Valentine's Day 2009

One of the things I have always loved about Jessi is how practical she is. Some ladies out there would be offended if their husband had never took them out on Valentine's day in 9 years. Not Jessi, she is a real trooper.

Hehe ok ok we have never gone out on Valentine's Day because we always go out the week before or after to miss the crowds.

This year we decided to completely destroy a Plaza giftcard we had and enjoy a feast at the Melting Pot on Ward Pkwy.

We arrived in the freezing cold and they showed us to the private room I had booked in advance. Complete with a half dozen roses and a custom bottle of the finest sparkling cider.

We started with a delicious spinach and artichoke fondue that we dipped veggies and fresh rye, pumpernickle, and sourdough bread chunks into.

Then we had a very tasty cobb salad with all the good stuff.

A piping hot bowl of coq au vin arrived (a boullion with red wine and mushrooms, garlic, onion and other stuff in it) and we were treated with center cut filet mignion, terriyaki sirlion, chicken, shrimp, and salmon among lots of tasty veggies and a plethora of tasty dipping sauces.

To finish it all off we had a chocolate fondue which was covered in melted marshmallow and then swirled with graham cracker crumbles. They poured liquid fire into it to sizzle it all together and we dipped strawberries, cheesecake, bananas, pound cake, rice krispy treats, and other wonderful bits into the lavishly prepared molten smore concoction.

Yeah we had to be rolled out of the restaurant doors ;)

Happy 9th Valentine's Day baby!

And the next American Idol is.....

Hailing from Kansas City, Missouri the hometown of previous winner David Cook. Our next American Idol is RYAN KINGSBURY wooohoooo!!!

It's about time

So Jessi and I got a bit tired of using card tables as office furniture. We decided it was time to make the leap to ..... Actual Desks! ...... Wow. We also thought it might be nice to have access to our office while we watched Ryan instead of only when he's napping. So we headed to Nebraska Furniture Mart and barely got out with our lives.... and wallets..

Hmm looks kind of empty in here.....

Every desk we looked at I carefully asked the sales person, "They don't have this item in clearance do they?". I asked for two important reasons, 1. NBFM tends to place perfectly good furniture in clearance when they get new display pieces in. and 2. Because if we travel to the clearance area we are bound to buy something.

Guess what! A new matching kitchen table! It's actually beautiful and I love it. Our old table now graces the Ransoms house where it looks magnificent in their dining area.

The Greatest Trick..

The greatest trick the devil ever played was convincing the world he didn't exist.. Verbal Kint - Usual Suspects.

The greatest trick I've ever seen "played" in a firestation happened tonight. And I've seen my share.

We realized today that one of our fellow stationmates Matt Vela had taken 4 work days off in a row (approx 2 weeks). We thought this was strange as he hadn't mentioned any vacation plans.

As an entire station we tried and tried to think of what he could be doing. Our imaginations are often much better than the truth, so after much deliberation we decided that we would probably see him on the side of the road picking up trash in an orange jumpsuit paying his debt to society over the next 2 weeks.

That settled, one of the guys gave him a call to rub it in and see if we could come take pictures. He told us that he was just taking a few days off and was going to stop by the station later that evening.

Imagine the suprise on our faces when he walked in with a 3 day old baby. 3 DAYS OLD. Not only 3 days old but actually 9 months + 3 days if you include tummy time.

Matt Vela had played the greatest trick of all time. He had kept the fact that his wife Beth was pregnant from the entire Fire Department for 9 months. We had no idea, we were completely speechless. Nobody believed him at first. Then we realized that nobody in their right minds would let him out of the door with their 3 day old.

Here is a picture of the beautiful baby girl he brought to see us. Lily Rhea Vela - 8lbs 3oz - 21"

Born January 25th at 5:09 am

Stranger in my house

You think you know someone. You give them almost 10 years of your life and in return you hope that... actually you expect that they have revealed to you the whole of their person. There shouldn't be any secrets, no skeletons waiting in the closets, no mysteries yet to be unveiled.

Marraige is supposed to be like Christmas. Your excited about unwrapping the presents but you pretty much already know what your going to get.

That being said I had no idea my wife had a secret.

A secret so dark, so repressed, soooo crafty.... Yes I said it, "crafty".

I came home one day to find paint in my house. Not the kind that you occasionally roll on a wall to keep your house looking like a pottery barn catalogue. Noooo not that kind. The kind of paint that comes in tubes and little bottles. The type that is applied with precision and little brushes.

"This must be some kind of mistake" I thought. Maybe she had a friend over while I was at work and it had fallen out of her bag. Yeah that's it!

That's when the secret side trips to Hobby Lobby started.

The whispered phone conversations .....acrylics....oils......

I knew the end was near....

Now I sit here surrounded by soiled newspaper splattered with various colors of paint, canvas's waiting for the grace of a paint filled brush, block lettering with gaily colored polka dots spelling out my yet unborn sons name.

Who is this woman I married?

I have a stranger in my house.

Seriously

I asked Ryan what he wanted for breakfast. He told me he'd make eggs
if I'd make toast.

Sleeeeeepy

Ugh I don't want to get up :(