Our Story (4 Years Late)

April 2007  (both of us were a little bit skinnier back then....)

So I've been blogging for almost 3 years and I have never once shared Ben and my story.  Let's just say it's not super-exciting but I would like to have it written down for the record.  And today's a good day for it.  We got engaged 4 years ago today.

Ben and I met in a Church History class up at BYU-Idaho.  Honestly, I wasn't even going to take this class because I was planning on taking a Book of Mormon class instead, but I totally spaced it the day I was supposed to sign up for classes and when I finally remembered to sign up, BOM classes were full.  So my sister, Becca (who loves church history and now claims responsibility for me meeting Ben....), suggested that I take this Church History class.  So I did.

I met Ben really early on in the semester.  Ben can even remember me from day one but I can't say the same about him.  But we became good friends quickly.  He sat with me and our friend, Jessica (who sat between us during every class), for months.  He was dating a freshman at the time.  One day he came in SUPER frustrated, and he said, "UGH!  I HATE FRESHMEN!!!!!  THEY'RE SOOO IMMATURE!!!  I'LL NEVER DATE ANOTHER 18 YEAR-OLD AGAIN!!!!"  Jessica and I looked at each other in disbelief and faked being offended and then told him that we were both 18 and freshmen, thank you very much.  Needless to say Ben was embarrassed and told us to take it as a compliment that we didn't seem like it.  I obviously still make fun of him for this.  MWAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

 Then for a week and a half Jessica was sick so Ben and I were alone.  That's when I started to get butterflies.  Then one day when he was walking me to my next class I knew it was the moment. He was going to ask me out.  We were just standing there.  No one was around.  And then....... nothing.  We said bye so we could get to class on time.  I was so disappointed during that class.  I don't even think I paid any attention to the teacher.  So I started walking home still upset, and lo and behold who do I run into????  Ben, of course.  We had never run into each other after class before so it was bizarre.  Apparently he had been kicking himself for not asking me out so he finally got enough courage to do it, and we went out that night.  

So we went to one of Rexburg's local parks and just spent some time talking and swinging.  Then we went to the movies and saw pretty much THE WORST MOVIE IN THE HISTORY OF MOVIES.  Let's just say it involves penguins.  And dancing.  I have to laugh at that now.... but I sat through this movie going, "oh my gosh just end already!!!!!" except I didn't want it to end, because I was having fun with Ben.  That night he asked me if I liked the movie to which I replied, "Yeah!  Of course!!!" so that he would ask me out again.  Yeah, I know.  Bad Heather!  Bad!  Ben still makes fun of me for lying to him.

Did I mention that this was the last day of class before Thanksgiving break?  So I had a whole week before I could see him again and wonder if I was worth a second date.  When we got back he asked me on another date (this is where angels start singing).  We ended up going to Millhollow (a local restaurant) for hot chocolate and talked for 4 or 5 hours straight.  I would like to think of this as our first real date.  It was AWESOME.

That Christmas Ben flew to Samoa (his parents lived there at the time) where he got to meet some of my family for the first time.  My uncle Paul was mission president there at the time and knew Ben's parents.  He came up to Ben at church and gave him a nice little Are-You-Being-Good-To-My-Niece? talk.  It freaked Ben out a little.  Ha.  But at least he got to meet some of my relatives.  Then Ben got to talk to his Mission President from Venezuela who is good buds with my uncle Paul and told Ben that he approved.  It's seriously such a small world.

So Ben likes to cook.  He made me dinner maybe a good 50% of the time while we were dating.  It was awesome.  Every Sunday his roomies invited a different girl apartment from their ward over for dinner and of course, I was always invited.  I was seriously spoiled, y'all.  But since Ben cooked for me all the time, I was way too scared to cook for him.  Finally on Valentines Day I gave in and I made him ribs.  He liked them (and still does).  SCORE!

Then my parents came up for Mother's weekend.  They really wanted to meet Ben and he was starting to show signs of the flu while we were eating at Big Jud's.  We took him to an urgent care (since it was the weekend) and sure enough, he was sicker than a dog.  Then I got it.  So we're trying to have an awesome weekend with my parents (and the flu) and so Ben asked my parents' permission while we were wrapped in blankets with a box of tissues.  *sigh*  Aren't we so romantic?  Yeah... I know....

Ben proposed to me on March 7th when I was almost fully recovered from the flu.  

So there you have it.  A marriage that was formed from lies ("Oh yeah I loved this movie!!!!") and broken promises ("I will never date another 18 year-old again!!!!").  Dang aren't we just like a fairy tale or something?!?!  Haha... no..... but I'm so happy I'm married.  Seriously, being married is soooo much better than I thought.  It's also so much more work than I thought, but it's all worth it.  

One of my favorite parts about being married is just being able to say whatever the heck I want to Ben.  Nothing's too embarrassing or bizarre between us.  I love that we can tuck in our kids at night and continue to be amazed by how cute they are.  I never cease to be amazed that Ben is capable of handling my girly mood swings.  But do you know what my absolute favorite part about marriage is?  The friendship.  Seriously, Ben can tell you exactly when I'm about to roll my eyes and I can tell you exactly what he's going to say next.  Then we can burst out laughing about it later.  

Marriage seriously rocks.  Like, better than winning a life-time supply of chocolate.

Thanks Y'all

Lillers dressed in her princess dress with her Prince Charming.

"Can we snug, Daddy?"

Lily now likes to do my hair for me (which is awesome since I don't really ever do it myself anymore) and the other day she pulled two big handfuls of hair on each side of my head up in the air and said, "Mommy, you're a bunny!"  Love that child.

Skyler's Language Skills

• "Uh-uh" while he shakes his head means "no way.  Take a hike, Psych."  BUT....
• "Uh-uh" while he smiles and shakes his head harder means "HECK YES!!!!!"
• Bunneen = bunny  (my kids can't seem to master this simple word.  Lily called it a "bun-yah-bye" for FOREVER).
• Everything else falls under the category of balls, bubbles, apples (he likes round objects A LOT), or bark barks (aka dogs).
• His favorite song to sing is Row, Row, Row Your Boat.  This is how he sings it: "Row, row, ROOOOOWWW.............................SSSSSTTTTRRRREEEEAAAAMMMM!!!!!!"  And that's the end of the song.  Maybe I should make a movie of it.  It's dang awesome.  My child is probably the next famous music icon/heartthrob.  And I know where he gets his lack of lyric memorization skills from..... and it's not Ben......
• Loves to sing his ABC's except calls them his "KOP's" because that's what Lily calls them.

I just want to thank y'all for reading my blog.  I was talking to my sister, Becca, on the phone last night and I told her that I can't believe people would even give a hoot about my blog.  I mean, of course I just happen to have two children who earned gold medals in the gene pool olympics and are inhumanly adorable, but besides that, it's amazing that y'all are so sweet enough to read my pathetic ramblings.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.

This Weekend

I went to Ally Condie's book signing.  In case you're wondering, she's just as nice as she looks.  In fact, she's pretty awesome.  And since she has the misfortune of not living in the South I brought her some Bone Suckin' Sauce (aka bbq sauce made in Raleigh).  In my copy of MATCHED she wrote "do not go gentle."  If you've read it, you'd understand.  

This is Herman the Whale.  He was originally my parents' and then somehow ended up belonging to me in my tween years.  As you can see Lily, Skyler, and "their father" *ahem* were running around when "their father" said, "look Heather!  It's a whale and we're sharks swimming around it.  Maybe you could lie down with it."  And that was the first whale joke I've had in a long time.  And no, they're still not funny as you can see.  Yeah, Hubby, I hope you read this.  :P

The newest game invented by the genius minds of Lily and Skyler.  Seriously, brilliant.  They dump all of their blocks on the floor, turn the thing upside down, and keep themselves happy long enough for me to make dinner.  My favorite part is how Skyler has to brace himself for the big jump.  :)

Ben and I went on a date to see Harry Potter today.  Yes, I realize that I'm always way behind on movies.  I'm cheapo.  I don't go see them until they're in the dollar theater or on Redbox.  So sue me.  Anyhoo, I've decided that I will always love Harry Potter.  And yes, I grew up with the kid and I still think the whole series is BRILLIANT, but let me make one thing clear.  No, I did not name my LILY Jane and Skyler JAMES after Harry's parents.  That would just be stupid.  In fact, we almost named Little Handsome James, but we purposely didn't so that people wouldn't go, "Oh my gosh.  You named your kids after Harry Potter characters."  Although, confession:  I swore to myself in Elementary School when the books were new, that if I ever had twin boys their middle names would be Fred and George (aka the best 2 characters in ANY book) and I still hold true to that promise.  So I better not have twin boys.  Because I seriously will break my don't-name-any-kids-after-Harry-Potter-characters promise.  Sorry, Ben.  A promise is a promise, even if it was to myself in 5th(ish) grade.

The Parable of Captain Handsome Pants

Are y'all ready for a walk down memory lane?  Some of y'all didn't even know me when I was pregnant with Skyler.  Let me make this brief.  When I was about 6 weeks along with him his bloodstream (O+) somehow mixed into mine (O-).  I had 2 types of blood flowing through my body and I was sicker than I could ever imagine.  I can't even describe what that even feels like.  So I had to start seeing specialists.  I had doctor appointments multiple times a week and blood work was a given.  They told me not to expect any more children after Skyler.

I kept going to appointments, dragging Lily's car seat along with me.  I was determined to make everything right.  That pregnancy was HARD.  But it all paid off.  I ended up with a healthy baby boy (although the few months of colic weren't all too fabulous) and my specialists told me that they thought that my body had somehow miraculously healed itself.  Although, I'm too spiritual to believe in coincidences.  I don't think my body did anything on its own without the Lord's intervention.

So fast forward to the present.

Now, I'm not exactly the most graceful person in the world.  In fact, I would probably say that I'm pretty clumsy.  Mix that with the fact that I have super-low blood pressure and I just about pass out every single day of my life and it results in one very drunk-looking Heather.  But I digress, back to my story.  So about a week ago, Skyler was mad at me and pushed a chair at me.  It somehow toppled over on its side and landed on my foot.  Doesn't sound too painful in writing but it KILLED in reality.  It still kills, even though the bruise is hardly noticeable.  Then yesterday, as I was opening the fridge to grab some eggs, Skyler (as usual) tried to grab something out of one of the lower cubbies.  It was a glass jar of jam.  See where I'm going with this???  

So I'm calmly chasing Skyler and right as he sees me coming for him he lifts it over his head and slams it on the kitchen floor, shattering it into 5 bazillion pieces.  I moved him and Lily, and in the process, got a nice skinny sliver of glass jammed up my heel.  Luckily I have an awesome husband, who, after the kids were in bed, put Orajel on my foot (brilliant!!!) and proceeded to DIG it out.  

So now my right foot is injured on top and on bottom, and if I looked like an Alcoholics Anonymous candidate before, I definitely look like one now.  

Little Handsome has taken his toll on me.  I've mentioned before how he is the worst example of how a child should sleep through the night.  He never wants to do anything without me, which is soooo difficult when I really need to accomplish anything around the house.  He cries over EVERYTHING.

But you know what?  That kid loves me more than anything in the world.  He is more than happy to snuggle on the couch with me for hours at a whack.  He's more than happy to let me kiss his cheeks til they're raw.  He's more than happy to let me squeeze his chubby thighs until my finger prints have left red marks on them.  

Sometimes it's the really really really hard things in life that make each day worth it.  I can't imagine how boring my life would be if I didn't hear Captain Handsome Pants' giggles all over the house everyday.  

I would imagine that my life is much like yours: awesome, evil, funny, sad, up, down, boring, busy, exhausting, and unique.  But I think we each have a Skyler in our lives that makes us stronger and makes us happier. 

Hopefully yours doesn't make you look like an AA candidate like me, though....

Spaghetti

The cutest spaghetti eater in the history of spaghetti eating.  Or maybe I'm slightly biased...

We are all officially over the flu.  And Skyler had croup at the same time and he's over that, too.  And it's warm here.  76 yesterday to be exact.  We had the windows open and had lots of outside time.  And while we were outside I learned the coolest thing ever.  So at the end of our street (maybe 100 or 200 yards down)  we have a mini lake and so we can hear ducks from our house!!!!  How cool is that?!?!  I mean, I realize that some of y'all may not think that's awesome, but I do.  Seriously, that's the cherry on top of a perfect house.  I'm in love.

And one thing I forgot to add to the Valentines Day post.  Of course we were all sick, it was pretty miserable.  But the kids gave me the BEST present ever!!!  We all fell asleep on the couch for an hour.  That has NEVER happened to me.  It was one of the most surreal experiences to wake up and see my kids passed out with me on the sofa.  I think that has to go into my better memories file.  It was AWESOME.

Life is good.

A Girly Post

Lily just handed these to me and said, "Look Mommy!  I unwrapped presents!"

Flu and Fondue

I know that there are a lot of people out there who have a vendetta against V-Day.  I'm not one of them.  I {heart} all holidays.  Why do I love holidays?  Because I hate anything that's the norm.  I hate repetitive weather, radio stations, outfits, schedules, basically anything that always stays the same.  I always embrace change.  So Valentines Day is my time to have an excuse to eat all the yummy food I want, all for the sake of having a special day with my fam.  :)

 They were each other's valentines this year.  I think they look quite adorable together.  

P.S.  This is not staged.  They LOVE hugging each other.  I've got to take pics while it lasts.

 On Friday Miss Lil was diagnosed with both types of flu and she looked like this for HOURS on Thursday.  Those of you who know Lily well know that she makes the Energizer Bunny look like a snail.  Lily is nonstop go, go, go, so when she collapsed on the couch I knew something was wrong.  Unfortunately I then got  the flu, and now Skyler has it.  So much for flu shots working.  :(

I'm going to let you in on a secret:  this was the 5th Valentines Day that Ben and I have shared.  It was also the 5th time that we stayed at home.  We have NEVER ONCE gone out on Valentines Day and I LOVE it.  So despite having the flu, I really tried my best to make it a fun day.  We didn't have enough time to do chocolate fondue with the kids before bedtime so it looks like we'll just have to do that tonight.  Oh darn!  ;)  

I love Liller's imagination.  She cracks me up.  And Captain Handsome Pants LOVES bubbles more than almost anything.

Lil's Quote of the Day:  "Daddy's on a horse going shopping!"   OK?????????