BFFs

Taken May 29, 2012 

Where the Sagebrush Grows

Our score for celebrating our anniversary this year was a big fat F+. I was just coming back from California with the kids and Brandon was just getting back into town after a High Adventure scout camp. Plus, it was William's first day of school. We did not do a single thing, other than verbally acknowledge it. It bothered me, to say the least. Brandon and I discussed this. He agreed that we couldn't let it happen again. I assumed we would just let the year pass and make up for it on our 9th anniversary. He had other ideas. He planned what he wanted to be a surprise trip to Logan on our 100 month anniversary, which would have been December. But then I had a particularly rough day, somewhere around September, and he cheered me up with the news the he was planning a getaway for me. He wanted to go as soon as we could make it happen. We arranged with his parents and planned for October 18-19th. Then Samuel's intussusception happened. We really debated about what we should do. He was healing well and every day was in less and less pain, so we decided to go. 

 Although I worried about my little one the entire time, it was a break that Brandon and I both needed. We started out the trip with a stop at the Brigham City temple and then spent the rest of our getaway wondering around Logan, visiting our old haunts. We stayed in the La Hacienda room at Anniversary Inn and had dinner at Cafe Sabor. Ole!

 Although we don't have specific memories together at "The Golden Toaster" church building, we had to walk past and get a picture of it, as it is scheduled to be torn down here soon.

 Proud to be an Aggie.

 We had our first kind of date in the HPER building. He had already asked me on a date for the upcoming weekend, but called during the week to see if I wanted to go play racquetball. We played with two of his friends that just happened to be body builders. I had never played racquetball before. To say I was intimidated would be an understatement. Luckily, the body builders also had brains and made a quiet exit not long into the evening. We played another round and then went to Wendy's for Frosties. After my poor skills at racquetball you'd think I really would have scared him away when I proceeded to rant about how much I hate Wendy's spoons ... too deep and not wide enough to clean it off ... but he still took me out again and the rest, as they say, is history.

My cute little house where I lived with my sister and two other friends when I met Brandon.  He won my heart right at the very beginning of it all when he came two days in a row and shoveled our sidewalks for us. The first time, I saw him but let him choose to be anonymous(ish). Then it snowed again that night and I thought, "Oh no! Now he won't know that I know that he shoveled." Well, he came back for round two the next night and my roommates would not let him get away that time. They shooed me out the door to thank him while they put some hot cocoa on the stove to warm. We also shared our first kiss in this cute house(not the night of the snow shoveling and hot cocoa).

 We spent the first 9 months of our marriage living in Aggie Village. Pure bliss, I tell ya.

We couldn't help but be sneaky and take a picture of the front door. It was such a short time, but we made so many memories in this little cinder block cave. Our first morning in the apartment was also my first day of teaching. We hadn't unpacked anything besides our bed. I had to take a shower without a shower curtain  and Brandon bought our breakfast at McDonalds, which we proceeded to eat on the floor because our kitchen table was still in storage.

 Naturally, it wouldn't be a complete visit to Logan and USU without a stop at "The Dairy" for some bread bowls and soup and ice cream. Caramel cashew for me. Aggie Blue Mint for him.

It was a perfectly timed getaway, which made me grateful that we had let our anniversary pass us by. The kids were in great hands, under the watchful eye and care of the grandparents, and we had a beyond needed opportunity to reconnect, reminisce, and restore ourselves.

Happy 8 years, 2 months, and 4 days to us!

Throwback Thursday

Three weeks in a row! Don't hold your breath for next week.

I was cleaning out our family e-mail inbox and came across a picture from three years ago that made me smile. In the picture, my dad is wearing and displaying his Father's Day gift.

Email Subject Line: Proud Papa
Date: 7/4/10

My reply to him:

It suits you. Let it be known that William named that the "outer space" tie. And Marie? She says, "Muah. I kissed Grandpa."

I love my kids and my father. 

A post-dated post.

Anne's first and second haircut

Much Better, Thank You

Writing down my dream did just the trick. It allowed it to leave my mind and I was able to make it through the day without panicking whenever I noticed Anne wasn't in the room.

Thank goodness I was in some state of normalcy because that night we had a ward realignment meeting involving 5 wards in our stake. Brandon attended.

They created a new ward. (A ward is a congregation of members of our church defined by geographical areas, the same way the same people would attend a certain school based on where they live, we attend a specific ward. A Stake is made up of approx. 10 wards.) The new ward includes about 75% percent of the neighborhood we live in. We are not included in the new ward. Our little corner of the neighborhood, about 30 houses, is still pulled into a ward which is made up entirely of a neighborhood west of us. Said neighborhood is separated from us by a busy street, a high school, and only one entrance into our neighborhood, which happens to be on the south side.

Brandon and I have talked many times about how nice it would be for our neighborhood to be in our ward so that we could get to know more people around us. We never thought it would happen because of the needs in the areas surrounding our neighborhood (lots of apartments and even a trailer park or two). Then it did happen only a year after we moved here, and we just missed that opportunity by one cul de sac.

I cried a few tears over the situation, Brandon released some frustrations and worries, as he lost a good portion of the leadership he was working with in his church assignment over the 14-15 year old boys, and then as the dust settled we both felt at peace. It is a peace that I have been praying for since we moved and with each passing day it has increased its presence in my life. 

We were constantly prayerful as we went through our move last year. We wanted to be guided to a place that would not only be the right place for our family and for our children to grow up, but also that we might be somewhere that needed our talents and our abilities. We have been blessed with so much and a life of service wouldn't be enough to make up for all that we have.

Following the promptings that we felt, moving when we did and where we did hasn't been a walk in the park. Yet, I know it has been right.

Brandon and I have made covenants with our Heavenly Father, individually and as a couple, that we would "serve Him with all of our heart, might, mind, and strength." 

The Lord has placed us in an area that has a great need for strong families that are willing to serve. It is also an area with incredible men and women of faith that have already been examples to me of how to serve and live righteously.

And as time passes and we finally get comfortable here, I'm sure the Lord will throw us another curve ball to ruffle our nest and keep us on our toes. (How is that for a run-on metaphor?)

Bring it on.

Today I Have to Write

Samuel has had some kind of weird stomach bug thing. It started on Thursday night, at Pizza Factory, right after our waitress brought us our pizza that we had been waiting to be brought to our table for about 45 minutes. Lovely.

The details of his sickness are not my intention right though. I only explain this because his being sick meant we had very broken sleep last night.

At about 7:30 Brandon got up with the kids and let me try to get a few more minutes of sleep.I slept for about another 30 minutes.

In those 30 minutes I dreamt that I was at a water park with the kids. Detail for detail, the dream was weird and pieced together. But the story that played out among the weird details was horrible.

After spending a good portion of time chasing Marie, her friend Alli, and Anne around I had to stop and talk to another mom that was there. I let Anne follow Marie and Alli. Only moments later as I tried to spot Anne, I couldn't. I looked all over, but she was nowhere to be seen. Soon I was on the phone with my mom telling her that Anne was missing. I was talking to Rachel, my sister, who was manager at the water park. News started to spread throughout the park to find my cute little Anne. The next part of my dream that I remember is them telling me that they had found her. I was still on the phone with my mom and I turned around to see her in Brandon's arms, lifeless. Her beautiful perfect skin, her plump lips, all pale white. Brandon was caressing her face and then a lifeguard said, "Sir, we need to take her from you so we can start to administer CPR."

It was horrible and way too realistic. I woke up in a panic and could hardly convince myself that it was just a dream. I hurried out to the living room and spent most of the morning cuddling with Anne.

I hate dreams like this. I hate the feeling that they leave, the worry and the knot in that stomach that I just can't shake.

And then I feel extreme gratitude, gratitude that it was just a nightmare and not reality. Our Anne girl is here with us. She is okay. She is still breathing.

I had to write it down because I need the words and the feelings to leave my mind. I need to leave them to be safe in my memories, only so that I can return to the gratitude that it was only a dream. Not because I ever want to revisit that horrible image of her in Brandon's arms.

{shudder}

It was only a dream.

It was only a dream.

Some More September ... in March ... aka Throwback Thursday

We love the mountains around us and look forward to having older kids (while enjoying all of the wonderful-ness that comes with younger kids!) so that we can enjoy the mountains even more with frequent hikes and camping. In the meantime, one of the few times each year we get up there is to drive up through Trapper's Loop while the leaves are changing in the fall.

 Such beautiful little princesses.As you can see, it wasn't particularly chilly, which was wonderful! Last year it started raining on us. Not so wonderful.  

 And my handsome young men.

 I love the progression of pictures when four kids are involved. Sometimes, you just don't ever get a perfect one, so we can enjoy all of them for what they are. Full of personality, joy, and silliness.

 Now this is a great picture. Handsome, handsome, handsome.

 Another series of pictures to make you laugh ...

 These boys are best friends already.

 Anne was not a willing subject most of the evening, but we caught her off guard and snuck this picture in. 

I just love my family!