2,920 Days as Husband and Wife

It was January 16, 1998. I was getting ready for a date with this guy in my dorm. We were friends and I wasn't sure that a date was the best idea. It might complicate things in our friendship! So, I went to my girlfriend's closet and found the purplest, frumpiest sweater known to man and did my best to look undesirable. That way maybe he wouldn't want to date me. We went to Ruby Tuesday for dinner and talked for hours and hours. We saw Titanic after that and he dropped me off at the dorm. When my girlfriends asked me how it went, I replied, "Well, I'm gonna marry the guy, so I guess it went pretty well." 4 years later, I married the guy.

As that guy (my hubby) stated this morning, "The 7 year itch is a load of crap." Today we celebrate 8 years of lovin life as husband and wife. Marrying Tim was the very best decision I've ever made. Where would I be without his level head, constant support and unconditional love? God has blessed us a whole lot in this life, but our marriage is definitely the most amazing blessing. I love you hot stuff. Thanks for 8 incredibly happy years. I can't imagine what the next 8 will bring.

Happy Birthday to Mickey Mouse (and Nanna)

My lovely Momma celebrated her *#* birthday yesterday. After all those years of life, she's lookin' better than ever and is the coolest, hippest, most fun Nanna our little man could ever ask for. She's a pretty amazing mom too - patient, creative, optimistic, intelligent, motivated, generous, active, outgoing, f-u-n, and on and on.

We sang "happy birthday to Nanna" all night last night, which lead to singing "happy birthday" to everything in sight (Mickey Mouse, pants, shirt, shoes, couch, you get the idea). I tried to get a good video of the little man singing his heart out, but this was the best we could muster. Happy Birthday Nanna! We love you & miss you soooooooooooooo much.

Dude aka FISH

I know we have a ton of posts that are "aquatic" related, but I just can't get enough of our little fish. Some of our best shots come from him getting acquainted with water...it doesn't seem to matter if the water is hot, ice cold, outside, inside, filled with leaves and sticks, puddles...he thinks it's just the greatest. And we think his expressions and pure glee while in said water are the greatest. He's in swim lessons this summer and is gaining respect for the water, which was our ultimate goal. Here are some shots I couldn't resist posting from our trip to the pool this evening.

Rollin' Down the River

Extravaganza #3 will now become a yearly tradition. Shooting dudes with paint balls may constitute fun times, but co-ed tubing down the Boulder River definitely rivals that experience.

Four of us couples drove the 45 minutes, sans children, to Boulder on Saturday morning, having no idea what to expect. We had heard that this tubing experience was good times, but none of us had ever tried it. SO...we tried it. And we LOVED it. We rented tubes in town, drove a few blocks to the big park, set up lunch and hiked 5 minutes up to the dam. That's where the tubing experience began. It takes about 20 minutes to tube back down to the park - rapid after rapid await you on the river, so it's really never a lazy ride. Hundred of river groupies hang out and help you along the way. It's a happy place...plenty of happy scents greet you as you pass large groups of college kids as well.

Staying dry was a reality for only a short time as the rushing rapids treat you to good ole' dumps time after time. Wes and the rapids really didn't get along. He dumped almost every rapid he hit. Made for lots of laughter from all of us and pretty much everyone on the river too. I don't think I've laughed as much as I did that day in a very long time. Thanks guys! And thanks to all the babysitters who made 5 hours of river fun possible! Let's do it again next summer (or next weekend).

Below are a few pictures in case you don't care to partake in the awesome video.

3-0 Wrap Up

I'm a planner. Sometimes that's something I use to my credit, sometimes it drives people nuts. Regardless, I'm a planner. When Tim spoiled me rotten for my 30th b-day, I immediately started brainstorming plans for his big day. Ask his buddies. They received an email about initiating plans in April. As annoying as that might have been, plans went off without a hitch last week and my hubby had a kick bootie 3oth b-day that extended for about a week. See below for a wrap up. Thanks to all our awesome friends for helping make it memorable week.

Extravaganza #1: Dudes shooting other dudes with balls made of paint.

Last week Sunday 9 of Tim's buds meet in Sedalia (toward the foothills of Denver) for 5 hours of outdoor paintball. I didn't tell him where he was going, but he figured it out pretty quickly when he saw Mark dolled up in complete camo gear. Cara took the only picture from the day, but they had a blast and have countless welts to prove it.

Extravaganza #2: Regularly scheduled Tuesday night softball and party at B&B's house:

Summer softball is a highlight of Tim's week, so he was blessed enough to partake in that activity on his actual b-day. Afterward, we ordered pizza and snacked at Bruce and Barb's house with the Jansen/Syers clan. Always a good time...thanks for hosting, Oma and Opa!

Extravaganza #3...the fun factor of this one requires its own post and video. Stay tuned.

Happy 3-0 to my Main Man

Today's the day. My "much younger" hubby has finally gone over that first mole hill in life and turned 30. Many have referred to me as somewhat of a "cougar," given my 6 month advance in life. I happen to enjoy a younger man. My Tim is quite the man too. For those of you who don't know him well, I'm going to embarrass his modest self and list 30 of the things I love most about him. Don't worry, I'll keep it clean.

1. His calm, steady way of living life.

2. His patience with my constant, and I mean constant, quirks.

3. The fact that he is the a rockin' dad to our dude. It brings smiles to my face every day.

4. His long eye lashes (sorry, gotta put up with some cheese).

5. His ability to look beyond flaws and let the past be the past.

6. His glass is always half full.

7. The "car" in him -his ability to fix about anything on our vehicles and loves doing so.

8. His design style...it's right in line with mine, which makes life easy.

9. His trust in me. Complete trust.

10. His faith in God. Where would we be without that?

11. His dedication to his career. No matter where he works. He gives it 110% and never complains. Well, he does complain about his hour commute, but who can blame him.

12. His back rubs. This wasn't always true, but hes has plenty of practice.

13. His respect for his mom and women in general. He was certainly raised right.

14. His inability to cook much of anything...most of the time I actually find it quite endearing.

15. The fact that he and I both value time with friends. Girls and guy weekends have become a yearly occurrence and we both love each other for it.

16. His cleanliness. Our house is rarely a mess and he is largely to thank for that.

17. His knack for fixing, building, rigging about anything that needs to be done around the house. He is my handy man.

18. His love for road trips. Oh wait, I really don't like road trips. But give him a car, preferably a stick shift foreign model and an open road and he's a happy camper.

19. His interest in what's happening in the world. The paper is typically read, cover to cover.

20. His fashion style. Always lookin' good.

21. His ability to shower and get out the door in under 6 minutes.

22. His brain. He's one smart dude. Not many people pass the CPA exam on their first try - I've always been very proud of him for that.

23. His laugh. It comes easily and often.

24. His love of kids.

25. His athleticism - skiing, boarding, racquetball, badminton, bean bags (no, not so good at that one), softball...he continues to impress me.

26. He mows a mean lawn.

27. He doesn't eat much spicy food. Whew! We would have a tough time in the kitchen if he was a spicy man.

28. The fact that when I come home from shopping, he doesn't question me. I might just get a "BABE!"

29. His ability to talk to anyone, anytime, anywhere.

30. Only one more....hmmmm...The fact that he's mine. A pretty good package, don't ya think?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOVE.

Heavenly Vaca Wrap Up

I know. Its been a while. But for good reason...we went on a 7 day vaca. The trip started in Chicago (for a few hours while dude took his nap) and we headed straight to Holland, MI to Mom V & Grandpa Marc's cottage. The weather was heavenly - never before can we recall 70 degree temps in July, so that was a real treat. Adam, Carin and their 4 kiddos joined us one day and we maxed and relaxed on the beach the next day. We're always spoiled at the cottage and this was definitely true again this year. Dude LOVED the beach and was the only one in the cold water most of the time.

The Kwas family then met up in St. Joe and rented a cottage on a small lake for a couple days. Never before has my entire family (with the boys) spent that much time together, so that was awesome. We lounged on the pontoon, played bean bags, wiffleball, went skiing, tubing etc. We used to rent this cottage with the Jansen fam, so this was a fun flashback of memories for us.

We were definitely sad to end this week o' fun and get back to our regular routine. Thanks for a great week fams! Love you guys.