Nine Years and Counting...

I know it sounds cliche, but wow, time really does fly by! I can't believe we have been married close to a decade, and that we've known each other for close to 12 years (yes, in Mormon time we dated for FOREVER).

I remember when I met Corey, and how instantly drawn I was to him, and how we harassed each other (flirting?) during our first few encounters. He is the charismatic, funny, smart, loyal, and loving man I hoped I would one day find.

I love his contagious smile. I love that he values family time (much) more than work time. I love that he sings ALL the time and never knows the right lyrics. I love that he enjoys shopping. I love how he can help me see the light when I am being ridiculous and irrational (come on, I'm a female). I love how he makes me laugh. I love how he makes Asher's day just by coming home. I love how he supports me completely in whatever I want to pursue. I love that he sets goals for himself, and achieves them. I love what a devoted father he is to Asher. I love that he loves me.

He is a keeper.

And here is a little flashback to May 8, 1999...funny how we haven't changed at all!!! hehehehe


Then...

Hawaiian honeymooners.



Ticket stub from first date, and a goofy old pic while we were dating.

Now...

Happy Anniversary Corey! I love you:)

Surprise Visit

Around noon on Friday afternoon, Asher and I were hanging out and eating our fancy lunch of peanut butter and honey sandwiches when we heard the doorbell ring. I opened up the door and found quite a surprise! There was Grandpa Blake (Corey's mom's dad), standing on our doorstep and smiling. He will be 88 years old this July, and is one of the most independent, free-spirited guys I've met (any of you who attended the dinner the night before our wedding may recall Grandpa's jokes:). He just stopped by to say hi, as he was passing through on his way to a Navy reunion in Corpus Christi, TX.

He brought a manila envelope loaded with pictures of Corey's fam from years back; a fun treat since we don't have any of Corey's pictures from his growing up years. If I'd had a little extra time I would have scanned in every one of them! We were thrilled that he was able to meet Asher and that we were able to get some pics of them. We haven't seen him for 3 and a half years or so, which made this short visit even more suprising!

Grandpa Blake is known especially for his many jokes, his amazing potato salad, and his uncanny ability to plan shindigs for huge groups of people. Corey came home from work early, and his brother Aaron came over to chat with Grandpa too. Adam (Corey's youngest brother) was on his way down to see him too, but just missed him. Grandpa had to go; he needed to cover a little more ground that evening in order to make it to the big event on time. And so, after a visit to Fuddrucker's, Grandpa Blake was off again.

So, if any of you see an 87 year old man driving a blue mini-van, proceed with caution, and give him a friendly wave. Thanks for stopping by Grandpa Blake, we love you and hope to see you again soon!

A visit with the (grand)parents

We love it when family comes into town for a visit. We always fill our days with fun things and too much food. Why is it that people have to visit you for you to feel like you are on vacation in your own town?

My parents flew in for an enjoyable visit this past weekend. Asher always has so much fun with them...eating things he isn't usually allowed to, staying up past bedtime, missing naps (yikes!), laughing at Grandpa's goofy Donald Duck impersonation (actually, not half bad), and doling out more kisses to my mom in 2 days than I can squeeze out of him in a couple of weeks.

We hit the zoo, as we always try to do when family comes to town. I think we may have too much "zoo pride", as we are always promoting how great our zoo is here in Albuquerque (and yes, we have our annual pass). It was a perfect, warm spring day and we saw lots of great animals, and even scored a camel ride! Asher enjoys it a little more every time we go which makes it even better. Grandma and Grandpa made sure he had a basketball hoop of his own too, and he was dunking that ball in no time, although he's already missing his loudest fans cheering him on.

Ah, the Costco food court. No visit from my parents is ever complete without a trip to the local Costco. It's my Dad's favorite store, period.

Asher, trying to escape as always.

These camel pics crack me up. Me and Ash up front, and Corey hanging on the back end behind the hump. He looks like he's our servant boy, bringing up the rear.

Watch out Michael Jordan (is his tongue sticking out?)!

It was great to have them here with us for the weekend, fun but too short! Thanks for everything! Love you guys!

Goofy kid...wearing pajama pants on his head.

Bowl-ful of laughs

After rummaging through a closet, Asher came to me with this piece of equipment, excitedly proclaiming what it was he had found. I just had to capture this on video for a good laugh.

He isn't too far off though, is he? It is, after all, a CUP!

Amazing how these little people think outside the box, isn't it??

Sweet Baby

While wading through the doldrums of my Friday afternoon, I had an unexpected surprise hand delivered by the nice fedex man. FLOWERS!! No real reason, Corey just said, "he was thinking of me." Ah, how sweet! Needless to say it was a nice surprise in my otherwise unexciting day.

Wives are allowed some bragging rights every once in a while, right?

Thanks sweety! They are gorgeous, and I am one lucky gal. Love you!

Stuff on a Saturday

This past Saturday was one of those where we had a million little house projects to work on. Yard, house, stupid broken sprinklers, etc. I am planting a garden this year...a little more than just tomatoes, which seems a little ambitious since last year even those didn't turn out so well. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and watering, so we'll see. But, there are some little snap pea leaves popping up, so I have reason to be optimistic! So, Asher and I spent some time in the yard (ah, such nice weather that day!), and Corey began tackling the rest.

Corey spent the morning with Dain trying to fix a few of our sprinkler problems, but to no avail. You know it's bad when there is a stream of water gushing out from underneath the stone pathway in the front yard. You know its even worse when one entire section in the backyard won't even turn on. Maybe there are evil little creatures that sneak into your pipes during the winter to wreak havoc for the unsuspecting homeowners. All I know is that they were working without a hitch when we turned them off last fall.

Later in the afternoon, Corey's brother Aaron came by to help him finish some other projects they started weeks ago. These projects were of the knocking-holes-in-the-wall variety, you know, the kind that drive you crazy because you feel like you are living in a condemned dwelling? Okay, they weren't that bad, but my point is they are not finished. The two of them went to the local Ace Hardware store where Aaron found some wind-up wooden airplanes they had played with as kids, and they bought 4 of them. Once they got back, all chances of anything getting fixed were disappearing fast, and the planes stole the show. Asher thought they were the greatest thing ever, and offered to retrieve the planes after each so-called 'flight.' There are a few things that can turn men into boys again (ie fireworks, remote control cars), and these airplanes reverted those two right back to 10 year olds.

And so, the projects remain, and I am considering learning how to re-texture a wall and cut sheet rock myself. They did have a good time though, and I can't be mad at that.

The handymen hard at work.

Asher letting Corey hold 'his' plane.

Oops, stuck in a tree.

Later that evening some friends of ours, the Shepherds, had a BBQ at their house with a fun group of old friends. They always put a personalized touch to their shin-digs, which makes them that much more fun! All of us have little boys ranging in age from 2 to 4 (Asher is the youngest) but they all played great together, and the rest of us had fun catching up and eating way too much. Thanks for the great evening you guys!

Hmmm, something not quite right here. Looks like we may need a little batting practice!

P.S. Asher started calling me 'babe' today. What? Corey sometimes calls me that, but it is cracking me up to hear it coming out of my little boy's mouth. He still doesn't call Corey Dad or Daddy...he calls him Corey. Funny kid.

Easter Grass Madness

Happy Easter! Once again, I say that kids make every holiday so much better. We really do look forward to every holiday so much more with our Asher around...I love how kids make everything new and fun.

On Saturday we went to the park for the annual Easter Egg Hunt that our neighborhood puts on. This was our first time, so we checked online to see when it started. They lied. We arrived right after the hunt for ages 3 and under had ended, and were kind of disappointed. I had pictured Asher happily scooping up eggs from the grass, enjoying the Easter festivities.

Here's what really happened: I decided I would just go with him for the next round since the kids were older. Once they started, I grabbed his hand and into the madness we went. Kids were throwing themselves onto the ground in front of us, risking life and limb, and I quickly realized it was going to be near impossible to get an egg. All I wanted was one egg, and we got it, barely. I handed Asher our well earned egg, and realized he was on the verge of tears. I guess being dragged through hoards of candy crazed kids wasn't fun, and he threw that egg on the ground just to prove his point. Poor kid, what was I thinking? It was so not worth it. We did make it up to him by letting him do some of the games, etc. And, later on he did get his very own private Easter Egg Hunt right in his own backyard. I'm hoping that by next year the horrors of his first egg hunt experience are long forgotten.

Time out from egg hunting to spy on the neighbors.

Asher had some fun Easter morning, especially after he started tossing that awful Easter grass everywhere. Ugh. (I tell myself every year that I'm never buying it again) Corey and Asher were having a full on Easter grass fight at one point. Ah, boys will be boys I guess. Shaking an egg to find that there is a special chocolatey prize inside was also a highlight (come to think of it, I like that part too...).

Not even innocent moms watching and taking pictures were spared from the flinging of the grass.

Now Corey, are you playing fair?

Live footage of the Easter grass mayhem.

Church was nice, and later that evening we had dinner with some friends. They took pity on us, and let us come eat and hang out at their place. I didn't take any pics though, we were too busy eating yummy food and chatting. Thanks again Christison family!

Happy Easter!