Belated Anniversary Post- this is dedicated to the one I love!

By now, I hope that it is quite clear that I love and adore my wonderful husband. He is my world. On the 24th, we celebrated 3 years of marriage, and oh, what a marriage it has been so far. I joked to my mother that we have done more living in 3 years of marriage, than many couples do in ten. So we should have smooth sailing for the next 7 years, right?!

Here are some of the highlights of our time together:

1: Our first official meeting: I had demanded an introduction after hearing a sexy, deep voice answer a question in institute class. He had a gauze covered thumb, because he had tried to cut it off while drywalling the basement.
2: Our first real date: Sitting through three hours of King Kong with me covering my eyes while giant bugs ate the people on the screen.
3: The question game: A way to get to know him and to ask him all of the questions that I was afraid to ask, like did he love me?
4: The first time he said he loved me: I cried, what, didn't you!
5: When he proposed: a long awful day, followed by me storming up to my room to put something away, and wondering what was all over my floor, realizing that it was flowers and that there was a ring box sitting open on my chair.
6: Our wedding day: thinking everything would be great because we would belong to each other forever.
7: Our first few months: floating on a cloud, probably making our families ill with the PDAs.
8: First conflicts: Health, thesis work, stress, work, fertility
9: First sad tears: first miscarriage
10: Best vacation: driving out to the coast with Mark for a two and a half week long vacation.
11: Best surprise: finding out that we were pregnant, on New Year's Eve, and then I threw up. Morning sickness begins!
12: Worst vacation: driving out to Seattle for Ian's wedding
13: Silliest moment: catching him singing one of my made up songs as he did a little booty shake. (this has happened numerous times!)
14: Worst Moment: Do I really need to write it? The moment that we realized that we would have to wait until the eternities to get to know our child, again.
15: Best anniversary gift: This year's! A beautiful diamond and sapphire necklace!
16: Best moment: Every Single Day that I get to wake up next to this wonderful, caring, loving, intelligent, handsome man that I am privileged to call my husband.

There have been good times, bad times, and times in between. I wouldn't get rid of any of them if it meant that I would have to be without Mark. He is my everything.

A Month in Summary

Oh Wow! Can it really be a month since my last post. Oops! Sorry, I have been busy, and to quote a classic movie, "There is too much, let me sum up!"

1) Mark has started work on our new basement suite. Work is progressing at a good rate and we hope to be in by September.

2) I have been working long hours and now, at the request (read-command) of my husband I will be trying to take a day off and work less than 12-14 hours a day.

3) I am no longer in the primary (WOOHOO!) and now I am shepherding around young girls in the hope that they will grow into upstanding adults. They certainly won't learn that from me. Now, sarcasm on the other hand, they may learn in spades!

4)I now knit. My first project is this huge afghan for Mark and I am about to finish.

5) I have read approximately 200 books

6) My brother and his wife and kids left me to explore the south. I was sad, but not so sad when I remembered what it is like to travel with small children. Suckers!

7) I got a great new recipe for crock pot oatmeal that is awesome! (and really healthy!)

8) Mark and I have decided to put our future family on hold (we are not trying to have a baby for a while). Instead we are neck and neck in a competition that will result in me being awesome and winning. That Mark is cagey, but I shall triumph!

I guess that this is about it for the last little while. We had some ups and downs this month emotionally with Mother's day and the first anniversary of my grandmother's death all coming on top of one another. But, all in all, things are good, and look to be getting even better.

Nothing Exciting Ever Happens to Me

Now, I don't want to sound as though I am whining, but maybe I am, just a little bit. Several times a day I am asked a question that I have learned to dread. It is "what's new?" There are several variations to the original, but the theme remains the same. Mainly, everyone expects something noteworthy to have happened since last they saw me.

News Flash people, exciting things don't generally happen to me. I do the same things everyday with very few additions or substitutions. I live vicariously through other people and hope that someday I will have interesting stuff to share.

That Day is Today!!!

Guess what,

I had hardly wiped the sleep from my eyes when I came to the realization that while I slept, my husband had somehow disappeared. I panicked and ran from the room to try to find him. He was no where to be found. I, for no apparent reason, decided to call off the hunt and do something else, like go for a sail in my pirate ship, of which I am the captain of course.

Whilst sailing, I came across an unusual island. I decided to pull into port and take a peak around. There were waterfall and palm trees and hot springs. I decided to stick around for a while and see what happened. My first mate, Heffie the elephant, was not happy with this decision and started a mutiny aboard the ship. I was not feeling confrontational and decided to let them have the ship and I would wait for the next one to come along to get home. Alas, Heffie sucked at steering and my ship, The Stylist, was lost at sea. the only survivors were Frank and Julie, the stuffed fish, who could swim.

Mark reappeared just as I was watching my ship float away and we stretched out on the sand, drank cool fruity juices, and enjoyed the sunset on the horizon.

I will never eat honey roasted peanuts before bed ever again! Messed Up Dream!!!

But it definitely gives me something to say when I am asked what is new.

The End

I went to my last support group meeting this week. It was so hard to say goodbye to these women, and it has only been a couple of months! It was such a blessing to be involved with this group at this point of my life. I needed to be here at this time to help these women and to be helped by them. I needed to spend this time dwelling on my faith. I needed to think about the love that I have for my children who have come and gone and the love I will have for the ones who are yet to come (this is not an announcement by any means!). I have discovered hidden strengths within my self that maybe would have taken years to surface.

It gave me an opportunity to tell these women my testimony and to share my love for my Heavenly Father on a weekly basis. I love the way women can come together to lift each other up when we feel weak, scared, or overwhelmed. It makes me thankful for the innate qualities of women.

So I remain thankful and in awe of the strength of women.

A Poetic Birthday Blog

I don't know why, but whenever I think about the great love that I have for my husband, I get a little poetic. I was thinking alot about him this week because of his 26th birthday (yes, I realize that he looks a great deal younger!). I took a poetry class in university (needed the English credit) and for some reason, I began reading the anthology again just the other day. That was when I discovered this:

A Red, Red Rose

By: Robert Burns

O my Luve's like a red, red rose,

That's newly sprung in June;

O my Luve's like the melodie

That's sweetly played in tune.-

As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,

So deep in luve am I;

And I will love thee still, my dear,

Till a'the seas gang dry.-

Till a'the seas gang dry, my dear,

And the rocks melt wi' the sun:

O I will love thee still, my dear,

While the sands o' life shall run.-

And fare thee weel, my only Luve,

And fare thee weel awhile!

And I will come again, my Luve,

Though it were ten thousand mile!-

Now granted, ol' Robbie was talking about some lovely lass, not my great strapping husband, but the thought is there. I can't believe that another year has passed and he is another year older. Happy birthday my love, here's to an eternity more!

The Power of Imagination

So, I read a scary book last night. It wasn't gory, crude, explicit, or creepy. It was just scary. It was a book that relied on the imagination of the reader to fill in the blanks of the story to make it as creepy as you could handle. Unfortunately for me, my brain fills in way more than I can handle. Probably wasn't my best plan to read it in the middle of the night, but I was up and bored.

While we are on the subject, why is it that it is in the middle of the night that the house decides to "settle?" Or, that the furnace kicks in with frightening irregularity? Or, the person beside you suddenly cries out in a dream? None of these things are good when one is deeply engrossed in a scary book!

I made myself scared. There was no sleeping after that book. Stupid book! Well, not really, but you understand. I blame my parents for giving us too much time to explore and develop an imagination. If they had been like everyone else's parents, we would have had our minds ruined with television until we could think of nothing outside of what was directly told us.

Wait, perhaps I should be thanking them, instead of scolding them. Thanks mom and dad for making it possible for me to nearly wet myself at 3:15 am when the furnace kicked in just as the lady walked into the dark room by herself. It was a great moment, and one that I am very happy had no witnesses.

Viva Las Vegas!

Currently a bunch of my family members are living it up in Vegas, and I have to be honest when I tell you that I am a lovely shade of green about it. I love the idea of Vegas. I don't care about the gambling (obviously), but it is the history that makes me want to be there. I have a confession to make for those who are unaware, I LOVE Elvis. He makes my heart flutter. And more than Graceland, Vegas says Elvis to me.

I am also a huge fan of the Rat Pack, you know, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis Jr. They were so awesome. Crooners. I am such a sucker for them.

Anyway, my family is there, and I am stuck here freezing. I am, however, looking forward to a showgirl rubber ducky that my mother is trying to find for me.