Food for thought.

I stumbled across this verse tonight and simply cannot get it off my mind.

Proverbs 19:23
"The fear of the Lord leads to life: Then one rests content, untouched by trouble." (NIV)
"Fear of God is life itself, a full life, and serene - no nasty surprises." (MSG)

Let me just admit - I hate being vunerable.  I can talk to a friend and just absolutely hate spilling my guts.  I could be crying to my husband but still hate telling him the reason for my tears.  I also hate being vunerable on the internet, where anyone can read it.  But, because I have no other source for venting my frustrations tonight... here goes nothing.

My marriage with Tyler is in a dry spell.  I hate admitting that.  I love the thought of everyone believing we are happily-ever-after and never face trouble.  But, much to my dismay, that is not the truth.  Don't get me wrong, overall we are very happy.  But every now and then we hit these dry patches in our relationship that cause stress.  They cause unhappiness.  They cause discontent.  And if I were to ask *almost* any married couple, I'm positive that they'd say that they've been there a time or two, or maybe even dozens.  Ask me what causes it and I couldn't tell you.  It COULD be any of the following reasons, or maybe all of them combined:

• We just moved.  That is stressful in itself.


• Not only did we just move, but we bought a house.  Again, stressful.


• We are both working many many many hours of OT a week so we don't get to spend much down time together anymore.


• I'm not happy with myself (image-wise), causing me to be sad to begin with.


• I go to bed early because I'm tired which may be because I'm somewhat depressed, meaning we hardly ever go to bed together anymore.


• We wake up at seperate times, leave for work at seperate times, spend the entire day apart, come home at seperate times, and go to bed at seperate times.  See a pattern here?

I need some advice.  Not just "it'll be alright" kind of advice, but more like what you do when you and your hubby/loved one are in a rut.  You know... fighting a lot, walking on thin ice around eachother, not laughing and enjoying your time together like you used to, etc. 

So, lets here it!  Spill your guts!  What do you do?  Any advice?

I'm back...and still alive!

Yep, still alive.  That's good news, right?! :)  Here's a few pictures from our camping family reunion this past weekend!!!

           

We had a great time at our mini family reunion this weekend.  The weather was PERFECT... high 70's and NO humidity!!  It was awesome to see family again that we don't see very often and as always was fun to have all of the siblings/kids back together.  I am happy to report that I didn't see a single snake, and despite the really bad misquitos and the terrible sunburn I have, it was a perfect weekend.  We were able to spend most of the day yesterday with my Dad for Fathers Day, so that was great too.

On our way there we stopped at Tylers Moms house and before we left we drove through Parkersburg, Iowa to see the damage they had from the tornado a few days ago.  Here's a few pictures... try not to get sick to your stomach like I did. :(

     

Here's some pictures of the flooding going on in Iowa also...

       

Sure makes you thankful for what you have, huh? 

Hope everyone had a great weekend also!!

Storms are NEVER fun.

Don't get me wrong... I love falling asleep and sleeping when it's raining outside.  But I'm talking about a light rain, a drizzle maybe.  Not 50+ MPH winds, hail, and excessive lightning. 

We've had some scary winds and rain in the past few weeks here in Kansas, but my heart breaks for those in Iowa and other places in the midwest that have been hit by tornadoes.  Ever since all these scary storms started happening, I have been having terrible dreams about them.  In my dreams I'm thankful for our sub-basement, but I am never able to hold on tight enough to Tyler, and as stupid as it sounds, I can't ever hold on to both Bailey and Stella either.  I wake up so paranoid and a couple nights this storm season Tyler and I have actually slept downstairs.  I've never been in a tornado, but the thought of going through one and it tearing my house to pieces scares me to death.  Then this morning I wake up to the news of the tornado hitting western Iowa and killing 6 boy scout campers and injuring over 40 other people.  Totally devastating.

Today we are headed to Iowa for vacation for the weekend.  Iowa?  Really?  One of the states that tornadoes have been visiting frequently over the past few weeks?  Yep.  We are headed there for a family reunion... and we're camping.  Yes my friends, camping. 

To top it off, I googled "camping supplies" this morning to see what I should be packing today, and saw the words "snake bite kits".  WHAAAT??! 

I sound like a total girly-girl right now, but understand that I grew up camping on vacations so I'm totally not.  (Camping in NYC anyone??!!)  But I am truly terrified of 2 things in my life... snakes, and tornadoes.

This should be an interesting weekend.  Start praying!!!!

Ooooh la la.

Anyone have a clue what I'm growing here?  Cuz I sure don't!  I sure do love coming home and seeing these beauties in front of the house though! :)

  

 

My hubby has been working so hard on the deck every chance he can... it's been hard to because of the storms & rain we've had.  Today was beautiful and we're not supposed to get rain until Thursday, so we worked again on the deck tonight and it's just about completed.  Oh, and isn't my hubby the hottest thing EVER??!! :)

 

On Sunday afternoon we had my brother, wife, and kids over for lunch.  (Mmm...Casey's pizza!!!)  After lunch we put the kids down, the boys headed downstairs for Halo, so that left only one thing for Kaela and I to do... go shopping!  We headed to Home Goods just to "look" (hehe) and came out with quite a few things.  I had such an awesome time shopping with her... she's a great shopping buddy. :)  When Tyler & I originally were trying to figure out how to decorate in one of the guest rooms, he suggested a beachy/cape cod look.  I was hesitant at first, but after looking at some sweet Pottery Barn inspiration, I was hooked.  Here's a couple pictures of the start of one of the guest bedrooms.

 

 

And since the downstairs bathroom is basically attached to the bedroom, we went all out and got stuff for the bathroom too.  :)  In the last pic you can see the front of the Pottery Barn catalog that was our inspiration.

 

 

I still have a ton to do in the bedroom, but this is a good start.

Happy Monday!

I've been tagged!

I was tagged by the beautiful Brooke over at Living the Happily Ever After!  Here goes nothin'! :)

Rules: Answer the following questions about yourself. At the end of the post you pass on the questions to 6 other bloggers and list their names. Then write them a comment telling them that they've been tagged and ask them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know that you've accepted the challenge and refer to your post.

1. What did you do 10 years ago?
I was in Junior High.  I played volleyball and was a football/wrestling cheerleader.  I had really short chin-length hair and blue fingernails.  I was boy crazy and had a bad attitude.  My best friend was Angie Watts and we spent numerous nights staying up late watching movies, scrapbooking, and drinking wild cherry pepsi.  Ahhh... those were the days.  :)

2. Five items on your to-do list today:

• Make it through the day without throwing up (sorry, TMI - but I don't feel good)


• Go to the gym after work


• Make a nice dinner for the hubs


• Start packing for our mini-vacation this weekend


• Take some time to RELAX for once!

3. Snacks I enjoy?
Sun Chips, 100 Calorie Packs, and Apple & Peanut Butter
     

4. What would you do if you were a billionaire?
First and foremost I would tithe.  Then I would pay off our house and debt, then give a big chunk of it to each of our family members.  Then we'd invest it and do something smart with it.  Any leftovers I would furnish and decorate my house compliments of Pottery Barn, then go on a small shopping spree. :)

5. Places I would live:
Well, obviously anywhere my husband & family is.  But if I could just up and move us and our families, I would choose:

Colorado Springs, CO


Breckinridge, CO


Minnesota

I'm not tagging anyone since I think almost everyone I know has been tagged.  So if you're reading this and want to play... TAG, you're it!