The Honeymooners

In all our unpacking, we found an old disposable camera that we figured was from our honeymoon. Yes, 8 years ago, people were still buying disposable cameras. Not everyone had a digital camera, or a camera phone. Or even a cell phone for that matter. We stopped at a gas station on the way to our destination and bought a disposable camera. We took pictures and hoped they turned out. But we wouldn't know whether the picture was in focus, or if someone's head was cut-off until the prints were developed.
We were also so poor, that when we got home from our honeymoon, we couldn't afford to develop said camera. So we left it. And left it. And packed it. And left it. And moved it again. And now, 8 years later, we find it and attempt to develop the pictures to see what was there. What we found? Two young faces!
Go-Karting:

Our First Car:

Our Hotel: (the outside was way more magnificent than the inside! It felt like a cross between a cheap motel and a haunted house. Romantic...not really).

And here's a shot of our gift opening afterwards. These pictures didn't develop well after 8 years.

In spite of of the grainy photos, the honeymoon was awesome. It did not require an airplane to get there. Just a quick trip in our car across the Rockies to Radium.
We stayed in a hotel for a couple days and in the cozy cabins for a few more. The cabins were cute, but we got the handicapped one. Not a big deal except the shower stall was HUGE and the downpour from the spout was tiny. Pretty much freezing. It's difficult to shave your legs when they're covered in goosebumps! Shaving the legs is pretty essential on the honeymoon. Just sayin'.
We spent an afternoon at a laundromat playing cards while we waited for our whites. We spent one day in bed all day (it's not what you think), watching a Monster Garage marathon. The cabin had satellite TV. Something we had never experienced before.
We picked up a hitch-hiker. yes, a hitch-hiker...on our honeymoon. Did it. We had watched him stand on the corner the entire time we were in the laundromat and he was still there after we went into a restaurant for dinner, ate, and came out. He was wearing khaki's and a golf shirt, so we figured he was alright. Apparently he had missed the last bus from the little town we were in where he worked (at the golf course) that would take him home where his wife was waiting with her parents who were coming in for the weekend. He was more than thankful. And when he found out we were on our honeymoon he nearly died. "My wife is going to kill me!" he kept saying. Haha. Unfortunately, our cozy cabin was only half-way to his destination. But it was right beside a gas station so we promised to drop him there where he could hitch a ride the rest of the way. It was dark when we got there and there was a single street light lighting up the gas-station which was closed. We dropped him off and turned around to our cabin. As we pulled in we talked about how he would probably not find a ride to take him the rest of the way as we hadn't seen another vehicle and that we probably did him a disservice taking him only half-way. So we got back in the car and went back to find him. We kept laughing that he was going to think we were crazy. So we picked him up a second time, and drove him the rest of the way. It was a fun adventure. We gave him a Book of Mormon and wished him luck.
There was a mini-golf course behind our cabin that we frequented. That's about all I can remember.
They look happy...I wonder how it turns out?

Kingston - The Fun Stuff

Not all of our trip to Kingston was business. In fact, aside from the grueling 14-hour day of house shopping on Saturday, the trip was quite pleasant...and even the house-shopping was pretty fun. Growing up, my family and I used to spend many-a-saturday visiting show-homes, or driving to areas in and around the city that we would 'someday' like to live. Bearspaw was a frequent stop. There was one street that we affectionately called "drooly-lane" because you just can't help but drool when you see those houses. Now that the reality of mortgages have become a part of my life the drooling is more likely to be caused by an aneurysm than excitement. Tyler and I have also attempted the show-home saturday every once in a while. One such time, we did it with 2 kids in tow, and Max ended up locked in the bathroom (thanks to his sister) and we had almost had to pull the door off it's hinges to get him out. We haven't visited that show-home again.

Looking at homes when you are ACTUALLY in the market is a completely different experience. We were scrutinizing, analyzing and knocking houses off the list left, right, and center. Suddenly, spending somewhere between a quarter and half-a-million dollars makes me very picky. Rightfully so, I guess.

It was fun to do though. It was fun to joke about the weirdness of some houses. It was fun to get in and out of a car 20+ times that day and only have to take care of my own seat belt. Something that is very foreign to me most days. It was fun to be able to hold each others hand as we walked through houses instead of having to carry kids or make sure they're not touching things they shouldn't be.

Fun, Fun, Fun.

I enjoyed flying. Which I mentioned before. An airplane is an alright place to be if you don't have kids with you. It's alright, with kids too, don't get me wrong. Just far less stressful. And far, FAR more relaxing. (The comfort level doesn't change though...those seats are awful). We watched movies, talked, and watched episodes of our new favorite show, The Mentalist. Seriously, we are loving that show. I bought Tyler Season 1 on DVD for his birthday.

Staying in hotels when you don't have to worry about fridges or microwaves for storing and warming bottles, or extra beds and blankets for kidlets, or arrival or departure times...or scheduling naps...is pretty alright too. Although, can I say a quick word about hotel pillows? Why are they SO big? Seriously. It drives me nuts.

When we checked into the first hotel in Ottawa on Friday night, we were given our room key and headed to the elevators. Room 413. As we got off the elevator we noticed this sign:

Now where do you suppose our room is? Is this a joke? It was around the corner, but weird nonetheless.

Driving 2-hours to Kingston from Ottawa was pleasant too. No potty breaks necessary. As we were renting the car, the salesman said, "So, are you excited to take some courses at Queen's for free since your husband is a professor?" "What?!?! I had no idea!!" That's right people. Free schooling. Oh what a perk. What shall I take? How will I fill my mind? The possibilities are seemingly endless and exciting! Thank you random salesperson!

Driving into Kingston was a fun experience too. It is seriously beautiful there. We kept being blown away by how beautiful. The drive between Ottawa and Kingston is on a highway that is mostly lined with very large trees. No leaves yet, but I imagine in the spring, summer and fall it will be beautiful. The whole town is full of giant trees and it right on Lake Ontario. The view from our car as we came across the causeway is outstanding (this picture does not do it justice - but what can you expect from an iPhone in a moving vehicle?)


On the Sunday, we got ready for church in record time, since it was just the two of us (I do love my kids and missed them terribly, so please don't get the wrong idea). As we got out of our vehicle at church, we passed by a group of 'elderly' members and one woman gave me the once-over with a very critical eye. I had decided to wear knee-high boots...apparently she thought that was 'outrageous'. That made me even more nervous, but as I observed her throughout the meetings, I realized that the scowl on her face was pretty common place...so I'm going to assume there isn't actually anything wrong with me.

Their meetings are a reverse time-schedule so Tyler and I went our separate ways right away, to Priesthood and Relief Society. Any worries or nerves we had were completely swept away as people gushed and shouted their sentiments of excitement at the prospect of us moving into their branch. I was also pleased to note that the lesson taught was by someone who was a complete 'straight-shooter' which is my kind of style. Ok, I thought, I can completely make this work!

Sunday School and Sacrament were very similar. Tyler and I were smiling a bit at how foreign it felt to sit in sacrament meeting and actually pay attention the entire time, without having to worry about the reverence of our children. We also laughed that Grandma and Papa were at home dealing with those issues themselves. Did you know that Sacrament Meeting can be relaxing?

After church, a friendly couple in the branch invited us, and another family (The Haslam's) over for dinner. We drove around town a bit and actually took a Sunday afternoon nap (seriously, unheard of!) and then headed to their place. Again, did you know that eating a meal can be relaxing when you only have your own mouth and appetite to worry about? We had a great time visiting and laughing and hearing about what life would be like. It made us feel very at home and excited.

Tyler and I have always said that moving will be a big adjustment. Naturally. We live SO close to family, that most Sundays are filled with visits to either parent's house and hanging out with Aunts, Uncles and Cousins. We haven't really been forced to make a lot of 'friends' because family is so close. (To my friends, I love you and appreciate you and am glad to have you!) Now we will be living in a place where family is NOT around and all we will have is our friends. It will be a completely different lifestyle for us.

Driving around town was one of our favorite things to do. The town is so beautiful with tons of old buildings, churches and landmarks. We took pictures to show the kids and help them get excited about living in a new town. We got lost a number of times, and figure we probably will a few times more. It's weird to drive somewhere that isn't close to the mountains. It's hard to get your bearings when you can't just look out your window and know which way is West.

Monday was spent doing errands. Banking and such. I got a massage, which was great and strange. The massage therapist told me toward the end of my massage, "You have a lot of tension in your lower back. (no surprise) We have a Registered Massage Therapist on staff that you may want to talk to." Wait a minute? What are you? I don't want just SOMEBODY rubbing my back...isn't that weird? She gave me her card at the end and it said "Spa Technician" whatever that means.

We also ate at Five Guys for lunch. Seriously delicious! As we stood at the till to order, I simply stated, "I would like a cheeseburger and fries" to which the teller responded, "Have you been here before?" (IS it that obvious?) "No." "OK, see that picture over there (a huge double-decker burger with EVERYTHING on it)? That's our cheeseburger...most people order the Little Cheeseburger, which is a single pattie." "OH, thanks. I'll have that." I guess he sized me up and figured I couldn't handle that monstrosity. He was probably right. I have been craving 5-guys ever since. Tyler even said, "Wow hun, this rivals your burger." I know!

We saw a "Ho-Lee-Chow" restaurant, which is apparently very common, but I thought it was hilarious;


An "Aunt Lucy's" restaurant, and the Highway police are called the O.P.P. "Yah, you know me!" That song was in our heads all weekend. And yes, I do know what O.P.P. stands for. Oh, and our hotel in Kingston was this old manor house that had been converted into a bed-and-breakfast. The room was old...that TV was fuzzy, and the door-knob was only knee-height. Weird. But the breakfast was delicious and they had this awesome tourist book on Kingston that I took a few photos of, so I could show my family what the lay-out of the city was like.



We had a final visit to our beautiful house before leaving Kingston and then headed back to Ottawa where we drove around down town (again, getting hopelessly lost). I have determined that Tyler and I may not do so well at Amazing Race. Of course, I blame the Ottawa city blocks that are so close together. If you miss your turn, the GPS doesn't have time to re-route before you miss the next one, two, or three.

We visited Parliament Hill, which you can't actually get very close to, because they have it all blocked off and patrolled by police. What could happen? And Tyler showed me the Rideau Canal, which is frozen in the winter and open for ice-skating. Cool.




We headed to the hotel, exhausted, and my sweetheart lovingly took the car back to the rental place by himself while I waited in our room for our Swiss Chalet delivery. We had to be up ridiculously early the next day (3am Calgary time). We called to book our hotel in Ottawa as we were driving to it, and soon came to realize that something big must have been happening because all the hotels next to the airport were completely booked. We ended up getting the last room at the Hilton which was actually a suite attached to a large conference room. So we had a giant boardroom table in the middle of our room. Oh well. It was only a few hours anyway.

Flight home was spent watching "The Next Three Days" with Russel Crowe. Seriously, an awesome movie. And the Mentalist again. The anticipation of seeing my kiddies was killing me. We were cutting it close to make it home before Logan went down for a nap..and we made it JUST in time. He was SO happy to see us and kept giving me hugs. I loved it. Apparently he DOES love me. The kids had made welcome home signs and welcome home flowers out of tissue paper. The house was spotless (thanks mom). It was a glorious reunion.

By 9:00pm I finally sat down, all kids settled into bed, and the jet-lag hit me. I didn't think I'd make it down the hall-way to my bedroom. I was exhausted. It hadn't helped that Max had been grumpy and acting out all day, and we couldn't quite understand why. I kept telling him that it wasn't fair to have all this 'party time' with Grandmas and then not listen to Mom and Dad. We were so excited to show them pictures of Kingston and our new house and he was just not happy. Finally, as the kids sat in the bathtub, he said something that finally made me realize what all the fuss was about. "Mom, we still have to have lunch and dinner tomorrow, right?" "Max, we have lunch and dinner every day." "But I mean before we move to Kingston." Ah ha. My poor little buddy was stressed out because somehow he figured we were moving the next day.

Needless to say it was a completely awesome and relaxing wonderful trip with my husband. Something we have never done before. We have never spent more than one night away from our kids. It was hard, and we missed them...but it was also great. In fact, it was hard for me to get back into the swing of things, and I keep thinking about the next time we can get away.

Romance

I always find it amazing how a sound, or a song, or simple image, or smell can bring back a flood of memories. Yesterday on my way in to the city, I stopped to check the mail, because I knew the gift Tyler had ordered for me for Valentines Day would be there. Perfume. He wasn't very sneaky this year, but I was excited anyway, because I knew he had ordered me my favorite perfume that I haven't had for years. Ralph Lauren Romance. I love it. He bought it for me when we were dating, like a decade ago. I don't remember what the occasion was. Christmas, birthday, anniversary. But I used it pretty much every day and it's the only perfume I've owned that I actually finished the bottle. I have others that I like and use every so often, but not like this. I use Lancome's Miracle (which Tyler got me after we were married) and Gucci Envy (a gift from Tyler's brother for Christmas). I also have one called Play from Avon, which I ordered for myself when I used to be an Avon Lady. *Ding Dong*

So I opened my beautifully wrapped gift today (brown box packaging with an address label on it) and pulled out my new perfume and was surprised to find TWO bottles of perfume. Ralph Lauren Romance AND Lucky for Women. So he CAN pull off a surprise still!

I opted for the all-time favorite today and as I sprayed on the perfume, a huge flood of memories came back. Like I said, I wore this perfume everyday through our dating years and the smell just brought it all back. ID Bracelets, trips to BC every weekend, lunchtime dates to our favorite restaurant, never saying goodbye, kissing in the car (yes, we did that - and we're married now with 3 children, so I'm not ashamed to say it, I mean, come on, kissing is awesome! Especially when it's not rushed or interrupted by 3 kids!) I feel like this post could go on forever, because I would love to expound on all the memories that I have been reflecting on today.

I will wear my new perfume tomorrow. Lucky for Girls. I'm undecided on it, since it's a scent that Tyler really likes and discovered when he was on his mission and has always wanted me to try. Don't ask me how a missionary discovers a girls perfume on his mission. Apparently it was really popular in Utah 10 years ago. And Tyler has always been popular with the ladies, so...

So far, it has been a great Valentines Gift because it feels like so much more than just perfume. Sappy, I know. Ralph Lauren must have known what he was doing when he named it Romance.

The other awesome part of our date was taking a dip in the hot tub last night after all the kiddies went to bed. I have not been in a hot tub without kids in years and it's amazing how much quieter you can talk when you're not trying to have a conversation over splashing and screaming. The Hot Tub really CAN be relaxing.

Different, but the Same

Today is my anniversary. 7 years. And I've been looking back and remembering. 7 years ago, I was nervous and excited. More excited than nervous though. I woke up very tired, but very motivated to get out of bed. This morning, I woke up very tired, and really wished I could stay in bed, but I had to get ready for church...and on mornings like this, I get up and get ready in the hopes that doing things out of duty will still count towards blessings...so the motivation is still there, but different. Seven years ago, my figure was very different, I had fewer wrinkles, and no gray hair. Today, there are signs of child-bearing and child-raising on every inch of my body. I cover the grays with hair dye...but they're there. And most of the signs of child-raising are in the form of spit-up these days. Most days I feel like we have less money than we did 7 years ago. But for all the things that have changed, and all the things that we don't have, there are a few things that have remained consistent. I still love my husband. But it's different because I love him more. I have less money, but more experience. I have less time, but more love and more joys. I cry a WHOLE lot more now than I ever did, but when I laugh, it's deep down belly laughs that only watching and listening to kids can bring. I enjoy quiet nights at home, rather than being out on the town. My frustrations and stresses seem to be more of an eternal nature. My testimony keeps renewing itself as my circumstances change. My memory is shot, but the things that are important are more firm in my mind.
The only thing that hasn't changed, and I hope will forever remain the same is how sure I am that I married the right person at the right time, in the right place. I am no more sure today than I was on that day 7 years ago...and that consistency makes me calm, which is a place I like to be.

Grown-ups

Yesterday, Tyler had an interview at the Hotchkiss Brain Institute in Calgary. They are looking for a full time Biostatistician starting next year...which he will be. We've known about the position and the interview for a little over a week, and have tried not to dwell on it too much, because we had other things on our minds and filling up our time. The interview went really well. It's pretty much a dream job in a very exciting and relevant field of research. It has all the aspects of a job that Tyler has been looking for, and it just seems weird to be staring down this aspect of our lives now. It's the real deal. A real job. It feels so grown up. I've felt like a grown up for a long time now, as far as parenting and being married is concerned, but we've always been a bit like kids playing house because we've been students for such a long time. And now that long time really seems to be coming to a close. The end is in sight. And with this job offer, it really solidifies the fact that we're not just kids any more. Less than a year and we'll be into a totally new phase of our lives. In our 30s, full-time career...and maybe, just maybe, we'll live in a real house. With a real foundation. And maybe even an upstairs.
Fortunately, our lives have had a pretty great foundation, whether our house did or not.
And our moms will be really happy that the position is in Calgary. So we'll see.

A Dozen

Today, Tyler and I celebrate our 12 year anniversary...of being together as a couple. (on a side note, it is also the 12th anniversary of my graduation from high school). We have been through a lot in these dozen years and I can think of more than a dozen reasons why I'm happy he chose me. I knew even before we started dating, that if we did, it would be amazing and would last forever. He treated me better than any guy, or person, ever had before and really blew me off my feet. We dated for 3 years before he went on his mission, and then wrote to each other while he was gone. There was a time that I lost track of our goal (a time he likes to affectionately call my apostasy), but we were quickly back on track and in love. We have been married for nearly 7 years, and although I know now why we are together, in the past I was curious why he would be the guy for me, since we are so different...or so it appeared. The Lord has a plan and I can say for sure that Tyler was definitely part of His plan for me. He has supported me, pushed me, and made me laugh for a dozen years. Sometimes he aggravates me to no end, but I never question my commitment to him, or our marriage, neither his to me. Tyler, I love you, and will for many dozens of eons to come.

How much does he love me...?

Let me count the ways:

1) A new fridge...probably one of the biggest and most wonderful gestures of love that I could think of. The fridge that we have been using for 3 years came with our trailer (ie. it is about 20+ years old). The shelves on the door were falling off, so they rattled and banged every time you opened or closed the door, and the airflow was so terrible that I couldn't keep any food on the top shelf ever, or it would freeze. And if the freezer was full, then I couldn't keep any food along the right hand side of the fridge either. This made having a full-size fridge seem more like I had a bar-fridge. And although I've tried not to complain too much, when we were pulling milk out of the fridge each morning for our cereal and discovering a block of ice-milk instead, I was getting to the end. Tyler went on Kijiji (or should I call it Ki-genius!) and found a beautiful fridge at a beautiful price. He had to drive all the way to High River to pick it up and loaded it into our house. It is now set up, and the contents of our old fridge fill up the door and one shelf in the new one...but I don't care. I stare at it in wonder. It's truly the best gift EVER!
2 and 3) While on the beautiful Kijiji, we stumbled across a front-load washer and dryer pair in Tuscany for only $200. The guy who posted the ad was so surprised at how quickly we responded, but this was a deal not to pass up. We drove to his house to take a look and realized that it wasn't too good to be true, so we dipped into the bank account again, and now I have a nearly brand new washer and dryer that are smaller and just wonderful.
4) He has spent the last few days setting up and moving appliances around in order for me to be able to use the previously mentioned items. This included moving an old ugly fridge and loading it into our van, driving it almost all the way to the dump before someone told us they wanted it, and dropping it off at their house; picking up a washer and dryer and bringing them home, worrying about any water that might be in the pump freezing in the -20 degree weather we were favored with; moving out an old washer and dryer (taking the bathroom door off it's hinges to do so), and moving the new ones in. (without much help from his weak pregnant wife). I used the washing machine and dryer for the first time yesterday and was thrilled that the whole house didn't shake or sound like it was falling down around us as we endured the spin cycle.

5) Lastly (for this list anyway), my friends hosted a 'ladies night' last night for a bunch of girls in the ward to hang out and giggle, eat junk and just relax. Tyler gladly sent me on my way for a night off and took care of the kids (which included an hour-long episode of screaming from Max-o, trying to get him to bed) and waited up for me to make sure I drove home safe while I partied it up until 1:30 in the morning.

Hmm...pretty lucky I think.

Happy Anniversary

As I eluded to previously, Tyler and I decided we needed a little RnR and time away so we booked ourselves into a hotel for the night and sent the kids off for a fun sleepover with Grandma and Papa. We stayed at the Acclaim Hotel in Calgary by the airport, which is only about 6 months old, so everything was really fresh and nice and clean. It was a great little hotel, and close enough to the major amenities of the NE that we had a great time. Tyler's favorite part was the TV in the bathroom. A nice feature that we actually used a lot of times, which you wouldn't think. It was even helpful for the few moments of getting ready where he was watching football in the bedroom and I was able to watch TLC in the bathroom. It made for a no-arguments and no hard feelings anniversary weekend. We enjoyed a quiet dinner at Joey Tomatoes (because Tyler love the ribs there) and decided to try and tell each other things about ourselves that we didn't already know. It's a short list and took us a bit of thinking to come up with anything. Afterward we opted out of dessert at the restaurant and decided instead to go to A&W for rootbeer milkshakes, something I've enjoyed for years, but Tyler was only recently introduced to (and has subsequently become addicted to). We got some treats from London Drugs and a few movies from Blockbuster and headed back to the hotel. I wasn't feeling to awesome, which was a damper, but a comfy hotel bed, chocolate, candy and a good movie goes a long way. We slept in (for the first time in years) and then enjoyed a complimentary breakfast at the hotel and headed to the Cross Iron Mills Mall as it was only a few minutes away. It was busy and huge and again, I wasn't feeling too good, so we didn't stay long. We were there about an hour and covered only a 3rd of the mall, spending most of our time in the Big Bass store, or whatever it's called. We came home to our kids playing with Grandma and setting up a candy store for all of their soon to be customers. It was a short but sweet getaway...and I actually survived being away from my kids overnight...for the first time!

Doctor Tyler, PhD

Last night, Tyler spent the better part of 2 hours in his candidacy exam for his PhD. For those of you that don't know, I'll explain to you exactly what the process is from a non-educated perspective. Tyler is in his PhD program, which basically consists of TA-ing his professor's classes (as he did in his Masters program) and writing his Thesis paper. All of his classwork has been done for some time so he (in theory) can devote a lot of time to researching and writing. Then when he feels he's at a pretty good point in his research, he creates a committee of fellow PhD's who have a background similar to his own. There are 4 examiners plus his two supervisors to form this committee. They get together and formulate 3 questions for him. He spends the next 4 weeks writing and researching to answer these questions in 15 pages or less, each. Then, he hands in his paperwork and they spend the next week reviewing his answers and coming up with follow-up questions while he continues to study his brains out to make sure he knows everything and anything that they might ask him about in preparation. Then, last night, he goes into a room at 4pm and sits across from these 4 examiners (while his two supervisors sit and observe) and they fire him question after question with regards to his writing to make sure he REALLY does know exactly what he's talking about with regards to these subjects...one of which, by the way is focused on his thesis topic. They ask him questions for about 90 minutes, after which he leaves the room, they deliberate for about 5-10 minutes (again, in theory. In Tyler's case they deliberated for an eternally long 30 minutes!), and then they come out and tell him if he passed or failed. There's no grade scale, there's no percentage it's just either yes or no. Once that's done, then he is a PhD candidate (or ABD, All But Disertation) and all he has left to do is finish writing his Thesis and then defending it...which is supposedly less stressful than the candidacy, but we shall see.
There, now that we have the description out of the way, I can describe what the last month has looked like for us. Tyler has worked pretty much 18 hours a day, most days staying late at his office so he's not distracted by the kids and I. He has put on hold every other aspect of his life (his scouting calling, personal interests, TA-ing his classes) while he prepared. The kids and I would come and visit him at his office a few times to bring him dinner and give him a quick break and chance to visit with his family. We would sit in the boardroom of his office and eat our dinner and then head over to the mall or usually stay at the office and play hide-and-seek in the cubicles. Or racing around on office chairs. Office spaces can be pretty fun for kids after hours. Other times we would send him emails with encouraging messages or a picture of his family so he didn't forget us. We have done a lot of fasting and praying as he made these preparations. Tyler wrote all of his questions and reviewed them. I reviewed them for spelling, grammar, and to make sure it all sounded like it made sense (it's all pretty technical, so I can't say I was a big help in that aspect). Then, when he finally passed in his answers, we watched as he read and read and read for hours and hours to prepare. The last few nights before the exam were pretty sleepless for him. He had a blessing from his brother the night before, and then Thursday we spent some time at my parents house while I baked Aunt Krista's famous pumpkin roll (not sure if it's famous anywhere else, but it's Tyler's favorite) for him to take into the exam...some innocent bribery. He left at about 2:30 and I sat on pins and needles until about 6:45 when he finally called to say it had gone well. PHEW!
It's been a pretty crazy time for us. But the amazing thing is, it was the most stressful time we've had together, and yet we weren't stressed. Well...Tyler was...but as far as our relationship with each other, and with our kids, the stress didn't show. We were able to compartmentalize I guess. I know I was sustained a great deal by Heavenly Father as I took on the brunt of running our home and taking care of our kids by myself. My patience level was a lot higher than I expected and I know that didn't come from my own strength. Tyler and I have felt closer together over this time and closer to Heavenly Father as we realized we had to rely on him whole-heartedly. It's been great. After Tyler's exam was done, he came and picked me up while the kids hung out with Auntie Sam, and we went out for dinner with his committee and a few colleagues. They treated us to a nice evening out to celebrate his success. I'm glad he's surrounded by such supportive people. It was nice to see Tyler slowly starting to unwind as the dinner progressed, and he was able to relax, like REALLY relax, for the first time in months. Maybe even years, because this thing has been looming over our heads for about 3 years. I gave Tyler a t-shirt that said, "You can call me DOCTOR" on it as a gag-celebration. We picked up our kids and drove home feeling more exhausted then we had in a long time. I think we ran on steam for a really long time, and the steam was finally gone.
I am so proud of my husband. I've always known he was smart, but over the last few weeks he has proved that he is so far beyond that. He's practical, and generous and organized. He takes his role as provider very seriously and works really hard for our family. I read an article in the April Ensign about education (By Elder and Sister Oaks) and they spoke on how gaining an education and furthering our knowledge is a form of worship. I know that our testimonies have grown and I have appreciated the opportunity to be challenged and to come through it.
Now that it's all done, we're looking forward to celebrating Lucy's birthday this weekend and heading off to Disneyland on Monday!! We'll hopefully have time to add posts about our trip as we go...so stay tuned!

Happy Bird-Day

I guess I should make a quick note about my birthday, although it feels funny to write something about yourself. But hey...it was great. On Thursday morning I walked into Lucy's room to say good morning and was greeted by a beautiful red-head, lying in bed, stretching, with a smile on her face and then the sweet words, "Happy Birthday mommy!" I'm not sure if she was excited for my birthday, or because she knew it meant halloween was only one more sleep away, but nonetheless, I enjoyed the sentiment. We headed in to my mom's house in the afternoon to hang out and so she could watch the kids that evening while Tyler and I went out for dinner. We headed to our favorite Vietnamese restaurant just off Bow Trail and had a fabulous, filling, and completely delicious meal for less than $25. I love it! The restaurant is awesome and the food is great. We've become pretty good friends with the owner and he always has our food out to us so quickly that it's hard to savor the time away from kids. Before we left my mom's house she told us not to rush, but since our meal was done in about 30 minutes, we decided to head over to Walmart to buy some new movies...one of my other favorite things. We got a handful and headed home to pick up our kids. We were rushing a bit, so that we could get them into bed and settle in to watch "The Office". We started watching one of our new movies, "The Rock", which is an oldie, but one we hadn't seen. The rest of the birthday festivities happened on Sunday, when we headed back to my parent's for a birthday dinner with the whole family. My mom made a fabulous roast beast dinner with all the trimmings, which includes two kinds of potatoes (mashed and roast) because I'm a potato girl. Mom and Sam even skipped out on their choir rehearsal for the evening to spend some time. And if anyone knows their choir director, that is grounds for execution, so I appreciate the gesture. It was a pretty awesome birthday and I'm excited about 28...it's gonna be a good year. Oh, and presents: I got a new watch from my hubby, which is cool and way more fashionable than any other part of me, a book that I am so excited to read from my in-laws and a mini crockpot and a food processor from my parents, because I love to cook. Oh, and an "Office" themed birthday card from my sister. Thanks everyone!

Circa 2003

Tyler and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary today.  A lot has happened in the last five years, and I can honestly say that I have never made a more right decision than the choice to marry him.  We've added two beautiful children to our family in that time, who we absolutely love;  We've moved almost every year (we've lived in 5 houses in 5 years); and Tyler is still my best friend in the whole world.  I'm looking forward to 10 times as much surprises, fun, (disagreements), and love.  

To celebrate our anniversary last night, Tyler and I went to Cirque du Soleil: Corteo with his parents.  I don't recall ever being to any type of circus before, and this one definitely didn't disappoint.  The theatrics and stunts were absolutely amazing.  The set and costumes were unbelievable, and the music was beautiful.  Worth every penny.  They are in town until the end of next week and I say, if you can go, make the effort, because it was outstanding.  

Happy Anniversary Tyler.  I love you.