Soaked

Sometimes it is deeply refreshing to run in the pouring rain.

Excuse the excessive darkness under my eyes, I swear it is mostly mascara.

Bass Players

This just made me laugh. Probably because I am in love with a bassist.

Truth: Fewer things are more attractive than a good man playing an instrument.

Who's with me?

Guilty Pleasure: Teen Mom

Well, if I am admitting to watching [and thoroughly enjoying] 'Teen Mom', I might as well confess to watching '16 & Pregnant' and 'Teen Mom 2'.

But seriously, MTV catches a bit of flack for these shows "glamorizing teen pregnancy," which is clearly coming from people who have never actually watched the show. To say that anything in these shows is glamorous is a complete, outright lie.

I find it really interesting to watch the people in these shows, analyze the choices that they make and see who steps up and who bails out. Also, with the 'Teen Mom' shows, you get to see people change and progress as well as make the same mistakes over and over. Some of the moms [and dads] are surprisingly better than the majority of parents I come into contact with on a daily basis, and others seem to be just letting their lives spin out of control with their child becoming collateral damage. If anything, I think the 'Teen Mom' shows really illustrate the hardships and heartbreak that comes with having a child so young. I may actually force my children to watch these shows so that they can make better informed decisions when the time comes.

What I find nice, is that the teens who seem to take to parenting easier are those with healthy relationships with parents who are very supportive. Now, don't get me wrong, I would be super disappointed if my kid got pregnant at such a young age. However, in the end I would help them as much as I could while still encouraging them to be independent and gradually weaning them off of my support. But to just throw your child out the minute you learn that they are pregnant [or as soon as they give birth] is a bit harsh. These children already have so much that they are dealing with, to have a supportive and stable home environment seems to make a huge difference amidst the drama of intimate relationships, loss of friends and learning to be a parent.

I will admit that continuing the '16 & Pregnant' series seems a bit unethical, because some teens may get pregnant just so they have a chance of getting their 15 minutes of fame from MTV. Granted, you would have to be a moron to do this, but what teenager doesn't make horrible decisions? How MTV goes about recruiting teen preggos for the show, I don't know. I would hope that they have found a respectful and ethical way of doing so, but who knows.

Anyhow, there is my defense for liking such a trashy show.

California... Knows How to Party

California... Knows How to Party
In the Citaaay of [Roseville]

I know it has been a while, but I finally got around to posting some pics from our trip to California.

It was nice that we were able to schedule a time that Bryan, Angie, Christian and I could all go to CA together. It was so good to see them :)

I really enjoyed spending time with Joelle and her adorable little one.

Landon was just a bundle of grins and fun when I visited. I loved hanging out with him and his awesome mama.

Sibs.

I just love that all of these guys still hang out. They are all wonderful men!

Old friends and new babies. Joelle was such an adorable social butterfly.

So much fun getting to spend time with this great couple :)

Sibs, take 2.

I have far too many pictures of Christian and Dustin showing a little too much love.

Christian missed Huey and was very excited to see him.

I really don't know what to say.

Baby Abby was so funny. She stared at Christian like this for a while. She wasn't too sure what to think of him.

Thank you to all who made the time to see us and hang out, I know many of you were busy and it means a lot that we got to see you! We had a ton of fun, and we hope to be back to visit next winter.

Love you all. Thanks for the fun memories :)

I Remember... "You Trust Me"

So, something I have always wanted to do is write down mine and Christian's love story [Is that the correct way to word that? If not please let me know because it always gets me]. So, I think I might write little tidbits of it here and there when I feel inspired, with the intention of maybe having a full story someday. Plus, this fits into my current monthly goal of writing positive things. Admittedly this is completely narcissistic, but hey this is a blog about me and Christian, so it is only fitting that I reminisce about how we got to be where we are today.

Anyhow, in this blog post I remember the first time I fell asleep with Christian. I should really say next to Christian because with suggests that he also slept, which he didn't. He suffered through a terrible romantic comedy.

I can't remember exactly how long we had officially been together, but it couldn't have been more than a month or so. He came over to my house to hang out and we decided to watch a movie. We plucked Elizabethtown from my mom's large, but severely lacking selection of DVDs. Although at the time the movie itself didn't seem to matter at all, we just wanted to be together. I would have been happy watching Jerry Springer, as long as I could make fun of it with Christian.

Anyway, I was apparently really tired from a long day of being a carefree, unemployed teenager [Hey, it's a tough job!] and at some point during the movie I fell asleep, my head resting on Christian's chest. When I woke up Christian smiled at me and gave me his "I love you" face [though, I did not recognize it as such at the time] and said "you fell asleep on me." And I was thinking, "Okay, I don't know why that would make him so happy, so I fell asleep during a movie. Happens all the time" - even now. [Although I'm not sure how much Christian loves it now that he has to explain the second 3.5 hours of Lord of the Rings to me because I have fallen asleep.] After a period of silence he said, "You trust me. You don't fall asleep on someone if you don't completely trust them." It was so sweet that it meant so much to him. I was certainly falling in love [despite the best efforts of a close friend - among others - to prevent this from happening, but that storyline may make an appearance in the future :)].

And I still have not seen the end of the movie, but I hear that it is awful.

Monthly Challenge Numero Tres: Writing Positivity [Take Two]

Sound familiar? Well, you are not going crazy, here is what happened.

After I committed to writing for one month about positive things with the intention of improving my world view [you can see the original blog post here], I wrote exactly nothing. Nothing.

So, here is my second chance at the experiment. This month I vow to write about uplifting, inspiring or simply positive subjects.

Wish me better luck this time ;)

Dreaming

I was recently listening to a podcast that was talking about how when one decides to design their own custom home, they go through every little detail so that the resulting house is precisely what they want and is tailored to their needs and desires, however one rarely takes that amount of time and thought to design their own life. The podcaster suggested that we take the time to design what our ideal life would be down to the details [i.e. more than just saying "I want a comfortable salary at a job I don't hate, a loving spouse and two healthy children"] So, here is my ideal life [for now, my plans have a way of changing.]

Ultimately my dream is to share a three to five acre homestead with Christian and two little Laws'. I want to grow the majority of our fruits and veggies. I want to raise chickens for eggs. I would love to have goats for dairy. I want to raise cows and rabbits for meat. I want to hunt buck for meat. I want to fish. I want to hand make our cosmetics like toothpaste, soaps and any other consumable. I want to have babies. I want those babies to be fed real food out of our garden. I want them to be happy. I want them to grow up in a place that they can rummage around and be filthy, weird kids like my sister and I were without me having to worry about them being picked off by some creep. I want to home-school them. Above all, I want our kids to grow up never doubting our love for them. I want Christian to be happy. I hope that Christian and I never forget how to snuggle. I want to feel the safety and tenderness of his arms forever. I want our house to be warm, friendly and welcoming to all, always. I want to grow enough food to donate to those who are hungry. I want to live in a way that our family is mostly self sufficient.

In the meantime I would love to enjoy my time in Bozeman with Christian. I want to go on more hikes. I want to snowshoe. I want to learn how to fish and hunt. I want to learn as much as I can about farming, homesteading, animal husbandry, whole living and natural parenting in the four years that Christian will be attending MSU. I want to shop at the co-op, get veggies from a CSA and just generally eat good quality food. I want to avoid pharmaceuticals of any kind as much as possible. I want to run a marathon and then participate in a triathlon. I hope Christian enjoys school. I want to cook with Christian frequently. I really just want to enjoy life and not just let the years pass me by without truly experiencing life.

Well, there it is. In a year I could look back on this and think I was crazy, but for now this is what I am working toward. I am excited about living life. I hope you are, too.