Happy Birthday to my Man!

Today is Larry's birthday. I day of real celebration for me because I am so thankful that God not only made this incredible man, but then He blessed my life by giving him to me as my soulmate, my best friend, my precious sweet hubby! He is the hardest working man I have ever known. He just gives and gives. He loves God and lives his life that way. He supports me, spoils me, encourages me...and even taught me to fly-fish. Hmm...we need to practice that some more. I can't imagine life without him. As we get older, the more I realize how rich my life has been because of him. I love watching him as a father and grand "Bud". He is so patient and loving with them all! There is two things though, that I would like to thank him for, the sweetest gifts he could ever have given! First, giving me the HUGE gift of being a stay at home mom. We have talked about that a lot lately. Would we financially be in a better place had I worked...for sure. Would we trade being in a better financial place today for that...NEVER! We know we made the right decision!!! I encourage other young mothers and fathers to really consider it. It isn't easy, you might live on beans, potatoes and rice but what you will give your children is unmeasurable! Second, picking up the slack around the house and taking care of things so that I could care for my Mom when she was ill. I will never be able to thank him for giving me the time to literally sit at her feet during those days. My heart is full of talks and moments that we were able to have because of the time Larry allowed me to be with her. Those are moments I will cherish my entire life. So, though today, is your birthday Larry, I want to thank you for the gifts you have given me and our family. Point proven: You are the most giving man I know! Love you babe! I pray that these little boys will always follow in the same steps as their Dad and Bud...and become amazing MEN of GOD!!!

34 years and counting...

My sweet husband and me the first year he taught me how to fly fish!

Today, Larry and I are celebrating 34 years of marriage bliss! I know, we are much too young to have been married that long! :) I thank God for the man He blessed me with. I thought he was pretty amazing when we were dating but really I had no idea!! Each day he amazes me with his huge heart, his amazing work ethic (really I have never know ANYONE who works as hard as him), his faithfulness to me and his incredible love and support! He has provided for us, shown me God in so many ways and loves me warts and all! :) He is a wonderful daddy to our two children, a great father-in-law and super duper Bud to four adorable grandchildren!! He always finds time to help us and others and is so very talented with his hands! I wish he had more time to build fun stuff because he is more talented and gifted than he even realizes! One of the GREATEST gifts he has given me is the opportunity to be a stay at home mom when our kids were growing up! He will NEVER know how much that meant to me! Now, we work together but he still finds time to let me have some days off to do fun things! I am blessed beyond words! Here are a few of my favorite pictures of him doing things that bring him joy!!! (In no particular order)
My fly fishing buddy on one of our trips to Colorado
Enjoying some down time with Zach at the RIverhouse in Boerne.
Enjoying time with Meg at the parade
Seeing Ashley before the wedding
Giving David a few last words of advice before the wedding! Ha, those boys love to be silly!
Enjoying some shop time with Owen

Helping Clay get his fishing pole ready

Bud and Will talking
Holding Emma for the first time!

F-Fly-fishing

Fly-fishing! Yahoo! As I write this, we are in Colorado on a camping and fly-fishing trip. I am pretty new at this sport, I have one trip under my waders but Larry is my little "guide, pro and partner" in this adventure! How can you not enjoy a sport that plants you right in the middle of God's amazing country? With mountains, pine trees, aspens and the sound of rushing mountain streams...it has all my senses on overload! I am not sure what it is, but when I am in in this scenery I feel so close to God. He really is an amazing artist and I am loving it! Last year, in July, we came to this same spot and absolutely loved it, so we are back to veg, hike, fish and just have some time together! Except this time we are seeing this beautiful spot in the fall! Do we have to go home? My only wish is that the aspens had hit their prime. We are probably about one week early, so it is hard to leave before they burst into color but I guess we will just have to come back again next year and see if we can catch it! We drove up to Platoro Lake and saw some color, which was breathtaking. I love fall and I love this country. We had great fun today, Larry caught a beautiful brown trout! It was so much fun to watch him snag it. It was a perfect ending to a perfect trip!

L-Larry

The Love of my Life, Larry.

We were high school sweethearts! He is my soul mate. He is and has always been such a great hubby. He loves me, supports me, spoils me, comforts me, makes me laugh and encourages me. He is not only a great husband, but an amazing father and granddaddy or "Bud" as the boys refer to him. He has a heart of gold and will go out of way to help others. We love doing home projects together, cooking together, camping together and as of a year ago, we can add fly-fishing to our list of things we enjoy doing together. Larry patiently taught me how to fly fish last summer while on vacation in Colorado and we are now counting the days till we can go again! He really is such a blessing from God. God knew exactly what kind of man I needed! There are so many things we still want to do together...mostly traveling but it really doesn't matter what or where we are...I am just so blessed to have him by my side! Love you babe!!!

X-X-ray

First off, there aren't a lot of things that start with X and besides that we do have a great x-ray film at our house. Once, when Larry was doing a little building out back of our house, he accidently shot a six-penny nail into his foot. Yep...all the way in! He shot right through the boot, sock and even managed to catch the hem of his jeans. When he said he had a nail in his foot...I was thinking in the bottom, like most people do. But, no, his was through the top of his foot. After a little visit to the ER, it was determined it had thankful not caused any major damage. When the doctor walked in with a pair of pliers, I thought he was playing a joke on us but no, he just got a good hold on the head of that nail and pulled it out! Larry said it didn't hurt...I think he was in shock! Either way, later in the day he was certainly hurting! But he was just excited they didn't cut through his work boots! And they think women are crazy about their shoes! Sorry, no picture to post! Just the story was probably a little to graphic for some of you! But we do have the xray if you ever want to look at something both amazing and gross!

Builder Bob and Builder Bud

Watching our little grandsons...is kind of like looking back at old family movies. Owen and Clay not only look like their Dad did at this age but they have lots of the same interests. Zach always loved hanging out with his Daddy! If it involved tools...he was a happy camper. At a very young age, he could tell you the correct name for just about every tool in his Dad's toolbox. Owen has the same love for tools and Bud's shop! Recently when he was helping Bud with a little project, he looked up and said "Bud, I am Builder Bob and you are Builder Bud!" Clay and Owen along with their parents, recently gave us a little kid-size picnic table for our backyard. So, Builder Bob and Builder Bud had lots of fun putting it together. Owen loves working with REAL tools!

As you can see by the pictures, Builder Bob and Builder Bud do good work! There is nothing much more fun than seeing a grandson follow in his Dad and Bud's footsteps!