1,460 Days

Four years. Long enough time for a student to graduate from college, long enough for a child to learn to tie their shoe or spell their name, and, sadly, long enough for a couple to marry and consequently call it quits.





Today heralds the fourth year of marriage for Mark and I. Not every day has been bliss, nor has every moment been Hallmark worthy . However, we have made it (happily, I might add) through four years. I am incredibly grateful for this man I have married, for the vows we made and for the sanctity of marriage.





In the short span of our marriage we have moved across state lines three times, changed careers twice and became parents. We decided early on to make our relationship a top priority, and that sentiment and resolve has brought us a long way. When life seems to be wearing us down, we lean on each other. Mark is my safe place. He is my haven in the midst of this crazy chaotic life, and I wouldn't have it any other way.





Happy, happy 4th... praying for 40 more :)

Newest Addition

Six weeks ago, on a bitterly cold Saturday morning (35 degrees in the South is considered bitter), I was attempting for the third time to drink my luke-warm coffee while simultaneously blocking my two-and-a-half year old from catapulting off the back of the couch. Wyatt had recently watched a particularly inspiring edition of Dino Dan, and thought excavating from the top of our overstuffed Ethan Allen was a super idea.

The phone rang, and like any normal Saturday before 8 a.m. in our house, I was debating setting my child in his crib, and going outside. Or, perhaps, catching a boat to Puerto Rico. I decided against the latter, and answered the phone instead.

"Guess WHAT?!" My husbands giddy shrill was so loud, that I yanked the cordless to arms length. Oh CRAP. (in my head, not out loud, in order to keep the toddler from being kicked out of pre- school). I don't even have to ask. I already know what he is about to say. I ask anyways- trying so, so very hard to act a teenie weenie bit happy.

ME: what?

HIM: I shot a 10-point!!!

ME (again, in my head) Wow. Really? Would have never guessed in a million years that this could be the reason why you sound like a teenage girl on crack.

ME (for real this time) Wow. That IS FANTASTIC! I am SOOO SOOO haaaaapppppyyyy!!! I mean, instead of being home between the hours 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. today, you are now going to be gone ALL day, leaving Wyatt and I to our own devices- and we can't even leave the house because its the freaking arctic out there, and on top of that--- I get to look forward to blood and guts in my garage and raw meat on my kitchen counters, but wow, a 10 point?!?! That is so awesome honey.

HIM: Yeah, I know awesome huh?! Oh, and by the way, Jamie and I will be processing it all day tomorrow.

ME: Gee. That's fantastic! I didn't have anything I wanted to do this weekend anyways- other than packing my bags for Puerto Rico, of course.

Fast forward three weeks. My sleep-deprived, anxiety stricken, pre-occupied self cannot for the life of me understand why there are 23 industrial-sized bleach bottles filling up my laundry room. I stopped asking questions a long time ago, but when my testorone laden better half arrived home with a Sally's Beauty bag filled with peroxide cream, curiosity won out.

Before the question could even leave my mouth, Mark was bounding for the garage with enthusiasm that could rival Leslie Sansone. He reappeared with the skeletal remains of something that I thought he had perhaps dug up in the Arizona desert. Only Mark has never been to Arizona. Then it hit me-- I could tell from the sheer excitement spreading across his face, that he actually thought the creepy skull thing was cool. And, then suddenly, a worse thought crossed my mind. Oh, NO. He wants to hang this ON MY WALL. IN MY HOUSE. Oh please no... but, ask he did... and in a moment of sheer insanity, mixed with guilt over the fact that every single organism that my husband had ever killed, stuffed, preserved or mounted had been banished ages ago to the attic (well, except for the Turkey- which was in our garage... until our Cocker Spaniel devoured it- but alas, I digress), anyways- in that moment of pure insanity, I consented to letting him have one tiny corner of the least trafficked room in our house. And, have since grown to regret it (after walking into our guest room and almost peeing my pants).

Welcome dear friends. I do hope that this empty skull staring at you while you sleep does not give you nightmares :). I am thinking that not even my parents will come and visit anymore- perhaps this was his plan all along... ;)

Gasparilla 2011

Most.fun.girls.trip.ever. That's all I have to say about that :) Well, and it will take me a week to recover. I am so grateful that I have such a wonderful friend- even though she lives so far away, when we are together its as if no time has passed at all. Shannon will be my friend for life, and these kinds of weekends where I can take a small respite from the daily grind make me appreciate my husband and little boy all that much more. Taking a weekend off every now and then makes me a better momma - and where better to do it than sunny, beautiful Florida?

I had a wonderful surprise when I returned home... my sweet husband and son picked out some beautiful roses, cleaned the house, did all of the laundry and Mark had gone to the grocery store. He even made a little menu for me to order my dinner off of- and then he cooked it to perfection!
Can we say husband of the year?! This girl is blessed beyond measure. It is so good to be home!

My Souvenir From Vegas...

My husband just returned from the SHOT show in Vegas. I can't remember what this stands for, but basically it's a huge convention and trade show for all hunters, shooters and outdoors men. Pretty much somewhere I would NOT want to be.

There was talk of me going out there to meet him last weekend after the convention, and us making a mini vaca out of it- but I opted for a fun girls weekend in Tampa with one of my best friends from college instead. I didn't feel right about leaving Wyatt two weekends in a row, so I am heading to the Gasparilla festival TODAY. Seriously, CANNOT wait! Last week was awful in every sense of the word. I am not sure why things go so very, very wrong when Mark is gone... but that's what happens every time, and every time- I feel like I am going to lose my mind.

Alas, that is behind me now. The point of this post, is to show you the "souvenir" my husband brought me from his trip.

When he pulled it out to show me last night, I lost it- we are talking shoulder-shaking, snorting, rolling-on-the-floor hysterics. It was too funny not to model for my loyal blog readers:

I might just have to wear this one to the parade on Saturday ;)

Because of Disney....

My sweet husband surprised me with a fabulous new camera!! I have been complaining about how AWFUL mine was (we are talking a 10 second delay, and some very fuzzy images) and his SLR is beyond bulky... (thats what happens when your husband is an outdoor photographer). Last night I was absolutely freaking out about not getting great pictures on our trip. So, when he told me that he had heard how awesome this camera was, and that he was thinking of getting it for our next family camera, I almost cried tears of joy at my desk- almost.

Anyways, this is supposed to be a top of the line lightweight Cannon. We are a Cannon family around here, so I CAN'T wait to get my hands on this bad boy!! Mark has officially earned husband of the year award, for sure.

If anyone has this camera, and has any tips- let me know.

Incredible pictures to come! Stay tuned...

Where to begin?

As you can imagine, I have an INCREDIBLE amount of things to update on this blog. Running behind seems to be the story of my life. I am behind at work, at home, you name it- I am struggling to keep up. I feel a little on the crazy side- my days are starting to remind me of a Looney Tunes cartoon, in which I am cast as the Tasmanian Devil.

I am determined to get more organized, and I am realizing bit by bit that it means giving up control and giving everything over to God- I am only one person, and I know I will always fall short... but God won't. Somehow those words are so much easier to type than to live out.

With that being said, let's start with a HUGE praise... I really wasn't going to mention it- but this is a scrapbook of my life and I certainly want to document all the little and BIG ways that the Lord has blessed us. In a nutshell... the promotion I had been hoping and praying for came through. It happened sooner than I had anticipated, and right after I realized that I needed to be happy with where I was and with what He had given me. Long story short- it felt good to know that my hard work had been noticed... and it felt even better that after a long journey - I knew exactly where God wanted me.

And, what's new with Wyatt? He is a handful of epic proportions. Today Mark picked up from school, and for the second day in a row, he was in time out. When asked why he had been put in time out- he stated that he had pushed a classmate and threw toys. Normal for a two-year-old? Yes. Disappointing that my son is not as perfect at school as I had once imagined him to be? Absolutely.

He is also becoming quite opinionated- almost overnight. Now, it totally matters what color his sippy cups is or what PJ's he wears. Thank the good Lord he has not started pitching a fit over the monogrammed clothing yet. Oh the horror.

Speaking of clothes- that is the big battle in our house at the moment. Not with Wyatt, but with my husband. I came home from a boutique overstock sale with several precious two-piece, smocked outfits and was promptly told that if so much as Wyatt's big toe touched them- they would find themselves in the bonfire out back. I am heartbroken. It seems the only teenie tiny thing that even still resembled my baby boy is gone- only to be replaced by blasé polos and khakis (YAWN!) Even worse, the dozen holiday long alls that I have been stashing in the closet were discovered and my dreams of gingerbread one-piece Santa pictures have been squashed.

Enjoy your babies while you have them- because one day your husband might just come home and put his foot down. If I ever have a daughter, Mark Olis, get ready for hair bows the size of Texas, and smocked dresses for the next 10 years :)

On Marriage...

... I so wanted this post to be all about Wyatt's party. But, you see- I really need the pictures to be able to adequetly talk about how much fun we had, how proud I was of those Elmo cupcakes we slaved over and stressed about, (which turned out oh so cute by the way) and the adorable way he sang 'Happy Birthday' to himself.

But the pictures are still on my Dad's camera card, in Atlanta. I forgot to download in all the birthday madness, and my repaired camera arrived one day too late. Sigh. Just for scrapbooking purposes, I will add them to the blog at some point, but much to the demise of my OCD self, it won't be today- and this blog will just have to be out of order. Oh the horror!

On to what has really been weighing on me lately. As you, my faithful readers know, I will put anything on this blog- well okay, not anything, but close to it. I love spilling my thoughts, as heavy, random or disconnected as they might be. Lately I have been overwhelmed and lost in these thoughts, and trying to make sense of them myself. This summer has been chaotic, busy and as carefree as we could make it. We have burned up the interstate and made good use of our vacation days. We have visited friends and family, couples with children and without, single friends, newlyweds and those who have been married for a lifetime. We have taken time for ourselves- both on canoe trips with the boys or beach trips with the girls.

We celebrated out third anniversary, made plans for our future while hashing out childcare and diving up household responsibilities. This third year brings a new sense of the permanence of marriage. the first two years I often thought to myself "What is so hard about this? There is no work involved in marriage- we love each other- this is a piece of cake!"

I am not sure if any of you shared those same sentiments, but slowly I began to realize that marriage truly does take work. It is not something you can sail through, or that is supposed to be held is some stark comparison to others, as if you are fighting for a spot on a reality show. The thrill of the chase, the butterflies on a first, second, third or tenth date are replaced with a sense of comfortability. We are okay with silences, I don't get embarrassed by anything in front of Mark, and he knows me better than I know myself on most days. Not to say that the weight of responsibility of parenthood, of home ownership, of finances and budgets and work and scheduling, of whatever- doesn't bear down on us- because it does. But, we are making it- and most days, we are thriving. Most days the hills are higher than the valleys are low. And that, I count as a success. My husband is my safe place. And this work? It's all worth it :)

Helping Daddy with the Blackberries

Here are some pictures Mark took of Wyatt on Saturday while he was helping him post the blackberries. Fresh Cobbler anyone?

Stepping it up, Celebrating Mary and Baby Hudson, Ice Cream and Rusty Nails

How is that for a weekend rundown? I was told by my very loyal readers that I have been slacking a bit on my posts- I can't argue with that. I have been slammed in every aspect of my life, but I am going to make a big effort to kick it up a notch- get ready for the rundown of Rachel's daily grind. I can assure you one thing- my life as you read it, will never be dull :)

Here is goes:

The weekend got off to a great start as Kacey and I made our way to Columbus to celebrate the impending arrival of little Hudson. Our very best friend and college room mate, Mary is 33 weeks pregnant, and we were thrilled to be able to help host her baby shower. This girl is one CUTIE PATOOTIE. Normally she isn't 80 pounds soaking wet, so she is ALL baby, let me tell ya... (see pictures above). What a wonderful way to spend a beautiful Saturday- we had a blast- and I am SUPER excited to meet this little man in just a few weeks. Look out world, here he comes!

Upon return to the Ham, Mark and I took little guy to the park and to get ice cream. Wyatt man was introduced to his very first Blizzard- and of course my mini sugar feign loved every bite. What a joy to be able to witness such simple pleasures, and what a perfect way to end such a perfect day :) Oh how this boy does my heart good. What a precious gift!

Unfortunately, we had a little bit of a crisis on Sunday evening, and as we were dealing with that, I got a phone call from my husband telling me that he had stepped on a rusty nail. I couldn't help but laugh as he hobbled around on one foot wincing in pain this morning. I know that sounds awful but he just looked so darn funny. Poor guy went doctor and got his tetanus shot and booked it to the pharmacy- once the painkillers were taken, he was a happy camper again :)

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Surprise!

Friday night I had the the pleasure of throwing my husband a huge surprise 30th birthday party! He had absolutely no clue. I could not wait to share this with all of you... and it was killing me that I had to keep hush hush about it. I am certainly not one to keep a secret, and I had to keep a lid on things for over six weeks- but it paid off!!

Mark thought he was arriving at the clubhouse for a couple's baby shower for his sister- and let me just tell ya, he was not happy about it. I have never heard more complaining in my life- boy was he shocked when he realized that all 70 of our closest friends and family were gathered to celebrate him! I really got him good, but I couldn't have done it without a ton of help.

I GREATLY appreciate all the amazing food prepared by our Mom's and my sweet sister in law, all the help setting up and cleaning up, the invitation printing by Christi, the Costco card loan from Erin, the incredible video archiving Mark's life produced by Mark's friend and co-worker Ben, the photos taken by Amanda, and the list goes on and on. It was truly a team effort.

The party was perfect, Mark was in shock, and we had an absolute blast. Thank you to all of our sweet friends and family who made it such a memorable occasion. Mark kept saying over and over that he has never felt more loved. I think I have earned my wife of the year award after this shindig :) Honestly though, it was truly a labor of love-there is no one more deserving than my sweet Mark. He works so hard to provide for our family, and it was my greatest pleasure to show him how much we love him- plus, the look of shock was priceless!

Happy 30th Birthday to Mark!

Today we are celebrating thirty years for my sweet husband. Happy Birthday honey! We love you more than words can express.

It is amazing to me that even before Mark was born, the Lord knew he was going to be my husband- we were born 3,000 miles apart but God brought us together.

Mark is a wonderful husband, father, son, brother and friend. He has touched so many lives in his thirty years, and I am so grateful to be his wife. He amazes me every day and his walk with Christ is an inspiration to all who know him. Wyatt is so blessed to have Mark as a daddy- I am proud of my man, and there couldn't be a better example for our little boy to look up to.

Here are some highlights of the past 30 years:



Happy Birthday Sweetheart, we love you!

Girls just wanna have fun...

I had the rare opportunity to spend the weekend with some of my oldest college friends... we had a great time catching up, eating some good food, shopping and getting pedicures :)

This picture is AWFUL. Let's just say I was not feeling in tip-top shape and my face had not seen sunshine in WEEKS! It is amazing how this winter weather makes me look so BLAH. Thank goodness Spring is around the corner. In the meantime, I made a dash to CVS and slathered my face with the Jergen's glow... I knew I was white... but sheesh, this picture would scare Casper.

Anyways... this week is crazy. I seriously have never run so many errands in all my life trying to get ready for three different baby/wedding showers this weekend. Plus my sweet husband is turning the big 30. I can't believe it- I feel like he is an actual grown up now :). We are having a small family get together on Thursday (his actual birthday), and his present requests are very odd - (like gravel and a fertilizer spreader), so I am running around like a maniac trying to locate random landscape supplies.

I need three of me right now- lets hope I survive the week, especially since it's only Tuesday!

Won't you be my Valentine?

This little heart throb makes me melt :) We had a good weekend- Friday was a snow day, and we had a blast introducing Wyatt to the winter wonderland in our backyard- pictures to come... I am still waiting on Mark to send them to me. Mark ended up having a guys night in on Friday- three of his friends came to experience his new pride and joy- the fire pit of course. Oh yes, they stood next to the burning blaze in ankle deep in slushy, muddy, wet snow to swap tall tales until the wee hours of the morning. I on the other hand, called it an early night and went to bed.

On Saturday, Wyatt and I joined my SIL and MIL for a scavenger hunt through the local kids consignment store to peruse for new toys for a certain boy's 19-month birthday :). I scored a super sweet Little Tykes tool bench with all the tools you can imagine- and it came with a super sweet price tag as well- can't beat that! After lysoling it down, I put it through the Wyatt test- and he absolutely loves it... the best part is, it fits perfectly in his room and I don't have to clutter up the living room with any more primary-colored plastic.

After lunch with Steph and Grandma, I packed Wyatt up for a night in Clanton so that Mark and I could have our Valentine's date night. We had planned on going to dinner and a movie because we had two movie passes to cash in- however, when we got ready to leave... they were no where to be found. We searched and sifted and scrounged... and we never found them. At this point we were running dangerously close to missing our reservations, so we gave up and decided to call it an early night after we ate. By the way, my husband was really sweet and surprised me with a sweet card and chocolates... even though we agreed on no gifts.

We tried a new restaurant... and it was AMAZING. Completely authentic Italian, candlelight, white tablecloths... tons of ambiance, and great wine. The entire restaurant only has eight tables, so you have to have reservations, but it is totally worth the wait to get in. You would think that this type of place would be off the charts expensive, but it really wasn't and you get a TON of food. We will definitely be back!

On Sunday, my sweet friend Erin took some more amazing pictures of Wyatt. She is so talented, and I am super grateful that we have found a lifetime photographer. I also can't believe how much my little boy has changed since our 15 month photo shoot. Check out a few of his pictures here. Doesn't he look like a little man now?

My Man and His Fire Pit

Here is the picture of what was built in our backyard last weekend. I am so proud of Mark- he literally built this in one day, and we have already enjoyed sitting around the fire together.

The next step is to chooose the pavers to put around it and to build out our patio. We hope to have all of this completed within the next month, and hopefully I will be able to find a good deal on some outdoor furniture. We are also going to open up our back porch and have a path going from the patio to the fire pit as well as a pergula in the near future. I can't wait until everything is green and lush again, because it looks pretty dismal right now. But I know that it will look beautiful this Spring once we are finished.

I can't wait to host our first outdoor bbq bash this summer... combine the fire pit with my hubby's incredible grilling skills and some of that Southern sunshine - sounds like heaven to me!

So Glad He's Home

My favorite part of birthday parties- CAKE!

The Birthday Girl- Miss Peyton

Playdate with Mr. Will

Wyatt and I were more than estatic to see Mark walk through the door on Friday afternoon. I had taken the afternoon off in order to straighten up the house a little bit (I mean c'mon, I had to atleast make it look like there was some semblance of order in his absence) and to cook a nice meal for my husband (Insert Wife-of-the-year award here)

I think I wowed him with my apple-bourbon pork tenderloin (thanks Hormel :), garlic mashed potatoes and oven roasted asparagus (a Rachel original, and Mark's favorite).

After a sweet family dinner and an evening to catch up- I was exhausted. Last week drained the heck out of me and we all went to bed early.

On Saturday, Will came over and played. We had a great time, although we are still working on sharing our toys :).

On Saturday afternoon, we went to a birthday party and Sunday was church and a fun girls get-together where I learned how to applique shirts for Wyatt! I am so excited and have already ordered several appliques and am on the hunt for those Garanimal t-shirts that are oh so hard to find. I am feeling a little Martha Stewartesque all of a sudden. Although after trying to thread a needle for the umpteenth time, I will probably be sending some shirts to Clanton where my MIL and her sewing machine reside.

This week has been CRAZY to say the least- thank God my husband is back because I am having to be up at 4:30 every morning and work extremely late. We have a huge event this week that I am working on, and it is taking up most of my time...I am also hosting Bible Study this week (YAY!) and taking dinner to a friend who just had a baby (double YAY!) and leading a fundraising committee at church -where did all that time go that I thought I would have at the beginning of the year? Who knows- what I do know is I am doing what I love. Raising money for sick children, growing in my faith, deepening my friendships, serving the Lord and mothering an 18-month old (who had his first time out this week due to an uncontrollable urge to scream, kick and thrash all at the same time- triple YAY!)

Enjoy the pictures from our weekend reunited with Daddy-O :)

Survival Mode

One....More...Day. I keep repeating this in my head, over and over and over. I have actually been telling myself this since Monday, hoping it would make this week seem a little less long.

It hasn't helped. Mark left Sunday for his annual 'Shot Show' in Vegas. Imagine a whole lot of testosterone and a whole lot of guns -multiply that by the tenth power. Exactly. No where I would want to be.

I wish I could say that Wyatt and I sailed through this week. That I cooked amazingly healthy and tasty meals, that my child never ran out of clean clothes and that the word 'stressed' never entered my vocabulary. But- this would simply not be true.

In actuality, we split a can of Beefaroni for dinner- more than once. My kitchen resembles Nagasaki during the post-atomic bomb era, and if it hadn't been for my wonderfully thoughtful MIL, Wyatt's outfit would have come out of the hamper this morning (luckily, when picking up my child yesterday, Liz offered to wash his clothes for me- bless her!)

I forgot to close the garage door, set the alarm and make the coffee the night before- as these are typically deemed 'daddy duties'. Sadie is lucky she got fed, and I have been late to work every day.

The icing on the cake came last night in the form of a dying battery in the smoke detector. Picture me at 2 a.m. on a 12-foot ladder receiving instructions from my husband 2,000 miles away on how to disengage the stupid thing.

I am hanging on by a thread, folks. And tomorrow couldn't come soon enough.

I have to draw the line somewhere...

It is no secret that my husband is a passionate outdoorsman. And by passionate, I mean obsessed, consumed, fanatical, fixated... you get the idea. His career revolves around this preoccupation- and because this caveman mentality seems to pay the mortgage every month, I have long since stopped asking when my garage will be restored to its original purpose, or why my kitchen doubles as a processing plant, or what in the heck is in the garbage bag in my fridge.

I have even tried to minimize the excessive sighs that escape me when I open the back door and find him skinning his latest trophy- whether it be last Saturday's coyote or yesterday's rattlesnake. I have gotten really good at ignoring him when he begs to hang up the 10-point he killed four years ago in my living room or tries to talk me into a fur comforter for our bed.

Oh, but last night sent me over the edge. I think it would have sent any easy-going, laid back wife over the edge- it wasn't so much the sight of my husband rolling out a bobcat skin on the wooden plank he had fashioned into a tanning prop, or the rem nets of the animal covering the ground. I am now desensitized to the post mortem wildlife that frequents our home. Nope, it was what was in his hand that turned me into a raging maniac. He was brushing the fur of the dead bobcat with a hairbrush- and not just any hairbrush- my hairbrush. The brush I use every day to detangle the mane that sits atop my head- and he wasn't even going to tell me!!!!!!!!!!

He snuck out the back door with my brush tucked into his shirt- knowing full well he was going to use it on a dead animal, and thought he would simply slip it back into the bathroom drawer without me ever finding out. ARE YOU FREAKIN' KIDDING ME????

Needless to say, the brush is now in the trash, and Mark spent the latter half of the ten o'clock hour in Wal-Mart- buying a new hairbrush. I am telling you, there is never a dull moment in our house. I thought about posting a picture of his prize, but I think I will spare you :)

I thought it would never get here...

Well folks tomorrow is almost here! I can't believe that in just 24 hours I will be on the other side of the country celebrating my 27th birthday with a bowl of the world's best clam chowder in 75 degree sunshine.

Let's hope my husband makes it.

Ah, yes- my delightfully intelligent better-half decided earlier in the week to keep his "business" trip to South Dakota while still recovering from Pnuemonia. He just simply cannot stand to let all the Pheasants fly free or miss a chance to rub shoulders with advertisers. Against the advice of his doctor, his mother and his wife he decides to go anyways, convinced that flying back to Birmingham a mere 12 hours before we have to take off for San Diego will indeed give him plenty of leeway to get home, do laundry, repack and head back to the airport.

Lo and behold, a mechanical error arose- Mark is still in South Dakota. He has now missed his connection in Chicago and we are riding on a hope and a prayer that he gets in before our 6 a.m. 737 leaves the runway headed towards the West Coast.

I guess he will be wearing a lot of camo in San Diego. Just so you know... if I could have reached through the phone and strangled him- I probably would have :).

The Second Honeymoon

Mark, our resident travel guide, has been plowing away at our bigs plans for San Diego. To say that I am looking forward to this trip would be a massive understatement. I have tried not to let my excitement run away with me, as I feel it would be a distraction from every day life. For the next couple of months, I still have laundry to fold, lunches to pack and projects to complete... but when my dear sweet husband e-mailed me all of the details of our trip- it about sent me over the edge. I have found myself staring off into space several times this morning, dreaming of this trip- especially the evening that my husband has planned for us on my 27th Birthday.

Of course, 2.5 days of this 6-day trip I will be in a conference, but let's not get bogged down with those boring details. While I am developing my professional career, Mark will be in the middle of ocean on a huge boat fishing for Marlin, Tuna, Shark and whatever else fisherman in San Diego fish for.

During the rest of the trip we will be exploring Coronado Island, The San Diego Zoo, Sea World, Balboa and several Museums. Mark has also arranged for us to take a 2-hour sunset cruise off of the Harbor and to enjoy an incredible dinner each night during our stay. The restaurants we have chosen include: Anthony's Fish Grotto, Candela's, Blue Point, Cowboy Star, Sally's Seafood on the Water and Sea Rocket Bistro. Each of these restaurants have won several awards for their cusine and are rated some of the top picks in San Diego- props to my hubby for all of the research!

We arrive on my birthday, and Mark has arranged for us to take a trolley to Coronado Island for the evening. We will enjoy an incredible dinner at Candela's and then he has made some special surprise plans for after dinner. And, here I was thinking my husband wasn't romantic!

We really need this ya'll- I can't even remember the last time we had a date night. Usually we are too tired or too busy or too broke to spring for a night out... but we have been saving and planning for this week, and I may not sleep for the next two months because I am so excited!

On being married to the next Steve Erwin (or his hunting counterpart)

This is what my husband came home with on Sunday evening. In case you are wondering why I am holding it- the reason is because it was dead.

Also, I thought it was completely blog-worthy :) To add to our collection of mounted squirrels, bobcats, beavers, ducks, racoons, turkeys, hogs, deer, fish and possom... we now have rattlesnake skins.

I am hoping for some pretty awesome shoes, or maybe a purse. Just to clarify, the only two places that our furry friends are allowed to co-habitate is either Mark's office, or the attic. Maybe one day when he gets a man cave they will be allowed in the house. Mark is currently dreaming up plans for his dead animal shrine.

Atleast it never gets boring around our house :)