Happy Birthday to the Madre!!

On this day, March 21st, the year 1955 (am I allowed to say that?) my mother was born. I can't tell you if she came out screaming or not, or what she looked like, or what the weather was like, or who was there to celebrate...but what I can tell you is how thankful I am that she was born that day, and how thankful I am to be born as her daughter! Happy Birthday Mama, this post is all for you!

A few pics to describe my Mama...

                                                            
  She loves the outdoors.

                                             
She loves animals...of all kinds. Except rats.

She always ready for an adventure with me...with a little coaxing...and if I'm not driving.

Even though she is mostly a health nut, it doesn't take much persuasion to get her to enjoy delicious food!

                                                         
       See what I mean! :)

When she is super tired, it's hilarious. She becomes delirious, laughs at everything, and pretty much loses all function of her body parts.

She can talk to anyone and everyone. It is a rare gift to be able to make a friend anywhere you go.

 

She is a true servant. I've seen this in her especially with the elderly. Here she has just finished setting my Grandma's hair in curlers. 

 

And ...she's absolutely beautiful!

 

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAMA!! I LOVE YOU!

 

The Feast

The highlight of last week may have been a dinner we had with our neighbors on Monday night. Don't mistake me and think it was the highlight because we did nothing better. Quite the opposite is true. It was the highlight because it was absolutely delicious, and boy do I sure have a special place in my heart for delicious food. Our neighbors (Zach and Heather) decided to purchase a smoker last weekend and quickly decided they could waste no time in trying it out. We decided to collaborate for dinner on Monday night and test the thing. Zach's job only requires him to work Tuesday-Thursday, so he had the time to devote all day Monday to our meal. He started out Sunday evening by spending 3 hours preping the new smoker, breaking it in the way you would "season" a new iron skillet. He also got the meat marinading and had everything ready to go in the smoker Monday morning. He spent the day patiently tending the meat, the coals, and the water pan so that when we got home around 6:30pm it was almost ready to go. I quickly threw together a greenbean casserole and put it in their oven to bake, (we're just those kind of neighbors), mixed up a cornbread and put it in my oven to bake, and then (per Zach's request) made a pitcher of authentic southern sweet tea. In about 30 minutes we had the whole spread on our table and the four of us were quickly becoming fat and happy. We ate the slow cooked/smoked brisket, smoked catfish, some delicious corn that he also smoked (with yummy red onions in it), greenbean casserole, and piping hot cornbread out of my iron skillet slathered with butter. Oh, and all downed with ice cold sweet tea. This is why I love having amazing neighbors. We had an excellent meal, and I only had to prepare half of it! Actually, we love having them as neighbors for more reasons than that too. A fun fact about Zach and Heather for you...they are getting married in October, in Ohio, and Dustin and I are both going to be in the wedding. Yay! And Dustin will actually be officiating the wedding also! Double Yay!! We have loved becoming friends with Heather and Zach over the past 6 months, and we're so excited for them. Here are a few pictures of them, and of our dinner.

               The leftover, half eaten cornbread. In case you were unsure of what cornbread looks like.

                                        
                                          Heather and Zach, stretching out after chowing down.

 

Zach showing his new smoker some love.

 

To wrap up the rest of the week quickly, and for your viewing pleasure...a few more photos.

                            This is what I see every day driving to and from work...brake lights. :)

                  Passing the Crystal Cathedral. I don't know much about it, I'm just told that's what it is.

                Passing Disney Land. Although this is just the sign for it. You can't see it from the highway.

And yes, I took all these while driving. But don't be alarmed, I never went over 5 mph so there wasn't much danger involved. :)

                        Dustin and I driving home from a friend's birthday celebration Saturday night.

                                                    Our church building today in the sunshine.

A (slightly pixelated) view of the mountains in the distance from our church parking lot. It amazing to see snow off in the distance when it is so warm here.

That's all for now folks. Time to hit the sack and start a new week. Tomorrow is March 1st already! Which means...spring is on the way, and that Dustin and I have been married for 7 months already. Crazy how time has gone by so quickly. It's probably because I love being married so much, and you know what they say (whoever "they" are) about time when you're having fun. :) Have a happy week!

Numero Uno

That's "number one" for all of you non-spanish speakers out there. Number one, indicating that this is the first post on my new blog, well our new blog (mine and Dustin's). Even though I will do most of the posting, and even though it looks quite feminine, and even though I will take most of the pictures...hmm maybe it's more like my perspective on our lives. Either way, here goes.

I'm sitting here eating a bowl of Cheerios because:
1. I just looked at the clock, realized it's 10:00pm, realized I never ate dinner, and realized my stomach was growling ferociously.
AND
2. Because I am a horrible wife and never made any dinner for us.
What is it about Sunday nights that causes me to never want to make dinner? Is it because I know I have to go back to work in the morning and I want to exert as little energy as possible before the tiring week begins again? Or is it because growing up Sundays were always, "find your own dinner 'cause I'm not cooking " nights? It's probably the latter, because the older I get the more I find myself doing things exactly the way my parents did. And it continually creeps me out. Not is a bad way, but more like in a, "Wow, I never thought I would be so much like my parents way". For instance, Dustin says I stand exactly like my mom in the kitchen when I'm cooking at the stove. With one leg slightly turned to the side, and my heel propped up on the other foot. Also, on Saturday nights I am always wanting to grill hamburgers and have them with fried potatoes, my Old Man's specialty. (Also, I've never called him my "old man" before) Then there are all the things I am always tellling Dustin, the things I had drilled into me by my mom, and now feel the need to drill into him. "Hang up the bath mat when you're done!", "Don't wipe up the spill with that towel, that's my clean drying towel!", or "Please don't put the suitcase or your computer bag on the bed or the table...you never know what sort of nasty is on the bottom of those!" Who knew I even cared about these sort of things? I sure didn't. I suppose that's what happens when you age, and as a quickly aging 26 year old I feel compelled to reflect on the ways that I am turning into my parents. [Insert sarcasm into the quickly aging/feeling old comment. I wouldn't want to offend any of my senior citizen readers.] There are many more ways in which I am becoming like my parents, but just to make clear, I am really not complaining. I love my parents and feel extremely blessed to be their daughter. It's just a little eerie when you start turning into them.

Man, all that randomness from a bowl of Cheerios.

Dustin has been studying Hebrew for the past few hours, and I think he is starting to grow some side curls now that he's been at it so long. (If you've seen his hair lately you'll know what I mean.) I'll have to post an updated picture of him so you can see. I looked at some our wedding pictures and his hair is so short in them compared to now I told him, "I don't even know who that man is". It's amazing what a little hair will do.

Last thing before I go to bed...
Dustin surprised me with a new camera!! We haven't had one since October (which often made my bottom lip stick out in sadness) when the brand new camera that was given to us was either lost or stolen. But the other day a package came in the mail, and when Dustin had me open it I was completely surprised. So now I can take as many pictures as my little heart desires, and in turn...post them in here! Yay!! You should all be cheering now. Out loud. Go on. Just say a little "Hooray!" at least. Ok, I trust that you have now sufficiently cheered and celebrated with me. I'll leave you with one image as a teaser. Although I'm not sure what I'm teasing you about. Just enjoy.

 

 What I did today...lot's of laundry.

 

                                                                  Dustin studying.