Christmas 2013

Manly and I are almost all moved into our little Texas home and we got it all decorated for Christmas today!
I LOVE it!

A littler Closer up shot!

Christmas Tree!  The Girls came over and helped us decorate. It turned out awesome!

But this.... this is my favorite part of our Christmas decorations of all...

A little News.....

As you probably already know, our lives were recently filled with me sleeping 500 hours a day, days of struggling to keep crackers down, a constant seasickness in my wittle tummy and a few normal days which are AMAZING!!   The random cravings and gosh I CANNOT eat enough Chinese Food!! But above all... We are thrilled to be preparing for a little addition to our family in March!  =)   Now excuse me while I go spend some quality time with my bucket. ;-)  jk!  I actually feel pretty awesome at the moment!

Tomatoes

I have RED tomatoes!!!  I feel motherly... haha!   They are redder in real life than in the picture.

Our Garden/Patio

Spring makes me itch to grow something green...   Behold many hours of work, lots of free pallets and a few $2 drawers from the Habitat for Humanity Re-Store and plants from friends, Walmart plant clearance, and Ace Hardware's amazing plant sale...

Pallet boxes

 Manly has a nack for making things out of pallets... for free...   I love it!

First he used the skill saw going down the boards to cut the boxes off of the pallet.


Like so...

Then he nailed boards, from another pallet that he took apart, on to the bottoms with the threaded nails so that they wont come off with all the dirt in there. 

He then drilled holes in the bottoms to let water out and I planted in them... the finished project:

I LOVE them!!! I will probably take them with me whenever we move...

Little things that make my heart happy

 A contingent of my family came over for lunch today, a spur of the moment last night, bean burrito and chips and salsa type of lunch.   It just amazes me how many little thing can mean so much when you don't live with them regularly...

Several pairs of wet shoes in the hall...

 Mark's Army guys (soldiers and Indians)  being very very well loved.

 Our books being read and loved..

 All the chairs being filled and all the chitter chatter

 The table (extended with the leaf) covered in food..

 Foot massages.. WOW.. I tell you what .. my new favorite brother... I love him so much.. ;-)

Little girls with pearls down to their knees... ;-)

Uncles.. and nieces that love this poor neglected uncle.. ;-)

 Little people playing with the golf clubs and golf balls that we have gotten thanks to living next to a golf course...

 Kissy face girl..

The little Uncle was teaching her how to hit it.. she's pretty good...  Oh that little tongue sticking out in concentration!! LOVE it!

We pile... certainly a piling sort of family


And lastly but not least...

Socks without holes, the cup of coffee, the ring that means he's mine, and watching him rest. I love watching him rest after all he does for us... I'm so so so very blessed!

This picture...

...I'm in love with it...  I just cant get over it... I'm not sure if its the fact that we aren't "those" people in public but I always wanted one of "those" pictures because they capture a certain kind of love and that kind of love just floods through our relationship in so many little and big ways, but the little dancing in the kitchen, she sweet little comments, they way he looks in my eyes,  no one sees that but us and I love that... or the fact that I love the way this picture embodies the way he loves me...with such a strong manly and tender love and how he always is there to hold me.  I could go on but.. a picture says a thousand words... I think this one speaks volumes for its self.

Memorial Day (mostly just the babies)

 We Finished off our camping weekend with a trip to Michael and Sarah's for Memorial day.   All the little Hipps cousin's were together and gosh was it cute ... so stand by for some blurry cuteness.. these 3 are fast!!

 CANNOT get enough of that smile!!!!

Caroline SO busted sneaking pop... ;-)

Watching videos =)

Camping

Camping is an activity near and dear to both my and Manly's hearts.  Nothing like the great outdoors and tents and fires... everything tastes incredible over a fire... 

 As soon as we got there we cut a deal that I expect to be repeated for the rest of our camping life or at least till we have kids and they are old enough to help... he starts the fires.. I set up the tent. =)

Leave it to my honey to bring a saw and saw up broken brush for extra firewood. I love him...

 Awwww look at our little camp chairs... they are holding hands.... ;-)

 See, this man knows how to start up a fire!

I love campfires...

The first night it rained all night and was still raining in the morning... but Manly who bought our tent picked well because we were snug as two little bugs in a rug in there.

 Since it was still raining and a camp fire was out of the question, we ate cereal in our tent.. in our jammies, with bed head and loved it...

After our little breakfast we both fell asleep (don't you love sleep in mornings) and I prayed and prayed that it would stop raining, we woke up a few hours later and the sun was out and it didn't rain the whole rest of our camping trip!

 Our little campsite!!!

 We went swimming and paddleboating and all that fun stuff at the park, burnt ourselves to a crisp.. not as fun... ;-)

I LOVED our little tent, thus all the pictures of it... it was adorable and precious. ;-)

 Mr Chips and Salsa.. He's my favorite...

 There is nothing and I mean NOTHING that tastes as good as iced sweet peppermint tea on the great out doors.. I think we will make it a camping tradition.

For the records, air mattress pumps make an excellent fire fanning tool.. brilliance Honey!

 We had friends come out and spend Saturday evening with us where we roasted marshmallows and hot dogs and talked about like and stuff.. I didn't get any pictures of them though... just this incredibly roasted marshmallows.

 Sunday morning was the end of our camping trip, *I* started a fire.. with a fire started log and I melted my fingernail in the process (didn't even know you could DO that) and yes... there's a reason Manly starts the fires. I snuck out and let Manly sleep while I made sausage, eggs, potatoes and coffee over an open fire.. man.. I felt like a W-O-M-A-N!! ;-)

 Little thrills me more than the neatly packedness of the car... YES!!

It was an incredible memorial day weekend, I cannot wait to go camping with that hottie again!! ;-)