Irreplaceable

As we, once again, mark the anniversary of arguably the most important day of my life (even though I wasn't even close to being conceived yet), I'd like to write another tribute post to my husband. Because really, it can't be said too many times how much I love this man and how grateful I am for him.

Dear Brent,

For your 34th birthday, I'd like to make mention of all the often-overlooked, under-appreciated little things you do that make my life better.

1. Thank you for always being the one to close the windows, lock the doors, and turn off all the lights before bed. It puts my mind at ease since I know you check them at least 3 times each. Besides, I'm afraid of the dark.

2. Thank you for being the sole motivator when it comes to exercise. Without you, my butt would be much bigger.

3. Thank you for stealing the sheets, but always leaving me the blankets.

4. And along those lines, thank you for being my personal space heater in bed.

5. And along a not-the-same,-but-similar line, thank you for not laughing when I come to bed in just g's and socks. I really hate pajamas, but DANG my feet get cold.

6. Thank you for being the same as me and the opposite of me in all the right ways. It makes the whole "work as a team" thing go so smoothly.

7. Thank you for being the type of husband whose wife has never had to have a "honey-do" list.

8. Thank you for always watching the gas tanks on our vehicles since I seem to be blind to them.

9. Thank you for always restocking the t.p. and tissues in every bathroom.

10. Thank you for taking care of all the finances (even though I know I need to get better at paying attention to these things).

11. Thank you for listening to me in bed even when all you want to do is roll over and go to sleep.

12. Thank you for asking about my day and validating the work I do.

13. Thank you for encouraging me on the bad days and rejoicing with me on the good days.

14. Thank you for making me your best friend and always putting me and the kids first on your list of priorities.

15. Thank you for showing our son the way a woman should be treated and for showing our daughters how they need to demand to be treated by any future beaus.

16. Thank you for insisting on (almost) weekly date nights even though they are getting more and more expensive with each kid.

17. Thank you for being my shoulder to cry on, my hand to hold, and my bear hug when I need them the most.

18. Thank you for not writing me off with each of my "new" ideas.

19. Thank you for cleaning our white cast-iron sinks that don't like to stay white very long.

20. Thank you for taking care of our lawn. I know I mowed for you once this summer, and while I didn't hate it, it's definitely a job I'm glad you do 99.9% of the time. :)

21. Thank you for being the kind of man who, instead of thinking, "I can't." thinks "I need to learn how to...."

22. Thank you for keeping your goatee for family pictures even though you wanted to shave it. Of course I love your face either way, but I have many insecurities, one of which is this:

I really like that you look older than me when you have a goatee. I'm not secure enough to have you walking around looking like a newly-returned missionary whilst I tote my 5 kids and gray hairs around, letting everybody assume that I'm in my mid-40's and that it was *I* who robbed the cradle.

Proof:

(This was almost 2 years ago....the last time you didn't have facial hair.)

23. Thank you for always replacing my toothbrush in the battery-charger when I forget.

24. Thank you for always putting the lid down.

25. Thank you for always motivating me with all of our "projects." Most of them would never get done if it weren't for you.

26. Thank you for being the kind of dad worthy of having 4 out of 5 "daddy's girls/boys." (And probably the only reason it's not 5 out of 5 is because the 5th one is still attached to my chest.)

27. Thank you for always striving to be better and for encouraging me to do the same.

28. Thank you for living worthy to hold and use the priesthood.

29. Thank you for being the bread-maker in the family. (And the bread-winner as well.)

30. Thank you for being the kind of dad that takes our kids for rides in a wagon hooked onto the back of a riding lawn mower when I'm not around to freak out and make you stop.

31. Thank you for always fixing everything that needs to be fixed and making it better than brand new.

32. Thank you for kissing owies, giving loves, listening to endless Star Wars Lego stories, watching our girls dance, laughing at the way Lady says "cumber-you" instead of cucumber, reading bedtime stories, tucking-in and giving endless drinks at bedtime, and changing cloth diapers.

33. Thank you for your voluptuous lips.

34. And thank you for loving me through thick and thin.

I love you, Babe! Can't wait to see you tonight for our own private birthday party! ;)

Happy Birthday to ME!!!!

(He's my hero, too, Baby!)

We interrupt this regularly scheduled post about something controversial to discuss something not at all controversial.

So my birthday was a couple of weeks ago. I turned 30. Yeah, kind of a big birthday, huh? And yet, magically I don't feel old. If anything, I feel like Finally! I'm not a 20-something anymore! I have some credibility to my name now, right? (Don't answer that.)

In pondering what 30 years meant in my life I came across the realization that it meant my husband has now been IN my life as long as he was OUT of it! Isn't that awesome? I bet not many 30 year olds can say that they've known their spouse for half their life. Brent can't say it yet. ('Cause he's old!....33!) :) This is the time of year I always get nostalgic remembering the beginnings of my relationship with Brent.

I've decided this post is going to be dedicated to the most incredible man I know. (And I can do that, 'cause it is (was?...it still counts if it's within a month, right?) my birthday.)

Brent and I met at church when he suddenly thought I was cute enough to talk to. Then we flirted at church for a few weeks until he asked me out. I declined. And in utter shock he asked me why. My answer: I'm still 15.

This is when it all started. There was something there right from the beginning.

The next few months went by with me trying to see him at every possible opportunity. I'd drag my friend, K, along on walks every single night and we'd just *happen* to go around his block, like 30 times hoping he'd be outside of his house one of those times. I think he started to get the idea of what I was doing and so would just *happen* to be hanging out outside his house on more than a few evenings.

We had a few good nights of talking that way. Then he got his mission call. And I was absolutely bummed. No, not because he was leaving (although I knew I'd miss him, of course I WANTED him to go on his mission), but because of the date he was leaving. October 18, 1995. When was my 16th birthday? October 28, 1995. Lovely. See the dilemma that presented?

Over the next few weeks we started talking on the phone a bit, and I'd still go walking past his house as often as I could. Oh, and we always had church to flirt. We both would try to get to sacrament meeting early so we could make our families sit near each other. As time for his departure drew closer, I realized what I had to do. I HAD to spend as much time with this guy as possible before he left. Even if that meant we were awfully close to that "dating" line. (For those of you who may not know, I wasn't supposed to date before I was 16.)

So it went like this.....
Saturday October 14th. His mother's birthday. She just happened to be my Mia Maid advisor. So what else would a wonderful young woman do on her leader's birthday but take her a cake? Good excuse, right? And possibly racking up some points with the possible-future-in-laws. (Yes, I was already thinking along those lines.) And of course, like any good Young Women leader would, she invited me in to share a piece with her. And who would just happen to be home to help eat that cake? I think you can guess. (Plus I made chocolate cake, which I came to find out later, Brent can smell from miles away.)

Sunday the 15th. Brent's farewell. I secretly hoped he'd say something "in code" to me during his talk. He didn't. Back then they still had the get-togethers after the farewell where everybody in the neighborhood comes to the missionary's home to give congratulations and money. Lucky me, my parents were friends with his parents, so we HAD to go, right? And lucky me, my little brother was his little brother's best friend, so I was doing my duty as a sister to stay there the ENTIRE time while the 2 young boys went off to play together. SOMEBODY had to walk the kid home, right? (He was 12 at the time.)
So there I sat on his living room couch watching everybody come in and out and vying for his attention, which he gave me every spare second he could. Then when things were slowing down and people had stopped arriving, he took me downstairs and showed me the mission pictures he'd had taken. I, of course, told him I wanted a few. He let me have 2. They stayed in my wallet for the next 2 years.
We said goodnight on his front porch and gave each other a big hug. I think this was where my addiction to his hugs first started. It's like Cocaine-- one shot and you're hooked.
We made plans to go for a walk together the next night.

Monday the 16th. He picked me up sometime after dinner and we walked to the elementary school. He held my hand. Sigh. We talked and talked. I knew I'd never met another boy like him. I could automatically be myself and he liked me! Better yet, he didn't play games. He came out and told me he liked me. I knew I had a winner.

Now this is the part where anyone under the age of 18 needs to stop reading. What happens next is not something I condone for the youth of today. But please don't ask me if I have any regrets because I will tell you: ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!

When it was nearing time to get home, he asked me if he could kiss me. (Another check mark under "this guy's even better than I thought".) So we kissed for a bit and then he walked me home.

Tuesday the 17th. Brent came to the highschool (the seminary, actually, since that was my class right before lunch) and picked me up for a lunch "hang out" (still not calling it a date). We got some Wendy's and drove up to a park. I sluffed (remember that word? that's a funny word!) the rest of the day of school and spent that time with Brent. We talked and ate and kissed and talked. And all the while I was wishing that we'd met even sooner so that I could've had more time with him before he left. More than that I was wishing I'd been born a few months earlier, dang it! Then it would've all been "legal". After our non-date (wink, wink) Brent took me home and left to go finish his preparations for leaving on his mission the next day. We talked again on the phone that night and the next day he was gone.

Now for those of you thinking Brent was being "naughty" and could not be considered worthy to enter the MTC the day after kissing a girl, I'll have you know that he felt tremendous guilt about it. So much so that he had a conversation with his Branch President about it, wherein his BP proceeded to laugh at him and tell him to get back to his studying.....which he did.

The next 2 years were spent writing letters back and forth that took at least 2-3 weeks to get to each other. We sent a few audiotapes (which I listened to as I went to bed.....I STILL love that man's voice. Nothing else can give me goosebumps the way his voice can). Sent a few packages. Wrote my name "Ann Maiden-name Brent's-last-name" on all of my notebooks 50 million times. He baptized a bunch of people, I dated a bunch of guys. Some total losers (ask me about the guy who wore holey sweat pants on our date, had terrible halitosis, BO, no sense of personal space, and made me pay for everything), and some really great guys. The problem was, it always came down to the same issue. None of them were Brent.

2 years passed by, he came home and we picked up right where we left off. Only this time, I had to ask permission to kiss him for the first time since he was fresh off a mission and still freaking out about a girl even holding his hand, let alone kissing said girl.

I want to note one funny story since it should've been the first clue to Brent of what embarrassment being with me would bring him. My brother got married October 17,1997....exactly 2 years after our non-date (wink, wink). Brent came to the reception that night where I caught the bouquet (I think there might've been some hair pulling and toe stomping to get it), after which I immediately turned around to see if Brent had witnessed my fortunate ("fortune"-ate?) catch and to give him "the look". Of course everybody else also witnessed this entire display of "Yes, Brent, I will marry you." I think Brent turned about 10 shades of red. Silly man, he should've known it wouldn't be the first time I'd make him blush. And yet he still asked me to marry him just 4 months later. I'll tell you all about THAT story another time. Because it's also quite the story.

And somehow I've managed to hold onto him through 11 1/2 years of marriage and 5 kids and a whole lot of embarrassment. (Although he now claims he doesn't get embarrassed by me anymore. I don't know if that means I'm less embarrassing now or he's just gotten better at controlling his blushing. Most likely the latter.) And somehow he still loves me. That's enough right there to deserve some kind of trophy!

Thank you, Brent, for being the man of my dreams. You are my Prince Charming riding up on your white horse (or Nissan pick-up truck, Mercury Tracer, Saturn L200, Ford Focus, Honda Civic, Honda Accord, Acura TL, did I miss any?) to rescue me from a life of......well, from a life without you, which is something I never want to experience. Thank you for making HALF OF MY LIFE the most wonderful life I could ask for. I can't wait for the next 15 years!

I love you!

Transformation!

Brent decides to go through a bit of a transformation now and again. He woke up this morning ready for a change.

Here's the before pic:

A couple of "during" shots:

And the incredibly handsome "after":

The last time Brent decided to do this was back in 2006 when Tink was just over a year old. (About the same age as Lady now.) Here was her reaction then:

Here was her reaction today:

It took her a LONG time to get used to it when she was a baby and today was surprisingly not much different. We didn't expect such a strong reaction, but she really didn't want Brent to hold her for a while. She was a bit cautious with him at first. But once he started tickling her, she came around and realized he was the same, old Daddy.

Lady woke up right after his shower, so we got to see her reaction too. She didn't react with as much apprehension as her older sister did at her age. She was definitely unsure, but it didn't take her very long to warm up. Here she is sitting on the bed as Brent comes out of the bathroom:

And here she is trying to figure all this out:

And this was the reaction that I thought was sooooo sweet. Usually when Brent kisses her neck, she does NOT react with a smile. She doesn't like his "scratchiness." And today she got to feel what it is like without the extra hair. I think she liked it!

AJ and Roo didn't react at all. They're pretty used to this. :)

Now I get to find a babysitter for tomorrow so that Brent and I can go back in time and pretend like we're in highschool again. He looks so young without his facial hair that I almost feel like I'm robbing the cradle. I have to remind myself that he's 3 years OLDER than me. I LOVE him with facial hair....there's something so sexy and masculine about it, but I also like to see the face I fell in love with every once in a while. So I'm glad he goes through spurts of "needing a change."

Oh, and one of the fringe benefits of Brent shaving is that when I kiss him it almost feels like I'm cheating on him with another man. But without the guilt and sinning that would be involved in such a thing. :) (ps.....I'd NEVER want to cheat on Brent.....why would I? You've seen him!)

Someone's got a birthday, shout Hooray!

It was Brent's birthday this last week and I was so happy to actually be prepared. I'm not usually one of those wives who thinks about birthdays months in advance and plans the perfect gift. But this year I thought about Brent's birthday a couple of months in advance and even thought of the perfect gift! (This is an especially big deal for me since I'm NEVER able to surprise him. He always checks our credit cards and bank statements online a number of times a month. He always knows what's going on financially, so he always knows when I've spent money somewhere unusual.) This year I was determined to keep it a secret.

Brent's parents live next door to us and his mom has kept a bunch of the books that she read to her kids when they were little. One night we were all down in their basement reading some of the books and Brent was getting so excited seeing some of his old favorites. So I made a mental note of which ones he really liked (although I did have to call his mom when it came time for ordering to recall a couple of them). Then about a month before his birthday I ordered them all from Amazon.com.

I was very sneaky. I created my own account with Amazon (I've always just used Brent's, but then he gets the emails). I used a bunch of gift certificates that we have (we have an Amazon credit card, so those are the rewards we get), so Brent couldn't find out about it on our bank or credit card statements. And I hid the boxes away as soon as they came.

I had each of the kids give him a book (they got to choose which one and wrap it (in a bag) themselves) and then I gave him a gift certificate for a golf course. (It's his new-found hobby.) He was surprised and I was an extremely happy lady! Here's my hot hubby on his birthday.

Roo's giftAJ's gift
Tink's gift
Tink showing Daddy Lady's gift
Ann's gift

Look at my sexy birthday boy!
I LOVE YOU, BABE!!!!!