On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

4 pairs of pants!

3 paranas,

2 rescue gloves,

and waterproof seal skin socks!

I got Jake a mix of "Levis" and PJ pants-which Jake has never actually worn before-but I've always thought he would look real cute in. I wasn't sure if he was going to go for them at all but the pants in the pic actually turned out to be his favorite! Yay for fleece PJ pants!

On the 5th day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

 5...errr...1 titanium ring!

4 pairs of pants,

3 paranas,

2 rescue gloves,

and waterproof seal skin socks!

Sadly Jake lost his original wedding ring in a ziplining mishap and it is currently somewhere on the bottom of Canyon Lake...I really liked that ring...sigh...and while I'd like to get him an identical replacement, the cheapest wedding band we could find at Walmart will have to do for now...I can't have him walking around ringless...no,no,no...

On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

6 ice cream sandwiches!

5...errr...1 titanium ring!
4 pairs of pants,
3 paranas,
2 rescue gloves,
and waterproof seal skin socks!

Somewhat of a gamble... if ice cream mixed with Oreos and enveloped in Klondike-y (dike-y? should I be typing this?) goodness could ever be a gamble...but he'd never actually had them before. I just remember over 4th of July Jake kept pilfering ice cream sandwiches out of Byron and Jana's freezer. So I thought, what the hey.

Judging by the pic below...I think he liked them.

Getting tired of the 12 Days of Christmas song yet? I'm not- I actually sing it to Jake every night...seriously, I do.

My True Love Gave to Me...

So I guess I lied about posting "more" Hawaii pics---because---it's December. I'm sure if you check Jake's Facebook they are ALL there; EVERY  single fish we saw and EVERY awkward picture of me that was taken. Yep, he has a tendency of doing that. I'm trying to get him to filter...

Welp,this year I decided to do the "Twelve Days of Christmas" for Jake. He actually did it first for me when we were dating and it was a lot of fun and really sweet so I thought I'd return the favor so he could feel just as special and loved as I did. After all, I'm thinking of this Christmas-the "First" Christmas- as our Christmas since next year we hope to have kiddos...well I guess just one kiddo...and Christmas will be more for them. So we will cherish this year to ourselves and make some sweet memories-or at least die/drive Jake insane trying.

I got all excited about this at the beginning of November...and boy did it seem like a long wait until last Monday- the "First" day. So ya, I was pretty psyched when it finally arrived. I spent a lot of time and had a lot of fun planning what gifts I could give each day. Since I'm  behind, here are the first three days...

Waterproof Seal Skin Socks!

On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

Two Rescue Gloves,

and Waterproof Seal Skin Socks!

On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

3 Paranas,

2 Rescue Gloves,

and Waterproof Seal Skin Socks!

When I busted out the first present on Day 1 Jake said, "Awww you beat me!"

Me: "What do you mean?" (Thinking, wow, Jake was going to do the 12 days for me again? He has a present sneakily hidden and wrapped somewhere? How sweet!)

Jake: "I was going to do that...I just, I just haven't gotten anything..."

Classic.

Our First Valentine's

We had more than a Valentine's Day this year, it was more like a Valentine's Weekend- and it was wonderful. It actually began Thursday when Jake gave me thisdarling bracelet. In usual Jake style he just couldn't wait a few more days to give it to me. I got home from work earlier than expected and found a Things Remembered bag on the bathroom counter. Jake was still asleep and I admit, I was a little tempted to look inside-but I resisted. When I cuddled up next to him he started laughing. Turns out he was awake and was actually waiting for me to find his elaborate decoy and peek so that he could catch me red handed. He even went to the trouble to weigh down the little box it came in with bullets-also very typical Jake. He thought he had caught me but I protested that I hadn't looked. Well then he slipped the bracelet on my wrist under the covers-what a cute surprise. It is a very beautiful bracelet and he even had it inscribed with a personal message from his heart- but was ofcourse, very macho when reading it to me...it will definitely be something I treasure forever.

Saturday was a blast. Jake took me to one of my all time favorite places-IKEA! Yay for swedish meatballs! Like always, we ate first (yum) and then meandered through the showroom. Jake even humored me when I told him what I would buy, where I would put it, and how it could be accesorized. Then I took Jake to one of his all time favorite places- The Arizona Hiking Shack. There I listened very intently to how pulleys, ascenders, and other climbing gear works. I bought Jake a pimp daddy headlight for his Valentine gift.
Sunday morning began with breakfast in bed! I made Jake some killer chocolate waffles, if I do say so myself, and tasty hashbrowns- that never browned- can't win 'em all. He liked them though. I teased him by taking sleepy, "just woke up" pictures. Then he got me back-Aaaaaa! Scaaaaary! We took a little morning walk with Shera in the desert behind our home. The weather was nice and sunny. Blindingly sunny.

Shera loves to chase bunnies back there. She jumps over brush like a little deer. And it is very cute.

Soon we were back at our little love shack. Don't my flowers look perdy?

Shera was all tuckered out from bunny chasing.

Our friend Jeff came by. He brought us a delicious Valentine from Krispy Kreme- a boxen of doughnuts. Mmmmmm doughnuts... Jake and Jeff schemed about how they would set up their next zipline adventure and then Jeff joined us for church. Afterwards I got to cookin' for my hunny. Actually, he ended up doing most of the chopping but in the end he gave me credit for the vision. We made rosemary chicken with roasted carrots, potatoes, and parsnips.

Nevermind the Christmas tree in the background- pretend like you didn't see that...

I had really grand plans of taking chocolate covered strawberries and sugar cookies to all of our neighbors and loved ones. Well Saturday there wasn't a strawberry for sale to be found, and Sunday I couldn't get the dang cute cookies off of the pan...

Huh.

My mamma and sis came by for an impromptu Valentine visit. My mom was able to get her cookies off the pan- and I was glad she did- because they were delicious.

 Jake made to die for tin foil dinners Monday night and we took them up to our spot at Fish Creek. He put in hamburger, cabbage, carrots, onions, potatoes, butter and honey barbecue sauce. We had a little cowboy cookout.

Well Jake did anyhow. I took this pic of him cooking from the comfort and warmth of my sleeping bag because- you guessed it- it was cold and I'm a weener.

 HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Sneak Peek Hawaii Pics- more to follow

So, during our stay with Bekah and Jed on Oahu, I learned 5 important things about taking pictures in Hawaii:

1. Your hair will always be blowing in your face- so just take the picture already



2. Something about just being in Hawaii compells you to flash the "shaka" sign whenever possible- you just must

3. Trying to capture cool pictures of people and the waves usually results in funny pictures of people in the waves

4. Inevitably there will be clouds right in front of the sun when you go down to the beach just to take pretty sunset pictures

5. Don't try to smile with snorkel masks on- better yet- just don't take pictures with snorkel masks anywhere near you- you'll be glad you resisted because otherwise you will end up with pictures like this:

What’s worse is after snorkeling, goggle marks are sure to follow...and linger for an entire afternoon...