Paint, Pain & My Wife

My wife (and her mom) are absolute work horses! Probably not the best phraseology I could use, but they are amazing workers.

Recently, when moving into our new abode, Tammy was getting off the ladder and stepped knee-deep right into a 5 gallon bucket of paint. There was about 4.5 gallons that spilled out... what you see on the wood floors in the pictures. Her shin was pretty banged up from the paint screen... but she made it through ok.

Due to the resourcefulness of my mother-in-law, they used measuring cups and paint brushes to scoop up the spilled paint. Does that kind of 'recycling' make us 'green?'

No use crying over spilled milk... I mean, paint.

15th Anniversary Surprise – part 2

So Tammy was walking down the isle with me for our 15 year anniversary. Her brothers standing up with me and a couple friends standing up on her side. At center stage were 15 dozen roses in vases – obviously representing the 15 years of marriage we’ve accomplished. (I know, nice touch - thanks to Safeway - the greatest grocery store ever.)

We pause for a moment to let her to take it all in. Remember, she had NO idea any of this was going to happen. She just thought we were going to a fancy dinner or something. Little did she know what she was in for.

After Dave Wesley shared some scripture and kind stories that he recollected of doing ministry together with Tammy, it was time for the video. I recently drank the water and purchased an iMac. I scanned in a bunch of pictures that Tammy’s mom gave me dating back from Tammy’s infancy to when I met her. I, of course, had a bunch of pictures already in digital form since the time we got married and had two kids. I made a ‘video’ of all these pictures put to the song, “Stickwitu,” by the Pussycat Dolls. And let me tell ya, that went over AWESOME. I think my daughter and Tammy have watched that video about 30 times.

After the video, Dave had us say our vows. Of course, I was the one who wrote them because this was all a surprise to Tammy. So I said mine and then it was Tammy’s turn. Toward the end of her vows, I revealed yet another surprise. As she repeated after Dave, she promised to clean the house and pack our bags because we were headed on a four day cruise to Mexico leaving just two days later. THAT was how I revealed our big trip.

After the ceremony, we jumped in a limo and headed to Starbucks. If you know Tammy, you know the night has to include Starbucks. Then it was back to our house where, SURPRISE, our small group and the elders of the church had gathered for some of the best food ever – cooked by Jim Outman and his family. (By the way, Ryan Black took the video and Leslie Morris snapped the pictures back at church to commemorate our big day. Thanks you two.)

It was an amazing night and I’m thrilled that everyone helped me keep it a secret. This day and night was 9 months in the making. It was on my yearly “100 hours of prayer” that God revealed to me that I should not wait for my 20 year anniversary to do something big… I should do it on our 15th – so that is what I did. I suppose you could say, I was just being obedient. Regardless, a good time was had by all.

15th Anniversary Surprise – part 1

It was Friday, January 9^th, just 6 days before our actual anniversary. Tammy and her mom spent the day at Steve & Dana Pagano’s spa, The Retreat on the river.

Meanwhile, I and numerous other people kept the secret and several helped me put the final details together for the surprise of all surprises.

Just this past Christmas, I got Tammy an ‘outfit’ to wear at our anniversary dinner. So, she took the garb to The Retreat and was to meet me at the church because I had a ‘supposed’ meeting with Ryan Black in my office that was supposed to end at 5:30pm.

Most everyone in and out of our church had been invited to surprise Tammy arriving at the church between 5:15 to 5:30pm. The plan worked and my mother-in-law got Tammy at the church around 5:40pm.

I heard a little about Tammy’s day at the spa and then escorted her into the worship center to see what was going on. I told her there were all kinds of commotion going on in there and I wanted to see what was up. Oh yeah, and I gave her a 6-rose bouquet kind of thingie.

She was blown away. She saw the screen that said, “Happy 15^th Anniversary Barry & Tammy.” Then she saw the 18’ banner that said, “Tammy, Will You Marry Me… Again?” And then she saw her brother, Jason Pitts, who had flown in from Minnesota just to experience this night with us.

Needless to say, she was outrageously blown away and caught off guard. I walked her down the isle where Dave Wesley was ready to do the officiating and take our vows.

I’ll describe the rest of the story tomorrow.

AWESOME Restaurant

I took my wifey out on a date last Friday - just because.

I thought we could try somewhere we'd never been before. I had seen this place called CRUSH 29 several times in the Sacramento Bee Ticket and had always wanted to go.

So - I set out to review their website. WOW - talk about cool. Very classy, user friendly, and I could easily make a reservation right there on line. So I did!

And it was truly FANTASTIC! The Rib eye Steak I had was unbelievably full of flavor and cooked to perfection. A little chipotle butter on top just sealed the deal. I will definitely go back to that place!