there's a perfectly good explanation for this

i'm not sure how to say this, but something new has taken up residence in our garage. it has replaced a certain toy about which i once bragged... and just like my title suggests, there is a good reason for the appearance of this riding lawn mower. if you happen to see my comment on the pioneer woman's home and garden page today, you'll know exactly what i'm talking about.

exactly two years ago today

well, i can't tell you exactly what i was doing two years ago today, but i can tell you where i was. LH and i were on our honeymoon in big sky, montana. we were totally enjoying every minute, too. on the 29th, when we celebrated our 2nd anniversary, i tried to close my eyes and imagine that i was back in montana, smelling the crisp, fresh air and listening to the rushing waters of the gallatin river just outside our room. i felt the breeze blowing through my hair as we road mountain bikes around ousel falls and then tasted the peanut butter and honey sandwich that we ate later from the hungry moose market & deli. i also thought about the delicious elk tenderloin and amazing fresh bread and butter that came along with it.

last night, i tried to get LH to be imaginative with me and imagine himself back in montana. unfortunately, when he closed his eyes he only smelled our neighbors' burning trash and all he felt were the bugs getting him in the thick, humid air as we walked bozeman. welcome to reality. i'm so thankful that we were able to totally spoil ourselves on our honeymoon two years ago and start our marriage off with so many wonderful experiences together. i know that we'll make it back to montana one day and that we might even have future trips better than our honeymoon, but those first memories together will always be extra special to me. that was the week that i practiced calling LH my husband and i tried to introduce myself by my married name without slipping up and using my maiden name. we were giddy in love and starry-eyed over each other, not much unlike how we still are... but already i understand what older couples mean when they say how they love each other so much more than the day they were married. it's true. i can't imagine what it will be like when we reach our 50th anniversary. well, i can imagine the wrinkles and sagging body parts, but that's beyond the point =)

scuba steve

bozeman is a camera hound. LH was trying on some old gear that we "found" while cleaning out one of the spare bedrooms and i thought it would be funny to take a few pictures. except bozeman thought i was taking pictures of him. i eventually got the dog out of the way to take these pictures to share with the world.




now you know that LH has a great sense of humor. and no, he isn't fat. those are roller hockey shorts that he is wearing. he asked if i thought that he should sell them on craiglist so we would have more room around here, but i actually said no, because he might need to use them one day when we have kids who want to play roller hockey with him. besides, if he got rid of those, he might have more leverage in trying to get me to get rid of all my old dance shoes and leotards and 30 pairs of tights. because i might need those one day, too, you never know. one day, i might miraculously be able to stand up in my point shoes again while wearing a teeny tiny leotard and tights that show off my ballerina figure. it's always good to have goals.

aha!

i love "aha" moments in life. you know how suddenly a bunch of details add up to finally make sense and you get this aha feeling? the night LH and i got engaged, i had flown in to visit him directly from work. he was getting ready to deploy for the first time and i was there to say my goodbyes. we had dinner plans for that evening and i changed into what i thought was the perfect outfit however, after i came out of the bathroom, LH asked if i could wear something different. LH had never had any objections about any of my clothes, so i was kind of surprised, but i changed into a somewhat nicer shirt. later, after he proposed, it all made sense. he knew that we were about to get engaged and that i would want a nicer shirt for the pictures that we were going to send to everyone with the news. aha!

and then there were those two crazy years where i decided that God wanted me to stay single. whew! what on earth was that about? once i met LH and realized that he was going to be deploying a few times during our lifetime, those two years all made sense. during that time, i learned how to be more independent and lost all fear of showing up at places where i knew no one and just jumping in to new situations. that definitely prepared me to survive 6+ months without the love of my life by my side.

sometimes, i have aha moments from God, too, and i totally love them. so many seemingly insignificant details will all suddenly make sense and i'll realize that he was preparing me for that exact moment in time and i'll be so grateful. i have some distinct memories where i've been sitting on the floor or walking the dog or talking to LH and suddenly it all makes sense. most of the moments are just too private to share on a blog with the world. others i may work up the courage to share later. but you know, it all makes me wonder about where LH and i are in life right now. for all i know, we're paying for two homes with one income in this weird little town because God is preparing us to live in africa one day on a teeny tiny salary. okay, i don't really think that's it at all, but that's exactly the gist of what i mean. i could keep on guessing forever about our situation right now, or i could just make the best of it and know that the aha moment is out there somewhere. one day, it will all make sense and i'll know it all had a purpose.

it's time to talk about the barbies

i've procrastinated long enough. it's time to tell the barbie story. these were the original barbies:

i'm kind of in the center with the long-sleeved, white t-shirt. we eventually added more barbies to our group once we came back to the states, but these were the originals.

it all started on a missions trip to slovakia. we were running an english/sports camp for high school kids in the area and our dorm had two whole showers for 80+ girls. we also didn't have any hot water. having experienced similar living conditions on a trip to russia the year prior, i thought nothing of enduring a cold shower as long as the end result was that you were clean. i also didn't think twice about putting a little baby powder in my hair to soak up the oil if i didn't wash my hair every day. hey, blondes can do those sorts of tricks and get away with them. anyhow, coming down for breakfast one morning, M noticed that my hair looked pretty clean and teased me, asking if i was "missions barbie" or something. i let them all in on my hair secret, but the name stuck. i was missions barbie from there on out.

later that afternoon during craft time, M did something really embarrassing. i mean, so embarrassing that i won't risk telling her story on here unless she outs herself in the comments =) anyhow, after that little episode, we dubbed M as "cg barbie." i wish i could tell you what the cg stands for, because it is so funny. anyhow, she ended up with a more interesting name a few months later and it was "rv barbie." A was much taller and stronger than most of us, so we called her "xena barbie." K was teeny, tiny and she became "skipper."

it all sounds a little childish to be calling your friends barbie names, but we had all bonded during our trip and there seemed no better way to show it than to become the "barbies" and to later invite others to become barbies with us. here are some of the ways we bonded:

here, xena barbie and i are shaving our legs in the bathroom sink. we decided that it was better than shaving in the cold shower with goose bumps.


skipper barbie and i had just gone for a really long run through the city before this picture was taken. when we came back in to the cafe where everyone was hanging out, someone asked if we could help them out by washing dishes. we thought that they were just kidding around, so we agreed. we soon realized that they weren't kidding, and we just could not stop laughing at our situation. thus my red face...


and here are skipper, cg and xena barbies on an escalator back in the states. i think this was the time that we had just gone out for dinner at the cheesecake factory and then decided that we needed to go to lord & taylor to find and try on the most hideous evening gowns that we could possibly find. that was awesome. anyhow, here are the girls striking funny poses while i took the picture.


we also used to go running together quite a bit. i only wish someone had recorded us during those runs... we would make up the most insane songs to sing and keep ourselves going. now, the barbies live all over the world. we still share the barbie-bond, though, and if we ever run across each other it is like no time has passed at all. anyone else have any barbie friends or stories?

milestone

this past monday was bozeman's 2nd birthday. he must have known it somehow and decided to give us a gift before we could give him anything. guess what he did for LH and i? he lifted his leg to pee like a big dog! you may laugh, but this is a big deal in our house. bozeman has lifted his leg about four more times since then, but nothing in the past couple of days. i'm sure he's just building up the confidence to do it once more. my neighbors probably think i'm crazy when they see me clapping and praising my dog for peeing.

fundraising can be fun!

if you just read the title of this post and laughed sarcastically, then you probably went to school when you were a kid. or have a kid in school. or a neighbor kid who rings your doorbell once a week to sell yet another fundraising item. back in high school, i was actually our marching band's drum major. as the band nerd leader, i was supposed to set a good example for the rest of the group and do things like sell the most pies or pizzas or rolls of wrapping paper every time we did a fundraiser. which was pretty much every month. i hated it like i hate the squishiness of corn and peas when you bite down on them. i almost always sold the minimum amount and determined that i would just lead in other areas. like doing pushups and being the best musician.

anyhow, i digress. since becoming a military wifey, i've gotten involved in the spouse clubs at each base. usually, each spouse club has a group that they sponsor or donate money to every year. in order to get the money, we usually hold fun fundraisers like root beer float sales and silent auctions. much more painless than the kind they did back in school. and much better causes, if you ask me. i'd much rather work hard to raise money for military members in need or children of veterans killed in combat or for civilian employees on base who might need some financial support than for a band member to go to band camp or for the band to drive half way across the country to compete in some little competition. granted, those experiences are important when you are in school, but sometimes other needs in life take precedence.

today, the spouse club that i'm currently a part of held a lunch sale fundraiser on base. i don't think i'm stretching it a bit to say that we raised a couple thousand. one of the wives totally got on the ball and had businesses donating food and coupons and even take-out boxes for us to sell homemade lunches in. it was awesome to see how everyone came together to work for such a great cause. it also warmed my heart to see how so many members of our military were willing to give so much to help us. rather than set a price for lunch, we asked for donations only. once the guys and gals buying the lunches found out a little bit more about who we were raising money for, they gladly opened their wallets and gave much more than i could have ever imagined. we live in such a wonderful country where we are free to give and help others and i felt very blessed to be a part of an effort like today's lunch sale.

and speaking of high school... my ten year reunion is this summer and guess what? i'm totally not going. i just really have no desire to catch up on some people's lives and as hard as it is to believe if you read this blog, i really do like my privacy. did anyone else skip out on their reunion?