G8 road trip (October 2009)

This fall it started to become very clear that Larry was going to need a new (or newer) car. He was driving our two-door Accord, and the transmission was failing. Plus, it had only two doors! It was not exactly a family-friendly car. For a variety of reasons (price, appearance, roominess, sportiness, etc.), Larry got his heart set on a black Pontiac G8. Since Pontiac is a discontinued brand, inventory was limited to existing vehicles. Larry found a new one and negotiated a price--but the car was in Denver.

So, with a lot of babysitting help from my parents, off to Denver Larry and I went. We flew in and over the course of a few days drove home: Denver to Moab, UT; Moab to Las Vegas; Las Vegas to home. It was a wonderful trip and, especially from Denver to Moab, incredibly beautiful. We had a great time.

Our anniversary/Father's Day weekend

Many, many months ago, I made a reservation for us to visit South Carlsbad State Beach. If you have never attempted to make beachfront camping reservations, just know that they are not easy to get!

Our beautiful spot overlooking the ocean


Does life get better than a breakfast with a view?


Larry and Sara on the Oceanside pier


Okay, maybe she looks a little like me


Daddy and his daughter on Father's Day morning


Unfortunately, "June gloom" was in full effect that weekend, and Sara came home with a cold that I passed to her (which she passed to her daddy) but we still had a nice, mellow time.

Happy anniversary and Happy Father's Day to the best man in town!

Happy anniversary to the best guy in town

Today Larry and I are celebrating our eighth wedding anniversary. What a wonderful, quick eight years those have been! Although we have our moments, I still love him to pieces and am so grateful to have him as my husband and partner. He is a wonderful, smart, funny man, and he's awfully cute, too, which is a bonus. ;)

Happy anniversary, my love! I love you!

To know him is to love him

We took Sara to Whittier Narrows Recreation Area on Saturday. These pictures say it all.



Oh, how I love this man. I could not have picked a better hubby or a better Daddy for my baby girl.

Happy 34th, my love!

Larry decided that he would like to celebrate his birthday this year by hauling our trailer down to the beach for the day. That might have seemed like a questionable idea, given his January birthday, but the weather gods could not have cooperated any more than they did! We enjoyed warm temperatures and sunny skies. A good time was had by all!

Larry wins

Apparently I'm going to get this listen to this all day...

Still waiting to hear "mama." :)

Reason #534,298 why I love this man

Have you heard of Colony Collapse Disorder? If you take a look around, you might notice more bee carcasses than you used to, and that is bad news for agriculture. Larry learned all about this (and more!) while watching Sixty Minutes.

Anyway, so when a bee found itself trapped in our humble abode on Thursday, my darling husband naturally took it upon himself to do his part to prevent CCD. Come hell or high water, he was going to SAVE THAT BEE!

Methods of "encouragement" used to try to coax the bee away from our skylight:

• Turning on and off lights to try to attract the bee to some other light source
• Trying to get the bee to climb onto a broom
  
• Trying to get it to climb onto a bright piece of fabric
  
• Putting marmalade on the end of the broomstick
• Blowing air from a hair dryer at the bee

In the end, what finally worked was exhaustion. The bee hid somewhere for the night and was too pooped on Friday morning to put up much of a fight. Larry offered the bee the broomstick, the bee climbed on, and Larry released him back into the wild where he belonged.

To paraphrase from the starfish story, it made a difference to that one!

Happy Anniversary, my love

1996 (dating two years)

2001 (engagement photo)

2008 (married...with child)

Seven years ago today we stood before family, friends, and God and promised to be together all the days of our lives. Every now and then I can't help but marvel at the road that got us here. Who knew that a teenaged boy asking a teenaged girl out (to combat boredom, no less) could lead to such a happy, blessed, rich life together?

Here's to many, many more years of wedded bliss!