












I think the class thread is here. I can't check that link right now because 2 peas is down for maintenance. The screen print look there was done with the what Jennifer teaches in class using embossing ink and a spritz of water on the stamp stamped on the image after applying/blending your base ink. I need some time to play with these ideas some more and definitely will now need alllll the colors of distress ink... Ha!



















Remember the cute princess shoes from yesterday. Well this is the beautiful little person they belong to. This was the first picture I took of Addi. When I asked her if I could take a picture of her shoes, this was what she did. Too cute huh? Still making me smile! I believe she was Cinderella yesterday and that was supposed to also be her Cinderella dress. How adorable is she. Not only that, she is VERY sweet.

Well need to head to bed. It's been a full evening of carrot cake baking, card making, blogging, house cleaning and kitten caring for. oh... remember my comment about the mouse Gracie brought the babies yesterday or the um head of a mouse rather? Well since then, there has been 2 more mice and a small FROG... I am not sure if she is teaching the babies to hunt or bringing them food to eat or both. It's like funny and GROSS all at the same time. I am beginning to be afraid to look in the pen to see what kind of creature might be in there! At least the majority have been mice! I hate mice remember and the more mice and moles she clears off the property um fine by me! ha!

Big birthday dinner and celebration tomorrow so I may not post till Thursday. Want to share like I said about wedding planning, engagement photos and then for Saturday the big wedding day! Yay!! I LOVE birthday anniversary time. It just may be my favorite holiday! Ha!!

Blessings!

She said YES....eventually...

Picture it.... Downtown Chicago, December 14, 1985.... 22 degrees BELOW ZERO wind chill and what did we do? Spent the day walking around Chicago! Ha! It was freezing cold but we didn't care. For most of our dating years Darrel attended college at University of IL Chicago Circle campus. On the weekends, whenever possible (which we did all we could to make sure it was MOST every weekend) Darrel would ride the train home and I would pick him up in Joliet IL which was near where we lived. If he couldn't come home for the whole weekend, I would go spend Saturday with him. We would usually go to the State Street Mall, Water Tower Place, different book stores and restaurants, sometimes the museums or Art Institute or things like that. So Chicago and spending time there became a pretty special regular thing for us. So I guess when Darrel was planning how he wanted to propose, he thought that was the place to go. He planned that we would drive into the city and spend the day running around shopping and doing all the things we normally did in Chicago and in the evening we would have dinner at Ali's Bakery. This was a nice restauarnt in the Marriott Hotel right on Michigan Ave.

We first went to this restaurant when another couple who were friends of ours took us there on my birthday in 1984. I worked with Henry and he and his wife took us to dinner and then on a carriage ride that year. First time on a carriage ride also and this also became a special thing for Darrel and I. We took several more Chicago carriage rides during the time we dated. So back to December 14th. I knew we were shopping this day and eating at Ali's. Darrel and I had been talking about getting engaged and marriage for months. I wondered if he might propose this day and figured if he did, it would be at dinner. We had an awesome day and somehow managed not to freeze and headed to Ali's where we got a great table right next to the fireplace. We both ordered prime rib. As dinner went on I realized there was not going to be a proposal happening and I was disappointed. Since it didn't happen at dinner I figured it wasn't happening that day. We headed back outside and Darrel said we were going to take a carriage ride. Our driver's name was Mike and the horse's name was Lightning. Now again, picture it.... It's Christmas time, it's night time and the whole city is lit with little white Christmas lights on all the trees. Our horse had jingle bells on his harness. The carriage was enclosed for the cold weather and they gave us lap blankets to keep us warm. It was perfect.

The ride was to last for 1/2 hour and that time usually went by quickly. The whole ride we are all bundled up together and Darrel kept hugging me. I mean really hugging me hard. He must have hugged me like 20 times and I am wondering ok what is up with him? As it is getting near the end of the ride, he says to me, "Can I do something I've been wanting to do for a long time?" I said yes - and duh guess I need a brick to hit me in the head - because even though I had thought he might propose at dinner - I was not getting it at all that that was what was going on here. It never occured to me he would propose in the carriage... I know.. Duh! So I said yes and am still wondering what is going on until..... he started to get up off the seat beside me. In that moment then it was like time stopped and ... I knew what was coming. He got down on one knee in the carriage.. and said he loved me and would I marry him... OK wow... how romantic and special was that? Christmas lights, jingle bells on the horse, romantic carriage ride, wonderful day in the city and now the man I love is down on one knee in the carriage asking me to marry him... I was speechless. Now it was my turn to keep hugging him! Ha! The carriage stopped and the ride was over and we got out and Darrel had to tell me that I had not answered him. Can you believe it? I was probably just standing there grinning like an idiot! Ha!! I of course said YES!! The carriage driver had no idea what had just happened, but he asked if we'd like him to take our picture. I just had one of those little kodak disc cameras so the pictures are kind of hard to see since it was so dark but I treasure them! We drove home back to my house with our heads in the clouds excited to tell my parents. I remember feeling like "is this really real?" It was all my dreams come true and still is. Darrel stayed the night at my family's house and then we saw his parents at church the next morning to tell them. Darrel did not have my ring yet that night. He told me something about not being able to get it yet. What his plan was though was to surprise me with it for Christmas.

Well Monday I go to work and two disappointing things happened. First, a friend of mine who heard about the engagement at church, got to work before me and proceeded to tell everyone in the place before I got to. Was not happy about that. Second, the manager of the office told me that if I didn't have a ring yet then I wasn't really engaged... BONEHEAD... I went home totally heartbroken and upset (remember I was only 19 years old at the time) and I remember Darrel holding me and asking me what was wrong. As I relate the whole sorry story thru tears he is first ready to go punch out the manager... ha... and second, he tells me that my ring is all picked out and ordered and was being made. He had went to a jeweler where he got to pick out the stone from loose stones and then picked out the setting and it was to be ready that Saturday. He had wanted to surprise me at Christmas but seeing me so upset he said he couldn't not tell me. I received my ring 1 week after the day he proposed. It was Dec. 21st. When he had found out he couldn't have the ring on the day we could be in Chicago he had decided to still go ahead and propose because he really wanted it to be special and memorable and in the whole carriage setting and that was the day we could be there. Looking back I wouldn't change one thing. He did make it amazingly romantic and special and memorable and I can see every second in that carriage in my mind still like it just happened 5 minutes ago. He is AWESOME and always always has been.












As birthday week for him continues, this was the gift awaiting my husband this morning. A favorite snack and a cute little notebook filled with graph paper. Ok when I saw that, I knew it was totally him. He does drafting remember? Totally a graph paper, t-square, draw me a picture kind of guy. I told him next time he wants to draw me a picture to explain to me some plan he has in mind he is all set! Ha! Now, speaking of birthday week, guess who got a gift for birthday week? ME!

I'm at work today and the cutest little person wearing these pretty pink and purple princess Cinderella shoes comes in the office and hands me the greatest pink gift bag. My little visitor was Addi, our Youth Pastor's daughter and Addi's Mom Erica. I think Grant had mentioned birthday week to them or she had read it on facebook...I'm not sure, but they had thought it was my birthday week and got me a gift!! Look!











It's all PINK.. I LOVE it. There was this awesome giant pink clothespin which I LOVE and one of those air freshesner diffuser things in strawberry kiwi so it was also pink! It smells so good!! Both things have already found a home in my scrapbook room. PLUS I got a fabulous Hoops and Yoyo card. I love hoops and yoyo they totally crack me up. Jen you have to hear this card. It's all about how there should be no rules on your birthday. Too funny! Plus, Addi gave me a Dora card that she signed herself! Look at this!












Is that not the most adorable thing EVER? They totally made my day. Totally. I am such a sucker for gifts and especially pink gifts! Erica had wished me happy birthday on facebook yesterday and I had explained that it was Darrel's birthday and that mine was coming July 19. Well she decided to bring my gift anyway (plus a great hoops and yoyo card for Darrel) and said happy earliest birthday. I told her this was a fabulous idea because Hey, I was already thinking since birthday week was so fabulous we should expand to birthday month and now look... she went and started it. And yes... Darrel was so happy to hear this! Ha!!!

So I am at the salon getting my haircut today and mention all this to my stylist. She says if it's Darrel's birthday week she needs to give him something. He had an appointment an hour later... I said I know, there is some fabulous double fuchsia Chi nail polish over there..... HA HA HA HA She said she was going to tell Darrel and was laughing at me. I said he wouldn't be surprised and would probably laugh. He told me later she started to tell him and before she could tell him, he said to her, what did she think you should give me, some pink nail polish? Bwa ha ha ha ha See I told you he is good.

The Jen McGuire class started on two peas today! I have not even made it over to the site to check it out yet.. Not a good start for keeping up with class is it? Ha. Looks like the thread is here and its about distress ink. My fav! In other scrapping news Lisa has been wondering if we can attend CKC in Nashville or a Scrap Expo in St Charles IL. I am not remembering the dates right off and need to look up the details better. Heather... if you are reading... did you attend a CKC? Did you take classes and did you like it? Lisa and I were wondering. Maybe we should all go? I am not sure I can even afford to go so this may all be a dream..... ha.

Need to go make a grocery list for birthday dinner and birthday cake ingredients! Tomorrow is baking day for the carrot cake. I have Darrel's gift all ready to go. I do need a card though... Guess I could have been making a card instead of blogging huh? Oh well. You would have missed me right? I had a brief moment this evening when I could not remember where I hid his gift! Ha! He was very willing to start searching for it to help me of course..

Kittens are doing well. Carly has started making it out of the pen so Darrel rigged up and added some ledges to their pen which seem to be keeping them contained for the immediate future. When I went out to check on them earlier they were all relaxing on one of the old cushions we threw in there. When they got up I am like EWWWWWWW there was some part of some creature laying there. YUCK... Evidently Gracie the hunter is still trying to provide some solid food for her little family and brought them a mouse head. I do not want to know what happened to the rest of the mouse. Did I say Ewwwwww?

Blessings! Next up I wanted to share about my wedding dress and our engagement pics and announcement. Be sure to tune in! Ha!

Heading Towards An Engagement

These have to be some of my favorite pictures of us from during our dating years. LOVE them. OK first, the roses there, are the first dozen roses Darrel ever sent me. They were for my birthday. Of course they were in the picture, I probably practically carried them around with me! ha! I believe they were for my birthday which would mean these pictures are from July 1985. That sounds right. I should also mention that since that first dozen roses I don't think in all these years there has been a single birthday or annivesray where he did not get me roses. He is pretty great... Have I mentioned that? In this photo we were dressed up to attend the wedding of a friend of mine from high school.. I am sure you are noticing we match... I might have had a little something to do with that. I loved that dress. It was gray with a pink ribbon trim and belt and I had some cool pink heels on. Doesn't Darrel look cute in his pink tie?













We look like we might like each other just a little huh? I just went and looked... I should take a picture and show you my first scrapbook which was about our whole dating years.... and this was July 20 1985 which was the day after my birthday. So this was about 2 mos. after the whole hard weekend and we were doing quite well at this point. We seemed to go to LOTS of weddings in 1985. I worked at a moving company (and Darrel did too sometimes) and several of the people there were getting married. We were like the last of that group of couples to tie the knot.



















Here we are before a wedding in May 85 which would have been just a few weeks after the weekend I wrote about in my last post. Ok on the whole weight issues things... I remember very specifically that I felt so big and ugly on this day... was not happy with my hair, did not like my suit... this makes me think that when we all have those days we should take our picture and look at it because looking back now I keep asking myself "what was the problem?" I know, it's that head thing again. That is Darrel's car in the background. We had our first date and a lot of dates in that car. Love that...



















Here we are before my work Christmas party. I am thinking this has to be 1985 also because my hair was shorter. In 1984 my hair was still long and Darrel was at college. We got engaged December 14, 1985. I will tell you all about that soon. It's a good story. Darrel planned and executed an awesome proposal day/evening. He is good! I was just realizing I hadn't told you about our first date. Back when we were doing that whole confused, have our feelings changed or not thing, I had gotten brave and given him a card booklet thing that said a whole little story about "I am in like with you..." I was terrified he didn't feel the same and would not speak to me again. Instead, he called me over by him after church that night and said "so what would you like to do this week?" We got to talking and figured out that I was already coming to his house that week because I had a rehearsal with his sister Dee. She was playing the piano and I was playing my flute for something in church. So he said why don't I stay for dinner and then we'd go do something. I tried to wait till I was alone to like squeal and jump up and down. Ha! So when I got to his house that week, his Mom and sister were all happy to see me and thought the rehearsal was the only reason I was there. Secretly I am dying because I don't see Darrel anywhere and I am like dying to see him.... (turns out he was in the back yard refinishing an old antique drafting table his parents got him for a grad gift. - that table is now my current scrapbook table!) Finally he comes in and I am done practicing with Dee and he and I are spending time together and his mom comes over to inivite me to stay for dinner... which is when he decided to tell her he had already invited me for dinner days ago. Oops... We all laughed and it was just funny. After dinner we took off for a movie in town and we saw "The Natural." See at that point his Mom had NO idea he would have invited me to dinner because if you think Darrel and I were confused about our feelings... well his family had no idea things were changing at that point. So that was our big first date! Ha! By the summer of 85 we had begun to talk about marriage and getting engaged but one of us wasn't ready yet. The other one of us isn't so patient... can you guess which is which? Ha. He takes his time and thinks things thru and is very sure before he makes a move. I am very glad he is that way because it made me even more secure in his feelings for me and that he was sure of them. We dated for a year and a half and he asked me to marry him like I mentioned in Dec. 1985. Even though we had talked about it and knew we would get married eventually I was very surprised on the day it happened. I have some pictures and that story to share tomorrow.



















Look at this awesome gift we received today. Ok Lori - I just have to tell everyone you are awesome. I LOVE your attention to detail and how well you just already seem to know me and speak my language. Look what she did? First the gift bag and tissue are all in pink. LOVE it. Then, the card... well the pictures on the envelope and on the card itself - mostly from my blog! How cool is that? Look here at the card -



















Isn't she good and so sweet? Plus look at the gift in the photo above - it is this beautiful little anniversary picture frame. OK that is a very cool gift because one of the first gifts we ever received after we got married was a picture frame. We were on our honeymoon and at dinner at this nice restaurant and the waitress came to our table and said she was afraid to bother us because we seemed so how do I say it...intimate? We told her we were on our honeymoon and later she came back to the table and gave us this little ceramic wedding picture frame. It was so sweet!!! So very cool that Lori and her husband Kurt and daughter Ali gave us such a nice gift of a picture frame. We are going to take our picture next Sat. on our anniversary to put in it! Thank you, thank you Lori and family. Once again you have totally spoken my language and touched my heart!













So birthday week for him the past two days... He receieved some very lovely fishing lures and a note that says an afternoon (of his choice) of fishing is included. Yes he was happy about that! Today he got some more of his favorite snacks! His actual birthday is this Wednesday so Tuesday night I will be baking the annual famous carrot cake. He has decided that for dinner he wants to grill steaks and make steamed broccoli and baked potatoes for a quiet dinner at home with me. We may rent a movie or something too. He likes movies... oh and we won't even talk about how many points are in a piece of that carrot cake!














Ok so today I am at church and yes, I was feeling cute today (which is a VERY new thing for me) ... probably because my husband had such an approving look (and a few comments) before we left the house this morning...not to mention wearing a new smaller size top and my fabulous brown mary jane shiny heels! Well someone was talking to me and says "you are just looking so nice... so did you have that surgery?" I know they meant that as a compliment and I just smiled and said no and that I had been working hard at it and praying and walking and God was taking care of it. I was just slighlty offended a little though if I am being honest. I guess in my head I thought that kind of implied if you were as big as I was... well you must have had surgery... That is probably just my head though... doesn't mean they thought that at all. They are a sweet person and I know meant it nice. It's just when you've dealt with weight stuff forever its hard to get all the junk from previous cruel comments out of your head. It's hard not to let all other comments be colored by the previous stuff. Make any sense? However I guess its a huge compliment if someone thinks I look like I had surgery... I'll leave it at that and as a good thing.

Yesterday I hit the big 75 pounds gone!!! Yay!!! Sound the trumpets! I wanted to go shout it from my front yard I was so happy. Been working hard and waiting and waiting to finally get to this point so I am thrilled!!

So now we've had church, went and had lunch at our favoite place... stopped for a little ice cream treat at Zanders and came home. We played with the kittens for a bit. They are very cute. One of them seems very attached to my husband and sits and looks at him and meows till he picks her up. They are finally getting the idea of the litter box and were practically waiting in line today to use it. It was too funny!! Ha! Now Darrel is out working on some Father's Day gifts and I am going to do a little scrapping. I have an idea for something that I will share later in the week. Hope your weekend has been good. Blessings!

A Turning Point

When I was pulling pictures to post and I came across this one... I thought wow... I never noticed before but I can totally see it in his face. What I can see in my husband's face is that we were totally NOT ok this particular weekend. It was May of 1985 and we went as counselors (I think) to our church's State Youth Convention. Convention was always a fun exciting time we looked forward to but this one was very different. I don't remember exactly when it started but I know we struggled the whole time. We had been together like constantly for just shy of a year at this point. I remember that my weight was becoming an issue for me yet again and I was feeling very overweight and uncomfortable and ugly. Problem number one. Now that I look at the photos I am like what on earth was I unhappy about? I'd be over the moon thrilled to be that size now. Doesn't matter much though what you look like when your head doesn't see it or get it and that was the main problem. Problem number two.... the guy I dated prior to Darrel was also from our church youth group. He was also at this youth convention. He and I dated on and off for darn near 4 years, really most of the time I was in high school and basically all he ever really did was string me along. I couldn't see that though then. I had it in my head that this former guy was the one God wanted me to be with and I hung in there and tried to see love where there wasn't love and tried to make it work no matter what. Big mistake. He never wanted me in the first place. Darrel just told me I am allowed to call this former guy a bonehead on my blog... Bwa ha ha ha I will be kind though and not mention him by name...

So nameless boneheaded guy never really wanted me... but was at this convention with a new girlfriend who he was totally treating the way I had always wished he would treat me. It hurt. I mean now I look at it in retrospect and wonder why I cared when I look at Darrel and see what I had then and have now... but then... I couldn't see it clearly and I was just hurt. I had tried for 4 years with nameless boneheaded guy...(its geting fun saying that) and suddenly he was Mr Wonderful for this other girl. Every time he and the new girl were around Darrel and I it totally felt like he was putting on a show to show me how happy they were.

With all these issues in the way that whole weekend, for the first time in our relationship, Darrel and I just were not in sync and didn't have that connection we always had and all this stuff was just between us.

















My Mom took these pictuers of us before the convention banquet and in this one I can see the strain in my own face. We look happy enough I guess but I know us and I can see it there. This next picture touches my heart because I know what an incredibly hard time we were having. I am talking a "are we going to make it thru this" kind of hard time. I think we were both hurting and both terrified we were going to break up.


















That is the reason this one touches me because all that was going on yet in this one, I can see the love and the wanting to hang on and wanting to be OK. It reminds me of how now... I can be having a really hard, stressful time and be crabby and irritable to my husband and he will come up to me and hold me and hug me and I can just like melt into him and I suddenly realize that was what I needed and I didn't even know it. Does that make any sense outside of my head? Ha! And um again I am going why was I so unhappy about my weight? Goodness the things we do to oursevles with the way we think amazes me still.

Well we got home from this weekend youth convention and still... things not OK... we got back to the church, got luggage and stuff unloaded for everyone and headed back to my house before Darrel headed home. I remember we talked then. I don't remember what was said. I do know that it was when we decided that we wanted to be together. Period. I remember feeling relieved and how good it felt to get that wall that had been between us for days out of the way. I didn't know it at the time, but later my Mom told me that Darrel had stopped and hugged her on his way to leave and go home and she remembered he was emotional and she said it was because he was relieved. Wow. The irony of the situation just screams at me now. I had spent a whole weekend being upset that nameless boneheaded guy (maybe I should call him NBG for short... bwa ha ha ha ha ha... oh my gosh... ok totally entertaining myself now... isn't that sad! Ha!) did not want me and here I had the most WONDERFUL loving amazing guy ever who was terrified all weekend he was losing me and was emotional and relieved he was keeping me and that we were keeping us... wow. I guess sometimes I need a brick to hit me in the head...

So throughout our years together we have talked about and remembered that weekend and have both felt strongly that it was a turning point for us. I think the decision was made then for all these 25 years and moving forward on whether we were staying together or if we would be apart. Praising the LORD absolutely that we made it thru, that HE brought us thru and that we have had so much love and happiness together. More tomorrow.....

So date night Friday started with yet another birthday week gift for my husband. His favorite snack was waiting for him this morning. He was happy about that! We both had work of course but after that we decided to head to the big city. We needed to get a wedding gift and we enjoy hitting the mall and shopping together so we thought that would be fun. We ended up at our favorite chinese (Crazy Buffet) for stir frys and then set out to check the stores where the wedding was registered. Well at the first place um only 2 things left that were beyond our budget so we headed to store number 2. We found the perfect thing there plus I found an on sale new smaller size (yay!) top that I used a little of my spending money on... it will totally go with my new brown mary jane shoes... We headed to the mall after that and mostly just walked and browsed and talked. We stopped at hallmark for father's day, wedding and birthday cards and we finally remembered to stop at the jeweler. My very favorite heart bracelet that Darrel got me years ago has been in my jewelery box because it got big enough that it was falling right off my wrist. Nice problem to have but I missed my bracelet. They measured and are going to have to take 4 hearts off it, but are resizing it for me. I also had a brand new barely worn watch that Darrel gave me several years ago. It was barely worn because it was more than skin tight and umcomfortable. Well now, it not only fits it will actually move around! Ha! BUT it sat for so long the battery was dead so I needed a new one. So very happy to have those things taken care of. We stopped off at Baskin Robbins on the way home (fudge brownie..yum...when will they ever bring chocolate mousse royale back?).

Once we got home we played with the kittens for awhile. They are so sweet. I forgot to tell you.. two days ago when we went out to play with them I'm like um what is that in the corner? Is it waded up newspaper? Um no... it was a dead and um headless mouse! YUCK... Evidently Gracie brought her babies some dinner.... did I say YUCK? A few days before that Darrel found a lot of feathers in the garage but um no bird.... I think Gracie had a snack then and don't want to think about if the babies shared in that. Have I mentioned that Gracie is quite the hunter? Darrel wondered if she said to the babies look.. I am tired of this nursing stuff.... here is dinner for you. HA!!

Heading to bed. Need to get up and get my walking in and hopefully some housework and scrapping and then we are heading to a wedding at 4:30. Should be fun! Hope you are having an awesome weekend. Blessings.