10 Wonderful Years

Today is the day ...celebrating 10 years of marriage to the love of my life. Wow! My wedding day was lovely and I thoroughly enjoyed spending it with Jimmy.

As for the past 10 years... yes, I've loved them. Lots of ups... and lots of downs. Of course there is stress, moves, more schooling, $$ bleh, car troubles, broken appliances, emotional crazy times, no sleep, tears and such.... but life is so full of joys too... and with 4 tots life isn't boring. The Lord has watched over and blessed us. Jimmy really is a good man who endures a lot from me...  a lot!

I'll try not to blab on and on about all the good things he is... but I'll just say that...
I love my beautiful, ordinary life ... with Jimmy.

in the beginning - 10 years ago

10 years ago yesterday... I gave up on boys. I really did. I recorded that in my journal. I gave up on boys and decided to focus on other things in my life.

10 years ago today... Jimmy asked me out and we went on our first date.

Funny how it works that way. It's like a story out of a YW manual ... not that I instantly knew I was going to marry the boy, but it was the beginning of something...

With it being NBA playoff season, we watched the Jazz basketball game and ate pizza. Little Caesar's gave us the wrong pizza which turned out to be mushroom with pineapple. I think we played chicken scratch (a dominoes game) with Jimmy's roommate Charlie and his date.

Jimmy was a persistent fellow and asked me on a few dates in the next few weeks. We watched a few playoff games. On our third date Jimmy picked me up for our frisby golf date and I was crying. Poor guy. What do you do with a crying hormonal girl? I guess he had to know a little bit what he was getting into with this emotional girl.

Anyhoo.... I'm glad he was persistent. I like that Jimmy boy!

This photo isn't from our first date but it was our first photo together... a few weeks after our first date.... on a hike to Stewart Falls. He is wearing an old flannel shirt that belonged to his Grandpa. I think we look young... young fun energetic people. I need some of that energy now!

sidenote:
9 years ago yesterday (May 2, 2001) Jimmy and I moved to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. What an adventure we were in for! We did so many fun things in Florida... the Keys, Orlando, the beach, west coast, etc. We met so many neat people there. We bought our first townhome. We had little Hannah there. Fun memories!

Nine Years

Today is the 9th Anniversary of our wedding. Wow - 9 years!

I sure love my Jimmy. He's a good, good man... husband... father... Right now he's getting a cranky Truman to sleep. Bless him!

I thought it would be fun to do a run-down of what we've done in the past nine years.

2000 - A summer of fun dates, Heather gets Mono, The Wedding

2001 - Move to Florida, play at Disney World, the Keys, Jimmy works for Motorola

2002 - Hannah joins our family, buy our first Townhome in Sunrise, FL

2003 - Move to Arizona, Jimmy in school for MBA

2004 - Abe is born, summer in Florida for internship

2005 - Move to Tennessee, Jimmy works for FedEx, buy first house in Collierville, TN

2006 - Jimmy builds a swingset, we love our house and yard, no moves or babies. Wow! We're feeling settled.

2007 - Max joins the fam, kids in preschool

2008 - Move to Utah, Jimmy works for the Church

2009 - Truman is born, kids in school, busier than ever

So - it looks like in 9 years we've had 4 kids in 4 states with 7 different moves.

Lots of hard moments. But oodles of fun memories together. All the JOYous adventures we share as a family make up for the hard stuff.

I'm glad Jimmy is by my side through it all. I'm glad for him.

today we celeBrate 8 years of marriage

eight years ago

in the 4 o'clock hour

on friday, december 15, 2000,

we were sealed for time and all eternity

in the mt. timpanogos temple.

what a joyous day!

we woke to thunder and rain

but it soon turned to lovely fluffy snow.

we ate donuts at breakfast.

we bought gloves to hide my red rash from having mono.

we smiled so much our lips hurt.

we made covenants.

i cried. (for joy)

we were glad for those who came to celebrate with us.

we enjoyed the day.

and since that day we've done a few things:

ONE Swingset built

TWO Toyota Corollas

THREE Tots to Treasure

FOUR Jobs for Jimmy

FIVE Doctor visits

(well - maybe a few more than that for mono, tonsilectomy, 3 c-sections, and kidney infection)

SIX hundred adventures

SEVEN Moves in 4 states

EIGHT Years of Marriage

I love my Jimmy!
I'm glad for him! ... for all the good he is and does.

"Brethren and sisters, keep your affections within marriage. Regard as your most precious possession in time or eternity the person with whom you joined hands over the altar in the house of the Lord and to whom you pledged your love and loyalty and affection for time and all eternity. Your companion, your children, and you yourself will then know and feel a security far greater than any that can be bought with hardware and gadgetry." Gordon B.Hinckley, Ensign, Jan. 2002

Hannah said to us, "Why do you have to go on an anniversary date? So you can stay sealed?" Yes, dear... to keep the love alive ... that's why.

Happy Anniversary my love!

Memory of the Engagement

This week Jimmy and I were reminiscing about our engagement which took place 8 years ago today - Oct 25. (which is also the same day Jimmy entered the MTC).

We had decided to get married and had picked out rings but Jimmy hadn't officially asked me yet. Unbeknownst to me, the rings had arrived earlier than expected and Jimmy had picked them up and planned all of this.

That day I had a few moles and a wart removed (very romantic ~ NOT!). So, my body was kindof achy and I just wasn't feeling the best. I had on totally comfy pj pants and a sweatshirt with my hair slicked into a ponytail.

Jimmy came over that evening and asked if I wanted to go on a drive up to the Mt. Timp Temple. He knew how much I love to see that temple. I agreed to go. He asked if I wanted to dress up nicer (because he knew he was going to propose), which of course, I didn't (because I didn't know he was going to propose), because I wanted to be comfy.

Once we got there, we were walking around and Jimmy wanted to go over to this park across the street. I didn't want to because it was so dark and I thought it was creepy. But we ended up doing that and sitting on this picnic table (which Jimmy and his friend had totally placed just in that very spot early in the day). We had a perfect view of the temple.

We were talking and such, and then Jimmy kneeled down and asked me to marry him with the lovely ring and a sweet letter he had written. Oh - the joy!  It was a perfect engagement for us because it was simple and sweet with no one else around. I loved it.

Then we took a few pictures to capture the joy forever. They were totally staged and we took them ourselves but it's fun to have them. (don't we look so young!)
I'm grateful for Jimmy and what a joyful influence he is in my life! He's still the love of my life - 8 years later.

Anniversary of our 1st Date

Today marks the 8th anniversary of mine and Jimmy's 1st date ever! We met the end of April and that nice boy asked me out for May 3, 2000.

What did we do, you ask? Well... let's see... it did happen to be right in the midst of NBA Championships. Yep, for our 1st two dates, we watched basketball. I knew if I ever married this boy, basketball would be a part of my life. (which is why I have so much night-time to blog these days while my kids are supposedly sleeping and my hubby is watching b-ball).

So we not only watched basketball (and don't even asked me who played... I really don't know) ... but we also ate pizza and had soda. The guys ordered Little Ceasars (right off of 9th in Provo)... only they gave them the wrong order. So we ate a mushroom and pineapple pizza... only I picked off all the mushrooms (icky slimey things!) It was a funny part of the date. If I remember correctly, we also played Chicken Scratch with dominoes.

So - here's to our 8th Anniversary of our First Glorious Date. I love the love of my life Jimmy!

It's number Seven!

Today was our 7th Wedding Anniversary. Yippee! I love Jimmy and am so glad to have him in my life. We were planning on picking up his mom from the airport about 6 and having her babysit while we went on a quickie dinner date. She is now stranded in Chicago due to winter weather and hopefully she can get a flight in the morning so we can pick her up tomorrow. But our kind friends watched the kids so we still got to go on a date to Stix (a Hibachi grill place). Even with all the distractions in our life right now, I'm glad we had a chance to celebrate 7 years together! (the pictures on the scrapbook page were our engagement photos - awww, sweet!)

How'd you meet your prince charming?

I should probably save this post for my anniversary or something. But I always think it is fun to hear everyone's 'how we met' story. And it's always fun to think back to the beginning of your own story and young love. So my challenge to whoever wants to take it (no tags here) is to share on your blog how you met your true love.

I made this page a long time ago for my personal history album and just thought I'd post it so I don't have to type it all out (click for larger). And yes, sorry about the cheesiness.Here's a collage of memorable stuff from the day of our first kiss. And then the wedding... December 15, 2000 in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple. I was totally sick with mono but had about the loveliest wedding day ever. Jimmy was the cutest! I had a red rash from an allergic reaction to some medication so that morning we went and bought the cinderella gloves to hide it. Anyhoo... we're coming up on 7 years this December.
And that's the story of how I met and married the love of my life (well, in a brief sort of way).

Weekend Happenings

This past Friday was our sixth Anniversary. We got a babysitter and went out to eat at Firebirds which is an American Style Grill. Jimmy had a great steak and I loved the bread and the BLT salad. Then we went to the temple. It was nice. It is fun to remember and think of all the fun memories we have from dating, our wedding, and fun times since. I love Jimmy!
Saturday morning I got up early to head to the temple for youth baptisms. It was fun to be a helper. Who knew that people used to name their boys Doris and Elizabeth? There also were a bunch of names from the Netherlands. It is always fun to see the names and dates and locations. If only we had an autobiography on each person... Now wouldn't that be most interesting?
Saturday night we got another babysitter so that Jimmy and I could attend his FedEx team holiday party. They all wondered why we didn't bring our kids. We assured them that it was much better for us to have a break and for our kids to be home instead of running around crazy at the party. Jimmy's manager is from Indonesia and we learned a bit more about her country. Most of Jimmy's coworkers are from India and they told us a little bit about their country. I love the Indian accent... I just need to improve my listening skills so that I can understand everything.
Today - Miss Hannah gave the scripture in closing exercises in Primary. It was the "Fear not, for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy..." She was very brave and repeated what I said. I had to hold her up because even on the stool, she couldn't be seen. Abe provided an entertaining show for the man sitting behind us today. He thought Abe was a hoot. I rather thought Abe was an energetic 2-year-old boy who can't hold still for 1 minute.
Better run read Abe a bed-time story. I was going with a beach hut sort of style for this blog. I thought it might perk up winter. I think it needs some more color to actually add some cheer. I realize I'm a looney about my blog so it might change soon.