20 things I wish I have always done or known!!!

1. Surround yourself with people that lift you up, that care about your happiness. Show the negative ones your back side!!!! In 5, 10, 20 years you will be so much better off.

2.  Love the ones your with!!!! Put down your fricken phones and be with the people in front of you!!!!!

3. You will never regret any education you receive. You will never hear an elderly person say "damn, I wish I wouldn't have gotten that degree". education is freedom.

4. Don't ignore problems, bills or something you are dreading. Do it, get it over and it will not be as bad as worrying about it. This will save you thousand and thousands of hours worrying, regretting, and thinking "I should have"... jUST DO IT!!!

5. Never color and cut your own hair! Enough said!

6. My number one advice to every woman... CLASSY NOT CRAZY...... O I have went crazy before, I have opened my mouth and let the redneck Debbie show through. Every time I have unleashed my inner crazy,  I have regretted it. I am not saying to let people walk all over you and never tell someone how you feel or how they hurt you, I am saying do it with class... My mid 30's I let my inner crazy out more than ever.. I have slowly and painfully learned that the best revenge is done silently and by succeeding and being happy and looking fabulous while doing it.  So out of the mouth of Miranda Lambert,

Powder your nose, paint your toes
Line your lips and keep 'em closed... 

7. When someone shows you who they REALLY are, believe them, the first time.   I was dating a man,  while I was in his car (one of our first dates)  he called his sister and SCREAMED at her... I was floored. It would have saved me the hardest 3 years of my life if I would have believed who he really was that night. Instead I let him show me over and over for years!!!! 

8. Travel, it makes you a different person. It kills judgement and narrow mindedness and breeds curiosity and love. 

9. Be very careful not to judge. I have judged, been judged and watch people judge. Sometimes your judgment is correct other's way off.

10. Make your bed!!! messy bed, messy head! 

11. Pick your battles!!! Sam is better at this than I. I like to pick every battle but I am working on it!

12. Never ever apologize for something you have earned. I don't care if you are walking around in a $3000 pair of shoes. If you worked for it, saved for it, planned for it do not apologize for it. I don't care how ridiculous people think it is,  Claim it you worked for it!!!

13. Blood is thicker than water. My girlfriend, Jan, and I always had the deal of family first. I love to be with my friends, I always want to be with them and do everything they do but I know that is not possible, as hard it is sometimes, I have to say family first... I am my kids only Mom and I will be there.

14. And now in continuation to the above rule. Make time for yourself. Sam and make deals with each other, NO work this weekend, no kids, no baby sitting. Is it hard... YES.  Is it necessary, YES. My kids respect this and I love them more for it!!! They know how precious our friends and each other are to Sam and I so they respect this and know that there are some times Sam and Debbie will be having a "private" weekend.

15. Don't over spend and pay your bills. There is nothing more fun than being mortgage poor, car poor. This was a very hard lesson for me. I learned the hard way, I almost went belly up, it is the best feeling to be back on top of my financial world. Nothing like ending up paying $800 for that bounced check you wrote for a tube of lipstick. I truly know people that still do this!!! We are in our 40's time to put the check book up!

16. I told one of my daughters yesterday that one of the things that has helped me through the toughest moments of my life is the serenity prayer..

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,  

The courage to change the things I can,

And wisdom to know the difference.

Memorize this... Say it in times you don't know what to do.... There is stuff that happens in life, that you may have done to yourself or someone else may have done it... but there is no changing it, Accept it!

17. Have fun!!! Life is fun!!!! . Dance, laugh, join, relish. Don't worry about looking silly. Be silly, it's fun!

18.  Respect God, thank God, and fear God.

19. Respect your parents, some day you will want their advice and they won't be there. The older I get the more I hate to report that most of the time my parents were right. Not always but MOST!!!

20. Marry your best friend. The one that makes your toe's curl, always has your back, loves you and your family. Don't settle and remember you have to work at being a good spouse....

A year???? What's a year!!!

I have no idea when the last time I wrote, read, posted, hung, pinned, or any other verb.... But here I am doing it...,it is right now 3:49 a.m., Sam is sleeping next to me and if I am really really lucky I can smell into my pillow and still smell my grand baby who slept with us last night, it's a mix of baby magic and rotten milk. May be a little rank but It makes me happy as hell!

So after a year, year and a half, but who is counting? That is about it for me... I am going to roll over, breath in the scent of rotten baby lotion, put a hand on my hubby's shoulder and clothes these eyes.... Peace out!

Grand Baby number two!!!!!!

We are so excited to announce that Taylor is having a baby girl!!! I am told that her name will be Charlie..how cute is that!
We love you Tay and it has been awesome watching you grow up the 5 years I have known you. Congrats and please bring Charlie over OFTEN...... Nanna will buy her fun jammies and toys and spoil her rotten.

Debbie's Favorite Place on Earth 2013

Debbie has been going to Red Fish Lake since she was a kid and figured out she has been there 37 times now in her life and it usually happens right on her birthday on June 29th. I wonder how many birthdays she has spent here?   She introduced me to it 5 years ago.
This is where we hang out in the evenings for happy hour and family fun.
http://www.redfishlake.com/
This is where we stayed this year. Truly an awesome cabin.
http://www.vrbo.com/219199

We brought Sarah a few years ago and now its in her blood too. LOVE this vacation. This year was the best ever so I wish our other kids could have came.  Below are some pics and some brief descriptions. I didn't have any more pics on my cell other wise I would have posted tons more.

Our most favorite thing of the week. I have never done this before so it was super exciting. On the second set of rapids I fell out and went under the boat. Brock, Debbie and Glen saved my bacon. 

Here comes Sarah just tripping along having a great time and fearless laughing the whole way. As you can see from the second pic she had to throw her leg out for balance on that last run hah

Here comes Cass

There goes Cass showing off her scissor kick

Nearly safe and sound after another 20 yards of floating. She did great!

Our back deck at the cabin. Great relaxing time. 

One of the brilliant sun sets off the deck. Cell phone just doesn't do it justice. 

Boston just hanging out watching cartoons while we get ready for the day. 

Hanging out at the Lodge in the evenings is always a great way to end the day with all the family. 

Debbie had a great idea before we left to go up there. She wanted to tag as many vehicles with things like "Larry Dahle Daughter, Son In Law and Grand Son"  or "Larry Dahle Grandson, step grandaughter and great grandson" etc....  by the time she tagged the whole family and some friends there were 20 vehicles running around with Larry Dahle's name. She even wanted to tag the bus that took us on the river trip and say "Larry Dahle's family road the river"  hah... she is always cooking up some ideas

Boston Loves Nanna and Loves Sweets

Out with the old..... in with the new

In 2003 Debbie bought a brand new GMC Yukon. They went everywhere together, play, work, family road trips and who knows what else. When we first got married the GMC was getting a little tired but was still doing well. When she changed her career and went to Home Healthcare Marketing she started just cranking on the miles and some days up to 100 miles a day. Not only did this burn up a LOT of gas it really got tired and needing some work... so this is why I blog about it.....

About a year ago I start talking to Debbie about retiring ol grey and getting something new. She actually came to tears and said "I dont want to talk about it". I kept my eye on car deals and what was out there and a couple of months later I talked to her again and she said "I cant talk about it.. its sad" and finally the story comes out...   she said that this car is the last piece of her old life that she has left. I asked if she wants her old life back haha... she said NO its just a nostalgia thing and just hard to let go of this car that she LOVES. 

So longer story short... several months later and Sarah came to visit to buy herself  a new car after she graduated and she bought a KIA Sportage. Debbie and I have looked at these before and we liked them but after seeing Sarah's we fell in love. Of course we wanted all the bells and whistles so I kept watching and finally....... like angels singing.... one showed up on the showroom floor. 2013 Kia Sportage SX with navigation, sun roof, running boards, turbo charged, LED lighting package, satellite radio, sport wheels, heated and cooled leather and the list goes on... oh and did I say TURBO... holly cow this car has power. 270 horse power to be exact. 

So Debbie is happy and excited and Sam is happy his wife is happy AND we just cut our gas bill in half.. hah

Goodbye

Helllooooo

GRANDPARENTS!?!?!?!?!!? oh yeah!!! proud of it.

Debbie and I had no clue what was about to happen when Cass and Mike got pregnant. We thought "this is going to be so cool" and "we will love him so much"  then he came!!!  Words cant describe how it feels to be a grandparent. It really is a special thing!!!  Debbie keeps saying "I am in LOVE with him!!!" and to see Debbie's eyes light up when she is with him is so awesome. 

We cant want for the rest of the grand babies to show up. We will spoil them ROTTEN then give them back hah. 

Congrats to Cass and Mike on their new baby boy Boston!!