Memories

As I was going through a bookshelf this afternoon looking for my study journal, I came across a journal I forgot I had started. It was my "Date Book" that I started when I turned 16. In it I made a record of the dates I went on--who I was with, who else was there, what we did, and how fun I thought it was. I only kept it up for about 6 months, but it was fun to go back and read the entries. Of the 20 dates that I recorded, 9 were with Chris, and all of the ones I went on with him were marked as being "SO fun, a PERFECT date, a BLAST" etc. I thought I would share a couple of the entries.

Please excuse run-on-sentences and grammar. I was 16 and giddy about boys :)

January 4, 2002
I went with Chris Cutler, and Stephanie Alder went with Tom Duncan. It was SO fun. We made a fort at Chris's house and watched Dumb and Dumber and ate pizza. Then we played nintendo and foosball. We played Uno then we got in a HUGE snowball fight.

March 23, 2002
Hosannah [a concert]. I went with Chris and Stephanie went with Tom. We went to Rexburg to see Hosannah. It was so good! Then we went back to my house and roasted marshmallows and starbursts :) over candles. Then we just messed around, played games, played the piano...etc. It was a WAY fun date! Chris is so much fun to be with! (By the way, this date was girl's choice.)

April 3, 2002
I went with Chris and Dani went with Craig to see The Count of Monte Cristo. Craig called and asked me, but said the date wasn't with him. Then he picked me up, blindfolded me and drove around till I was lost. Then we ended up at Chris's house and Chris had brought Dani. They switched. Then we popped popcorn and brought pop and cookies and smuggled them into the theater. I had a BLAST!

May 11, 2002
Commencement-I went with Chris and Gus took Mandy Miller at night, but in the morning Chris picked me up at 5:00 am and we went with Tom and Kim Englis to Peterson Park and watched the sunrise and ate breakfast. Then we took sidewalk chalk and decorated everyone's driveways. Afterward we saw Chris Young and Kurt going to pick up their dates, so we followed them to Craig's house where they all ate breakfast and then we played games. They took us home at around 10:00. Chris and Gus and Mandy picked me up at around 5:45 pm and we went to get pictures. Then at 7:00 we went to Chris's house for dinner. It was SO cool! They took us downstairs and they had a candlelight dinner with christmas lights around it. There was a rose at mine and Mandy's place for us. We ate dinner and Chad (Chris's brother-in-law) played the guitar for us. Then we went to the dance. It was SO much fun. It was one of the best dates I've ever been on! After the dance we went to the park and ate ice cream. It was an awesome date!

May 24, 2002
I went with Chris and Kaley went with Chris Y. to see Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. It was a ton of fun. Afterward Chris and I stood on my porch and talked for a long time. It was great.

Intimidation

Honestly...I've been avoiding blogging. Why? I'm intimidated by Christmas.

But today I'm feeling a desire to ramble about random things. Maybe I'll decide to blog about Christmas someday, but today is not that day.

Random #1: I love Audrey Hepburn.

I don't know why, but she has always held some sort of fascination for me. I think she is absolutely lovely. One of my good friends from high school is an amazing artist and she drew me a picture of Audrey and framed it. I love it. I'm not sure if the reason that My Fair Lady is one of my favorite musicals is because I really like the musical, or just because Audrey is in it.

Note: I'm pretty sure that I really do like the musical for it's own sake

Random #2: William is NOT color blind. We figured this out today. He can definitely tell the difference between colors, he just doesn't really care what the names are.

Random # 3: I'm starting to train for a marathon.
Not sure if I will run the Teton Dam Marathon in June, or just run the half marathon, and then run the Logan Marathon in September. Either way, I'm excited about it.

Random #4: January-March is the worst part of the year, with February as the worst of the worst. I'm glad it's a short month, because as it is it still manages to seem twice as long as other months.

Random #5: I am really excited to do our taxes this year. That's a first for me. Hopefully I will be able to get them done this weekend.

Random # 6: I really want a King-Sized bed.

I do not want to PAY for a king-sized bed, but I do really want to own one. And sleep on one. A nice one. It just sounds so luxurious! Plus, I am sick of being deliriously tired in the middle of the night and bringing Isaac to bed to nurse, and then ending up with approximately 4 inches of room for myself because I'm too lazy (aka scared he'll wake up) to put him back in his crib.

Note: This has been happening less often lately because I finally decided that it's worse to be in bed then it is to be out of bed. Being in bed gives the impression that I should be able to sleep, and so it's just cruel when I can't. When I'm out of bed I don't really expect to be able to sleep, so I'm not disappointed.

Random #7: Isaac is wearing these pajamas today (yes, he is still in his pjs) that have little cuffs on the feet that come just to the end of the ball of his foot, so his little toes stick out. It's the cutest thing ever. It makes me want to eat him up.

My 24th Birthday

I had a great birthday (December 20). Chris's parents made a delicious dinner and baked apples and then later that night we had cake and ice cream with my parents. Both our families were very generous in giving me gifts and Chris gave me snow boots which I was very excited about!

William had fun helping me blow out the candles. Ever since his birthday he really got the hang of the birthday thing and I often hear him singing the happy birthday song.

I really love these people. They make my life so happy! I wouldn't want to have any birthdays without them that's for sure.
(I love that William is mesmerized by the presents and Isaac is mesmerized by the candles)

Something's Fishy...

On Thursday Chris took William ice fishing and they had a lot of fun! William absolutely loves fish and everything about them. He even really likes eating fish and asks for it all the time. Silly kid!

Here's a little video of William catching a fish.



William has to be right next to Chris while he clean, guts and fillets the fish. He sure is Daddy's little helper (with a butter knife)!


Like father like son!

Isaac

He's a heartbreaker!

It's apparent you're a parent when...

This comic only gets funnier every time you read it:

Let me tell you about...

This Cool Kid!

This is my little brother Tim. He now wears a suit and tie and speaks Spanish as he teaches the people of Mexico the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He is awesome and I love him! I wouldn't be at all disappointed if my sons grow up to be just like him!

However, I didn't always feel this way. Tim is 4 years younger than me, the next below me in age, and when we were younger he was the bane of my existence!! Every single thing he did got on my nerves! I couldn't stand him being around, and I even got in a fist fight with him once. Sometimes when I am irritated with William it brings back strong memories about how I used to feel about Tim all the time!

I kept thinking I needed to change my attitude about him (I felt many pangs of guilt about it), but nothing seemed to make much difference. Then it happened. I started my senior year of high school, and Tim started his freshman year. And my friends LIKED him!! In fact, EVERYONE liked him! I couldn't understand it. My guy friends would come over to hang out with Tim, and would always invite him to go with us when we were going places. I kept wondering why they didn't see what an annoying little pest he was, but I also didn't want to seem immature and catty, so I went along with it. And you know, what? I eventually found out that my little brother was cool! And we became good friends.

It got even better when I moved away to college the next year because then we didn't have to live in the same house together.

Here are several reasons why I think my brother is so cool!

-He is incredibly talented. He taught himself to play the guitar and he writes amazing music! His lyrics are always witty and his music has depth to it, and it just seems to flow out of him somehow.

-He is HILARIOUS!!! Seriously, this kid can make me laugh harder than anyone else. And when you get him together with Chris you better watch out! Your stomach will be sore for weeks.

-He isn't afraid to be the person that he wants to be. He always seems to be self confident and he has strong convictions, yet he retains a sense of humility and doesn't come across as thinking he is better than anyone else.

-He sees the good in other people.

-He is able to set goals for himself and accomplish those goals.


-He is interested in many things and takes his learning into his own hands. This makes him a very interesting conversationalist. We used to stay up at night and talk for hours about wide varieties of things when I would come home from college, and he always seemed to teach me something.

-He and Chris are "brothers from another mother". I really like that he thinks I married someone awesome.

I am so excited to see who he is when he comes home from his mission in a little less than a year. I am so thankful for the example that he continually sets for me. Gee -- forget about my sons growing up to be like him; I hope that I grow up to be like him!