HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MIKE!

friday would have been mike's 60th birthday. it was a hard day, but was a fun night. it got pretty stupid there at the end, which he would have loved.

 

his son especially, he would have gotten a kick out. actually, both of his kids were in rare form. it was hilarious. HILARIOUS.

 

driving dave home was the opposite of hilarious. but that's not a story for this blog.

 

he played drums with madd hoss, and did a beautiful job.

 

 and guitar too? with lots of crazy feedback at the end. such a rockstar.

 

and then he played drums with Kentucky Headhunters. and some air guitar too. and commandeered the microphone quite a bit.

 

 

and we enjoyed good, good friends and family who came out to celebrate mike's birthday.

 

he was missed. he should have been on stage playing guitar and laughing at dave. he should have done the talk box weird thing on rocky mountain way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

they brought us all out on stage, mason sound guys and family and dave was supposed to say something appropriately sad and poignant....but that's not how dave rolls.

 

 

 

and anyway, it was a great night.

the end.

ELEVEN.

we've been married for eleven years. which is truly remarkable, when you think about how we almost killed each other the first year or so. it was rough, figuring out how to live together.

 we've been through our ups and downs, but have a marriage built on a foundation of faith and love of the Lord. so, we work on it. every day, we're working on it. marriage is work, man. but there's no one I would rather work on it with than dave.

 even after getting into a massive argument on our anniversary date night (good timing!), we WORKED ON IT and managed to make up and have an awesome night.

 

 

  

i don't know what I'm trying to say. sometimes eleven years sounds like forever, and then other times i know it's just a drop in the bucket for us. we've got lots of years ahead of us.

 

 

 

  

we're happy, and i really, really like being around him. and the love, of course. lots of that.

 

 

also, we take terrible pictures together.

 

 

BURGOO SCHMURGOO.

i don't have any normal pictures of the burgoo. i stole these from Melissa.

i was the one taking the pictures, hence, i didn't make it into any pictures of the grand marshalling. but i was there. promise.

 

 

 

so yes, we were grand marshalls of the arenzville burgoo 175th anniversary parade. in honor of mike. it was pretty amazing.

 

and that night john michael montgomery played and we got to have a little private meet and greet which was fun and then watched the show. they dedicated a song to mike and i may or may not have sobbed.

there was one part in the song where he is talking about getting a letter from his dad (the son is in the army), and how his dad writes about being so proud of his son and how he never said that before and i just...lost it. many tears. and kirk, their front of house guy, turned around and gave dave a very meaningful fist pump.

 

whew.

 

it was emotional.

 

 

 

and then i took hallie home and went back to ajs where dave got to play some drums with the band. which is always fun to watch. he's so good :)

 

the end.

 

 

 

FLORIDA RECAP.

i'm back!

 

sob.

 

it was fabulous. i mean, i left this:

 

 

which was so beautiful, but so, so cold.

 

and went to this:

 

 

and i had such a fantastic time. the people at this event are young and fun and so welcoming. it's like we've all been friends forever. it helps that there's next to NOTHING to do in this town but hang out together.

 

i flew in thursday night. dave picked me up in west palm beach and we met up with everyone at the tiki bar for some drinks.

 

friday i took a five-mile walk around lake okechobee (spelling = wrong) in the morning with allie and we took a terrible picture. but the scenery was beautiful and we chatted the entire time. i just love that girl!

 

 

i had an awesome day just being outside, wearing shorts (!) and hanging out with my husband. it is so nice to have that one-one-one time without the kiddos. i think that spending that time together, just the two of us, is so important!

 (looking for gators!)

 

(dave working hard in the sun)

 

friday night we ordered in pizza, watched the opening ceremony and played mad gab and head's up for hours. we were all literally screaming with laughter. my abs were SORE the next morning from laughing so hard. seriously, this was my favorite night.

 

i love a good game night. 

 

saturday was more of the same - i worked out in my hotel room to TurboFire DVDs and then met up with dave. i got a ton of studying done and just enjoyed the weather! 80 degrees and sunny. sitting in the shade was a DREAM. a light breeze, sun when i want it, etc. just perfect. we met up at the tiki bar for our last "fun" night. drinks and a few (awesome bands) and some pullups. i rocked the pullups thankyouverymuch. so fun.

 

 

 

(scott, scott, allie, daniel) 

(dave and his boyfriend/bff, josh peck)

 

sunday was...more of the same! worked out in the room and hung out with dave! joshn thompson performed at the event, so that was fun. we tore everything down sunday night and got everything packed up for an early morning.

 

i flew back to the ice and snow monday, and it was negative ten degrees when i woke up this morning.

 

take me back to florida!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

DATE NIGHT.

awww, yeah. date night.

 

i really, really, really love date night. we don't do it enough, but i do enjoy spending some one-on-one time with dave OUT of the house.

 

we kept it simple. bbq at the brickhouse (my favorite!), dinner (gravity - sooo good!) and back to the brickhouse to watch the cardinals.

 

it was really, really nice.

 

this guy.

 

hot.

PLAYING CATCHUP.

this blog is supposed to be a virtual diary. something my kids can look back on someday and hate me for.

 

so, i'm going to play catchup on things for my personal enjoyment.

 

dave and i got to spend some quality time together at a cardinal's game a few weeks ago. it was so nice having some couple time. we met up with jen and barry from missouri and had a good time. we got to be on the kiss cam (!!!) which was hilarious, and then the camera man (friends of jen/barry) moved us down to the best seats ever. we were so close to the field. awesome.

 

 

 where's waldo dave?

 

 

 it. was. so. hot. like, blazes of hell hot. but still fun.

 

 missed getting the fireworks by about three seconds. such is life.

the end.

I FEEL NORMAL AGAIN.

i peeled carrots this weekend. and took a sunday nap and watched my mom do my laundry (thanks, mom!) and went on a date with my husband.

it was much needed and i am so grateful for that we had this weekend of nothing. we were supposed to go to six flags with the youth group, but cancelled because rainy and 50 degrees does not equal a successful six flags trip. it's supposed to be 100 degrees and sunny, so that your face can melt off.

anway. my mom still came up as originally planned, so we got a few small projects done around the house and then sat around watching tv and doing nothing. it was glorious.

i finished my paper in the 11th hour before it was due, but the sense of relief i felt when i pushed SEND to email to my instructor was immense. i'm so glad that is off of my to-do list. i have a final this wednesday and then the course is finished. yippee! i actually love the class and my teacher, but i will be glad for a small break.

i felt normal yesterday for the first time in weeks. feels so good.

here are the few pictures i took. dave and henry on the bed. henry cracks me up with his facial expressions.

and a video: