Thirteen Years Ago, Today...

I married the most perfect man...For me, anyway. I can't think of any thing I would rather do than spend the rest of my life with him. My only regret in regards to our marriage would be that we don't spend enough time with just the two of us. That's a pretty good one, if you ask me! We can't go anywhere special or do anything for our anniversary because of a stupid financial mistake that I made (he makes the dough, I decide how it's spent!) and I feel really terrible about it, so this is my way of making it up to him. I am declaring, publicly my undying love for my husband who is the best man in the world I could ever be married to. He is a devoted husband who knows me so well and loves me anyway. He makes me feel like a beauty queen even when I KNOW I'm a big, fat, zitty, messy-haired slob, and always makes me feel wanted and loved. He gives me the opportunity to be the mom I want to be to his children. He is amazingly open to life and sacrificial despite all of the worldly things I know he desires, and could have if we didn't have "so many" children. He works harder and gets up earlier than I could EVER and doesn't complain about or make me feel guilty about having to do so to put food on the table and a roof over our heads. He is a natural father and disciplinarian to the children and I never even had to teach him those skills! He could give "The Nanny" lessons! He loves us all fiercely and caringly and with a love that we never have to question or doubt.

Ten Things I Love About Butch:
1. He gets super excited about thunderstorms and bad weather.
2. He likes to play games and doesn't let anyone win, even if they are under the age of 4.
3. He's not afraid to show his sensitive side but manages to stay ultra manly.
4. He can fix or build anything and loves to help others with their projects...If he has the right tools.
5. He wrestles with the kids and lets them beat on him and hang on him until his face turns purple.
6. He loves my family/friends as much as I do and treats all of the kids' friends like they are his own children.
7. If my family/friend ticks me off, he's always on MY side, no matter what the issue, even if I'm the one being a butt-head.
8. He wears the same style jeans he's worn since I met him. Levi's 560's still work for him!
9. He has beautiful eyes.
10. He does the best "white-man's overbite" dance I've ever seen anybody do!

My brother in law called me tonight and told me there's a special place in Heaven reserved for me for putting up with "that guy" for all of these years (he's known him much longer than me!) I don't know about that, but I do think that there is a special place here on Earth that I know quite well and have dwelt these 13 years with much comfort and peace...My hubbs' heart.

This Dude Can SING!

Anna won tickets on bob106 and couldn't find a cute boy to go to the concert with so I got to go! I've always liked Hal and haven't heard much from him in the last few years. He played at a pretty large bar and there were about 200 people there so it was a pretty intimate setting. We had a great time people watching and the whole time he played (he went onstage at 11pm) Anna and I were on the dance floor taking pictures left and right. We even got a little video of him singing our favorite songs (Anna's is "I miss my Mary" and mine is "I know where love lives"). He's got a great voice even after all these years and he's super hip. He had a tribute to Christopher Walken's SNL character "the continental". I don't remember the title of the song, but it was slapyourknee funny! He prefaced the song by saying, "This is by far the sickest song I've ever written", which I thought was weird (in a good way). He is an amazingly talented song writer and we had a great time. I would definitely recommend for anybody to see him if they get a chance. I think he would appeal to people who weren't especially fond of country music, as well as those who are. He's not a big, commercial star anymore so I think that his touring and "I don't care what you think" attitude has much improved his songwriting (if that's possible). It was odd to be within reach of so much talent. He caught my eye a few times and I'm sure everyone there felt the same as me...that he was singing right to them, personally. It takes a lot of confidence to do that and I admire him for it. If I had HALF of that kind of talent, I wouldn't have to be so worried about paying my bills on time! We stayed for about fifteen minutes after he got off stage and got a picture of the two of us with him but I'm hoping to use it as a "before" picture after I lose one of my chins in a couple of weeks (starting the south beach diet) if you know what I mean. We had a great time and it was a nice break for me from the house and all of it's occupants. It's not that I don't love them, but the weather has been so cotton-pickin' H O T that I'm starting to feel a bit closed in. I wish we could have a swimming pool that is a little bit higher than 6 inches and can fit more than 1 adult or 3 children.