Big Pleasure! Big Pleasure!

There's this awesome little Greek restaurant (if you can even call it a restaurant) on campus that is fabulous. The owner, cook, and cashier is one man and he speaks very little English. He's cute as a button and only knows how to ask for your order and say "you welcome, big pleasure!". He doesn't just say it once either. It got me thinking of all the big pleasures I have in my life.

I feel it would be a little cliche if I started by telling you about our great Father's Day so I'll begin by telling you about this awesome 5k run we did in Boston on Saturday morning. It's called the Freedom Trail Run and it's an easy run around the major land marks on the Freedom Trail and we stop every quarter mile or so, and Eddie-O shares with us interesting facts. It's by far the best $35 we've spent (in a long time) and THE best way to tour a city. I mean honestly... seeing the city first-hand, learning and exercising all at the same time = pure genius.

Father's Day was warm, sunny and beautiful. It's beyond my comprehension that it's the end of June because in the mornings I'm still wearing a little jacket and turning the heat on in the car. Seriously. Beyond my comprehension. However, we spent a beautiful afternoon together just relaxing, walking our dogchild and paying bills. Doesn't get much better than that my friends.

Gracie loves to sit on people's feet. She can find them without even looking. Just plops her little tooch down wherever she feels inclined.

I found this chick on etsy that does custom portraits for a reasonable price and thought it would make a perfect Father's Day gift. I highly recommend AshMae. She was easy to work with...and I love her whimsical (non traditional) art pieces.

I loved what she did so much I ordered an iPad sticker while they were on sale at One Kings Lane. Cony got a kick out of em'.

And finally I thought I'd share my favorite part of our new pad. The pantry/laundry room. I'm not sure what I love more about it- the built in shelves, the window or the fact that we can have a washer/dryer under our own roof again. Big pleasure!

Disconnect to Reconnect

This weekend we made a plan to disconnect from the world as much as possible to reconnect. I tell ya, a marriage is hard work. And if we aren't constantly working at it-life ain't so happy.

We spent the weekend going to a baby shower....

Going to the drive-in theater... We watched the X-Men movie and loved it. In fact, we spent most of Sunday ignoring all the housework and watching the other X-Men movies. Just finished the third one for Family Home Evening.

We even let Gracie Lou cuddle with us in our bed. She loves changing bed sheets day.

Here's the only piece of art I've hung in the house..... found the frame for $6 at an antique store. Have I mentioned how awesome antique stores are up here? Tag sales too!

This cow took a liking to me while on my walk around campus.

And this is a sunset I was able to enjoy on a run the other night. I have to admit, this little rink-a-dink town we live in has some of the best sunsets I've seen.

A Virtuous Picnic

I'm so tickled with how last night's Young Women's Activity went I couldn't wait to share it. For those of you who may not know, every Tuesday night the Youth of our church get together and do different activities (service projects, craft projects, games, etc...something that helps lift the spirits of these young kids!) We planned it to bounce off the Sunday's lesson on Temple Marriage by getting dolled up, eating cake and having a mini photo shoot.

What's a party without an invitation?

And a cake? Don't judge me too harshly. It's been a really long time since I've had to decorate a cake in a legit manner.

My beautiful and amazing Young Women....

The ladies I get to serve with and help me in more ways then they'll ever be aware of...

LOVE these ladies. I would keep them in my pocket all the time if I could.

4 Day Weekend

The weekend is coming to an end for us and it was a much needed break from 'having' to be somewhere or 'having' to do something. We enjoyed a little shopping, a party or two, yummy food, Redbox movies, friends, planting flowers, sewing and hanging curtains. Maybe one day soon I'll actually have our house put together to show y'all. For now just enjoy some photos of our weekend.

The itch.

Cony had the grand master plan to get poison ivy on his first week on the job. But I think his bigger plan was to give it to me. Although my case is not even close as severe- I've had it longer! To help us feel better we went to the Dairy Bar on campus and it's true, ice cream does help make everything better....

Last week we had the opportunity to take the Youth from our church to a Prom. (A church prom.) Doesn't that sound like fun? We drove them in a 18 passenger van and the highlight of the night was the food. Let's just say next time we're taking a smaller car so I can keep my eyes on everyone. I do not miss being a teenager in the least. I was the girl that was uncomfortable in my own skin (until thankfully I was 17 and not longer!). Then I spent a summer in Idaho that changed me for the better.

My little loves snuggling in the backseat. Cute uh?

When the sun is out, I walk around campus and get to see little treasures like this....

The weekend is coming and I'm really looking forward to having Monday off and celebrating Memorial Day, New England style (although I'm not really sure what that means yet!).

Happy Memorial Day!!

Victorian in New England

Wanted to give a little preview of our new home. For now, it's just the outside. It's true, we live in New England in a home that was built in 1901 or 1905. It's like a little dream come true.

backyard..

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Walmart breaks my Heart.

There are so many reasons to dislike Walmart. If the closest Target wasn't 25 miles away and gas was $4.30 a gallon- we would NEVER walk inside a Walmart. But living in the "quiet side" of Connecticut that's our best/only option 95% of the time. We walked in the other day and were greeted by this older man and it simply broke my heart. Why do these senior citizen's have to work? Much less at Walmart? I hate it. If I could I would wrap them up and bring them home with me. Also, seeing young couples shopping together with a new born and carefully looking at each item before placing into their cart makes me truly grateful for what I have in my life. Baby or no baby.

Since we've moved here there has been an outpour of love from so many individuals, couples and families that it fills my eyes with tears. When we moved into our new home, a friend Afton (don't you love her name??) came on a Friday night and helped me pack our kitchen until 11:30 at night. This is a woman who drives 45 minutes one way to take her oldest son to school. She has four kids and makes that round-trip drive twice a day and I have NEVER heard her complain once. If that were me, someone would be hearing something from me, guaranteed. While we were unpacking I found little love notes from her..

And then there's Nancy who has the most beautiful gray hair in the world. She and her husband take care of our Gracie Lou the Saturdays we are in Boston. The day we moved she cooked pulled BBQ, coleslaw, and homemade pickles for everyone that came to help. When she mentioned she was going to do it, I didn't believe her because who does that?? They have been tremendously generous to us on many different occasions. In fact, not only did they give us their dining room table and chairs, and a Bernina sewing machine- they just dropped off a car to us last night. It's a 1996 Dodge Neon and it couldn't have come at a more perfect time since I was making 3-4 trips to campus everyday for both our jobs & taking Gracie out at lunch. We are blessed beyond measure.

Speaking of being blessed, the sister missionaries have been coming to our home often for dinners and what have you and we simply love them. For me, they've been an unexpected answer to a prayer.

We have lots to catch up on besides telling you all the wonderful things people have been doing for us. Easter was fantastic! We spent it with some families in our ward and ate like a King and a Queen. Crystal who is an artist in the kitchen made this beautiful cake with dried pineapple flowers on top. I have no doubt in my mind why there's more of me to love.

I've been consumed by other responsibilities that I've been neglecting my camera. However, I had to capture Gracie's reaction when we came home with some balls for her to play with. I've decided she's not like most bulldogs. She's not lazy, she fetches and she loves to play with big sports balls. I think mom is right, dad sent her to us because for one reason she LOVES basketballs.

This pink ball lasted a total of 3 minutes. No joke.

One day soon I'll take a video of her little wiggle bum. It goes 100 miles an hour when she's excited.

Priceless.

On a baby note. I'm still struggling with ignoring the problem instead of facing it head on. I had an 'ah-ha' moment last week when I realized instead of loosing weight like the doctor said, I've been gaining weight. Subconsciously, I believe on purpose. I need to remember even if I do loose the weight and we still don't get pregnant... life will continue and one way or another, we will have children. Mother's Day is usually heart wrenching. Especially when they ask the sisters at church to stand so the men can hand out a flower (I've always hated that!). This Mother's Day was much different and not because Gracie remembered (she forgot but we won't dwell on that). I walked into church and the Rich's had bought me a corsage. I never knew until that moment that I did want to be recognized on Mother's Day. To make it even better, the Bishop (leader of church congregation) got up and read a poem. Instead of flowers, they handed out a bag of trail mix with the poem AND they didn't ask the sisters to stand. Score! Maybe next year, Cony will remember my change of heart.