Ian asked if I would stay married another year and I agreed....

So I think we are not quite done with our blogging days. We have both enjoyed writing over the last year and if anyone cares to keep reading then, well, that's fabulous, we'll keep writing.
Coming back home (home in the grand term -locations of friends and family) has been a whirlwind. Mix together - noodle slopping,rodeo americana, beautiful weddings, 50 "deep" catch up conversations, hospital visits due to as our friend adrian puts it, the tiny little mariachi band playing inside Tom's head, house painting, bathroom leaks, a hello and goodbye to my mom, a touch of the flu, poopy diapers, big baby smiles, and the passage of one year of marriage.... and this scratches the surface of our lastest life adventure back to the US- I think one might phrase it aptly as a reality check. Overall, I would say that we are dealing with our latest state of reality quite well and settling into the new bustle of our days. Ian just headed to Seattle yesterday for another week of yakisoba slinging with our friend jason and I am back to babysitting my nephew Stewart so my sister Sandra can return to a regular schedule at work.

On Sunday we celebrated our first anniversary. It was really wonderful to be in Port Angeles just before this at our friend's Ross and Carrie's wedding remembering our lovely day via reconnecting with friends for the first time in a year. Their wedding was beautiful and well thought out. Carrie looked amazing and the weather was as perfect as it gets at Lake Crescent. We haven't officially celebrated our endeavor of heading off on a year of 24/7 because we want to wait until we have time back in Port Angeles to visit Salt Creek but Ian did score big husband points by puting together a scavenger hunt for me on Sunday morning.

My first clue was to walk to local coffee shop to retrieve my free mocha as I am generally not motivated to do much of anything before a cup of coffee and an hour of contemplation on movement. Armed with my coffee I collected other little clues and gifts from around the house- a bottle of wine for our picnic at salt creek, a gift cert for dinner at bella ( Thank-you to our parents!!!) and a gift cert for some new undies and such things. My final clue lead me back to Ian where he got down upon bended knee for the second time to return my wedding ring that my mother had held onto for our year of travel. Upon it's return he asked if I would still stay married to him .... and I agreed.

My favorite part of this story is that he and my mom did some collective scheming to put the hunt together. Ian has always teased me because my mom regularly buys me underwear. As far as I am concerned some traditions become lifelong and who wouldn't appreciate free cotton panties once a year. While my mother was visiting Ian took her to run some errands and shared his scavenger hunt idea. They then went together to the lingerie store. Imagine if you will, mother in law and husband in a lingerie store together -interesting combination of personalities with slightly different outlooks on the right attire that should end up on my body. In true mother fashion my mom asked the the sales woman "does all of your underwear have cotton crouches?" and then proceeded to lay out to Ian the hygeine concern for her poor daughter were she not to be armored by the cotton crouch. Bless her heart.... I am confident my mother will will forever keep my best interests in check.
On that note I hope everyone is doing well and sleeps happily tonight in cotton comfort. I posted some photos of the family and the wedding.