Celebrating 18 Years...and a Little Sentimental With It

May 21, 1993

We just celebrated our 18th Wedding Anniversary.  Wow! Time goes so fast, I can't believe all the changes and events we have been through together.  I can't believe how young we looked when we got married-I didn't feel that young!  I was sure we would conquer the world.  I knew we would be great together, after all-we'd been best friends for 3 years already, how could marriage be so different?

Oh, the things I had to learn, and the ways we quickly grew up!  A marriage, at least a good marriage, takes a  lot of hard work, communication, and all those little things we learn along the way.

I'm thankful to be married to my best friend.  We met when we were young teenagers, going to the same Church youth activities, even though we lived 40 miles apart, and he was two years older.  I thought he was cute and funny.  He didn't know I existed.  When I was 16 I was asked to be a part of the group that planned those youth activities, and he was already a member of the committee.  Then he thought I was cute and funny.  He asked me out, I said yes!

That was the end of my Junior year of High School.  I have a son that age, I can't imagine him dating someone and falling in love, he's so young!  Anyhow, we went on lots of group dates and double dates that summer.  We also dated other people.  I was very practical and didn't see the point in dating only one person-who needs a boyfriend when you're only 16? Or even 17?  So, we dated, became great friends, and had so much fun getting to know one another.

He planned the best dates, we went golfing, mini golfing, hiking, fishing, and one time he and a friend set up a picnic on a sand bar in the river.  They caught crawdads and cooked them right there for our dinner!  (they had back up KFC in case we didn't like them, or they didn't catch anything.)  He sent me funny letters when I was away at Girl's Camp.  I sent him goofy letters when he went on a 2 week mini mission for our church.

In the middle of my Senior year he left to go on a two year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  I was so happy and excited for him, and sad for me.  I realized as the time grew closer how much I had come to enjoy our friendship and  how much I would miss talking with him.  And truly, he was my best friend.  We'd never even kissed at this point, he was focused on being ready to go on a mission.  And I thought boyfriends were incredibly lame.

We had our last date before he left, he walked me to the back door of my house.  I was so sad to say goodbye.  We hugged, and as we looked at each other something just clicked, I don't know how else to describe it.  We had our first kiss.  He swears to this day I'm the one who kissed him.  I just smile and point out he's a good 8 inches taller than me-how could that be possible?  (But just between you and I-it might have happened that way.)  And, after we were married I found the calendar page he saved from that night.  It said "Just had the best kiss of my life! Waahooo!"  I think he liked it, no matter who started it.

My family left to go to Lake Tahoe for the Christmas holidays, he surprised me and showed up with a couple of our friends for one last activity.  I was in love.  It was that simple.  It was that easy.

In front of the Oakland, California Temple, where we were married for time and eternity.

He left for two years to serve a mission in Mexico.  I finished High School and went to BYU.  I dated.  I had fun, lots of fun.  We wrote letters every week.  We learned so much about each other and we talked about the gospel, things I was learning in school, and what was happening on his mission.

Our friendship deepened, and I compared every guy I dated or even kind of wanted to date to him.  I kept looking for something more, or something to match that feeling on our last official date.  No one could compare.  He came home to California in January, I was in Utah going to school.  He came out to visit a few weeks later, I wondered if it would be weird and awkward.

He walked in to the apartment, came right to me, picked me up and swung me around in the biggest hug I've ever had.  My heart sighed.  We hadn't even said a word and I knew nothing would be awkward or weird.  It was just right.

Six weeks later we were engaged, and three months after that we were married. Fast forward 18 years, 22 moves, 7 states, and 5 kids.  Today he's still my best friend.  He still makes me laugh harder than anyone else, and I love him more than I would have imagined possible.  I'm so thankful to have my best friend by my side through good times and hard times. I'm so thankful he knows how to make me laugh when it's the last thing in the world I feel like doing.  I'm so thankful he gets how my crazy brain works, and talks me down when I need it, and soothes my worries and troubles.  I'm just so thankful.

What's New With Me

This is what's new lately, I'm taking some independent study classes from BYU.  I left BYU as a Junior.  It's one of those choices I wish I could see the road the alternative would have led us down. Our life has been richly blessed, and I'm thankful to have had the opportunities we've enjoyed.  But I wonder...still, it seemed like the thing to do at the time, and who knows,  maybe there's a reason we left when we did.

Anyways, BYU now has a program where you can finish your degree from anywhere, and with all this time on my hands Jeff suggested I take some classes and see about finishing up my degree.  The thought kind of made me nervous...I'm still not sure I can do it.  I only have a few classes, I'm hoping to be done in a year-fingers crossed I stick with it!  I have taken a couple before and something always happened, we moved, I got pregnant, we lost our income, something unplanned waylaid me everytime.  I feel good about it this time, and am really hoping life stays steady enough for me to do this.  

I'm starting with my last English class-there's a reason I still have one left.  It's not a subject I overly enjoy.  And I knew this upper level English class would annoy me so I didn't take it the first time around.  Now I'm using it to get my feet wet again.

I've gotten the first two assignments back, and was surprised to find out my Professor went back to finish her degree when she was older than I am.  She liked it so much she went on to get her Masters and her Ph.D.  Impressive!  She has been very encouraging, and so far it's been nice to have something to do during the long, quiet, day time hours.

My Newest Project

 What is this messy mass of pages poking out you ask?  This is half of my beloved, well used, much marked set of scriptures.  Over the years I have accumulated notes from Institute classes and other Church classes, I have added notes from Stake Conferences and copies of talks from General Conference for easy reference.

And they are starting to show the use-dare I say abuse?- of all these added pieces and pages.  You can really see it from this angle.  Look at that poor binding, sigh... Now, some may say to have them rebound, others may advise to get a whole new set.  I am trying a different tact first.  

A Scripture Journal-like the one I spotted here, at The Red Headed Hostess

This is one of hers about D and C 77-She teaches seminary, and I can tell I'd love her class!

Here's a different example of her journaling about the Priesthood.  Go check out her blog, it's inspiring, creative, and motivating.  I am so glad I found it and that she shares all she does.

When I read the idea it caught my attention, I could see what a treasure such a book would be, and it would help me solve the dilemma of my poor, over extended scriptures.  So....meet my new project or projects, since I'm never one to do things by halves...

I created one book for study by topic, I've added notes from classes and conferences, a place to jot down scriptures I love or have learned from and cross references to other topics.  I also write down my own thoughts, or quotes from General Authorities on the topic.  Mine is only just begun, but I can't wait to see it grow.  Above is pictured the "Atonement" section, with General Conference talks shrunk down on the left and notes started on the right, along with class handouts and quotes I love.  The Quotes and talks are just taped along one edge, so you can just lift them up to flip to the next one, and you can still write underneath them.

My other book is a Book of Mormon journal, it goes chapter by chapter (although sometimes it's a group of chapters) and includes notes and thoughts I've had as I've read, as well as class notes or gems from Conference talks relating to specific verses.

I had extra pages at the end of both books, so I left room to add topics or more pages as I go.  I even took the journal with me to Women's Conference at BYU last week, and wrote all my notes in the blank pages so I can always have them quick at hand.

I know this may seem complicated, or a lot of work, but it's just what I needed.  I've really missed having the focused, enlightening scripture study I enjoyed when I was teaching Relief Society and attending Institute each week.  This has helped my find a new way to focus myself.

I need a purpose, a goal when I study, or it's just reading.  Which is fine, it's just not what I need right now.  If you have something you do to enrich your personal study, please share! I'd love to learn more about what others do.

  

Delightful Daffodils and Tremendous Tulips

image from www.normaness.com

One of the surest signs of springs are the bright flowers bursting from bulbs which have slept under the cold earth all winter.  Spring has been slow to come to our corner of the globe this year, and I'm so happy to finally be enjoying the early signs of warm weather returning. 

This is one of the beautiful double daffodils that bloomed along the path in the front of the house, and some of the bright red tulips there as well.

This is our first spring in this home, and I wondered what surprises would pop out of the yard as the sun began to shine and the snow stopped falling (or at least didn't fall as often).  I was thrilled to begin to see the leaves of Daffodils and Tulips.  As the Daffodils began to bloom their sunny yellow color made me smile.  Then some white ones bloomed, and some with orange centers.  It was fun to see what surprises awaited us.

Then the tulips began to show their colors, I adore tulips, and when we lived in Utah previously we planted a wide variety of tulips in our yard.  I was a little disappointed to realize these were almost all red tulips, with a few white ones thrown in.  Not the most exciting flowers on the tulip scene.  I had been hoping for some of these, like our neighbors have

    and I love these as well (all of these pictures are from bulbsdirect.com)  There are so many amazing varieties to choose from you. I failed to see the beauty in the plain red and white ones in my own yard.

Then I walked out into the backyard last week, and found these beauties tucked into a corner.  I was stunned at their size, and their impact.  I wondered why they were hiding in the back yard, tucked away.  Then I wondered if being sheltered from the worst of the winter storms, and the excellent southern exposure helped them become this picture of beauty in the Springtime.  

I don't think you quite grasp the true size of these tulips in this wider shot, so I did my best to take a close up, with my hand for scale.  And my hands are not large, I'm fairly short, and so are my hands.  These tulips are bigger than my hand, from the base of my palm to my fingertips.

Isn't that amazing?  I still can't believe the size of the Tulips!  I wonder what other surprises I will find as time goes by in our new home.  And it makes me think of myself, shuddering through the cold winds that blow, hoping to survive.  And it makes me hope that when Spring comes I will bloom as amazingly as these Tulips.

I love Spring.

A time of Hope.

A time of Dreams.

A time of Blossoming.
  

This post inspired by the Letter D, and Miss Jenny's AlphabeThursday Class....go here to read more posts inspired by the Letter D

Dinner and a Movie: The Conspirator

A couple of weeks ago we were at a loss for what to do on date night.  I had really wanted to go see the Bloch exhibit at BYU, but it had been out of tickets for weeks.  What to do, what to do?  There were no new blockbuster movies out, truthfully we hadn't even heard of any of the movies playing.

So, we rolled the dice.  We watched the trailers on YouTube, and Jeff told me to pick one.  These are the two we were choosing from:




I picked The Conspirator, knowing it might not be Jeff's pick, but unable to resist the pull of a historical tale.  I LOVE history.  I find the stories of our past fascinating.  I love understanding what drove people to make the choices they made, and how ordinary lives and everyday choices shaped our past and present.

History gets a bad rap, people complain it's boring, it's just a lot of memorization of dates and facts.   That's not the subject, that's just a poor teacher.  If you've ever had a talented, passionate History teacher you know what I'm talking about.  History lives and breathes, history fascinates me.  Enough, this isn't a post about why History is better than English or Math, it's a movie review-or at least it is supposed to be.

This is the story of Mary Surrat, who was charged as one of the conspirators in the murder of President Abraham Lincoln. It is her boarding house where Booth met with his co-conspirators to plan the assassinations of President Lincoln, the Vice President, and the Secretary of State.  Her son escapes capture, and the government arrests her when they can not find him, hoping to draw the son out of hiding.  She is tried by a military tribunal, with a lawyer who takes the case under duress, and with little to no chance to prepare a defense.

It is directed by Robert Redford, and I'm sure was meant to bring political parallels to some current events.  I didn't care, I loved the characters and the story they told.

It fascinated me.  It bored my husband to tears.  So, this one gets a mixed review-if you don't love history you  may not love this movie.  It moved too slowly for him, and had little excitement or drama that he felt drawn to.  I couldn't get enough, it could have gone on for another hour.  Yes, I'm a nerd.  I know. I don't care.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day,

Mom

 I hope you understand the great impact you had during your time on this earth, and that your influence as a mother still reaches into the next generation.  

 My kids still laugh when they talk about running to Sonic for a drink, playing games, decorating cookies, and going to the park bring them such fond memories. But most of all they remember the love you showered on them with every look, touch, and word.

Thank you for teaching me about love, family, and motherhood.  

We love you!

Happy Mother's Day