Flashback Friday

Senior Prom 2002

Crazy Cat Lady?

Not quite...but close! This last Saturday October 15th we added two new members to our family! I have never had pets before, just fish, the husband had grown up with cats. I have been looking at some pet adoption places to see what was available and had fallen in love with a white cat, she was so big and had a double chin! I couldn't resist. I went to go see her in person and fell even more in love with her. The only catch was that she was bonded with her sister and they had to be adopted together. Her sister was even bigger than her and had black spots that resembled a cow. They had told me that nobody was wanting to adopt them because they were older {seven and eight} and because they were overweight {thirteen and fifteen pounds}. Well I am overweight and old and I would hope that someone would want me :) Over the weekend I took the husband to go look at the cats. An hour later we brought them home.

Cow

Coke

It has definitely been an adjustment in our house. We went from having no pets to two cats overnight. The first couple nights were overwhelming with the cat hair, but seems to have gotten a little better now. My allergies {yes, I am allergic to cats, go figure!} have not been as bad as I expected, I had some welts and my nose and eyes have been bothersome but nothing that I can't handle. Hoping in the next couple weeks they will not bother me at all. Coke has scratched on the couch a couple times and jumped on the kitchen counter once, but other than that they are very well behaved. They use the litter box just fine and have not had any accidents *knock on wood* but are not eating as much as I think they should be. We think they are still a little skiddish and are trying to adjust, hoping they will come around soon. It has been nice to have them in the house, makes it feel more like a home, and when they cuddle with us at night while we are watching TV it brings a smile to our face. Welcome home girls!

October!

October is our favorite month! It is the month we started dating {October 14th}, the month we got married {October 10th}, we bought our first home {October 29th}, unfortunately the car accident happened in October as well {October 23rd} but our favorite part of the month is Halloween! We love the holiday, decorating, going to the pumpkin patch, baking yummy treats, watching the leaves turn colors, turning on the heat and cuddling under blankets are all the things we look forward to. We started off by decorating the house, because my back was giving me problems, the husband had to do all the work but I must say that he did an amazing job!! We have gotten many compliments on the house and how "spooky" it looks.

This last weekend we headed to the pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins and get our yummy treats, a homemade berry pie and some caramel apples. Mmmmm! We fed the animals, got a hot dog and some pumpkin pie for lunch and then shot pumpkins out of a cannon! 

We headed home to decorate the pumpkins! The husband had came up with a cute idea involving fangs, they turned out amazing, we were surprised how much guts those tiny pumpkins had inside! For the bigger ones, we used fake tattoos especially made for decorating pumpkins. So easy and they look really cool and scary. No mess, just place on the tattoo, wet it down and peel it off and TADA you have yourself a neatly decorated pumpkin!

We had such a fun time this weekend doing our favorite fall things. The smell of a homemade pie in the oven, candles lit and tons of blankets on the couch enjoying the decorations placed around the house. Now if only we had more of those caramel apples ;) Happy Halloween!!

Snoqualmie Pass

Friday was Rachel's birthday, so we packed the pain pills {Yes, my back is still giving me problems} and headed to Snoqualmie Falls. She hadn't been for years and I had never gone before. It was only about an hour drive, we took the back roads so we could enjoy the scenery; lots of fields, barns and cows. When we arrived the weather was overcast, not sunny but not rainy either. We walked the paths to get to the look out point of the waterfall, the roar of the water was breathtaking and made the anticipation of what was to come even more exciting. As we approached the waterfall you could feel the mist of the roaring water, it felt as though it was raining even though we knew it wasn't. We turned the corner...

Literally took my breath away. I have never seen anything like this before! The sound of the water was overwhelming, the mist in your face was cold and wet and the scene...magnificent. I wish the weather would have been a little nicer, it was starting to get really foggy and I wish we would have had a little sun out. But we do live in the northwest, so I will take what we can get :) I cannot wait to take the husband there so he can experience it also!

Happy Birthday Rachel!

Marbled Cake?

The husband and I got out the cake that has been sitting in the freezer all year long so we could eat it on our anniversary! It did not look as bad as I had expected it to. The black icing had turned a dark green, but other than that it looked pretty much the same!

Make a wish...

Time for a taste!

It actually was not as bad as we thought it was going to be. The cake was a little dry and we did not eat much due to the fact that we couldn't get over it was a year old! The fondant was disgusting, but we were not a fan of it when it was fresh. My only complaint...I ordered marbled cake! This does not look marbled to me??

Happy Anniversary!

One Year Wedding Anniversary

Happy anniversary my handsome husband! Not only am I honored to celebrate these last eleven years we have spent together, I am proud to say we have made it to our one year wedding anniversary! What a year it has been…we have gone through so much together. We are stronger, smarter, more patient and caring, we have grown so much over the years. We have had heartache, sorrow, disappointments and tragedies; happiness, adventures, romance and enjoyment. I never imagined love would feel this good. When you placed that ring on my finger, I knew I would never be alone for as long as I lived. How lucky are we that not only are we married, most importantly we are best friends.

Throughout your life you have had people walk out on you and treat you unkind. Rest assure that I am here right by your side and I am not going anywhere. You will never be alone, I will help you with your insecurities and be your ear when you need to vent and. I may not be able to solve your problems, but know that you will never have to face them alone. Eleven years…I have known you as long as I had time with my father. Although I feel cheated to not have had more time with him, I realize how blessed I am to have had eleven amazing years with him just as I have had these past eleven with you. He didn’t get to see me graduate high school, walk me down the isle, or most importantly won’t be here to see us bring a child into the world. However, I am the lucky one…because you held my hand when I graduated, when I walked up those stairs on our wedding day, it was you who was there waiting for me. And when we are ready to bring a child into the world, it will be you who will be there to hold my hand yet again.

I cannot wait to spend forever with you.

- The wife

Back Pain

Pinched a nerve in my back yet again...

It all started a few years back in 2007, my mother was remodeling her house and I was working extra hard to help  with some of the labor and get things marked off the list. I had overworked myself and thought I was stronger than He-man. Wrong, I had hurt my back, a herniated disc. Yay me! Although I have a mild constant pain every single day, I have learned to deal with it and continue on trying not to let it impact my life. In May of 2009 right before we had started the building process on our house my back was hurting a little more than normal, I was making the bed and had bent over to grab a pillow off the floor. All of a sudden I had this pain, something I had never felt before! It felt like razor blades were stuck in my tail bone, a sharp shooting pain traveled down my left leg. This took my breath away and I felt like I couldn't walk, I tried sitting down but the pain was excruciating to even be in the sitting position. I had to lay on the bed. I tried ice packs, plenty of Advil and rest. Nothing was helping. I was not even able to sit on the toilet or walk to the kitchen. I had never in my life felt this kind of pain! We had a chiropractor come to the house. He told me that the herniated disc had caused swelling in my back muscles and in turn they were compressing around my sciatic nerve {the biggest nerve in our body}. The pain would not go away until the swelling had gone down. This took three weeks. I was stuck in bed, unable to walk around and night time was the worst because I would toss and turn all night trying to get comfortable which would cause more pain! After three weeks I was able to finally get around and get back to normal.

Fast forward to May of 2011 {why May??} it happened again! The only thing I can think of is I had just started water zumba and maybe I had over done it? This time the pain lasted for a little over two weeks. Pain pills seemed to do the trick and made life a little easier. Now only four short months later here we are AGAIN! Are you kidding me?! I had continued my zumba classes and I think maybe the workout is too high impact for my back and I did not let myself heal properly since the last time? So far I am nine days in, although I do feel some pain relief I am still super uncomfortable and having a hard time getting around. The worst part this time...this weekend is our first year wedding anniversary, we had the whole weekend planned and I am stuck on the couch. I am so angry and mad this is happening, I just dealt with this a few months ago! I feel so guilty that the husband has had to take over the house, laundry and caring for me. Our anniversary is postponed and I feel so useless. My mind races during the day and I feel the pressure of not accomplishing anything weighing down on me. I am supposed to be looking for work! I need to help contribute to our household. How am I going to go to interviews when I have a hard time even getting to the bathroom? I feel like the husband is so disappointed in me, I know he would never say that to me, but this has got to be so frustrating for him. I am seriously blessed, my husband has really taken over and helped around the house with the stuff I cannot do. I would be lost without him. I feel as though no one understands. My friends call and say "Still on the couch?" It has only been nine days!! It does not get better over night. I don't know how much longer I can go through this. I am at my wits end. This is the worst pain ever, I wouldn't would wish this upon my worst enemy!

Hoping for a miracle that I am all better by this weekend! A girl can wish right?

If you feel like boring yourself, here is an article about what I am going through.

Siatica

Wordless Wednesday

12 foot 5 inch diameter log from a Douglas Fir estimated to be over 620 years old.
Snohomish, WA 09.25.11

Missing You

Saturday October first marked sixteen years since my father has been on an indefinite vacation, that is what I still tell myself at least. You would think after all these years it would get easier, however it most certainty has not. I think as I have gotten older it has gotten harder to accept that he is gone and I will not be seeing him again. When I was younger he missed out on holidays and birthday parties, but now as an adult he has missed out on teaching me how to drive, watching me graduate, buying my first home, and most importantly, walking me down the isle. When it is my time to birth a child, it will yet again be another thing I can mark on the list of things he did not get to be a part of. I get angry most of the time, especially when others around me have their fathers still alive and do not cherish this time they have with them, I would give anything to be in their position. They say that time heals all wounds...even if that is true, it sure does not seem that way. It has gotten a little easier over the years, I am no longer in denial and realize he will not be coming home. I have forgotten the sound of his voice, the way he walked, his smell and smile. But I do remember that he loved me and I am sure he still loves me and thinks about me just as often as I think of him, I just wish I could hear him say it and see the love in his eyes one last time. When will this get easier Dad? Are you reading this from heaven right now? I miss you...more than you know. I try talking to you and look at your pictures all the time. Gets hard holding onto something that isn't there, something I cannot touch or hear a response back. I will still talk to you, tell you I love you everyday and look to the sky every time something reminds me of you. But it's hard; some days are harder than normal. October first I will always think of you more than normal because it marks the last day I got to see your face and feel the love you had for me. Sorry I didn't stay with you longer to be there while you took your last breath. Please watch over me and be proud of the woman I have become. I do it for you.

"Remembering you is easy, I do it everyday. Missing you is the heartache that never goes away."