50 Years

50 years ago my parents got married.  June 18, 1964.  They had a double wedding with my Aunt Carol.  When I was a kid there was a cute white book with all these wedding pictures inside and I loved looking at their wedding day.  I love how young and happy they are.  I love my tall, skinny dad with his full head of hair and glasses.  I love everything about this special day.  My parent's are an amazing example of love and family and what is most important in life.  Even 50 years later these two have so much fun together and work side by side and love the same stuff and are still visibly in love.  I am so grateful to be their daughter and I am so grateful to live so close to them so I can learn from their example on how to be a good wife and parent.  These two really do know what's up.  Today when Sophie saw the picture she couldn't get over how young my mom was and she said "she is so beautiful"  then followed it up with "I hope you and daddy are married for 50 years someday".  I hope so too bug .... 50 years and many more after that.  

 My mom, Aunt Carol and Aunt Danna with Julie as the flower girl

My dad and his brother Ron with Rick (the youngest)

Uncle Ron and Dad

My 2 beautiful aunts - Carol and Danna

Mom and cousin Julie

Mom and  cousin Rick

Mom and her maid of honor and best friend Linda

Beautiful Mom

They could be twins

Grandpa Giboney with his girls

Grandma and Grandpa Schultz with my parents

Grandma and Granpa Giboney with their girls
(I love that Carol and grandma have the same look on their faces)

My Valentine

I love this guy so much!  Luke asked me when I had my first Valentine and I'm pretty sure it was the first Valentine I spent with Todd.  Truly I don't remember ever being asked to be someone's valentine in elementary school and I don't remember ever  having a boyfriend over v-day when I got older.  So I believe I can say Todd is my one and only Valentine.  I am so grateful to have Todd as my husband for time and all eternity.  He is so good for me and loves me so much.  Having him home has been so great.  I didn't realize how much we missed his influence in the home and having an extra set of hands doesn't hurt either. 

Just because

Today after work I ran home fast to pick up Tayson for basketball practice then headed back to crossfit for the second time.  I didn't do the WOD again instead I went to finish off the 30,000 meter row challenge.  I had 9,000 meters left and I wanted to finish what I started.  It took me a good 50 minutes.  When Tayson and I walked in the house after a long day these flowers were on the table and Todd was starting a load of wash.  I asked him what they were for and he said "just because I haven't bought you flowers in a long time".  I sure did get lucky when I found this guy!!!

14 Years

14 years ago this guy took me to the Salt Lake Temple and married me for time and all eternity.  I love him even more now than I did back then.  I've learned the difference between being "in love" and "true love" and I know that will only continue to grow.  It takes work on both of our parts and the more we work to serve and love each other the better things get.  I can't imagine anyone taking better care of me or being able to deal with how crazy I am.  He is the most supportive hubby of all my parties, and running, and crossfit and whatever else I throw at him.  I sure do love you Todd and I am so grateful that we have all of eternity to spend together!

Love Notes

When Todd and I were dating and first married he always left me little love notes.  He would write them on anything - including napkins.  The other night I opened my journal and was looking at little notes and things I wrote about Todd when we were dating.  I sure do love him!

13 Years

13 years ago I married the most amazing man.  He loves me despite my faults and makes me laugh every day.   I love who we are becoming the longer we are together - we make each other better people.  We spent our anniversary driving to California in a minivan with 4 kids - because that's what 13 years of marriage will do to you.  I sure do love you Todd!!

I love this guy

It's hard with Todd gone so much but it sure makes me appreciate the small things about him more.  

Sophie and I laying in bed doing facetime with him.  Love.

Most Saturday mornings I get home from a long run and find him sound asleep in bed.  I love it.  This is what I wrote when I posted the image:

"True love = I have been running, fed kids, done dishes, finished a load of laundry, been to the freedom run to cheer on friends and showered all while my man sleeps and seeing him like this brings a smile to my face"

Fun date bowling. I love the faces he makes.

Dinner at Tucano's.  Again with the hilarious faces.

I got this text from him.  HA!

Really.  I have the best hubby ever and I am just so grateful for the good times we have together.  I miss him terribly when he is gone and he's gone way too much but the best part is that our time apart has only made our relationship stronger. 

12 Years of Bliss

Today is our 12 year anniversary.  This morning I had to run 7 miles so Traci suggested running the temple loop.  About 2 1/2 miles in I wasn't happy to be doing such a hard run but then when I started running up the hill to go around the temple I just kept thinking about how 12 years ago I was heading to the temple to be married for time and all eternity.  It sure made the hill easier.  I turned off my iPod and just thought about that cold, snowy morning 12 years ago.  Different temples but that didn't matter this morning.   

Really our anniversary is just another day for us.  We don't buy presents (too close to Christmas) and we don't go out on a special date.  Pretty much every year on our anniversary we are traveling.  I don't love that our anniversary is so close to Christmas but I sure do love that I am married to Todd.  Today after we both finish working we are going to pack our bags, clean our house and then load all our presents and bags in the minivan with all 4 kids and head down to Vegas. 

I've got it pretty dang good. I couldn't be happier with my life, family and marriage.  I sure do love you Todd!

Back in 1999

I was just looking for something in a drawer in my office at work and came upon a frame with this picture in it. The frame said "My Boy" and I remember when we got it. We were at Target doing our registry and Todd was crazy scanning in everything he saw that he thought was remotely cool or funny (we ended up getting a bathroom scale as a wedding present because of this). He saw the "My Boy" frame and registered for it and then we laughed because it was obviously for a baby not a hubby. But I bought it anyway for my desk and put this picture in it.

Is is bad that my hair is almost the same as it was in this picture? I swear I've had lots of different lengths and styles since then...I just always seem to go back to this length. Man we look so young - and I'm wrinkle free in that picture.

Since I'm thinking about Todd anyways....I sure do miss him. Sometimes I can't believe how happy I am and how lucky I am to have someone as amazing, hot, funny, smart, righteous, and so on and so on as my hubby. I couldn't be happier. Falling for that guy back in 1999 was a pretty good move on my part. I'm pretty sure we were made for each other. Only 1 more day until he comes home again. Yippee!!! I sure do love you Todd.

Top 10 for 10 years

In a book I've read several times (Eclipse) there is a section where they are talking about their top 10 nights together. So I thought since this is my 10 year anniversary I would list my top 10 nights or days with Todd.

1. The night we went to see "Les Miserables" for my birthday when we were dating. It was the best birthday present I've ever gotten and we got all dressed up and had so much fun at the show.
2. The first time Todd told me he loved me - I think it was at the Nu Skin Convention we were both working at (which by itself would also make this list).
   
3. Driving back from California after meeting Todd's mom and grandma when Todd first talked to me about getting married.
   
4. The night Todd proposed. Even though I was soooooo grouchy and didn't deserve it he took me to the beach, got down on 1 knee, told me he loved me and asked me to marry him and gave me the most beautiful ring.
   
5. The day we were married for time and all eternity in the Salt Lake Temple...and that night of course :)
6. The day I beat Todd in 3 games of Sequence in a row. (I haven't beat him in a game since)
   
7. When we decided it was time to start our family. I remember loving him soooo much at that moment.
8. The birth of each of our kids. There was something so amazing about having Todd there with me holding my hand and encouraging me through everything. Different things stand out about each one. With Tayson we were both so nervous and Todd kept wiping my forehead off with a washcloth and my head was so raw. Then Luke gave us quite a scare and at that moment when the doctor stepped in to help the midwife and the lights got turned on as bright as possible and they were preparing for an emergency of some sort Todd looked at me and I was so calm. I remember with Claire that right after she was born there was one little tear in his eye that I saw which melted my heart. And with Sophie Todd was hoping for a boy until the bitter end.
9. Our trip to Tahiti (Morea and Bora Bora). I can't pinpoint one day or night of that trip. Everything about that trip was amazing. It was our real honeymoon...even though I was 6 months prego with Tayson.
10. Today, tomorrow and everyday for the rest of eternity...it just keeps getting better with time (oh my gosh I'm so freakin' cheesy).
    

Here's to the first 10 years. I'm so grateful that I have the rest of eternity to make more memories with the man of my dreams.

Then

Now

I'm pretty sure we look just as in love now as we did then.

New Attitude

The other day Todd and I were talking about how much we've changed in our 10 years of marriage. He said that I've changed a lot but he hasn't changed at all...I beg to differ but the thing that stood out to me was when he mentioned something about how when we were dating I was very independent and now I'm not. I thought about this for a while and realized I'm still independent except when it comes to him. I depend on him so much and I realized that I tend to get mad at him when he doesn't do things that I think he should do. Of course I don't tell him these are things he should be doing I simply expect him to know. Poor guy.

So this weekend Todd was sick and so I ended up shoveling the driveway two days in a row and as I was thinking about it there really is no reason why I can't shovel. Instead of getting mad at him I should just do as much as I can and not complain about "boy jobs" and "girl jobs". I am so lucky to have a husband who works so hard and does so much to help with the kids and still has time to have fun and hang out with me. So I have a new attitude with getting stuff done and if it needs to be done I'll just do it instead of complain about having to do "boy jobs".

Just some thoughts...

A few nights ago I woke up when Todd came to bed (around 2:00 am of course). I was pretty groggy but I realized he was holding my hand for a few minutes before he drifted off to dream land. I woke up with a huge smile from him doing something so cute.

Yesterday Todd steam cleaned all the carpets in our upstairs just because. I loved seeing him clean the carpets...there is just something so sexy about a man with a vacuum.

Sophie walks everywhere now. She walks around just to walk. We'll be sitting in the room and she'll just walk around in circles with a big grin on her face thinking she rules the world. She also does the cutest thing when I go get her out of bed. I always give her a kiss and hug and now she gives them back. She will give me the BIGGEST open (yes open) mouth kiss then lean her head on my shoulder for a hug. It melts my heart. I really need to take a video of her kisses...they are hilarious.

I am overly excited for Mark to get home in 9 days. I can't stop thinking about how soon he'll be home and how soon my whole family will be together. YIPPEE!!

Yesterday I went over to my parents house (they've been out of town for the last 7 weeks) so I thought I would help Timmy get everything ready for them coming home tomorrow. Vacuuming is a great time to just veg and think about nothing. While I was vacuuming I was thinking about how my mom taught me to vacuum (3 times in each spot before moving to the side, the distance of each swipe and how to leave the nice lines on the carpet). I made sure that I did her house the right way and didn't rush it because I knew it would make her happy. I really miss my parents being gone and can't wait until tomorrow when they get back. It was so much fun to do something nice for them and made me so happy while I was doing it. There is nothing better than coming home to a clean house.

Happy Valentines Day

Oh how I love this man!

Thank you for making

me a better person and

for loving me

in spite of all my flaws.

This was the only smooching picture I could find

My Man

First let me give some background information. Todd and Danny (my bro) are a tad bit crazy when they are together. And thanks to the holidays they have been together quite a bit over the last few months. So there is an ongoing joke about putting a sock on the door (if you know what I mean...if you don't you can stop reading now).

A few nights ago after all the kids were in bed I got myself a nice bowl of ice cream and was headed back to the bedroom (to blog of course) and there was a sock on the door. This made me laugh. But then I opened the door to find the lights out, several candles lit, and music playing and Todd sitting on the bed (don't worry he had all his clothes on).

Of course I had just gotten myself a nice bowl of ice cream so I just sat down on my side of the bed to talk and eat it. Right when I sat down I heard the sound of gas passing....was it me? It had to be I heard it and it was right here! But no, it wasn't me I was pretty sure about that. So I had quite the perplexed look on my face right about the time I realized Todd had put the whoopee cushion under the sheets right where I was sitting. He had only put a little air in it and put it under all the bedding so it wasn't a loud obnoxious noise it sounded so real. He was laughing harder than I have ever seen him laugh before. Freakin' HILARIOUS!!!

p.s. Todd bought the whoopee cushion at K.B. Toys going out of business sale for like 48 cents....I believe it's the best bargain he's ever gotten. And the boys think it is sooooo funny. They keep putting it everywhere and saying "mom come sit down" and you will see a blanket thrown over a very full and obvious whoopee cushion...but I play along and they crack up.

9 Years Ago

I married the man of my dreams.

I always thought finding the right person would be the hardest part and I'll admit it took me a good while and I had to kiss a lot of frogs to find my prince. But now I know better I've learned over the last 9 years how hard marriage can be and what real love is.

All of our disagreements and trials and hard times have brought us closer together. I can't imagine a day in my life without Todd there. Who would make me laugh? Who would I clean up after? Who would put up with all my crazy? Thank goodness we will be together forever. I love you so much Todd.

I am the luckiest girl ever. This guy rocks!!!

Opposites Do Attract

Today I was at lunch with my brother and his wife and we were talking about the five love languages. I'm currently reading that book for our February book group and last night Todd and I took our love language tests. We speak similar love languages for the most part. But, while I was talking to David and Kami I realized just how different Todd and I really are. Here are few great examples of where we differ.

Food: He is very picky and would eat an in-n-out burger everyday if he had the chance. I like Chinese food a lot, he hates it. He won't eat leftovers or really anything cooked in the microwave. I grew up in a big family so I can eat anything.

Sleep Habits: I am tired by 8:00 pm and staying up past 10:00 is a late night for me. I get up early in the morning and am more productive before noon than after. Todd goes to bed between 1:00 and 2:00 am and hates mornings. He likes to start his projects around midnight. I think we could share a twin bed with the amount we sleep at the same time. :)

Personalities: I like to call my personality "strong" some would say moody. I can go from happy to mad to sad to happy in the blink of an eye. Todd is steady and rarely gets upset about anything. I wear my emotions on my sleeve and cry at the drop of a hat. I've seen Todd cry maybe 3 times in our 8 years together. I love to talk about anything and everything. Todd only talks when he absolutely has to. (Thank goodness for girlfriends).

Free Time: I love to exercise. It is one of my favorite things to do in my spare time. I also love to read and I like to be busy and create projects and work for myself. Todd's idea of free time is relaxing. He loves to watch movies, TV shows, play computer, board games, etc. (Don't get me wrong I am addicted to several TV shows and I love to go to movies.)

Family: We even grew up in totally different environments. I grew up in the Midwest 4th of 10 kids. He grew up in sunny southern California with 1 sister. This of course is great for both of us because we get the best of both worlds now that we are married.

I'm sure I could come up with lots more differences and I'm sure Todd could add his fair share as well. In spite of all our HUGE differences I can't imagine someone more perfect for me than Todd. I guess it really is true that sometimes opposites do attract.

I've been Tagged....

OK I got tagged by Kristine so here goes. This would be better with a little input from Todd....so I'll see if I can get him to add his comments to the post.

1. Where did you meet your husband? We met at work (Nu Skin). A mutual friend told Todd he should ask me out so he did. I had a very strict rule that I NEVER dated anyone at work. Breakups weren't really my specialty and usually I went with avoidance instead of dealing with issues so work relationships weren't much of an option. I mean I didn't want to find a new job just to avoid some guy. Luckily for Todd I made an exception.

2. First thing said. I have no idea. Most of our early "courting" was over instant messenger. That way we could say anything and not feel or look stupid. Plus we would end up chatting all day at work - it was a pretty smart way to go now that I look back.


3. First date. The first time we actually went out and Todd paid was a lunch date. To keep it safe of course. We went to a Japanese restaurant that Todd picked and he didn't eat anything because he doesn't like any form of Asian food. Then a couple days later we went out on what I consider our first official date. One of Todd's friends was in a band that was playing at UVSC and he wanted to go see them. I told him I couldn't go out until after step aerobics which ended at 6:45 pm. His car (the 1972 Plymouth Fury) was broken down at the time so I had to drive. So I told the aerobics teacher I would be leaving step a few minutes early for a date (which she still remembers and reminds me about all the time ... how she "let" me leave to go on a date with my husband) I went home, showered, got ready, went a picked up Todd then we were off to the concert. Apparently the concert started at 7:00 (which I really didn't know until we got there) and we showed up around 7:45 for the last 2 songs (oops). Then we went out to eat at Chevy's (where we have never been since).


3. First kiss. That would have been the night after our first "official" date. What can I say...why date unless you know you're attracted? I will say that Todd kissed me first although I didn't make it hard for him. :)

4. How long did you date? Not very long. I swore I would NEVER be one of those BYU girls who met someone and got engaged and married fast. Well I had to eat those words after meeting Todd. We met in the summer of 1999, were engaged in November of 1999 and married December 21, 1999. So really we dated a few months and were engaged even less. Oh well, when you know you know.


5. Where did you get engaged? Funny story. Todd and I had tickets to fly to California for the weekend and I was really busy at work that week. So I kept trying to postpone our trip. (I mean he told me he didn't have a ring yet ... and I believed him so what was the big deal?) Apparently, everyone on my team and my boss knew so they forced me to go and changed deadlines for me so I wouldn't stress. By the time we got in and settled I was tired. Todd wanted to go to the beach and walk around but I wasn't really in the mood so I said no. He kept pressuring me saying how much he wanted to go so I told him to go by himself. Then he kept making a big deal about it and made me feel guilty so I went but not happily. The entire drive to the beach and while walking on the beach I was frumpy and had my arms crossed and was just downright mean. Then he drops to his knee and asks me to marry him. Boy did I feel stupid! So of course I said yes and took the ring then the beach patrol drove up and kicked us off the beach. But not before I could get a good look at my ring in their headlights. I'm still surprised to this day that Todd actually wanted to marry me after the way I was acting that night. He must have been too nervous to realize what a jerk I was being.


6. Where did you get married? In the Salt Lake City Temple. We had to be there at the crack of dawn, I think I left my apartment at like 6:00 am to get there on-time. I remember being so nervous right before the ceremony when it was just Todd and I. Then when we got in the sealing room I wasn't scared anymore and it was amazing. It was so nice to have both of our families there and a few of our friends with us.


7. How did the reception go? It was perfect. We had our reception at Thanksgiving Point which was all inclusive so that planning was very easy. Todd and I went down twice to meet with our wedding planners and picked colors, food, cake, flowers, music, the room, etc. Then at the reception the wedding planners were there taking care of us telling us when it was time to cut the cake, throw the bouquet, etc. They were even good enough to get me a Coke when I thought I might fall asleep on my feet talking to people. The funniest part of our reception was at the end my dad was gathering all our presents and putting them in his car for us and one of the presents was a gift basket that was for our wedding night. We went over to grab it before my dad loaded it up and he saw that there were bunny ears in the basket and put them on. Needless to say, those had to be thrown away after the image was burned into our memories. :) I have to thank my parents for being willing to give us a great reception .... I figured they didn't mind paying a little extra to finally get me married off. I don't think they ever thought it would happen.

8. Where did we go on our honeymoon? Because of when we got married (Dec. 21st) we did Christmas before our honeymoon. So we stayed at the Grand America in Salt Lake for 2 nights. The first night one of Todd's family friends called us at like midnight to ask us if we needed more pillows. We had just gotten room service (strawberry and cream waffles...yummy) so he actually thought it was legit and asked me if we needed more pillows which really cracked them up. The next day we had Christmas with my family then headed down to California to spend Christmas day with Todd's family. After Christmas we left on our official honeymoon. We drove up the PCH to Big Sur. Sadly I got very sick our entire honeymoon. I was so sick when we left Todd's house his grandma tried to get me to wear these huge blue blocker sunglasses - which I couldn't do. But I got a really bad inner ear infection so every motion made me sick and I threw up from the beautiful winding roads and when we went hiking (not pretty). For the most part I spent the week in bed sleeping. Todd was so happy when we got to a hotel with a Nintendo so he had something to do.

9. Do you have a song? Kind of. When we were dating/engaged I got to start listening to rap music since that is one of Todd's favorites. So we always said "What Y'all Want" by Eve and the Ruff Ryders was "our song". It's not romantic in any way but it still makes us smile and we call it our song.

So let's see I guess now I get to tag someone else....Kris, Kami (just to get you to update your blog) and Lacey. BTW...I feel like a true blogger now that I have been tagged. :)