3 Things

Three Things Thursday..... Yea, it's only Tuesday.  I am getting ahead of myself :)


1. It's no secret that I am very clumsy.  Just this week I have caught the oven mitt on fire... as in flames!  I dropped our fully cooked casserole upside down in the oven.  I've run into different walls more times than I can count and the list goes on and on.

2. My mother and brother have been staying with me and I have been reading about 1 book every day or every other day.  My mom asked me if I was reading another romance novel.  Well DUH! :)  I love romance novels.  Yes, they all end the same.  Girl and guy meet, girl and guy fall in love.  But, I continue reading romance books because of the journey that the girl and guy go through.  I enjoy the journey to the destination.  It's fun and exciting and unpredictable.... well maybe a little predictable because they always end up together.


3. Landon's Christmas present came to the house yesterday.  It is a Chuggington train track.  The Brewster wash and fuel set.  It is taking all I have not to open the box and put it together.  It is just SO neat.  The trains talk to each other and everything.  Toys are so much cooler now then they were when I was little.

A New Journey:

Tanner graduated from the Police Academy this past Thursday and I have never been more proud of him!  This is definitely an exciting yet dangerous journey that we are about to embark on.

For the past 3 months I have had a small glimpse as to what becoming a Police Wife will entail. I have spent numerous days and nights by myself, done the "manly" duties around the house, planned dates around his schedule, etc. I've had 3 months to get used to the idea that everyday that my husband walks out the door, may very well be his last day.  Well.... I can tell you that I will NEVER get used to that.  Of course, that has always been the case, no one is guaranteed tomorrow.... but now he's chasing people that hate him.  This is a sacrifice that Tanner and I, as his wife, are willing to make to protect others.  Everyday that Tanner puts on that uniform, is another day that he is risking his life.  I am honored to be his wife.

 

Officer Tanner and me

 

Waiting on the Graduation Ceremony to begin!

 

 

 

Taking the Oath

 

 

 

Getting his Diploma!  WOOP WOOP!

 

 

 

 

Tanner and his grandparents!

 

 

 

Tanner's favorite quote which is appropriate for my new Law Enforcement Officer:

 

"It is not the critic who counts;

not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles,

or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena,

whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood;

who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again,

because there is no effort without error and shortcoming;

but who does actually strive to do the deeds;

who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions;

who spends himself in a worthy cause;

who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement,

and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly,

so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls

who neither know victory nor defeat."

-Theodore Roosevelt



 

 

 

My Lunch Hour

Ever since moving to town, I have wondered if it were possible to go the store, go home, put away what I bought, handle the animals and make it to work on time all within my lunch hour.  Today,  I proved that I could and added to my list of perks of "city living."

I left as soon as it was my lunch time.  Sped (shh don't tell my husband!... drove quickly) to one of my most disliked places, Wal-Mart.  After scootin through the aisles and getting everything on my list, it was time to check out.  Who knew SO MANY people go to the store during lunch time?!?  So I opted for the self check out line, knowing good and well that it was going to holler at my a few times, because I had items that I did not want to bag!  Really self check out?  You want me to bag my huge thing of dog chow?  I don't think so, not happening! 

I looked at the clock and realized that after all that I only had 30 minutes left to get home, put my stuff away and feed my starving animals!  They only got to eat half of what they usually eat at night and I wasn't able to feed them this morning.  So again, I drove quickly and made it to my house with 25 minutes left. 

Well now I just felt rushed.  I hate the feeling of being rushed, which is 80% of the time for me.  I am one of those that will dislocate my shoulder trying to get all the grocery bags in one trip....  That being said....

As I was walking onto our front porch, I went through a spider web and started doing karate moves to get that nasty sticky stuff off me, while having one arm full of grocery bags and the other with a 20lb bag of dog food and my purse.  Not only was I  fighting the spider web, but my hair decided it wanted to cover my whole face, making it impossible to see.  During this time a car drove by and slowed to watch my disastrous turn of events.  As I was opening the door, I dropped the dog food and stumbled through the front door.  I didn't even bother to turn around to see the laughter escape whoever it was that was driving by.

I let Abby in to feed her. (we have been trying to train her to be an outside dog because her hair was just driving us crazy!)  Then fed the other 2 squirts, quickly put my groceries away, made my lunch and headed out the door to get back work.

I arrived with 7 minutes to spare!  Just enough time to fix a drink and use the restroom before returning to my desk.  Even though I was running around like a chicken with its head cut off, it was a success!  I am so thrilled to know that I can run to the store on my lunch hour and not always go after work.  Wal-Mart is extremely more busy at 5:00 then it is at lunch time.

The Bahamas!!!

We got back Saturday from a very relaxing cruise to the Bahamas!! We left last Monday morning at 2:00AM.... I wasn't looking forward to that, but everything worked out and we made it to our ship around 12:30. 

After we checked in and went through security and all that, we explored the boat.  It was HUGE and what's crazy is that it isn't even considered a big boat.... it's actually one of the smallest that Royal Caribbean has.

My most favorite thing was the absolutely BEAUTIFUL views.  The water is amazing.  I could definitely move down there.  I would want to live on paradise island in one of the colorful houses that has a boat dock.  Tanner and I decided that we would just rather have our own private island, you know like Isle Esme... from the Twilight Saga... Anyways, we did some looking around and we could definitely purchase us our own island, but we need $8 million first, so no big deal!! haha... maybe one day.....

We went to the pirate museum and that was pretty cool.  They had a bunch of old artifacts from forever ago that the pirates actually used.  Tanner loves history!  We did alot of shopping, I say "we" but it was really just me.  I window shopped for the next time that we go to the Bahamas.  We had no idea that diamonds are so much cheaper there.  We will definitely be going back in the near future, for let's say an anniversary present! I saw some gorgeous earings!

My second favorite thing would have to be the all you can eat, anytime you want, soft serve ice cream machine!!!!!! Tanner and I were constantly in line with the little kids. I LOVE soft serve ice cream.  I had ice cream for breakfast and for lunch and for snack and for dinner and for middle of the night and anytime I wanted it!

That's all for now!  I'll post the 4 pictures that we took later! (yea, I know, we aren't very good at taking pictures....haha)

LATEST HENSLEY NEWS:

The day that we have been so impatiently waiting for has finally arrived!!! Tanner will start working for our local Police Department August 23rd!  We are beyond excited.  Everyone keeps telling me these horror stories about how I will never see my husband, etc.  But anything is an upgrade from what he was doing.  I was only seeing Tanner for a rushed 30 minutes a day, during my lunch break.  Regardless of which shift he actually gets, I will see him more than I currently do and thats a plus!!

We decided that we wanted to celebrate his quitting, the new job, our anniversary and we might as well throw in my birthday... And what better way to do this than go on a cruise to the Bahamas!!!  That's right, we are going to the Bahamas in just 2 weeks.  We like to be spontaneous and booked a last minute cruise! :) We will celebrate our anniversary on the second night and my birthday on the third night.  I wonder what they will give/do for us?

So that's the latest news in our life!!

Our view in just a couple of weeks!!

I'm {Blank} Because.....

I'm weird because...

I have nightmares if I chop up peppers.
I prefer to not cuddle when I'm sleeping.
I'm not comfortable unless my feet are cold.
I count things as I'm walking.
I have a fear of running over someone in my car.
I could easily live off of rolls.  I love them that much.
I would rather cook a 5 course meal that takes all day than make a sandwich.
I despise the word crusty.  It makes me cringe.

Safe Haven

I just found out the other day that one of my favorite Nicholas Sparks books, Safe Haven, is going to be a movie!!! I am so excited :)  It is supposedly coming out in February. If you haven't read the book then you should.  Here is a little summary of the storyline:

When a mysterious young woman named Katie appears in the small North Carolina town of Southport, her sudden arrival raises questions about her past. Beautiful yet self-effacing, Katie seems determined to avoid forming personal ties until a series of events draws her into two reluctant relationships: one with Alex, a widowed store owner with a kind heart and two young children; and another with her plainspoken single neighbor, Jo. Despite her reservations, Katie slowly begins to let down her guard, putting down roots in the close-knit community and becoming increasingly attached to Alex and his family. But even as Katie begins to fall in love, she struggles with the dark secret that still haunts and terrifies her . . . a past that set her on a fearful, shattering journey across the country, to the sheltered oasis of Southport. With Jo's empathic and stubborn support, Katie eventually realizes that she must choose between a life of transient safety and one of riskier rewards ...

Josh Duhamel will play Alex and Julianne Hough will play Katie.

Date Night/ Near Death Experience

As you know, Tanner and I have been going on at least one date every month.  These dates were planned at the beginning of the year.  If we don't do anything else during the month we have to at least go on the dates that we planned.  Especially since most of them are already paid for!  But since we love each other soooo much we make it a weekly habit.  I know, you just threw up in your mouth a little! :)

Last month we went to the Alabama Shakespeare Festival in Montgomery and saw 39 steps by Alfred Hitchcock.  The play is about a man in London trying to help a counterespionage agent. (I don't know what that means...so I googled it.... it's government activities designed to detect and counteract enemy espionage) But when the agent is killed and he stands accused, he must go on the run to both save himself and also stop a spy ring trying to steal top secret information.  We laughed throughout the play!  It reminded me a little of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.  We definitely enjoyed it!

I bet you are wondering about the "near death experience" part of our date.  Well on the way back from Montgomery is was raining cats and dogs.... I wonder where that expression came from?  And who decided on cats and dogs?  My animals hate the rain....  Abby will hold her business for 2 days if she has to... she will not go out in the rain! 

Anyways, it was raining so hard that we could barely see.  The roads were full of water, the wipers were going so fast that I thought they might fly off the car, and we were driving very slow for 231.  Well before we know it we start to hydroplane.  I have hydroplaned many times but never like this.... we did a 180 through the median.... At this point I thought we were going to flip, I was in the passenger side and was picturing my head smashing against the ground!  Pretty scary, but we made it through the median without flipping.  The only thing I can figure is that it was so wet that we just kept sliding and God was definitely watching over us!  So we made it through the first hoop but we are still sliding and are now on the opposite side of 231, sliding sideways accross oncoming traffic.  At this point I grabbed Tanner's hand and was pretty much saying my goodbye because I just knew that this was it.  I just knew that all those cars coming at us were going to crush us.... at least me anyways, they were headed for my side of the car.  BUT we made it through that as well.... and then comes the hill.... we are headed for the trees now...  Tanner was finally able to gain control of the car again and was able to slam on the breaks before we went for the trees. 

We just sat there in silence for a minute in awe that we were still alive and that we made it through the whole ordeal like nothing ever even happened.  Molly Mazda's axle was full of mud and chunks of grass.  Also, the tire weights were knocked off but other than that eveything was fine.

In the movies you always see the person's life flash before their eyes but all I felt was peace.  I wasn't scared, I was content.  I don't have regrets in my life and am happy.  I have always been someone who is thankful for everything that God has provided me with and rarely take things for granted. I say rarely because everyone takes things for granted!  I absolutely hate negativity and try to find the positives in everything that life has to offer.  The good and bad.

Looking back on our little scary adventure that lasted about 30 seconds but seemed like 10 minutes.... I think about something that Abraham Lincoln said:

"And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count.  It's the life in your years."

This is an absolute fact! :)  So make sure that you are really living your life because you just never know what can happen!!!!

Janet Evanovich: Stephanie Plum Series

I have been reading the witty Stephanie Plum series for the past 3 months now.  I finished reading them this weekend.  There are a total of 18 books and the 19th book comes out in November.  I will definitely pre-order it!!

The books are about a girl named Stephanie who is a bounty hunter with lots of attitude.  She is quite possibly the worst bouny hunter in the Trenton area.  She makes captures off of luck and just the simple fact that all of her FTA's are caught by suprise by whatever crazy thing Stephanie ends up doing.  Her cars are always getting blown up, wrecked, or stolen. 

She is in the middle of the longest lasting love triangle ever.  Either guy would be a great pick.  Morelli, her on-again, off again boyfriend is more husband material.  Ranger, her mentor and sometimes lover, is very mysterious but lots of fun! (I'm definitely leaning towards team Ranger, especially after Smokin Seventeen!!)  Her partner in crime is a previous ho named Lula.  Lula is quite the character and you will literally laugh out loud at the things that come out of her mouth!

These books are great!  If you haven't read them then you need to go out there and purchase the first book, but beware.... They are addicting!!





Three Things Thursday

1.  I know I haven't blogged in over a month!  I just get soooo busy and tend to put things on the back burner for later.  I have been working on our house and the more I work on it, the more I feel like that I am not getting anything done!  Very annoying and frustrating.  BUT when I step back and think about what the house looked like just 4 weeks ago, I notice how far we have actually come.  My mom bought this beautiful potted plant/flower for our front porch.  Let's just say that I am the opposite of a green thumb.  I did everything that I was told to do to take care of it AND I followed the directions that came with it, but somehow still ended up killing it.  Maybe one day I will be good at taking care of plants....


2.  It seems like everyone around me is having a baby or getting preggo!! I for one am not ready for that and am staying away from new borns for the time being.... I know you can't really get baby cuties, but I just don't want to take the chance! haha People keep asking me if I have baby fever and no, no I don't. I'm not sure if I will actually ever have "baby fever" I get PUPPY fever! :) This past weekend Tanner and I added to our family, a baby laboykin. He is a lab and boykin mix and just has the cutest personality! We made a decision that Max would be our last animal addition to the family. Living in the city has its limits and we just don't have enough room for any more animals! Well....maybe a bird or fish...? I'm just kidding!



3.  Is it really June?? Man has this year gone by fast!  I guess with all the excitement of being a newly wed, being promoted and purchasing a new home has just made this year fly by.  Next month will be a year that Tanner and I have been married! CRAZY!  People always say that the first year of marriage is the hardest.  Well I'll tell you what I have learned... Yes it is hard, BUT you just have to learn to ignore things.  Like the fact that that your significant other throws his clothes on the floor.... not even a foot from the laundry basket.  I mean come on, just sneeze and your clothes will make it into the basket.  But instead of starting an unnecessary argument over nothing, just let it roll.  Save your energy to argue about the more important things! haha!!  I'm just kidding.  Try your best not to argue but instead have a conversation.


I hope everyone has a marvelous Thursday!!