tribute to the LOVE OF OUR LIFE

Today our Man of the house, and will always be the only man of the house (besides our dog Oskar) turned 25.  We are so blessed to have him in our lives.  I wanted to list 25 things we love about him:

1. good looking

2. great daddy and best friend (couldn't have asked for anyone better to spend the rest of my life with and be the father of my children...he is WONDERFUL)
3. fantastic cook (check out his food blog http://themanfullmer.blogspot.com/ and become a follower)

4. knowledgeable

5. hard worker

6. entertaining

7. adventurous

8. love to cuddle with

9. can always make his daughter laugh

10. dedicated

11. willing to try new things

12. good listener

13. likes to garden (we both are perfecting this together)

14. full of surprises

15. clean person (not a slob)

16. appreciates everything we do for him

17. has a passion for educating others (esp. with archaeology or rocks or useless knowledge)

18. gift of learning the Navajo language

19. respect for other cultures/people different from him

20. motivator to read (i hate reading but love laying in bed next to him and reading separate books but at the same time)

21. entertaining

22. good taste in fashion (better then what he wore when we first met...tight brown pin striped pants with a blue dynamite shirt...gotta love your first days when you meet the love of your life)

23. caring

24. considerate of his families needs

25. loves to be with his family when he can with his crazy schedule (keeping fingers crossed that December is our month of luck)

for dinner I made hussle back potatoes, fresh corn on the cob with a garlic butter sauce and a salad and coke from our soda stream...Josh made steak and lobster to go with....it was yummy!

Josh doesn't like birthday cake so I made a double chocolate bread (turned out yummy) with a peanut butter frosting but next time I may leave that off and Adey wanted to put 12 candles in the cake: blue and yellow

(sorry it is side ways...gotta love blogger)

Here we are singing to Josh...Adey was kind of quiet but she really wanted to sing and wanted to help Daddy blow out the candles...she loves her daddy!

she loved the "cake" and I am so glad she is finally learning to smile for the camera

Such a good little mama

she loves taking care of babies and wanted to take her's for a walk today...can only imagine what it is gonna be like when her sissy Paisley is here:

just keeps getting warmer...

Today it hit over 80 degrees and I loved it...made me super excited for the summer and the pool and Adey's first birthday and camping and lakes and BBQ and the summer food and the arrival of Adey's sister Paisley.  Anyway, took Adey to the park and blew bubbles and Oskar for a walk (he definitely needs a summer hair cut) and picked up dandelions along the way.  I love how sweet Adey is and says "I picked these for you mom."  melts my heart every time!

sunshine+warmer weather= pool time

Adelynn is such a fish...we are finally getting a steady trend of warmer weather which means shorts, tanks, skirts, dresses, flip flops, sun glasses. and swim suits for this little one.  If I let her we would spend all day every day outside.  We spend quite a bit of time going to the park, taking Oskar for a walk, blowing bubbles, working on our small deck garden, play ball, riding her bike, and NOW....pool time on the deck.  Her is what fun we had today:

Chinle, Arizona

The main reason my dad came out was because Josh is in his 4th and final semester of Navajo (i don't know who is more excited Josh or I because then we are just one more step closer to that final day where he goes from student to graduate) and for his final project he headed to the Navajo reservation in Chinle, Arizona and my dad came along with him for the ride.  They left on a Friday for the 8ish hour drive and came home, as a surprise a day early, on Sunday night.  Although they experienced some cold, snow, bob cats, and more...they still had a good time and bonded and took some GREAT pictures:

Red Butte Gardens

My dad came in town for a visit and he loves to garden so we took a trip up to the university to visit the Red Butte Gardens.  It was a nice day filled beautiful flowers and scenery and we enjoyed a great walk and also found some ducks and geese to feed along the way.

the beginning of a few of the many flowers...Josh is getting so good at photography

aw...Adey already loves snuggling her sissy

she had fun "scaring" Grampy and Daddy...they were good champs and played along

just a few of the beautiful flowers

Grampy got us some duck/geese food and Adey and Josh had so much fun

beautiful waterfall

towards the end Adey was super tired...can you tell?

Dance like no body is watching...

Adey has been in dance class now for a few months and just LOVES (understatement) it...I think we will invest some of our money towards her passion (which makes mommy happy since I danced as a little girl and made my high school dance team a few years in a row).  At least this one we found is quite affordable, friendly, she gets to practice ballet, tap, ribbon and more...we have nothing but good words for this amazing studio.  Hope as we move and eventually settle down we can continue to find a place we are as pleased with!  but anyway...back to Adey's passion for dance.  She dances with daddy plays the guitar, dances with Just Dance 3 for our xbox kinnect, dances when music is playing in the house, the point is she always wants to dance.  Josh came to her class this past Monday and got to see her for the first time (at class) and he brought along the camera and got some good shots of our little star:

the star had time to pose with her momma before class

stretching...look at that beauty

dancing with ribbons (one of Adey's favorites)

trying on her first costume for her first recital...we are two proud parents

my garden...

I have decided to take a stab at gardening.  I have wanted to for a while but with todays foods...it is time to start even if it is small (we have already been working on cutting out processed foods, high fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeteners). It will take some time but I will eventually have a BIG garden one day with strawberries, tomatoes, green peppers, okra, zucchini, carrots, herbs, and much more.  For now this is what I have chosen to start with:

green pepper plants

2 different kinds of tomatoes...one is Cherokee and the other is Roma

Zoo trip yet again

We love having our zoo passes and will continue to get one yearly for how cheap they are and how often we go...Adey has such a big heart for animals and we always have so much fun as a family getting some fresh air and exercise while enjoying one of many of God's creations: