Treasuring the Present: The Critters

I absolutely love our critters... when I say critters, I do not mean that we house mice, rats, raccoons or opossums... but we have a doggy and a kitty, and I just love them to bits!

I try to treasure our lovable four-legged family members as often as I can, but I have been REALLY treasuring them this Spring because as of Sunday our little Lexie is headed to Michigan for MONTHS.  She will literally be a Camp Sanden (her grandparents fun summer camp) from mid-May until late-August and I am going to miss her SOOO much.

Lloyd will still be around, but it is I who is leaving for June... July... and August, Lord Willing for graduate school and practicum placements.  The graduate school is for sure...  the practicum placements are KILLING ME in that they are not confirmed yet (I've only been working on them since JANUARY!)

That being said, I am working to cherish our critters before our happy little family splinters for the summer.

Lately, the animals have been so amusing.  Hubby and I will be laying in bed with Lloyd laying at our feet and Lexie will hop up and lay on my chest.  I will pet her and she will purr like a motorboat.  Lloyd immediately jumps off the bed and behaves like I am holding a ball or a stick... some toy that I am going to throw for him. (I promise, I've NEVER thrown Lexie to him as a toy...)  He prances and dances and sits and lays down, all the time with his ears perked in the "PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE GIVE ME THE TOY!" position.

Inevitably, in time, Lexie jumps off the bed, or finds a new place to relax and Lloyd immediately climbs up on the bed and takes Lexie's spot laying on my chest.  Then, he looks for her with a look on his face that says, "I can lay on Mom too!!!"

Another new game that Lexie has been playing is meowing to be let into and out of closed doors.  When a door in the house is closed, she will meow and meow and meow at the door until we open it and let her in.  Then we will close the door behind her.  Within 2 minutes, she will meow and meow and meow at the door to be let out.  So we let her out and close the door behind her.  Within 2 more minutes, she will meow and meow and meow at the door to be let in... this repeats itself until the door is left open.  This is a new thing with her, and it makes us laugh and growl at the same time as we can't figure out why this sudden interest in closed doors.

These critters are our world, our joy, our love-bugs, and the happiest most welcoming dependents to greet us every day when we come home.  We are so grateful God chose us to be their family.

Dream Wedding: Photobooth

So throughout Hubby and my first year of marriage, I made a point to blog about various details of our wedding and I made it up to a preview of our reception and then I ran out of steam.  I realize the specific details of our wedding might not be all that interesting to people other than Hubby and me, but I want to share these details while they're still fresh in my mind -- even two years later fresh in my mind.

So, I hope you'll forgive me and bear with me while I occasionally continue to share details about our wonderful, perfect, dream wedding.

All photobooth pictures provided by Mi Photo Booth in Michigan!

I attended a wedding in Texas a few years before our wedding and they had a photobooth where guests could take pictures of themselves and leave with a souvenir from the wedding.  Its pretty common at weddings I've attended for the bride and groom to provide some favor to the guests as a thank you for attending the wedding.  I've been to weddings that have given away seeds for planting flowers, jordan almonds, a Christmas ornament, chocolate, and more...

Hubby and I did not decide to hire a photobooth specifically to provide our guest with a favor... but we ended up killing two birds with one stone because it not only added an element of fun and uniqueness, but it served as our guestbook, AND provided our guests with a fun favor to take home.  In the above pictures of the prime rib... behind the place card is the plastic stand-up picture frame that all guests received at their place encouraging them to have their picture taken, and take this frame home to display their fun picture strip.

We are SO glad we had a photobooth at our wedding.

The photobooth was open during cocktail hour, closed during dinner and toasts, and then open for the rest of the night during dancing and the open bar.  Guests were encouraged to have four pictures taken in the photobooth (like at a carnival), and then two photo strips printed.  One strip was theirs to take home, and one strip was immediately glued into a photobook where they would sign their name and write us a message -- and we got to keep the photo book.

Couples were encouraged to wear funny hats and glasses if they wanted, and to go back multiple times.  Sufficed to say, the pictures got sillier and sillier as the night progressed.

Here are some fun images:

My parents on the left and my brother and his family on the right.  Family pictures have never been so fun.

Below are our groomsmen on the left and our bridesmaids on the right... so much fun!

So, on the left is the couple who had the photobooth at their wedding that gave me the idea to have a photobooth at our wedding... and the couple on the right had a photobooth at their wedding because they liked the one at our wedding so much.  :-D

Two of my best friends on the left, and Chris' parents on the right

Hubby and me and his sister on the left, and Chris and his siblings and their grandpa on the right.

 These pictures are some of our favorite from the wedding.  We are SOOO glad we included a photobooth in our special day.

My Dream Boat!

I was so excited to come home to my dream boat yesterday!

 One of the things I love about him is that he makes me laugh... and he's really handsome!  This picture kind of epitomizes both -- he's hilarious, and handsome!

Capturing the Simple - April

  Here are my simple moments from April

 From left to right starting at the top:

• We had April showers the entire month -- April snow showers!
• Lexie Lee keeps us on our toes, like always
• Bacon theme at food club complete with a bacon apple pie
• Little Lexie -- my sweet girl!
• Hubby and me cheering for Michigan in the NCAA Basketball Finals
• Brother Nick proposed to Mandy back in Missouri
• Hubby and me with beautiful Spring apple blossoms
• Sister Becky gets bigger every week as she's growing our new niece or nephew
• Lloyd-ey loved his first swims of the season!  He loves even the cold spring water!

April was a great month for us.

Friday Letter: Hotel

• Dear Hotel, You are relatively pleasant, but I prefer my usual days of traveling across hundreds of miles and viewing gorgeous landscapes to spending hour after hour after hour within your window-less walls
• Dear Hubby, I miss you, but I am one day closer to coming home!!!
• Dear Hotel, You give complimentary internet, but you seem to hide it... it took me HOURS to accidentally figure out that you offer complimentary internet
• Dear Attitude, Let's be happy and positive...
• Dear Friday, This has been a ROUGH week -- from anger to tears it has been rough!  I'm so glad its Friday and its May and the weekend is nearly here
• Dear Lexie and Lloyd, I love you sweet animals -- if kids are kiddos, are pets pettos? I love my sweet pettos?  Oh, that's just sad.  Anyways, I miss my kitty and puppy!
• Dear Grad School, I am DONE with you until June... sort of... as soon as I can confirm my summer practicum placements
• Dear December, I'm pretty excited for you again -- I was excited for you a few months ago, and then plans changed and I wasn't as excited for you... and then my amazing hubby changed plans again, and now you cannot come fast enough!!!!
• Dear St. Louis, It is really hard believe that I will be in your fine city one week from today... and I'll be there for like 48 hours, and then I'll be back in Colorado.  We live in such a CRAZY time in history that that sentence and that travel is possible.

Its Never Enough

I never get enough of my husband.  Sometimes a walk by myself is nice, but in terms of day-to-day living, I can never get enough of my husband.

We are the point in our marriage where things are not always butterflies and rainbows and fairy tales... we live in real life.  We each have good days and bad days and joys and disappointments.  We have things that we would change about each other and we have seen each other in sickness and health -- the good, the bad, and the ugly.  Nearly two years in, we have a real marriage, and we are more in love with each other today than we were on our wedding day.  We know each other better today than we did on our wedding day.  And we still cannot get enough time together no matter how much time we've spent together.

I have to go to a conference this weekend, and I am excited for what I'm going to learn, but I don't want to leave my husband.  I hate sleeping away from him and waking up without him.  I want to sit next to him at the conference, and ride in the car with him, and sleep at the hotel with him.

My need for my husband is like food, or sleep -- I cannot overeat food, or sleep for 24 hours straight and then go without food or sleep for the next week (sometimes I wish I could).  I cannot stock up on time with my husband and then be okay with not seeing him for awhile.  I need him every day.  I want time with him every day.  I want his arms around me every day.

This is currently on my mind because I will be away from him in June, and July, and August and September for a graduate degree I'm not even sure I want anymore.  I am dreading my time away from him, and I wish there was a way to stock up time with him so I need a break come June 1... but that's just not how it works for us.

I know there are couples where one or both of them travels... and I've heard couples say that the time away from each other is what makes their marriage work -- but that is just not the case for us.  Time is never enough with my husband and I am never excited to leave him.  No time with him is ever enough.

My Little Girl Turns 5!

My Little Girl is five years old today.

My little Lexie was born about five years ago -- I found her the first week of June, and the vet estimated she was about a month old, so I mark her birthday as May 1.

Lexie is the sweetest, softest, most adorable, beautiful kitty cat on the face of the earth!

She has been in my life longer than my husband, longer than my puppy, longer than the Miller family, and longer than some of my friends.

I became a Mama when Lexie entered my life -- a pet Mama, but a Mama nonetheless.  Suddenly I was responsible for a life.
Would I let her go outside? (no)
Would I have her fixed? (yes)
Would I have her de-clawed? (yes)
What would I name her? (Lexington Lee, in honor of the place where she was born, and where God brought us together)

This little girl cracks me up and adds so much joy, personality, and intelligence to our life. 
She prefers running water to her water bowl...

You've heard of baby-wearing, well, she and I are setting the trend for kitty-wearing... as long as she's included, she is happy as a clam.  She really is happy zipped up in my jacket as long as she's a part of what's going on...

She has a few neighborhood friends that she meows with...

 She has opinions on everything... even what ski runs on I take...

I love her so much and am so grateful that God chose me to be her Mama!

Happy Birthday Lexie Lee!