Good Feelings

Today I'm feeling grateful. I believe reality is colored by our emotions sometimes- that's why bad times can be so bad when we're in them and once we move on, and we are happy, we don't really remember them being that bad. It is amazing how much brighter the light is when the shades you are looking through are not dark. Happiness is the best feeling, and until you've lived in sadness, you won't appreciate it enough. Oh the little things I have taken for granted...

So today I'm thinking about all the blessings I have. The love I am able to feel for my husband is pure. It isn't tainted with uncertainty, it isn't punctuated with questions. I trust him with my life, with my heart, and with my children (the children I know I will have one day, and who I want to be his). What peace of mind it is to know that this life we are building together is like a house being built with stone.

Chad, I love you more today than I ever have before. My heart waited until you came- to love you with it's best, and most special love. I'm so glad you're here now. Thank you for being my anchor, my parachute, and my wings. I love you.

January 2011 - The CRUISE

The vacation begins. We flew to Miami, Florida and spent the night. Saturday morning we got up bright and early and headed to board our gi-normous cruise ship- the Celebrity Eclipse. On the bus ride over, Chad leaned over and whispered in my ear, “I have the sudden urge to scream…” I looked at him with his crooked little grin and said, “Please don’t.” J He’s always keeping me on my toes, and laughing. “There’s never a dull moment” is our life’s motto and oh how true it is.

We sailed off that afternoon and the relaxation began. The first two days we sailed, then the third day we stopped in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The fourth day was in St. Maarten, where we spent the day on the beach/nude beach. What a sight it was. No body that looked good naked was there.

HIGHLIGHT #1- I got in the ocean! All the way in…hair wet and salt water in the eyes IN. It was scary, and exhilarating at the same time. I panicked a little at first, but Chad assured me he would take care of me and not let me get eaten by a sea creature or drowned.

The fifth day was in St. Kitts, where we toured the island in a shuttle bus. We stopped at a little private beach, ate lunch, played wit Sarah the monkey, and then HIGHLIGHT #2- went JET-skiing. Another fun water sport I’ve never enjoyed. I held on to Chad so tight, even after he promised me he wouldn’t throw us off into the water.

The sixth and seventh day were sail days…we laid out at the pool, went to a couple shows, sun tanned on our balcony, and just relaxed. We drank our normal daily caloric amount in Pina Coladas alone, oh but they were so irresistible and delightful, filled up on pizza and gelato, and played a few games of basketball late at night all by ourselves. I never got the ball in the hoop, but Chad has some mad HOOP skills! He made every shot, except for when the boat moved and made him miss. It was an awesome vacation. I love cruising…

Merry Christmas! 2010

I love Christmas time...I love being around family and feeling the strong spirit of giving. This year we didn't even get our tree up, but there was still plenty of holiday cheer. Christmas Eve we spent at my mom's house opening presents and eating pizza. That night, we slept over at Dennis and Lisa's along with Shane and Stacie, Joyce, and Nick. Harley, Lexi, Sherman, and Bandit came along too to play with their friends, Roxie and Sophie. :) Christmas morning, we woke up and sat around the fire place in our pajamas opening presents. I love this because it reminds me of when I was a kid and everything was so good. After everything was unwrapped, we all started making breakfast together. We sat around the table eating and smiling, when Lisa came out with one more envelope to give each of us. It was a invititation to go on a 7-day Eastern Caribbean cruise. We were all ecstatic! The first thing I thought of was the warm weather, running around at the pool in my swimming suit...and then the 10 peices of bacon I just ate. :) We had a great holiday; lots of parties and presents, lots of family and fun...lots of love and JOY.

My Birthday - August 2010

I turned the big 2-6 this year...and again, just like any of my other birthdays...had to make it a week-long celebration and lots of fun things. We celebrated every night leading up until the big day which was on a Saturday, so it made a great finale. We had a dutch over cook-out party at Dennis and Lisa's house.

Lots of people came and it was so fun. Chad did so much and cooked all the food out in the hot coals-I was so thankful for him and the food was delicious! After we ate, I opened presents...I have some funny friends. Since I'm afraid of the water, Matt got me a big shark floaty for when we go boating. I got gift cards, money, jewelry, and hair stuff. (THANKS everyone!) JT and Casey brought out a life-sized pinata of myself- filled with floss, laffy taffy, nerd ropes, bubble gum, and toothbrushes. We hung her in the garage and I went at it, blindfolded with a big stick. (See Facebook for videos) Later, Chad suprised me with my favorite ice cream cake from Coldstone with "Midge is the Shiz" written on it- he had lit candles on it and as he walked in with it, every body started singing Happy Birthday. Later that night, after we were home, Chad set a huge box in front of me. The grand, grand finale of my week-long birthday... It was a Kitchenaid Mixer- the biggest, baddest of them all! I had a STELLAR birthday. Thanks to everyone who made it special. And a special thank you to my sweet husband who always goes above and beyond...

Lost Wages and Donald Trump

I've written several posts on this blog and then gotten so frustrated trying to get them put up that I gave up. I'm not good at this blogging thing, but I’m going to give it another shot…

June 2010- We took a trip to Las Vegas and stayed in the Trump Hotel .

We hit the road at 6:30 am Saturday morning...stopped at Harts, got gas, filled up my 44 ouncer of diet pepsi and an AMP energy drink for Chad. I didn't need a pit stop all the way until Beaver. That's a record. We got to St. George around 10:30 and to my disappointment, Jimmy Johns was not open. So we stopped at the Del Taco for a late breakfast/early lunch.

We rolled into Las Vegas around noon and headed to our hotel - the Trump International. "Donald, you outdid yourself." Valet took our car, unloaded our bags, and we didn't have to wait in line for more than 5 minutes to check in. The lobby was clean and smelled like Gardenias. Every employee there smiled at us and welcomed us. They did all but roll out the red carpet. Our room was on the 48th floor with a city view - and it was amazing. There was a Subzero fridge, flat screen tv, huge closets with Trump bathrobes and hangers that actually could be removed from the closet to hang your things on. The bathroom was the coolest thing ever. Inside was a double vanity with a freaking TV in the mirror. To the left, a GIGANTIC jetted tub. I could lay down inside with my head at one end and my feet at the other- I could have drowned in there. It was like my own private hot tub, but without seats. And you could take a bubble bath, WHILE watching a movie. (Which I did.) To the right of the vanity were two large glass doors...inside door number one- the toilet, WITH a soft closing toilet seat AND a telephone. ( In case you were in there and you ran out of toilet paper, I guess you could call someone...?) Door number two was the shower- good water pressure, and a very spacious. I was very happy. Since our room was so awesome, we didn't feel bad about having an early night back at the hotel. We walked to Caesar's Palace and browsed the Forum shops, ate at the Cheesecake Factory for dinner, then headed back to relax in our luxurious suite.

Sunday morning- our big fabulous day- we got up and headed out into the hot air and sunshine. We walked down and almost made it to Caesar's when Chad met a bum. He told Chad that he was a professional window tinter and a plumber, his favorite metal bands were REO Speedwagon, Bon Jovi, and Paris Hilton. He went on about how he got hit by a car once and so he can't remember anything, but he thought Chad looked like a guy in a movie with J-Lo and a hot tub time machine. After that, we went to Margaritaville for lunch, then the Coke Factory. The M&M factory had as many M&M's in it as it did children...but the best part of all was when I turn around to see Chad bent over holding his leg...I asked him what he was doing and he said he got kicked. "What?!" I exclaimed. He said "Yeah, that little kid over there just came up and kicked me!". My mouth was open with disgust looking around for this little hoodlum when I saw Chad looking at me dumbfounded. "Are you serious?" he asked. No one kicked him...he was just fixing his sock. Next we made our way to the New York New York, previously my favorite Las Vegas hotel...we butted some Hispanic boyfriends in the rollercoaster line, which made me a little nervous- there were four of them and only one of Chad. :) The rollercoaster was awesome- as always.

We took a taxi back to our hotel after the yummiest rocky road ice cream cone ever- our feet were killing us. We changed into our fancy clothes, made dinner reservations at Trump Restaurant, and later were seated in our own private booth...the food was excellent, and delicious.

The next morning, we slept in, then packed our bags and checked out. Valet brought our car up and left two cold bottles of water in the cup holder for us. Our last stop was the Palms Casino...we played around there for a while, saw a drag queen in really tight pants and a bad wig, and didn't win a million dollars. Can't wait to go back!

PARK CITY WEEKEND

July 4th is the anniversary of Chad and I's first date...it's been one year since it all began-one of the best years of my life.  I married an amazing man.  He is all I've ever wanted. I know how lucky I am and I feel so blessed to share my life with someone who cherishes me as much as I cherish him. This weekend he surprised me with a little get-a-way to Park City...

This is the story: a few weeks ago he told me he was going shooting with his dad on Saturday, July 3rd, so I made plans to go shopping with my friend Lyndsey in Park City.  She picked me up that morning and she said she met a guy online who was visiting for the holiday weekend in Park City and wondered if we could stop and meet him while we were up there.  The stores were really busy, but we had a lot of fun and found lots of good sales.  After lunch, it was time to meet this guy at his hotel.  We drove to down town Park City, parked, and went into the Sky Lodge hotel on main street.  Lyndsey told the lady at the front desk she was here to meet someone in room 207.  She called his room and told him we were here and sent us down the hall.  We got to the door and Lyndsey knocked.  The door opened slowly and the first thing I noticed was how nice and modern the room was.  The guy was still behind the door- I thought he was just teasing her and I was just hoping for her that he wasn't a freak. :)  All of sudden, Chad jumps out!  My heart fluttered from the surprise and just seeing my handsome gave me butterflies. It took me a minute to figure it all out- I realized Chad never had plans to go with his dad, and he'd been planning this for weeks.  He'd packed my bag for me- which was so cute because he had filled two huge bags full of all my stuff just to make sure he got everything I would need. Chad thanked Lyndsey for her help and she left.  Then we went up the street for some pizza and ice cream.  We hung out in our awesome hotel room, relaxing and enjoying the night.  For dinner, he took me to the Easy Street restaurant and we ate prime rib out on the patio. To finish off the night, we sat in our private hot tub outside on our hotel deck with the fire place going.  It was so romantic...the memories he gives me are priceless.  I love that he is the type of man who will continue to go to special effort to do things like this no matter how many years go by.  I love him so much.  Happy one year "first date" anniversary to my sweetheart.  You still melt me. :)  

NASCAR Feb 2010

We went to Nascar with Chad's family and friends - another thing I'd never been to before. The first night in Mesquite, we all met at the buffet. You have to be careful what you eat at a buffet- when there is quantity, it's not always quality. But one thing that never fails me is the soft serve ice cream machine. MMMMM. I had several bowls with chocolate sprinkles on top. That is some expensive ice cream. :) The first day at Nascar, it was raining and cold. We ended up buying ponchos and a blanket- and the race was delayed until they could dry the track. Chad helped me pick a driver - and I got my very first hat- sponsoring Brian Vickers. The next day was sunny and warm. It was a great race- much better than watching it on TV.