Love Letter

Dear Mister,

After another long day of work yesterday, you laid down soon after arriving home for a "nap."  At around 7:45 I heard you stirring and asked you if you wanted to get on up or continue sleeping.

Your response: "Glass of milk sounds good."

Oh, boy.  I sure love you even when you are delusional.

Take Luck,

LP 

Some Thoughts

This was an interesting week in many ways.  Some good, some bad, some weird.

Here are my thoughts. 

[Teddy]

As I mentioned, Miss Teddy Ruxbin has been staying with us this week.  It's a good thing she is so stinking adorable and sweet, because she is as crazy as she is adorable.  She has been following me everywhere I go and I have tripped over her little body about 29 times.  I know one little lady (Sonny, not me) who is probably ready to resume her throne as queen of the Peters castle.

[Ryan]

Poor hubby.  He started the week working 10s. The 10s turned into 12s.  The 12s turned into 14s.  I don't even know what to say when I pick him up from work.  "Hey honey.  So uhh, how was your day??"

[Alice in Wonderland] 

We watched Alice in Wonderland (Tim Burton version) one night this week.  I love this movie.  Ryan and I were talking about all the "fun words" in the flick like Jabberwocky, Bandersnatch, Vorpal Sword, Futterwacken, and Frabjous Day

[Work]

Was good this week.  I was busy, productive, and felt as if I really contributed.  Let's just say I don't always feel that way.

[Travel]

I have one more trip.  For the last four weeks I have been home one and traveling the next (you can read about my experiences at Fort Huachuca here and here and also about Washington, D.C.).  It is really starting to wear on me.  On Sunday, the saga continues as I head to Groton, Connecticut for the week to validate one of our boats.  I can't wait to be on the boat for 10+ hours a day, in the East Coast heat and humidity, crawling through the tiny and awkward spaces in my coveralls.  Can you feel the sarcasm? 

[School]

The fall semester starts in 17 days.  I got my Engineering Statistics textbook in the mail on Tuesday and wanted to cry after looking at the first chapter.  Enough said.

[Tiffer & Ryan]

Tiffanie and her hubby, Ryan will be here in 11 days.  Yup, 11 days!!  I have an itinerary all planned out to maximize their stay and experience in Washington.  I cannot wait!  

[Books]

Since the Spring semester ended in May, I have been reading like a mad woman.  So far, I have read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (Stieg Larsson series); House Rules (Jodi Picoult); The Other Daughter (Lisa Gardner); The Help (Kathryn Stockett); The Hunger Games Trilogy: The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay (Suzanne Collins); and just finished Ape House (Sara Gruen).

[Sneezing]
Yesterday while eating my lunch I felt some sneezles coming on.  I think I must be allergic to work.  Anyway, when I got to my bag-o-carrots, the sneezles came.  There is no way to avoid pain while sneezing and eating or swallowing carrots.  No way.

I think its good to reflect every now and again.

And lucky you.

You get to read about it.

Take Luck,

LP

Dead Duck

I saw this coming ten miles away.

It still gave me a little chuckle when I poked my head outside to find out why the pups were so quiet.

These two are quite the pair.

Brock going for the belly.

Teddy Ruxbin going for the jugular.

Take Luck,

LP

Duck

Recently, Brock and Sonny discovered a stuffed, toy duck laying in the side yard of our next door neighbors.  They were completed enamored with it.  And by that I mean they would stand at the fence and stare at it, bark at it, lunge at it, and growl at it as it was lying there motionless.

Imagine that, a toy that lies tauntingly motionless.

They have had this same toy in the past, but they (mostly Brock) destroyed it within an hour - first by ripping out the squeaker that makes the duck noise and then slowly ripping out the stuffing and tearing the poor bird to shreds (mostly Sonny).

At $10 a duck... We found alternative toys.

Like empty waterbottles.

After seeing their reactions to this dead duck, we went out tonight and bought them their very own duck.  Well, their very own duck to share.  We had an idea to "surprise" them with the present and figured they would be super excited and run and jump all over the place.  We are puppy-sitting Teddy for my parents again while they are in San Fransisco for the week so we figured the three of them would go at it and wrestle each other for awhile, and then get tired.

They weren't surprised (shocking).  

They (mostly Brock) did run and jump around a little.

Sonny was actually afraid of the squeaking duck.

We had the idea of videotaping their reactions to the squeaking duck, but apparently they had other plans.  They pretty much made us feel like idiots.  After our failed attempt, I kept recording.

Since B-Boy is so much bigger than the little ladies, he pretty much dominated the duck hunting.  Teddy tried to get in on the action, but lost.  This whole thing turned into Brock playing with the duck alone, while Sonny and Teddy had wieny races around the yard.  After the wieny races, Brock and Teddy started a little friendly tug-of-war.

At least Ryan and I were entertained?

Enjoy the silly puppies.  And try to ignore my voice.

Take Luck,

LP

One Year

I'm sure the recent suspense has just been killing you, knowing that our one year wedding anniversary is 

TODAY!

We spent the weekend celebrating our love and wedding day in Troutdale, Oregon which is just East of Portland.  While there we went exploring and hiking along the Columbia River Gorge and spent the afternoon and evening at McMenimins.  McMenimins is a little historic town that has a small golf course, a winery, several pubs and restaurants and gardens. 

We started Saturday morning by hiking Multanomah Falls, which is a 629 foot waterfall that cascades over a cliff.  From the lookout point, there was a .2 mile hike to a bridge with a pretty great view.  A full mile from the lookout point was the top of the falls and was absolutely incredible.  It sure felt like more than a mile though.  They were kind enough to mark each switchback for us to keep reminding us just how far to go.  There were 11.  Thank ya much.

When we reached the top and went out to the Multanomah viewpoint, I took one step onto the platform to snap some pictures and I felt like we were going to tip over.  I immediately handed off the camera to my brave hubby, and said, "You do it. Gotta go."  After Multanomah we stopped at Wahkeena Falls.  The hike up to this falls' bridge was a mile and by this time, our legs were feeling quite jello-y so we decided to just take some pictures like wimps. 

We got cleaned up and headed to McMenimins for lunch, beers, wine (bad mix) and dinner.  We leisurely walked the grounds, people watched, drank some beers (including some delicious ruby raspberry beers!) and of course - I took lots of pictures. 

View from the parking lot

That's a big fall

View from the lookout spot

Lovebirding

Ryan "hiding" in the cave

View of Columbia River

Getting higher

Handsome Hubby

Christopher Columbus, eat your heart out

Channeling my inner Pocohantas

I'm queen of the wooorld!

Tippy top of Multanomah Falls

Up the staircase

View of the lodge with Multonomah in the back

View from the wimp area

More wimpiness

Map of McMenamins

Ry-boy with his lunch time beer sampler

Ry-boy after his lunch time beer sampler

Post at McMenamins

Sign in the glass blowing lady's shop

Cute bench in the garden

Edgefield Water Tower

Hammerhead and Ruby. Yum.

Lovey lovebirds

Fire-y sunflower

We had a fantastic weekend.  It was so nice just to get away, even for a few nights to enjoy each other and celebrate us.  This past year has gone by so fast.  It is hard to believe that it's been a whole year since we exchanged "I do's."  It has been a great year, full of love, laughter and learning how to be the best possible husband and wife to each other.  I can't wait to celebrate many, many more years together.

Take Luck,

LP