A Kitten and a Nap on the Porch Swing

Jess played with Paige so Cason and I could take a nap on the porch swing today. Of course I couldn't fall asleep, but it was still so nice. He DID nap, but these are from before he fell asleep.


Paige found a picture from Halloween, and then HAD to be a kitty all day. She even went and dug my eyeliner out of my bag and brought it to me. So she's been a kitty, even when we went to Walmart.

Couple's Interrogation

The wonderful Chris and Caroline.

Ladies first.

1) What do you love most about your husband?

Oh, I love lots of things! But if I had to narrow it down to one...I love that he has the same sense of humor. We can sing songs about our dogs, or make up weird voices, or even just tell terrible jokes to each other and we are always laughing. I can totally be myself around him.

2) What is something most people don't know about you?

Most of the time I'm really nice and easy going, but I think most people don't know that I can get ridiculously angry. There was one time when Chris, Brandi, Jess, and I were in Prescott with our dogs and I about lost it when some random maintenance man yelled at our dogs and hit Gia on the head. I was fuming, ready to fight mad. Chris is really good at calming me down, but he knows that I can be quite the 'pistol', haha. I was rather angry too.

3) Do you have a pet peeve?

Yes! I have a few. The biggest one is when people try to tell me what to do, especially if they don't know me very well. But the one that bothers me even more than that is sort of hard to describe. I can't stand it when someone is sitting in a chair and they start shaking their leg. The kind of where you're bouncing your knee using the ball of your foot. Haha, that probably makes no sense but when I show you what I'm talking about it'll drive you nuts too.(Your description of the foot tap makes perfect sense)

4) 3 things you'd like to do in your lifetime?

First, I would LOVE to go on a two week Mediterranean cruise before we have children. I've always wanted to go to Greece and cruising over there would be wonderful.
Second, I want to have two awesome children. Preferably boy first, then girl.
Third, I want to be so financially stable that I can retire at a decent age and still be healthy enough to do things like randomly drive to Napa Valley and wine taste on the weekends. Or buy a gigantic RV and drive all around the country.

5) What is your biggest accomplishment?

I am a first generation college graduate, finished in 3 years with honors. That one is going to be my biggest accomplishment for a while :)


6) Do you have any special talents?

I'm really good at making up songs about our dogs or just about anything to the tune of other songs. It's the most useless talent ever, but lots of people are pretty amused by it. (I'm certainly amused by it)

7) Favorite way to spend a day off?

It depends on the day. Some days I love to spend with Chris just lounging around the house watching movies and telling funny stories. Other days I love going shopping for a new outfit during the day then wearing it out with friends later in the evening at dinner or whatever.

8) Something about yourself that embarrasses you? (but obviously not too much, if you're willing to let me post it online)

Ok, this is can also be an answer to question #2 but I HATE when my hair is wet and anyone touches it or moves it. It's pretty embarassing because sometimes if I just get out of the shower and don't blowdry it, Chris or someone else will grab my hair and say "oh, you're hair is still wet" and I always cringe and make a face. Then people wonder what the heck is wrong with me and I have to explain that I hate when anyone touches my wet hair. I'm a weirdo, haha.

9) Who is your hero?

My parents are both my heros. My mom has been battling cancer for 21 years and she's still here with us. She always keeps a positive attitude and can turn even the saddest situation light-hearted with her humor. She is so generous and giving, and just truly loves to be around people. My dad has accomplished so much in his life, I only hope I can do half of what he's done. He only has a 9th grade education, but he taught himself how to invest his money and has made a pretty great life for himself. He's also done just about every hobby there is to do: bowled on a bowling league, trained hunting dogs, taught himself acoustic guitar, got his scuba diving license, learned wood-working, grows vegetable gardens, used to deep sea fish...and those are just the ones I can remember :) Her parents are really quite wonderful. Please say some prayers for them, by the way.

10) Do you have a weakness?

Haha, it's not a very deep one but the first thing that came to my mind when I read that question was onion rings from Whatabuger. I can go to the gym and work really hard and then negate everything I just did by succumbing to those delicious little toasted rings of joy, haha. It's seriously taking everything in me not to stop this survey and drive over to get some.

11) Favorite memory?

My wedding day is by far my favorite memory. Everything just went so well, and the things that didn't go as planned turned out to be great stories. Some of my favorite wedding memories: my neice, our flower girl, was only 2 at the time and our ceremony was right during her naptime so she fell asleep facedown on the platform during our vows; my brother in law busted his chin open doing the worm at our reception; it was the first time in my life that I saw my dad cry when we had our father daughter dance; my best friend for over 15 years was there to give a toast; as my mom was putting my veil on she looked at me and said 'I'm proud of you'; Chris's step-grandmother requested "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" at our reception but they didn't have it so she settled for "Shook Me All Night"...those are just a few :)

12) As you know, Jess and I like to include questions about how much the interviewee loves us. SO…what's your favorite thing about us?

This one should be obvious..you guys are like our couple soulmates. We're praticallly the same people! So instead of telling you what my favorite things about you are, I'll tell you two of my favorite memories. The first one that we still talk about is how we talked for hours during schtuzhund practice about these horrible Leerburg videos that Charlie our trainer (who we thought was so cool at the time) loaned to us. It started by us first talking about how serious everyone was when they yelled "heel!" at their dogs on the video and quickly escalated to "Then you have to put your dog in a huge tank-like crate that's lit on fire with the words 'Leerburg' going across the top". I don't think we got any training done that night because our stomachs hurt so bad from laughing and making fun of those videos. Then my second favorite memory is when you guys still lived about a mile away from us and we would have you over on Sunday afternoons after Schutzhund. We got hooked on the first season of Flavor of Love because that Sunday was a marathon Flavor Flav bonanza. We sat there and to our horror watched and made fun of all the nasty girls who were fighting for him. Chris and Jess both had to work the next Monday but you guys stayed at our house until the finale ended around 12:30 or 1 AM. Ok, I know I only said 2, but I thought of one more memory. Since Brandi and I are such dog freaks, we decided it would be a really good idea to drag our husbands to a dog show that was going on some Saturday morning. One would think that the fact that it was pouring rain outside would stop us from going, but being the hardcore dog nerds that we are, we all went anyway. Little did we know that the whole show would be outside in the freezing rain. Did we go home? Nope. We walked around and looked at dogs until we were so cold we couldn't feel our feet. Then we went to a Denny's close by and I'm sure everyone was staring at us because we were drenched covered in mud and rain, haha.

And that was the lovely Caroline.

This is a LOT of text with too few pictures, being a double interrogation and all. So I'll break things up with this:

It's like staring straight at the sun he's so dang adorable.

Now, I give you Chris.

1) What do you love most about your wife?

I love that we connect on so many levels. We make each other laugh a lot, we like to over-analyze everything, we have lots of really cool conversations, and we both plan way out in the future for the things that matter to us. I couldn't find a more complete partner if I spent my whole life looking. Plus she's hot.


2) What is something most people don't know about you?

I played the tuba in high school. Both marching band and concert band. I actually made regionals twice and I probably could have been one of the first chairs or even made it to state, but I didn't practice very hard.

3) Do you have a pet peeve?

Probably the thing closest to a pet peeve I have is bad grammar. I'm still learning not to be a total weirdo jerk about it. With most people I let it slide, but I tend to call my friends and family on it. It drives Caroline nuts.

4) 3 things you'd like to do in your lifetime?

I'd like to travel. We have a pretty amazing world God has given us, and I'd like to see more of it.
I'd like to be a good father and husband. I want to provide for Caroline and our future kids to the best of my ability.
I'd like to learn to play guitar well. I have decent rhythm and can play rhythm guitar pretty well, but I want to be able to play lead guitar too.

5) What is your biggest accomplishment?

Getting Caroline to like me.

6) Do you have any special talents?

I remember things easily. Well, not everything but most things. It was very convenient in school and it's still convenient in my job since I don't have to spend as much time studying or relearning things since they tend to stick.

7) Favorite way to spend a day off?

Hanging out on the couch watching something good with Caroline. If I got to play with the band I'm in that day, that might make it even better.

8) Something about yourself that embarrasses you? (but obviously not too much, if you're willing to let me post it online)

Sometimes I don't know when to shut up. I'll be talking and just keep saying things, filling in any silent spots. It's like I hate silence.


9) Who is your hero?

My grandfather. He was a Nazarene pastor for a long time, and then when he got older he completely switched careers and started working at a bank, eventually making enough that my grandmother never had to worry about money after he passed away. I want to be that kind of provider.

10) Do you have a weakness?

I have bad impulse control sometimes. When I want something I usually can't stop thinking about it. I just bought an amplifier when I probably should be saving for something more responsible. Haha, I have the same problem.

11) Favorite memory?

My favorite memory is going to Magic Mountain with Caroline and our friends for Caroline's 18th birthday. We had a blast and it was a lot of fun going on all the rides with her.


12) As you know, Jess and I like to include questions about how much the interviewee loves us. SO…what's your favorite thing about us?

My favorite thing is that it's like we share a brain. Jess and I are total geeks about computer games, history, theology, etc. And Caroline and Brandi have the dog connection. Then when the four of us get together we keep making each other laugh the whole time.

Soniconversation

Today my mom and niece Alex came over. Look how cute Alex is in her new purple glasses. And how cute Cason is in his 5 month old body.

We took them for a walk in the wagon, and Paige brought some of her ponies.

Cason fell asleep on the way.

Tonight we went to Sonic for shakes. Cason was sleeping, but Paige got to get out of her carseat and sit between us eating fries. On her way up to the front of the car she found a tiny piece of a bun from her Arby's sandwich the other night. She gave it to me, and I looked at it and tried to tell Jess it was a piece of petrified bun. But instead I said "petriFRIED". Jess and I thought that sounded promising. Jess thinks we could sell corn dogs at some sort of Halloween festival and have that on our sign.

Then a christian song I like came on the radio, which reminded me of the Women of Faith conference I went to with my mom like 5 years ago. Which then reminded me of the one that they had 2 years ago. My mom tried to pull her really clever trick, where she buys tickets BEFORE inviting you, and then tries to guilt you into going by telling you she can't get her money back. Instead of just inviting you. Ha. But this time I had a 2 week old baby, and I wasn't going to take her into a stadium full of thousands of people for like 8 hours each day. And I SURE wasn't leaving her for 8 hours each day. So I said I couldn't. So then a few days later we were at Starbucks, and my brother mentioned a "christian conference" he was going to with mom the next weekend. I said "Oh, Women of Faith? Cool, I'm glad she found someone to go." I didn't think it was weird, because although it is primarily for women, I'd seen a few husbands and sons the time I went. But he just stared at me for a few seconds, and then goes "WHAT'S it called?" I said "Women of Faith." And then I realized that my mom had left out the whole "women" part when she asked him to go. So then he got really mad at her and said he wasn't going. Then she got really mad at me for telling him, like I should know she was tricking him into going, and I should have known not to mention the NAME OF THE CONFERENCE. Jess and I kept talking about how funny it was when he first realized what she was doing. Haha.

Failure

I'm the worst apparently, and can't seem to get Interrogation Station on time. EVER. But I'll try to make up for it, and do a double interrogation. It's in the works.

In the meantime, check out Paige's (and my) current favorite toy. I love this thing. I will keep it for my grandkids if it doesn't fall apart first. It's a cute old truck with a pink horse trailer, a girl, a horse, AND a cute dog. I would've loved it when I was little. Paige got it from Grammy and Grampy for Christmas.


Caso is VERY into toys lately, look at his focus.

He's also very into our food and drinks. He stares at what we're eating and tries to grab it. The other day he was successful, and snatched a cracker right out of my mouth. It's about time to try some cereal I guess.

"Nokyers"

Another beautiful and funny aunt had a birthday, today. Happy birthday Dawn, we love you!

Hollywood

This little fancy lady was saying "Come on here" a bunch today, and we don't know why. She wanted chicken for dinner, meaning nuggets, but she's had a ton of them lately, so I made her a grilled cheese sandwich instead. She kept pushing it away and yelling "CHIIIIIIIIIIIICKEEEEEEEEEN!" I said "Nope, grilled cheese is what you have for dinner." So she screamed "COME ON HERE!" at me. Haha. She said it to Jess too, when he was wrestling her and she got tired of it.


Today the boy is 5 months old. He weighs 19 pounds now. He's pretty chubby, but I think he's also just plain big and solid. Whatever he is, he's wonderful. He's the sweetest boy of all time, seriously. He wakes up and smiles almost immediately, whether he's just waking up on his own, or if he's startled awake by Paige yelling at him.

He also does all kinds of funny stuff with his tongue lately.

Now then, I've been terrible about birthdays this month. I've missed our good friend Chris, husband of Caroline, on the 19th! Sorry Chris, and happy belated birthday. Chris is VERY smart, funny, and laidback, and we love him.

My friend Ashley had hers that same day. I met Ashley and Megan at Lifetime Fitness, where I did my internship, and hated every day. I might've cried every time I went to work if it wasn't for those two. They're both beautiful, and hilarious, and made me laugh all the time. I miss them. Anyway, happy belated birthday Ashley, although I don't know if she gets to check the blog very often.

I also missed my sweet aunt Tari, who I don't think has ever seen my blog anyway. But just in case, happy belated birthday Tari, we love you. This one of her with Granny is the only one I can find. Granny's birthday would've been on the 6th of January.

AND finally, I missed my wonderful uncle Tim's, yesterday. He's also very smart and funny, and married to one of the coolest ladies around. His kids Chris and Michael are okay too. We love YOU uncle Junebug. Happy birthday! Not too many pics of him either, but I'll give ya what I got, including this crystal clear shot of him with Cason.

Cason's View

Nearly every time Cason sleeps, he wakes up to this. Just not always in his car seat. Sometimes it's when he's in a deep sleep in bed, and she puts her face an inch from his and yells cheerfully "HIIII BOOOOY!"

Paige was "cooking" for us tonight. She made eggs, and thought it was SO funny when Jess asked for "more please" and signed it, like she does.

Then she asked to go to bed, by saying "night night" and doing this pose. She still loves bed time.

She also loves her daddy. The last couple of days, she'll randomly think of him, and start saying "daddy, home?" Today she tried on his shoes, and I said "Oh, you have daddy's shoes on". So then she walked around in them chanting "daddy, home." over and over. It was sad.

Speaking of sad, she pinched her hand in the folding doors tonight, and was crying "Sorry. I sorry." over and over while Jess tried to comfort her. That's the kind of thing that makes me so sad I actually feel sick to my stomach. Jess kept trying to tell her she didn't have to say sorry, and she just repeated it.

But let's not let that get us down.