One heckuva post!

The month of October was uneventful, as usual. We are such a boring couple... We did celebrate our third wedding anniversary this month though. We weren't able to celebrate the day of because Josh was working out of town that week. He did recognize it though by sending me a dozen Shari's Berries to my work. A few co-workers and I enjoyed them while at work and then I took them home to enjoy with Josh on our little trip.

The following weekend we spent in Santa Cruz. This shall now forever be known as "the weekend we almost disowned Legion..." Since Josh is gone most of the time, it was really nice to be able to spend some time away with him.

We took the dogs to get their annual Halloween pictures taken and I think these were the worst round of pictures to date. We tried to get the boys to stand in their little camo shorts, Hayden with a bow around his neck and Legion with a shotgun in front of him. With little Abbi laying in down between them in her little piggie costume. The idea sounds cute, right?? Well, it played out MUCH easier in my head than it did in real life... We've resigned ourselves to the fact that once we get the dogs in the studio, and in their costumes, the photographer has about 5 seconds before all hell breaks loose and the dogs start bolting for the door. If they get any good shots during those 5 seconds, GREAT!! Most of the time, they're just so-so.





We've been talking and talking about going to a corn maze ever since we first got together and this year, we did it!! It was SO MUCH FUN! On a halfway serious note: if you want, or need, to work on your communication skills with your significant other, this is a great exercise to do so. Wow. And I don't recommend this for couples on the verge of splitting; it might just push you over that edge. Seriously. We went to the Dixon Corn Maze, which also holds the world record for the largest corn maze, the Saturday night before Halloween and attempted to tackle the 45 acres of corn-y fun. The owners of the maze change it every year so the design is always different.

It had been raining pretty good for a few days prior, and actually the day of, so we knew we'd be in for some mud. While it wasn't thaaaat bad, we still dressed in old clothes and put our boots on. So we paid our entrance fee, got our maps, we were off! Once we got in the maze, the temperature felt like it warmed up 10 degrees or so. To the point that we actually took our sweatshirt and jacket off. I'm glad that I chose to wear a hat though because it was WET inside those stalks! Some kind of corn phenomenon, or something...

This was the map that we had to follow. Pretty clear, right??


Every so often, there were markers at the base of the stalks so if, HA!, no, WHEN you got lost, you'd be able to find yourself on the map. Which would have been an awesome tool had people not taken them and put them where they didn't belong...dummies.

So imagine us, in the dark, with only one small and dying flashlight to guide us, trying to navigate through this wet, muddy, dark, noise-muffling, weirdly damply warm maze. IT WAS A BLAST!!! It took us about two and a half hours to get out of it but it didn't seem like that long at all. I wonder though: how do they know that everyone in out at the end of the night...? When we got out of the maze, for whatever reason, I touched the brim of Josh's hat. It was damp. So I touched mine. It was SOAKED. Neither one of us understand how mine could get so soaked when he's taller than me.

Some pics from inside the maze:

At the entrance, before we knew what we'd gotten ourselves into...


Even inside a corn maze, Josh still has to check Facebook.


Trudging along


We're finished!!! Can't wait to do it again next year!!


And here's a video from our local news station about this year's maze.

Speaking of Halloween: in the past couple of years, we've only gotten a handful of trick-or-treaters. We were kinda thinking that it had something to do with the weather because it was cold and/or rainy both times. This year though, it was a nice night. Clear. Not too cold. So we thought we'd buy a couple bags of last-minute chocolate candy, just in case. We didn't get one single kid at our door. On one hand, I'm grateful for that because the dogs go batty when someone is at the door. And to have to have dealt with that all night, I think that I would've joined them... On the other hand, I'm really disappointed that we didn't get any kids. It's kinda cute to see them all dressed up in their costumes. It's now January, as we still have some of the candy leftover. Any chocolate lovers out there???

November started out, you guessed it: quiet!! Josh is still working out of town during the weeks and home on the weekends. I had the Veteran's Day holiday off from work and he was able to take that Thursday and Friday off to spend with us. This was before he found out that he'd ALSO have the Thursday and Friday of Thanksgiving week off as well. NICE!! Any time that I can steal with him is always treasured now.

We spent Thanksgiving at my parents' house and Big Gramma and Aunt Nan came over as well. Of course, Josh made his world-famous, highly requested, secret recipe, garlic mashed potatoes. This year though, they were a little dry... Don't hate me, babe, for busting you out!! But the meal was very nice and it was great to spend a relaxing meal with the family. Almost as soon as we got to my parents' house, we got asked "Did you see the dog show? Did you see the dog show??" Uh, what dog show?? Apparently, there was a dog show that morning and they were so excited to see the cane corso in the ring. Granted, Josh and I were too. So we (read: I) immediately hopped online to try to find out more about it. We were excited because this was one of the first AKC shows to debut the Cane Corso. And a local breeder/handler that we know has been invited to show at the big Eukanuba show so it'll be interesting to see how she fares with the other dogs.

November eeked along until something that I've been waiting 6 months for happened: Josh mounted our tv!!! WOO HOO!!!

Here are some pictures of the process:

TV down and wall being prepped & measured


I'm trusting you, babe....


The dogs were NOT happy about having to be crated during all of this. Abbi is shooting daggers at her daddy, sending him messages about how she's going to kill him in his sleep. She does this. We've heard her plotting against us. And about how when we're gone, she'll eat all of the food and play with all of the toys, and not let her brothers have any. No lie.


Making all sorts of holes in the wall...


Abbi, still promising threats of great bodily harm.


AND IT'S UP!!!


We marked the event with a special, and messy..., dinner that night.

You've heard of lovebirds, right? Well, these were lovecrabs.






I took advantage of Josh working in town for a few weeks by cooking us some pretty good dinners. Some were really good, others, not so much.

Grilled polenta with sauteed tomatoes and white beans. Josh was NOT a fan. He ate maybe two bites and decided he wanted Top Ramen instead. I liked it though but won't be making it again when he's home.


A pan-fried chicken breast with balsamic garlic greenbeans. You have to LOVE balsamic vinegar to eat these greenbeans. Which, I do but again, Josh wasn't a fan.


Lentil soup. I didn't know if I'd like this, never having had lentils and all. But oh my, it is TASTE-Y! Josh liked it too!!


I spent some floor time with the dogs and got some loves from them.




Around the middle of December, Josh gets a call that his dad was having heart issues again. Nothing, in the scope of things, major but enough to warrant some poking around inside of him. He was admitted to the hospital and underwent a whole battery of tests. The doctors decided that he was going to need a valve and artery replacement. Josh is pretty torn up at this point and can only rely on text messages received from Arizona. Michael's surgery went well and Josh was able to go out to spend some time with him during his recovery. Which was going well enough that he was able to be released. Not even being home for a few hours, Michael has a mini-stroke which made him lose his vision temporarily. Back to the hospital he goes. Another couple of days, another stroke, more tests, meds, and he's able to get back home to recover from everything. It wasn't an ideal time to go but Josh and his parents were so very happy and grateful for him to be able to go out there to help with everything. Last update that I've gotten, not sure if Josh knows anything else, is that his dad is still recovering and supposed to be taking it easy for a couple of months. Josh is definitely his father's son so I'm sure that his dad will be up and back to work sooner than his doctors would like.

Well, since Josh was working locally, he wasn't getting as many hours at work. And I know that I'll probably get chastised for putting our bid-ness out here like this, but we hit a pretty low period right before Christmas: we weren't able to pay most of our bills and weren't able to get much for each other in the way of gifts. Not like in years past. I was doing all that I could to take care of what I was able to and just hoping that the people we owed money to would be a little understanding... Thankfully, they have been. But it sucks. Big time. Josh took off again in the beginning of December, right after we'd put up the tree and decorated. I wasn't feeling the Christmas spirit at all this year and I didn't even want anything up. Remember: low period. Josh was adamant that we get a tree and put up our decorations and I'm glad that he did insist. It made him being gone during this time a little easier. While it really is difficult to have him gone so often, and tough for me to hold everything together back at home (bills, day-to-day house stuff, cleaning, laundry, shopping, etc.), I want him to be able to come home and just enjoy his family. And what we have to keep reminding ourselves, and being so very thankful of, is that HE HAS A JOB.

So we had a smaller than usual (gift and family-wise: Dan and Tami opted to stay in UT this year) Christmas with my parents that morning. Complete with the traditional Christmas breakfast! Then we headed to cousin Jenny & Aaron's house to celebrate with the Aldama family. It was nice because their house is actually big enough to host everyone. Then back to our house for a bit to let the dogs out and rest. Then off to Big Gramma's!! At the end of the day, Josh and I sat back and said that despite all of the money issues and smaller amount of gifts, we had a really nice Christmas. I think we kinda forgot what it was all supposed to be about and focused so much on the gifts. It was nice to get back to that.

A couple reasons why my boys make me feel like I want to tear out my hair....and then give them big hugs and kisses.





Josh left again the Monday after Christmas for an undetermined amount of time... Thankfully, I have an awesome best friend and she MADE ;) me come over to her house to spend New Year's Eve with her and her husband. We've been through a whole mess of stuff in 2010 but I truly believe that we've come out stronger as a couple. It really tested us and we've learned how to work together, communicate, and STAY together. I was recently told that the first three years of a marriage are the toughest. If that's true, I'm definitely looking forward to coasting for a while!!

To end this super-duper long post, I want to share what has become one of my favorite songs. I think that in my old age, the ice around my heart is melting and I'm becoming quite a sentimental softy. Every time I hear this song, I get the lump in the throat feeling because it makes me think about how much I love my husband and how this song "fits" us. I love you, baby. DO THE RAWR!

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Okay, so I stink at uploading videos but just listen to the lyrics and enjoy the singer's great voice. The Zac Brown Band cleaned up at the most recent CMA awards and I'm hoping that they pave the way back to the older sounding country. Instead of this Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood pop stuff....