I do love this man...

Family Pic from Kel's wedding last weekend.

Five years. Today Jonathan and I celebrate a half decade of marital bliss. It's so hard to believe because it has gone so fast! We've been blessed with many great times together over these past years ... and what's even better is that I feel equally blessed for just having his partnership and presence through the everyday mundane times.

Here are a few things I love about my man:

• The boy has enough A&M t-shirts that he could wear a new one every day for two weeks straight - often though, it is limited to about five days a week.
• He loves to eat my baked confections even though he is (mostly) committed to his no-carb diet.
• He makes a mad homemade pizza and is the grill master.
• He likes things clean - even cleaner than I like them.
• He hasn't given up the military crew cut that was mandated in the Corps of Cadets, even though it's been ten years since he was part of the Corps.
• He loves to spend money like I love to horde it; it makes us a good pair ... and lends to some nice "discussions".
• We both place a high importance on family - our's individually as well as our parents, siblings, and grandparents. And we each genuinely love each other's family.
• He's a great dad who enjoys making Morgan laugh and smile.
  
• He is an awesome provider for our family and has supported me unconditionally in my role as a stay at home mom.
• He asks for my opinion and advice because he honestly wants to know. And he even tolerates my unsolicited opinions (often tirades)!
• He laughs at my goofy jokes and sense of humor. Praise God for that.
• We can talk "legalese" and enjoy ourselves.
• We both love his parents' ranch and my family's farmland.
• He still thinks I'm beautiful and tells me so.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg. I tell you I am a darn lucky lady ... though sometimes I need to be reminded of it!

Love you Babe! Here's to another five years of "bliss"!

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Wedding Week So Far...

Morgan and I have been spending this week up in Springfield, Missouri helping to prepare for my sister Kel's wedding. We actually haven't done much helping at all - there's been a lot more visiting with family and friends.

Early in the week two of my best friends from college (which is also in Springfield) drove into town with their kids so we could all get together. It was awesomely fun, but friendships (like life) take on a different dynamic once you have kids (and we all three do). Consequently, our get-together became more of a playdate at JumpMania. The kids all had a great time and wore themselves out literally to the point of tears. Thankfully later that night after all our kids were in bed, we were able to reconvene for a little adult conversation ... and to pretend we were young again!



There's also been a bit of March Madness action going. It's one of our family's favorite times of the year as we have our annual competition. Sadly, our Illini did not fare so well in the first round. Nonetheless, the competition lives on! So far, I'm not doing too bad.



There've also been a few opportunities for Morgan and Maddie to get together which hasn't happened since Christmas. Maddie has learned to walk so that has made playing together much more entertaining to watch :)

Maddie giving Morgan a "kiss" in their matching jammies.

Blasted blog!

I have to admit I'm growing weary of my blog. I desire to be like so many of my faithfully blogging friends, but frankly I don't have that interesting of a life nor do I have that kind of time. Well, I guess technically I could make the time in the evenings once M is down to bed, but I just don't want to. By that time of the day, I'm tired and want to relax. Isn't that okay? And... since I started Facebook, I haven't wanted to come back to my dusty ol' blog. It symbolizes effort and commitment where Facebook is more like a drive-thru - you're in, you're out, you're on your way. Instant gratification for me and all my Facebook "friends".

But for those faithful few who keep checking in on me (or more likely - my cute daughter), I'm here blogging for you with the randomness of my life of late. I'm warning you; it's lame...

1. What I LOVE Right Now.

Seriously, this stuff is A-Freaking-Mazing! What is it you ask? It's like a miracle dishwashing solution for anyone with hard water. We replaced our dishwasher about a month ago after suffering through many long months of its lackluster performance. However, I was pissed when the new dishwasher seemed to not do much better. About that time, it dawned on me that our hard water was a potential culprit for all the spots and splotches on our "clean" dishes. In doing some research to test my theory, I came across LemiShine. I found it at Walmart for like $2.50. I gave it a whirl, and my dishes (which have a rough finish to them that doesn't clean easily) looked like they did the day I bought them. Brings a tear to my eye even still. I've used it several times since and still rave at how my dishes look. I'm telling you JUST TRY IT if you have hard water!

I told you my life is lame ... and revolves on simple pleasures. Oh, and no, I don't regret buying the new dishwasher ;)

2. What I HATE Right Now.

Yes, it's true I have a complex over this book series. I feel like something must be wrong with me because EVERYONE else I know (and whose opinions I respect) LOVES this series. I just don't. I can't stand it. I read Twilight (Book #1) and hated the first 17 chapters of it (these chapters were mostly about budding teenage romance). The last seven chapters were the only ones worth reading (the ones containing a good vs. evil battle) but still didn't vindicate the rest of the book. I decided I'd start New Moon (Book #2) in hopes that things would get better. Nope. After three chapters, I could see it was going to be more of the same and stopped reading. I will probably watch the Twilight movie when it comes out on DVD later this month to see if I like it any better than the books, but I will likely not finish this series. Plus I have a few good friends (Twilight groupies) who said they'd fill me in ad nauseam on the rest of the story over dinner or coffee - a prospect which sounds infinitely better than wasting more hours of my life on these books. There are just too many other more worthy reads on my list.

So what's my beef with these books you ask? No, it's not the vampires; I don't care about that. Let me see if I can enumerate some of the reasons...

a. The pathetic teenage love story. It's so over-the-top and melodramatic. It's the whole "My Life is Nothing Without You" mantra that makes me want to stick my finger down my throat. This is the same reason I dislike Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet. I know, again, this makes me weird. And yes, I was a teenager once, but honestly I don't think I ever acted this way over someone I was with. If you knew me back then, please correct me if I'm wrong...

b. The female lead, Bella. The author wants the reader to believe this girl is supposed to be intelligent. Um no. The girl is so irrational in her thought processes and actions that there's just no way. A friend of mine from high school (who enjoyed the series) summed Bella up well: "Bella was so whiny if she had been in the same room as me I would have slapped her."

c. Poor writing. I appreciate that these are Stephenie Meyer's first published books, but her writing did not overwhelm me. And I can forgive a lot for the sake of a good story.

Enough of my rant. I still love all my Twilight-entranced friends and hope they will tolerate me despite my perhaps-too-loudly-and-avidly-stated distate for Twilight :)

3. What Is Going On In My/Our Life Right Now.

A few highlights:

• Morgan turns 18 months on Friday. I can't believe she's already this old...
  
• My youngest sister Kelly gets married in a week. M & I will head up to be with her and the rest of the family next week in preparation. Jonathan will join us for the wedding weekend.
• I've been able to expand my legal practice in the past few months.
• JD & I booked tickets for a four day weekend in NYC to celebrate our 5th anniversary. Grandpa & Grandma Schlueter are going to watch M!!

Well, my friends, that's all I can think of :) Hope that satiates you for another month or so ... until I get inspired to write again!