summer lovin'

Fall is almost here.  Evidence is everywhere.   Decor in the stores, blog posts, the chilly mornings, excitement in the atmosphere.  And I'm dreading it..... just throwin' that out there :)  I love fall, truly I do.  But I haaate the winter.  And winter follows too closely to fall!  I can feel your glares all the way through blog land so let me explain myself :)
The climate that I lived in until one year ago was hot and dry.  It was summer from April-October.  We really only had to wear winter coats from December-February, and it was heavenly :)  Where I live now....let's just say that summer didn't truly come until mid-June.  I swear.  And I was miserable.  I'm hoping that winter will be better for me this year because I have more friends, I've adjusted to my new home, I understand that winter will most likely last until June, and I have all my bloggy friends for support :)  But if I'm being honest here....I'd be one happy girl if summer lasted a few more months!

 

This is a little man after my heart.  He's nicknamed me "Corby" and it melts my heart each time he says it!  Watch out Eric ;)

If the days could be spent like this, you know you'd want summer to last as long as possible too :)
On a different note... I'd love you forever if you'd check out my guest post :)  I may be the worst person to accept dating tips from, but it might be fun to read!  Plus you'll love Ashley's blog!

my kind of weekend- recap

I don't know about you, but this was the first weekend in a long time that could not come soon enough.  We were in serious need of some r&r, and to just hangout together.  Our weekend was full of everything we needed!

New outfit.  New friends.  New restaurant.

What a good night :)  I'm so glad I finally understand the P.F. Changs craze.  YUM!

It's official.  I need to treat myself to a mani and pedi once a month!!  (Ha- like that will happen)  Seriously though, over 3 years is just way too long.  We're already planning a play date for our husbands so we can do this again asap ;)  Best girl time ever!

We forgot how yummy Texas Road House is... those rolls and their butter?!  I may have had 6, ok probably 7, but I don't regret it :)  And we got to enjoy it with awesome friends, who just happen to have an adorable baby girl!

Two words:  baby hungry :)

(who spies my favorite pair of shorts, the ones I always steal from Eric??  We love our comfy clothes haha)

The rest of our weekend was spent snuggling, eating junk, taking pictures (that he obviously didn't want to smile in), being a handy man, cutting hair, and enjoying each other.  Why can't every weekend be this good??

our not so perfect marriage...

I was having a conversation with one of my bestie's about marriage the other day.  I have received some comments/emails about how "cute" me and Eric are, or how they bet we rarely (if ever) fight, or how much fun we have together.  I even received a message from a friend saying she was jealous of our relationship (or the relationship she saw on the blog or facebook).  Since the marriage talk I had with my friend a couple days ago, I've really been evaluating my relationship with Eric.  We love hard, play harder, and sometimes we fight the hardest.  Our marriage is not always cute or fun.  But we know we can and will make it through our hard times.  A little look into what our relationship is like...

Life is crazy busy right now, in a good way.
But sometimes at the end of the day we are tired and irritable. 
Sometimes we're so done with trying to please others and be nice to everyone we talk to that we forget to be nice to each other. 
Sometimes we really hurt each other's feelings.
We are on the defensive with each other way too often.  :(

Most of the time we play, play, play.
We love to be silly with each other.
Eric will grab me and start dancing, it doesn't matter if we're in public or in our home.
Sometimes when I'm working out of town and we're talking on the phone, he'll fart into the phone because he's "worried" I'm missing that. (What in the h.e.double-hockey sticks??)
I like to "pants" Eric every chance I get- haha.  (Ok, so we're a dorky couple with a few gross quirks- ha!)
We love to watch Disney movies and play with kid toys.

But most importantly we love each other all.the.time.
Sometimes when we snuggle we hang on for dear life, because we don't want to let each other go.
Other times I can't stop kissing him :)
The words I love you are used the most in our home.

Sometimes its easier to remember the reasons why Eric made me cry, over the reason's he made me fall in love.  (And visa-versa for him, I assure you.  I can be quite the selfish brat.)  Sometimes it's easier to stay mad, then to forgive and forget.  But I just have to say, life will always be easier with Eric by my side.  I love that man so much....so much that my heart could burst.  I know that's cheesy, but it is so true.  Each day we're learning more and more about being married to one another, and one day I think we'll have it all figured out.  Until then... a few more tears will be shed, a lot more laughter will be heard, and our love will grow forever.

And hopefully we'll produce some good lookin' children along the way ;)

we shopped 'til we dropped :)

Thrifting has been all over blog land and it totally intrigues me.  New clothes for super cheap?  Heck yes!  But the problem is... I have no idea where to begin with thrifting.  And to be honest, I'm not super into the vintage look.  I love it on everyone else, but I just don't think it's for me.  I love cutesy, frilly, girly stuff... and that stuff is not cheap.  But today I am proud to be blogging about my recent shopping spree!  Seriously, I can't tell you how freakin' excited I am about this! :)
Nicole (one of my bestie's) told me she was looking for a new skirt and I remembered reading about a sale Down East was having.  It must have been a fundraiser for BYU, because it was only at the Provo location.  If the sale was going to be as good as it sounded, we decided it was worth the drive to Provo.  2 hours and under $70 later.... it was worth the drive.  :)

ready to get our shop on :)

showing off/trying on our new cute clothes!

my pile

9 shirts, 2 cardigans, and 1 dress later (these are all brand new by the way...thrifting is buying used clothes, right?) I was a very happy girl :)  (Nicole scored some amazing buys as well!)  The drive, the heat and sweat, the 2 screaming kids...oh it was SO worth it!  (I'm not sure the little babes would agree though, haha!)  It is such a thrill buying that many clothes at once :)  This was totally a blog worthy kind of sale- haha!

P.S.  It was so exciting showing my new clothes to Eric!  He thought I'd never stop pulling clothes out of the bag :)  And the best part was telling him how much each item cost.  What a thrill :)  Then Eric had the idea to take this picture of me:

(Don't mind the shorts, for some reason Eric's shorts are my favorite to wear around the house haha.)  I totally had to post this picture because Eric threatens to break my camera every day.  So, I was shocked that he came up with the idea to take this picture :)

county fair

- car show (always makes my man happy)
- classic fair food (cost us our life's savings)
- we were reminded how much we LOVE airheads :) (the candy of course)
- lego land world (don't get any ideas husband.  this hobby is not for you)
- carnival rides that we couldn't even think about riding. (one word.  sick.)

This was by far the smallest county fair we've ever been to, and they had no fried desserts.  None.  But we still had a great time together!  And I even came home feeling a little sick.  Mission accomplished ;)

Target brings out the kid in my husband :)

Hi, my name is Courtney Brinkerhoff and I'm married to a 25 year old kid.  Oh, and I suck at taking pictures with my phone.  The proof:

"The hot wheels section is the first and most important stop I make."

"I have to play with the bouncy balls here, because walmart has them locked up so that kids like me won't bounce them all over the store.  Ooooh look!  These are on sale!"

"If I see a button on a toy I have to push it.  I just can't help it....in fact, my goal is to set off every single toy on the aisle at the same time. :)"

"My mom wife won't let me buy one of these... so I have to take advantage of every opportunity I have to play! (Rude, right?)"

"When I grow up I want a nice shiny bbq.  Until then, I'll use the stores toys to play pretend.  If I break something, my mom wife will have to pay for it :)"

"Hot wheels can only hold me over for so long.  When I grow up I'm gonna build me a hot rod!"

I bet you wish you could go shopping with us, right?  At least our future kids will have a blast shopping with daddy :)

I love my man :)

P.S. We bought Just Dance 2 and Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred...I'm sure you can guess that I'm the only one that got anything out of this shopping trip :)

date night!

It's been a year now that I started leaving Eric to work a week out of town every month, but I still dread missing him.  I seriously have an unsettled feeling in my tummy a few days leading up to my time to go.  Haha how lame/cheesy right?  But it's so true!  And the day I get to come back home I have butterflies in my tummy :)  I guess that week apart is good for our marriage haha! 
To show how much he missed me, Eric had a fun date planned when I got home Saturday!  We drove up to SLC and indulged in my favorite... waffles and frites!  Oh YUM!  Please ignore our sweaty red faces, it was freakin' hot that night!

Then we went to a baseball game!  Of course, the most exciting thing happened within the first two minutes of the game.  A player got thrown out of the game for throwing a tantrum and I thought the coach was going to punch the ump.. haha.  Gosh we look like we're both about to have a heat stroke! 

We had to have some ball park food....even though we'd just had dinner an hour before. :)  Our goal was to eat ourselves sick... didn't happen.  Hopefully we can find a county fair this weekend to and see what damage can be done ;)

 It was such a good night and I felt so giddy to be on a date with my man :)  Oh, I missed you guys almost as much as I missed Eric! ;)  I can't wait to get caught up on my blog stalking... you'll all be hearing from me soon :)

San Diego 2009

I am craving a vacation again, who's suprised??!  Haha :)  2 years ago my brother married the cutest girl in the world, so we got to turn their wedding into a vacation!  That was my first time in San Diego and I loved it!  I definitely want to go back, a lot :)  So here's a little look into our vacation to the beach, Sea World, and the wedding.  Happy Anniversary Trevor and Alycia!

first ever drive in movie date :)

What a fun/busy weekend we had!  Eric's little brother got married (welcome to the family Afton)!  I love weddings so much!  Without fail, they always bring back the feelings of excitement I had just before our wedding.  Call me crazy, but I always say I wish I could get married to Eric again :) 

When we got back into town Saturday evening I was feeling so restless.  Even though we'd been gone all weekend I felt like I needed to get out of the house.  Am I the only one who does that? :)  I'd heard about a drive in movie theater that was pretty close to us.  I've always wanted to go to one... so since I was already in a romantic/lovey-dovey mood I figured this was the perfect night to go!  (Haha I'm telling you...those weddings put me in a mood!:) 

We pulled our radio out of our 72 hour kit (I say that like we have one... we have bits and pieces for it.  Seriously, my goal for the dreaded winter is to put together our 72 hour kits.) and wound it up!  Everyone needs one of these radios, they have a solar panel to charge up when it's sunny, and you can wind it up at night!  We snuggled up in the bed of Eric's truck, surrounded by blankets and pillows, and enjoyed our first drive in together!  We will definitely have more drive in movie dates! :)

love is..

always opening the door for me, always the gentleman :)
taking me out for dinner when I don't want to cook.
playing with my hair because it is my favorite thing in the world.
letting me drive your truck... haha.

snuggling in bed and then turning away from each other to fall asleep... but making sure we're still touching... even if it's just our finger tips.

leaving me the last bite of dinner, dessert, candy, etc.  Leaving me the last sip of drink, now I'm not sure if I'd call that love... ;)

going swimming with me, even though you'd rather do anything but swim.

cleaning the toilets.  I hate that job.

telling me no for no reason.  Just to remind me that I can't always have my way.  Oh wait... I'm not sure if I'm ok with that.
you + me + ice cream.

Eric, thank you for being the best husband I ever did have!  Love you!  And stop telling me no! ;)

p.s. Check out my guest post on Ashley's blog!  It will really hurt my feelings if you don't.... haha :)  Plus, you'll love Ashley!