True or False:

The thermometer on my car got up to 121 degrees today. Yikes!

MB + CB = <3

(I'm still behind on my blogging, but I am trying to catch up. Here is another late entry...) .

We celebrated our third anniversary on April 29th. Three years - can you believe it?!?! In some ways the last three years have absolutely flown by and in other ways it seems like we've been man and wife so much longer. .

I love this picture. I don't remember what made us crack up so much here, but I love both of our expressions. I also love that we still make these faces on a very regular basis. No one can make me laugh like Casey and I hope that no one can make him laugh like me. We have fun together and I think that is such a crucial part of our relationship.

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To celebrate our first 1095 days of wedded bliss we went out to a nice dinner at a fabulous restaurant - Wildfish Seafood Grille. When we made our online reservation we mentioned that we were celebrating our anniversary. They greeted us as Mr. & Mrs. Babendure (they even pronounced our name correctly) and offered their congratulations as they seated us at our table covered in red rose petals. So romantic! We indulged in some incredible wine and scrumptious food (scallops - my favorite) and just when we thought we couldn't consume anything more they brought out our complimentary dessert - rum soaked pineapple upside down cake, flambeed at our table, served with butter pecan ice cream. Heaven! They even wrote out "Happy Anniversary" in chocolate on the serving platter. What a perfect ending to a perfect meal.

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At this point we were running a little late for the show. We bought tickets to the third installment of a comedy series we love - Late Night Catechism III: 'Til Death Do Us Part. We had originally planned on driving to the theater but after we had a little more wine than we had planned on with dinner we decided to walk. Well, run/walk as we were cutting it kind of close. My feet didn't enjoy this so much in heels but we made it on time! The show was hilarious and centered around marriage which was of course the theme of our night.

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I love being married and there is no one else I'd rather be married to.

Casey I love you and look forward to the rest of our life together!

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Quilting Fun

I spent the weekend sewing, looking out at the mountains and at the deer that came right up to the window. See him there behind my machine?

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So yeah, here is a post that should have been written, oh 2 months ago. I know they say better late than never, but YIKES! Anywho, back in April I had the awesome opportunity to hang out with the ladies in Casey's family and a few of their friends at a quilting retreat at his Aunt Sharon's beautiful home in Buena Vista, Colorado. Mountains + Family + New Friends + Sewing = FUN! I had never really quilted before so I wasn't sure what to bring to work on at this quilting retreat. (I did take a beginning quilters class this spring, but that turned out to be semi-disastrous.) So I decided that because I was going to be surrounded by people who are much more experienced than I myself I would take advantage of their knowledge and skills. I brought a kit for a colorful table runner that my grandma had given me for Christmas. It was a small enough project that I thought I could get completely finished in one weekend so that I could go through all the steps with help nearby if needed. And lo and behold my plan worked - I actually finished it. I even did free motion quilting! That part was sooooo fun. I actually made a quilt! It's a small quilt/large table runner. I'm still not sure what to do with it - it's currently sitting in the guest room/sewing room awaiting the perfect location. Besides all of the sewing we also took walks in the evenings and ate some TASTY food. One of the best parts of the trip was being up in the mountains. The change of scenery was very welcome after the last year and a half in Arizona. We even got snow! And of course, it goes without saying that it was wonderful to spend time with so many wonderful women. I especially enjoyed road-tripping with Aunt Kate. Good times, good times.

A bird's eye view of the creative chaos.

Kassi contemplating block placement.

All the ladies with their finished projects.

Aunt Kate showing us her torci (sp?).

We wore Carol out.

Kassi celebrating that she finally got those dang triangles right.

Dee showing off her baby quilt.

These are the fabulous, colorful, energizing fabrics for my project.

Work in progress.

I did it!

bliss

summer night windows down radio blaring tasty treat witty banter favorite person perfect night

A Night of Culture

The other night Casey and I grabbed some Chinese take out for dinner. We brought it home and were channel surfing trying to decide what to watch when we came across a PBS special with Yo-Yo Ma featuring a father-daughter singing duo from Azerbaijan. It struck me as we were sitting there how amazing it is that we live in a time where we have such easy access to other cultures. What a wonderful (and delicious) thing. As a child growing up in the 1930's in the rural midwest, I'll bet my grandma could never have imagined such a scene. I'm glad we have these awesome opportunities.

The Emerald City

The Birthday Boy and Birthday Girls

Last weekend I went up to Seattle for a birthday celebration extravaganza! My birthday was the third, my brother Ben's was Wednesday, and his girlfriend Kim's was May 31st. My mom and Todd flew up to join in the fun. Plus, since Todd is a HUGE baseball fan and we all love going to a pro game every now and again, we went to not one but two Mariners games. There was no huge bash or anything planned - mostly just spending time together. My dad lives in Seattle, too, so I got to see him for the first time in almost a year (far too long!). At the game on Friday I also got to see some of Nicki's family - Aunt Janet, Aunt Gale, and Gabby & Gracie were there. It was so great to see them all! It was a wonderful weekend but the only thing missing was Casey. He had to stay home and work on school stuff :-(

We stayed at Ben & Kim's place which I haven't seen since Ben moved into it a few years ago. He's done a ton of work and it looks great! Since we don't currently own our house and I can't play with it too much I had fun coming up with ideas for his next project: the kitchen.

Here are some highlights from the trip:

of course, the Mariners games

The Todd, Mom, Ben, Kim, Me

Aunt Janet, Aunt Gale, and, um Gabby, or uh Gracie?

The guy sitting in front of us at the game on Friday night had the most rockin' hairdo ever. Not just a rat tail - but the updated side rat tail. On a grown man. In 2009. Eek!

Sunday night we ate dinner at the Crabpot at the pier. It was definitely a unique dining experience. It was fun to eat food right from the middle of the table to laugh at your family wearing bibs. Gotta love that they give you a mallet, too. Kim and I had some issues with our dinner looking back up at us from the table but we managed to overcome them and enjoy our seafood spread.

Dad, Stanley, The Todd, Mom, Ben, Kim

More highlights were buying a new Craigslist fridge with Ben after waking up to a water-filled kitchen on Saturday morning; eating the best ice cream ever at Molly Moon's in Wallingford (mmm...salted caramel); driving by my old dorm, apartment, and townhouse on Queen Anne; walking along Alki Beach after a super delicious home made dinner at Dad's; and going for a ride in Ben's sweet Audi TT.

Of course the best part (cue cheesy music now) was having fun with Ben, Kim, Mom, Todd, Dad, and Stanley. Good times, good times. Can't wait to go back - and bring my hubby with me!

New 'do

Every year I grow my hair out and then chop it all off in the spring. I told myself this year would be different, that I would keep my long hair for at least another year. Why? I'm not sure. I guess the real answer was why not? But once again I decided that it was time for a trim when I found myself pulling my hair into a ponytail every. single. day. Going to work? Pony tail. Going to the store? Pony tail. Going out for a fancy anniversary dinner? Pony tail. (You only think I'm kidding...) I finally broke down and last week went in to get a new 'do. So far I'm loving it. What do you think?

Ketchup? Catsup? Catch Up

Hello everyone! I'm back from Seattle where I had a FABULOUS time and I have a few, okay a ton, of things to update you all about. Nine to be exact. Not that I'm so lame that I had to make myself a list or anything (cough, cough). Don't worry faithful readers, I won't torment, bore, or overwhelm you with all of these things at once. My plan is to do a post or two a day as I have the time. I may have to take a break to, you know, work and whatnot, but I will write these posts!

Happy Dance

I'm headed out the door here shortly to catch a plane to Seattle! I'm going to spend the weekend with my family - looking forward to staying at Ben and Kim's place and enjoying time with some of my most favorite people ever! Back next week...