dimples

yep. i LOVE darren's dimples. did you know a whole peanut m & m can fit inside this amazing facial feature? so can a candy corn. one of my favorite games...not one of his. shocking.

i am so overdue in documenting our lives. better late than never...

we got to go to the zoo and play with 8 month old bengal tigers. it was AMAZING! darren was in the cage for about 45 mins, i lasted maybe 5. i got picked out as the "weak one" and was escorted out. but they LOVED darren and played with him. it was (to quote my good friend barney stintson:) LEGEN wait for it...DARY!



side bar: i am apparently VERY allergic to said soft, yet fierce animals. my face blew up like a red balloon. my lips grew to three times their normal size (have you seen the pussy cat dolls lady-robin antin-on SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE this year? my lips looked worse than hers even)

anyways, one of the coolest things i have ever been able to do, all thanks to my awesome hubs and his golfing tendencies.

darren tore his hamstring at softball this week...


just in time for trek! i am not going as a single ma across the plains in two weeks so we are doing ice baths and being the nurturing, sweet, wife that i am; i requested the ice baths to take place in our guest bath so i could still enjoy my nightly bubble bath. what can i say? i am a giver.

we have been VERY busy watching the NBS finals and of course, so you think you can dance. why can't i dance? we have tried to teach me, it is pointless. why!? my hubs can dance!! i love it when he dances me. but let's be real...his talent lies in his krumpin skills! (incidentally these skills scared cath and me in san fran and heidi and me at the cabin, but now i HEART the skills since i understand what is going on and i don't think he is seizuring). he is buck! (yeah, i just learned what that meant)

what can i say? i love those darn dimples.

it's a...

nephew! sweet grayce and james finally had baby winslow william!!

i have been waiting for this day since last september when she filled me in that a baby was on the way...not sure how it felt for grace, but for me it was a long wait to meet this little guy!

he is perfect. i love the faces and sounds he makes while absorbed in baby dreams. he will smile, furrow his brow, squeak, almost cry and then look at peace all in about 10 seconds. his eyes are truly blue, just like his daddy. his lips are full and beautiful. he has 10 tiny fingers and 10 smashed toes and 2 fabulous froggy legs. each time i hold him i cant help but think of what a miracle life is.

grace is the most amazing, sweet momma. she really is. i could not be more impressed with her. or more grateful.

fore!

i love the hubs. he is golfing this week at myrtle beach. i miss him more than i realized was possible!!! here are a few reasons why:

*he makes me laugh, i LOVE his humor
*he is substantive
*he plays uno tournaments with my many nights before bed
*he is my biggest fan
*he is fun
*he is CRAZY COMPETITIVE!
*he makes me feel safe (maybe due to the many guns he has invested in?)
*he is smart
*he is an incredibly hard worker
*he is kind
*he is an amazing friend
*he eats my cooking
*he laughs at me (sometimes with me)
*he understands my heart
*he is good
*he bike rides with me
*he loves me despite my VERY serious fear of snakes
*he is optimistic
*he watches how i met your mother with me
*he is an unbelievable golfer and still takes me with him so i can have treats and read and play one or two holes
*he is passionate (mostly about his favorite radio host)
*he is reasoned (about everything else)
*he snores EVERY night, but still claims it is because he is sick or was in a funny position :)
*he is darling with his sisters and nieces AND nephews
*he watches idol with me and sandy and supports my crush on SCOTTY

so, here is hoping that first, he shoots even par (so he comes home happy) and second, that saturday comes FAST

home on the range

"to be glad of life, because it gives you the chance to love and to work and to play and to look up at the stars...to spend as much time as you can, with body and with spirit, in God's-out-of-doors these are little guidespots on the footpath to peace" henry van dyke

this is the view from my house a few days ago. this quote helped me notice all the things going on around me that are "guidespots to peace".

obviously today it is snowing...how can i tell? because i have clean and shiny windows at my house thanks to the best mother-in-law who came and helped me wash them last night.

i love our home. i love looking out of our windows (finally clean) and seeing green rolling hills and mountains. sunday i woke up to the song a crane (side bar: it is less of a song and more of a death call).

we have 5 baby foxies that live in a hollow (fox hollow actually is what it is called-weird) on the way to our house and each night we see them playing and frolicking and experiencing life.

i LOVE rolling my window down on the way up the canyon and smelling earth and horses and cows and green. i didn't know green was a smell, but it is. even watching the brown and growing river is thrilling (maybe because we live up on the hill and are not in it's path?).

while we were eating dinner last night (after i cut my thumb and passed out, true story) we watched a little boy in our yard and field attacking thistles and practicing his karate or his crazy (still not sure). he was talking to himself the whole time and yelled at each foe before he chopped it down. enchanting.

yes your majesty

i love working with my bro. never a dull moment.

yesterday he made up "new" sign language so he could say "you bug me" to me, specifically. he points to me, walks his fingers up his desk (like a bug), and then points to himself.

today...he called me dumbo and then said "you may respond with 'yes sir', 'yes master' or 'yes your majesty'

also, he is ever whistling. sometime i will record this amazing talent so all can hear his majesty.

the hubs

yesterday was a dark day; literally and metaphorically. it hailed. i was pulled over. so was darren. different reasons. different times. different police officers. school projects due, tests to be studied for, offices to move, tests to take, dinner to make, papers to write and jobs to look for. my Philly cheese steak came out soggy and i filled up my tank for the fourth time in 5 days. AND my favorite idol was voted off (at least i still have scotty).

i know i have a good life, i do. i am blessed beyond measure. but what can i say? yesterday was the last straw. life, my good life, overwhelmed me.

this is a testament to how good i really do have it...darren walked into our kitchen late last night as he got home with these:


exhibits a-c: my favorite licorice [my own personal heroine (little shout out to edward and bella)], a large and beautiful diet coke and gorgeous spring flowers. what a guy!! darren is amazing for a million and one reasons... but the best reason today is not only that he brightens up my day, but that he helps me to seek light.

momma

rough week. finals. moving. papers. spending more time with my car than my hubs. most of all...rain, rain, rain. last night it hailed and woke me up. really weather? don't you know i need my vitamin d?!

well, i was worn a little thin today. momma saw me and first thing she did was hug me--her hugs are the best thing ever-worries melt away, concerns take flight and i feel good. then she said to hop in her car cause i needed some spring.

my mom is spring. she is happy, beautiful and fun. she is substantive. she fills me with energy. she is the crisp air kissing my face. she is the first green grass. momma is the bright daffodils lining my path home, that keep me hoping for warmer days.