simply lovely series {part 5}

Here we are on {part 5} of my simply lovely blog series.  As promised, I've got another fun Q&A for you about marriage.  

How long have you been married?

34 years

What is an activity that you and your spouse enjoy doing together?

We enjoy traveling together, Lake LBJ, Pandale ranch, working out at the health club, Saturday morning breakfast, playing with our poodle Emmie

What is one thing your spouse does that makes you smile or laugh?

Laurie: Looking for something that is right in front of him.

Dennis: Laurie's pronunciation of words.

What is one thing your spouse does that makes you roll your eyes?

Laurie: Dennis starting a question with “have you seen?” 

Dennis: When Laurie says “we need to look at the calendar.”

Describe your spouse in a few words.

Laurie: Dennis is Faithful to God, wife, kids, friends & work.

Dennis: Laurie is agreeable and happy.

What advice do you have for newlyweds?

Don’t take stuff too seriously:  Laugh

Is there anything from your first year of marriage that really stands out that you'll never forget?

Laurie: Our first anniversary was spent with his parents at the ranch, small house one room and an outhouse.

Dennis: Bringing home my first turkey from a hunt and not being able to clean it at the kitchen sink. 

What is one thing you wish you would have been told before you got married?

 Change yourself not the other person, Being committed does not mean you cannot pursue your own gifts and interest;  encourage one another; marriage would become very dull & boring if each committed partner never allowed the other to soar, I believe time spent apart on is healthy, this can be through work or other interest.  For Dennis his passion is hunting; mine is needlepoint, MahJongg, being with family and friends.

Thanks so much Laurie and Dennis for your awesome answers!  Mr. H and I are so blessed to have a wonderful example of a godly husband and wife.  Coming from a divorced family, I don't have a good example of how a godly marriage works.  I am thankful that we have you to look to for advice when it comes to marriage.  You have set a great example for you kids and spouses.  I am also so grateful for the example Dennis has give to Mr. H on how to be a godly husband and father.  He has made an awesome husband and I know someday he will make the best dad to our kids.  

I hope you enjoyed this fun Q&A.  I'm going to be sharing pictures from our special day, 9.10.11.  I am so excited to share my favorite pictures from our wedding.  It's hard to believe we'll be coming up on a year in a few weeks!  Wow!!

simply lovely series {part 3}

Here we are on {part 3} of my simply lovely blog series.  As promised, I've got a fun Q&A for you about marriage.  I'll be doing a few of these over the course of the series.  I'll be asking the same questions to each person so it will be interesting to see how the answers differ.  Each couple will also have been married for a different period of time so it will also be interesting to see the difference.  

How long have you been married?

17 years

What is an activity that you and your spouse enjoy doing together?

Activity?!  Hmmm….Oh yes, those fun things that we get to do when we are not playing taxi drivers for our children.  NAP!  Ha, just kidding.  We enjoy watching movies, working in the yard, cooking and playing games.  Our favorite games to play are Mexican train and yahtzee.  

What is one thing your spouse does that makes you smile or laugh?

He has a great sense of humor…most of what he does makes me laugh or just shake my head.  We joke and say that he is one very large middle school boy.   He makes up funny voices for our 3 dogs.  He pretends like they are talking to each other or us…they have accents and everything.  Too funny! 

What is one thing your spouse does that makes you roll your eyes?

Along with making up voices for the dogs, he occasionally wants to make up songs that he also proceeds to sing.  They usually have the basic same tune of “O Christmas tree” but they are terrible!!  He enjoys embarrassing me in public by singing them or walking in a weird way.  I tend to get “lost” when we are in stores.  

Describe your spouse in 5 words.

Christ-seeking, discerning, funny, social and a leader

What advice do you have for newlyweds?

Keep Christ at the center of your marriage covenant.  Pray and worship together.  Don’t “shelve” your single friends, but monitor their feelings about marriage. When there are tough times and you get upset with your spouse (yes, it will happen!), you need a friend who will listen that has the same ideas of a marriage covenant as you do.  Godly couple friends and a mentor are wonderful to have.  Also, be careful not to criticize your spouse to others—it can create a huge wedge of distrust.  

Is there anything from your first year of marriage that really stands out that you'll never forget?

We were both very selfish and often thought of only our own families and traditions.  This was and still can be difficult around the holidays.  We wanted to hang on to the way things were growing up and didn’t really follow the scripture about clinging to each other as one instead of our parents.  We had to come to the realization that we are our own family with new traditions and figured out a way to blend them.  We needed to consider each other’s histories and not just our own. 

Money is another big one, we thought it was a good idea to have separate accounts and split bills.  Wrong!  It may work for some but I found that it only divided us.  It is God’s money that He has entrusted to us and we work together on how to spend it and to tithe.  It doesn’t matter who makes more, we are a team.  

What is one thing you wish you would have been told before you got married?

I wish that I had been told that men smell bad and mess up the covers on the bed.  No, seriously….I wish that I would have known that just because he is grumbling and mad does not mean that he is mad at me.  I took so many things personally when he was just mad and that it had nothing to do with me. 

Thanks so much Christy for your awesome answers!  I totally agree with you about your advice for newlyweds.  You and Dennis are truly a couple Mr. H and I look up to in so many ways; however, the one thing we see in both of you is your love for the Lord.  Elisabeth and Garret are so lucky to have parents who's foundation is in Christ and who set a great example.  Love y'all!  p.s. I'm excited you'll be coming to town tomorrow and looking forward to seeing you this weekend!!!


I hope you enjoyed this fun Q&A.   On a another note....tomorrow's my BIRTHDAY!!  I'm so excited because I took the day off of work and I'll be spending the afternoon with my mom.  Then Mr. H will be taking me out to dinner at a fancy restaurant.  I've got several gifts waiting for me, but I'm going to open them tomorrow.  It's like Christmas!!  :)


Happy WEDNESDAY!

who wants cookies?

I hope everyone had a great Father's Day weekend!  Mr. H and I had a wonderful weekend spending time together.

Friday night are usually always the same: pizza (out or in) and TV or a movie.  This Friday Mr. H rented This Means War with Reese Witherspoon.  I'd give this movie a two thumbs up.  We enjoyed the comedy and action.  My favorite scene was Reece dancing and signing in the kitchen.  She's just the cutest thing!

Saturday was a fun day.  Mr. H and I spend the entire day together.  I love days like that.  Mr. H ALWAYS wakes up before me and usually on the weekends he'll make me breakfast (if we don't go get brunch).  I woke up to Mr. H in the kitchen making me breakfast.  He's just the best!

I talked Mr. H into going to the mall!  He hates the mall so he went out of love.  It was a successful trip for us both.  Mr. H found a few things at J. Crew and I picked up a pair of white linen pants at Gap and a cute tunic from Forever 21.  I've always wanted a pair of white linen pants so when I saw them for only $16.99 I knew I had to have them!  What a steal, right!

Mr. H wanted to make us and my dad sugar cookies for Father's Day.  He's a great baker and has made these before.  I wanted him to make chocolate chip cookies, but he was determined to make what HE wanted.  Ha.  Whatever, there're sweet...so clearly I'll eat them!!!  This recipe is from William Sonoma and they are outstanding!  They are soft sugar cookies-nothing better...well except chocolate chip.  

Sunday we celebrated Father's Day be going to church with my dad, sister and brother-in-law and then we had my dad over for lunch and cookies.  We played a few games of Mexican train and I totally dominated!

(I was soooooo bummed I forgot to get a picture with my dad on Father's Day!!!  Uggggg.)

I'm excited for this week.  My cousin and her daughter are coming to Dallas for a modeling expo and we'll get to see them once or twice.  Then it's my sister's birthday on Thursday.  Then we have a wedding to go to on Friday.  It's going to be a busy, fun week!

Guess what?  The wonderful Sheila over at The Failte House asked me to guest post about Love Languages.  Check it out.  Thanks Sheila for having me I'm so thrilled you asked me to be a guest blogger!

Happy Monday FRIENDS!!