12 Step Program

Welcome Everyone to today's session of Decorator's Anonymous.

My name is Charity.

I have a Dining Room.

And now I have a black table.

Different from what's pictured.

I have a clean-lined black table that needs a place to kick off its boots.

{speaking of boots, I was just given a great pair from a girlfriend of mine...LOVE them!}

We now have a tall oak table with chairs that needs a new home.

{not our home anymore...they are getting the boot from Fort st.}

Our new black table needs companions that will never leave its side.

It needs chairs.

It needs lovely mismatched chairs and benches to partner with it so it can serve its purpose.

But here in lies my dilema.

Do I keep the table black?

Do I paint it white and paint the chairs?

Do I go mostly white?

Or mostly black?

Do I make our dining table a bed?

Come on people, get your  mind out of the gutter.

{We don't need two beds}

I'm just so torn as to how to use our new table.

I need help.

What are your thoughts?

{I've heard that admitting you need help is the first step to recovery}

There are kids in Africa that wipe with their hands! What a waste...

Our house was hit.

We are the victims of a very serious incident.

A crime.

Uncalled for. Unexpected. Unimaginable.

Fort Street, Boise Idaho.

Tuesday, June 28th, 2011.

12:32am.

Call for back up.

We never thought it would happen to us.

{how could they do something like this}

Caught off guard.

{we had no idea}

Violated.

{why us}

Toilet Papered.

{you little jerks}

The perpetrators are more than likely identified as emo-north-ender kids, wearing skinny jeans and dirty hair that is wiped to the side. They are thought to have stole their yuppy parent's expensive roll of ultra-double-comfort-hug-a-grizzly-bear charmin toilet paper.

Yeah.

You know.

The expensive stuff.

{now, don't get me wrong here. we love the north end. we love living here. we have cruiser bikes. we shop at the co-op. and we hope to have little north-ender kids of our own...one day. it's incidences like this, that continue to reaffirm our decision to wait to put the buns in the oven. and on a side note-we like angel soft more than charmin, so there! we don't even like your squishy-bear toilet paper you little jerks.}

bad boys. bad boys.

whatcha gonna do. whatcha gonna do.

 whatcha gonna do when they come for you.

bad boys. bad boys.

{we didn't really call the cops}

I told Chris it was payback from his childhood.
{you know, back in the day}

Payback for when he was a part of a gang.

{Yes, a gang}
{our future north-ender kids will not be joining a gang or using charmin}

The name of the gang, you ask?
{great question, thanks for asking}

The TPB

That's gangster talk for:

The Toilet Paper Bandits.

{holler}

They were rascals.

Rascals with toilet paper.

And they Knew. How. To. Use. It.

{It's payback I tell ya, now involving innocent victims, such as myself, who never toilet papered anything but her own tooshie}

The legacy of the TPB lives on.

You little jerks.
=)

Mr & Mrs Cleaver

It has come to my attention,

{according to some very good friends} 

that Chris and I are kind of like The Cleavers.

{yes, the Leave it to Beaver - Cleavers}

{minus Beaver and his brother since we don't have kids yet, obviously}

I'm still not convinced...

Is it the pink basket  or the bell that goes "ching ching" on the cruiser bike?

{Chris has a bell that when you squeeze it, it sounds like a goose...it's great for getting people out of our way}

Is it our picnics?

{We do love our picnics}

Is it our school spirit?

{Who doesn't love sports?!}

Maybe my cupcakes?

{Sorry Martha, there's a new girl in town, and it's this girl}

{insert "two thumbs up" and then imagine me pointing them at myself}

Or is it just that we are ridiculously good looking?
{insert whatever whitty phrase you would like to insert}

Maybe I'm missing something?

We survived May!

Welp, we did it!

We survived the month of May.

Knowing that both of us were born in this wonderful month, we figured we could just add in another celebration to it and get married in May as well...that way, every year, we could celebrate all month long!



Little did we know that it would lead to being gone 18 out of 34 days.

Poor Jackson.

He is protesting any further vacations.

He was also upset that I made a friend in Cabo.

MaryAnne, the Dolphin.

But then he got over it after some quality cuddle time, and assurance that he was still my favorite.

(His love languages are quality time and words of affirmation).

Adios Mayo!

.

One down, ninety-nine to go...

We made it!

One Year!

Time flies when you're having fun!

What a year it has been!

{if you need a refresher for some of the stories, just keep reading our blog}

{It should keep you thoroughly entertained}

Over the last year, we have learned that we may not be perfect.

We will probably mess up...a lot.

We may not have it all together.

But one thing we do have, is a wonderful example of what Love  truely is...

Love never gives up.

Love cares more for others than for self.

Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.

Love doesn't strut,

Doesn't have a swelled head,

Doesn't force itself on others,

Isn't always "me first,"

Doesn't fly off the handle,

Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,

Doesn't revel when others grovel,

Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,

Puts up with anything,

Trusts God always,

Always looks for the best,

Never looks back,

But keeps going to the end.

{1 Corinthians 13}

 

One year ago, as we prepared to become husband a wife,

We knew that it was only the beginning of a lifetime together.

A lifetime to share hopes, dreams, heartache and tears.

A lifetime to laugh together, cry together, support each other, and to draw closer to the lover of our souls.

As our love story continues, so do our love notes to each other...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To My Wife:

Wow... It has already been a year... Well, 4 1/2 years, but for the last year I have been able to call you my wife. It has been an amazing 12 months. I got a roomate, a best friend and a helpmate. I can't believe that God orchestrated this beautiful union. Well, actually I can believe that He did:) He knew exactly what I needed, exactly who I needed, and He gave me the perfect match. I never thought that I could love someone like I love you. You bring out the best in me. You make me a better man. The thought of being with you, serving with you, going with you, and loving you for the rest of my life makes me so greatful, and so excited! Thank you for loving me where I am. Thank you for loving me in the good days, and the not-so-good days. You are truly a gift from God that I thank Him daily for.

I love you more today than ever. I want to be with you forever. Hand in hand we will run together.

I finally found the one my heart loves.

To my lover and my friend.

I Love You!

Happy Anniversary Babe

Your Husband

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To My Husband:

Where do I start? There is so much to say...so much to be thankful for. I am so honored to be your wife. I am in awe of the man that you are and how you love me. I am so grateful that our Savior brought us together. You are perfect for me in every way. You challenge me, you love me beyond words, and you draw out the best in me.

I love you more than I thought possible, and it grows deeper and deeper each and every day. I am excited to continue our love story, with Jesus as our guide...as we worship together, serve together, "go" together, play together, and grow together. You are my best friend, my lover, you complete me, and I don't ever want to live without you.

Thank you for being perfect for me...in my good days and my bad days and my days in-between. I look forward to all that God has for us, as husband and wife.

I love you more today than ever.

Happy Anniversary Christopher.

Love, Your Rib

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Not the end.

To be continued...

What happens in Vegas, gets stuck in Vegas

How true this is.

It all began one early Friday morning.

At 4am.

{God help me}

We woke up to go to the airport.

But not before Chris got drenched with sprinklers taking the trash out.

We were headed to sunny, 90 degree weather, pool time,

Las Vegas!

He got over the sprinkler thing.



It was warm, sunny, and enormous.

If you have never been to Vegas, imagine a very large building, and then times that by 2.7 million, and you will have the size of approximately one wing of one hotel.

{classy}

Since this trip was for Chris' 30th birthday, he decided he wanted to stay at 3 different hotels for our 3 nights to be able to get a good "feel" for the different areas of the strip.

{I needed more grace for that many hotels, I received the grace I needed, and went along with it}

Hotel #1:

Hotel #2:

Hotel #3:

Hotel #4:

Hotel #5:

Wait.

1. 2. 3. 4? 5?

We were only staying 3 nights.

Whathe?

Like I said before,

Yeah, we got stuck. Didn't get on a plane. Didn't pass go.

We Did collect $100 from some random guy that won $1000 on a slot machine next to us!

But all in all,

Vegas was great!

We laid by the pools:

(yes, plural)

At our many different hotels.

We walked a lot and visited other resorts:

Chris needed his afternoon nap

Not really...he was just looking at this:

We walked some more:

Charity hung out with Elvis

We hung out in the "real" Ceasar's Palace

Chris saw Dick Butkis

We walked even more

Chris took one in the face by Rocky

And we kept on walking

Charity with the MGM Cougar...I mean, Lion

Yeah, we did a lot of walking.

In case you're unaware, Vegas is in a desert, and with all that walking, we got hot.

 In his hotness, Chris decided to take a dip and cool off.

AKA:

Getting in the fountain at the Bellagio!

Yeah, you're not supposed to do that. But he did.

Then we kept walking.
Nice and cool.

 We're cute =)

Chris bought a new car

Chris wishes he bought a new car.

So we walked more and saw more!

We saw a circus show and played circus games!
Chris won a horse and Charity won a peep.

Oh geeze.
Anyways...

As if we didn't have anything else to do, we also went to a
Cirque du Soleil Show called "O"

It was probably the most amazing thing we have ever seen.
Can you say, magic stage that is water and in 2 seconds is dry land?

You should see it.
For real.
Watch the video below.
I'm not joking.
Push Play.

 These are flying horses in the illegal picture we took.
"Sir, put your phone away. Now."
{oops}

After a lot of walking, glorious pool time, and a couple extra (unplanned) days of vacation, we finally made it home!

Jackson was happy to see us.

Goodbye Vegas!