Recollections

Ben remembers dates. I'm talking month, day, year dates. I often forget specific dates unless there is some importance attached to it. That's why I often forget when Easter, Thanksgiving and Monday Holidays are. If it's not on the same date every year, I'm pretty hopeless.

As it turns out, Ben and I met on Halloween, so that made that date super easy to remember. We met at an CES Institute Halloween Party. Have I ever told that story on here? Maybe I will some time. ;)

The day Ben proposed is trickier for me to remember because he did on Martin Luther King Jr. Day fifteen years ago. 

Fifteen. 

15.

Fif.

Teen.

January 18th 1999

Most people have a hard time believing that we've been together that long since our kids are still fairly young. But, yes. Fifteen years ago this past Saturday, Ben proposed.

Wow. Were we young!

Ben had already asked my father for permission several days before. Old fashioned, I know, but so romantic and sweet!

I was not present for the sit-down between the two, but Ben told me later that, while it went well, he said some things he felt awkward about later.

I think the conversation went something like this:

Dad (loving this part): Just what exactly are your intentions with my daughter?

Ben: I would like to marry her and multiply and replenish the Earth.

!!!

Well, now.

I'm not sure how the rest of the conversation went except that Dad gave his permission gladly and Ben and I went on our merry way.

Several days later, we were at Deseret Book Store. Ben was wanting to look at an engagement ring for me but, of course, I was stuck to him like glue. 

A minor miracle in his behalf occurred and my mother walked in on her own errand. Ben quickly got her to distract me (looking at wedding guest books) so that he could buy the ring. I was not suspicious in the least.

After Ben made his stealthy purchase, the two of us left to enjoy our time together. I seem to recall that we had been squabbling a bit, but I don't remember now what it was about. 

Ben drove us up to the foothills in Albuquerque, parked and started hiking up the hills. I was not as quick as he and he left me in the virtual and literal dust. I remember being exasperated that he would not wait for me, but I'm fairly sure that he might have been wracked with nerves at the time.

Ben perched himself on the top of a large bolder and waited for me to arrive, gasping. By this time, I was mildly annoyed, but I let him help me climb up the bolder and sit beside him.

Ben and I sat side by side gazing out on the city. He pointed out a variety of landmarks and streets so that he could show me where the Albuquerque Temple was going to be built.

After a time, I was finally relaxing (still not suspecting a thing) and was oblivious at first to the momentous event that was occurring. 

Ben looked at me and said, "Can I ask you a question?"

"Yes," I said, still unaware.

"Will you be my wife for this long?" he asked, pulling out a velvet box and opening it to reveal the Eternity ring he had just acquired.

Eternity

I was completely caught by surprise, in spite of knowing he was planning on asking me!

I responded, already weeping, "Of course!"

I'm sure we must have kissed at that point, though I find I don't remember specifically.

The coming months would bring with them a whirlwind of planning and anticipation, but at that moment, we were as young as we would ever be with the intention of being together. I have to laugh now at how grown-up we felt then.

Fifteen years feels like the blink of an eye in so many ways, but looking back involves years of stories, adventures and joy.

We would make it official less than six months later... maybe I'll write about that one too. ;)

In Which I Risk Creeping Out My Husband or Making Him Love Me More

I saw this fantastic idea on Pinterest (of course) months ago.. I was thinking to myself, how awesome would it be to do this for our anniversary?? Unfortunately, Ben was gone for our anniversary, so I decided to do it today, for no reason whatsoever. It was much more fun that way, anyhow.

There are some actors that do the crazy face really well... and then there is Nicholas Cage. That guy can pull a freaky face, I'm telling you.

So, I found this picture, printed it out on card stock (because I'm cheap), and cut out this greatness:

Then I put tiny sticky notes on his chest with little comments on them about how crazy-in-love... infatuated... much I adore him. In case you wanted to know, this is what they said:

I LOVE you...

If we weren't married, I'd stalk you...

Boo!

Crazy for you

Sometimes I look like this... inside... when I think of you

Our love can be creeptastic!

When you turn away, I do this... not really, but yeah

Tell me you love me... no, really... TELL ME...



Then I put them in strategic locations that brought out the stalker humorous quality of his face:

Yes... yes... I put them in the pants pocket of his army uniform... because I'm a stalker awesome.

He still hasn't found two of them. If he reads this blog any time soon, he'll have spoilers as to where they are.

He laughed when he found the first one and I took a picture of him.

This is his "crazy face"... I'm not sure whether to be disappointed.. or relieved.

On Charmed Lives

Ben is lucky.

There is no arguing with this fact.

I present to you some of the long list of items that prove this fact.

Ben has been pulled over six (6) times since we moved to Orem. I have been pulled over once (1). Ben's tickets: two (2). My tickets: one (1).
(As a sub-note. Ben has been pulled over countless times in his life and has only had perhaps one or two other tickets, ever. I have been pulled over twice in my life and both times got a ticket.)

Ben found $300 Kenneth Cole shoes at DI for a few bucks. I found a cute Prada bag at DI for a few bucks. It turned out to be a knock off that was made in China. (I'm not mad about it, I'm just illustrating the luck discrepancy.)

Ben has won a variety of prizes from radio or raffles. I won a prize from a radio station once and when we went to pick it up, they had run out. They told me they would mail me a copy of the book I won, but I never got it.

Convinced yet?

I could go on.

But I won't.

Ben leads somewhat of a charmed life. The benefit of being his wife is that, while I rarely if ever experience this luck myself, I often enjoy the benefits of his.

Last night, Ben returned home from work at an earlier hour than normal and cheerily asked me if I'd like to go and see the last Harry Potter film. I asked if there was any possibility that we could even get a showing and he said he'd check. He spent some time online looking and most everything looked packed according to the websites, but there seemed to be a few seats here and there. I suggested that he call and find out from a real person if the website was updating live. He called and got an automated system that was very little help.

So, he took a shower and I talked to my parents about making sure that my children don't burn down the house in their sleep.

We left the house at about 8:45.

I know what you're thinking... opening night of one of the biggest phenomena of our generation... of COURSE it's going to be sold out. BUT, remember who I was spending my evening with?

We checked a couple theaters nearby and no one had anything before 3am. I don't care how much I wanted to see this movie, I am NOT staying up until 3am.

We finally went to one other theater and passed the truly freakish die-hards, dressed up and waiting patiently in queues for their showing. This theater had a kiosk in the front selling tickets, so Ben decided to check that. He pulled everything up and we found, to our utter disbelief, that there was a showing at 12:01 that had tickets. He speedily bought them up and we attempted to find our queue.

After a few minutes of wandering around, we found a cute young thing that worked there and asked her where we were supposed to line up. She wasn't sure and went to ask. A few minutes later, we went to find her. When we did, she and the guy she was asking were both looking rather befuddled. They, in turn, asked the head manager fellow who, at this point, was looking rather relaxed for someone surrounded by such insanity.

When we showed him our tickets, he looked surprised and said, "You shouldn't have been able to get those!"
Apparently, the 12:01 showing in theater 9 was a private one for Seven Peaks employees. In the 30 seconds that the showing opened up for Seven Peaks to buy all the tickets, we just happened to get to the kiosk and get in on the show as well.

They didn't have a line set up for them yet, so we were cut loose to do whatever we wanted for a while. Ben was starving, so we went to the Subway at the mall who had decided to stay open for an extra hour because of all the Potterites. Smart of them, I say.

So, Ben ate his foot-long BMT and I ate cookies and stole sips of his Dr. Pepper.

While we ate, we watched several groups of kids (i.e. adults dressed up as HP characters) "duel" each other with their wand replicas or twigs. There was a fellow who strapped his feet to buckets and dressed up like Hagrid. People kept stopping him to have pictures taken. There were numerous Dobbys, Tonks, Harrys of both genders, Umbridges and one or two Lavender Browns. I saw The Fat Lady complete with frame and Molly Weasley. There was someone dressed up like a penguin and another dressed up like Where's Waldo. There was a rather shabbily done Dumbledore and a spectacularly done Snape. Robes and Hogwarts schoolgirls abounded.

When we finally sauntered into the theater again to look for our queue, we eventually got directed to the management again. The head manager was looking quite harried by this point and informed us that the lady who set up the Seven Peaks showing was intending to conduct some company business before the movie started and that we couldn't be in there for that. Instead, he said that theater 8 was already seating and we could go in there and see if there were any seats available.

What? No waiting in a queue?

Yes, please!

Feeling slightly guilty, I followed Ben (who was suffering no complex of any kind) into the theater and right into some seats right in the middle of the row.

Yes, please!!

The showing turned out to be a 12:15 one, but I wasn't especially concerned about 14 minutes. We got seated at about 10:45. For the next hour and a half, we chatted about the unbelievable night we were having and various pipe dreams of our possible future. Like how one day I will be a famous author. Not as famous as Rowling, but almost.

When the screen started the movie quotes and quizzes, I sent Ben out for snacks.

There were a million previews, which was okay.

The movie was stunning. I cried. A lot. It was completely worth the staying up late and feeling like a zombie today. The benefit of watching it so late (early) is that we were in a big group of adults who wanted to see it as much as we did. There were scenes where you could have heard an owl flap, it was so quiet.

That's all I will say about the movie.

If you've read the book, it's not exactly true to the story. A few things were left out, a few things were added.

If you haven't read the book... what rock have you been under for the last fourteen years.

Either way, the movie is worth the high ticket prices and ANY hour you choose to see it.

This lengthy story should by now convince you of Ben's fantastically charmed existence. Is he always lucky? I will have to give a judicious answer and say that even when it seems like his luck has run out, it's usually because his good luck is keeping something from happening that would be even worse. That aspect of his life is difficult to explain, so I won't even try.

I'll just keep things simple and say that my evening was truly magical!

Flowers on the Sill

I have not always been a lover of roses. For many of my teenage and early adult years, I thought they were campy, cliche and didn't really smell all that great. I think it must have been shortly after meeting Ben that I started enjoying these flowers. He was well aware of my feelings about them, but even so, every bouquet he gave me had at the very least one rose in it. He's given me many flowers over the years and always arranges them himself.

A few days ago, I happened to notice that several of the many, MANY rose bushes in the yard were about to burst forth in bloom. I grabbed my clippers and took a stroll through the back and front yards to find some vase-worthy specimens. After trimming them and cutting off the most offensive thorns, I popped them in a vase and took them downstairs. The first night I was amazed at the intense aroma coming from the blooms, especially the lilac. The second night, it was almost overpowering! (The vase is on the window sill just inches from my side of the bed.)

The purple one on the left is some sort of variety that looks like crepe paper when it opens.

There was only one white rose that looked ready to open and it's still, even today, sitting there in bud form.

Lilac.

I think I've become a bit of a fan in the past few years.

I believe I've come to appreciate the beauty, scent and romance associated with roses. Though they still are not my favorites, they have moved up the list significantly.

Summer has officially arrived and is exploding with color every day! Must be time for a garden party!

Ode to Sundance

B and I went out on a date last night (thanks to Jen for looking after the kidlets). He took me up to Sundance for dinner. Yes, yes... feel free to be jealous. We got there shortly before our dinner reservation and so I was treated to a mini tour. The Sundance grounds are beautiful, even with the piles of snow drifts that cause me paranoid anxiety about avalanches and flying slush balls. The resort is beautifully developed, the buildings unobtrusive in the current winter paradise. I imagine it to be equally amazing during every season; each with it's own captivating wonders. B has promised to take me up in June, if not before.

Skiers and snowboarders were everywhere, both on and off the slopes. The wood boardwalks, bridges and staircases were well worn from the moisture of tracked snow and various footwear. A blazing fire was steps away from the slopes, benches arranged around the firepit and large barrels, glowing with flickering orange flames led the way to the screening room, warming the night as people headed to the 6 o'clock showing.

Just outside the restaurants, B showed me a place where runoff from the porch roof had formed a thick sheet of ice around one side of a tree trunk. I was amazed, having spent too many years in New Mexico to experience such a thing, and felt compelled to gently kick the base of the tree like a car tire just to see if it was really as thick and sturdy as it looked. It was like crystal concrete; transparent, shimmering and utterly immovable.

I was glad for the warmth of the restaurant. My years in California and New Mexico have spoiled me with mild winters and I walked in shivering. B was perfectly fine, of course. The Foundry Grill, so named because it originally housed a blacksmith workshop, is charmingly rustic and homey, yet not oppressively claustrophobic as some western-style steakhouses can be. The ceiling is at least twice as high as most other restaurants; necessary because the brick oven and grill in the open kitchen had no vents other than the oven chimney. As more guest orders were cooked up, a light haze of smoke drifted and clung to the rafters, adding to the room's authentically rustic feel. I was completely smitten; from the blacksmith tools decorating the walls and red-berry strung iron chandelier to the coffee bean filled hurricane lamps and snowed-in windows.

Our server was cheerful, friendly and actually seemed to enjoy his job. That was a common theme throughout my experience up at Sundance: the staff was happy and content. This feeling infused the entire resort. We joked with our waiter, J.D., who was not rushed in taking our order. He checked on their root beer brand, which I ended up snubbing in favor of the raspberry lemonade (fantastic! bits of raspberry, not just syrup) and even gave me a few extra minutes when I remained sheepishly indecisive. We ordered the wood oven flatbread for a starter, which was good plain but even better with the garlic feta cheese spread on top. As we finished that up, J.D. brought us our steak knives, which vaguely reminded me of a bowie knife. I admit I was slightly startled to see the long, sinister-looking blade being slid into place next to my right hand. They turned out to be not much sharper than most other steakhouse knives but they sure looked formidable. B and I both ordered the ribeye, which J.D. recommended with a sauce change. His suggestion turned out to be a wonderful one and we dug in with gusto. Our steaks were tender, flavorful and well-cooked. For desert we shared the pumpkin bread pudding with a drizzle of white chocolate and a scoop of ice cream on top. I was a little skeptical because, for some reason, the words bread pudding conjure up visions of vanilla pudding with cubes of white bread sprinkled in. Yeah. Yuck. I was pleasantly surprised and ate a good bit more than my stomach really wanted me to.

I knew it was a good place to eat for one major reason: B and I normally talk about how our server is doing through our meals, so as to determine what sort of tip (if any) they should get. At the Foundry Grill, we spent the bulk of our time talking about Sundance and how we felt while we were there. I was comfortable, happy and enjoyed my date with my husband with hardly a thought for my responsibilities at home; yet another indicator of how great this place is. Sundance left me with feelings of serenity, inspiration and a strengthened link to the natural world.

As we walked back to the car, a light snow started. At the same time I was glad we were leaving before it got too heavy or iced up the roads, I was filled with joy and love. Inexplicable? Maybe. Magic? Definitely.

Sunshine in my heart

The sunshine in my life has effectively been doubled! To illustrate that are some fun pictures of my two little beams of light. (No, we did not plan the outfits, it just worked out that way!)

Hard to believe that Audrey started out that small.

"Henry?"

Henry and a few of Audrey's "gifts".

The gift giver.

Here we witness Audrey giving a golf ball to Henry.

Gift accepted.

Little Loves

Super cute idea guys! And, shhh, I thought of it in my own little brain! Why do so many of us forget to be spontaneous and fun when we've been married/attached for so long? We so often sigh over our honeys forgetting to be romantic except on those 2 or 3 days a year, but we're guilty of it too!! (Sometimes more so!) So, here's my idea.

I made up some cute little cards and laminated them this morning (when I should have been sleeping). The cards say things like "Hug me", "I love you", "I've been thinking about you", etc. Yes, sortof like conversation hearts, but much better! I call them Little Loves. Under each saying are the rules or instructions for the game: "Hide me where you know I'll be found right away or... after a while."

The cards range from simple, to thoughtful (I.E. Take a nap - no strings attached.) and into flirty and dang near spicy! I won't share the spicy ones with you, my delicacy won't allow me to. (Ben's eyes only!)

So make up some of your own Little Loves, laminate them and tuck them away in fun places, surprising places, silly places!

I hid some for Ben this morning before he got back from work and so let the games begin!!