High School Sweethearts

Today is Brad's and my dating-versary. Eight years ago today, is when our relationship officially began. Eight years! Can you believe it? That's a long time. That's basically 1/3 of my entire life.

It was nearly a decade ago when he called me on the phone and asked me if I'd "go steady" with him. Naturally, I laughed and called him Kevin Arnold with that 1950's dating proposal. But when he responded that he didn't want it to be some silly high school relationship, but instead a real, forever love, I was speechless and, of course, agreed to be his girlfriend.

That's the moment when forever began. The butterflies in my stomach assured me that my life would never be the same. From February 24, 2002 to February 24, 2010, Brad and I have never not been together. We never broke up, never "took a break," never dated other people. We have been together, consecutively for eight years; a feat of which I am very proud.

Being high school sweethearts is fun. It's fun to have memories of the same home town. It's fun to have been named the Cutest Couple of the Class of '02. It's fun to have high school prom pictures with each other framed in our house. It's fun to have senior portraits taken together, (These are actually engagement pictures, taken in 2004. I didn't have our senior pictures in digital format.) and remember the same graduation speech. It's fun to have known each other before anybody else that we know now, knew us. It's fun that we have a past together, as we continue to look forward to our future.

Brad is not only my high school sweetheart. He's my soul mate. I knew it at 17, even while my parents were a little leery, that he was the love of my life. My one-and-only. My steady. How is it that a girl like me can get so lucky so young? He truly is the greatest guy in the whole world, and the best husband any woman has ever had. What a blessing.

See Ya Later!

Valentine's Day 2010

For Valentine's Day this year, Brad surprised me with a homemade card! How sweet is he!? He literally created a card with construction paper and markers. I honestly loved it more than nearly any other gift, ever. On the back of it, he had taped the soundtrack to Valentine's Day the Movie because I am more than obsessed with Taylor Swift, who not only stars in the movie, but also wrote a new song just for the project.

After I ooh'ed and aah'ed over my card, we hopped in the car and went to dinner. Every year, Brad's parents send us a gift card to Olive Garden, and every year it is our Valentine's Day date. It's such a nice gift, because since we've been married, we've always been just broke enough to not splurge on dates. However, this once a year, we get to order food without hesitance.

When we left the restaurant, after enjoying each other's company over a romantic meal, he surprised me by pulling into the movie theater. The soundtrack to Valentine's Day the Movie wasn't all Brad had up his sleeve! He loved me enough to voluntarily subject himself to a chick flick! Of course, I enjoyed the movie more than he did, but he was gracious enough to not talk to badly of it, especially because he knows how much I adore me some Taylor Swift (and Ashton Kutcher, and Topher Grace).

Over all, it was a great surprise Valentine's Day. Brad is the sweetest ever, and I totally love being loved on. How in the world did I snag such a great guy??

The Big 0-1

Our nephew, Clinton, turned a whole year old last week! He's definitely the cutest one-year-old little boy in all the land! I mean, just take a look at that handsome face!

Brad and I weren't able to make it up to Illinois for his party, but my dad graciously sent us some pictures of the celebration via cell phone.

At the age of one, he's already super crafty and artistic. Check out his hand-made (haha, get it?) t-shirt to commemorate the event.

A party just isn't a party without some cake. And a first birthday just isn't a first birthday without icing all over the place. Luckily, Clinton must have received the memo, because he performed his duties masterfully.

Here are just a couple more sweet pictures of my adorable nephew. He's so happy, and I love it. But who wouldn't be happy with all those sweets and all those presents!? Among other things, he received some megablocks, a jack-in-the-box, a little music box (that he loves to dance to), and a big firetruck so he can be just like his daddy! I sure do love this little one. And, if I may say so myself, I do believe that one-year-old looks good on him.

My Baby's Growing Up

Happy birthday, Chester!!

Chester turns 4 years old today! Whew. Talk about growing up before your eyes. Time sure does fly by. Four years old is technically 28 years old in dog terms, which officially makes him older than both of his parents. Weird.

He recently told us that he's too old for birthday parties, now. So it looks like there won't be any big hoopla, this year. We'll see how he feels about celebrations when he's making that crest over the hill. Until then, we'll just keep on treating him like the baby of ours that he is.

Speed Racer

In the midst of the Blizzard of '10, Brad and I decided to brave the weather for a little bit of fun. How could we possibly let this wonderful snow pass us by, without taking advantage of the opportunity to go sledding!?!

Even after we bundled up in multiple layers of clothing (and I do mean multiple layers) Brad still had to get my hair dryer out with an extension cord to thaw out the frozen doors of the truck (that we're borrowing from a friend until we replace our wrecked car). Then, we hauled pitcher after pitcher of hot water through the house to the driveway, where he poured it over the windows to melt the thick sheet of ice that had built up overnight.

After all that, we were smooth sailing! Well, not really. We were completely irresponsible for getting on the dangerous roads. They were completely covered with snow and ice, and we were in a little, rear-wheel drive pick-up truck. Honestly, what were we thinking? The things we'll go through to act like kids again... He drove super slow, and we only slid around a little bit. There were a few hills that required multiple attempts to get up, but we made it to our friends', The McAlister's, neighborhood safe and sound. Thankfully, however, our other friend, Kris, met us at the bottom of their lane, because our truck was officially unsuccessful in it's attempt to reach his house.

We knew when we made it to their house, because we saw a sledder zoom across the lane at lightening speed. Once we climbed out of the car and made our way up their driveway on foot, we were totally anxious to be our own Speed Racers. Thankfully, the kids were busy making a fort and storing up snowballs, that they didn't mind if we stole their sleds for a while.

It has definitely been quite a while since Brad and I have had the privilege to ride some snow, and we were out of practice. Poor Kris, who grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, had never sledded before in his life. We were quite a sight to see. We had our fair share of blowouts and screams. And we had a great time! Pat had purposefully left a fallen tree limb in the way and covered it with snow. It became our personal ramp. Surprisingly, we really did get a lot of air.

After a while, when our rears were bruised from the limb jumping, we ventured over to their next-door neighbor's driveway, which was just an exceptionally long, fairly steep hill. I was only brave enough to approach the mountain once, after witnessing others' survivals. But, when I bailed from the sled, I rolled off and continued to slide down the hill on my belly, feet first. Which meant that I got snow all up my shirt. That was enough for me.

Seriously, we got so much speed, that our eyes were watering. After a few trips, they decided to put a portable GPS in their pocket to track their speed. Literally, They were reaching speeds between 25 and 30 miles per hour. Thankfully, there happened to be a giant pile of wood chips covered with snow located right at the base of the driveway on the other side of the lane. It was the perfect, soft landing.

We finally went inside when our fingers and toes started going numb. Niki's hot chocolate with extra marshmallows was the perfect ending to a really great day of sledding adventures. It was nice to enjoy the chance to get out and play in the snow. I didn't realize how much I missed that aspect of the winter months. For a weekend, it was like we were back up in Indiana.

Did you play in the snow? Have you ever sledded so fast that your cheeks get thrown back? It's scary and fun!

Snowed In

I grew up in Illinois and Indiana. Throughout my lifetime, I have seen my fair share of snow falls. However, since my move to the South, it has become somewhat of a mythical form of precipitation for me. I hear tall tales of it from my mom in Michigan, and believe I can recall my own memories, but have also begun to question my sanity regarding the fluffy, white stuff. But, this past weekend, my snow fantasies were once again realized!

Nashville was bombarded with multiple inches of snow! This wasn't just "a lot for the area." This was worthy of even you Northeners to ooh and aah over. We honestly couldn't open our doors without a good heave to shove the piled snow out of the way. It was beautiful!

Since our driveway is pretty steep, and the neighbors we share it with have a couple of kids, all of the children in the neighborhood gathered together to sled down our "hill." We were cracking up at their makeshift sleds made of trashcan lids. Not the metal lids. No, that kind of sense would require experience in this sledding field. These were the Rubbermaid lids with handles and everything. We noticed as the day wore on, many of the lids developed mysterious holes in the middle of them. Hopefully, their parents won't be too upset. We also enjoyed the incriminating evidence of multiple "doughnuts" performed in our cul-de-sac. Oh the joys of snow. :)

The snow started falling early Friday morning, and it was nice and fluffy and wonderful. However, by nightfall, the soft flakes rudely transformed into harsh, constant ice that continued through until the morning. These pictures of Chester were taking on the separate days. See how you can recognize his footprints in the snow on Friday? By Saturday morning, his little body didn't weigh enough to break through the inch and a half of solid ice. (You should have seen him trying to find a place to go potty! Brad eventually had to break the ice and clear an area of snow for the grass to show through before he recognized his "bathroom." It was hilarious.)

Unfortunately, the one thing the North has going for it that the South lacks (yes, there's only one thing) is the capability to adapt to snowfall on the roads. Let's just face it, Nashville is wonderful, but they sure don't have a multitude of snow plows on hand to dispatch at the first sign of a snowflake. As a result of the ice, combined with Nashville's lack of road clearing skills, we were pretty much legitimately snowed in for the entire weekend. I'm talking, even church services were cancelled.

Three full days alone with my husband and no obligations or distractions? Ah, shucks.

And after we rented a handful of movies from Blockbuster, purchased our gallon of milk, and confirmed that we had a substantial amount of junk food on hand, we were prepared for just such an emergency. We spent the days staying up and sleeping in as late as we wanted, cuddling together on the couch under multiple blankets, eating an entire jar of salsa with chips, watching movie after movie as well as oh-so-many DVR'd episodes of Criminal Minds, and enjoying each others undivided attention.

Really, why can't we get snow and ice every weekend??

Oh yeah, the drive to work this week; that's why... Boo.