a frog's life

Ice ice baby

2012-02-12T21:08:00.000+01:00

field trip! Chris draaaaaaaaaaaaaagged me out of the house to go picture hunting. I was unmotivated and really wanted to crawl into my warm bed under my wonderful comforter. Glad I went...

Chris took this one

Ice is really just an awesome and delicate force

it just seems to hover above the water, as if by magic

awesome frozen man made waterfall

a reminder that spring isn't really that far off

Thanks for pushing me out the door babe

2012-02-10T17:31:00.000+01:00

Just in case you wondered it's still really really cold out!

colder than ever 2

2012-02-06T20:23:00.000+01:00

So as most of you know from the news, the bitter cold isn't done with us yet. My car is still dead to the world, but we are waiting for a mechanic to come up and fix it...when he gets to it! All garages are overflowing with calls of frozen cars, dead batteries, etc... So I'll just have to be patient...not my strong suit...Chris' either!

Yet, the cold makes for some killer scenery. Everything here is so beautiful and white. Chris and I went on a picture field trip...

These are the mountains we see from our living room window (at sunrise):

grand som

charmant som et grand som

charmant som

We went to the museum of the grande chartreuse. It is no wonder that Saint Bruno chose this place for the monastary. It's peaceful, beautiful and medecine for the soul:

I love you Hooky...so so much

Ok, these next couple of pictures are pretty cool! they are wing prints from a bird taking off!

Chris laughing at me while i make a snow angel

the old monastary, now a museum

snow falling off the tree

just can't get the romantic teen out of my system

On the way home we stopped a few times for more pictures:

icicles on the wall of the mountain

this isn't flowing water...it's all ice

curtain shaped ice stalactites

We also went in a cave and Chris found the weirdest ice formation I have ever seen! It's like ice growing up off the ground like plants!

bubbles in frozen water

There will be more ice and bubbles pictures soon, we'll have to go back...my camera was out of batteries and I am not yet satisfied...

ttfn people, stay warm!!!

colder than ever

2012-02-03T16:49:00.001+01:00

It has been unbelievably cold outside. Chris calls it none degrees...he's almost right. The high for today: 0.4F° and I won't even talk to you about the even colder north wind that is blowing. Today my car refused to start and I had to call in to work for the first time. Chris managed to move my car to take it out of the wind. Our cars are diesel, and diesel doesn't like the cold. I think mine just froze (turns into a gel). So we went down the mountain to fill a gas can with more diesel, in hopes it'll unfreeze mine. I took my camera and shot a few pictures, this is what cold looks like!

January cold take 2

2012-01-31T17:57:00.002+01:00

Well it's January 31st and it's freezing outside! I have a few more pictures of the cold, but all taken from my living room. My camera doesn't like the cold! So this is more of the same, sorry to be so boring...
We've had a busy month though, this past week end some of my cousins came to ski, the week end before that we had some friends over for some skiing too. Chris has been doing some snowboarding and lots of hiking, but I suppose you know that from all the awesome pictures he's posted on his blog.
Temperatures are supposed to go down to 6°F by the week end, I'm seeing a stay warm at home week end in my future!

we don't mess around with the frost here, it's serious business

frost from my clothes line

I took this today, January 31st, we got a hint of color just as the sun went down...

last sunset of the month

January cold

2012-01-24T20:23:00.000+01:00

January has been pretty cold! Wind, snow, frost...you name it! Add some fog and pretty sunset colors and it's just gorgeous! Would I be boring if I said how much we love it here??? The year is off to a rough start, Chris' medical leave, Daniel's a teenager, I keep getting sick, Chris' car keeps getting sick, etc... Good thing everyone around us is having babies!! keeps up moral! And good thing I love my job and have lots of fun! And good thing we love where we live! And good thing I am crazy madly in love with my husband! And good thing we have a great kiddo!

2012

2011-12-31T11:11:00.000+01:00

2012 is around the corner, less than 12 hours. It will start as crazily as 2011 is ending. It's a funny thing really, we are about to be more broke than ever, my computer needs fixing right away, Chris' car broke down, I have been pretty sick and though my voice is coming back, my energy isn't back at all and I don't feel much better, Chris is on medical leave which means finances are about to go from bad to worst, my weight is at an all time high, Daniel is going through a rough teenage period, oh and on a way too personal note...my periods just started (really??? did it have to be today??)...and since we're talking about it (is this the point where you want to stop reading but just can't?) as my 40s hit so did major cramping and pms...I've never had pms before! It's really been something I've always been thankful for (and it made me better than everybody else!!), but now I'm just Miss Basketcase! Mad, sad, frustrated, impatient and all that other wonderful crap! All this to say that you can imagine what a frustrating issue this is for the former Miss I'm-in-control-of-it-all-not-even-pms-can-get-a-hold-of-me-I'm-so-above-it-all!
Ok, where was I....? Oh yeah! ending 2011. So yeah, it's not ending on the best of conditions, which inevitably means, 2012 is going to have a rough start! Wow! Are you ready to shoot yourself yet? Can I get more depressing? (remember...pms!) So why even bother blogging all this you ask? Well here's the weird thing...I am feeling pretty positive about our lives. Chris and I are doing great as a couple, doing that whole grown up working together thing, being somewhat rational and reasonable! No no no, don't worry, we still behave like two immature teenagers, throw insults at eachother, laugh at people, laugh even more at ourselves,etc... Trying to get Daniel through his teens while we're still working on ours just makes for a happy screwy mess of a family. We live in this incredible environment, I'm sure you're sick of hearing about it, but damn we love it here! It's a haven, when all else fails and life just grabs you where it hurts, we look outside and just breathe...(insert mushy country song here). We so don't have it together like most people our age (I notably think of my sister who has had her ducks in a row since she was born) but we're happy. sometimes I think we're doing it all wrong and Daniel will be inevitably damaged from our lives and parenting, but then how can it be so wrong when we laugh so much? I hope in the midst of all the immaturity and laughter we'll manage to teach Daniel that life isn't always a bowl of cherries, and if it hands you lemons, sometimes it squirts it in your eyes just to add insult to injury, when you think it can't get any worse, it does! But you can take it all with a sense of humor, you can remember that love conquers all (did I say that? barf!), most of all, no matter what gets dished out, surround yourself with love and laughter and you can manage to come out on the safe side. I refuse to get scared of what might happen in two years, I want to live today having the most fun possible. This world we live in is what it is, we owe it to ourselves to laugh everyday and make eachother feel good inside.
Chris, my love, you make me feel good inside, I love our family, our lives and all that we are!
happy new year, hope you'll be as happy as we are!

consider yourself caught up!

2011-12-19T10:33:00.000+01:00

So here are a few pictures to get you caught up, I still have tons to go through but you'll just have to be happy with this! New year's resolution...try to stay on top of this blog!!!

enjoy!

Brought to you from our living room window:

our evening skies blow us away each and every time

even at night our skies are gorgeous!

first big snow, more to come...we just got 2 feet and it's still snowing!

Our hike along the Guiers Mort:

Daniel on one of our hikes down by the Guiers Mort, the river by our place

big ol'strand of moss

Chris taking great pictures with his cell phone.

look at the size of these rocks that look like they were just scattered in a nonchalant manner. Imagin the niose it must've made?

more beautiful fungus

Down in town:

waiting for Daniel at chool, I spotted this rainbow, the weird part is that is was flat against the sky above my head

Jardin des Dauphins, Grenoble:

Chris walking towards the light

funky furry lemons on a tree with killer thorns

huge tree in the Jardin des Dauphins

Paris:

jardin des plantes

on the Seine

great sculpture, it looked so real!

loved this flower

Notre Dame from the boat

Sainte Chapelle

Chris has been making candied jalapeños:

Ok, so there you are all caught up with our life here in France. We've been getting lots of snow for the past few days and we love it! pictures to come...of course!

Early December fun

2011-12-11T22:40:00.000+01:00

It's almost mid December already! I still have pictures from Paris and this fall to go through! It's hard to find time to get it all done.
Daniel turned 14 on the 5th. We had a family get together, there were 11 of us in our tiny place! But it was great, despite the rain we went for a walk. Our youngest niece Mathilde thought Chris was just the bomb! She flirted with him all afternoon, it was really really cute!!!

racing takes a lot of concentration

lip biters

yeah, well hours on the wii will give you that look!

my mom Claude, stepdad Jean Paul, Juliette, Daniel, Charlotte, and in pink my little sister Marine

Marine's daughter has a crush on her uncle Chris, it's really cute!

Today Chris and I went to Grenoble to go hang out at the Christmas market. It's fun, lots of yummy food, lights, little shops set up all over, Santa, etc... We treated ourselves to some hot wine and chartreuse hot chocolate. Daniel chose to stay home and went skiing...get this, our slopes aren't open, he skiis down and climbs back up, you should also know that we live on TOP of the slope! That kid's nuts! Well Chris and I had a fantastic time hanging out at the xmas market, we also saw that there was a big flea market, bonus!!!
We people watched, petted a tiny shar pei puppy, watched young kids have temper tentrums, smelled roasting chestnuts, cotton candy, tartiflette, etc..

roasted chestnuts

camera thief

Chartreuse

2011-11-27T20:37:00.000+01:00

Not too long ago we went for a walk around the Chartreuse monastery, you can find out more about it here
We often see the monks go for long walks, or hike, in groups or alone. I like it, it makes me feel at peace when i see them. They really send out this aura of peace and zenitude. I must say that I find it to be a priviledge to share these mountains with them.

Nyons (26)

2011-11-15T17:59:00.002+01:00

A while back, Chris Daniel and I went down south a bit to help my cousin, on our way home we took the long way. Why? 2 reasons! To not pay the expensive highway fees, and mostly to see places we've never seen. It's always fun!! That time we went through Nyons in the Drôme department (department=state).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyons

We were supposed to stop just to take a quick look around but ended up staying for 3 or 4 hours. It is amazingly beautiful!

So first we helped my cousin move, we had to pack up his place and get it all in the truck! All under the watchful eye of the Lotus...

guys!!! He'd had this in there for months!!

Jean Baptiste lived in a village called Mazan, real cute!!! Wine country (note to self...go back there!!)
http://www.mazantourisme.com/indexa.html

Yo quiero Taco Bell

neat door knockers...

On our way out of town we passed an olive grove...

Some of these olive trees are a hundreds of years old...

Old domaine house in ruins

How cool is that??? new trees growing out of an old stump

there were a bunch of these in the stump, this one was empty, I took it!!!

Chris is awesome!!! He drives and stops everytime I see a picture I want to shoot! thanks honey!

one of the many sycamore lined roads of the south of France

Here is Nyons, an old medieval village:

cool front gate and court yard...can I have it???

the whole village is up hill!!!

chillin'

kool...

...kool and the gang

there is a gate so you can't go in the chapel, in order to keep it in the best possible conditions. I was able to stick my camera through the bars and take a few pics:

cool house...

...can't beat the view!

there were lots of kitties in this village...I LOVED IT!!!

1 bis

Can you imagine going up and down these streets with wooden shoes on a cold icy winter day??

Every where you look there are "surprises"

the view from the top of the village

not a passage way, but a street!!

love the little details

Chris and Daniel holding hands

thank you for traveling with us...

Charmant Som

2011-11-01T20:11:00.002+01:00

Agrandir le plan

on the map up above, you can see Grenoble on the bottom. If you go straight up but slightly to the right you can see Sarcenas (our village), but if you stay on the D512 road and keep going up, you'll see a little squiggly line, that's our road! This road goes up the Charmant Som mountain, that is the road we live on. if you grab the little orange dude that's on the top left of the map, you can place him on that very road. You click to move forward and when you get to what looks like a parking lot, move the little dude to look to the left. There you see a hotel/restaurant. Actually, the hotel isn't there and is now an appartment building, in which we live. In fact, you see that red car?? that's me!! I swear! I am on google maps! COOL!!!!
Anyways, in the winter the road stops there, at the building! But in the summer it goes most of the way up the mountain. Up there is an old house where they make cheeses. All with the milk from the cows they keep up there. There is also a little "restaurant" where they make fondues, blueberry pies etc... There is no electricity up there, and very little cell service.
If you look on the map and turn your little dude towards the right, well the top of the mountain is hiding behind 2 pin trees, the lift wheel and a bunch of clouds. SOOOOOO all this to say that yesterday we hiked to the very top of that mountain. Really not much of a hike for most people, but for a fat girl all broken and badly put back together it was a feat!!!
Here are the pictures (as I said, it was a difficult hike for me, so I took lots of pictures...taking pictures=stopping)

see that spot??

yes, that spot! on the top of the clearing...that's our building!

there is a yellow spot in the rocks...Daniel

in the distance, the village of Saint Hugues

Chris enjoying the view

no comment

these two crack me up!!!

the snowy mountain back there is the Mont Blanc

Chamechaude in the background

can you find Waldo? Oops! I meant Daniel.

Chris looking over our stomping grounds

yes!!!! We've made it to the top!!!

Saint Pierre en Chartreuse and its ski slopes

this stuff is hard to hike on

top left, the Chartreuse monastery, bottom right, its museum

Monastère de la Grande Chartreuse

the Chartreuse monastery museum

Daniel's rock sculpture

this flower didn't notice summer was over...

going down the other side

a little fall color

Chamechaude, the mountain on the other side of our building

on the way home for a well deserved tea and cookies

my commute to work

2011-10-28T19:09:00.001+02:00

ok so this is what I get to see everyday on my way to and from work. Be careful, it's brutal!!!!

my favorite tree on the mountain

wow!

just to prove to you that I really am in my car...

the village back there is Quaix en Chartreuse

nipple mountain (that's what we call it)

again...wow! I did not mess with the colors in these pictures!

we call this one dinosaur mountain

apple tree

it's really fun to drive this road

how can we get tired of this??? we don't!!

our village Sarcenas. population 165 souls. We live 4km away...

I feel I need to say (again) I did not mess with the colors!

this is the other side of the mountain, thought I'd throw them in just for fun! Chris was driving...

Pic de l'oeillette

my new wallpaper

So there you have it! Now you can feel real sorry for us because this is what we get to see day in and day out...

fall

2011-10-21T22:04:00.003+02:00

We had the most beautiful sunrise this morning, add to it the frost and it was just gorgeous!

morning frost

this afternoon we went for a walk, just a little bit down the hill, and there we found treasures:

mushrooms!

nope these aren't rolls...they're mushrooms!

nope! not chocolate truffles...mushrooms!

blowfish?? no no! mushroom!!

Chris pointed these flowers to me, they feel like paper and they are the size of pinheads...

So needless to say, it was just another beautiful moment spent with my husband! All of this within a 5 minute walk from the front door! How lucky are we???

notre dame

2011-09-12T16:20:00.004+02:00

the main thing to do on donna's list was going to notre dame. she had had the opportunity to do so some fortysomething years ago, when she and jim lived in germany, however the magic was cut short by her baby boy ken decided to puke all over the front door. she was ever so nicely but firmly escorted out of the church. And so ended her visit to this magnificiant work of art.

as we all know there are two things i really suck at: cutting even and straight pieces of pies/pizzas/cakes, and taking indoor pictures! so i am putting my not so great pictures mainly for those of you whom never had the priviledge to visit.

there we go!!!

breath taking!

chris, did i ever tell you about your brother throwing up here?

man that's impressive!!!!

in we go!!! (good to see they cleaned up ken's barf)

pictures don't come close to how beautiful and amazing the stained glass is

not a big fan of this one, it's eerie and creepy

grand! isn't it?

it was humbling...really

one last look as we leave

8th grade

2011-09-05T11:50:00.000+02:00

Today Daniel starts 8th grade....
Hmmm...I came on the blog, clicked on new post, put the title and the first sentence. Now I have nothing. I guess I must've thought I had something to say, but I don't really.
It's not that i don't have emotions about each and every new school year, or apprehensions about how it'll go...because I do, I always do! but other than the logistics of it all, I don't really know what to say.
Say (again) that I am so proud...say (again) how hard he works to get to where he is...say (again) how incredibly challenging/draining/exciting/fun (etc...) it is to be his mom...nah, I'll pass...you guys know that already! I am a master at repeating myself, maybe I'll work on that!
After school our circle of mountain moms (4 of us) are going to meet, have tea and cake (how proper!!!), and compare our teens' schedules so we can organize carpool. Carpool is vital here, no bus comes to where we live!
I guess I will one thing about this school year: I am very curious to see how it is going to unfold, Daniel is going through many changes lately and I am interested to see what fruits these changes will bear...

side note

2011-08-26T09:07:00.001+02:00

day before yesterday we got Daniel some new boxers. Nothing spectacular right there I know. what makes me blog about it is that once again we switched aisle in the store. I remember shopping with Kristen at target when our boys were still toddlers, and I remember having to leave the baby aisle to go accross to the boy aisle. It may seem silly to most, but for a mom (or is it just me?) it's telling of our child's growth and inevitable separation from us. For Daniel's boxers we had to go to the ADULT side of the store!!! It was a shock! really!!! I make myself feel better by saying that underwear sizes are screwy and always have been. Still though, it's telling of a big step towards...my boy becoming a man. I know I know, this is a tad drama queen of me to say, but it doesn't make it less true! From the moment we get pregnant we have to get used to the idea of cutting that cord! Pregnancy is really the only moment they are really ours, though we wait for one thing only, seeing our child's face. birth is the 1st big step towards their independence. then they sit, then crawl (away), then walk (further away). Soon comes school along with the rude awakening that we no longer know what goes on in every minute of their day, not only that but he purposefully keeps information to himself! "So how was school? fine! what'd you do? nothing! who'd you play with today?! I don't remember! (insert heavy annoyed sigh here)" ugh!!! At 13 we sill go through the same questions and answers (you'd think i'd learn!!!)
Daniel has been growing really fast and has gotten almost completely caught up on the growth chart! More importantly, this summer we've seen him grow mentally. Actually making choices for himself, grown up type choices, about what he eats and why, what's right for him (or wrong), making mature choices instead of childish temper tentrums, etc... When he was a baby my favorite thing was watching his brain at work, I loved that!! Watching him figure out how to stack blocks, or fit in a square puzzle piece in place, or even being in front of a plant and thinking about suppressing his urge to touch it so he wouldn't get in trouble. I found all that fascinating. I have gotten to experience that all over again. He has been changing/growing so much and so fast. I can watch him think and see his thought process at work. it's just as fascinating today as it was 13 years ago!
So here we are, he is 13 yrs 8 mo old. we've switched aisles again. and as i watch him grow, I start to get little glimpses of what's to come. these are exciting times for a parent. I just hope we haven't screwed him up too much!!!

our 1st evening in paris

2011-08-25T19:08:00.000+02:00

porte saint denis

the alley where we went in to get to our place

didn't know chris posed for a satue!!

so there you go! it was a fun evening after a 6 hour drive...

love it here!

2011-08-22T21:39:00.001+02:00

chris and i constantly talk about how priviledged we feel to live in such a beautiful area! here is tonight's sunset, I took this picture with the phone, but it turned out pretty cool!

click on it to view a larger format!

grandmama's summer vacation I

2011-08-22T15:53:00.001+02:00

So, this morning we drove grandmama to the airport. It's always hard to say goodbye. We've had a lot of fun, despite the last few days spent being sick...both grandmama and daniel were looking a bit green around the gills...

1st meeting with the cows...more to come in future posts

botanic and animal park in Lyon (Parc De la tête d'or)
flowers:

and the animals:

Paris' gargoyles

2011-08-18T21:17:00.001+02:00

I love gargoyles, and Paris has tons of them! there are many more out there and we will have to come back to check them out!

Tonight is our last night, and it's a real quiet one, Daniel got a fever today which had us come back "home". While he was sleeping and grandmama was watching over him, Chris and I went on a walk together. It was nice to get the alone time. We've really had a great time here, driving was easy, and so was parking! the weather was great, everything we saw was fantastic! a great time was had by all! can't wait to come back... I have some 800 pictures to sort through, but i'll get to them as soon as i can.

'til then, enjoy the gargoyles...

until i can spend more time on my pictures

2011-08-16T11:06:00.000+02:00

(fb people...i know you've seen most of these)

eiffel tower (in case you didn't know)

père lachaise cemetery

columbine

2011-08-12T22:45:00.001+02:00

no cat has ever loved a human being quite as much as columbine loves daniel. but she is a weird cat...case in point:

really???

what's that red spot?

2011-08-12T22:10:00.000+02:00

what do I see far off in the distance?

do you see it?? that tiny red dot??

there it is!! it's a grandmama! a breed rarely seen in these parts

and look! brave daniel and his younger neighbor were able to approach her...what a priviledge it was to capture this moment

parc de la tête d'or...round 2

2011-08-10T12:01:00.000+02:00

here are the rest of the pictures from our day at the park. Have I mentionned that we've been there three times and we still haven't seen everything?? Originally the park was created to give the people living in the city of Lyon a little bit of nature and fresh air. it's free too! there is a massive amount of flowers, plants, trees, animals, birds, a big lake, ice cream and cotton candy, etc... There are beautiful green houses too! They also brought in plants and trees from various parts of the world. For me it is like the big mother load of opportunities to take pictures of flowers. Sometimes Chris makes me put my camera away so I can keep up, or rather so he doesn't have to just stand there and wait on me... mostly though, he lets me do my thing and shows an abundant amount of patience!

parc de la tête d'or...round 1

2011-08-09T15:34:00.000+02:00

yesterday we took grandmama to one of our favorite place! the parc de la tête d'or in lyon
http://www.loisirs-parcdelatetedor.com/
we spent all day there, it was just a perfect day! more pictures to come tomorrow

chris takes relaxation to a whole new level

love love this tree! looks like the puppets from the dark crystal

églantine

wild flowers

geranium

carnivorous plant

chris is right, this does look like a firework!

dahlia

lots of busy bees everywhere

close encounter of the moo kind

2011-08-04T22:05:00.000+02:00

while you were sleeping...

we introduced grandmama to our cows! I called them up and they came running up (yes, it's a "special" talent i have)

if i call them, they will come

they will all come!

up close and personal

maybe a little too personal

please don't eat my shirt

smooch!

come my children!...

...come to me

ok, now get down

ok bye bye now

no! i mean it! i said bye bye!!!

chris and i do this all the time, it was fun to share this with grandmama. we love our cows!!!

grandmama's coming!

2011-08-01T07:18:00.000+02:00

Tomorrow daniel and i are off to pick up chris' mom! daniel is pretty excited to see his grandmama!!! chris and i are pretty excited too! of course i've been spending a lot of time cleaning house and getting ready. I want everything to be just right! to make this event even better, it seems the sun may have decided to join in too! we haven't had a real sunny day here in over 3 weeks - it's been cold (cold enough to turn on the electric heater in the evening) and it's been raining followed by foggy. it'll be nice to feel like it's summer again. I'm on vacation and chris will be soon. on the 14th we are leaving for paris, we decided to drive there. we will be taking the long way so we can see parts of the country we've never been to before. fun will be had by all!
more soon...

2011 so far...

2011-07-30T11:00:00.002+02:00

our life here in france, in pictures, for the first half of 2011

of course, we had snow...

... and daniel tought himself how to cross country ski

our niece mathilde was baptized

we had a family snow day

my mom claude, my sister marine, my stepdad jean paul, our brother in law françois and our niece mathilde

we went on day trips

aix les bains

Daniel made a good friend (Dylan, our neighbor)...

...and we took him everywhere with us

we went to vizille, we love its castle and beautiful park

1st sign of spring...the fair

of course we had to do the glass maze...

...and the ferris wheel (what is wrong with our kid!!!)

another day trip in Roman, seems chris has a double life i knew nothing about

yeah baby

spring time also means flea markets!! yay!!

in flea markets chris is constantly confronted with his worst nightmare...

...dolls!!!

..particularly those that close their eyes when laid down

every other year, spring also brings daniel's haircut for his gift to locks of love, it's always so hard for us.
chris and i love his long hair
before:

after:

Daniel went to sell his stuff (and some of ours!) at a neighboring village flea market. of course our tag along dylan was with him

daniel bought himself a bmx bike

daniel and dylan

we had an unusually warm and long springtime, there were flowers everywhere, so of course...i started shooting my favorites...

before

after

and of course, my all time favorite...dandelions

we saw animals too

stampede

rush hour

my brother in law yves took us in his row boat down the rhône river

chris and our brother in law yves

i rowed!!!

and we saw swans

charlotte turned 16!!!!

14th of july

juliette came and stayed with us for a couple of days

misc...

taco has a shoe fetish

weird oranges

i love these trees

Happy birthday my love

2011-07-28T10:02:00.000+02:00

today it's your birthday honey. 42! this means we have now known eachother for half of our lives! who would've thunk it huh?? remember when we first met? when we went and had our 1st legal glass of wine? when you called me late at night when i was at work? when i came to see you at the ice cream store? when we made our first carrot cake together? last time we saw eachother when i left for missouri? I remember all those moments and more. every time we talked or saw eachother my heart would skip a beat, i felt out of breath just a little. when i left denver i felt i had left behind a small part of myself, though at the time i didn't know what it was. all was set so that we'd never be together...until i came back to denver for a visit, august 29th 1992. it was so ridiculously romantic, you picking me up in the evening at union station. i was so so happy to see you! somewhere inside i felt whole again. from then on we started our life together. people often refer to life as a road that can sometimes be a bumpy one. boy did we ever stay on the bumpy side of it! we hit every bump, every pothole, every crack, and sometimes even created some ourselves! but amid all these pot holes, the road was beautiful and a real testimony of our love for eachother... the time i was so dehydrated in the mountains and hallucinating...you were there to help me, the day daniel was born and i saw your life change when he took his first breath, we have literally carried eachother when sick, and we have had lots of fun! But you know what honey? it was in our darkest times that we really grew. It was when we were apart that we took the time to grow (up) as individuals, it was then that we learned to trust eachother and realized that we were stronger together. And now here we are. we've known eachother 21 years, we've seen eachother at our worst and at our best, we have a son. Today, as I sit in our appartment, on top of our mountain, I am happy. We have finally reached this simple life we always wanted. We found true happiness in a 570 square foot apartment, set on a mountain pass, with our kiddo, 3 cats, a few books, an empty bank account and all of our history. every day, without exception, i feel thankful. thankful to be here, with you. We have so much fun together. we are like two kids, always wrestling, laughing, playing tricks and games, and taking pure pleasure in all we do! Every night you come home I am so excited to see you, every time you reach to hold my hand I have butterflies in my stomach, every times you look at me to tell me you love me I fall in love all over again. Baby, there is just nothing i can write that could ever truly say just how much i love you. it is with you that i can be myself, it is with you that i feel strong, it is with you that i feel whole.

life is good

happy birthday my one and only, i can't wait for what's to come...