10 Years and Counting

 Just married, April 6, 2001

 

What a handsome fellow!

We were married on a windy, stormy day.  It snowed the following day. In other words, a typical Utah spring.   Thanks for all of the great times, Jonathan.  It's been real.  Really good.

Since I am feeling nostalgic, some more pictures I found recently after developing some old film. These were taken in my parent's front yard.

You can tell that Chris is just thrilled about taking pictures. I think he is about 12 years old.

That's it.  He's had enough. 

Our first house we bought together.  May 2002

In June the roses started blooming like mad.  I had to deadhead them every few days.

My Guy

A few nights ago Jonathan and I were watching a show that featured New York bagels. I made some offhand comment about how delicious they looked.

The next morning he and Isaac disappeared for about a half hour. When he returned he brought a bag of fat, East Coast style bagels. They were amazing!

Later that day he volunteered to take Isaac to lunch while I helped out with a funeral. While at lunch with Isaac, he decided to take my car into the shop to have the oil changed and front tires replaced.

I am utterly and completely twitter-patted.

Rachel *heart* Jonathan

Thoughts on Mother's Day

Saturday Jonathan took the older two out for a movie so Isaac and I had the house to ourselves. It was a golden opportunity to tidy up the homestead. I busied myself in my tasks while Isaac shadowed me from place to place. As I began to sweep up the millions of crumbs and assorted debris under the kitchen table, Isaac grabbed my broom. The broom is much too big and awkward for him handle and I was feeling impatient. Then I remembered the toy broom, found it, and traded him. He happily started swinging the broom around and scattering crumbs to the far corners of the dining room. I got out the dust pan, and showed him that the whole point of the exercise was to get the crumbs off of the floor and into the pan. Isaac crouched down and started picking up the crumbs one by one and placing them into the pan. He was so pleased to be "helping." Together we finished floor.

While he was doing that, I couldn't help but think how like toddlers we must be to God. Our "help" is so small for One who can order the cosmos. And yet I imagine He is pleased when we try to do his work, however imperfectly.

'Course life is messy and not always filled with those sweet moments...

Later that night, Melissa came downstairs complaining that her tummy wasn't feeling good. I thought she might be hungry since we had an early picnic dinner in the park. "Go have a slice of bread, then go back to bed." Next thing thing I heard was a loud and long SPLAT! It sounded like someone poured a full pitcher of water on the tile floor. Uh oh. I walked into the kitchen and saw Melissa surrounded by a huge puddle of vomit and still going strong. Once her tummy settled down for a moment, I scooped her up and carried her to the bathtub. My husband, oh darling, sainted man, offered to clean up the floor while I took care of Melissa. I asked if he was 'sure' once...but I didn't ask twice! I cleaned Melissa up, re-jammied her, gave her some sprite to sip, rocked her and put her back to bed with a big bowl, just in case.

The next day she seemed to be feeling fine, but Jonathan stayed home with her while I took the guys to church. As is tradition, the primary kids sang their songs about mothers during sacrament meeting. (Am I the only mother that gets a bit nervous when her kid is up on the stand? I'm just hoping my offspring isn't the one making funny faces or picking his/her nose!) Matthew fortunately didn't make me squirm, and he mostly sang. Good job, Matthew.

Isaac is having a tough adjustment to nursery, so either Jonathan or I usually stay with him. It doesn't help that nursery is smack dab during nap time. He got tired of nursery right after singing time, so I nursed him and he conked out and slept peacefully all through Relief Society. I got to hear the entire lesson. Thanks, Isaac!

After we got home the kids were bouncing off of the walls. Melissa was clearly feeling better. We went for a family hike up Comanche Lookout Point (fourth highest hill in Bexar county!) to get them out of the house. Once again, I forgot my good camera.

Kind of blurry: darn two-bit camera on my cell phone. Still you can see how lush it it here in San Antonio.

Tired baby. He crashed a few minutes later and slept until I put him in the car.

Melissa was so excited to give me her present that she opened it for me as soon as she got home from preschool. "Look what I made you!" I wore I all day and on Mother's day too. I totally rock this look.

Home Depot has free kid's workshops on the first Saturday of the month. They are great! It's prime Daddy/offspring time. Matthew made this for me, with a potted zinnia. I love zinnias. Melissa made one too, but she decided it was for her.

Matthew also gave me this. "And you don't have to water it, and it won't die, Mom!" Good thinking Matthew.

Jonathan gave me a gorgeous canvas print of this:

I can't wait to get it framed and hang it on the wall.

The presents were lovely, gang, but here are my treasures.

Updates

Easter

Easter was lovely this year. The kids were up well before the crack of dawn (how do they do it?) and were dancing all over the house. Melissa and Matthew raided their Easter baskets while waiting for Isaac and Daddy to get up, but I made them eat bananas and boiled eggs before candy. Isaac got the first shot at the egg hunt with Matthew and Melissa pointing the eggs out for him. It didn't last long. Once Isaac realized that there was candy in the eggs he plopped himself down and started shoveling candy in his mouth. At that point we set Matthew and Melissa loose to find their own eggs and approximately 1.5 minutes later they'd found all 50. As usual, the Easter bunny left a new tooth brush in each basket. Smart bunny.

We took them to the church to hear Conference hoping that the atmosphere would inspire them to listen to at least part of it. Isaac was ready for a nap though, and bored so either Jon or I spent the majority of the time in the hall entertaining him. Matthew was asked later by Grandma Linda if he heard the Conference address. "Yes, my mom made me." Sigh. Perhaps all they'll learn right now is that it is important to their parents. Hopefully the rest will come later. The afternoon session we just listened to over the internet while the children played and were able to hear much more of it.

For dinner we had our traditional "Easter rolls." I made up some dough and placed a large marshmallow in the center. When cooked the rolls are hollow and sweet inside. Jonathan was explaining to the kids that the rolls are like the empty tomb- Jesus was no longer in the tomb because he'd been resurrected. Melissa took a bite of her roll and exclaimed, "There's no Jesus in my roll either!" Theology is a bit lost on 4 year old thinking. :)

9 Years and Counting

Jonathan and I just celebrated our ninth anniversary on April 6th. Aunt Andrea and Uncle Jeremy watched the kids for us so we could go out to celebrate. Thanks guys! Here's to many more great years together!

Working from home

As Jonathan posted earlier, he's working from home. The older kids mostly leave him alone when he's working, but if Jonathan or I ever leave our bedroom door open, Isaac makes a beeline for the office/closet. He bangs on the office door and hoots in babyese, "Play with me Daddy, play with me!"

Another trip to the ER

I was making dinner and left Isaac watching cartoons with Matthew and Melissa. I poked my head in a few minutes later and he wasn't in the living room. I hunted through the house and found him in our bedroom with a bottle of ibuprofen and pills and pieces of pills scattered around him. Oh no! It was just the perfect storm. #1 the bedroom door is usually kept closed. #2 the pill bottle is ordinarily kept up high in the medicine cabinet. #3 the bottle was supposed to be childproof. Upon calling poison control they advised a trip to the ER since we couldn't tell for certain how much he'd eaten. Jonathan was in the middle of a conference call but I interrupted him to say we needed to take a kid to the hospital. He promptly packed Isaac up with some toys and off they went! (Isaac is fine by the way). I'll let Jon tell the tale of their hospital adventures.

But ... cooties!

Matthew had a church activity this morning, and afterwards all the kids were in the primary room for snacks. Matthew wandered over to the blackboard, and, apparently spur-of-the-moment, wrote, "I like you," underlined it, then finished, "Haly" [Halie]. I couldn't read the last part -- it was more of an H scribble L Y -- and asked him who he liked. He told me, and I was about to take a picture of Matthew's first love note when he lost his nerve and erased it before the object of his affections returned.

But Melissa had been paying attention. When Halie appeared, she grabbed her excitedly. "Kiss Matthew! Kiss Matthew!" she told her, bouncing with excitement. Halie declined the invitation, puzzled, and apparently thought no more of it than Melissa was being her usual energetic and occasionally eccentric self.

When we got home, I told Rachel the story. "Already?" she asked. "Well, it's nothing serious," I said. "No," she replied, "but he wouldn't write that about Conner or Christian."

No. No, I might have to take away his man card if he did something like that.

Some people just don't believe in little white lies

There's a man in our ward here with a reputation for speaking his mind. Sometimes you could even say that he's a little tactless. (Rachel asked Grant rhetorically, "What profession do you think he's in?" Yes, he's in IT.) Personally I enjoy it, but then I have a pretty blunt nature myself.

His wife was busy with their new baby this week, so he picked up his daughter from preschool, which happened to be at our house. He saw the pictures of our wedding in the family room, and commented to Rachel, "Wow, you haven't changed a bit!" She was pleased. "Maybe he's just flattering me, though," she told me. "No. He doesn't do flattery."

I didn't have to wait long to be proven correct. I ran into him at church today and he brought up his brief visit again. "Hey, Jonathan! I was over at your house earlier this week picking up Sarah. I saw your wedding pictures. Now I understand how you got such a pretty wife! You used to be pretty good looking yourself!"

Wedding daze (Andrea is married, part 2)

Friday we had a bit of an adventure related to how although we had enough cars for every party that needed to be somewhere, Andrea hadn't gotten the keys to the Mercury from her parents so when Rachel took the minivan off to get bridesmaid (bridesmatron?) shoes, Andrea had no wheels. I had a very brief stint helping set up chairs in the reception hall, but the women in charge stopped us because they thought they might rearrange the tables a few more times for best effect, and the chairs would just be in the way. So when I had the chance to go run errands I jumped for it.

I didn't get to run the biggest errand, though; we needed plastic plates for the reception that were only carried by the Costco way up by our motel. I volunteered, but Dad asked if I really wanted to be responsible if I got the wrong kind. I conceded the wisdom of having him go instead.

Saturday morning we tried to take a shortcut from our motel down to the Sinden house, our jumping off point. I missed the 512 ramp, though, and there wasn't a way to get back on track for miles, so we followed Google's instructions through the back roads. (I love that iphone.) We still arrived in plenty of time for Rachel to go up with her sister and mother to have their hair done, but the others were having wedding morning jitters and had left early. At that point we really did have a car crunch if Rachel were to take another car up to the hair salon, so we decided that nobody would care in the long run if Rachel just did her own hair instead. This turned out to be the right call, since Andrea's group was a half hour late to the temple as it was. Adding another hour round trip for Rachel to have driven the minivan back to pick us up would have not been good.

Thursday, Rachel had offered me two-to-one odds that Andrea would be late for her wedding. I accepted. The consensus among family members was that I was a fool. They were right; I now owe Rachel a back rub, even though I hear that Mom very uncharacteristically hit 90 on the way up. Fortunately, the temple was "mostly closed" for maintenance that day. I'm not exactly sure how it worked, but the result was that we were the only group there, and nobody seemed to care that the bride was late.

The ceremony was brief. I thought back to my own wedding and how lucky I was to have Rachel. I wanted to go find a quiet place and hold her afterwards; instead, I went back down to reality where Isaac was mad. Isaac wasn't feeling well and Saturday was particularly bad; when I wasn't trying to rock him to sleep, Rachel was.

Pictures took a couple hours. Matthew and Melissa were fine, and Melissa particularly charmed the photographers. (I wouldn't be surprised if the woman had a talk with her boyfriend about children that night.) Isaac was still disgruntled. After a late lunch at 3:30 -- more like dinner time for those of us on an earlier time zone -- the reception was at 7:00. Those of us not in charge (read: everyone but Mom) got a bit of a break.

At the reception, Isaac finally slept. The receiving line was mercifully brief, then Jeremy's nieces and nephews from his sister Christine and her husband Tim stole the show with an Irish tap dance. They were really, really good -- I understand they compete nationally. Very impressive. Then Jeremy had a dance with Andrea. They took waltzing lessons together especially for the occasion. They looked good.

When Andrea tossed her bouquet, Melissa was very excited for a chance to get BIG FLOWERS. The bouquet got stuck in the canopy, but when Jeremy knocked it down it landed right in front of her. Alas, shefroze and a bigger girl scooped it up. Melissa was in tears that she had been so close. Pointing out that the other girl must be very happy didn't help -- go figure. Rachel gave her her corsage as a consolation, and we assured her that when she gets married she will have BIG FLOWERS.

Shortly before the end of the reception, Rachel asked if it wasn't the groomsmen's responsibility to trash the newlyweds' car. "That's a stupid tradition," I said, and as far as I know they got away unscathed.

Pictures will have to wait until Rachel gets back with the camera.

Andrea is married

"How does it feel to have chosen your new brother in law?" someone asked me at the reception.

"Great!" I replied. I am, in fact, rather pleased with myself.

I met Jeremy when I interviewed him for a job at Feature 50, my late employer. It was clear that he was a competent programmer (yes: from me, this is a compliment) and well over six feet tall. It was less obvious that he had a goofy sense of humor and a kind heart. Or that he was 32 and single. In Mormon culture, it is still "a truth universally acknowledged that a single man must be in want of a wife."

Jeremy grew on us. I say "us" because Rachel liked him too. On one occasion he crashed at our place (five minutes from the office) after working late rather than driving the hour back up to Clearfield, and made waffles for the kids in the morning. They loved him. In fact, Jeremy reminded me a lot of my brother Grant. I thought how cool it would be if the kids could have an uncle around again, and what a great uncle Jeremy would make.

Yes, this is how you start to think, as a father. Romance? The happiness of a young couple in love? Those are great side benefits but in my parenting-fogged mind my first thought really was, "He'd make such a great uncle!" Matthew seemed to agree, and later gave Andrea some unsolicited advice as to how to get this one to marry her. We still need to get Andrea to write about that.

So we set them up on a date one weekend when Andrea was in town. Truth be told, Andrea was not immediately smitten. Perhaps she still remembered the first blind date I set her up on, six years ago: Rob was a nice guy, but he didn't bring his A game that night. I also think that Andrea never really saw "computer nerds" as serious possiblities. So they would talk on the phone when she went back to Washington, but she continued to date other men. (Occasionally this made for awkward moments when Jeremy would ask me how Andrea was doing.) Ultimately, of course, Jeremy won her heart and the rest is now history. Until Saturday, though, Rachel forbade the kids from calling Jeremy "Uncle." Just in case.

Side note: "winning" a woman's heart is EXACTLY how we men see the world. Life is a competition, and the hunt for a wife is no exception. There were other men vying for Rachel's attention when I was dating her, but I WON. HAHAHAHAHA. Rachel has told me that this is a little silly, but that is how we are. And, although we might not argue the point with our wives, deep inside we know that this is something to be proud of.

When Isaac Comes Home...

I intend to rock him all through that first night. Just the two of us.

In the hospital, we rocked, nursed, and snuggled then I had to say goodnight and walk away. Not to complain, but this is very hard.

Playground romance

The weather reached the upper 40s today, and Matthew was climbing the walls, so we decided to go to the park. As soon as we arrived I heard an estatic cry from the back seat, "Yea! We're here!" I released him from his carseat, and he bounded and leaped all over the park like a frisky colt. It's been several months since we regularly made trips to the park and he's missed it. Some time later a little two year old girl arrived. As they played together, it became apparent that they had common interests and communication skills. Namely climbing, piling dirt, and saying, "Mine! No!" Something in Matthew must have caught her eye though. She came up to him gave him a hug and his first kiss. Matthew, for his part, appeared nonchalant. He then darted to the swings and enjoyed another half hour of swinging before his Mama got too cold and the sky dark enough to call it quits. Matthew, alas, is never done with the park and had to be carted kicking a screaming "outside, outside" to the car. The promise of seeing Dada appeased him somewhat, and the car ride home was peaceful.

-Rachel