Work. Cook. Sleep. Repeat. + puppy love

I am such a horrible blogger!  Sometimes I just think my life is so boring that there is absolutely no chance anyone could possibly want to read about it. 

And I've been stuck in a funk lately.  My life revolves around working, sleeping, cooking and cleaning. 

When I'm not at work, I'm worried about making lunches, or what we're going to have for dinner, or what I'm going to bring to our work pitch-in, or whether we have clean clothes or dishes...and on and on and on...
It's exhausting.  Work is rough enough for me.  I have lot of responsibility and a lot of stress.  And when I come home, I really just want to relax, but that never seems to happen.  There are always meals to cook and dishes to do.


Ugh.  There has to be more to life than this, right?


Anyway, I actually had a great weekend and thought I would share it with you!

Jesse and I spent the weekend back in good 'ole Knox County.  We normally have an okay time when we go down to visit, but we never really get to enjoy ourselves.  There are always about 20 different people who need our attention.  But not this time...

This time, we stayed at my aunt Michelle's house (who also happens to be one of my best friends), and we just got to relax.  We didn't really even tell anyone else we were in town.  It was glorious!

So my cousin Jaden, who is ten years old, said the sweetest thing to me this weekend.  I seriously think it might have been the most flattering thing anyone's ever said to me, and something I will never forget.

She said, "Valerie, I want to show you this journal I have, but I can't find it.  I wrote something about you."
Then she said something like, "Everyday,  it asks a different question. One day, one of the questions was, 'If you could trade places with anyone, who would it be?' Well, I said you because you're in the Air National Guard, you have red hair, you're a good singer, and you're beautiful on the inside and out."

Awww...it makes my heart melt!  I have been battling so many inner struggles lately, but somehow it makes me feel so incredibly good about myself, to know that in the eyes of a ten year old, I'm perfect in every way.

Isn't she adorable?

I just want to throw out there, that we went bowling and I beat Jesse.

We also got to bring our dog with us this time!  This is a huge treat for us because our dog is "the monster" and no one ever lets us bring her over!  But "Abby the Monster" got to hang out with her best friend all weekend and I'm pretty sure she had a great time too.

Here are the two dogs when they were just wee little pups.

And here they are now.

Aww..sweet puppy love!