Brett Young - Sleep Without You

Lawdy!

He's something.

Thor Hammer McComb

We lost a long time member of the family.

Our little buddy Thor passed away a couple weeks ago,

I wanted to write about him earlier, but I just couldn't

bring myself to say goodbye.

Thor became part of the family in 2004.

Lexx saved up all her money from Christmas & birthdays.

She wanted a dog in the worst way,

so Todd and I made a deal with her

that if she could pay for it, she could get one.

Thor was the one!

From the moment she saw him,

it was love at first site.

He was truly her best friend,

there by her side constantly.
He slept in her bed, was there with her
through all her graduations,
vacations, walks, movies...
you name it, Thor was there.

It's been a tough couple of weeks.
 We come home and expect for him to
greet us, or give us kisses
and a big goofy smile.

We find comfort in the fact that
Thor will live on in the memories.
of love and devotion he gave us.

"The heart remembers most what it has loved best."

27 Years!

Todd and I celebrated our 27th anniversary 

this past weekend, and it was fabulous!

I wanted to do something a little different

for him this year, so I planned in advance.

I knew that I wanted to take him to a concert,

but I was not having any success finding a band

that both of us would like.

I looked for weeks, and then all of a sudden,

everything fell into place.

Our special weekend started off with me 

working from 6:30 AM - 1:00 PM.

The concert I found was in Reno, NV,

so that meant that I had to rent a hotel,

pack Todd's bags, pack my bags, and

sneak them into my car without Todd noticing

all before I went to work on Saturday morning.

It wasn't an easy task, but I got it done.

I did my presentations at work, and then

rushed home to pick up Todd so we could

boogie to Reno before the concert started. 

We ended up leaving our house around 2 PM.

I hadn't really eaten all day,

so I took Todd to our favorite pizza place in Truckee.

Not romantic I know, 

but we LOVE this pizza!

 

It was delicious, as always,

So we left stuffed and happy.

We arrived in Reno around 5:00 PM, 

and promptly checked into our hotel so

that we could get ready for the concert 

that started at 8:00 PM.

We were extremely happy with the Atlantis Resort.

It was perfect for what we needed.

Todd and I managed to get ready, 

and with some time to spare.

We were going to just walk right next door

to the Reno Convention Center to watch the concert...

which is why I reserved the Atlantis in the first place,

but boy were we surprised when we walked

part way there and realized there wasn't any

concert being held at the convention center....

OOOPSIE!

We pulled out our handy little cell phones

and figured out that the concert was at the Reno Event Center.

It was only 3 miles away, so it was no big deal,

but it was a little hitch in our plans.

I guess I should read all the concert info before

I book hotels in the future...DUMB!

We made it to the concert with no other problems,

and enjoyed the evening singing to Alabama.

The songs they sang brought back a ton of

memories, and that is the reason I chose them.

When Todd and I were dating, and first married,

Alabama was our favorite country band.

We went to two of their concerts in our 20's,

It was fate for us to go to the concert,

because as I was saying earlier, I had been looking

for weeks and couldn't find anything.

Then out of the blue, the Alabama concert

popped up, and on our actual anniversary day.

Fate I tell ya!

We absolutely loved the concert,

and felt that they sounded as good as they

did back in the early 90's.

It was so fun and very entertaining.

The next day we took our time heading home,

and decided to picnic on the S. Yuba River.

We found this great little spot with a baby

waterfall, and a little flat spot to throw our

blanket and basket down.

Todd went swimming and said it was refreshing,

which in Todd speak means extremely cold.

I decided to take pictures and watch.

I don't know if you can see Todd's face,

but that is his "Oh man it's cold" face.

After he had had enough swimming we just

sat around and relaxed for about 2 hours before

we decided it was time to go home.

It was a perfect weekend.

All the little pieces just fell into place,

and we had such a wonderful time.

I guess that's why we've been married so long,

because we actually love each other and

enjoy one another's company.

Happy Almost Birthday to Me

It's almost that time again,

you know, the month of birthday celebrations.

I'm extremely fortunate to have such wonder

and caring family.

Every year I get spoiled 

(as does everyone else in our family).

My first birthday celebration this year 

took place at my parents house.

They are not going to be in the state on my

actual birthday, so my mom wanted to make

me dinner and spoil me a little.

On the menu:  

Deviled eggs

Bbq chicken

Macaroni salad

Mom's special beans

Various vegetables

Chocolate pie

My mom, dad, Todd, Lexx and I

were all present for the celebration.

Austin couldn't make it because 

he is back at college. 

We lounged around, stuffing our faces for a few hours.

We ate, talked, took a few pictures, ate, opened presents,

and then decided we had better get home since

three of us had to work the next day.

 

Since it was only my parent's house,

I didn't get dressed up, but I did 

manage to curl my hair, put some makeup on,

and find a clean dress to wear. 

Of course Lexx had to take pictures with me,

because that's what we do when we are together.

I love that she still wants to spend time with 

her Mama even though she's an adult and 

has a life of her own.

I couldn't ask for a nicer birthday celebration.

I really appreciate the effort and love

my family puts forth in order to make my day special.

This Little Piggy Went to Market

The daughter and I had a "girls day out" last weekend.

Lexx had a hair appointment, so we decided 

we would make the most of going into town.

Of course we had to start our day off with some

nourishment, so we started our morning off at Starbucks.

We needed to fuel up for our busy morning,

so we both got a breakfast sandwich and a coffee.

Two minutes later....

we headed to the 

Foothill Farmer's Market.

We arrived fairly early, around 8:45 AM because

a) it was going to be a warm day,

b) Lexx had a hair appt. later.

We parked at the Auburn Courthouse

and walked to the market.

I had never been to a farmer's market,

so I was impressed with all the different

choices of foods that were provided.

There were fruits, veggies, meats, breads, baskets,

flowers, music, cookies, and various premade foods.

There were probably 30-40 vendors,

so it was not an incredibly large market,

but it was large enough for me to spend $20 

on fruits and veggies in the first 5 minutes.

If you will notice my bag that I'm carrying in

the picture above, I had that completely filled

by the time Lexx and I left.

We had perfect timing, because by the

time we were ready to leave the market

it was time for Lexxa's appointment.

She ended up cutting about 10 inches off of 

her hair, and you can't even tell. 

When everying was said and done,

we were finished by 12:30 PM and home by 1 PM.

Lexx and I always have a good time together,

but we especially have a good time when

food is involved in any way.

Now we can't wait to go back to the market! 

Florida Georgia Line - H.O.L.Y.

A Perfectly Simple Weekend

The hubs and I managed to get away for

a couple of days two weekends ago.

It was magnificent!

We made no plans, just hopped in the car

and drove to North Lake Tahoe.

We didn't get there until around 3:30 PM,

so it was a little late in the day.

We didn't let that deter us though.

We headed straight for Sand Harbor.

It took us a bit to inflate the kayak,

so when it was said and done, we actually

got the boat in the water by 4 PM.

The beach was busy, but we didn't really

care because we just needed the boat ramp,

and then we were paddling our little hearts out.

We stopped in a little alcove to take some

pictures and catch our breath

I love the panoramic views.

I can't figure out how to use the feature on my

phone, so Todd was assigned that job.

After a couple of hours exploring Tahoe's coastline

we decided to call it a day.

We were getting hungry and wanted

to get some dinner

We made a quick stop at our hotel,

and then went to dinner at Jason's Beachside Grill.

We had a wonderful dinner,

and afterwards we headed back to the hotel

and watched lots of bad television....

bad as in terrible programming,

not bad as in naughty!

,

When we woke up the following morning,

we decided to go to Tahoe Biltmore

for their breakfast buffet.

It was one of the best buffets I've ever had.

They had the normal breakfast buffet food,

but they also had ribs, salmon, chicken, etc.

Todd thoroughly enjoy it.

It was a perfect weekend...

except for this

It looked like everybody had the same idea as us.

It took us a little while to get home,

but we didn't mind the traffic...

after all, we had just had a nice relaxing time in Tahoe.

It was a perfectly simple weekend,

but enough to refresh our souls and prepare

us for the craziness of the upcoming work week.