2 years later...

I could write a novel about how much I love T.J., our marriage and these last 2 years!!! I won't bore you with that :) HOWEVER I will brag on my husband for just a sec! T.J. suprised me with an awesome night at an awesome bed & breakfast in the catskills for our 2 year anniversary! :) I couldn't be any more grateful for T.J. and everything he does for me and is! It's hard to believe it was 2 years ago that we said "I do!" who would've EVER THOUGHT we'd be in NY, and T.J. would be at Cornell... studying fish?! Not me! :)


Our sweet room at The Alpine Inn



The view off our balcony



2 sleepy heads waking up to God's glory behind us!!! We are very excited at this point for the breakfast to come! :)




The AMAZZZING breakfast! :)
I will always remember this time :) I'm just so thankful!

Hurricane Simulator

T.J. and I went and saw Eclipse today (also known as the third Twlight movie) :) Yes this was the 2nd time I saw it within a week and it was SO GOOD, T.J. loved it! However... after the movie T.J. saw what looks like a large vending machine that you can open up... the idea is that you pay $2 close the "door" and "feel" what it's like to be in a hurricane- the wind gets up to 80mph. T.J. wanted me to do this SO BAD, I refused... of course when I told HIIIIM to do it he didn't want to- he just wanted to watch MEEEE be in it so he could laugh :) So I decided "why not?!" Yes it was uncomfortable.. yes people stopped and stared at me while I just stood there for a minute :) Yes T.J. laughed hysterically the whole time.. and YES my clothes and hair were flying everywhere... that's all. Now I just have tangles in my hair that won't come out.

"Staycation"

What a week!

It's sad to think a week ago today Julia and Kylie were both here... we were enjoying the 4th of July heading out to see an awesome show after a great cookout with friends...

With that being said I had a GREAT "Stay-cation" with Julia and Kylie. Julia is obviously my awesome 19 year old sister and Kylie is a friend from OK that I was able to get to know really well while she visited and I'm really excited about this new friendship! :)

We hiked to a couple different waterfalls, swam, laid out, ATE, ran, watched girly movies, did our toes, cooked yummy meals and just had a great time showing the girls my life out here. :)

I miss them so much already and am now looking forward to Mike and Debbie (T.J.'s parents) coming out for a week here very shortly! :) Enjoy some of the pictures I uploaded from the girls trip, there are plenty more on facebook!




This picture was taken at the "Brooktondale swimming hole" it is AWESOME. There are waterfalls to jump off of, pools to swim in and lots of places to just lay out and fall asleep to the rushing water!!! :)


This was taken at Ithaca falls


A nice waiter took this picture of me and Julia after we ate our lives away at a Thai restaurant :)


Love my sis.


Julia showed me the ropes on the "jumping pictures" I love them now!

Julia and Kylie

the small things...

It's the small things that matter and make you happy, am I not right? :)

T.J. is 3 hrs away all summer long... this means we just get to see each other on the weekends. I love that when I go to see him for the first time he went out and bought a $6 mop, and shower cleaner so he could clean the bathroom up for me :) I LOVE that he made his sweet bed for me, and I love that he swept the whole house and did the dishes... :) it makes me smile and just remember how BLESSED I am to have the husband that I do.

This whole separation thing is not EASY by any means... there have been MANY times that I needed him home... like when CHIPMUNKS were invading the house, etc. Thank you Lord for our friends Jim and Suzy that saved me from these traumatic events and even set up a "room" for me to spend the night at their house if I'm having a lonely night and just want to hang out (and YES I have taken advantage of this more than once) :)

This summer has me already appreciating T.J. in a whole new way. He is working CRAZY hours every day for US and our future... it means so much to me. So while T.J. is tracking fish out here in the Catskill mountains I am at home in Brooktondale working, hanging out with Jim and Suzy, running, and exercising our crazy dogs. You would THINK I would have all this time on my hands now that T.J. is gone but I've sat down ONCE to watch TV since he has left... and why do I go to bed after midnight?! I don't get it...

Well right now I am at T.J.'s house in Phoenicia, NY... T.J. and his tech, Jackie are working and will be "home" soon :) I have spent the day RELAXING, reading and cooking! I will be leaving T.J. with 2 frozen meals (cheesy tuna noodle casserole & chicken divan for you curious readers) and some homemade chocolate chip cookies. Bless their sweet hearts... T.J. and Jackie have been living on PB&J's out here and that is just not acceptable. The other night he ate a frozen meal I prepared and he said it was the first time he felt "full" since he came down here :( sad right!? Phoenicia is a TINY town but SO CUTE. It's a "resort" town so nicer restaurants, spas and small shops but no fast food or big grocery store. T.J. JUST discovered an IGA 2 miles away yesterday and you'd think they struck gold! :)

Off to a "nice" dinner with the husband :) Oh how I treasure these times now!!!

Alright if you are a husband or wife go right now and hug your hunny! Be so thankful that you get to spend your life with them and enjoy all the small things! God is so good! :)

Book list

I have lots of books here at the house that I am waiting to set my little eyes on! :) Here are the next 3 I will be reading though... not sure on which order yet..

T.J.'s grandma, Maurine lent me this book. I'm really excited to read it. I have been LOVING reading stories either based in the "Bible time" or biblical characters so I'm really excited to read this.



My friend Emily (my great friend that I had the privilege of being in her wedding last week!) let me borrow this book. Honestly I'm not really sure too much what it's about b/c I don't like to read the back of the book or a review b/c I want everything to be a surprise! I do think it has to do with the circus somehow though... Basically if someone tells me to "READ THIS" I do :) no questions asked... there haven't been TOO many I didn't like yet doing that.


Oh Stephanie Meyer :) This lovely author is the well known author of TWILIGHT, NEW MOON, ECLIPSE & BREAKING DAWN... yes the "Twilight Books" :) I am excited to read this book... its like watching a movie that you can't look away from for even a brief second... has you hanging on everything :) SO EXCITED I just might read this one first... no brain power needed.

Do you have a book I should read?

Are you annoyed I'm posting about books when you really want to know what is going on in my life? :) My trip to OK was AMAZING and I'll post pics later, I still need to do the same with camping...

Do YOU need a good book to read?

some of my all time faves:
Redeeming Love
The Atonement Child
A VOICE IN THE WIND!!!!!!! (no seriously go buy it right now.. then you'll read the 2 that come after it IMMEDIATELY) (trilogy)

those are all written by Francine Rivers.. my favorite author!

Love you all!

Kelly

Not me! Monday??

Here we go again...

It's not me who cried the day after her husband left NY b/c she was lonely. It wasn't me who let the dogs sleep in bed with her EVERY NIGHT while he was gone, I DIDN'T send picture texts of the dogs and myself constantly b/c I know he can't stand it he misses us so much too :) I am NOT pathetic.

The guy that sold T.J. his truck didn't mail the keyless entry piece in such a flimsy envelope that it fell out before it even got to us. The post office didn't STILL give us the envelope, empty with a stamp that said "received empty"- thank you post office.

I wasn't me that drove to Cornell to drop T.J. off at school before I went to work and then realized T.J. wasn't in the car with me... he drove separate... I am NOT that stupid to drive an imaginary person to work.

My husband did NOT pick up a package of chew that was left in the woods by a stranger and put a "chew" in. My husband did NOT do this in front of friends. My husband is NOT an addict to tobacco. My husband will NOT kill me after he reads this :)

Okay okay, just so T.J. feels a little better- T.J. REALLY is doing a FANTASTIC job going on with life w/o tobacco! He used to be addicted to dip and thankfully he has realized he DOESN'T want to get cancer and he has quit, I am so proud of him!!! (This is for real guys, not an opposite thing!) However! I don't mind if he rarely has a dip with a friend or something like that... but really he did find a package of chew in the woods when we were on a hike with friends... and he really did take some of it! He blames this on the "addiction" that is still there :) Oh Teej....

I am NOT posting this on a Tuesday night...

Things you do and don't know about T.J.

Are you so ready to start reading?! :) I've spent awhile compiling these random quirky things about T.J.- I'm debating whether I'm going to let him "proof read" this or not... I'm thinking noooot. :)

1. T.J. likes to go to bed as early as possible. If I was okay with it our bedtime would be 8pm every night- if not earlier!

2. T.J. eats breakfast every morning, as in eggs, sausage, toast- and so on. He REALLY wishes I would eat with him and probably MAKE IT too :) (Sorry I'm just NOT quite a morning person!) But I am going to try to eat breakfast with him at least once a week.

3. T.J. used to have SPINNERS on his truck- no seriously, he really did. IN HIS DEFENSE it looked "cool" at the time- HAH!

4. T.J. broke up with me once right before we were supposed to go to the circus (as I was getting ready and telling him how excited I was b/c I'd never been) :) I still like to give him a hard time about that.

5. T.J. LOVES our cats- he never would've thought! Sometimes I catch him kissing them :) LOVE IT!!!!!

6. This year T.J. has realized that whitey tighties are the only thing that is going to work with his tight wranglers! Yes I know TMI- but I just think its hilarious. T.J.'s mom definitely sent out a whole package of new briefs to replace his boxier brief collection. Sweet mom to the rescue.

7. T.J. isn't a picky eater- he'll eat mostly anything except liver.. and I don't think he's a fan of tomato soup- literally those are the only 2 things I know of he doesn't like!

8. T.J. can literally eat ANYTHING he wants and still stay thin with an 8 pack- oh wait, you probably already knew that... NOT FAAAAAAAIR.

9. I have got T.J. addicted to The Bachelor/The Bachelorette :) along with a couple other shows he'd probably not like me to name!

10. T.J. has had his tongue pierced 3 times!!!!!!!! All 3 of those times were times we broke up- HAH! Rebellion???

11. I'm kind of embarrassed to say this one... T.J. has (T.J. MADE ME DELETE THIS!) :) If you're still curious ask him- he'll probably tell you.

12. When T.J. and I met he wore polos, necklaces and converse shoes- boy has he changed! :) Now its wranglers, cowboy boots and a tee! (I like it MUCH better this way!)

13. Some would think T.J. doesn't have a heart for animals b/c he's a hunter (we do it for food) but really T.J. has a huge heart for animals. Hello already 2 dogs and 2 cats!

14. T.J. used to clean his truck every Sunday in HS for up to 6 hrs- he'd even break out the toothpicks and clean EVERY TINY CREVICE. And yes I was bitter b/c he would do this instead of hanging out with his girlfriend.

15. T.J. claims to only know how to make breakfast food- sorry I don't buy it! :)

16. T.J CANNOOOOOOOOT MULTI-TASK- no SERIOUSLY, he can't.

17. T.J.'s a "natural runner" he can not run for 6 months and then go one day and run 8 miles like it's no big deal.

18. T.J. used to breed snakes and chameleons. He also bred mice for the snakes- I will NOT go into detail there.

19. Total cover hog- takes all of them off his wife in the night to leave her in the fetal position shivering.

20. Helps out with the tiny tot kids at church! (He is so cute with them!) He is sweet to help me babysit every now and then too.

21. Loves having mosquito bites so he can itch them... like he literally WANTS them so he can itch them later... weeeeirdddd!

22. T.J. won't try another food off someone else's plate if he is eating off his plate. He hates to "mix food taste".

23. T.J. wants a bunch of fainting goats when we have land so he can run outside- scare them and have THIS happen.

24. T.J.'s top 3 choices of a career- 1.) "professional hunter", you know have all the cameras filming your hunting adventures and making money off your favorite hobby. 2.) Live on hundreds upon hundreds of acres and guide different hunts, manage deer, etc. 3.) Completely run a smaller fish hatchery- be his own boss. and of course T.J. said an option that is always available for us is to just go "live off the land" somewhere and not work.. riiiiiiiiiiiight.

25. T.J. believes he was born in the wrong era. He thinks that he should've been an Indian (he is partly!) or been alive in the Oklahoma land run times so he could go claim his own stake of land.

26. T.J.'s favorite movie I think is 300.

27. T.J. would do just about almost anything for money. Unless it went against his morals... I think... :)

28. Only listens to country. (but he is starting to venture out now and I'm so proud of him) :)

29. T.J. not only changes our oil in our cars but changes the brake pads too- yay! He wants to take a couple mechanic classes so he can do even more stuff on our cars.

30. T.J. DOES NOT like to be called Tyler.

31. T.J. also doesn't want you to write "tj" or "t.j." or "TJ" he wants a "T.J."- really he is that particular :) he will say something every time to me if you don't probably.

32. T.J. is the guy to pull over and help someone with their flat tire, move their car out of a ditch, etc.- this must be a Ross thing!

Okay so I've had this post in my "saved drafts" for awhile now and instead of "building" on it I thought I'd just go ahead and post it :)

I love my husband so much and am SO BLESSED that God put him in my life!! He makes life FUN and exciting! I love you T.J.!!!!!!!!!!!! Please don't be mad at me for any of these "facts" ;)