Yooper Stewart Gets Older


This man.

He prefers “Maine Cabin Masters” to college football.

He wears socks with his Crocs (of which he owns five pairs).

He makes a living driving dirt from place to place.

He tries to convince me to let him grow out his beard each winter by telling me, “every inch equals an extra degree of warmth.”



He’s great with toddlers because he’s happy to do the same thing over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again with them.

He’s surprisingly sentimental.

He loves Christmas lights as much as I do.

He’s starting to absorb some of my snark (muwahahaha!).

He’s ridiculously finicky about clean windows.

I love this man. I love writing about him (and I need to get better about doing it!). He supports me, encourages me, tolerates me, and loves me. He never used to care much about his birthday, but I’ve cured him of that—the day that he came into the world is a day worth celebrating, so celebrate we will (probably with Legos).

Happy Birthday, Yooper Stewart!

Smith or Robertson – You Decide

Murphy’s law – I write a post about Yooper Stewart’s camera shy ways and the next week he lets me take pictures of him. Of course.

The Sunday before Christmas, the fam took a trip to the Music House Museum. You can read all about (and see some great pictures and videos) here. The picture of YS and me started a discussion – who does Yooper Stewart look like?

Is he a Smith brother…

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Or a Robertson?

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You decide.

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July 4th Extravaganza

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Redneck in a fireworks store!!

It all started with a “quick” stop at the Pro Fireworks store in Williamsburg. Knowing that he and my dad would need supplies for their annual explosives display, Yooper Stewart came home with $25 worth of artillery shells and Black Cats. He also cruised the store, checking out supplies and prices. Having purchased fireworks with my father before, he knew right away that he could get twice as many supplies at Pro Fireworks for the price they usually paid at the fireworks tents. That led to another stop at the store.

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I literally couldn’t fit all of the fireworks in one photo.

Watching YS in a fireworks store is like watching my seven year-old niece cruise the doll aisle at Toys R Us set to the theme song of The Lego Movie: “Everything is AWESOME!” At one point we were looking at another fireworks box (they all looked the same to me) when we heard an employee in the next aisle say, “loudest one in the store!” Yooper Stewart ran around the corner to find out what it was. Thirty minutes (and $75) later, we had quite the supply (which, of course, doesn’t mean he and my dad didn’t still go to a fireworks tent to buy just a few more things).

Set-up started at about 8 p.m. on July 4. The past method has been setting all of the fireworks on a piece of plywood on top of two saw horses. After last year’s excitement (a Roman candle accidentally setting off some of the stand-by fireworks), they decided to upgrade: active fireworks on the plywood, back-ups in a wheel barrow (we’re very high tech).

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Almost ready…

The first firework went off around 8:06 p.m., with additional “test runs” happening until 9:30 p.m. That’s when the big show started! And kept going…and going…and going. Yooper Stewart, my dad, and my  second-cousin Mike blew things up until 11 p.m. Some of the fuses were loose, but they lit ’em anyway. They didn’t know how loud, big, or bright some would be, so they lit ’em to find out. Not sure if you can light that cake within 3″ of another cake? Why don’t we light it and see what happens?

They had a BLAST! (I spent much of the night ducking behind patio chairs). I’d love to say that I can’t wait until next year, but honestly, I could have bought a really nice pair of shoes with that money. Yooper Stewart, however, is already looking forward to bigger and better explosions (the neighbor’s show was louder – he and my dad need to top that).

Happy Birthday Yooper Stewart!

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Happy birthday to the love of my life! I can’t believe how blessed I am to know him. He challenges me, supports me, frustrates me, encourages me, and loves me through all of our personal and marital joys and struggles. Love you, honey!

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Christmas Wrap Up

It’s time for another Yooper Stewart post. I asked YS what I should post about this month … he stared at me like I’d just suggested he wear pink lace. Seriously.

I know it’s a little late, but here’s a look at YS’s Christmas. Like every year, December was crazy. No single event stands out as the humorous episode of the month, so I decided to just show you some of his recent holiday shenanigans.

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This is YS with our nephew, Butter Bean. BB lives in the big city, and his dad is a city boy. It’s up to YS to make sure BB understands the subtle differences between Mossy Oak and Realtree.

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Yooper Stewart also took time to play with our niece, Pudding Cup. Not having spent much time around kids, YS always learns something new when we’re with BB and PC. For instance, this day he learned how to play board games – roll the dice, move where ever you want. Pick cards at random. Repeat. Everyone has fun and no one loses.

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Me and my man. At Christmas he takes time away from his camo to don a t-shirt we bought while on our honeymoon at Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas party.

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One of my family’s Christmas traditions is Chex Mix. My mom used to fill a five gallon tub with it (no exaggeration – ask my high school friends). PC and YS seem to enjoy this holiday treat, too.

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The Bellagio! If you ever make it to Vegas, stop in at the Bellagio to check out their atrium. Beautiful! We’ve never been there at Christmas before, so this was the first time we got to enjoy their decorations.

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The last night – we tried desperately to get a nice picture, but a 6 year-old and a 4 year-old make that difficult (and highly entertaining!).

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We did managed one decent shot (sans Butter Bean). Yooper Stewart has this thing about his eyes being closed in photos. You get used to it.

Yooper Stewart, the secret romantic …

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I have the certificate to prove it!

This is what I woke up to on Valentine’s Day. Quite the surprise! Like most men, Yooper Stewart has a a distorted sense of romance. We often practice romantic gestures. For instance, I’ll ask him to tell me something romanctic, and he’ll say, “You have long, skinny hands” (that’s why we practice).

This year he completely surprised me with some sweet, written sentiments. As you can see above, I’m still the special one in his life (whew!). But that was just the beginning. I also found this on my computer …

YS has a thing for the puffy cards 🙂

He even wrote me a love note inside (seriously, a love note!). That would have been enough. But then …

Wait, what's this?

Another card?! It can’t be, but is it?

Awww ...

Yooper Stewart, I love you!