surprises

Mama got a new toy for Christmas. It was a gift from my sweet husband. Have I ever mentioned that he is a fabulous gift giver? I mean really, really good. Once when he was in the fifth grade he broke up with his girlfriend because he didn't think the portable radio he got her was a good enough present. I love that story. He's so cute.

Sidebar:

When I was a junior in college I took my first trip outside of the small world I had lived in and went to England to read books and roam the Bronte's moors. While I was there I decided to go to Paris and see the 3 tenors perform in front of the Eiffel Tower with 10,000 other people. It was the most amazing experience I had up until that point. I decided to take a boy named Scott with me as my chaperone. He was fun but he was not my love. Six months after I returned home I received a Christmas present from Ben. He had found a cardboard display of the concert and had it framed for me. It meant everything to me since I knew he was devastated that he wasn't the one to share the most amazing experience I had had up until that point. But he did it because he knew I would love it.

Sidebar over:

My gift this year was a new camera. It is a beautiful fancy camera. I now use words like aperture and bokeh. Not really. But you will be seeing a lot more of this:What? You don't think leaves are blog worthy? Oh let me assure you. This is just the start.

Somehow the camera managed to get into Ben's hands and he got a shot of me breaking the cardinal rule of marriage.

Don't yell at your husband if you haven't had sex in the last 24 hours. I'm thinking of writing a book.

Don't shout until you put out:

(Rebekah Hsieh's guide to a spiritually fufilling marriage)

It's a work in progress.

I had good reason for yelling. I decided to throw a party for 17 people and forgot to mention it to Ben. I mean what else are you going to do when your mom gives you a 16 pound turkey and tells you to cook it? It's not like the two of us could eat that much turkey.

And just look at how much fun we had.

Jim chillin out

This is Amy and Patrick. He's holding her leg. Hee Hee... That makes me happy. Is that weird? She's just so wonderful and she deserves to have someone hold her leg at a party.

This is baby Derek. Oh wait. I woke up one morning and he turned 13 and started snowboarding on Mt. Hood.

These are lovely people from Canada

These are my girls. I know. They are stunning.

Ok this one's actually staged. Ahh...good memories.

Thanks Ben for the present!