Hubby Goes Fishing

Yesterday my wonderful hubby went fishing.

One of our friends from Colorado, grew up in Michigan and he and his family often fish for BIG salmon on Lake Michigan.

Chris was THRILLED to join them at 5:00am for the fishing outing yesterday on Lake Michigan and these are the pictures he had sent to my phone by 8:00am:

Look at that gorgeous Lake Michigan sunrise!

Captain Jon

Hubby looks so happy!

By the end of the fishing excursion, this was their total hull:

The dollar bill offers perspective.

Their largest fish was 18.5lbs and the total weight was 170lbs of fish! 

Thirteen beautiful King Salmon in all and, most importantly, Hubby had a BALL!

Between water skiing two days ago, and major fishing work yesterday, he's got some tired muscles.  Fortunately, we head out EARLY this morning for our road trip/baseball trip/see-old-friends trip/fun adventure trip, so he'll get to rest the muscles while we're driving.

I will try to post as often as I can while we're gone... partly for fun, partly because I really enjoy posting every day, but we will see how that goes.

Whatever comes our way, we are REALLY excited for a great trip.

Our trip includes:

• Baseball - Toronto, CA
• Buffalo, NY
• Baseball - Baltimore, MD
• Washington DC sightseeing
• Baseball - Washington DC
• Lexington, VA sightseeing and memory lane
• Nashville TN sightseeing and memory lane

We will have no animals with us, and a part of me is excited and a part of me will be glad to get them back again.  We are so fortunate to have family who love our animals and are willing to take care of them during our adventures.

Happy Trails...

Time On the Water

Yesterday my parents and Chris and I went water skiing... water skiing behind a 48-year-old boat that my dad won on the Price Is Right in 1964.

That's right... and that is a story and blog post in and of itself.  For today, I'll just post about water skiing.

If our loveable, very old classic boat has taught us anything over the years it is that you should not put off water skiing if you want to do it.  Many summers I have said I'll wait for the "perfect" morning to water ski, or I'll water ski later in the summer, and something unexpected happens with the boat, and it is out of commission later in the summer so I don't get a chance to water ski until the next summer.

With that in mind, Daddy and Chris and I seized the day yesterday and water skied on Mona Lake.

Although I used to live on water skies on summers when I was younger, I have certainly slowed down.  I do, however, still have a few tricks up my sleeves, like the one below -- rope in between my legs and no hands.

What a great summer tradition!

After I had my turn, Daddy was up -- Daddy who is 79.5 years old.  He's now closer to 80 than 79.  Yeah, he decided to go water skiing too! :-D

He's up and he looks great!

Seriously, 80 years old.
What do the 80-year-olds you know do?

We're not 80, but we still have fun!

Lastly, my hubby decided to give it a whirl...

... and water skiing isn't really his thing.  This was the best picture I got of him water skiing, which means he didn't have the best day on skis.  Maybe next time.

 Summer time to me means time on the water!

Thanks, Mom and Dad for this great time and for raising me in Michigan, where kids learn how to swim before then learn how to walk.

Please Pray for Colorado and Rain

Chris and I are safely out of the state of Colorado, but we are reminded every day of our beloved home state because of the MANY fires burning throughout beautiful Colorado.

Thank you for the concern so many of you are showing for Colorado and the prayers you are sending up asking for protection for the firemen, families and RAIN.

Thankfully, the fires are not anywhere near where Chris and I live, as of now.  To be frank, the entire state of Colorado is potentially a pile of kindling because of low snow fall and a very dry spring.  Just about a week ago, Chris and I were playing with Lloyd and we saw a huge group of firemen, forest servicemen, and policeman scanning the hillside with binoculars keeping an eye out for fires because we were having lightening and no rain in our area.

PLEASE keep our entire state in prayer.  It is so humbling to see the power of mother nature out of control.  I've listed some specific prayer requests below:

• Please pray for the Colorado wildfires.

• Please pray for the firemen fighting the many blazes in these incredibly dry and treacherous conditions.

•  Please pray for the families who have been evacuated and are watching all of their worldly possessions go up in flames.

• Please pray for RAIN. 

• Please pray for rain without lightening, rain without wind, RAIN! 

 All pictures from here.

Sometimes and Always

Sometimes and Always while traveling...

 

Sometimes: I get anxious when I think about spending time with my in-laws
Always: The more time I spend with them, the better I get to know them, and we have a blast.  Every time I come to think of them more and more like my family.

All the dogs in St. Louis -- Lloyd is going to have a blast with all his cousins

Sometimes: I see Lloyd playing so gently with a new little puppy and I think how much fun it would be to be him a little puppy brother or sister
Always: I come back to the conclusion that we have our perfect family for the moment with one cat and one dog. 

I am going to miss these critters so much while we travel

Sometimes: My hubby and I get excited for a "really nice" dinner out, like the on we had on our anniversary.
Always: We enjoy the nice, expensive dinners out, but we realize that we don't need anything expensive or dressy to have a wonderful time together.  We love cooking at home in pajamas!

1 Year of Bliss!

Sometimes: I see something on the Food Network that looks amazing and I imagine how great it would be to eat a meal made by one of those chefs
Always: Chris and I try to fit Foot Network recommended places on our travels and we are always blown away by the foodie goodness

We ate Cupcake War Winning cupcakes in St. Louis -- YUMMY!

Hope you're having a wonderful week!

Treasuring the Present: 1,000 Words

In the car...

One Year of Marriage to the Most Wonderful Husband in the World!

Today is Chris and my FIRST wedding anniversary!

One year ago today was the happiest, most joyful day of my life -- the day I became Mrs. Christopher J. Miller, the day I gained the most wonderful husband in the word, the day so many family and friends shared in our joy, the day we became One before the Lord, the first day of the journey we will walk together for the rest of our lives.

Sometimes it feels like Chris and I are still brand new newly-weds, and sometimes its hard to remember life before our marriage.  Our wedding, on the other hand, always feels like yesterday to me.  One year later, and I can still talk for hours about our gorgeous wedding like it was yesterday.  I want to remember every detail... some would probably say I do remember every detail.

Our wedding was absolutely gorgeous, but every day Chris and I work to have a marriage more beautiful than our wedding.  Its going to take work, because, if you ask me, our wedding was the most beautiful wedding that has ever been (every woman should feel that way about her wedding).  :-D  I guess that means we will just have to have the most beautiful marriage that has ever been too.

In an effort to do exactly that, have a beautiful, great, Spirit-filled marriage, Chris and I had a very focused talk a few nights ago specifically discussing our first year of marriage.  We have had a wonderful first year of marriage, but we both agreed that our marriage could only benefit from reflecting together on our first year of marriage and specifically discussion three categories:

• I love it when...
• I don't like it when...
• A huge red flag I have is...

We had about a week to think, pray, and create our lists for each category, and the lists were meant to be about our first year of marriage and our marriage as a whole.  My list included negatives about myself (i.e. "A huge red flag I have is when I snap at you (Chris) and our animals and its completely unwarranted.  I'm snapping because I had a bad day not because of anything you or the animals did.  That is a huge red flag for me because I don't want to speak to our children that way.") although my "I love it when..." list was only about Chris.

This was SUCH a wonderful conversation.  Nothing that was said totally shocked either one of us, but it was interesting to hear what specifically topped our lists of "A huge red flag" and "I don't like it when".  Neither one of us had long lists, so it was a great incite into each other to know that of everything my husband could write that he doesn't like, this is his biggest annoyance.  I can focus on one of two of those things and really make an effort so that next year, when we have this discussion on our second anniversary, he doesn't have to list that again.

Also, in addition to pin-pointing things to change, it was SO nice to hear specific things that each of us do that the other loves.  I commented to Chris that I'd like to type of the comprehensive list that we created because I think I will have a better attitude about doing some of my household chores if I remember that my hubby specifically loves it when I do this.

Creating the picture collages for this post served as such a wonderful reminder of how wonderful this year has been.  We have experienced so much, been places, tried new things, met new people, visited family, created our own family, created our own home, had our first married inside jokes, our married first arguments, our first married reconciliations... we've learned more about each other in this first year than we ever could have imagined and we are more in love now than we were one year ago. 

Happy Anniversary, Hubby!
I love you with all of my heart and more.

You are my forever.
"Where you go, I will go; Where you stay, I will stay; Your people will be my people, and your God, my God; May the Lord deal with me ever so severely if anything but death separates you from me." -- I still mean it!