Response to Sarah

Sarah asked to see a picture of me in my new black dress. So here are T & I on our lovely anniversary. Sorry that you can't see much of the dress, but I'm sure you can see that time has been very, very good to us, don't you think?



P.S. Actually T has had so many random people tell him he looks like Edward Norton. I didn't even know who he was and had to look him up. And understandably, I've had just billions of people mistake me for Salma Hayak.

It's a Wonderful Life-- 9 Glorious Years Together

Yesterday was busy and wonderful and celebratory!

7 am: I hit the early bird sale at a department store and bought myself a lovely little black dress for our 9th anniversary celebration dinner, as well as for Kari's upcoming wedding. (The dress was 50% off--Sweet!)

8:30 am: Tee-Roy and Avandra go help build a wheelchair ramp for a 90+ year old woman in the ward who has been housebound.

11:30 am: We hit the BK and go as a family to the local water park. We all had fun even though Couscous was a tad grumpy/tired. The bummer was when we found out the rules had changed and Avandra and Couscous couldn't go down the big tube slides on my lap. That had been the highlight last year. I took Avandra and she measured 1/2 inch too short to go by herself, so of course we decided to try it anyway. She got in 3 good runs before a lifeguard measured and booted her. But it was still fun.

3:30 pm: I ran to the grocery store.

4:30 pm: I take Avandra for new shoes.

6:25 pm: I pick up the babysitter 'cuz T and I are going out!

7:15: Tee-Roy and I are 15 minutes late for our 9th anniversary reservation at Zagat's #1 Italian restaurant in town. We were still seated and it was a wonderful 4-course, 2 hour meal...Bruschetta topped with eggplant, melon gazpaucho, artichoke-stuffed tortellini, and some amazing puff pastry & cream desset topped with fresh berries and an orange sauce. We were so tempted to lick the platter clean!! It's amazing how without the kids we can still slip back into just enjoying each other's company. It seems like so often our conversation is "Do you want to change The Ky-Guy's diaper or do the dishes?" It's nice to know that we're still good friends and not just partners in parenting.


I think we have the best anniversary tradition. We don't buy each other gifts. Instead we just go out to eat at the nicest place that we can afford. During dinner we read predictions that we made the previous year. These predictions were about what we thought the next year would bring. This can be about our family, our community, the world, politics, weather, whatever. During dessert we make new predictions to seal in an envelope to open the next year. It's always funny to see what we guessed. And we definitely shouldn't make fortune-telling our income-source. Last year I guessed that we'd be really close to inviting a 4th child into our home. Ha-ha! Now I predict that next year we will still be absolutely thrilled and satisfied with the 3 we already have.

Actually this year we are giving ourselves an anniversary present. It will be a month late, but we are going to Ireland--alone!! Woo-hoo!

So...in celebration of our 9th anniversary, 9 Reasons I'm Glad I Married Tee-Roy
1. When we were dating I felt different than I had when I was with anyone else. I felt like us being together was part of something bigger than ourselves. I have seldom felt the veil to heaven so thin.
2. He has always treated me with respect and calmness. He lets me ride out my emotional waves without feeding into them.
3. He seldom, if ever, criticizes me. He knows that I am aware of my flaws and feel the pain of them enough without him adding to it.
4. He is never sarcastic or uses negative humor.
5. He honors the priesthood of God that he holds. He recognizes it as an opportunity to serve. He is always looking for ways to serve others, and that stretches me into being more kind than I naturally would be.
6. He has unshaken faith. He never doubts and isn't pessimistic.
7. He is a very "hands-on" father and husband. There is nothing that he won't do in our household and with our family. In fact, if he doesn't do the dishes after dinner, they don't get done that night at all.
8. He is an excellent teacher. He teachs our children so well. He helps them learn how to do things independently at comparatively young ages.
9. He is incredibly supportive. If I have ideas of ways we can improve as a couple or a family, he will support me 100%, even if it might mean a sacrifice to him. He doesn't try to talk me down from my personal standards, even when they are stricter than the norm.

I love this boy! I thank God every day for His guidance in bringing us together. I am so, so thankful.

Mothering Moments

Tonight we had such a wonderful family walk. It was pleasant, we got rained on, The Ky-Guy made the girls giggle all night with his silly fun, and they caught loads of fireflies with daddy. It was a one of Elder Ballard's "moments" --

"Recognize that the joy of motherhood comes in moments. There will be hard times and frustrating times. But amid the challenges, there are shining moments of joy and satisfaction."
(Elder M. Russell Ballard, "Daughters of God")

Being Sarah-esque

My friend Sarah is a wonderful cook. She always finds these delectable recipes and so many of them become my family's favorites. Her blueberry whipped cream pie is just one example. Mmmm! It's not uncommon to see her blog-post about food. Well, I am feeling very Sarah-esque after a wonderful meal that we enjoyed tonight.

Tee-Roy and Avandra came in from the garden with 3 large cukes, a large bowl of green beans, and tomatoes. We enjoyed the bounties of T's hard work like this: Grilled Salmon with Cucumber Salad (the salmon was done on the BBQ and we didn't use quite as many red onions in the salad), fettuccine with pesto, steamed fresh green beans, and fresh tomato slices. We ended it all with Breyer's M&M Cookie Dough Ice Cream. It was a beautiful presentation, delicious food, and the kids totally didn't like it. Oh well, they got their blue box of mac n' chee yesterday with the babysitter. And the caveat, in case you want to try this meal: we were fasting today. And we have noticed that new recipes are quite successful on Fast Sunday, but tend to disappoint the second time around. Food just tastes a whole lot better when you're hungry!

Funny Twilight Link

I found this link on AnneMarie's blog last night and at 11:30pm it was absolutely hilarious! I just re-read it and it wasn't quite as funny as it was last night in my sleep deprivation. But, if you are a Twilight junkie, or even sort of like the books, see what you think: http://mormonhusbands.blogspot.com/2008/02/twilight-series-for-dummies-and-totally.html

She's Going, Going, Gone...

Couscous recently learned how to ride a bike without training wheels!! Yes, she's barely 4 years old. And it took her all of 15 minutes from removal of training wheels to riding solo. I'm not kidding. Last weekend we went on a family bike ride on this gorgeous path surrounded by woody areas and wildflower meadows. It was maybe a mile or two is all, but she did it all by herself the whole way. And she's on this dinky short bike so she had to pedal about 50 revolutions to every one of ours. She was so cute and such a sport! It was so much fun!

It's a Small, Small World

I started the day a little sluggish. I've been staying up til midnight reading every night lately and it's catching up with me. So with my slow start and my husband's work schedule today, I ended up with the choice between running to the grocery store without my 3 helpers or doing my hair and makeup. If you know me, you know what I chose. So I threw a baseball cap over my undone hair and went au naturale and pas kiddos to the store.

I came back in time to unpack the bags and then it was off to the park for a bi-ward picnic. It was a fun time. But near the end, as I'm trying to kindly remove Couscous from the sandbox without losing my temper in front of church friends, a father from the other ward comes up to me and says I look familiar. He's wearing shades so I can't really see his face and he doesn't seem familiar at all. He asks me if my name is H..... "Yes..." And then he tells me his name, "Remember we worked at the MTC together." And my brain is going, "Yes, that is you. And not only did we work at the MTC together, you took me skiing, and to the University of Utah Homecoming Dance and various other outings until I eventually had to give you the friend talk."

And you know, all of a sudden I wished that I had done my hair and put on makeup this morning. It's funny that even though I'm glad he's happily married and has 4 children and I really never did have any romantic interest in him and I've got to admit that time hasn't done him any favors either, I'm vain enough to wish that when he bumped into me again he wasn't completely and obviously relieved at how life worked out.