10 years

Holy crap! It has been 10 years since Shark and I said YES across the altar. Oh my goodness, I am even MORE in love with him now than I was walking out of the Salt Lake Temple doors.

I never imagined that I would still get butterflies when he smiles at me. I never imagined that I would still get giddy when he holds my hand. I never imagined that I would still melt when he kisses me. I never imagined that I would still feel this way after 10 years. And still getting butterflies, still getting giddy, and still melting, after 10 years, makes me soooooooo excited for the next 10 years, 20 years, 50 years!

So much has happened in the 10 years of our Collard Family. We've had open heart surgery, baby #1, a pacemaker, baby #2, c-section, debt, no debt, more debt, moved to CO, moved to UT, bought a house, PPD, anxiety attacks, a kindergartner, vacations, trips to WI, funerals, weddings, births, deaths, stitches, broken bones, TV show appearances, MMA fights, paragliding flights, deer hunting, blades made, blades broken, new hobbies discovered, soccer games, tball games, karate performances, tumbling performances, preschool graduations, mohawks, birthdays, and so much more!

Honestly, these 10 years have been absolutely amazing. I have fallen more in love with Shark, and adding Danger and the Colonel to our little family has just grown that love to beyond whatever imagined possible. I love my eternal family and am so very grateful for my Heavenly Father, for all He has blessed me with. I am grateful that He knows me, and loves me.

10 years down, eternity to go!

Just beating myself

So the past 2 weeks have been pretty rough.

Getting a pace maker has been kinda rough on me. The surgery wasn't so bad, but it was still a surgery. Shark and I have been married for 5 years (HOLY FREAKING CRAP!!) and we've dealt with as many surgeries. Ugh.

Anyways, so it's been emotionally hard on me as well. Yeah, surgery sucks, people with their hands all under my skin and what not, bruises upon bruises and stitches upon stitches. But when left to my own devices, my brain starts getting carried away. I'm 26, and I've got a pacemaker. It's hard having your body fail on you, not do what it is supposed to do. It's also one thing to know what's going to eventually happen, and another thing to have it happen. I have known my whole life my heart's function and imperfections. And for some reason, this emotional break down did NOT happen with the open heart surgery, but decided to wait until this. Maybe it's because I have a kid now... Maybe it's that dark and daunting thought - what if something happened and I wasn't around for my kids????

So anyways - after all this turmoil and emotional and physical pain, Shark and I have been planning this little vacation. When we first started planning it, Shark's parents would watch Danger. Well, after them watching him for the past 2 weeks, we knew their schedules wouldn't allow any more "play" time. So we decided to take him with us. And 1 day shy of the 1 week anniversary of my 2nd surgery and on the 2 week anniversary of my 1st one - we went on vacation.

My mom has this timeshare thing, and since we didn't have the moolah to go to Mexico, they found a timeshare exchange week here in Utah. We headed out to Snowbird, which is an awesome resort in the winter, but it's pretty freaking awesome in the summer as well! For one, you can SEE the landscape around you. And the landscape is BEAUTIFUL! It was so pretty and so wonderful up there. Even if we did have a little brat boy with us.

We found a pond and a play ground, and he went nuts. Just played all over. He went on this spinning swing, and got spun off, he didn't like the landing, but he perked up once he got to a slide. He was so tired out. Then we went to a nice restaurant, where I got sushi!

The hotel had amazing restaurants, I tried sushi for the first time, and rather enjoyed it. I explained to the server that I had never had sushi and was planning on trying it. He talked with the chef and then brought out some of the specialties for us to try for free! And then we got free dessert because we were celebrating our anniversary. (Oh, didn't I mention? Shark and I are having our 5th anniversary this year! This MONTH!!)

We went to the pool, which I thought Danger would LOVE, cuz you know, he loves baths.... NOPE! He hated every minute of it! It might not have been that bad if there had been a little kid wading area, instead of just a pool with lanes, but Shark held him the entire time. I couldn't really get in the water (surgery!) so I sat on the steps. It was still fun. Once Danger got out and dried off (it's chilly in the mountains!) he ran around the pool like it was his job. He climbed the rocks and threw wood chips. He tested the hose and made sure the gate was locked. He was so cute.

And then we got up and had breakfast, and they were doing some menu revisions, and the chef brought out this BBQ teriyaki pulled pork to show the manager. Well, the waitress came back around to fill up drinks, and I joked that we could be the testers if they needed us to be, we would sacrifice to test the food. Well, she brought it around and told us to enjoy! It was sooo amazing!

There were little ground squirrels all over and some rock chucks. We fed a little ground squirrel, after the day before some came right up to my toes and walked with us. After that, Shark kept bugging me if I brought food, which oddly enough, I didn't have any in my purse the whole weekend! I always have something in my purse for Danger.

It was a pretty awesome weekend for us. Little Man has been pretty cute too... Even tho we were kinda disappointed that we had to bring him - it turned out to be fun. It all worked out. :)

I love my boys.

Real life is calling

Ok, so I've tried hard these past few weeks to post everyday, cuz I've been trying to get my POTD's in. Well, honestly, most days are consumed with work. And let's be real, no one wants to read about some little blonde girl working at baseball games. It's just not fun. And, since I've been consumed with work, I haven't been posting, and when I do post, they are 2 weeks late and I've had to pick my brain about what happened that day, and my days end up blending together. SO - from now on, the plan is to try to write about cool things that happen, well, just real things that happen. {I have NOT been making up stuff, but sometimes bad things happen that aren't cool, they are just real....} I know I have changed what I'm planning to write about alot lately, but things keep changing on us. I'll try to just post and then add pictures later instead of waiting to take pictures and thus making my post 2 weeks late.

So, here it goes : Last Friday, June 25th, I was scorekeeping, and I had a new umpire {blue}, one I've never worked with before. So I wasn't used to his mechanics and how he calls the game. Well, it didn't help that this lady with a big huge patio umbrella sat on the bottom bench, totally blocking my new blue from sight. Well, all I can say is good thing this game was a practice game {one of the teams forfeited...}.

Next thing on the list that Shark and I did. This weekend, Steve was gone on a fishing trip. Shark has really wanted to fix up their basement bathroom for a while now, well, this weekend, he did it. I picked out the color of the tile {we went with black/white/gray for better color coordination.} and Shark cut the tile and put it all in! Well, he got started Friday night {tearing stuff out}, then we went and bought the tile on Saturday, and then he finished grouting on Sunday. I've got a during picture.

Here are some AFTER pictres. (the bathroom is still not 100% clean and done, but it will be soon... I hope..)

Well, I guess we've had a busy busy weekend. Shark and I went on our carriage ride Saturday night. I didn't get any pictures on the carriage ride, I forgot my nice camera on my dresser, and all I had was my phone, and while my phone takes great pictures, if I'm moving or what I'm picturing is moving, the picture turns out like crap. So, no pitcures. So we stopped by the vistors center on Temple Square, and saw the scale model of the Temple, click THIS link to see the KSL.com post about it, then we went on our carriage ride, then we walked down to the Macaroni Grill on 300 W, and ate some freaking awesome Italian food!! It gets Shark's seal or approval! {It's under the same ownership that Chili's is, it costs about the same, but it is freaking awesome! Way better than Olive Garden!! So now when we get a Chili's gift card, we're heading to Macaroni Grill!!}

Our server looked really familiar. Shark called him out, he is one of Kurt's friend's brothers. But Shark said that wasn't it. He turned to me, and said, "I think he was in that pirate movie we watched, you know, Pirates of the Great Salt Lake?" I looked it up on my computer phone and it's true!! He was in Pirates of the Great Salt Lake!!!

The movie was medocre. The mean pirate guy got his arm cut off, and it looked kinda crappy. It was fun to watch tho, still kinda awful... But I KNOW A MOVIE STAR!!!Booyah! How awesome is that?! We got a free dessert cuz it was our anniversary, and he acknowledged his movie! :) More awesomeness!! Then we walked back to our truck, up by Temple Square. it was such a nice night, the weather was great, and it was so nice to hang out with Shark, just us, to chat and laugh. It was such a good date! I'm so very much in love with him! So grateful for him, and how amazing he is!

Even when dirty and gross from cutting tiles all day, he still smiles and is so darn cute!! Love him! SEE?!

Love to all who love their comanions!! ♥

Anniversary

Saturday is a great day! No resposibilities! Awesome! Just a day to relax and hang out!

I made my Summer To Do list. I saw the tutorial on eighteen25, and I decided I needed one. I mean, it's not like I have enough to do with my 100 in 1001 and all. ;) I'll post pictures when I can...

Shark was all over the Wasatch front looking for motorcycle parts. So that gave me plenty of time to make my to do list, I watched Waitress while I was crafting. :)

Just as Shark was getting ready to look for parts for his bike, the doorbell rang. The dogs went nuts, and Shark came downstairs all sneaky and shifty like. He had flowers in his hand! He told me the funny story about those flowers. He tried to order them from Clearfield House of Flowers, but he ordered them from Clearfield, Pennsylvannia. That's my husband, tries to outshine everyone who's local.

Then, for Father's day, we went out to eat at Golden Corral, which was awesome! And then we decided to go fishing! That was the plan, but then another plan got introduced : to go to a movie. We wanted to go fishing! So Shark, his dad and I went fishing up at Willard. Shark caught a wiper (white bass & striper mix) and I caught a big channel catfish! It was pretty awesome. I almost caught a 2nd one, but lines got tangled and the fish got away! I think Shark planned it....

While we were out on the water, there were fireworks going on somewhere far off. It was pretty awesome to see fireworks while on the water.

And that is how we spent our anniversary date!! :)

Early 2 years!

So, this month, Shark and I are celebrating our 2 year anniversary. But I checked all the hotels, and they are all booked next week, for some Miss Utah Pagent. So, I found a hotel this this weekend, that included a $50 gift certificate for food, and a carriage ride! {The carriage ride is what sold me, that's all I ever really wanted!!} So, Shark went to work, like normal, he even slept in a bit, so he was ALMOST late! Well, since my games were rained out again today, I went down to FedEx, to leave 1 of our trucks there. We went from FedEx to the hotel. We stopped at Wendy's, got some to-go, we decided to eat it at the hotel.

The hotel was amazing! It has been in working order since 1910, and it is beautful! The room was way small, but gorgeous! The floorboards under the carpet creaked when we walked, and I thought it was pretty neat looking, the trim, didn't go all the way to the ceiling, it was a band of trim about 3 inches below the ceiling. And, since we celebrated out month-a-versaries and anniversaries with Hostess Cupcakes, of course, Shark bought some cupcakes! :)

When we woke up in the morning, it was raining and crappy out, and my stomache was in knots. So, we decided to save our gift certificates for a sunny day, and head home. We got home, petted our little naked dog, who was at the parents house, and they took us out to lunch. My stomach was still twisted and tied in knots, but I figured I'd get a Sprite and it'd calm down. Well, after about 2 bites of mashed potatoes, and some Sprite, I went out to lay down in the truck. Just as we started driving, I opened the car door, and tossed my cookies, right on the curb! We went home, I laid down and watched movies and slepted the rest of the day on Saturday, and all day on Sunday.

We did go over to the folks' house, I got a blessing (cuz I feel awful!) and we started to read the book I picked out, Peter & the Starcatchers!

I have pictures of Friday at the hotel, but not really pictures of Saturday or Sunday, those would be gross. SO my POTD for 5.11.10 is : The bed. Look at that cute canopy!

Love to all who love who they are with!! ♥

23 and invinceable

So today, I turn 23. Blink-182 says No one likes you when you're 23. Howver, BOYSLIKEGIRLS say I'm 23 and invinceable got the world figured out and the bird on my shoulder told me everything is goin be alright. I like that saying best. Hmmm, it's funny, people asked me in November, when my birthday was, and then they'd ask how old I was. I seriously couldn't remember! I had to get out my calculater to subtract 1987 from 2009. Although, now it's 1987 from 2010. When I lived at home, it was easy to remember, my little brother Scott is 10 years younger than I am, for a while at least. I'm pretty sure he just truned 12 in November, and I'm 23. Also, my mom and dad's anniversary is 1 year and 10 days after my birthday, they are celebrating their 22nd anniversary. (I'm from her 1st marriage, relax ;)

Oh, it was so funny, Mark asked me the day before his 25th birthday, if I would still love him as a n old man in his late 20's, if I would still love him even when I was in my prime, my early 20's. I laughed, and told him we can only share that joke between the 2 of us, all of our friends are older than us. I am looking forward to this year for so many reasons. I am so excited for what this year has to offer. And there isn't the overshadowing/impending doom of a surgery coming up, so this year looks amazing!! I'm already starting it out better than last year, I didn't even post about my birthday last year!! Wow! Ready for an awesome year?

I'm 23 and invinceable!! Enjoy life!

Love, bry and mark

8 years since the world stopped turning...

I cannot belieive it has been 8 years since 9/11 became more than any other day. Has it really been that long? We were living in a small town in Wisconsin, a town of 2600 people, and I remember where I was. I was sitting in the old cafateria in the high school, I was a freshman, and I think it was my 2nd class of the day (I don't remember the time, but I remember what happened that day.) I was talking to Aaron and Josh in our no-talking study hall, and Mr. Kinziger was the study hall instructor. One of the office ladies came in or something, and then the tiny TV in the corner got turned on, and the 2nd plane hit. All we did the rest of the day was watch the news in (almost) every class... I say almost because we didn't have the TV on in Math class, we didn't even talk about it, and I don't think we had the TV on in wood shop either, but I we talked about what happened. Now, I don't know anyone who was in the Towers or used to work in the Towers, I didn't know a single one of the 2,974 people that died that day, or anyone in New York even, but I felt the ripple of emotion flow thru me as if someone I love very much was there. I get pretty emotional when this subject is brought up, not only because I am very Partiotic, but because I have not forgotten the looks on the people's faces around town when the news was broken, the looks on the faces of the soldiers that remember what it's like to be over there, the news reporters, my mom crying, the whole school going silent, and people crying as the announcement was made. I am a visual person, and I remember so alarmingly well, all of these pictures, it's as if they are burned into mind, and they will never fade.

Our town has a high military turn out, always has and I think it always will. Alot of my friends went into the military, and quite a few of them have served in Iraq since 9-11-01. My best friend of all time served over there as a Marine, I missed her tons and tons while she was there. I have such a great and deep respect and love for the friends of ours who serve/d overseas. And I am grateful for all of the soldiers over there and over here. The Army Reserve unit that (most) the soldiers from our town go to, have a symbol, a logo, and while I dated a boy from that unit, and while he was over there, I put that logo on my car, and I still have that logo on my truck today. (I used to have one of the yellow "Support our Troops" magnets, but someone stole it, I'm not worried, maybe needed the pride more than I do.)

We have since moved to Colorado, and even though it is a HIGHLY democratic state, with a heavy push with the "Bring home the troops" campaign, there are signs that, even though the citizens want the soldiers home, they still respect and love them. There are yellow ribbons around every light pole in the neighborhood our church is in. I didn't know this until yesterday actually : Every friday, the company I work for, has Red-Shirt day. We are to wear Red in support of the troops that have served, are serving, will serve. I had NO idea!! I've heard people sound shocked when 2 people wore the same shirt, but I didn't know they all wore red for reason! Today is the first friday that I (intentionally) wore red! :)

We are so very blessed that there are men and women out there putting their lives on the line every minute of every day, so that we may be safe here at home. I love each and every one of them for doing what they do, and not expecting any form of Thanks in return. I wish we would never forget why they are giving their lives, why they are over seas, why they come back injured, or not come back at all. I wish everyday we would honor them as we do on the 4th of July, on Memorial Day, on 9-11, on Veteran's day. I wish the citizens of this country would love one another and be respectful no matter what. I wish every soldier would know just how much I appreciate them, how much my town appreciates them, how much we all appreciate them. I wish this nation was as United as it was in the months following 9-11, we were so hurt and pained over the attacks, that everyone was on the boat to go over and apply justice, so Patriotic. And now, children are growing up not knowing why the flags are at half-mast today, not knowing that 9-11 is a very important and special day to alot of people, not knowing why our troops, our loved ones, are overseas fighitng and dying. If only we could be United again as we once were, there would alot more love, and respect and alot less hatred. I wish they would know just how endebted I (we) feel to them, how much we owe them. I know in my heart that our troops are over there doing what's right for us and our country, and I also know that if we were to pull every single US soldier out, and bring them all back home, that fighting and attacking would happen all over again, but this time, it would be OUR women and children dying, the fighting and the war would be here, in our towns, in our home, on our soil. For that, we owe them ours lives, and our respect.

I support our troops 100%, all day every day! And I plan to for the rest of my life! I love the soldiers! You are my Heroes!! Take care, and God Bless you all!!

Love, Bry and Mark

So close, yet still so far!

SO!! I've said before that I am still working on getting my wedding photos and album from the photographer. (It's all me, we've had trouble keeping money in the account for things, "emergencies" keep popping up!) Well!! I made the final payment this month! (Yes, I know it has been a WHOLE year!!) AND! They have received that payment! AND! My brother-in-law, Kurt, just went to go pick up my album and the negatives!! He just sent me a text telling me he has the album in his possession!! Now, all I need is the album in MY possession!! So, I've asked him to send them to me! So you see, I am so very close to getting and seeing my album (all put together!) and yet, still so far from getting and seeing my album. (I'm so impatient!!) So now, I'm reduced to waiting by the mailbox again. (I sure hope this wait ends fruitful, unlike the last time I sat waiting for package to come, but never ever did. Those dirtbags stole my $24.95!! Oh well, fingers are crossed anyways!!) Yayayayay!! I really am so very excited! My stomach has been in knots all day! I'll let everybody know as soon as I get the album here in CO!! Yay!!

Love always, bry and mark