Mark comes home today after spending 10 days in Key West for work. I'm so excited...I'm miserable with a cold and stuffy/runny nose, and I cough occasionally...but I'm still so excited. :-) This weekend he has a three-day weekend, so I'm taking Friday off and we have big plans! We're going to work around the house ALL weekend and check some of those things off of our "to-do" list. Finally! 

While he's been gone I've been hanging around the house doing not much of anything. I did manage to get out a little bit last weekend, which was nice. Last Friday night I went with Mom, Jen, and my grandma, to the first Fresno State baseball game of the 2009 season. Here are some pictures from the big game:

New banners that are permanent features at the stadium.

Last year's alumni throwing out the first pitch.

Me and my sister, enjoying mom's box seats behind home plate. Thanks mom!

Tommy Mendonca, probably the biggest superstar player on the team. He is amazing, and had earned all kinds of awards before the season even started!

I was also able to hang out with Ashley on Saturday...so fun! We had Panera Bread and saw a movie--He's Just Not That Into You...so good. I wish I could hang out with my girl friends more often!

Views!

On my way home from work today, I took a little detour. :-) Here are some of my photos...I love this time of year! Everything is so beautiful!

You're going to see a lot of pictures from now on. I'm doing a Project 365 and that means I have to take one picture a day. Fun! Here are a few that I've taken this month:

We finished yet another bag of dog food (man, these kids have bottomless stomachs) and Daisy wanted to play in the empty bag. So funny...glad I captured it!Duke, taking a nap on a warm Sunday afternoon. Normally the kids sleep together, in the garage on the same bed or together on the deck. This afternoon, Duke was out on the deck and Daisy was asleep on the bed in the garage. I told Mark, he said Daisy must have been mad at him and kicked him out. hehe. I'll have to remember that idea...
I love this picture of Mark. That beanie on his head, he threw it to me from the top of the stairs one night. He bought it for me at work because I've been asking him for a baseball cap or something similar with the squadron on it. Well...it's not EXACTLY what I wanted. lol. Kinda evil looking. But that's the Vigi logo (his squadron), and I guess they can't have pretty flowers or butterflies for Navy logos. lol. :-) It was a nice thought, but I think the beanie looks way cuter on him than it ever would on me. lol... And I think the Navy wives need to come up with a cute design and get our own hats!
And lastly...Mark left for another detachment on Valentine's Day morning, so we celebrated Friday night with a nice dinner and...him finishing packing his sea bag. lol. Oh well. But, knowing that he would be gone for V-Day, he did order these and had them sent to me that day. So sweet. He's never sent me flowers before...but I've always wanted him to! They made me smile...

Here are our puppies, Daisy and Duke. They look so sweet, don't they? Just sleeping...quietly...peacefully...innocently...

When in fact, what they are REALLY doing is storing up energy for their next wild and crazy rampage.
Notice the half-chewed wooden duck and the once-beautiful now trampled and destroyed plants in the yard behind them...
Innocent...ha!
But we still love them. :-)
And they are learning! Mark was playing fetch with them with a tennis ball. It was going well for a little while! Here is Duke, bringing the ball back to Mark. Good boy, Duke! (I'm sure if we had been throwing two balls, Daisy would have one in her mouth as well!)

Mark is home!  He came back last night after being on the boat for 10 days. It is so nice to have him home again. We went out to dinner for yummy Mexican food and then spent some time catching up back home.  

Well, you've heard me mention over and over all the things that Mark has done around the house...replacing light fixtures, picking up the dog "gifts" they leave for us on the lawn, taking out the trash (without me asking him to), and surprising me when I got home one day by patching up a hole in the wall of the garage.  He does it all with no complaints and even seems to find joy in it.  It was definitely my turn to surprise him.  Our bedroom was painted ugly green (the same as the rest of our ENTIRE house) and our bathroom has ugly green and orange stripes on it.  We had been talking about redoing the area, but when?  He works long days and is exhausted when he gets home, and our weekends are filled with other family and friends activities.  

So...I decided to take care of it and surprise him.  Last Saturday morning I invited some of my girl friends over for a "while he is out" project. Friday night Katie and I painted primer on the walls of the master bedroom and bathroom and then Saturday morning my mom, Jen, and Amanda and I all worked for hours to paint the bedroom walls.  I spent the next few days decorating (I still need to hang pictures and other fun things on the walls) and the final result turned out BEAUTIFUL!  No more ugly green!  And Mark was so surprised when he came home last night...he really likes it. :-)  Thanks again to those who helped! 

Here are some pictures from the "while he was out" project: