The Hubbs {happy birthday a-hole}

 

    Don't worry, that's pet names in these parts. That's a little something you'd know if you were our friends in real life. Those of you reading who know us in real life a probably laughing.   I've been trying to get the Hubbs to do a guest post for awhile. He keeps turning me down. Can we put it to a vote readers? Wouldn't you like to hear from AbsoluteHubbs? By the way, that pet name is actually fighting words. He hates when I call him that! I think it's cute!   Anyway, today is his birthday and I decided I'm going to give a top 10 list of what I love about him. He's going to hate it, but I don't care. My blog. My list. Deal. Of course on his birthday I'd make it all about me. It's a wonder he married me at all!   Here are just some of the reasons I love the Hubbs.   He loves me anyway.  No matter what I do (spend our life savings at Target).  No matter what I don't do (vacuum, dishes, laundry, bathrooms).  

 

He's the hardest working man I know.  Both outside and inside the home. 

He's the master of bath time and bedtime.  He can clean this house in an hour. 

I love him because he makes me stay up late to debate things like the 2nd Amendment, President Obama, or the characters and story lines of Harry Potter.  And while blood may boil and voices get raised, it's really all in good fun.  There are so many things to be passionate about in life.

I love him because he thinks I read too much, blog too much, and watch way too much tv.  Because he laughs when I get obsessed with books that become movies.  Because he tries so hard in vain not to play along, then to be sucked into the pop culture abyss. 

 

 

He keeps me laughing.  No matter the situation, how mad I am, or how sad I am. 

Laughter is the best medicine.

 

 

 

He loves his girls. 

 

 

 

He's not afraid to let loose on the dance floor.  Serious or not. 

I love cutting a rug with this guy.

 

 

  He makes incredibly cute babies.    

 

Because he stole this wig from a friend of mine, and

it's one of the best memories I have of him and I during our drunken college days. 

That's when our story began. 

 

 

This is the guy I fell for...

   

celebrating his 25th

 

I love him because this was us then...

 

 

 

And this is us now.     Happy Birthday, Hubbs.    

This Guy {Life Lately}

 

This is how we look when I know he's BS-ing me.

 

 

It's a rare occasion that the Hubbs and I get a fancy date night.

Where I'm showered with shaved legs.

The Hubbs forgoes a ball cap.

Where neither one of us is wearing Fresno State red.

A tried and true date night.

 

We were lucky enough to get one this past weekend.

It was fabulous to go out on the town.

In a fancy dress and heels.

With my hair done.

With my eyebrows penciled in.

(So you know I meant biz-nass)

 

We had dinner with other adults.

Although you couldn't tell since we were being immature.

Cracking jokes, indulging in an open bar, and taking cell phone pics.

Because every occasion calls for Instagram.

There were no spilled sippys at the table, or refusal to eat the fillet.

Just a bunch of us, dressed up, and free to have fun.

 

At a very fancy wedding, obviously.

    Nights like these remind me why I married this guy.   This guy knows how to have fun. This guy who likes to dance in the car and sing Billy Joel. Then Elton John. Then Fergie. This guy who hates taking pictures for Instagram, but does it anyway. This guy who made sure I had plenty of water on the rocks with a lime. This guy who told me to take at least one sip of the free champagne. This guy to told me I looked hot, then grabbed my ass all night. This guy who took me out to the dance floor, and then left me for the flower girl who was about Caitlin's age. Who twirled that flower girl and made her laugh. She had the time of her life. And so did I.   This guy, who, after all the fights, tears, and years, will still do this:  

Eyes up, Crutchfield.

   Yeah, he's looking down my shirt.     This guy, who just threatened a cease and desist, since he didn't approve these pictures.   Yeah, this guy.     Linking up with Alli

Wore {Tailgating}

 

 

Mac

Fresno State Shirt: Bulldog Shop

Skirt: messily made by mom

Vans: Vans Shop

 

Me

Red and White Tank: Old Navy (old)

Shorts: Target

Sandals: Gottschalk's (yeah, OLD)

 

Caitlin

Fresno State Shirt: Bulldog Shop

Skirt: moms mess

Leggings: Target (rolled up)

Attitude: Self

 

 

Saturday was the first home game of the football season.

If you've been reading this blog for awhile,

or perhaps know me in real life,

our lives stop for Fresno State Football.

Whether we like it or not.

This weekend,

we love it!

 

 

 

The Hubb's friend, who is the head of the photography department,

rolled up in this "club car".

Like a suped up golf cart.

Of course the hubbs had to try it out.

Here, he looks like King of the Tailgate,

with his little princess.

 

 

Princess had to get in on the festivities too.

 

 

It was a great afternoon to be at a tailgate.

The weather was perfect, like 95 degrees.

Which we Fresnans will gladly take.

Last years home opener was 104.

Great friends.

Great weather.

Great School Spirit.

 

The girls only stayed a few hours.

Then they were off to grandma's.

And I went home to change.

 

I needed to pour on more school spirit.

Plus there is an unofficial rule evoked by the Hubbs:

Red shirts, preferably with the words Fresno State,

a football, or a bulldog on them.

NO exceptions.

Or he will seriously call you out.

Ask his friend Mike.

So being the good wife I am...

 

 

Shirt: Walgreens! then cut and crafted. Shorts: Kohls Toms: Mainland (Fashion Fair Mall)   The hubbs bought me some red Toms. A kind of bribe to get me to more than one home game. Ok, I'll take them. Plus, you know me... Love at first sight!   So I'm off to work on another t-shirt upcycle. Plus a few for my friends who requested them.   Got a great t-shirt upcycle tutorial? Link it in the comments!! I'd love to try it!         Got some WIW to show off? You can link it up here.  

Because {Father's Day}

Because his answer is alway yes...

photo by Rachel Lauren

Because their adventures are always more fun...

photo by Rachel Lauren

 

Because he will always be her dance partner...



photo by Rachel Lauren

Happy Father's Day,

Daddy.

Fight. Laugh. Love {A love story}

Recently my Hubbs has noticed that friends of ours have subway art or wall art in their homes that say "Live. Laugh. Love".  Every birthday party or dinner at a friends house he comments on them.  So, while at the BF baby's 2nd birthday, the Hubbs said, "look they have one too".  To which I said, yeah ok, so what.  The Hubbs said we needed one.  And I laughed and said, yeah, but ours wouldn't say that.  The BF said, yours would say, "Fight. Laugh. Love".  Then we all laughed, because it's the truth.

You know that scene in "Life as we Know it"?  Katherine Heigel is out to dinner with Hotty Hot Dr. and she's having a fight on the phone, with hotter than life Josh Dumel?  Well the doctor says, if him and his wife fought like that they would still be married?  That's my marriage.  We fight.  Sometimes playfully, sometimes not so playfully.  But we do fight.  I'm not afraid to admit it.  If you know me in real life it's nothing new.  What's new is we have learned to fight effectively.  We don't linger with hard feelings.  We have a "row", and let it go.  Ok, not always, and yes some things linger, but we always find our way back.  Finding our way back and being better for it.

Some call it passionate, some call it crazy, I call it love.  We really do love eachother.
That's where the laugh comes in.  I can't keep a straight face with this guy around.  He is the expert at the conversational joke.  In other words, you never know when the conversation is going to turn into a punchline.  He's silly, which he most likely would not like me to say, but he is.  He will do prat falls, physical comedy, just to make me laugh, or get me out of a funk.  He will deliberately walk by and say funny things as I'm trying to blog, which is annoying as all get out, but secretly I'd be worried if he didn't.

Last Monday was our 7th Anniversary.  How did we celebrate?  Like parents at Kindergarten orientation.  And there were jokes!  Lots of them.  How can you not make a joke about a YouTube video for kids called "Dr. Harry"?  Seriously?  Are you sure we should look up "Dr. Harry""?  We might not get the kids video if you know what I mean!  We giggled to ourselves.  A lot.  Until, Caitlin, who came with us said, "shh.  You are supposed to be listening!".  Yeah, we are those parents. 

Saturday, the Hubbs and I ran away from home.  Just for a few hours, but we were totally blank on what to do.  So we went to a restaurant bar, watched the end of the Giant's game, people watched, and laughed.  For almost 3 hours.  We talked too.  About the kids.  About home improvements.  About going next door to the surf shop and buying more Toms (we didn't).  And that's how we celebrated 7 years of marriage.  Simple.  Easy.  Laughing.

So this is how we love.  With punch lines, prat falls, and arguments about the garbage cans, or the dirty carpet.  The fighting that leads to laughs, that confirms the love.  It's hard not to love someone who can keep you on your toes.  Or keeps a smile on your face.  That can make you so mad your face turns red one minute, and is making you laugh uncontrollably the next.

It's been a long road for us.  I won't bore you with details.  I will only say that we knew early on, that we wanted eachother for the long haul.  But we were scared.  We weren't ready.  So we went back and forth, loving and hating.  It was a rollercoaster ride, and we both hate rollercoasters. 

It's been seven years of married life, in addition to the five we dated.  As much as we hate rollercoasters, neither one of us will get off this ride.

Fight. Laugh. Love.
It's what we know.  It's what we do.  With every twist and turn, we're enjoying the ride.

Don't forget to check out Mom 2 Memphis and Ruby's

Photography week!

Inspiration from some of your favorite Bloggers!

Stop and smell the roses

Or the flowers if you will.

Last Friday night the hubbs brought home flowers.  Let me tell you this is rare.  Not the idea that he was thinking of me on his way home (ok sometimes that too), but the actual act of buying me flowers.  It wasn't my birthday, or a holiday, and I hadn't hurt my back yet.  He just brought home flowers.  And of course I ruined the moment by saying "What were they half off", because it's a rare occurrence to get random flowers on a Friday night.

I've written some posts on him recently.  Some posts about us and our marriage.  I hope I'm not painting the picture of perfection.  We are not perfect.  Our marriage is FAR from perfect. 

We fight.  We yell.  We sometimes say things we can't take back.  We also love.  We laugh.  We say things that make the other spit out their drink.  We are married.  We are people.  We are parents.  We are human.

Recently we have been taking advantage.  Of each other.  Of time.  Of responsibilities.

Then I read a post here and here.  He read them too. 

We both realized in our own way, that someone had to pour the first glass.

One of us had to forgo the first cup.

So he brought home flowers.

So I put down the iPhone.  I shut off Facebook/Twitter/The Blog.
 
And we talked.  Without yelling.  With out tears.  Without the usual foot stomping dramatics.

It was our first Ah-ha of 2012.
 
We stopped all the other distractions.  The kids were asleep.  The phones were away.  The tv was on CNN (ignored).
 
We talked shop.  Our marriage.  Our kids.  His job.  My blog.  We talked about outstanding issues with each other that still aren't resolved.  I have some, he has some.  Neither of us is perfect.  Neither of us is to blame. 

We talked about it all and what it meant to us.  What it meant to our marriage.

We were nice.

We were loving.

We were kind.

And it was refreshing and re-energizing.
 
Because someone had to pour the first glass.

One of us had to forgo the first cup.

Because he brought home flowers.

I even made a pretty home for them.

Happy Blogging,
Megan

Linking up here

And also here

Dear John...

Dear John,
Today is your birthday.  Happy Birthday.  I will do my best not to embarrass you on this day, but I love you and it's what I do... I blog...

Dear John,
Remember this?

Dear John,
Look at us on your 25th!  Who are those babies?

Dear John,
This is still my all time favorite picture of you... That wig isn't even part of your costume!

Dear John,
Remember when we saw this for the first time?  Remember we were so excited and so clueless on what was about to happen?  Remember when it was just us and the "peanut"?

Dear John,
This was a great day...

 Dear John,
I love this picture... You look happily shocked...

Dear John,

This is you and Mac.  I love your face because I know she is crying... And you are being soothing... I looked for this pic for a while, because there are only a few shots from the day she was born... Because that day was a train wreck!



Dear John,
I do not tell you enough that:
I love you, a ton, like more than Starbucks.
I appreciate everything you do for me and the girls.
I can't imagine my life without you.
I love your humor and jokes, they keep me sane, and unbelieveably happy.
I am not perfect, and I'm sorry that sometimes I expect you to be.

That you have given me my happily ever after.  And it's not perfect.  We are not perfect.  I would never expect it to be.  But this life, this mess, this laugh out loud journey with you...
Is my happily every after...

Dear John,
Happy birthday.  We love you.
Always,
Your girls.

Happy Blogging,
Megan