in my dreams

i have a very deep and abiding love for old farms and old houses. so when i was out with my friend marci one day several weeks ago, and we eyed this barn with a cute old house on the property, i fell in love!!

i want it to be mine with all of my heart. i showed it to juC and we did the research and it appears the land belongs to some developers who will most likely be replacing the beautiful barn and house with new houses one day when the economy is better. it truly makes my heart hurt.

so if anyone ever asks me what i'd do if i won a million dollars, my answer would be that i would buy this barn and the house and make it into my home. i'm not asking for a lot.

what do you think? isn't it the most amazing barn?

(click on picture to enlarge.)

indescribable

today my little jC turned 1. i'm not sure how this has happened. but surely it has, since last year it was 2008, and he was born. and now it's 2009 on the same day. which equates to him being a year old. i just don't understand how it happened so quickly. and also so slowly. how is it possible that quick and slow proceed at the same speed?

you know how people talk to you before you have a child, and they say things like "being a mother is hard." and you say "yeah, i know!" but the thing is, you don't really know. you know an assumption of hard, not a reality of hard.

you know how before you have a child, people say "being a mother is the best thing in the world." and you say "i know, i can't wait." you don't really know that either. it's another one of those things that's an assumption, not a reality. really, truely, words cannot describe the greatness of having a child.

every day i watch little jT as he discovers new things and learns new tricks. every day i sit and stare at him at some point in time, and wish i could freeze that moment into my memory forever. a certain look he gives me. a certain sound he makes. the way he attacks and loves on every stuffed animal he gets his hands on. the way he throws himself back on the floor to lay and relax for approximately 3 seconds before getting up and being busy again. the way he waddles as fast as he can to the front door when his dad comes in from work. the sounds of joy he makes when he tries a new food he really enjoys.

i wish with all of my heart that i can remember all of those moments in my mind with a perfect clarity.

words honestly can't describe the love and joy. i couldn't even possibly try. but i know i can say that i am so thankful for him, and the blessing that it is to be a mother.

our blog dropped

i don't know what i'm thinking. i have a disease i think. i dont know if a name has come out for it yet, but it should be blogasitis.


my sister and i have started a new blog. together. it's called "letters between two sisters" it's located at http://www.lettersbetweentwosisters.blogspot.com/

(or you can just click on the picture to the left that says the title)

catchy, huh?

we'll be writing each other letters every day. and lucky you, you get to read them too.

clearing the air

ok. i'll admit it. for forever now my one and only goal in life was to get my dear, sweet, un-comment making husband to make a comment. that is what all of my efforts went in to.
i realized, finally, that i was going about it all wrong. i was "attacking" him, when what i needed to do was pretend he "attacked" me. so i did what any other female would do. i said he called me fat.

he didn't. but he did finally post a comment on my blog!! i knew he couldn't just let that one alone.

and now i know...he loves me!! he really loves me!

now if i could only get him to woo me. that's another story for another day.

well....

my husband thinks i'm fat.

how?

juC and i are trying to figure out our next adventure in life.

saturday we were talking about some things and he said "we need a family motto. it should be 'livin the dream.' " and i said "no". then proceeded to tell him we don't need a family motto. to which he replied, "how are we supposed to live the dream if we don't have a family motto?" then i decided that should be our family motto.
so let's make it official. i now declare our family motto is:

how are we supposed to live the dream if we don't have a family motto?
(fancy letters and a different color makes anything official)

so last night as we were moving forward in trying to make a decision, juC decided we should make a pro/con list. the list looked like this in the beginning:

pro
close to sonic
close to duke's bbq

con
close to sonic
close to duke's bbq

making life changing decisions is so hard.

it's true

it's been nearly a year since this little one was born. but i still find myself staring at him, in awe of the fact that he's actually mine. most of the time it still seems unreal. maybe one day reality will set in.

who's the boss

my mommy thinks that she can just say i need to update my blog and viola, i'll do it!! she must not know that i'm 27 now and i can blog when i darn well feel like it. i don't blog just because she says i need to blog. i blog when i want to. i'm the boss of me!

but since i'm here...

guess who else has a deep and abiding love for my birthday snuggie.

i'll give you a hint. his name starts with a "j" and ends with an "udson".

happy birthday to...

me!

remember what i got last year for my birthday? (hint: a car) and remember how i said it was untoppable, and hard to beat? i confess, i had little confidence in jud that he could find a gift ever again that would be better.

so there sat my presents. i looked at them from a distance. then i got a little closer for further inspection. yep...no way this could be better than a car.

i opened my card first. a pickle card. it read "bet you didn't expect to get a paper pickle for your birthday". i could tell he was trying hard to beat last year. he was on the right track with the card, that's for sure. but still...not better.

then i opened the small bag. it consisted of paint colors on the card you'd get at a home building store, with the promise that he'd paint the downstairs bathroom this month. again, on the right track, but he just needed to face the facts. no way was he going to do better than last year.

so i moved on to the big bag. the one he suggested i save for last. the one that he had obviously tried with all of his might to be better than a car. i opened it with low expectations. it was clear that his efforts would have all been in vain. and that was ok. at least i still have my car from last year.

but when i saw it, i couldn't believe it. i was honestly in shock. how? how on the earth had he managed to find the one, singular gift, that was better than last years?? i don't know how, but he did. yes, he did.

the blanket that has sleeves, people!!!! the SNUGGIE!!! and not just any old snuggie....a leopard print snuggie!!!and let me tell you, it's every bit as wonderful as the commercials make it out to be! i can read my magazine, in the cold, but keeping warm (my arms too!!) thanks to my snuggie! and don't even get me started on the fantastic book light that comes with it!

that's right...a reading light!! that clips on!! and all i do is push a button, and up and out it comes, all mechanical like...lighting up the words for my enjoyment...while i sit. snug as a bug in a snuggie.

happy birthday to me, indeed!!

honesty is the best policy

ok, here's the story.

a few weeks ago, my friend marci and i decided we needed a little girls day out day out for the big girls. so we headed to a somewhat near by town to do some antiquing.

we only made it to one store, because we got a little caught up in the clothes. i don't know how it happened. i've never been much of an antique clothes shopper, but there were a couple of things that caught my eye.

so...i tried them on. one fit and one didn't.

i showed marci. we discussed. and it was decided that i'd just have to buy the dress. all it needed was to have the sleeves taken up a bit, and the length brought up to a more flattering level, and i'd be set.

i came home, went upstairs, put the dress on unbeknownst to juC, and came downstairs to show him. he looked at me. i smiled. he looked some more. "it's...vintage."

my heart was broken.

but then i remembered that he's a boy who has a lot of tools and a big truck, so what does he know about fashion.

so i'm bringing it here for some more opinions. what do you think? taking the alterations that will be done into account...

up down circle circle

so a while ago i posted a few different "embarrassing" things about my dear, sweet husband, juC. the whole reason behind it was to try to get him to post a comment. i just wanted him to say something...ANYTHING. but he never does. but surely, if i gave him a reason to "defend" himself, he would, right? i mean, him posting a comment on my blog would be a true sign of his deep and undying love for me, right? but...nothing. not even a peep from him.



so i'm trying again. if there's one thing about me, i am persistent. it's time to renew my efforts. so let's get this party started.

i posted quite a while ago about juC using my toothbrush on accident several times. it made my stomach churn. but i'm not sure which is worse. him using my toothbrush or finding my toothbrush in this condition this morning.



yeah, that would be juC's shaving cream caked onto my toothbrush.



thanks babe.

this past weekend i had my sister LoW in town with her family. we were busy, busy, busy. but i did manage to have a few solitary moments enjoying the nice weather outside.

there i was. i was sitting on the front steps in front of my house. the weather was perfect in the shade. not too hot and there was a lovely breeze.

i was about ready to go in, but then i noticed a couple of fellas going door to door. it's the time of year when the fellas start selling security systems and pest control. since little jC was inside taking a nap, i didn't want these fellas to ring my doorbell and potentially wake up jC. so i sat patiently waiting for them to get to me so i could tell them no and go inside.

finally it was my turn. they walked up and the guy that had been doing all the talking with everyone else says...

"are the owners of the house home by any chance?"

i should have said no, but pride got in the way, and i just had to inform him that i was, indeed, the owner.

and he couldn't just say "ok" and go on with his spiel. instead he was all "oh really?! you are?!"

i shoulda said "yep. i'm an 18 year old homeowner."

so then i had to listen to him try to convince me to get his free security system and "alls" i had to do (his words, not mine)(do you think he was from utah?) was put their sign in front of our house.

i knew juC would never go for it. and the guy decided that he'd talk to the "18 year old owner of the home" long enough and he moved along.

but we should get it. to protect the early birthday present juC got for me. i'm in love with it!! just like i'm in love with the day late anniversary gift he got me.

when we were down in s.c. i went with some sisters to some antiques stores. imagine my joy when i saw that a painting that i'd seen months before and loved was still there!

it took a little convincing, but juC finally let me get it. and now, after over a year of having a bare wall over our couch, we finally have this beauty.

i love it just as much as i love my home, that i was able to acquire at such a young and unimaginabe age.

life's a beach

recently our little family traveled down to s.c. to see my big family.

because of different circumstances, it ended up being a 10 hour drive down there. and because of other different circumstances it ended up being a 10 hour drive back. oy!
but it gave me lots of time to think about all the things i love about long drives on 95.
so i made a mental list of all those things i love.
-all the traffic
-the people who drive slowly in the fast lane, and won't get over for you
-when people don't use their blinkers (i really could do a whole blog post about that)
-the people that brake for no apparent reason. no one is breaking in front of them. in fact, no one except us is even around.
-when traffic comes to a complete standstill and then crawls ever so slowly for a very minor accident that is miles ahead on the other side of the interstate
-when people drive fast to get around you, then drive slow in front of you, then drive fast again, then slow again, then fast again, then slow....
-all of the very insightful bumper stickers


and then probably the thing that i love the most is
-the really clean, non-ghetto gas stations


but in the end, those 10 hour drives in the beautiful traffic and stops at the pristine gas stations just couldn't compare to the fun we had with my family.
and nothing compares to the fun of little jC experiencing the beach for the first time.

from the mouth of me

this week i'll be guest blogging on my sister LoW's blog. while she's away at girls camp she challenged me. she said "i'll save pictures on my blog, and i challenge you to blog about them." i was scared, but i accepted her challenge. so head on over to see how i explained this and other pictures of my niece and sister:

while you are there, head over to this post to enter to win a free CANsoilidater for your food storage needs!

every which way

i'm a lucky woman all around.

firstly, i'm lucky because i have the greatest father. he's always been a great example to me and has always been there for me when i need help. and even now that i'm grown and gone i know that if i ever need any help or advice i can call him and he'll be there for me.

i'm also pretty sure that he's where my love of adventures comes from. i couldn't possibly even count the many times he would ask me if i wanted to go for a ride with him, and he'd take me some place fun. he's also the reason i know anything about sports, fishing, and why i drive the way i do. and most importantly, he's where i got my sense of humor from. if he did nothing else for me, i'd have to be forever grateful for that one thing alone.

secondly, i'm a lucky woman because i have a great husband who is a great father to our son.

i honestly couldn't ask for better. i can't imagine that there is anyone better suited to be the father of our babies.

he's so patient and loving with little jC, and willing to help when i need it. he's also the bath giver, which i could never express how grateful i am for that! he's also kind enough to get up with little jC on the weekends so i can sleep in a little longer.

he also works so hard to provide for our family which i'm so thankful for. i know not every woman gets to stay home with their children and i'm so glad that my husband is willing to work hard so that i can be a stay at home mom. i know that i'm the mother that i am because he is the great father that he is.

and of course there is juC's dad. i know that he was a great example to him. and he continues to be. and in the short time that he's been my father-in-law he's been a great example to me as well. i'm grateful to have such a great father-in-law.

see, i really have it good in all directions. happy fathers day fellas!