One Landes Place

I was sitting in the brides room throwing up, literally. I was so nervous that I asked my brother in law to run across the street to the store and bring me back a bottle of wine! I can just see Jake trying to sneak a bottle of Sutter Home into the Baptist Church. My nerves never calmed and I walked wide-eyed all the way down the aisle shivering in my shoes. I had no idea what I was doing. I can't say I would have done things any different. Being married to Matt the past 7 years hasn't exactly been what I thought I was signing up for, but I would sign up again-no questions. It's so crazy to think that even at 27, I had no clue what I was in for. It's easy to get so caught up in what the world perceives marriage to be. I bought into the fairy tale of love and overlooked the work part. It has been an adventure to say the least. I love to think about when Matt and were dating and how care free our lives were. I could have never imagined our lives today bac...

Today's post comes from an article Katy Lin posted on her blog. I read it and was convicted instantly! These 10 Secrets to a Successful Marriage are so right! I tried to pick just one to talk about, but I could not decide. I want to talk about how a few of them have affected my marriage. 5. Change your mind, Change your marriage How couples think and what they believe about their spouse affects how they perceive the other. What they expect and how they treat their spouse matters greatly. I can't tell you how much I've learned by this. Marriage is definitely a place where you can become selfish and self absorbed. It's easy to think about only what you want and your own feelings. It takes a mature couple to realize they aren't the only one in this. Simply changing your mind about how you feel makes a huge difference. Matt used to always tell me "don't be bothered by that" or "don't let that hurt your feelings". It would always be...

Here are Katy Lin's prompts/themes for MHR Friday this week: I picked #1 and #2. Prompt/Theme for Friday, February 6, 2009 We have a couple of different options for this week: 1. Tell us about some of the things that you and your husband do to just have fun together! 2. Tell the story of a memory about your husband that brings you a smile and a giggle every time you think about it! 3. Give us your best, most creative Valentine's Day gifts (and yes, this one is a shameless way to use your creativity to help me come up with a Valentine's Day gift, lol!) Challenges: ~ Set an appointment with your hubby to have a "goals and dreams" talk as described in the first article . ~ If you already know some of your husbands goals and dreams, be intentional about encouraging him and helping him to reach them. So...this week was a tough week for us (more on that in another post). There was a lot of tension and silent moments. Last night we decided Matt would mak...

The moment I knew I would marry the man I call my husband... I have to say that I entered my marriage without a clue on how I got there. The beginning of my marriage was not the storybook romance most would think about. Matt and I dated for 5 years before we married. We argued a lot and broke up several times...probably an early sign we weren't ready! Matt was the guy every girl wanted. He was handsome, smart, athletic and came from an awesome family-something I always wanted. There wasn't a particular time where I just KNEW I was going to marry him, oh but I hoped and prayed that I would be the girl that would. I remember one day (after we were married) sitting on the couch with Matt. It had been a really rough year for us and it was only the beginning. I was carrying a ton of guilt from my past and just didn't feel like I deserved such a great husband. I was sobbing and my heart was so torn up inside. Matt sat down next to me on the couch and held my hand. He ...

I decided to use Katy Lin 's prompt for MHR Friday this week. Check out her website and be a part of sharing how your husband rocks! Tell us about a time that your spouse went out of his way to serve you, and love you sacrificially. Matt honestly goes out of his way to serve me all the time, it's just in his nature. He knows I am an "acts of service" person and he tries really hard to serve me in that way. I don't remember the occasion but one morning after Matt woke up and got ready for the day, he decided to quietly slip out and take Sarabeth with him, leaving me to sleep in and enjoy the morning in peace and quiet. I'm not sure if has any idea how much that meant to me. I am not a morning person and after I had Sarabeth I just knew I would never sleep in again. Other ways Matt serves me is by going out of his way to clean the house. I made a comment one time about how it would be so nice if the toys just picked them selves up! The next morning when ...

What better way to start the year than to brag a little on my hubby. Today I asked Matt what he had planned for the day and he said "I'm just going to help you all day, whatever you need help with." Sweet! He cleaned the kitchen, and I mean he CLEANED it, I walked in and he was scrubbing the tops of the gas range. He had the whole thing apart cleaning every little piece. I can say I have NEVER done that! He has been really sweet the past few days, spending a lot of quality time with Sarabeth and me. We are trying to take advantage of the extra free time he has right now until he starts working again. Matt was let go from his job on Tuesday this week. We kind of knew before the holidays that there may be a small chance his company would be doing some downsizing before the first of the year, but we weren't sure that Matt would be part of that. It came as a surprise to me, but not to him. He sat me down at the kitchen table (the day after he found out) and I gu...

There is really no particular reason why I'm posting today for MHR . Matt does so many things for me and is an amazing husband everyday. Sometimes I am always waiting for him to do something "big" that just knocks my socks off when it's really the little things that make him ROCK. For instance, I had steroid injections in my neck and back yesterday. Not a fun experience, even with the anesthesia. Matt was so sweet when he called on his way home and asked if he could pick up dinner. I had already made plans for us to eat left overs but I stopped and thought about how he was thinking ahead, knowing what I had been through that day already. I pray that I will continue to notice the little things that Matt does for me and our family. He truly loves us in ways that we don't even see. I love you babe. Happy MHR day!

I know I completely jumped over Thanksgiving pictures and MHR from last week but I have to brag on my man. If you know Matt then you know he has a big heart. He is always willing to help, the problem is, he rarely has the time. When I say he is a busy man, that's a total understatement! The last few months have been painfully hard trying to schedule some time with him when he's not working on something. So, when he did all of this on Sunday for ME, whoa! I was completely surprised and impressed to say the least!! Here's a taste of what my cool husband did this weekend: First on the list, new cabinets for my office/craft room. I have been complaining about how crowded everything is in our home and that we need more space so....Matt to the rescue! He surprised me on Friday night with these cabinets (trash from his job site) and he even hung them and added the trim. They compliment my free desk perfectly! Next on the agenda, a bracket for my window mistreatment (more...

Wow, the week has flown by! I have been thinking a lot this week about how much Matt does for our family. I don't always put myself in his shoes and try to imagine what it's like to carry the burden of providing for my family. Matt graciously gives his all to work and then comes home and gives 100% to us. He can't wait to get home and play in the floor with Sarabeth. The other night he said after playing with her for over an hour "man I really needed that!" Family time with her is like breathing, he has to have it to live. I love that about him. This week in my MOMS group at church, we were talking about creating a home environment that our husbands desire to come home to. It's not about the decorating and furniture placement but more about creating a soft place to fall. Matt works so hard and then comes home and I bombard him with the craziness that happened with us that day. He always listens, although I think sometimes he would rather just come h...

He's so special he gets two MHR entries this week! Matt is such a wonderful husband and also my best friend. Here lately he has been getting home from work so late and it has started to irratate me some. By Wednesday of this week I was so done with it all that we had a little disagreement on the phone that ended abruptly when I hung up on him. Not the wisest thing to do, especailly to him because he HATES that more than anything! So I just knew when he got home, it was on. About 9:00 pm I get a text from him asking me what kind of treat he could get for me at the store b/c I deserved one. ??? What, are you kidding me? That's exactly what I texted back to him. He said he wanted to bring me home something special because he loved me. Ok, guilt trip please! I said I didn't want anything so he said ok, surprise it is! A few minutes later he walked through the door with a box of Blue Bell Ice Cream Sandwiches....one of my favorite treats. What a man! Nothing else wa...

Ok , I'm super guilty for not keeping up with my MHR posts. I was so reminded by my sweet hubby tonight that I must have forgotten that he Rocks. I didn't forget, I just haven't made the time to sit down and talk about it. SO, I'm making the time now-guilt or no guilt. My back has been hurting for a while now and I have been seeing a chiropractor and a Physical Therapist for the past few months. So far, no improvement. So I talked to Matt about getting a new bed and he suggested just swamping out the one we have with the one we have in storage. It is a smaller bed but I LOVE it and hopefully it would help my back. It's been a few weeks since we decided we would do this so today was the day. After a few hours of relaxing, we (and when I say we, I mean Matt...) went upstairs to disassemble our bed. I didn't realize it took power tools to do this. After it was taken apart, we had to wrap it tightly with several layers of furniture wrap...a 2 person job f...

This week has been another whirlwind of a week, crazy! I think I only made dinner one night this week. Last night was overcooked meatloaf and my sweet husband thought it was the best meal ever. Matt eats whatever I make and never complains. And that's why MY HUSBAND ROCKS!! I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. The problem is I never really know if my cooking is good or bad. However, I'm thankful he eats whatever is put in front of him. Matt has missed our little miss so much this week. With late nights and early mornings, he leaves before she gets up and she's fast asleep when he gets home. I called to see if we could come visit him at work today but he's swamped again but is coming home on time (or maybe even early) so he can hang out with us. Matt, you ROCK! Want to talk about how your husband rocks? Click here and join us!

I totally forgot about this last week so I need to make up for it. This week was my rockin' husband's birthday! It was laid back and we spent the evening on the sofa watching the Olympics after Sarabeth went to bed. I posted a puny birthday message for him on our blog and he returned with the sweetest comment . He's always making things about me. And for this reason...MY HUSBAND ROCKS! As for last week, well it was a little crazy around here and tensions ran kinda high so I guess in all the silent treatments of the week I left out my Friday post. However, Matt and I always work things out and don't stay mad very long. In all my mess ups and fight pickin' he loves me anyway. And for this reason...MY HUSBAND ROCKS! Want to talk about how your husband rocks? Click here and join us!

I really have to brag on Matt this week. By the way, this idea came from here ...it's not original but I wish I would have thought of it! My hubby has really worked his tail off this week. Just recently Matt has become more involved in our finances. Not that he didn't care before but now we are on the same page and both aware of our money...or lack thereof. We have become more accountable to each other on what we are spending and sticking to our budget like never before. We've both known that my car has been our biggest headache. The payments were eating our lunch, for real. It was leased (very bad idea for a real estate agent) and I rolled over some not so pretty negative equity from my Lexus (also not a good idea even if you aren't a real estate agent). We knew it was inevitable that we were going to have to let the Honda go, but not without putting up some dough. We put it up for sale a few months ago not having a clue what we would do if someone bought it. W...

I think I may have to start tagging some of my posts since Matt keeps coming up with the funniest things. Yesterday we were at the drive thru and Dairy Queen. I made a comment to Matt how DQ now takes a debit card and they "used to not" take them. Apparently that struck Matt as funny. He then repeated what I said "used to not" what is that? "used to not???" What is that, like a retired astronaut? Ok, so maybe you had to be there but we both died laughing at ourselves. The other day we were driving down the road and some guy kept getting over in front of us then switching back into his own lane. He did it 3 times and I started getting frustrated and said "Geez, get over, don't get over, just make up your mind" Matt heard this "Dover, Donkey Dover, just make up your mind." He looked at me with this weird look, "honey, what's a donkey dover?" Oh the amusement that goes on in our family!

So on Saturday I drug Matt to the first of 3 child birth classes we will attempt to attend before baby Landes gets here. It was kind of weird to be in a room with 11 other couples talking about female anatomy and strange things your body does when you are pregnant. Kind of like 6th grade sex ed but for adults. Matt did well, of course he laughed a lot and fell asleep during the "relaxation" exercise...the exercise was for me :) Toward the end of class the instruction asked us to walk through about 5 contractions and for each one our "coach" was to help us through with a different tactic. The first one was to talk to your spouse. "Tell her how well she is doing, how beautiful she looks....blah blah blah". So, in the darkness of the room with the elevator music playing in the background, in the midst of my "contraction", my sweet husband leans over and says "Honey you are doing a great job and you look great doing it. I'm headed d...

We celebrated Matt's 32nd birthday on Monday night. Since we had just returned from a 10 day vacation, it was very low-key. I went by Rao's Bakery and picked up his favorite -German Chocolate Cake and of course a little something for me! We only got one slice each, if you've ever eaten at Rao's you know why! Then we went to BW3's with The Gallands , The Davis' , and The Villareals . Matt had a great time! *Notice the candles on the cake are 26. Matt forgets his age and is adamant that he is 26 every year....whatever you think honey :) I love you!

It's a Landes tradition that each year for our anniversary, we take turns planning a fun getaway. This year was my turn, which I love because I am THE PLANNER. Matt wanted to go shopping at the outlet malls in San Marcos so I made reservations at this really cool river house in New Braunfels over a month ago. It is owned by a friend of a friend so I got it for free, I thought. About a week before I got a call that the "friend" would need me to send her a check for $200 for a cleaning fee and a utility charge?? I was a little put out, of course because our budget did not call for a $200 lodging fee. Matt and I talked and HE decided we should just forget about the cabin and "wing it" for the weekend. We could find a hotel when we got there. He really didn't want me to get stressed out about planning something. I'm in a season of my life where I am really trying to let go of some control and trust my husband with things so I agreed (against my will). You kn...

In honor of St. Valentine's Day and my loving husband.... hope he doesn't kill me later :) My husband Matt truely is a man after God's own heart. I can't say enough about how he loves me. One day he aksed me if I thought there was anything I could do to make God not love me and of course I answered no, he said "Then there is nothing you can do to make me not love you. God commanded me to love you as he loves his church." I never knew how true this was. Our marriage has been anything but easy. Any man in his right mind would have doomed us failed for sure. Matt stood strong and never left my side, he never stopped praying and he never stopped being obedient to God and His plan for our marriage. Through all of this Matt, managed to excel at work, become more in love with Jesus, and remain his goofy, fun, self that I have grown to love. Legend has it that St. Valentine performed secret marriages for soldiers during the days of Emporer Cl...

Ok, so for our first blog I figured I would post some humor. You may not get it if you don't know us well, and even if you do, you may still think we are strange. One night after Matt and I were first married, still living out of boxes from a recent move, Matt asked "Honey, where are the cups?" I answered, "Some are in the kitchen." "Summer in the kitchen??", he replied. We both sort of giggled at the statement. I have always had the tendency to talk fast and Matt has a habit of making sure I realize it! This time, I thought I'd play along. "Yes honey, Summer in the kitchen, and you Autumn get up and get one, and Winte r in there, Spring me something to drink too!" Guess you had to be there, but from then on, the seasons took on a whole new meaning!