Ice ice baby...

We had a wicked awesome ice storm here on Saturday. Our day started out with sleeping in crazy late because we could, and we never get the chance to do that so we take advantage of it at every opportunity. However, when we actually decided to get out of bed, I stood up and my back hurt so incredibly bad. I had a crazy pinched nerve in my lumbars so I about shot through the roof from searing pain every time I had to bend over or sit down. So we made a phone call to Palmer and the told us they would be able to get me in if I came in right away.

So Dean and I threw on our socks and shoes and dashed out the door only to find that our car was covered in 1/4 inch frozen ice. It took a good 5 minutes to get it even partially chipped off in the areas that Dean HAD to see through. Then as we're driving, it was still pouring down freezing rain, we had to pull over and de-ice one more time. It was awesome. Anyways, we made it to Palmer, I got adjusted, and I felt great.

Fast forward 2 hours to Dean and I at Sam's Club. We figured we'd try there because we thought they'd have good deals on coats, which they didn't. Anyways, I was in a silly mood and I busted out with a cartwheel in the middle of an aisle, and as I was finishing it I heard and felt something pop in my lower back. I pretty much undid my adjustment, and I was in pain the rest of the day and part of the day today. So no more Sam's Club cartwheels for me.

Anyways, Dean and I had a good old time yesterday together. We went to lunch at Panera's, shopped at Kohl's, Dick's Sporting Goods, Sam's Club, Walgreen's, and CVS. And every time we came out of a store Dean had to ice scrape all of our windshields again. He was a good Samaritan and helped a girl whose car had been sitting in the freezing weather for 8 hours and was absolutely coated in ice. She was so grateful because it would have taken her forever to do it herself. Dean is such a service oriented guy, and I admire that so much about him. He would be the guy to stop to help you change a flat tire on the side of the freeway. That's a real man to me.

Anywho, by the time we went to Schnuck's, one of the grocery stores here, my lower back was absolutely DYING and I just needed to lie down. The pain was starting to radiate down my legs and that is never good. So we headed on home and I promptly laid down on our couch for 5 consecutive hours. I felt bad because I had to skip out on a baby shower I wanted to go to, but I would have just gone there and laid on their couch while the mom-to-be opened her presents on the floor and that wouldn't have been fun for anybody. So I just had Dean take her present to Palmer with him today because she's a student there.

So yeah, it's still freezing here. It was 18 degrees this morning and is supposed to get that low again tonight. Bring it on Mother Nature, bring it on!

1/4 inch thick ice coated our entire car. It was awesome.

Chip chip chip away baby. It's paid off buying a good ice scraper.

He's such a worker bee.

You can't see his face. I think he's the Grimm Reaper.

Disgusting praying mantis...

Umm, so that nasty praying mantis was outside of Dean's school. It tried to sit in on a class but it got kicked out once it tried to eat another students head.

The happiest day of my life...

October 8, 2005. The happiest day of my life. Can you tell from the picture?...

Sorry it's a little grainy. It looks better if you click on it to enlarge it.

Movie marathon weekend...

Since it was Thanksgiving weekend, and Dean and I both knew that we wouldn't be doing too terribly active because of the crazy amount of turkey that we ate, we figured we'd catch up on all the movies that we've missed...

This was the one movie we went to the theater to see this weekend. We LOVED Enchanted up until the last 15 minutes of it. It just didn't end how we thought it was supposed to. Anyhow, it was cast PERFECTLY. Seriously, every person in that movie was born to play their part. It was adorable, and the princess and her mannerisms were hilarious. Definitely recommend it to anyone.

Dean was dying to see Live Free or Die Hard in the theaters but we never made it to it. So we rented it, and now I'm kicking myself even harder for not having seen it in the theater. It's a total guy-shoot-em-up-and-magically-turn-a-pimento-olive-into-a-nuclear-warhead-at-the-last-second kind of movie, but it was actually pretty good. Dean loved it, and I don't think he blinked more than 4 times throughout the whole movie for fear that he would miss something.

Not as good as Ocean's 11. WAY better than Ocean's 12. It was okay, but we would never pay money to own it.


So cute. I actually fell asleep in the middle of it because I had just eaten, but Dean actually woke me up a couple of times from laughing out loud during it. It's definitely one that we'll buy for our kids someday.

Yuck. Boring. Long. That's all I have to say about it. Dean, on the other hand, loved it. I think it's because he's such a guy, and since it was a true story, he loves to picture himself as the main character in it escaping a prison camp and surviving in the Vietnam jungle for 2 months all the while evading the Vietkong.

Black Friday....

Dean and I decided that we were going to join the throngs of Tryptophan recovering shoppers at the unholy hour of 3:30AM on Black Friday in order to get an extra 48 cents off a 52 inch plasma tv. Well, we weren't really going for the plasma tv, but we were wanting some new pillows for our bed, and possibly some new sheets.

We hit the snooze button on the alarm about 76 times and finally slithered out of bed at 4:15AM. We wanted to get to Kohl's because they had 500 thread count sheets on sale and also these overstuffed pillow for $4 each. Yeah, by the time we got there at 4:30AM the checkout line was wrapped completely around the store and winding through the main aisles. I immediately knew that neither Dean or I were kosher with standing in line for 2 hours just to get 2 pillows and sheets, which they were all out of by the time we got there.

So after moseying around for a little bit and laughing/being annoyed at the pushy grumpy shoppers, we decided to try another couple of stores. We went to Walgreens because I saw this digital keychain that I was dying to get. If I was to get any Christmas present at all, that is what I had wanted. It's an Innovage digital keychain and it holds 60 pictures that you can scroll through or have show at random. I love looking at pictures, and I figured it'd be a good thing to have when I'm bored at seminars or whatnot. Anyways, we went to go buy it at 6AM but apparently the Walgreen's sale didn't begin until 7AM. The keychain was only going to be $10 so we figured we'd come back and get it later on in the day.

So then we headed over to Younker's which is sort of like a Macy's. Just an upscale store. They had lots of good deals going on there and they too had the much coveted keychain but it was going for $20 instead of the regular $50. So we just browsed around there and then decided that we were going to go home and take a nap and then come back out shopping once we woke up.

Big mistake. Seriously, every single thing we had our eyes on that we even remotely wanted was gone by the time we woke up (11AM) and went back out. We went to 4 different Walgreen's looking for the keychain but they had sold out within 2 hours. Younkers was still jam packed and they were out of theirs too. Only the $100 sheet sets were left and there is no way we are paying $100 for sheets while we are students.

We did buy some face lotion that I needed and a couple of buy one get one free makeup things but that was all. Dean was so mad/disappointed that we didn't just stay up and wait until 7AM for the Walgreen's sale because he know how badly I wanted that darn keychain. Oh well, we learned what not to do this year.

It was fun though, and we did have a good time most of the time. I'll bet we even do it again next year.

4:15AM Dean and chelle sleepy faces.

Kohl's in its jam packed glory at 4:30AM

Us about to walk into Kohl's. I love how crazy sleepy Dean's eyes look. And me, well, I just look like a slack jawed nut.

This is the much coveted digital keychain that I desperately wanted, but apparently so did every other person in the tri-state area.

Grateful...

The Turner Clan at dinner. I am so grateful for them

He is such a Turkey-slicin'-stud. I am grateful we had a delicious turkey.

But most of all...

...I am grateful for him.

Dean is everything that is good in my life, and he is more than I ever even knew I needed or wanted. I don't know why I have been blessed with such a wonderful and exemplary husband, but I thank my Heavenly Father for him each and every day.

I love you Dean. You are my life.

And VOILA!..

Dean, Jeff, Julie, Lily (their adorable baby), and I had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner together. Jeff and Julie brought rolls, fruit, deviled eggs which were divine, yams, and pie, which Dean and I were very grateful for. Dean and I made the turkey, mashed potatoes, greenbean casserole, gravy, and stuffing. It was the perfect meal, and we have tons of leftovers even after sending leftovers home with Jeff and Julie. Dean looks forward to Thanksgiving all year long, and this year we wanted to have it in our home so it would have a more relaxed atmosphere. We had a blast making everything, and Dean didn't even get stressed out. He's a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to cooking and he's all about presentation and everything being done just right, and he didn't even stress out at all. I was so proud of him.

My remarkably handsome husband gettin ready to carve his very first turkey.

Look at how concentrated he looks and how careful he is being...

Awwww, we have such wonderful friends and feel honored that Jeff and Julie and Lily spent Thanksgiving with us. Julie even went and did a 5 mile Turkey Trot that morning and did really well in it so she was a starvin girl. Lily wanted to be part of the festivities too so Jeff was quite talented at feeding her and managing to get a bite for himself inbetween feeding Lil.