Five

That's five years Dac and I have been married as of September 16. Total - we've been together for more like 13 years. Crazy, huh? =) I just can't really even imagine life without him at this point... he's pretty much always been there in some capacity or another.

I wasn't feeling good on our actual anniversary and we didn't have any exciting trips planned or anything but, all-n-all, I'd say the weekend was pretty alright and it was the "at ease" that I know both our hearts needed.

Friday, we got up and went to Ike's for donuts. We usually don't see much of each other in the morning - even though we have to be at work at the same time now. We're usually doing our own things. I had a fresh glazed doughnut and a chocolate long john while Dac had a sausage egg and cheese roll and a glazed. Like I said, I wasn't feeling good, and I just flat didn't think to take a picture. After work we went out to eat (with apparently everyone else in the county) at Montana Mike's. Then, because College Hill was close (boo), we picked up a couple of toasty drinks from the gas station. First hot chocolate of the season! That night we lounged on the couch and watched 24.

Saturday, we woke up and headed to Stillwater (God's country). Dac and I both really love it there and I honestly think we'd be happy living there if the opportunity ever came about. When I was finished with college I probably wouldn't have said that - but the town has spread out, added lots of great shops/restaurants, and it's just a lot less hectic feeling. Anyway, love Stillwater, love all the orange, love being there with Dac. =) We ate at Joe's... shared a plate of THE cheese fries (with a side of ranch w/ ketchup mixed in) before our meals came. I also got a t-shirt. =) Don't judge - my t-shirt addiction is fierce and hard to shake.




After lunch we walked around downtown, ran into Summit Co (for being so incredibly inactive - I sure do love all the stuff in there. I could create a whole wardrobe out of that stuff and be content), played disc golf at Boomer Lake (sure do miss that place and wish we had something like that here) and did some more casual shopping. We finished off the date at Aspen Coffee for a quick treat before heading home. By this time it was rainy and storms were moving in. It continued to rain, thunder, and lightening the rest of the night - whatd'ya know? Perfect 24 weather. =)

The next morning we got up, listened to a great lifechurch.tv message (which really made me wish we had a real small group to be a part of) while we cleaned house. I clean regularly (honest) but the thing is - we have so much shtuff laying around because it doesn't have a home since we're remodeling a couple rooms in the house. We got quite a bit done that day too so it's definitely an improvement. We were supposed to have a session that afternoon with our friends the Cassidy's. Little miss got sick though so we have to reschedule. So - I cleaned and did more laundry and Dac edited photos. We re-convened for another episode of 24 before heading off to bed.

That was our big 5-year anniversary weekend! I know it doesn't sound like much, but it was a chance to be 'us' instead of worker bees on the brink of major stress-induced breakdowns. We laughed and played and talked and life was good.

Just for kicks and geegles - here's a look at us at our first dance in 1998 (right before we officially started dating). It wasn't our first date per se - because that was when we went to the movies with Val and Tarl. Haha. I sat with Val and Dac sat with Tarl. =) I kid, I kid... no, but seriously. It was awwwwwwwkward.

Oh to be that size again... that in shape again... and that tan again.

Here's us not long after getting engaged in 2006:


Here's us on our wedding day - also in 2006.:


Here's us on our 5-year anniversary: =) Thankfully, still happy!

Branson Trip

Like I mentioned a few days ago, My cousin Courtney and I took our moms on a mother-daughter trip to Branson, MO for their 50th birthdays!

We all left from our respective states Saturday morning (Labor Day Weekend) and after a few pit stops and lots of winding roads, we made it to our hotel that afternoon. Once we got there and squealed and hugged a lot - we went for a walk. It was a toasty trek too, I might add.

Anyway, we kind of just explored the the strip around the hotel, perused a few tacky t-shirt shops (even found some ROCKS like old times), and then decided we'd better stop and eat/drink before we had heat strokes. So - we landed at Charlie's. We were greeted by a singing (or maybe lip syncing) lady and while our waiter was nice, the food was just mediocre and they put us back in a corner behind the sound guy (oh yeah... she was totally mouthing the words...knew it!) For Pete's sake - nobody puts baby in a corner!! Clearly they didn't realize who we were. Clearly.


Courtney and I lookin' like a couple of hot messes after drinking like 3 whole pitchers of water... each.

Mom and Aunt Cindy

With our rocks. Listen ya'll... I'm gonna let you in on a little secret. Courtney and I were... huh hmmm... total dweebs. =) We would go to Bonnie-n-Clyde Trade Days and beg our parents to buy us the little pouches of polished rocks. Then, we'd proceed to wash the rocks in the bathroom sink because we were both experts in how to care for those priceless stones. I'm pretty sure she also convinced me she had a book about how to turn regular ol' driveway rocks into gems. Wait, now that I think of it... I may have had a book too. =)
We continued back to the hotel after supper and found ourselves at the Montana Mike's bar having a drink.



The next day we got up, ate continental breakfast, and headed to the outlet mall. We spent several hours there picking up all sorts of bargains! I NEVER shop like that and I got some great finds for Fall - including my most exciting purchase - a $25 Banana Republic pullover that is so soft and so cozy and so perfect. I also got some work shoes and some sweaters. We just ate lunch there at the mall (jumbo hot dog for me... yum) and then once we were done shopping we headed back to the room to get ready for DIXIE STAMPEDE.

Aren't they purdee?

Mom sportin' the 50th crown.

=) You all wonder where I get it... Exhibit A.

Me workin' it... haha

Dixie Stampede was good. Honestly - better than I expected. Sure it was totally cheesy and hoaky - but it was pretty dang entertaining anyway. I ate practically my whole meal too (maybe I shouldn't admit to that). The meal consisted of a rather chunky cornish hen, a slab of pork, half a potato, a mini corn cob, cream of vegetable soup, a cheddar biscuit, and an apple turnover.

My boo.


Aunt Cindy sportin' the crown. Court bought this crown and they only had one... so the birthday girls had to share.The adorable little squishy fuzzy butt piglets from the show.

During the pre-show.After the show we went on an adventure (ie: I was driving). We had a heck of a time getting up this awful hill. I was willing to sacrifice my cool facade for some good laughs. That's me - always taking one for the team. =) Annnnnnyway... we decided to drive around and check out the downtown area. After catching a glimpse we decided it'd be fun to skip Silver Dollar City and hit up some shops, check out the Branson Landing, and eat our weight in snackages.

The next morning things took a turn for the worse... we had an issue at our hotel. I've contemplated even mentioning this... it's that bad... but this is my scrapbook. Not that I'll likely ever forget this... but still... I feel it's worth documenting. Ya'll - there. were. bed bugs. What!?!?! I KNOW!! It was sooooo unbelievable. Sooooo gross. Sooooo haaarible. =( To make an uber long story short - we got a full refund, all our stuff laundered, and a new hotel room. And a lot of itching. Eeewww. Even though we were upset and it certainly put a damper on things - we were not going to let it ruin our day!

There were several little five and dime shops downtown... this one wasn't all that little.

We weren't out long before we had to stop for a coke.
We got some delicious old fashioned cokes (vanilla Diet Dr. Pepper for me).


Then we made our way down to the landing.

We ate lunch at the San Francisco Oven. Then shopped. Then ate again.
Then shopped. Theeeeeen ate again. =) This time, at the Rowdy Beaver.


It was fun and our waiter was from Kansas so that was cool. Aunt Cindy and her marg. Can you blame her? After the day we had?
The responsibles with our sweet tea.
And - then we ate. Andy's frozen custard. Yum! And we used a coupon. For the win!The next day we got packed up, ate breakfast at Cracker Barrel, hugged goodbye, and headed back.

We had such a great time and while we would have done some things differently I think, the important thing is that we got to spend time together and as always... had fun!

Midweek Randoms

• I fully intended to have already posted about our Branson trip AND this past weekend AND our dates... but obviously I'm lagging behind. =|

• On the bright side, I do have this picture that Dac took of our adorable pug licking his chops. Does that make up for it?

• I guess since I don't have a whole lot to chat about today, I can just go ahead and tell you about our dates this past weekend.

• We had a little extra free time this past weekend so we were actually able to each plan a date. It worked out since the week before didn't allow for an "official" date. I picked first. Friday night we ate Subway then went to the high school Cowley Cup football game. We got rained on quite a bit but we won - Go Bulldogs! We were sure to celebrate by grabbing an ice cream cone on the way home. =)

• Saturday we got up and grabbed a drink (Diet Dr. Pepper for me and an iced coffee of some sort for Dac) on our way to Wichita for a family session. I'd been pretty excited for this session for a few months because even through our e-mails back and forth, I knew we'd hit it off! =) It was one of those sessions where you feel like you've known each other a long time. We took pictures at the park then went our separate ways. Dac and I grabbed Panera for lunch right after, bought me a couple discs, then went to play disc golf! Dac loves disc golf and that was the date he planned for us! =) It was a lot of fun! It started raining on us as we were finishing up the 9th hole, so we headed to Cherry Berry to complete the date.

• Once we got home, got ready, and got the cooler and chairs packed up, we headed out to my brother-n-law's customer appreciation party (he's a great welder). I think it was Val that lovingly dubbed it redneck fest... and it was just that. Don't be fooled though, I can kick it with the redneck crowd. =) I have tons of pictures from that, so it'll have to be it's own post... BUT... here's a quick glance at the fun we had. haha.
  

• Guys... listen to this. We had this big honkin' spider under our door when we opened it this weekend. SO - I had Dac step on it (I'm a pansy) and, yeah, it gets worse, get this... BABY SPIDERS went EVERYWHERE. *Gags* Hundreds of them... I'm at least 99.8% positive they all went outside but STILL. UGH! We killed as many as we could. I hate to be like that ya'll. You know I love God's creatures. Really, I do. BUT, I draw the line with spiders, babies or not. I discriminate. Forgive my sins. Now, had the spider been out in the yard or at the nature center for example, I wouldn't have dreamed of killing mama and her babies. Never. But practically in my house? You better believe it. *Shutters* Furthermore, I don't understand how when you step on the mom - how the babies even survive? I mean, the little creeps hang on her back and if you step on her back, I'd think that'd do it. I shutter. *Scratches head for the up-teenth time since starting this paragraph*
  

• I'm still t-totally sucking at my diet. I've gained a couple pounds and REALLY want to get some more weight off before more holidays and fall eating extravaganzas come my way. Unfortunately, my will power level is barely even registering on the will power-o-meter. How can I fix this!?!

• Our anniversary is Friday! It's a big one... FIVE YEARS! I'm excited. Don't know why exactly, we don't really have any major plans yet. No second honeymoon or hot date planned... at least no plans yet. We kept Friday and Saturday open though so there's definitely time for dates. =)
  

Remember

Saw this editorial cartoon in today's newspaper... thought it was cool.


I settled in for a night of 9/11 TV specials last night. The first was CBS' "9/11: Ten Years Later". Wow! It was intense to say the least. I mean, oh my! So scary and heartbreaking. It essentially followed a ladder company from a few months before 9/11 until now. It included footage I hadn't seen before as well as another perspective. It was so good and so horrible.

9|11

I remember I was sitting at a desk between Megan Whitehead and Dacinda Musgrove in Mr. Bucher's web design class my senior year of high school. Another teacher quickly and quietly came in and just turned on the TV. We sat. We watched. The first tower had already been hit. My first thoughts were, like many, that it was a horrific accident. As we watched the second hit, a lump formed in my throat and my heart sank. It was too horrible to watch but I couldn't so much as blink. I remember Megan crying. I remember not being able to. I remember telling her we were just there. We talked about irrelevant things like that we were glad we got a picture of the buildings.

The next few hours are foggy. Then we left for a tennis tournament in El Dorado. Honestly, I don't really remember the ride up. I suppose we talked about it. We were probably buzzing about what we thought happened and why and what was next and how sad it was and the death toll. We probably got fired up about war and the gruesome images we saw all morning. I remember the tournament was a tri and that I lost every single match. That's when I realized it affected me more than I originally thought. That's when I remember feeling the weakest, the most drained, the most hurt.

I remember listening to the radio on the way home and watching more news once I got there. If I wasn't before, I'd become a news junkie then.

I remember all the flags and the feeling of unity and the way we all helped each other out. I remember a few months later when my buddy Chris called to say he was joining the Marines. I cried then. I remember Dad calling me on the first anniversary to see if I was doing ok. I remember knowing the feelings about that day would never really go away.

Today, I look at pictures and I watch the news coverage and I read the stories of survival, of death, of heroism, and of perseverance. I think of all those on the planes and the fear they must have felt. I wonder if God's peace came over them and if so, what that felt like. I think about the hijackers and what it must take to do such a thing. I wonder if they were scared, if they felt noble, or if they even had any feelings at all. I think of those in the buildings when the planes hit. I wonder how it must of looked, sounded, smelled, and felt in there. I wonder what made people jump. I think of all those who lost their lives and all those who have to live with the fact that they weren't one of them but easily could have been. I think of the brave ones who went in to rescue, who handed out wet towels, who carried people away. The fire fighters, police, nurses, doctors, preachers, "everyday" citizens who stood up to make a difference. I wonder how scary it must have been to run from the debris cloud and not even know what was going on. I think of those babies who were born shortly after and don't even have so much as a picture with their dad, I think of the spouses and families left behind, and I think about those who've had to deal with PTSD, cancer, addictions, depression, and fear ever since.

Today, I look at the pictures of the new memorial - fountains - and I remember how far we've come and how far we have to go. I know that there's been threats made for an anniversary attack. I've checked the news off an on just to make sure it hasn't come true. I wonder what the rest of the day will hold... what the years ahead will hold. I wonder how many more tragedies I'll have to remember.

I remember that day and I always will. We all will. I hate that we have to.

Midweek Randoms

• SO - Labor Day weekend is over. For many of us, that means the last "break" until Thanksgiving. Hmph. Did you have a good one? What did you do? I, for one, went on a mother-daughter-girls-weekend-trip-to-Branson with my mom, Aunt Cindy, and my boo (cousin Courtney). Courtney and I planned this as a 50th birthday gift to the two of them. The trip was fun (albeit interesting) but most importantly we got to be together and that alone was fabulous and priceless. =) More on the trip (with pictures) soon!

• On our trip we did some shopping. I found some great bargains. Looking at some of them now and realizing I need to branch out and also, I can be such a dude (look at all this green, blue, and gray!) Still, I'm excited for my finds (2 v-neck sweaters, a charcoal boyfriend cardigan, an awesome charcoal pullover, work shoes, and a pumpkin decoration for our dining room table for good measure.)

• I used the weekend to completely blow any and all efforts I've put toward losing weight the past couple months. I ate, and ate, and ate and ate and ate. Five jumbo points if you can tell me where that phrase was adapted from. (Can't believe nobody got my last pointless pop culture trivia question...After a tragical week spent in the total depths of despair... those thoughts were brought to you courtesy of Anne of Grenn Gables! C'mon people! Julie? Are you out there? I KNOW you know that one!"Anyway, the point is I feel like a total out-of-breath fatty now and it's time to get back on the wagon-o-health.

• I'm pretty sure work has swallowed my husband. Since I've been back I've seen him just a couple of hours. I actually had to take him a snack to work last night and actually help him work just to see him and say "hey, I'm back!" Then we met friends at La Fiesta for a quick dinner. Dac went back to work... came home for a bit, went back and then rolled back in around midnight. He's been putting in tons of overtime this past month - here's hoping that lets up real soon.

• Speaking of Dac, he attended a family reunion out at Camp Horizon this weekend. It spanned two days and he ate, swam, played games, played disc golf, etc... and he said he had a really good time.

Dac workin' those intense disc golf moves. (photo courtesy of Erica Wheeler.)

Dac's extended family on his dad's side. (Next photos courtesy of Darla Mann.)
Family from Grandma Jo's side.

• While I was gone, I received this in a text. It said "somebody misses you". Awww. =) Love that Charli.
  

• Now, just for kicks and giggles, let's go back in time. A couple months ago, Steve took charge of Wii night and created a Joe's Crab Shack-esque feast. He boiled crab legs, crawfish, shrimp, mussels, corn, and taters. He added some so-hot-it'll-melt-the-hat-right-off-your-head spice and we all practically burnt up just smelling it. It. Smelled. HAARRRIBLE. After gagging for a few, we settled down and ate. I vowed to try everything there. It was actually all really good (minus the awful mussels... they didn't necessarily taste awful but the texture did me in. Oy. ) I ate it up like a cajun champ. Here's a couple shots from that night that I forgot to post.

• Ooh, I realize I forgot to mention our most recent date night. I didn't get any pictures but I basically just planned for us to stay home. We got in lots of chatting while I made some fajita chicken tacos and we watched a couple episodes of 24 before breaking to pack (me) and work on photos (Dac). It definitely wasn't anything fancy but I'm so glad we made the time for it.
  

• I've decided I REALLY need to start planning meals and sticking to that plan. At this point, I'm not even talking gourmet awesomeness... I'm just talking about fairly quick, fairly nutritious meals on most week nights. I love to cook and even more, I enjoy eating home cooked meals. SO - I need to plan to make this happen. Like. Now. I also really want to get back in the habit of using coupons and saving some moolah. No extreme couponing or anything just a little savings here and there. Who's with me!?!?!
  

• On a final note - how is this weather!?!? Highs in the 80's... lows in the 50's. Sigh. Fall has arrived friends. Fall has arrived. =) I was made for this weather and I'm LOVING it.
  

Friends

You may remember from last week's randoms that we visited our friends John and Anna a couple weekends ago. We had fun...as always. =) I just posted some pictures from little Ruby's 9-month session over on our photo blog so be sure to check out those portraits and leave a comment reminding them how absolutely fabulous she is!

We also took some candid shots while we played. John took some of these too!


I'm curious to see how Ruby turns out. Will she be more like John? Anna? Physically speaking, I'm definitely starting to see more Anna in her... where before it was tons of John. Will she have John's crazy personality? (one of the nuttiest, coolest guys I know).
Case in point.
Super sweet and caring like Anna?Who knows?! Maybe a little of everything, huh? =) Hooray for friends!