My Wife...

You know you have been married a few years when you can guess your wife’s passwords on the first shot. I am a crappy blogger but wanted to share with all of you how wonderful my wife is…

She is the sunshine of my life; there is nothing I enjoy more then just being around her. She brings my heart joy and I live everyday to make her smile. She is my princess. Without her I would be incomplete. I know that God has blessed my life because He gave me her. She makes being a great mother look easy, and she is doing a unbelievable job raising our children. She is my best friend

Julie,
I love you with all of my heart and do a horrible job reflecting the same joy that you bring me. You are more beautiful then anything God has ever created. You make the flowers you love so much jealous of your beauty. Thank you for your love, your example, your patients, and your forgiveness. I commit my life to you and I want to fulfill all your needs and give you all your wants. You are a special woman and I don’t deserve the joy you bring me.

With all of my heart,

John

Random

So my friend Kristal "tagged me" to name 6 random things about me. I'm a bit tired tonight and not so creative, but I'll try and think quickly....

1. I absolutely adore flowers. Love, love, love them (hence, "daissyj"). I could stare at them and smell them all day long & be in awe of our creator for every tiny detail about them. Delicate petals, glorious colors, wonderful smells, etc. I have so many favorites, but I think my very favorite is the peony. Hydrangeas too. Oh, and tulips. Roses of course. And Gerber daisies. I would love to have a quaint flower shop someday...

2. I love my family. I have a wonderful husband, two kids who bring me joy, two amazing parents, a fun sister & brother-in-law and special grandparents.

3. I loved my childhood. This is something I didn't truly realize until I became a mom, but I would love my kids to have some of the experiences that I did growing up, although they most likely won't be able to happen. I could go on forever, but to name a few.....I had/have 2 loving parents who raised me in a Believing home. I raised many different kinds of animals, ie: dogs, cats, rabbits, horses, pigs, sheep, cows, etc. My dad had a large animal vet clinic on our property, so I was exposed to sooo many fun, gorey (sp?) things....from helping deliver baby horses to watching my dad do surgery on them. My dad loved trees and my mom loves to garden, so between the two of them we had lots of fresh fruits and veggies, ie: grapes, apples, oranges, tangerine, persimmons, cherries, lemons, avocados, pecans, tomatoes, carrots, watermelon, etc, etc. I just hated picking them all.

4. I can pick things up with my toes. Yes, I know. Talented and weird at the same time.

5. I hate my alarm. That is one of the most annoying sounds EVER. And I'm such a deep sleeper that I think my husband (and old roommates) hated it even more! Nothing is better than staying up late and SLEEPING IN! =)

6. I love COLORS, but I think my all-time favorite, meaning the color I have loved the longest, is yellow. It's such a happy, uplifting, makes you smile color. So cheerful. My bedroom growing up was a loud, crazy, obnixous yellow that could make you get a tan. No one could possible be sad while sitting in my room. I loved it.

I think I'm suppose to tag someone else, so that will be Debra, Megan and Sarah M.

Oh...
7. Okay, it was only suppose to be 6, but I thought of one more. My favorite song of the moment is "This Good Day" by Fernando Ortega. I am reminded all the time that each day is a special gift from God. This song makes me smile. You should listen to it sometime:

THIS GOOD DAY
Morning sun
And morning glories
Pouring down the hill,
Through my window
I can feel the ocean breeze.
Noisy sparrows
Fill the oak trees
Swallows can’t stay still,
And in the glad commotion
Lord, you speak to me

If rain clouds come
Or the cold winds blow,
You’re the one who goes before me
And in my heart I know

(chorus)
That this good day
It is a gift from you.
The world is turning in its place
Because you made it to.
I lift my voice
To sing a song of praise
On this good day.

I will walk
To Woodman’s Cove,
The fishing boats are leaving
Seagulls follow
Just above the water.

I will wait
Until the sunset
Brings them home again,
Rigging lines and anchors
In the harbor.
(chorus)

8 months and counting....

Hello! Just a quick update on things around here..... We've been very busy doing lots of work on our house. Rather, John is doing the hard work while I cheer him on. =) The downstairs was pretty much gutted last month, ie: pulled out all the carpet and tore out the entire kitchen. So, yes, it's been over a month that we haven't had a kitchen or a place to sit down. We painted the living room and kitchen (twice!), downstairs bath, doors and most of the trim. John added crown moulding, windown casing and window sills, and is currently working on adding new baseboards. Our kitchen cabinets were finally installed last week (Hip, hip, hooray!) and the flooring was completed yesterday. It already looks like a different house! They measured for the granite on Monday, and it will be another 2-3 weeks before we have a counter-top and backsplash. Which still means no running water downstairs. BUT, thanks to my hubby who can pretty much do anything, he rigged up a little faucet for me to be able to wash dishes, etc. It was kinda fun at first, camping out downstairs, cooking with only a microwave and using plastic utensils. But now, I'm getting to the point where I'm anxious for it to be done and normal again. But I guess that means I have to cook again and I really don't want to get my shiny new stove dirty!

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This past weekend I went to Palm Springs with my friend Sarah. Every year, for the past 11 years, Sarah's mom has taken 15+ of her friends from Seattle (the same group of women) to P.S. for a week. They are a fun bunch and do such crazy things! Sarah's mom gets a condo for Sarah and her sisiter too, so this is the 2nd year in a row that I've gone. Another friend of Sarah's (Keri) from Seattle, whose mom also goes, came too, along with our friend Jen (her mom also goes) and Kersten. We had so much fun doing nothing....laying out, swimming, eating and talking. It was great! The group of women always do a progressive dinner with "themes" in their hotel rooms and invited us to the dessert part. They did a spoof on Opera's favorite things and called it D'Opera, a white trash talk show host. It was hilarious! It was all really a cover-up for a surprise baby shower for Sarah (and her mom). Too fun!









Sarah & her mom / Kersten, Sarah, me and Keri









D'Opera (Jen's mom) / All the ladies


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This past Sunday Davis turned 8 months old. Amazing how time flys and how he changes daily. He loves to pull himself up on anything and play with his big sister. His first tooth broke through last month while we were in Paris and his second tooth came in a week or so ago. He's a pretty happy guy, but never stops moving! =)

HMD!

Happy Mother's Day!

To THE most wonderful mom (my mom, of course).....THANK YOU for being the greatest example of a mother that a child could ask for. You are truly the most giving, patient, loving, serving, sacrificial mother I have ever met and I am so honored to be able to call you "mom". Thank you too for being the greatest grandma ever as well. Maddy and Big D miss you. I love you!

To THE best mother-in-law (mine, of course!....THANK YOU for accepting me as apart of your family and making me feel so welcome. You too are a wonderful example of sacrificial love....ALWAYS giving and never expecting anything in return. Thank you for being such a supportive grandma to Maddy and Davis. Love you!

To my sister and friends who all share the joy of being a mother.....or will soon be joining the ranks....Happy Mother's Day! Each one of you are so special to me in so many different ways and I am so blessed to have you in my life.

And last, but most certaintly not least, thank you to my husband for making me a mom and for giving me two little miracles. I appreciate all of your sacrifices and hard work so that I can stay home and take care of them. Thank you too for my crown moulding----I LOVE it--- and for taking me to the Rose Bowl Flea Mart next month (nooo.....you're not gonna get out of it!!) . You are wonderful and I love you!

Bonjour!

As most of you know, my wonderful hubby surprised me with a trip to Paris for my 30th birthday. =) Since my b-day was just 3 days after Davis was born (in Sept), he planned it for April. What a good husband, huh?!!

We had an AMAZING time and I totally fell in love with this quiant city. It was so incredibly beautiful and clean......much more than we expected. It's a romantic city known for not only it's beauty but for a variety of monuments. The weather was nice- mostly sunny and breezy. One afternoon we had the coolest thunder and lightening storm. I loved it!!! The streets were lined with trees and cafes galore. Just about every restaurant has seating outside, with the seats facing toward the street. It's different sitting down and watching people & the city there vs. here in the US. Much more beautiful and interesting! I could have spent an afternoon people watching and listening to the whiz of cars and chirping of birds. And at night, the buildings light up, giving off a beautiful, soft glow.

For some reason, I loved the streets. Maybe it was the green trees, but the streets were more narrow and each buidling was sorta "rounded" at each corner. It was very pleasing to the eye! I must say too that they are crazy drivers! We were entertained just by watching people drive up and down a street. They have a "roundabout" street and the INCOMING traffic has the right away. We were in a taxi going at least 45 mph and the driver just shot straight into oncoming traffic. It almost felt like the driver held his breath and punched the gas, as if to say "Here we go!" John and I couldn't stop laughing. Kinda like a roller coaster ride where you want to squeal in fright and giggle with glee at the same time! =)

Everyone has been asking me what my favorite part was, but the whole trip was so great there wasn't one thing better than another. Definitely spending time alone with John was the biggest highlight. No distractions from work (at least not too much), kids, phones ringing, etc. It's been a while since we've had that. But, if I had to pick, I would probably say the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame. Really though, I loved it all. Except for French food. Yuck! They can bake up some great pastries, but other than that I was excited for good ol' US food. You can definitely tell they know how to cook and spend their time in preperation. It's just WHAT they cook that is gross, to me at least. I think my taste buds like simple food. But I was forced to be a bit brave and tried such things as foie gras (duck liver) and au caviar, among "other things. " Our hotel did have an incredible breakfast each morning and we had the most DELICIOUS donuts and hot chocolate. The donuts couldn't have been more perfect and the hot chocolate was so thick and chocolately that they serve it with milk to thin it out.

So...we left Friday evening and John surprised me by arranging for a limo to take us to the airport. I told you I married a good one! We didn't arrive in Paris until Saturday afternoon and as we approached our hotel, we drove around the the amazing Arc de Triomphe. It goes
without saying that these pictures don't do justice; you really have to see these things for yourself! But, to gain perspective, look at how small the people look next to the Arc.

After checking into our hotel (Prince de Galles), we walked to the Champ de Mars and the Eiffel Tower, crossing over the beautiful Seine....because Paris isn't Paris without the La Tour Eiffel, right? The park before the Tower-Champ de Mars- was so green and peaceful, I could have spent an afternoon there reading a book and marveling over the beautiful tulips. Walking up to the Eiffel Tower was great, but I was amazed when I was standing next to it and directly under it. It is HUGE and you can't get that from pictures or even a movie. It took them 2 years to build and weighs 10,000 tons! Again, these pictures don't give you a true perspective of how it feels to be next to the Tower, but check out how little the people are next to it!













Did you know that the same builders of the Eiffel Tower (Auguste Bartholdi and Gustave Eiffel) also built the Statue of Liberty and a mini replica of Miss Liberty exists in Paris? I didn't! There is also the same "flame" from the Statue on display in Paris and the pic below shows it, with the Eiffel Tower in the background. Kinda cool. The Eiffel Tower is beautiful at night! I don't know

if you're getting tired of reading, but I'm getting tired of typing so I'll try to wrap this up a bit. Other highlights, besides Notre Dame (below), was driving by the Musée d'Orsay, taking a trip the Palace at Versailles (below), and seeing the Mona Lisa at Musée du Louvre (pyramid pic below). We didn't get very good pictures of the Louvre or Versailles because they are so huge (and beautiful), although we are still a bit confused as to why the Mona Lisa is so popular. =) The day before we left, we took the Eurostar to London for the day. The Eurostar is so cool! It's very quiet, smooth and goes approx 186 mph! In about 2 1/2 hours, we arrived in London and took a tour around the entire city. We didn't have the best experience there (yucky weahter, bad tour, etc), but it was still great to see all the historical monuments and experience another city.

To my wonderful husband--thanks for an incredible trip and wonderful memories. I will never forget it. I'm so thankful to be married to you. Love you!