Happy St. Patty's Day

I love St. Patrick's Day, growing up we always had a traditional ALL GREEN dinner! Now that Michael and I are a family we have started a new tradition and that is to have an ALL GREEN dinner with cheesy funeral potatoes. We had our friends Brittany and DeLon over and they brought Green Mint Oreo ice cream for dessert!

crafty lady

it's been so nice to be able to make some crafts recently...


This is a Valentines Day decoration that I made with my mom and sister while she was here visiting

I do hair in our office/salon and sometimes it feels a little too much like an office so I made this curtain recently to go over the bookshelf to hide some of the office feel

In July my mom and I made a "USA" decoration that I put above my window and ever since then I have been wanting to make a similar decoration with our name, well after 7 months I finally did it!

Being creative brings so much fulfillment to my days!

my Handsome Husband

Michael got a new suit this last weekend...

doesn't he look dapper! 

Love Day!

Valentines day was spent with my cute beehives for mutual so we decided to celebrate valentines day a day late. I went to the doctor in the morning and came home to Roses and a new Purse! 
We went to "Color Me Mine" and painted coasters and Michael painted a rind holder for me! We'll go pick them up in a few days but here are pictures of them in progress. 
After that we went to dinner at Red Lobster..mmmm I wish we could afford Red Lobster weekly! Lobersterfest is going on right now and it was fabulous!

  

    

a little behind...

obviously my blog has dropped off of my radar! oops! so here's the update...


Michael and I spent 3 weeks in Utah for Christmas!

Back in Salem and I'm doing hair from home - "The Joy of Styling"


Michael is doing lots of tech work traveling all around the Salem - Portland - Eugene area


Shelby and baby Adam came and visited

My Aunt Pam and cousin Gena came and visited


Lincoln and Bentley were in the play Music Man!

Lots of fun things going on and staying busy...more posting to come...I'll be better I promise : )

lots of Thanksgiving to be had

Thanksgiving has always been of my favorite holidays so it's very fitting that for the rest of my life I will get to celebrate my wedding anniversary with my fabulous husband around Thanksgiving time! 

Thursday: We had a lovely Thanksgiving meal just us! With no oven and a tiny kitchen we had to make due so on the menu... 

Breakfast: cinnamon roll waffles (made on our George Forman Grill) hashbrowns, sausage, and orange juice. 

Dinner: rotisery chicken (from Walmart), instant potatoes, box stuffing, store rolls, corn, asparagus, and Marge's jello! and of course a little sparkling cider 

Before:

 After:

We also had skype calls with both of our families which was definitely the highlight of our day...we love our families!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Friday: Mr. Fabulous (see picture above) surprised me with a trip to DISNEYLAND!!! Here are just a couple pictures (out of our 163 pictures from the day) 

This was Michael's first time at Disneyland and he absolutely loved it! We had so much fun running around from ride to ride from 8:00am till 10:30pm. With weather in the 70's it was perfect!

Rides - Corndogs - Turkey Leg - Frozen Lemonade - Parade - Fireworks

Saturday: Our actual anniversary was a relaxing day out on the town. First we went to "The Painted Nail" salon where I got a manicure. It was so much fun and such a great manicure for a really good deal! Then we went shopping around at a fancy mall in Hollywood. I felt like I was walking through a Vogue magazine. We had fun dreaming in Tiffany's, and a Ferrari store. And we finished the night by going out to dinner. 

  

I feel lucky every morning when I wake up and I see this incredible man at my side! I am so grateful for so many things but today I'm especially grateful for my husband, Michael James!

enjoying some FALL

being in California we are missing all the beautiful colors of fall, the crisp cool days, and the wet rain coming down.


What can I say, I love Oregon weather!


Yesterday we had some extra time to kill while we were in another city where we found this cute park and were able to enjoy some of the joy of fall!

...the joy of living

presents to each other

last night we were out and about and my sweet husband bought me flowers

the best part is they smell like fresh garden flowers!

can openers

Since we have been married we have had 4 can openers 

all from different brands, all from different stores, all at different prices.

NONE of them WORK!

so on another attempt to find a working can opener we found success...

at the Dollar Tree!

wouldn't you know?! the cheapest one of them all!

CRAFT TIME!

look at my cute new pom pom necklace! 

the best feeling in the world...

coming home to a husband you has missed you so much after only spending a few hours apart :) bliss

What's your "best feeling in the world"?

he is a bunny and we will call him buddy and he will be our bunny

We have a new friend whom we have named Buddy. He lives outside of our hotel and if you weren't looking for him you might just miss him.

 If he doesn't go away soon we just might have to adopt him :)

 And here is our room, I'm making our lovely Sunday dinner. 

The Start of Something New.

Last Friday was officially my last duty at Great Clips West Salem, Saturday and Sunday were full of packing and goodbyes, and Monday Michael and I left for California. We traveled over 1000 miles in 3 days, and stayed in 3 cities over those first 3 nights. We're now in an extended stay hotel until tomorrow then on the road again. It has been such a huge blessing to be here with Michael, it would have been so much more miserable then I wanted to believe trying to stay back in Oregon. 

As part of this work we are involved with churches and over and over again our testimonies are strengthened as we have experiences working with people. Today we went to a ward that was so warm and welcoming, it made me so grateful for the Church once again. 

When I was in 8th grade I did a big end of the year project on "Home". It means something different to everyone and can change throughout your life. At that time it meant having my family together in a big beautiful house where everyone was welcome. Home means something more special to me now then ever before. Right now "home" is a hotel room with suitcases, an uncomfortable bed, and probably a bag of fast food leftovers. But what home means to me is being safe and seeing my sweet husband laying next to me at the end each day. It makes me happy. 

I hope your home makes you happy too.  

Summer Recap Part 3

To finish out the summer we were visited by Derek, Shelby and a half! 
We took a family rafting trip to the Deschutes River near Maupin Oregon. Unfortunately Lincoln couldn't come so it was Dad, Mom, Derek, Shelby, Michael, Me, Lexus and Bentley. We had a blast rafting, camped over night, rafted again in the morning then headed back home for Lincoln's first football game of this season...so that brings us to fall - Football Season has arrived again!


Here are a few pictures of our adventures: