Happy Anniversary...

11 years! That is like the new 25, right?

Steve is a hard one to shop for. He is the guy that buys himself whatever he needs, unless it is sock and underwear, which do not seem like very thoughtful, sexy or loving gift ideas for a wife to give her husband as an anniversary gift. Socks and underwear are birthday gifts- DuH!

With my renewed blog-stalking addiction, I found a cute idea for a simple and kind of cheap anniversary gift from A Toddler and A Teenager blog. I have found my new favorite thing! We both used Leo Reynold's flicker website to cut and paste the letters and numbers that I needed and applied them to a PowerPoint slide. When you are done instead of saving it as a PowerPoint you save as a jpeg. Now you are ready to upload to wherever you print your photos (I sent mine to Costco), I printed a 5x7, 8x10, and 11x14 (I wasn't sure what size would look the best). Ultimately, I used the 11x14 which actually measure 9x12.

I think it came out pretty great! I think Steve was impressed with my talent.

Derby Days...

Something that we look forward to all you is the Fresno Firefighters Box Cart Race.

Who wouldn't?

When your morning starts with DONUTS...

Some as BIG as you face!

Making kids cry...

Making kids try new things...

Seeing old friends...

Making kids smile...

Box cart races... simply the best!

Be patient as I attempt to learn my new favorite thing... Picnik- photo editing.

Reasons...

We live in a place that is freezing in the winter and hot, hOT, HOT in the summer. I love where we live even if it is hot, it isn't a big city (there is no Nordstroms- not that I know how to spell it, nor to I wish to shop there) and it isn't such a little town... (fortunately I am not 2nd cousins with everyone in my neighborhood). While most people who live in the northern portion of the US would never dream of travelling here, I love it! Mostly because of the Hot Hot Hot.

I {heart} summer!

The reasons I love summer-

1. a new reason- Kindle. My Mother's Day gift. I can read any book that I download within seconds without a trip to Costco or Target.

2. Pools. I lived in Fresno for most of my life without a pool- CRAZY! 3 years ago we finished our pool build project. I love the sound of the water falling on the rocks.

3. My life is complete when I am tan... my dermatologist is going to hate me next week for my tan lines but my whole persona changes when I have a tan. Oh well!

4. I like to get my hands dirty... from March 15 to August 1, I spend my evenings planting flowers, pulling weeds, and waging combat on backyard pests, specifically SNAILs! AGH!

5. Cigar smoke. On a good night Steve smokes one cigar in the backyard, my oncologist will curse me for this one day but for now it is one of the smells of summer.

6. Tequila! YUM!

7. Parties! Suddenly everyone is ready to come out for a party in the summer. We love to entertain, it is my hobby.

8. XX. Dos Equis. our favorite beer to drink while sitting around the bar on a summer evening.

9. Happy Hour... at Sonic. Half priced drinks with the best ice in the World!

10. 12 ft of blow up entertainment! I am looking forward to my newest piece of summer fun... an outdoor movie screen. My kids will never know about drive in movies... they don't exist anymore! What they will know along with text messages, cell phones, and instant books, movies, and music, is movies projected on their very own movie screen in their backyard.

By the way, the kids have been informed that their mom and dad will be "snow" birds after they leave the nest.

Gifts...

The best Mother's Day gift was the proclamation from Abby as she threw her training wheels in the dumpster-

I don't need these

STUPID. PLASTIC. THINGS. ANY.

MORE.

The second best gift was a whole day to sit around drinking ice tea made from my new ice tea maker, while reading my new Kindle. Yes, I know I am lucky!