Lucky thirteen

Thirteen years ago I married my high school sweetheart. My returned missionary. My cute fiance.

Now we have built a whole life together. I am blessed every day to walk by his side. It's overwhelming to think of how many joys and trials we've experienced together, hand in hand.

He never speaks an unkind word to me, even when I deserve it. He is patient with me especially when I don't deserve it.

He treats me like a queen. He loves family above all else. He never stands in my way. He helps me to reach my potential and gives me wings to fly.

Here's to lucky thirteen!

Feelin' Good

Life is good. As I move into my second trimester things are looking rosy again. My hubby smells better (ha ha!). My kids are back to getting the occasional real meal. It's like I feel like myself again! I even have a new calling at church which renews my spirit and I am looking forward to serving in a new way.

Last weekend was our anniversary and we got to stretch it out over about three days which was very cool. Thanks to all three sisters who facilitated the weekend in one way or another we were able to go to the temple to do sealings, The Roof (a fabulous restaurant downtown), and spend a night at the Alaskan Inn in Ogden Canyon. I recommend both highly!


This picture was taken from our table during dinner:





It was all very beautiful and it was great to do something a bit extravagant (for us at least), as the next couple years with a baby won't allow us to be away as easily.

Mr. Distracted

Sorry for the long absence. Life has been a series of ups and downs, but mostly ups. DH is enjoying his very demanding, mostly fulfilling, constantly learning, always something to grade teaching job. I am trying to get used to paperwork and lesson prep every night. He loves what he does and is trying hard to figure out what works, what doesn't and what he can improve on. I admire him for that!

This is my ds3 above. Oh how he dawdles! Every little thing gets him sidetracked. I think this morning I asked 13 times for him to get dressed. or maybe that was yesterday. They all run together. Anyway, this morning he was asked to take a bag of trash out to the can on the street. He did....and then I didn't see him for 5 minutes. He never came back in. I grabbed the camera when I saw him watching cars, bugs and all else. Fast forward three minutes. Suddenly he remembers to come back in from his long trip to the sidewalk. Eight minutes to take a bag outside. Sheesh.

Conference was wonderful this weekend! I'll have to post pics soon.

And for those that are interested, I've added a slide show of our anniversary at the bottom...

Geez, I'm getting slammed for not posting over the weekend! (thanks, W!)

The anniversary was great! Dh arranged for his mom to take the kids on Thursday and we went to our Sunset Dinner cruise on the Great Salt Lake. It was so-so food but amazing views! Very romantic. We had a great time and 2 hours went by too quickly... Grandma kept the kids till Friday morning, when dh took the day off from work as a surprise and let me sleep in while he picked up the kiddos. Oh, when we got home from the cruise there were rose petals all over the house and our bedroom, as well as a lovely dozen white roses on the table! Beautiful! It all made the CD I made for him seen kinda goofy, but it was so nice.

Friday (our REAL anniversary) was fun just bumming around the house and playing with the kids. He hired a babysitter in the ward to watch the kids again while we went to do sealings at the temple. We were able to join a great sealing group who was grateful to have us with them and the sealer was a funny, inspiring man with appreciation for everyone. He thanked us repeatedly for coming. It was very special and I was quite emotional as we listened to those same promises made 11 yrs ago renewed again.

After leaving the temple dh had the feeling that we should walk onto Main Street plaza and see the reflecting pool. We met a nice non-member couple who were traveling thru Salt Lake and asked us many questions about the temple and the buildings on Temple Square. It was an amazing missionary experience as we talked to them for a few minutes. We tried to answer their questions the best we could and hope that they were left with a good impression of the church and our beautiful city.

We ended the night with dinner at the Gateway (California Pizza Kitchen) and it was YUMMY! We hardly ate anything that day and were starved, so maybe anything would have tasted great!

I am immensely grateful for being married to such a great guy. He was so romantic by planning out so many things. It was an amazing two-day anniversary!

Phew! I've accomplished a lot today! My bathroom is sparkling and I can't remember the last time I could say that. The bedroom has stayed relatively clear, although I can see a few piles starting if i'm not careful. I need to stay diligent. Earlier in the week I caught up on laundry, which really multiplied after camping.

The kids have really been awesome the last two days. Getting along, being responsible, coming when called, and just generally fun to be with. Yesterday we ran a bunch of errands which usually ends with a couple of us in tears (mainly me) but they were terriffic. What is normally a terrible chore with all of them was actually enjoyable! Today we went to the park for lunch and it was fun as well.

I also spent the morning sorting pictures so I can do another round of scrapbooking. I tend to go in spurts as far as my scrapping goes. That's ok I guess. My dh says it will keep me from getting burned out on it. On the docket next: DS3 t-ball page, followed by some newly-found baby pics of him. Should be fun.

My cute dd was so funny earlier. She had her hair all done up with claw clips today. She was trying to lay back on a pillow and it was uncomfortable. She says "mom, tan I take my hair out"? What a character.

Last night I made pork chops with baked potatoes. Tonight is just frozen fish and maybe pasta or rice. Tomorrow I think I'll make tacos or something for the kids since we're going out.

Our 11yr anniversary is Friday and we are celebrating Thurs AND Friday! Cool eh? He planned it all and i'm really excited. I got myself a new shirt yestersday and I just need to figure out shoes now.