Quiet Night

So it is another quiet night on the home front tonight. Brandon is back in Yuma and not for the last time. I have realized how far I have come in the last two years. And may I gloat and say I am proud of myself!

About two years ago I was still a newlywed and was well, still living at home with my parents. My husband was of course in Yuma and I didn't feel safe staying at our home by myself. So tonight, I sit alone with my two dogs and no husband at home and I have to say I like the break. Don't get me wrong, I miss him like crazy and can't wait for him to come home, but I like not having to cook big meals, do his laundry and remake the entire bed do to his nightly fight with the sheets. I do miss out meals together, our chats, our watching TV and chatting more then watching and well watching him play with the puppies!! I miss having a husband at home.

But, absence can make the heart grow stronger and I it does. AS much as I enjoy the little "break" and the fact I have really grow as a person and as a woman in the past two years, I am proud I can now enjoy a quiet night in my home with my puppies and looking forward to the big meal I will cook for him when he gets home, the laundry I will do and the bed I will gladly make because I was lucky enough to safely sleep next to my best friend!

Size 4

Today I took all of my old formal dresses out of my parents house and brought them to my house because my neighbor wants to look and see if any fit her for her formals this year. I had such great memories going through the dresses, but at the same time I was sad...size 4 sad!

I am not a size 4 anymore, not even close, but man when I was in 10th grade I was. I had the most BEAUTIFUL dress to wear to prom with Lincoln. Yes, I was 15 and he was 17 and we dated for two years, enjoying our relationship and growing in faith and all in all I looked hot when I went to prom with him in a size 4 dress!!!

I have great memorize from that night. We were up for about 36 hours straight. It was awesome. Neither of us had to be home at a certain time, just call our parents. I spent the night at his house with like 15 other friends after the dance and we didn't sleep because we had to head to King City Fair at 3:30 am to drop off trailers that we would be living in for the next 5 days of the fair!!!

I so remember my wears that day; FFA sweats, puffy jacket and Uggs that went oh so nice with the prom hair and make-up that I hadn't taken off or out yet. My hair was all pulled up and it was held with 36 hairpins. I will never forget that night. It was my second prom. I got to go my freshman year as well. God bless those days, the simple times and innocence that we had. 15 friends all at one house after prom, eating junk, drinking soda and being loud and parents just letting us enjoy each other.

Memories that make it okay that I am not a size 4 anymore, because I will soon have a husband at home who loves me even though I am no longer a size 4!!

We're Expecting!!

I got you!

No, not a baby, but a new 4 legged baby!!! Yes, we are crazy and adding another dog to our family. This is part of my family plan, husband, then two dogs, then two babies in a year or two!!

Annie is a 9 month old pure bread English Springer Spaniel. I wasn't looking for a dog really yet, just sending out emails hoping we could find a puppy to come home in the spring, but Annie was found and she needs a home and loves male dogs and is so feminine and sweet and darling and well house broke!
That sealed the deal. No potty training! We pick her up on Monday and were able to visit with her last Monday, so love is in the air!

Welcome Home Annie Boyles, we can't wait to have you here!!

My Super Hero

I have so much to post, but this inspired me so much! So I will post all the fair stuff and life stuff soon, but first....MY SUPER HERO!

We have great neighbors! Ric and Bev are amazing people and parents and they have amazing kids, Amanda 16 and Jeffrey 13. Amanda and Jeff came over after dinner last night so that I could buzz Jeff's hair and Amanda needed to talk to my husband.

Amanda goes to an all girl private school in Salinas. She is 16 and a Junior and is sweet as can be. Today is Super Hero day at school and she had decided that Brandon was going to be her Super Hero for the day and she wanted to wear his Army uniform. She wanted to wear all of his fatigues. She looked so cute once we got it all together, I will take pictures at the end of the day today of the two of them, but it touch my heart and Brandon's heart that she feels he is a "Super Hero"!

I have to say that Brandon has always been my hero, what he went through growing up, his time in the service and the life he has made for himself, that is Super Hero in my book. And not only Brandon, but all of those who dedicate their lives to serving our country, THANK YOU! You are all my Super Hero.

Salinas Valley Fair

I spent Thursday and Friday of last week with some of my favorite kids at the Salinas Valley Fair. I love the fairs. I love what it teaches the children and the memories that they will have forever because of it. I cherish my memories and am so glad to still be active in the fair industry.

Maggie was able to compete in Pee Wee Chicken showmanship for the first time and received a 2nd place and a big red Rosette ribbon. We are all proud of our Mags!

This is Molly showing Miss Lindsay Lohams!

I love what kids name there animals. Molly did so well in her horse classes, had a weight champion hog and then won beginning showmanship with her hog as well. She also had a chicken and received 2nd place showmanship for that. And she did great with her non livestock entries as well! Oh and thanks to my Mom and Dad got a great price at the Auction and we have pork coming to our freezer soon!

Trent did great with his pig. She was 5th in her class in Market and really improved in showmanship. He also showed a chicken for the first time and was awarded 2nd place. And did great on his rocket entries as well.

I am so proud of these kids and can't wait to be at the fairs with children of my own someday! What a blast it is going to be!!

Spring is here...doesn't it make life great!

Sorry it has taken me so long to update over the past week, but things have been busy. With spring here (It was 90 on Saturday) there is just so much to be done. Work has been busy, but it has been easier to get things done at the house since Ralf will stay outside more. This is how I found him one morning...just hanging outside in the back with his stuffed squirrel! I wish I had his life!!





Then on Thursday of last week I made what was supposed to be an hour and a half drive to see my "nephew" and well four accidents, not me...other bad drivers and over two hours later, I finally made it to see Cael. He is amazing, but more importantly Adrienne is the most amazing mom I have ever seen. Cael is such a great baby because he has a wonderful mommy! We had a great day. Cael got lots of Auntie time, Adrienne got to have a little time do put away grocers and such and well we are teaching the boy to shop young! We first went to Subway and had a really yummy lunch, then we went to Target.....we will turn Cael into a shopper!! then we headed home fore some relaxing and more Auntie time. It was wonderful and the drive home was perfect! Thank goodness. I hope to see the again REALLY soon!












A new favorite, tummy time
















Target made me tired!
Then on Saturday I went to little Miss Tayler's T-Ball game. Tayler was one of my flower girls in the wedding and she is just too darn cute for her own good!!

It was so warm that day...almost too hot for these little ones to play, but needless to say, 4 and 5 year old playing ball is a comedy act! Tay had more fun posing for the camera then playing ball and I had to hide behind a tree to try and take pictures or she would wave instead of playing ball!
The new week is off and running and it looks like it will be a busy work week and the weekend is looking packed, but Spring is here and I am excited to get out of the house and enjoy some fun in the sun!

Crazy times....

Sorry it has been so long since I posted anything, it just seems like my life gets crazier by the day. Things are busy as ever, but not much to report.

I am busy with work, church, fair and friends! My best friend in the whole wide world, A is moving on Saturday. Only 2 hours away, but I am so going to miss our spur of the moment lunch trips to El Migs! I helped with her baby shower on the 26th on Januray and had so much fun watching her just light up as she was so blessed by so many friends.

I enjoyed a quiet birthday on the 28th, turning 28 years old. Brandon gave me everything I asked for...a 4 ft long folding table and a kitchen utility cart! Sometimes it is just the simple things in life! But, January came to a close with little other excitment, but really cold weather and big PG&E bills!

February is here and we are finally enjoying some sunshine. I am looking forward to Valentines Day! Brandon and I are staying at home and having a little BBQ, but we are going to breakout a couple sets of our wedding china for the first time to celebrate our love!!

One other thing, I joined Curves! I am just in love with working out there! It is 30 minutes and it really is a great workout as long as you put all you have behind it!

Off to work I guess.....I have been doing laundry all morning and just working from the laptop, maybe I should actually go to the office!

Sorry for the boring posts of late, but we are just enjoying married life at home together!!

And he left again

He came and he went. Man I really don't care for this my husband is traveling thing. He arrived home on Thursday at about 5 pm and we enjoyed making breakfast for dinner and hanging out that evening. I took Friday and Monday off and we had to run a ton of errands! Poor guy, I put him to work as soon as he got home; the washing machine was leaking so we had to hit up The Home Depot!! And for the first time I made soup from scratch! I am so proud. Special thanks to Aunt Debbie for the recipe book!

Saturday was an awesome day! We slept in, drank coffee together and then took the dog on a long hike. We are really enjoying the trails we found off Reservation Road. Then we did more errands and got stuff done around the house. Mom treated us to a way yummy dinner too.

Sunday was church and then hanging out with the parents. Brandon put a new faucet and plumbing in for my mom in the kitchen. The old faucet sprung a leak last week! Brandon and I also decided that mom need a new garbage disposal so Brandon put that in as well.

Monday was a trip to the dump, a haircut for Brandon and lots of other errands. Thanks again to mom for another yummy meal. It was nice not having to cook for two nights in a row! And thanks to Brandon for AWESOME BBQ chicken breast and pork chops.

And then it was time for him to leave again. I hope that he comes home this next weekend, but all I can do is hope and pray!

And then he has to leave again....

So I was so excited yesterday that Brandon is coming home, but I found out today athat he will have to leave again Tuesday. He will be home for about 4 days, leave Tuesday and hopes to come home on Friday. Atleast it is for only about four days if everything goes right. I can't wait for him to come home, it is just going to be so hard to see him leave again. Because of all of this I figured I deserved some good snacks after dinner and totally enjoyed my mom cupcakes! Thanks mom for taking such good care of me when Brandon is gone!!

The picture is of Brandon and his first Jack Reggie!

Feeling better today....

So after my feel sorry for me post on Saturday I decided to get off my soap box and do something about it. I have a dear friend, Wes....actually he is more like a brother, we have been the best of friends since 5th grade and I decided to give him a call and see if he wanted to join my sweet like dog and me for a hike. Ralf had never been out on a hike, but he is doing a ton better on the leash and interacting with others so we can give it a shot, right. Well we had the best time and found a great new place to hike. The US Bureau of Land Management http://www.blm.gov/style/medialib//blm/ca/pdf/pdfs/hollister_pdfs.Par.9e89a0fe.File.pdf/Trail_Brochure_Cover.pdf

has a great parking lot with trails for hiking, biking, walking, and horseback riding. It was wonderful. We only got to go on a 15 hike there...we figured we didn't need to carry a 12 pound dog at the end of hike since we didn't know the trails. From there we decided to go to Toro Park and take a walk there. We both are familiar with the roads and trails there and figured it would be better for Ralf's first hike. http://www.mtycounty.com/pgs-parks/parks-cnty/toro.html. One of the greats parts of both of these is they are FREE! At Toro, there is a small parking area just outside the gates so you can park there and you don't have to pay to enter. I usually fell bad about not paying since these parks don't take care of themselves, but if I am not using any of the facilities, then why do I have to pay.....

On Sunday I had another great day! Ralf is sleeping better and I don't have to let him out during the night so I am a much happier person. We got up and got ready for him to head to the Boyles house to stay in the yard and for me to head to church. It was a great day at church, choir has started again after summer break so today was our first Sunday back in our robes and singing. It always feels so good to get back to the normal life! Our vacancy Pastor gave a wonderful sermon on the woman in the bible and their roll in the life of Jesus. His sermon was inspired by the Lutheran Woman Missionary League and it was LWML Sunday to celebrate all that they do, take a look http://www.lwml.org/. It was really empowering since I have been on a low the last few days! And then the best part of Sunday.....a great BBQ at one of our Elders homes with a Pumpkin Weigh-In. He grows these amazing 400+ lbs pumpkins and then all the guests get to go and pick the normal little carving pumpkins. I will have to take a picture of my porch, the pumpkins I got are awesome! Oh and thanks Wes for coming down to King City for the BBQ and Pumpkin picking with me!


So after my low on Saturday morning the rest of the weekend came out awesome! Oh and I was able to have dinner both evenings with my parents. I really can't wait for Brandon to get home so I can cook for him.

Work...weddings...stress....

Why is it always that when work is the worse you need it to be the best! I am swapped at work and well the wedding is 9 days away. I seems like once I put out one fire the next fire starts. Oh well...that is what I get paid for .

But I have to say I am about to marry the most wonderful man. I had a meeting at the fair today and it didn't get out until 6:40pm. By the time I got home, Brandon had cleaned the house, fed the dog and was almost done making dinner. I am so blessed to call him mine.

Anyway...I am sure I will vent more on here over then next 9 days as I prepare for the wedding and try to close up all the lose ends in the office...

Thanks for listening :-) Oh and since I have no really cute pictures of anything...I figured you might like to see a baby picture of Brandon.....I hoep are kids look this cute someday!