The only one for me

It was the end of January, the year 2000. I had just moved to New Mexico, and didn't know a soul.


There was a function at the church the day after I arrived, some sort of anniversary celebration. My new roommate invited me to ride along with her, and I accepted, happy that I didn't have to show up by myself.


We approached the double doors of the building where the celebration was being held. That is when I looked up and saw him.


Medium-tall, with jet-black curly hair. Broad shoulders a mile wide, it seemed, held straight and proud. Black leather jacket.


And my heart said, "Hmmmmmm."


I didn't find out who he was until a few weeks later. Ricardo, they said his name was. I passed him in the church lobby one Sunday morning, and, thinking to be friendly, greeted him with a bright, "Hi!"


I got a less than enthusiastic "hello" back, and promptly wrote him off in my mind.


It took him 4 months to get around to asking me out. And I use that term loosely here; I am not sure that calling me up and saying, "Hey, a bunch of us are going river rafting, and I have 2 spots that I have to fill....wanna come?" constitutes being asked out, but apparently it was his roundabout way of doing so. I agreed to go, and somehow ended up in his truck for the ride up and back. We talked non-stop the entire way, and the rest is more or less history.


6 years ago today, I walked down a grassy green aisle in Indiana and became the wife to the only man in the world for me. I saw him waiting for me there at the front, his eyes showing his emotion, and I felt so complete in that moment.



The day had dawned gray and rainy, and since we were planning an outdoor wedding in my parents yard, it wasn't looking good. I pictured trying to cram all of our guests in to my parents living room for the ceremony.

Fortunately, about an hour before it all started, the rain vanished, the sun appeared, and it was perfection. My daddy gave me away, and amidst tears from everyone in the audience, Ricardo spoke his completely unrehearsed vows to me...words that were beautiful and natural and came straight from his heart.




We had a dinner reception afterwards, celebrating with just close friends and family. I hear a lot of stories about how brides are too keyed up to enjoy eating at their own wedding, but I was definitely not one of them. We had a very simple dinner, nothing fancy, and completely in keeping with the rest of our casual setting. But, oh, it was good......roast beef, homemade rolls, potatoes, green beans. Comfort food. Homemade Mexican cookies that my mother-in-law brought along. Actually, I think the only thing I didn't really get to sample, outside of the customary bite that we fed each other, was the wedding cake. Oh well. I heard it was good, I'll take their word for it.

Look at the sunset in the background.....phenomenal.

Before we knew it, evening gave way to nightfall. And we waved goodbye and left to start our new life together.

Words cannot express how thankful I am for this man. He is the perfect counterpart to me. He is the decisiveness to my wavering. He's the push in my swing, encouraging me to go a little higher. He's the gravy on my mashed potatoes......everything is just a little better when he's around.




I could not ask for anything more. Happy Anniversary, my husband, my friend.

I lift up my eyes to the hills

We are back from our lovely night away. I could really get used to this whole celebrating-the-anniversary thing.

And according to Savannah, we now have a "new house".

She was in love with the hotel room, the pool, the elevators, and the fact that she could run up and down the halls unhindered. Upon entering our room, she immediately dubbed it our "new house". And since we have returned home, she has asked no less than 10 times when we're going to go back to our new house to go swimming.

Obviously, it didn't take her long to become accustomed to a life of leisure.
















Ricardo and I enjoyed a romantic candlelight dinner Thursday evening while some friends of ours watched Savannah. It was a nice little steakhouse, and I really wanted a steak.

Ok, that is not entirely accurate. I wanted Ricardo to get a steak so I could steal a bite off of his plate, while also enjoying something else of my own.

Me: So! What are you getting?

Him: The burger.

Me: Really! Wow. Not a steak? Really?

Him: No. The burger.

Me: Man. I was really hoping one of us would get a steak so I could taste it.

Him: Well, you go ahead. Get a steak.

Me: I don't want a whole one. Just a bite.

Everybody does this, right? Eat off the plate of the hubby? I'm quite sure I'm not alone in this. Hubby is not overly fond of my habit, but he indulges me, and now even knows to offer me unsolicited bites. He let me taste his burger, and it was delicious. A Kobe beef burger, so it had a little extra class to it. And I know he really, really loves me.....because he really, really loves his burgers, and to forfeit a bite for the sake of the wife speaks volumes.

The resort is on the east side of town, close to the mountains that hem our city in on that side. Rachel at Badgers on the Loose had just requested that I post some pictures of the mountains, so since we were so close, I snapped a couple of shots. Here you go, Rachel! Hope it doesn't make you too homesick. :)







When I first moved here, the mountains were the first thing I fell in love with. I remember promising myself that I would never take their beauty for granted, and that I would look at them every single day and feel the same awe that I felt the first time I laid eyes at them. I would repeat that verse to myself from Psalms 121, "I lift up my eyes to the hills..."

Gradually, I stopped really seeing them. I started using them only as a landmark, an easy way to remember my directions...."if you're going towards the mountains, you're going east". I would stand at my kitchen window which directly faces them, and fail to notice the grandeur that once took my breath away.

Then I read Rachel's comment a few days ago, and realized how much I would miss those mountains if I had to leave. It's so, so easy to take for granted the beautiful things that you are surrounded by every day.

So, again, I promised myself I would take the time to stop and look and appreciate a little more. I sat yesterday evening, pool-side, as the sun started to set. It cast its glow upon the mountains and painted them a beautiful coral-red color, and it was the most gorgeous and peaceful thing I had seen in a long time. And, again, I was reminded:

I lift up my eyes to the hills

Where does my help come from?

My help comes from the Lord

Maker of Heaven and Earth.

Psalms 121:1-2

Stealin' a kiss from Daddy - Wordless Wednesday

More Wordless Wednesday here!

The vacation where we stayed home

What is it about holiday weekends? Even though we didn't travel anywhere, it was so fun to relax and do things we don't normally get to do.

Like taking Savannah to the closest thing we have to a "beach" here in town. They even call it Tingley Beach, which is truly laughable since it is nothing more than a series of man-made ponds. But when you live in the desert, you take what you can get.




They have a cute little train that runs back and forth from the zoo to Tingley Beach and the botanical gardens, so we took her for a ride. It lasted an hour, which was a little long....I think the highlight was when I broke out a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for her. That cheered her up and provided some distraction for a good 15 minutes.

Neither of us have any family that lives close by, so sometimes it can be a little sad during holidays when everyone is getting together with their families to celebrate. But we have the most awesome friends in the world.....different couples will invite us over for every holiday and basically adopt us into their family. For this Memorial Day, our friends Robert and Ana called us up and told us to come over for a cookout.

When we got there, I thought they had invited at least 20 people. They had 3 huge racks of ribs, a pile of steaks, tons of chicken, burgers, hotdogs, a couple of different kinds of potatoes, beans, salad, corn....the table was loaded. And there were only 6 adults. Needless to say, we were stuffed to the gills when we left. So, so good. All diets were certainly out the window for this meal.

So, it feels like we have been on vacation even though we haven't left our house. Funny what a change in your day-to-day routine can do. And....the fun continues! This weekend is our anniversary, so we will be celebrating on Thursday. Before he left his old job, Ricardo's boss gave us a very generous gift certificate to a really nice resort/casino here in town. So, we get to party in style, and best of all....it's free! Can't beat that! We'll have dinner at one of the great restaurants at the resort, and then get a room for the night. And enjoy a big buffet breakfast and swimming in the morning.

Hope you all had a great weekend as well!

The tone-deafness only adds to the charm

Sometimes I look at Savannah and daydream a little. I wonder what she'll be when she grows up. That thought alone is hard to wrap my head around.......grown up. It's impossible to imagine anything past this age right now....she'll always be two, running around, saying, "I miss you!" as she wraps her two little arms around me. Right?

Well. In my dreams, maybe. But eventually, she'll grow and be....what? A teacher? Nurse? Artist? Journalist?

Or maybe a pianist. Or singer.

I come from a very musical family. All of us play at least one instrument, and while none of us can claim to be a professional singer by any stretch of the imagination, we can certainly carry a tune and we all play by ear.

I always assumed that I would marry someone that possessed a similar musical gene.

That is not the case.

We discovered last month, by accident really, that Ricardo is basically tone-deaf. He will admit it, so I'm not saying anything he doesn't know. Sometimes, when we are sitting together in church, he will harmonize perfectly with me. This initially led me to believe that he did indeed have a great ear, and I was excited! We could sing together! And sound decent!

But then his harmony would more often than not trail off into something....else. Something that was not especially harmonious.

So the other day, while we were giving Savannah a bath, he picked up one of her bath toy instruments, and started to play a "song". Mind you, it is a one-note instrument. After he played this one-note song, he asked me if I knew what it was. I hadn't a clue. He was all, You don't know it? I can't believe it! Here, I'll play it again....

I started to get a sneaking suspicion about the tone-deaf theory. So I said, Ok. Can you match this note that I'm going to sing?

And he said, What do you mean by "note"?

I explained it.

He said, They all sound the same to me.

So we tried it. I sang a note, he tried to match it. He always ended up above or below my note, and he said that he couldn't hear the difference.

This was pretty amazing to me....I have never actually known anyone who was tone-deaf. And as someone who plays the piano almost strictly by ear, it's so hard for me to imagine that someone cannot hear the changes in pitch.

So I'm curious to see who Savannah takes after. She sings constantly....ABC's, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, B-I-B-L-E. All day long, over and over. She bursts out in song at the grocery store, the doctors office, wherever and whenever she feels like it. She dances to Ricardo's 80's music, to the Backyardigans theme song, to American Idol. She's not picky. There is no denying that the child likes her music. But it's a little too early to tell whether or not she has a natural ear for it.

I wouldn't change a thing about my hubby. I love standing next to him in church, listening to him sing out whole-heartedly his love and adoration for his Heavenly Father. Who cares if it's a little off-key?

God doesn't, and neither do I.