love letters...

So a couple of months ago I had a bit of a meltdown. I was feeling worn out and unloved and probably a bit overwhelmed. And my poor husband got the brunt of it. This man of mine, he has NEVER EVER spoken an unkind word to me. He has never been anything but supportive anyway he could figure out. So a few days after my little  big meltdown I received a letter from him in the mail. It was a little love letter to me. And it could not have been more perfect for what I needed at the time. Then the next week I got another, then another. So that he didn't feel to much pressure to do them every week, I told him he didn't have to send them every week. So now I get them about every other week. And I so look forward to them. It is one of the most thoughtful, loving things he has done for me. I adore this man of mine. And I am so grateful I get to spend eternity with him.

Hubs 35th birthday!

Yesterday was Hubs' 35th birthday. He doesn't ever like doing much for his birthday but the kids and I tried to make it special. He unfortunately had to work the whole day and was in a required training and couldn't take the day off. But the kids and I worked hard to make him a cake, a birthday banner, dinner and shopped and wrapped his presents. 

Mac did most of the work himself with just a bit of help from me in a few needed areas.

Daddy before opening his presents. Mac got Daddy a Lego like he has every year. Oak was pretty adimant on getting daddy a shirt. There isn't a lot of places to find nice shirts in K Falls. But we found something after looking in numerous stores and then it was too small on top of the fact that the store didn't even charge me for it when I went to look at the receipt. So we took it back today. And I bough him shoes that I took back because he is pretty picky, but I really want him to get rid of his nasty every day shoes. 

Isn't this birthday sign the cutest?! 

"Happy Birthday Dad"

We had a lot of fun making it.

Oak was double fisting her cake.

After this Mac and daddy put together the Lego and we watched Planes.

34

34 years ago was one of the best days of my life (although I wasn't quite born yet). 

Love this man, my husband, my everything and the father to my children.

Happy Birthday Handsome!

Hubs doesn't like to make a big deal about his birthday so we just had a quiet night with Hubs's parents and sister (who happens to be in town) over for dinner and cake. Mac could hardly stand the anticipation of giving daddy his gift and eating chocolate cake. That is all I heard about all week from him. And because I don't like ice cream I totally forgot to get any, but no one seemed to care thankfully.

Can you tell Mac was excited?! Mac chose a Lego set for his daddy. He got him one last year and decided he needed to do it again. It took alot of pep talks and a little threatening (on the lines of we will have to return the gift if he tells) to help him realize that he couldn't tell daddy what he had gotten him. 

A cute story to go with that: Mac was playing Lego's with daddy in his room. I guess Mac accidentily told Hubs that he had gotten him Legos for his birthday and then he felt bad. He said he would come and tell me and Hubs said don't worry I will talk to Mommy about it later. Mac got worried that that meant daddy was going to lie to me about it and told Hubs that since he (Mac) was the one who told him that he would come and tell Mommy. I frustrated at first but then realized that he was wanting to tell me the truth so I praised him for taking responsibility and for telling the truth. We are very proud of our boy!

Oak telling daddy what she drew on her birthday card for him.

Daddy and his kids. Silly girl Oak for some reason decided to pose like this. 

This is the gift that I gave Hubs. It has been a year in the making and it just for some reason was hard to get put together like I wanted. But it is a picture of my Father-in-law, my husband and my son all at about the same age. Then we thought it was cool to get a picture of them all together now with the picture. Love it!

And we love that Aunt Jessie is visiting! We got to spend the day with her before the party and we had so much fun. 

L.O.V.E.

 Daddy doing his baby girl's hair for church.

And my baby girls curls.

...I could just die from love at the sight of both of these.

Hubs turned 33!

Note: So I (we) are usually terrible at celebrating our own birthdays or really doing something for each other on their birthdays. I know, terrible right? But this year I have made it a goal to be better about birthdays, ours and extended family members birthdays.

Hubs turned 33 last week and when I asked Mac what we should do for Daddy's birthday, of course his first response was to make daddy a chocolate cake. So that for sure was on our list of things to do.

We first went to Target and got the stuff we needed to make a cake and Mac wanted to pick out a present for his Daddy. And of course he wanted to get him Legos, so I let him. We got birthday cards and we also got balloons and window markers and went to where he worked and put a whole bunch of balloons in his car and wrote on the window a little birthday note. (I knew Hubs would totally hate that because sometimes he can be a little party pooper :) ). Then we went to the mall to find the gift that I had planned on getting him. He had been saying how he wanted to get a new battery in his watch and I didn't know where his watch was and it is 10 years old and not very professional looking. So I wanted to get him a really nice watch. I found what I wanted on Macy's web site and printed the picture and took it into Macy's to try to find it. I found it and was just so excited I could hardly contain myself.

We went home and started making the cake, wrapped presents, cleaned the house, and got dinner started. We invited Hubs's parents for dinner. Hubs wouldn't give me a clear answer on what he wanted for his birthday dinner so I just made sure to make something that he could actually eat and that he likes alot. Mac could hardly contain himself waiting for the time when Daddy could open his presents. We talked over and over most of the day about how we have to keep the present a secret so that Daddy would be surprised when he opened it.

Dinner was yummy and Hubs loved all of his presents!

I was proud of myself for making it a special day and loved that we got to spoil Daddy. He so deserves it. He works so hard to provide for us and then comes home most of the time to a very grumpy family. I love this man more than words could ever say!

finally...a backyard!!

So sorry for the lack of posts. I can't believe I have gone two weeks without posting. It hasn't been that we have been having lots of fun. The first week was just a very terrible, no good, very bad week. I won't go into it, but it just had to do with a very naughty 3 year old, a mommy who was exhausted from attempting to run, who on top of that was not feeling very well and had very little patience. But we have gotten past that and then the next week was full of being productive around the house instead of thinking about blogging. We were preparing for Oak's birthday party and are preparing for Hubs's sister's wedding this week. And most of Hubs's time was spent doing this...

Making our backyard into a usable backyard!! He has spent endless hours, every spare moment of his time working on all of this. He actually built the deck in June and stained it in July. But he built the step recently and it still needs to be stained. I L.O.V.E our deck!! Hubs did such an awesome job on it!

He re-seeded the lawn in April and it came up awesome this time. At the end of the yard on the right in the corner you can see the sandbox that Hubs made for the kids.

Last minute we decided to put up a little fence to separate the garden from the backyard. We still need to get more stones for the path and stain the fence. I love how it turned out.

I don't have any before pictures. But imagine that it was nothing but clay when we moved in two years ago. And then imagine no deck and terrible looking grass that was planted last summer that didn't work out. And then imagine dense 3 foot high weeds all along the edge of the fence where the flower beds are now. It was sad, ugly and very pitiful.

I so love it now and love to just go and stand on the deck and look at it!

40 pounds lighter...

In February Hubs decided to change his way of eating to help him lose and maintain a healthy weight. Also to help lower his Cholesterol without using medication. He has now lost more than 40 lbs, and for the first time in many years he is below 200 lbs. People are starting to notice and ask him if he has lost weight. He looks and feels great. And we had to go buy him all new clothes. We will find out this week if he did lower his Cholesterol. I am very proud of him and really sticking with it!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

this man...

Is my husband, the father to my children, my best friend, my rock, my provider, my protector and my eternal companion.

He is turning 32!

When I think about him, I think about the very first day that I laid eyes on him on the steps of the Institute building. I KNEW, without a doubt, that I was going to marry him! I think about the TEN years that I have been with him and all that we have been through, the good, the VERY best, the bad and the really, really, REALLY bad. And I could not be more grateful to have gone though it all with him by my side. And I know that I love him more now than I did the day I married him, and I have NO doubt that he loves me and our children. I am so grateful for that day 32 years ago when he was born. The world is a better place because of him, it truly is!

I LOVE YOU Hubs!!!

harmonica playin'!

We found Hubs's harmonica when we were cleaning in the garage yesterday. Mac seriously caught on so quickly, we were pretty impressed. He was so thrilled with him self when ever he would play it that he would smile and giggle. It was the cutest.

Favorite pictures of JUNE...and a little of life lately!

This picture shows Mac's personality to a T!

Daddy and Mac kisses during a round of "peekaboo!"

A Daddy in training! He LOVES to push things around.

Yesterday as I was cleaning under, behind and in my couch, Mac was pushing the vacuum cleaner around the couch, which was in the middle of the room.

He was telling me and showing me that that was a "guck" (truck).

I think he was trying to make sure that I knew he was still a boy even though he was pushing around Dora in a purple stroller. And what you don't see is the rocks that he picked up and put in the stroller with Dora. I think he is ALL BOY!

My handsome Man!

Mac showing Grandma the airplane in the magazine!

He grabbed grandma and the magazine and gave it to her saying "airplane". He wanted her to find the picture of the airplane that he had seen in it earlier. This would usually be a Mac and Grandpa thing, but I think Grandpa was gone, so Grandma had to do.

Getting a wagon ride with "cousins".

These boys are my cousin's twin boys, who are just a month younger than Mac. They didn't really know how to play with eachother this year, but maybe next year.

You can't tell from this picture, but Mac had climbed in and was sitting in his book basket.

I have no clue why!

Looking so handsome and like such a big boy, right before going to Uncle Spencer's wedding reception.

Daddy and Mac at the reception.

Mac was not a happy camper. It was during his nap, and by the end all he wanted was me, but I had to take pictures still.

Mac partying at the reception.

LOVE this photo! My handsome boy with a mouth full of teeth!

If this picture had sound, it would sound something like a high pitched scream! Oh brother!

I think I may go deaf, and I think that I better get some ear plugs. This boy has been screaming all day long, happy or mad! My neighbors just might call CPS with all the screaming they are hearing lately!

I was trying out this fabric I got to use as a background for my makeshift studio. This was pre ironed and starched and was just hanging over some chairs. I was also trying to test the light out at a certain time of day for some photoshoots I have coming up.