Valentine's Day

Stephen and I switch off year to year who gets to celebrate Valentine's Day. So our first married Valentine's Day, we spent driving back from Kansas City (visiting Chris and family). When we got home, we made dinner together and watched Enchanted. This year was Stephen's year... so he got to pick dinner. Then I took him out for ice cream. For an early present, Stephen got the windshield he has been needing since we met. On the way home from taking him to pick up his truck (new windshield installed) I got a chip in mine. Seriously... Annoying.

Wisdom teeth came out yesterday. Miserable. I feel terrible. Just sore and tired.

Everything has been somewhat clam for the past few weeks.

There goes our symbol of love...

RIGHT DOWN THE DRAIN! No seriously, right down it. I was catching up on one of my favorite blogs to read. (My little sister Katy's blog about her journey into wife-hood.)***See end of post for her URL.*** When I was reminded of something that will be totally important for our children to know. Kids, I hope you are sitting down for this one. The day of our honeymoon, your father and I got to our hotel room in Italy, and after three minutes of some explicit things we shouldn't discuss until you're a little older, your dad lost his ring. That's right... Lost it. Right down the sink. He had gotten something on his shirt on the way to the hotel, and decided to wash it out in the sink. His ring slipped off his finger. I heard a DINK DINK DINK in the bathroom, and a few minutes later "Uh... Babe." I responded in a very newlywed manner "Yes dear?" Actually, it was more something like "Stephen, what in the heck was that?" Needless to say, it was his ring. Luckily for him, and I really do mean luckily, because he wouldn't have gotten a darn thing from me for the rest of the week, we called a plumber at the hotel and they were able to get it out of the drain... STRIKE ONE.

Christmas Day, the first Christmas we had as a married couple, we got snowed-in in Duncan so we decided to play in the snow. He was throwing snowballs at my head for a while, and then we went inside to warm up. After taking off his boots... he noticed... STRIKE TWO. His ring was gone. Luckily for him, and again, I mean luckily, Josh found it on the side of the drive way a few weeks later. We had rented a metal detector to find it, but no luck. Then Stephen hid the fact that it had been found. Two weeks later he made a comment "how much you wanna bet we find my ring". I told him "I bet you 60 bucks (because I could get a mani & pedi for that much) that we won't find it." Then he informed me that Josh found it two weeks ago, and slid it onto his finger. That should have been strike three. But I'm being nice.

The inside of his ring has a song title that we played as we were leaving the church after he kissed his bride. It says "Forever and ever, amen". The song by Randy Travis. Hopefully, as many times as he has lost it already, the RING will last forever and ever too!





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I should have paid more attention in premarital counseling...

So after an entire day of being with Stephen (we are having another ice storm here in Oklahoma), I realized that although he is thrifty... it doesn't extend AT ALL to helping save the planet. Ya see, one of my biggest pet peeves is when people leave lights on when they leave a room. I actually spend a lot of time going through my office and turning out unnecessary lights on a daily basis. Thus, the reason for my post...

Stephen and I attended premarital counseling with our preacher before the big day. We did hours upon hours of therapy sessions, (which were NOTHING like that movie with Robin Williams where he makes Mandy Moore drive blindfolded). One day in particular that I remember was when we had to write out a list of things we don't like other people to do. Stephen's list included things like "Not using a coaster on the coffee tables" and "Not getting the dogs water when they need some". Mine, however, included much better and more important issues, such as "Separate the lights and the darks before you wash them" and "When you use a dish, put it in the washer. And if the washer is full, empty it or start it".

If I could do it all over again, I would add a few things...
1. Don't leave the light on when you aren't in the room... walls don't have the ability to see.
2. If you leave streaks in the potty, use the brush... that's what it's there for!
3. Don't dip Copenhagen in my house... And NO, in this circumstance, it's not your house too!
4. If you turn the light on after I am already in bed... I WILL kill you in your sleep.
5. If I go to bed before you and you try to wake me up to say goodnight... don't be surprised if I punch you in the face!

and lastly, 6. If you talk while I am watching TV, but expect me to wait until a commercial to talk to you, I will take away your TV privileges.

Needless to say, I should have paid more attention in premarital counseling... then I would have known I needed to set those rules then... cause Stephen seems to think they don't count if they weren't set BEFORE we got married!

What Is a Marriage License Anyway???

Last night, I finally got home from working in Colorado for a week. Upon my return, I half expected my wonderful husband to meet me at the airport with flowers and a big hug. When I walked out of the terminal and didn't see him there waiting, I proceeded downstairs to the baggage claim, carried my terribly heavy suitcase to my car (actually I wheeled it, but for purposes of making people feel sorry for me, let's say I carried it), and headed home.

On the way, I thought to myself "Well, maybe he didn't come to the airport because he was so busy planning something sweet for me when I get home." Nope. Nothing. Nada. He was sitting on his stupid "gaming chair" playing on his XBOX 360 with Chad. He didn't even come to the car to help me carry my bag, after I called him and said "I am about to pull up."

A little disappointed, I brushed my teeth, washed my face, and crawled into bed. That's when he decided to be interested in having his wife home. So me, who has not been sleeping well for the past six days JUST wanted to go to bed. But no, Stephen starts kissing on me... And then up come the dogs crawling all over us. So Stephen kicked them off and pulled me close, saying he just wanted to cuddle. Slowly drifting off, and trying to get him to stop trying to take advantage of me, Stephen finally says "I have a piece of paper around here somewhere that says you have to let me take advantage of you whenever I want."

So herein lies the question... What is a marriage license anyway?

Absence makes the heart grow fonder...

Now THAT'S a load of crap! Absence just sucks.

Well, I am on the road once more. This time, Colorado... again. I am starting to realize how hard it gets to be away from home. I cried today when I left Stephen to head to the OKC airport. I can't imagine how people who are away even more than me have a family, husband, or animals. I love getting to help people, meeting new people, and saving OmegaCare, one contract at a time... But I don't love sleeping in the hotels alone, eating dinner by myself, and not being able to lean on Stephen's shoulder in the airplane. Maybe one day, when our company is much bigger, I will just be able to manage the people who make all the flights and spend so much time away from home.

This weekend was lots of fun. It was the first "girls weekend" since Kari and Matt got married. The two of them stayed at our house. We went to the COOP Ale Works 1 year anniversary party. Stephen had a little too much to drink (keep in mind, we just don't really drink often, so one beer does him in)... Saturday afternoon was girl time. We went to Erica and Chase's house and drank a bottle of wine, chit chatted, and just caught up. Those girls are my best friends. I am so glad that I decided Jessi wasn't all that bad.... because if it weren't for her, I wouldn't have such amazing friends.

Well, the plane is about to leave. I hope the ride is smooth. I also hope I will be home within the next couple of days. Another week in Colorado sounds NO fun!

Happy (1st) Holidays!

I have realized I am really bad at writing frequently.

To catch up, November was a busy month. I spent a lot of time working in Colorado. I realized how much I miss Stephen when I am away. It is hard working away from home so much as newlyweds. I think it's because newlyweds are supposed to be all lovey-dovey and we can't be that way since we aren't together much. For my birthday, we went to The Melting Pot in Bricktown. We also went shopping and Stephen got me some new jeans. Then, our first Thanksgiving as a married couple. December was another month full of Colorado working. I spent one weekend with Hudson and Barbara in Colorado Springs. We got our wedding photos back. The rest of the month was full of Christmas shopping and family time at the in-laws.

Speaking of holidays, I have realized one of the biggest hurdles we have had thus far is deciding how to do the holidays. There is so much pressure in being married, because where we used to just go to our respective parents' houses, he to his and me to mine, now we are married... and there are expectations. To add to the mix, Chris came to Thanksgiving in Poteau for the first time in 7 years. So that was VERY special! Family has always been important to me and him both, so it was difficult coming up with a plan that worked. But, we spent the day before and Thanksgiving morning with my family, Thanksgiving evening and the rest of the weekend in Poteau. Then Christmas, we spent the day before Christmas Eve and Christmas Eve with my family, with the expectation of going to Poteau on Christmas Eve morning. We did, however, get stuck in the 2009 Oklahoma Blizzard. So after driving from Duncan to Marlow, we turned around back to Duncan and stayed there until Christmas day. Then it was back to OKC, where we spent the rest of the weekend. For New Years, we spent the whole time in Poteau, had Christmas dinner and celebrated Christmas with Daril & Janet.

We had a wonderful (and busy) holiday season, and we were able to fit everything in. Now it's time for some rest and relaxation before more work trips to Colorado!

LAUNDRY LAUNDRY LAUNDRY!

I don't know what it is about being married that produces so much laundry, but I feel like my ability to do laundry is rapidly declining as the piles are continuing to grow. Married life is great so far. Yesterday was one whole month. (I realized today how terrible I am about keeping this online journal updated.) Anyways- yesterday was one whole month. I took Stephen a cookie cake to his office. It had two little fish on it and said "Of all the fish in the sea, I'm glad you married me!" It was really cute. His friends at work love it when I bring cookie cakes to their office. Stephen's job is very high stress and he doesn't get a lot of praise for his work, so I like to "reward" he and his friends sometimes with baked surprises. It's just a little something to look forward to.

Other than laundry, we haven't been up to much. Stephen went hunting this weekend and shot a deer, but they couldn't find the body... just a lot of blood. That was disappointing to him (and to me too cause I am craving some jerky!)

Well, back to cleaning house.