The Wells "Four" Ever!

Well, today marked four years of wedding bliss for me and the Mr. I can't believe it's been 4 years! To celebrate our anniversary, we ate dinner at Brick House tonight and I made a pecan pie. Unfortunately, we are so full from Brick House, that I doubt the pie will get touched tonight. (Who knows, I could come back and rally in a little while.) Instead of a long, mushy paragraph about being married, here are ten things I love about marriage:

1. The most fun times are the unplanned moments.
2. Jeremie and I have times when we talk non-stop, like we just met, and then we might go hours without saying anything to each other. (Not an awkward silence!) ; )
3. I finally got answers about what really goes on in a guy's mind during the dating/beginning of a relationship. (Blows my mind!)  On the flip side, J finally got to hear what a girl is thinking at the beginning of a relationship. Probably scared him a little bit.....because by the 4th date, we are probably testing how his last name sounds with ours.
4. I just asked J what came to his mind first about marriage...he immediately said "friendship". Aww.....but it's true. Just the pure, unconditional friendship is the best. And knowing that your best friend is continually praying for you.....awesome.
5. Just when you think you know everything about each other, something new is uncovered. (Like J's slight obsession the King Arthur era, or the fact that I had probably an unhealthy attachment to my Simba stuffed animal as a child.)
6. Cuddling up at night never gets old. Ever.
7. We challenge each other to step out of our comfort zones. This means I finally learned to cook something other than corn casserole and J finally gave in and took dance lessons with me. (Granted, he gave me 5 lessons as a gift-enough to make me happy, but also a limit on his torture....smart on his part! He actually was an outstanding Tango partner.)
8. We do not have to participate in the dating scene. All the smiling, impressing, analyzing is over. I'm not saying we don't still DATE each other, because that is necessary. I'm just relieved that the process is over.
9. Facing challenges/tough times together is by far how we have bonded the most. I could write days about this, but the point is that victory through the battles make standing on the mountain together mean so much more.
10. Laughter-we laugh together (okay, or maybe at each other) every day. Deep conversations are great and all, but you just can't beat good old-fashioned funny. Good for the soul.

That is not an exhaustive list--or even my "top ten"--it was just what I could think of tonight. I should have set the bar low and done 4 and added one for each year of marriage.....haha...just kidding!

Happy Anniversary to us! Looking forward to the years to come!!!

TGIF!

Happy Friday!!! For the past 6 years, me and my besties, Mary and Meg race to be the first person to send the titled "Happy Friday" email each week. It's stiff competition. Especially since I'm a housewife and they are both overachievers.  But I was the winner today!

I don't have much to report, but feel like I've rejected the blog lately! So here we go:

• We continue to enjoy our "dates". The last 2 have been more simple. Last week, we went to Lowe's together (J would probably choose this "date" every week) then we took the little buddy on a hike at a new park we found. It's 200 acres with great trails, a creek, very woody/nature-esque, so it definitely put us in the spirit for our Wyoming trip! The week before, we celebrated Super Bulldog Weekend even though we couldn't be in Starkville. We boiled shirmp and ate on the patio while we listened to the baseball game.  Hello.

• Jeremie went bowling with our church group guys and lost a bet. This was his punishment at our next group meeting:
  

  

  Needless to say, it was more than difficult to focus on Jesus while my hubby looked like this.

• In regards to Jr. League, I have finally graduated from a "Provisional" (Jr. League's nice way of calling us Freshmen.) I received my project placement for next year, and I'm so excited! I will be working at a place called My Friend's House, which is a home where children go when they have been removed from their homes for allegations of abuse or neglect. We hold a reading program on Tuesday nights and also do arts & crafts with the kids. At the end of the night, they get to keep a copy of the book we read. Can't wait to start. 
• We are headed to MS next weekend for J's cousin Matt's wedding. He did The Lord's Supper at our wedding (which was one of my favorite parts!) Can't wait for the wedding and so see our families!!!
• Manny has had a very tough week, so he slept in this morning: 
  
  
  
  Happy Trails!

Springtime!

I hope everyone is enjoying this time of the year as much as I am right now! I am usually a Fall girl all the way-but I am just loving all the flowers in bloom/green grass/blue skies and warmer weather!  (Minus the allergies that come along with this!)  The Wells Family has been pretty busy, which I am not complaining about! Here are the going-ons in our lives lately:

• I hosted a Thirty-One party at the house a couple weeks ago.  I've been wanting to have people over for a while--I love hosting stuff--so this was super fun. 
• Unfortunately I do no have a family Easter photo to post! Allergies hit me SO hard that weekend and there was no way I was gonna make it through the service. Fortunately, our church shows the service online, so I was able to watch the Easter message in my pj's on the couch clutching my Kleenex box. J was not gonna let my sickness ruin his traditional Easter, so he put a roast & potatoes in the crock pot, made butter beans and rolls and insisted that we eat on the good china. Love my man.
• Jeremie and I have joined a Community Group at church and we are so excited! There are about 8 other couples and they are awesome. Fortunately, everyone shares the love of food, sports, competition, and oh yeah, The Lord! : ) Should be a fun journey!
• My handy husband has struck again! He put together this coffee table in about a week: 

• This weekend I was busy working at the annual Jr. League Rummage sale. It. Was. Crazy. I have never seen so much stuff! I was literally sore today after helping unload/unpack stuff yesterday! But most importantly, all the proceeds go towards the amazing projects that Jr. League does like Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Center for Family Violence, etc. 

• Last weekend I experienced my very first "High Tea" at The Adolphus Hotel. It was amazing! We actually did this as a baby shower for my sweet friend, Lauren, and it was a fantastic atmosphere. Very girly and traditional. The finger sandwiches, the scones, the butlers swooping in to pour your tea.....the whole bit! I could get used to it. And next time, I'm wearing a hat...cause the ladies next to us were totally rocking darling hats.
• Jeremie and I are always doing stuff together-but we are making sure that we carve out specific time that is considered "date night". A few weeks ago we found a dollar theater near the house, so we went and saw Lincoln. It was good-different than I expected. More about the passing of the 13th Amendment than war action. The next week's date was at Studio Movie Grill-which is  a theater that serves a full restaurant menu-and the food is fabulous! I chowed down on a big burger as we watched "Olympus Has Fallen". This movie was REALLY good. Pretty violent, but very intense, on the edge of your seat. Kinda has a "God Bless America" feel, and true to Texas form, people clapped at the end! Love it! Today's date was a trip to McKinney to a little antique village that is open once a month. Again, true to Texas form, we found a vendor that is a taxidermist that "dresses" up her projects....like a jackrabbit with glasses, a bowtie and a pipe in his mouth...or a little dear that had a flower headpiece and pearl necklace. Unbelievable. She was really cool and said that she had been featured in "D Magazine" (popular Dallas magazine) and ships her stuff all over the world! I'm not gonna lie-these were the best conversation pieces, so I kinda want one. After McKinney, we headed to a restaurant called Whiskey Cake and had fried green tomatoes. 
• Other movies we have watched at home recently were Argo, which was GREAT, and Parental Guidance, which is a good soft movie if you want a chuckle.
• We have booked a mountain vacation to Jackson Hole, Wyoming!!! I am beside myself with excitement! When J told his co-workers he was going to take time off for a vacation, they actually clapped for him. That is how much he need this! We can't wait! 
• Lastly, I am continually amazed an thankful for what God is revealing in this Genesis study!!! I have really overlooked so many lessons in Genesis all these years! I am going to be sad when it ends in May! It is SO neat to see how God used these people that we consider some of the "most faithful" (Abraham, Issac, Jacob,etc.) but how they still sinned after God had been SO faithful to them through enormous struggles! (But that is exactly how we all are!) So--I'm learning about being dependent on The Lord, but also not completely beating myself up when I fail to be obedient...because we can never be "non-sinners", but thank goodness Christ took care of that!   

Romans 5: Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we^[a] have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.And we^[b] boast in the hope of the glory of God. ³ Not only so, but we^[c] also glory in our sufferings,because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵ And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

⁶ You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸ But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

• Hope everyone has a great week! Happy Trails!

The Honeymooners...

Contrary to what this post is titled, this entry is not about me and Jeremie! Ha! I have blogged before about our sweet friends, Bart and Jenn, that we met on our honeymoon. The last time we saw them was 2 years ago when we went camping in Florida. Jenn was 6 months pregnant and was a champ. She set up the tent, broke down the tent, went canoeing,etc. (Totally ruined any chance I have of completely milking my [future] pregnancy! I was totally going to play the helpless card. ; )

Anyway-their sweet baby is almost 2 now and Bart received The Husband of the Year award by telling Jenn to take off to wherever she wanted for the weekend...by herself! So while he took care of Baby Blake, Jenn jetted to The Big D and we had a big time! Our weekend included LOTS of catching up, shopping, a trolley tour of Downtown Dallas, the movies, mani-pedis, and a pottery painting session. I was actually pretty happy with how my pottery piece was going until I tried to stamp the "W" on. Total fail. I like the "distressed" style, but this was a little much.  Jenn helped me recover though.

We had a great time and I am campaigning for them to move here. : )

The Beautiful and Talented...Amy Taylor!

I am proud to say that there is nothing groundbreaking going on in my life that is blogworthy. And don't get me wrong, I am NOT complaining. My family has a saying that "No news is good news", so I am completely content with regular ole life.

BUT, as I've told her many times, my sister's life is totally blogworthy. A former co-worker of mine calls her the "Superstar" of the family because she is a news reporter for MSU with a million dollar smile. (That she got for free--I on the other hand had to have braces TWICE. It was that bad.) Here she is:

Do you hate her already? (To really drive it in, her heart is as big as her smile.) Along with a fun job, she has the CRAZIEST stories that could only happen to her. (Let's face it-we all have that sibling that has better stories than you.) My recent favorite is that she "rescued" a stray cat in the neighborhood and took it to the vet school to have it neutered.  Well, after shaving the cat's butt, turns out he was already neutered and belong to her neighbor. She conspicuously released the cat back into the neighborhood and let the neighbor wonder why the heck his cat's butt was shaved. Love it! So in her free time, she also has a crafty talent and makes all sorts of things. This means I have amazing, original pieces all over my house. Here are a few: 

This is my personal favorite.....

For any of you who will be in the Starkville area, Amy will have a booth at the Cotton District Arts Festival  during Super Bulldog Weekend! She can custom make all types of pieces! These pics are just a sample of what she has done! 

Okay-that's it! Love ya sis!

My Birthday Boys

This past week we celebrated Jeremie's and Manny's birthdays! Actually, since we don't know Manny's birthday, we just celebrated on the anniversary of his adoption, March 6th. This was actually the first year we celebrated a special day for Manny, which I know sounds terrible as parents. But since we don't know his birthday, we never felt obligated to a specific day. So every now & then, we'd ask Manny: "Buddy, do you want today to be your birthday? Happy Birthday Manny!!!" Although this sounds totally stupid even to me as a type, it has become a regular household joke. Personally, I think every day is like a birthday for Manny...I mean, he really lives the life of ease.  

Anyway--Jeremie kinda got the shaft last year for his birthday because we were in the middle of all the moving....so this year we had a good ole fashioned house party with his requested cookie cake (Um, there is a Nestle Toll House STORE here) and lots of gifts. Usually I get J lots of happies (for those of you who don't know this is a passed down word from my Grammy meaning "small gift") and he picks out his own big gift. This year, I prevailed and found the Miss. State baseball symbol (J's favorite logo) made out of metal/copper. He loved it! He also racked up on gift cards which I have a strong feeling will be used for manly tools. Here is the birthday boy! 

BTW, I think I got ONE piece of the cookie cake. Let's just say we have a cookie monster on our hands and it's not Manny. J was FOR REAL about that cake. He ate it for breakfast, lunch, dinner.....until it was gone. I didn't even have time to take a picture of it! 

As for the little pup, he received a stuffed racoon, Pigs N' a Blanket dog treats, and Denta Sticks. (A selfish gift on our part.) After 15 minutes of squeaking, all of a sudden it stopped, and the coon's life was over. Does this dog look guilty to you? 

Notice the extracted squeaky--mission accomplished.

I can't believe we've had Manny for 3 years now! I'll never forget the day I picked him up. J actually found where the Humane Society listed him on Craigslist, and this was his photo: 

How sad is this picture???? I had actually been to two other humane societies and just didn't click with any of the dogs. The minute I walked in the kennel, I saw this little guy, took him out of the pen and told the people he was mine! And just like that, he went from a stray Craigslist puppy to this: 

And that's about all I have for this week! Happy Trails! 

*Disclaimer: I bet by now you are thinking we are those weird people that are obsessed with their dog. You are exactly right. But do I care what you think? No, I do not.  ; ) 

A Little Bit this, Little Bit of That...

Well, again, I don't have any major happening to blog about, so here's what I got:

• Manny killed a bunny this week. We let him out one morning and I looked out the window and just saw legs and a cotton ball tail in the air. I was horrified! If it were something uglier, like a possum, I probably wouldn't have cared. But poor little Peter Cottontail???
• I FINALLY got my hair trimmed this week, which made me feel so much better! Haven't felt pretty in about 2 months! 
• I am READY for spring. Warm weather. Green grass. Birds chirping. Usually I love cold weather, but this year, I'm just ready to feel the sunshine!
• Speaking of cold weather, we experienced our first snow here in Dallas a few weeks ago! It didn't really stick though.  Our Christmas tree was still in the back yard, so J propped it back up and we had ourselves a white Christmas. 

• I also had my first Thirty-One party since all this sickness! It was nice to get back in business! So I wouldn't overdo it, my sweet hubby agreed to help....he drove me there and back and carried all my bags : )  He is a H.O.T. husband....Husband Of Thirty-One. : ) 

• On the home improvement side, J has been quite the lighting pro and has changed out all of the outdated fans to lovely, remote controlled fans. The problem is that one remote actually reaches to all three fans in the house, so if for example, I turn the light on or off in our bedroom, it does the same in the upstairs loft & guest bedroom. I'm sure our neighbors think it's Flashdance over here or something. We also made some headway in our bedroom, so this is what we have so far: 

I still have to add some fabric to the bottom of our curtains because we hung them really high, but we are getting there! I finally got my pig painting hung...isn't it darlin?

• We got a new leather couch!!! It is SO cozy! And I love that we can just wipe it clean and Manny's fur doesn't stick to it!! Hallelujah! We are getting rid of our old couch, chair & ottoman, which kinda makes me sad, because it was my first big purchase out of college! I was so proud of it! But I'm sure I'll cope as I nap on this one.....

• This week we celebrated Valentine's Day! I enjoyed my lovely roses and dinner date with my favorite Valentine. 

• Manny's New Year's resolution was to nap more. And he is fully achieving his goal.

And that's it for now! Happy Trails!