Day 12 - A Picture of Something You Love

I love pigs. When I was a teenager, I BEGGED my parents to let me get a pet pot-belly pig...no. When Bear and I first moved in together, I tried to convince him to let me get one...no. I even had a couple names picked out for my precious piggy. I would call him (I always assumed it would be a boy) either Ham-I-Am or Lord Bacon. Unfortunately, the people I love are hell-bent on keeping me from my destiny...sigh.

Day 11 - A Picture of Something You Hate

I HATE BRUSSEL SPROUTS! With every ounce of my being!

Day 10 - The Person You Do Weird Things With

Day 10 - A picture of the person(s) you do the most weird things with.

I am feeling inspired, so I decided to do two today.

As any of my friends can tell you, I am not shy about doing strange things. But my children just seem to bring the craziness out in me!

The stories of our weirdness are endless, but my favorite one was when we went to an amusement park with Bear and my sister. Late in the afternoon, a unexpected storm came out of nowhere and it was an absolute downpour! Everyone was running for cover. We joined a large group of people standing under a restaurant overhang. The storm dragged on for quite a while...showing no signs of letting up. The kids were getting restless and the wall the wall people was getting to me (I don't do crowds!). So...I decided it was high time I taught my kids to dance in the rain! There was no lightening to worry about, so we ran out into the middle of the walkway where a big puddle had accumulated and jumped and danced and made complete fools of ourselves. No one joined us, but everyone watching had big smiles on their faces as my babies giggled and squealed. We got completely soaked and had to stop in the souvenier shop for something dry to wear home, but we had THE BEST TIME!

Day 9 - The Person Who Has Gotten You Through The Most

Day 9 - A picture of the person who has gotten you through the most.

Bear and I have known each other since the first day of 7th grade. He has been there as I have grown up from a truly annoying teenager to the (hopefully less annoying) wife and mother I am today. He stood by me through some really hard times with both his family and my own...overriding his own distaste for conflict to defend me from those who should be most supportive in our lives and then biting his tongue until it bled when I asked. He put up with my craziness as we planned our wedding. He took exceptional care of me as I struggled through a very rough pregnancy and delivery to bring Bubbles into the world. He worked hard (as did I) to get out of crushing debt in order to buy our home. He provided a strong shoulder through months of devastation following a miscarriage. He tried every tactic he could think of to calm my fears through another (much easier) pregnancy and delivery as we completed our family with Animal. He stands firmly by my side on this bumpy journey to raise our children. And he loves me unwaveringly despite my many shortcomings.

That first paragraph makes it sound like our lives together have been rife with sorrow, but in reality those are just snippets of time in the 25 years we have known each other. Though some of those moments have really tested the strength of our love and still weigh heavy on my heart, the good times FAR outweigh the bad.

Bear has been there for me through thick and thin, good and bad, hard and easy. And with every passing snippet, I have become more certain that I can count on him to see me through anything this world throws at us.

Day 8 - A Picture That Makes You Laugh

This was my wallpaper at work for a LONG time because no matter how bad my day was going, this could always make me laugh.

Day 07 - A Picture of Your Most Treasured Item

Day 07 - A picture of your most treasured item.

When Bear and I were still dating, he worked as a cashier for a major grocery store near my parents' house. One Christmas, I was very excited about the holidays and was constantly running around saying "Merry Chrismoose!" to everyone (I was very young). His store often decorated the cash registers with stuffed animals and the like for whatever holiday was coming up. One day, shortly before Christmas, Bear arrived at his register to find that it was decorated with a stuffed moose. The tag even read "ChrisMoose". He said it made him think of me and how excited I was about the holidays and he knew it needed to be mine. Chrismoose was one of my Christmas presents that year, and is one of my most precious possessions. It showed me that he paid attention to what I said and really thought about what would make me happy. He has given me MANY awesome gifts in the years since then, but ChrisMoose will always be my favorite, and one of my most treasured items!

Day 07 COMING SOON!

Ok...I have been stalling on this one. It is REALLY hard to narrow down all the wonderful things in my life (both material and not) to one most treasured thing. I thought about stealing Kimi's idea again (she has such good ideas and she is SO far ahead of me), but decided that would be cheating.

Then this morning it hit me! I know EXACTLY what to use. Unfortunately, this revelation hit me at work...the item is at home...and I don't have any pictures of it.

So...I will try my very best to take a picture of it as soon as I get home and then get on with this 30 Day thing! Who wants to lay odds on whether I finish before the end of 2011?