5:37am. Saturday.

The one day I could sleep in past 5 this week definitely didn't happen that way.  Jesse and I are still house sitting for our friends, and something got into the dogs last night.  I never got past a doze last night, because I kept being awakened by the dogs at the foot of our bed.  Usually, they're really good through the night, and I have no idea why they were so noisy last night. 

By 5:30, I'd had it.  I climbed out of bed and struggled in the darkness to find the latches on their little dog kennels and let them out.  Jesse woke up to the sound of their freedom barks, and he offered to take them outside (those adorable little fluff balls pee--or worse, leave us gifts-- everywhere if they aren't taken straight outside).  I was thankful for his offer and headed into the bathroom.  "Don't forget to turn off the alarm," I said over my shoulder.  "Ok," He said groggily, as he followed the dogs out of the room.

20 seconds later, I nearly fell off the seat when I heard the shrill siren-like alarm blaring to the whole neighborhood.  I heard Jesse run from the backyard and hastily punch in the code, then go back outside with the dogs.

As I climbed back in bed, the phone rang.  It was the security company calling to make sure everything was ok.  I told them who I was, and that we were house-sitting for our friends.  That my husband had gone outside without disengaging the alarm.  As I'm saying all of this, I hear a groggy voice coming from the phonein the kitchen.  "Hullow?  H-hullow?"
"Jesse, I've got it!"

Crisis averted, my handsome, tired man climbed back in bed and promptly passed out.  The dogs settled down and went back to sleep.  And two hours later, I'm still staring at the ceiling. 

We're not allowed to have any pets at the house we're renting, but Jesse is very much looking forward to having dogs some day.  Things like this are definitely hurting his chances.   :-P

Last Night

Jesse and I like to treat house sitting like staying at a resort...a really cool resort where you can grill carne asada in the yard and enjoy sunsets from the top of a beautiful hill.

Look at that handsome man I'm married to!

Happy for the first quiet night all week

yum!

Enjoying Jesse's amazing grill-skill: carne asada!

Gorgeous view

Such a wonderful night!

Murder Mystery Dinner

Jesse and I participated in Hope Lutheran's annual Murder Mystery Dinner last weekend.  We were 2 of a cast of 8, and it was put on like a dinner theatre with an amazing feast of tri-tip and salmon for all of the guests.

It was a 1930s Hollywood  movie premiere style theme, and everyone was supposed to get really dressed up.  That posed a problem for me: how was I supposed to find something 1930's era-appropriate that fit my tall frame AND was affordable?

I went to seven thrift stores over three months looking for just the right thing to wear, but couldn't find anything.  Mom and I looked at dress patterns, and found a beautiful one!  Jesse and I went to JoAnn's and used a booklet of coupons to buy everything we needed for a beautiful midnight blue satin evening gown--for $35!  The dress pattern came with two styles, and I liked the front of one style, and the back of the other.  My mom is an amazing seamstress and was able to piece the two patterns together to get just the look I wanted--as well as adding inches in all the right places so the floor-length style actually reached the ground on me!

Jesse's character was Stu Dyron (play on words: stud iron) and he was a dashing stunt man turned star of the silver screen.  He was supposed to be a womanizer who sought out every new starlet who came to Hollywood.  The funny thing was that my character was the only girl he had not been in a romantic relationship with!

I was Denise N. Dayer (Da niece/the niece and heir), assistant director and niece of the weathy Hollywood producer who was murdered.  It cast a bad light on me the whole time, but I turned out innocent :)

Anyway, we had a lot of fun!  Here are some pictures that Jesse's mom took:

Outside right before the dinner began

The others in the cast were Loraine, the wife of Hope's principal, Nel, one of the school secretaries, Ben, the 7th grade teacher at Hope, Pastor, and our good friends, Tyler and Stacey Stover. (Not that you can see everyone in this picture!)

I feel bad that my back was to Momma B, and Jan and Robert the whole time...but isn't the back of the dress pretty?!? :-)

Jesse and Stacey were supposed to be in an intimate relationship.  Stacey and I shared a red lipstick, and at the end of each round, I would sneak off with Jesse to add another kiss mark to the womanizer's face.  It was funny how many people from our church were genuinely concerned that the lipstick was coming from Stacey!

Taking a moment to smile with Robert and Jan

(Momma B, I'm sorry that we don't have any pictures with you from that night!)

Here is the entire cast from the evening!

We had a lot of fun.  Thank you, Momma B, Jan, and Robert for coming to see us, and thank you, Mom, for a beautiful dress that was made just for me!