Valentine Marriage Challenge Week 2

 

 

Courtney, from Women Living Well issued a Valentine Marriage Challenge about a week ago. Last week I tried to focus on my Hubby's good qualities and let him know that I appreciate him.

 

Week 2 Challenge – This week we will be a little more creative with our praise.

She has some great ideas over at her blog and I'm super excited to read the links and see what other bloggers are doing with this challenge. I am going to have to get my creative juices flowing... Another excuse to spend time on Pinterest. :o)

Because he knows how much I love my lattes. He gets me one every morning. I still love him more than lattes though.

 

The kind of poem he would give me. I think I'll beat him to it.

I found this on Pinterest and followed it over to Super Savings. They even have the tutorial for you.

Read between the lines:

I'd Kill (to be with) You,

(when) You're (not around) A Pain (runs through my heart),

(without) Love (life) Stinks,

I HATE (when) You (are not around me),

You're Not (just) My Friend (you're my best friend,

(I) Go To Hell (whenever you aren't near me)

 

We have quite the sense of humor, don't we? ;o)

Carrie's Craft Corner has some awesome ideas in her 14 Days of Valentines post. So cute and clever!

I got this idea from Carrie's Craft Corner. If nothing else My Hubby was dying with laughter over my "zebra".




 What kinds of creative things have you been doing to encourage your husband?

Valentine Marriage Challenge

One of my favorite blogs, Women Living Well,  is having a Marriage Challenge to get ready for Valentine's Day. I thought this would be the perfect motivation to get back to my blog again; and I get to bless my Hubby while I do so.

Here goes nothing...

 

 

Courtney's Week 1 Challenge:

Take the Initiative! Look for ways to praise your husband verbally.
Praise him in front of the kids, friends, family, co-workers, on facebook, tweet it – get praise out anyway you can! Try to mention something noteworthy he has done – in his role as provider, father, husband, lover, or friend. If the thought of trying to come up with one terrifies you, then pray right now that God will give you new eyes to see your husband as God does. Then open your mouth and say something kind and uplifting to your husband today and tomorrow and the next day until Valentine’s Day arrives!

    This week I have been looking for the good little things about my Hubby and trying to verbalize them. It is easy to get caught up in all the bad little things and then only the BIG things get praise maybe. Sometimes I think I am guilty of stacking so many of his faults in front of the good things that I completely lose sight of the good in him. Times when things happen where he doesn't pick up after his mess, when he doesn't clean up after dinner, when he doesn't help with the kids, when he falls asleep "too early", when he has a bad attitude or things just don't go the way I wanted them to. These are some of things that I stack in front of his good qualities. I become blind to the things that made me fall for him in the beginning. Things that I love about him. After 11 years I love him more than ever but 11 years has given me a long time to stack faults. I have enjoyed this week because I have been working on getting rid of those files boxes full of years of his faults that I have been stacking up.
    This week I have been looking for the good little things about him. As I empty the boxes of fault I am working on filling them up instead with the things I love about him. When I notice these good things about my Hubby I am telling him.
    I started by praying to see him as the Lord sees him and looking for what he does on the big scale: working sucky hours at a job that he doesn't particularly love but he does it because he loves his family and wants to provide for us. The fact that I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he will have my back and never leave my side no matter how granola, blond, psycho, fat or forgetful I get. The fact that he sees past my stacks of faults.
    When I started looking for the big good things I was able to see the little good things more clearly again. Like what an amazing BBQ grill master he is; plus he picks the best meat at the grocery store AND looks for a the best deal on it. How when he cleans he gets things squeaky clean. He's a great foot rubber. He (usually) picks good movies. He cracks me up! His mischievous sideways smile. He's so darn sexy. Don't even get me started on his bedroom skillz.
    Not only has this been great for our marriage it has been good for our kids to hear. I am sure my kids pick up on the tone in my voice when I am frustrated with their dad. I'm sure I've said things that were less than kind about their father that they heard. We are role models to our children whether we are being good or bad role models. I want them to see the good in their dad. Love him with all their little hearts. I want my girls to grow into Godly women with good marriages; who are their husband's biggest cheerleader and are loved and cherished by him. I want my son to have a wife that encourages him and helps him to be the man God has planned for him to be. All of that starts with our marriage example.
    I am reaping benefits of this challenge already. I was surprised by his reaction when I told him on Monday that I appreciated something he had done the day before. He stopped what he was doing, looked at me and said, "Thank you for noticing that. It means a lot to me that you told me you appreciate that." And you know what? He did it again the next day. And then the day after that too.
    A little encouragement on my part has gone a long way in his heart.  I like encouraging him. I found I like it a lot more than nagging at him. I want to be his cheerleader and he needs to be encouraged. He wants to be appreciated and he's willing to go the extra mile when all I have to do is say, "Thank you. I notice the good things you do. I appreciate you."
What do you say? Start unstacking your husband's faults. Be your husband's cheerleader. Join the challenge.

The Dirty Dash 2012

So since registration for The Dirty Dash 2013 just opened on January 2 and it's waaay too late to just post these pictures and play it off; I finally have an excuse to show off our dirty little summer trip!



Before Pictures:

Hubby~ You took 1 picture of us before the race.

Thanks for making me look like a real winner.

 

After:

The Dirty Dash was a dirty blast! I felt like a mountain goat most of the time. When I "run" around here I stick to paved roads. This was through a river and up a mountain; not to mention all the obstacles they set up. It was crazy fun! I was exhausted (and proud) when I finished and I can't wait until next summer! It will be an adults race though; we are going to leave the kids home this time. Maybe we'll even bring along some friends this year.

Go check it out!

Or if mud isn't your thing they are doing a Color Run this year also!


Fun with the Cousins

What have we been up to?
Besides being Pirates Who Don't Do Anything; we are also pirates wo play hard and explore uncharted playgorund territory.

Green Park

                                                                         Rooks Park



Farmer's Market and Fun with Friends

One of the things that we have in our town is The Farmer's Market. This is one of our my favorite things to do on a Saturday morning. This is how we spent last Saturday.

Eating tiny delicious cupcakes

Taking random photos

Thank you, Sarah.

Thank you, Madison



Listening to our favorite local band, Bizarre Love Triangle

And finding old friends

But the fun wasn't over yet!

Tramampoline + Sprinkler = Water Fun!

4 Wheelin'

Digging to China

Being cute

Being a stud

Get your weapons!

Aim!

Water play date at our house!



To Neptune, Alice, to Neptune!

So I didn't post anything yesterday. I was tired worn out exhausted. I walked and Noah and the kids rode to Neptune for goodness sake! We have a Planet walk out by Fort Walla Walla. We recently discovered this path and are having fun walking it on the weekends.

The distance is to scale and has information about the "planet" at each sphere. Sarah really likes to compare the length of days for the planets.

This one is of us at Uranus. Haha. Yes, we do have the sense humor of 4th graders. They yelled, "Uranus!" when we took the picture.

As you can also see Benjamin is being Benjamin. He was not at all interested in taking pictures for memories or for Mom's blog for that matter. An older gentleman walked by and laughed, "I had four of them. There is always an independant one." 

There really is. There is ours...

Here we are at Neptune. Sarah wanted to go to Pluto. We couldn't even see Pluto. The Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars are all very close. The rest of the planets are spaced quite a ways away. We only made it to Uranus last time before turning around. Hahaha! Sorry....

While we were out there we went across the road to Fort Walla Walla Museum. We love it out there. Noah and I are History dorks and the Fort Walla Walla staff have really made the experience kid friendly. Lots of things for the kids to look at and some hand on things as well. Last year they put in an awesome new playground. We have a membership so we try to get out there once a week or so. The living history programs on the weekends are great too. People dress up and act the part of interesting historical people from Walla Walla and the Pacific Northwest. Our favorites so far have been Joe Meek, mountain man (gee I wonder why) and Dutch Jo, Walla Walla's most prominent Madame.
Anyway, it happened to be Fort Walla Walla Days. All the people who play parts get together and create something that is almost like an old town. There are towns people, Military branches from history, fur traders and Indians, etc. Tents, cannons, wagons, etc.

Here are the kids in front of a Douglas Fir.

 Kids in the tee pee.

Some teenagers getting in on the old fashioned fun.

I hope this is an act and not the First Aid booth

This guy was really cool. As we were walking by he asked if we wanted a picture. Of course we would!
                                      
 "I want a gun too!"

A big thanks to:

And the kids always have fun on the toys.

 "Look at Mom. She wants a picture of you!"



I just get a kick out of this little seat every time we go. Do you see the tiny seat on the side of the wagon? I couldn't fit one tookis cheek on that little seat! I can't imagine riding all the way from Missouri to Washington on that thing. 

When we got home we everyone else played with the RC car. Duke loves chasing it but he knows he will be tempted to bite it if he catches it. He taught himself to run with the ball in his mouth and chew on it so he won't bite the car.

I couldn't even make it in the house. I just sat down outside.

I was dog tired.

 But it was a good day for dogs. :o)