I first said “I love you” to Kolby nine years ago on Valentine’s Day. We were the ripe old age of 16. I remember every detail of where, when, how, and why. It’s one of my favorite memories.
His baggy jeans were no match for my butterfly hair clips.
We had a pretty low-key Valentine’s Day this year. We went to dinner at our very favorite restaurant and then came home to watch a movie. One of my favorite things about Kolby is that his idea of a hot date is the exact same as mine--- Mexican food and a relaxing evening at home. As I’ve said before, we live on the edge.
Now I’ll catch you up on all the equally edgy happenings since my last post.
We have had us some crazy winter weather around here lately. It was below freezing for four days straight, which is completely unheard of for this part of Texas. We got some rain and sleet right before that cold front came in, so the roads were frozen solid and Kolby had almost an entire week of snow days. I worked from home for three of those days, and I think we went more than 72 hours without leaving the house. It was a welcomed break, and Kolby was able to catch up on a lot of grad school work. We actually got quite a bit of snow on our last snow day. I tried to take some pictures of the family walk we took that morning, but I slipped and fell right off the bat so I had give up my idea of walking and snapping photos at the same time.
We don't have any winter gear so we basically just put on all the clothes we could find. And we used socks as gloves. Keepin' it classy.
Speaking of classy... check out those snow shoes.
Our little snow dog.
I promise my car isn't parked in the middle of our lawn. There is a driveway under there somewhere.
My fall that morning was really stupid and really painful. We were about 10 seconds into our walk when it started snowing really hard and I decided to run in the house and get a towel to cover my camera. Run being the unfortunate key word there. Because everything was covered with a thick soft blanket of snow, I totally forgot about the thick sheet of ice that lurked underneath. Not only was I running, I was running with plastic grocery bags covering my tennis shoes, ensuring I had absolutely zero traction. I don’t know what I was thinking. Anyway, I hit the top step of our porch and my legs just shot out from underneath me. Luckily I landed straight on my hip, which hurt really bad but kept me from breaking something (like my arm, tailbone or skull!). The bruise was so deep it didn’t show up until five days later and is showing no signs of going away anytime soon. Lesson learned.
Brad and Remy came over that afternoon and we celebrated the fact that they are having a baby BOY! I snapped a few pictures to help then announce the good news. His name is Tucker Bradley and I think he’s about the cutest thing in the world. It’s crazy how big he looks in the sonogram pics since babies weigh less than a pound at this point. We’re definitely thrilled to be having a nephew!
Then, everything thawed out in time for us to host a Super Bowl party with a few friends. When Brad was over that Friday before he commented that he didn’t think we’d have room for everyone to sit and watch the game. Kolby and I spent Sunday afternoon rearranging our entire living room to prove him wrong. It was a success--- the seating worked out fine and everyone had a great time.
Kolby dug our second TV out of a closet and set it up to where those in the kitchen could still watch the game. Lest we make people choose between food and football.
The girls definitely did not work a puzzle for most of the first half. That would be cheesy and juvenile.
I know it's bad form to post a picture this horribly blurry, but I had to show that Brad had a fancy recliner to sit in (one from my parents' house that he actually had at his college apartment for a few years, hence the gross greasy armrests from him eating chips and wiping his hands there). So he can eat his words about us not having room for everyone.
Life returned to normal on Monday, until we got home from work to discover Maya was missing. Our friend/roommate had let her out in the yard to play with his dog earlier in the afternoon and accidentally fell asleep because he wasn’t feeling well. Although Maya has never once dug out of the yard in the 1.5 years we lived there, I guess she succumbed to peer pressure. We found the other dog right away, but Maya was long gone. We searched everywhere for her until about 11pm, and had the most sinking feeling as we called it a night and went home. It was just above freezing outside and we’ve never lost her during winter before. I kept reminding myself that she was a stray for 2-3 years before we adopted her, so she definitely has what it takes to stay safe. But then I would see the plush orthopedic dog bed/couch in the corner of our bedroom and worry that she may have gotten a little soft over the four years we’ve been spoiling her :) I talked Kolby into dragging our twin guest bed onto the floor near our back door so I could sleep there and hear her if she came home and scratched at the door during the night. He laid down with me for a minute and we both fell asleep. It wasn’t the best sleep I’ve ever had (reminded me of when we shared a twin while we were in Ghana a few years ago!), with his legs taking up most of the bed to keep from hanging off by about 2’, but we were waking up before 5am to start the search again so it was a short and cozy night.
We made flyers and hung them up throughout the neighborhood, and I kept driving around looking for her after Kolby headed to school. I was really nervous to head to work because by the time we got home it would be almost dark and they were giving temperatures in the teens overnight with another big snowstorm rolling in. Just before 9am, right as I was entering a panic attack of already being late for work but needing to find Maya before it was too late, I got the call I had been waiting (impatiently) 18 hours for. Someone had found her only a few blocks away from our house. Hallelujah!
