Weekends, I Prefer the Weekends!

Getting married on Labor Day weekend was the greatest marital decision we ever made. Well, that and the whole “let’s have a gaggle of kids” thing.
My biggest reason for hiring a housekeeper was so the house would be in smart working order when my brother in law and his new gorgeous wife came to stay overnight and watch our wee ones. My husband whisked me an hour away to The England House, of which I’ve gushed about before. Lots of times before.
We stayed in a different room this time, and it was equally as amazing. My husband is so sweet and understand and indulging when it comes to whisking me away. Sure, we only went an hour from home. But where I’m at now, I can look out my window and see desert, brown, and desert. From my window in The England House I can see pine trees, mountains, and pine trees. It’s like being a world away. Isn’t that one of the greatest things about living in Arizona? There’s forest, desert, palm trees, The Grand Canyon… it’s awesome!
Our room was half part of the original house and half part of an addition. The original balcony was made into a room -so we actually had two rooms all to ourselves.
There’s no TV, so we spent an hour of Friday night sitting in the Balcony Room just visiting.
The Balcony Room (I loved the extra day bed!):

We talked about the last 8 years, our kids, our respective jobs, cracked jokes, and listened.
Our phones didn’t ring. No one knocked on our door. There was no Netflix streaming in the background -it was just us.
Danny took me to eat at The Outback Steakhouse. I’d never been before, and so it was a new experience for me. All I want is seafood, and neither of us actually ordered steak from The Steakhouse… mostly because we have steak at home that we love and steak from steakhouses never seems to satisfy us the way our homegrown steak does.
I ordered crab filling topped tilapia. He ordered chicken.
But the best part of the meal was my husband’s clam chowder. It was like eating Venus -the Roman goddess of Love and Beauty.
My husband took me shopping and bought me a new outfit!
We went to the tiny mall in the city, and we just walked around… wandered in and out of stores, pretended not to hear the people standing at the kiosks wondering if we had enough time to evaluate our current beauty routines. My husband’s legs were sore from a work out he’d done a few days prior, so I found him a comfy chair to sit it.
It was total coincidence that it just happened to be plunked down in the middle of Motherhood Maternity.
“You sit here, poor baby,” I cooed and rubbed his back, “And I guess I’ll just… shop around.”
I honestly didn’t plan on buying anything, but much to my delight I discovered that Motherhood now makes and sells LONG maternity jeans for only $30! I’ve spent years scouring the Internet for long maternity jeans! Old Navy carries some, but they’re barely long enough and the belly band sits right on my bladder. Not only that, but the jeans are constantly slipping down because I have no butt to pick them up.
My poor husband, marrying a long-legged lady with no torso or butt, but man shoulders to beat the band!
I tried their jeans on, and it was all over. For $30, I couldn’t resist! Other long maternity jeans I’d found online were $300! I’m going to be pregnant in the middle of winter, so buying new pants was a no brainer for me.
But then he also bought me the cutest new shirt… and some ginger massage oil for my growing belly. I was completely spoiled!
Clam chowder AND a new outfit? It was like a Pregnant Dream Come True.

Saturday morning, we had breakfast… I was hoping it would be ham, cheese, and apple croissants…

…and it was! Also, I’m pretty sure we ate breakfast with the guy who plays Creed from “The Office.” See the man behind my lover?

After breakfast, we walked around an art fair:

Took a quick stroll downtown to snag a picture of me in front of The Hotel Monte Vista which is the hotel that both frightens and excites me all at once. It’s HAUNTED. It’s REALLY haunted. John Wayne met a bell man ghost there once, and I know it’s true because John Wayne never, ever, ever lies.
I want to stay there someday. Also: I never want to stay there.

We love downtown Flagstaff -we never get bored with it, and if we ever do we can always book a room at The Hotel Monte Vista.

My husband is so nice about my love of Old Things and The Past. He so sweetly books us a room at the historic England House once a year, and I just love soaking up the old furniture, the old bricks… everything! The England House is RIGHT next to downtown (but are enough away that we miss all the noise), and downtown is full of Old Things and The Past as well! It makes me all smiley and giddy and fluttery to read see all the old paintings and bask in the atmosphere of What Once Was.
I love that about my husband. What I love even more than that is that he actually enjoys it. It isn’t a huge sacrifice on his part. We enjoy it together.
On our walk back to The England House, we stopped to look at a Trading Post and saw a huge display of cast off wedding rings.
It was like sad, deep art. Look. Look at this entire display of individual stories of lost hopes, dreams… the rings were once so happy on so many fingers. And then, one day, they weren’t so happy and they ended up in a trading post.

I also snapped a picture of some cuff bracelets. My Dad used to buy me turquoise cuff bracelets when I was a little girl. I loved them.

We walked back to The England House to pack up:

Said, “See ya soon,” to the owners… they’ll never be rid of us… and then we went grocery shopping by ourselves. If you have kids, you know how exciting it actually was to walk inside Sam’s Club with just a cart and another adult.
Weeeee!!!!
It also rained on us. It rains on us every Labor Day weekend, and I LOVE it! It rained on our wedding day, so when I saw drops on my dirty jeep windshield, it made me so stinking happy.

We came home to our lovely kiddos, and after a few hours rest were able to spend a few hours with some cousins we don’t get to see very often.

Sunday morning, we made it church… my son embarrassed me at the podium by bossing me around when I tried to pull him away from the microphone because he was so close it was giving loud obnoxious feedback…
“MOM… STOP IT…”
We left church and went straight to Grandpa Click’s 80th birthday party!

Is it just me, or do those two look alike?
A quick collage:

After his birthday bash, we dropped Danny off at home and the kids and I took off with Grandpa Hansen to play with horses. My Uncle Marlin and Aunt Jennifer (Mom’s brother and his wife) were here visiting and I wanted to see them!
When we were little kids, we couldn’t wait for Uncle Marlin and Aunt Jennifer to come and visit. They always were the most fun. Sometimes they brought floating coins with them. Sometimes they made chocolate pies… and once they even brought “Beauty and The Beast” on VHS, when it FIRST came out.
Blinding fun for kids, they are.

Dad’s horse, Ribbon (? right, mom?) decided Aunt Jennifer needed a back rub. Or maybe the mare just liked Aunt Jennifer’s conditioner.
And forgive me father, for I have posted a picture of your behind:

But I just love how well it illustrates my long legs/man shoulders point. My Uncle Marlin is a little taller than my Dad, but look how much longer Dad’s legs are! I love it!
Now. Dad. I challenge you to find maternity pants that fit you! It’s not an easy ball game.
Oh, and I get my shoulders from my Dad. Or maybe from hoeing corn. Either way, shoulder pads are no friend of mine.
After spending some time getting cozy with the horses (thank you, Smokette, for letting me scratch your neck and pat the dust from your back), we headed out to Woodruff for the tail end of the Smith/Gardner Family reunion.

We ate watermelon fresh from Grandpa Max’s garden and then we indulged in homemade ice cream. A dust storm eventually chased all of us inside where Grandpa Max told me that between all of the children and grandchildren and great grandchildren… there was nearly 100 of us.
That’s a lot of ice cream.
And diapers.

Good job, Granny and Grandpa.
A quick collage:

We came home and just… crashed. Thank GOODNESS for Labor Day! We’re all still rambling around this morning in our PJs. Today we’ll muck up the mess from this weekend, and then we’ll head out for some fishing.

Hope you’re having a great day!