The Other Dog

We took a much needed R&R trip up to McCall this weekend.  We figured that if it is going to be snowing in March, we might as well be skiing.  We had a wonderful ski day with my dad and Robin followed by a walk around McCall with homemade ice cream and caramel included, a dip in the hot tub and some good old NCAA tournament until Chris could not watch the Zags get destroyed any longer and then we watched a movie.  Two important milestones were reached this weekend in our lives.  Mrs. Bella officially conquered carsickness and is going on a year strong (thank goodness)  and I stayed awake for an entire movie.  Do not underestimate the significance of that.  I am pretty sure that is has not happened since about 1998. 

We were also paid a visit by Robin's dog as seen below.  This little fox comes to the porch and lays on a stack of snow until you toss him out some food.  I gave him an egg and off he went only to come back again when he was done.  I did not have my camera with me this weekend so these were all taken with Chris' phone. Not too shabby for a phone.

We spent the rest of the weekend catching up with normal life by spending an enormous amount of money at Costco, cleaning house, and doing some yard work.  I guess it is more accurate to say that Chris did the yard work because while I napped and caught up on American Idol, he chopped down two dead trees in our yard. I was quite impressed with his work when I woke up.

Constable Wedding

We were lucky enough to be able to escape the cold and go to Arizona last weekend to see Chris' high school buddy Joel marry his sweetie (a Santa Clara Bronco I might add, good choice Joel!).  The rehearsal dinner was outside and consisted of BBQ ribs and chicken around a campfire.  Very Arizonan and very awesome.  We also got to go out in downtown Tempe which was quite the happening little place complete with a very cool dueling piano bar.  The wedding itself was beautiful.  It was about 80 degrees and gorgeous with the Arizona desert as a backdrop.  Rachel was the definition of a stunning bride and Joel was adorable.  They had the courage to say their vows which was my favorite part.  I wish that I would have gotten the nerve up to do that.  It really was a wonderful ceremony.  

Chris was honored to be one of Joel's groomsmen along with the other two members of the "fiercesome foursome."  Chris, Joel, Collin and Lee have all been friends since high school and got to reunite once again for the wedding.  Chris chose his friends well even back then.  I love each of these guys.  It was so much fun to be able to see them all together looking handsome in their tuxes. It is obvious how close they still are and really neat to see how they can pick up like they see each other everyday  (yes, I just used the word neat).  While Chris ate at the head table, I felt very cool to be seated with the lady counterparts of the foursome and the Facebookers. The food was great, the dancing was fabulous and a good time was had by all.  Thanks Joel and Rachel for inviting us to share in your special day!  We had such a great time catching up with old friends and meeting new ones too.

 

Mrs. Becko

When some people finish the bar exam they go on exotic trips to the other side of the world to celebrate.   The first time around, Chris and I took a fabulous trip to Alaska.  This time around, I would not have had anything else but a visit from one of our favorite people, Mrs. Becky Biniek (AKA: Becko/Becks).  We pretty much ate our way through both Eagle and Boise and enjoyed some pretty nice cocktails along the way too.  We had a fantastic bluebird ski day up at Bogus Basin. I even loaded up on the sun screen. But don't be fooled by the blue skies, it was pretty darn chilly.

We also enjoyed the best kind of time, plain old "hang out time"  by watching movies, going to our favorite breakfast spot, getting our butts kicked by Chris on the Wii, taking the Bels to the park and spending some quality time on the trampoline.  I think Becko may have liked the trampoline more than our children visitors :)   Bella also fell in love with Becky while she was here.  I am not sure that the love was quite mutual, but I think that Bella is growing on Becky.  Every morning when we'd let her out of our room, Bella would run down and bust into Becky's room to "greet" her.  She was pretty sad on Tuesday when she bolted down the hallway and busted in the room to find an empty bed.  We feel the same way as Bella, we already miss having Becky around.

Thanks Becky for making the trip up to Idaho.  We loved that our first California visitor was you! 

Study Buddy

Mrs. Bella has been a great study buddy.  She lets me talk through flashcards with her and she even offers some comic relief when needed most.  Last week was feeling like spring.  Chris took Mrs. B. to the park to run off some steam.  She put herself in the bathtub when she got home, which has not happened since this summer.  We have also noticed that she has been battling static cling with the couch.  I think it is pretty cute. She has made me smile over a bit of a difficult month.  I swear we will be back to people posts soon because I know that the greater majority of the world does not love the B as much as we do.

Officially Grown Up

It is official, we are grown ups. I have decided that you become a real grown upon the occurrence of one of two things. The first way that you become a real grown up is that you have a baby.  Since we are not really there yet, we decided to go with the second route of achieving grownuphood, we bought a bed.  Yes, not as exciting as baby news (sorry to disappoint), but still a way to achieve the all important "grown up" status.  After literally years of looking and 4 and 1/2 years of marriage, we finally found a bed that we both like. This was apparently no small task.  I feel like a little queen when I sleep now.

 

In other boring grown up news, we painted a room in the house.  We have never painted a room together and I must say that we went with quite a bold color choice for our first time around.  We picked a color called "Autumn Leaves" (far left in the picture below).  It is kind of a burnt orangey-reddish color and I love it.  When we lived in our apartment and duplex in California, all I ever wanted was an office.  I was tired of working at the dining room table or a bedroom.  So I was thrilled when we had space for an office in the house.  The problem is that we set it up with both of our desks and I ended up never wanting to be in there because it felt like an office.  After having a home office, I decided that I don't want to be in an office when I am not in the office.  So I still work at the dining room table or kitchen counter and now I am often joined by Chris.  So we moved my desk upstairs and made our office into a "den" by cozying it up with the new paint and putting our old couch in there. The rug is also special since it was a gift form Eric all the way from one of his tours in Afghanistan.   Even sans wall art and lamps, I actually want to be in there to read and talk on the phone or do whatever.  Here are a couple pictures of the transformation.

And for the final reveal . . . the before, the "office." 

The after . . . the "DEN!"