Happy Turkey Day

I love this time of year - family, food, and fun. We were happy to have all our kids with us for the weekend. Thanksgiving was a great start to the holiday season. We ate with John's family this year at Julie's house. Poor Johnny woke up sick with the flu and didn't eat a thing all day. He had to wait two days to have a little turkey dinner. Here are a few photos from the day:

Poor sick Johnny. He gave me the flu two days later. Yuck.

2-year-in-our-house anniversary

This month marks two years that we've been in our house. We love it. John has accomplished a lot in two years. I'll give him the credit since it's all his hard work. I've been supportive and fed him, etc. but he's really done it all (with a little help from his family).
Let's start with the outside. When we moved in, we had lovely green grass everywhere. This is a view from the back porch looking left and right.

We've made a few changes. We planted 20 arbor vitae trees across the back fence to give us some privacy. The left side of our yard now has a green house that houses our hot tub. John covered it with lattice for privacy. The right side of our yard now has a 10'x20' shed. We did have someone else build the shed, but John insulated and wired it, and hung wood siding inside. He'll build shelves on one side and leave the other side open for a workshop. He's a happy camper. The place where the grass is cut out is where our patio will be extended next spring. We'll also be extending the driveway on the side of the house.

Now for the inside of the house. When we moved in, our basement was completely unfinished. When finished, we'll have a family room, storage room (completed and in use), bathroom, billiard room, John's office, my craft room, and a bedroom. John has spent many hours downstairs. He hopes to have it finished this winter. He has done every single step. First came the framing, wiring, and plumbing.
Next step: insulating. Thanks for your help Jake.
Next step: hanging sheetrock and taping.
Next came texturing and finish work. John is doing some cool crown molding, chair rail, base board, and boxes. Each room will be unique. He has started painting the first two rooms: his office and my craft room. Then we'll add carpet and furniture. I can't wait.
This will be John's office (above) and my craft room (below). I'll have lots of shelves and a few cupboards plus a large table top to scrapbook, sew, whatever I want to do. Very excited about that!
I'm so grateful for Johnny's talents and skills. His forethought has been incredible - it's way out of my realm of thinking. We love our home and look forward to enjoying it together for the rest of our lives.

Lunch with friends

Yesterday I went to lunch with my friends (l to r): Barbara, Carrie, and Christie. We all taught together at Manila 11 years ago and it was always a party. Three of us have birthdays in July so we usually get together then, but we missed it this year. We definitely need to get together more often. Friends and food, a fabulous combination.

Baby Anne

Last Saturday I spent a few hours at my sister Tanya's house. This is her baby Anne. Isn't she a doll!

Facebook

A few weeks ago, at the suggestion of my sister Jill, I created a Facebook account. After all the bad rap about My Space, I have to say I was very wary. And now, I'm a Facebook junkie. Well, probably not a junkie, but I'm always curious to see who I can find or who has found me. I've reconnected with people from years and years ago. I find it very interesting. I'm not sure how I can keep up with a blog, Facebook, e-mail, voicemail, and U.S. postal mail. Maybe one will have to go. Hmm.

Cruisin' in the Caribbean

We didn't really tell many people we were going; we just went. It all began last April when I attended a national principals' conference in Nashville. John had a ticket to come with me, but because of work couldn't come. We had an airline credit we had to use by October 24 so of course we had to plan a trip. Yes, we had to spend money to save money. We didn't decide where we were going until a few weeks before we left.

We flew out Wednesday night, October 8, at midnight, to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. We boarded Royal Caribbean's Enchantment of the Seas ship about noon on Thursday. We were tired from little or no sleep on the plane the night before so Johnny had a nap on the pool deck while we waited for the ship to sail.

We set sail about 5 p.m. By the time we went to bed at 11 p.m. that night, we were exhausted! The ship docked in Key West, Florida the next morning about 7 a.m. We opened our eyes at 10 a.m. As most of you know, I have major sleeping issues so 11 hours of sleep was a miracle to me. I haven't slept that much since high school.

We got off the ship and went to an Art Gallery. They had an incredible 25 feet 3D replica of American Gothic. The main art display inside was 3D icons. Very cool.
Our next stop was the Mel Fisher Museum. Mel Fisher was a diver who discovered the wreckage of several ships from the 1600s & 1700s. He discovered quite a bit of gold, silver, and other treasures. Very interesting. Here's Johnny with the silver bars:

That night was the formal night for dinner. I never went to prom, so this is my formal dance photo. You gotta love a man in a tux!

The next day we docked in Cozumel, Mexico. We had signed up for an ATV jungle ride. It was cloudy when we started, but soon it was pouring down rain. We were riding through deep puddles, soaked and muddy. We saw a Mayan water hole, and some other stuff. I just remember how fun it was to blast through the puddles. Here's my dry, before shot:

Ride, Johnny, ride.

Here's the post, mud-soaked photo. We threw our shirts away when we got back to the ship - there was no hope for them to ever be clean again.

After the ATV ride, they took us to a private beach. John soaked in some sun and tried to dry out while I went snorkeling. I saw some super cool fish, a very small blue shark, and great corral. The next day we spent "at sea." We laid out in the sun and relaxed for some much-needed down time.

They assign you a table for dinner so we sat with the same couple every night. They were from Long Island, New York and were both educators. We got along well. Our head waiter (standing next to me) was Sayit from Turkey and our assistant waiter (next to Johnny) was Eddie from India. Very nice guys.

Each night when we went back to our room, our "stateroom attendant" had a different animal made from towels on our bed. The last night it was wearing John's sunglasses. Very cute.
The ship got back to Ft. Lauderdale Monday morning. We got home about 9:30 that night to find our house at 59 degrees. Apparently we had missed a snow storm while we were gone. Brrr. As always, it's good to go, good to be home.

My boy Johnny

So, Johnny and I have been checking out everyone's blogs and it seems that most of our friends have new babies which are often the focus of their blog. Since today is Johnny's 45th birthday, and he's my "babe," I'd like to take a moment to focus on him. I love him, everything about him. He's funny and kind, a great dad and husband, Scout Master extraordinaire, just to name a few. He gets up in the middle of the night or close to it (4:30 a.m.) so he can go to the gym. He's definitely in better shape than most men younger than him. His handyman skills are incredible. He's finishing our basement and he has done it all - frame, wire, plumb, insulate, sheetrock, texture, finish work, paint. And don't forget about the outside work - concrete, landscape, etc. He's an animal on any kind of bike - road or mountain. He's pretty amazing.

As far as aging gracefully, he's not too happy to find the occasional white hair that might pop up so he pulls it out. (If I did that, I'd be bald - been coloring my hair for years.) The hardest thing has been losing his "close-up" vision. His arms just aren't long enough to hold the papers he needs to read. It makes me laugh.

Photo explanations:
Last weekend he earned his Woodbadge beads, a big thing for Scout Masters. He earned them by attending a week long training during the summer and then working on different goals for the past 3 months. Way to go!

Check out the close-up on his hand. That's some serious Scout dirt. Johnny wearing his new Woodbadge beads proudly.

So even though he's a vision of health, two days ago he had surgery for the 7th time since we've been married. He keeps having his throat stretched so he doesn't choke on food. We've had to take him to the ER twice in the last year because he's gotten food caught in his throat (don't worry, he can still breathe). So, his doctor decided to do it more often - 4 times in the last 3 months. The doctor puts a tube down his throat with a balloon attached to the end and fills it up with air to expand his esophagus. Hopefully this will be the last surgery for awhile.

Doesn't he look peaceful? What you can't see are the 4 needle pricks in his arm where he let the BYU nursing student practice. What a good sport.

Happy Birthday Johnny - you're the best thing that's ever happened to me!