Three Years Ago Today. . .

When Joel called me up for the first time to ask me on a date, I had to look him up in the ward directory. I didn't remember who he was, what he looked like, or even that he had already been to my apartment several times.

He certainly knew who I was. He had me pegged since one of the first BYU singles ward prayers as someone he wanted to get to know better. Get to know me better he did--and quickly. He took his three roommates with him to visit my apartment, then quietly and observantly stood against the wall, mute and quite invisible. I was the subject of a study I didn't know I had signed up for.

He and his roommate were in the Sunday School presidency, so when they decided to call me as a gospel doctrine teacher it provided them with the perfect excuse to return late one night and get my phone number. The trouble is, he sent his roommate to do it. The trouble is, this was a friendly roommate. The trouble is, then, that I wasn't sure who was the interested party. All I knew was that a guy had come late at night with a lame excuse to get my phone number, and I didn't see a good reason to say no.

But thank goodness for this roommate, who, after many times of returning with Joel to visit my apartment--armed with excuses such as "We wanted more cookies!"--finally took it upon himself to make sure Joel would do the deed and call me. Dialing my number on his own cell phone, he pressed send and handed it to a nervously wavering Joel, who was sitting on their couch.

I said yes.

Twice, actually, which means that the second time I said it (six weeks later, just before Thanksgiving), it came with a shiny ring and a box full of anticipation. We moved up our marriage date from a time in May that felt eons away and got married just after Christmas.

We have never looked back, and we have never been happier.

Now, in case you aren't nauseated enough, here is our song. We picked it because we had a running joke during our courtship that I could always tell what level of feeling Joel had for me by looking in his eyes (hence the opening line of the song: "look into my eyes, you will see what you mean to me").

Everything I do (I do it for you) by Bryan Adams
(yes, I know this is a cheesy song that probably everyone designated as theirs in the early nineties. But we didn't know each other then, so sue me)



(Ignore the cheesy Robin Hood: Men in Tights clips)

BUT, we actually have another unofficial song. This song, You are the Woman by Firefall, is one Joel would sing along to in the car every time we heard it on the radio. Over the years it has kind of become our song as well. Every time I heard the lyrics, it reminds me of exactly what would be Joel's point of view when we were dating.

In case you're feeling in a musical mood, and because I'm on a roll with the video embedding, here is this one as well:

Where to start?

I know I've already established the fact that I have been a slacker lately, but I am grossly overdue on a few key posts:

Our New York trip

Christmas

Our Anniversary

So, which one should I start with? I know you're all dying to hear everything we ate and saw, the pictures we took, and exactly how many times we breathed in New York, but how about a post about Christmas since it currently seems to be the hot topic? Good? Good. (Although it's not like you really have a choice, but I probably shouldn't point that out.)

CHRISTMAS

. . . was great. I found a fantastic train track set (think Thomas the Tank Engine but without the table) on Craigslist. It came complete with several engines and many (train)cars, little trees, road signs, houses, animals and people to build a little village with. Oh, and lots of bridges. Those are a must. It was a last-minute decision to get this and give it to Everett, but I am glad we did. (Does it count as "going green" when you are buying used items?)

I think Joel was, too. He kept saying "This is awesome, Elise" the entire time we were setting it up Christmas Eve night.

Here he is, proud of his handiwork. For the record, I helped too. And so did my brother. (Mack, are you happy now?) Somehow the picture makes the whole system look smaller than it really was. . .

After Everett saw the train track he didn't really want to open anything else for a while, which is saying something because since we've been getting a lot of packages lately he has really learned to love opening presents.

And. . .

This is Everett with a dual spiral racing track toy for his cars. You can use a lever mechanism to tip both cars onto the track at the same time (complete with sound effects!) or do it manually. This toy, from my parents, was also a huge hit. Good job, you two!

We didn't really get Ashley anything. Maybe this means we are miserly old (young?) scrooges, but since she is too young to really enjoy it we didn't worry about her. We'll get things for her as she needs them, and she is all set for toys.

Let's see, what else? Well, I was pretty proud of our Christmas stockings. I worked long and hard on them, which is something I've been meaning to do since just after our marriage when Joel asked me to make our family stockings. It took me a while to come up with the design concept and find the materials to put them together, but I think they turned out pretty well. I just hope Joel was happy with them. Here's a picture of how they looked:

Pretty neat, huh? I was going for something original. Do you think I was successful?

Ok, ok. Just kidding.

Oh, well, actually I mean I'm kidding about making them. We did use plastic grocery bags (except for Everett, who got a fabric bag--but not stocking-shaped).
Oh, stop. We still had Christmas! And it wasn't because I wanted to be unique, it was because apparently I forgot to put our stockings in the car on the way up to my parent's house, and making an hour round trip to retrieve stockings that no one would really miss didn't sound appealing to me. Oh, stop. I'll get it right next year!

Joel and I got each other our New York trip. That was present enough to last me for a long time. I also told him that I wanted a love letter, and I got it! It's a little difficult sometimes to get these accounting/engineer type people to be mushy, so even though the (long) first paragraph of the letter was talking about how he's writing this letter for me but that he didn't really know why because he sees me and talks to me every day, and that he didn't really have anything else to say, he started to get into it after a while. I'm thinking of making this a tradition. . .reading love letters to each other Christmas Eve night seems like a neat thing to do (that is, unless we are too wiped out from setting up all the kids' toys in a few years).

It was a great Christmas. I enjoyed every minute of it and I enjoyed making some of the presents I gave away. It is fun that we are starting to get into the stage where we set up the Santa toys on Christmas Eve, but I can only say that because we only had to do one this year. We'll see if I change my tune anytime soon.

And, although this post was much too long, I will still have to post about New York and our anniversary. Don't bite all your fingernails off in anticipation, now!

Slacker, Whiny, Rested

This post comes in three parts. Firstly:

I am a slacker. Has anyone noticed the lack of Christmas cards coming their way from our house? I could tell you a huge story about how I mis-addressed every single one of them and somehow they all got lost in the mail. . .but that would be hopelessly untrue. The truth is, I didn't get around to it. After so long I thought to myself, "well, we'll send out a card over email". And then our ward's Christmas party happened. And then came New York. And really, I could have fit it in there somewhere between Everett's daily dose of Bambi or the dinner dishes, but I didn't. So yes, we have a new(ish) baby in the house and now people aren't going to get a card to prove it. Fortunately I have a blog, and I happen to know that I put way too many pictures of the kids on here for anyone's interest, and that most of the people we send Christmas cards to read the blog. So it all works out, right? Excuse me while I go try to erase the word "slacker" that is emblazoned across my forehead.

Secondly:

I feel like my posts have been whiny lately. I hate being whiny. So I'm just not going to do it anymore. The end.

Thirdly:

Not to brag or anything (ok, maybe a little, but all in good sport), but I just got to sleep in as late as I wanted for THREE DAYS STRAIGHT. Hence the trip to New York without the kids. As it is, I feel so well-rested that I could go run a marathon, which is good because I still have some things to finish up before, oh, tomorrow. (See first paragraph.)

Also, I'll post some pictures of our trip to New York in the next couple of days. We didn't take too many pictures; I think it was because Joel and I were lost in each other's eyes the whole time (insert groans). I don't think any of you are interested in seeing Joel's doe-eyed lovey-dovey looks. If some of you are, sorry to disappoint, but I didn't take any pictures of that.


Lastly,

MERRY CHRISTMAS! I hope each of you has a wonderful Holiday season and that you all enjoy these days to the fullest. There is so much to be grateful for; it seems I am feeling this more than I did even during Thanksgiving. Thank you all for your love and support. We love you all!

Beating a Dead Horse

I know I've been over (and over, and over, and over. . .) this recently, but sometimes I am tired of looking so young. AND, sometimes when I am tired of people commenting about it and feeling like they have to let me know what a "big responsibility" motherhood is, I wish I had the perfect zinger. Not something insulting, just a little way of saying, "mind your own business."

One of my very favorite movies is You've Got Mail. I could watch this movie every day. I love the part where Kathleen is talking to Joe about how she can never come up with the perfect comeback. This is how I feel in the kinds of situations I find myself in every day. Usually I don't mind as much because I know that I am a young mom and that I look even younger, and that I am living somewhere where I am a bit of an anomaly. But the other day after I had had a very long day of running errands, getting employees to fix their mistakes on my orders, and dealing with a couple of tired, cranky kids, I was beginning to be very cranky myself.


Cashier at Michaels: You look SOOO young

Me: (groaning inwardly) *laugh* yes, I know

Cashier: What is your age?

Me: (noting that she has an accent and pretending I don't understand) Yes, I am very young.

Cashier: No, how old are you?


Me: I'm 22

Cashier: (motioning to Everett) Oh. And how old is HE?


Me: (sighing inwardly, but smiling) He's just barely two.


Cashier, who raises her eyebrows and says pointedly: (meaningful pause) You know, that is a LOT of responsiblity.



So, what do I say? What would you say if you were particularly grumpy that day and tired of people questioning your life's choices (I am not a perfect mom and I am learning as I go, but I like to think this is at least a little the case no matter how old a person is)? Even now, days later, I can't come up with anything. Usually I just say something like, "Yes, I know. Isn't it wonderful?"

I know I've talked about this ad nauseum, but I just had to get it out there (even again). Some of your comments about saying something, just walking way, and leaving them to their reaction piqued my interest. What would they be? Any ideas?

(For the record, I know I'm making a big deal out of nothing--I promise, this usually isn't the case. I'm really not very sensitive about this. But you know what? Sometimes making a big deal about something is exactly what feels good to do)

I'm not a native Virginian

Today I've been running some last-minute errands and it has been cold(ish), wet, raining, and generally miserable. This is not the day to run errands, and yet it would seem that every possible someone in my town has decided otherwise.

I am obviously not native to this area, because in many ways I find RAIN LESS THAN A WEEK before Christmas to be somewhat depressing. However, our 60 degree day last week was really nice (thank you weather!), and our "low" temperatures of 40 degrees are not unwelcomed, either. It is also nice to not have to worry about ice on the roads yet. With all these trees, ice out here tends to stick around for a very long time.

In other news, tomorrow we are headed to New York City! No, just Joel and me. What are we, nuts? We're leaving the kids at my parents' house. We'll be back in time for Christmas, and we'll certainly be well-rested with no whining--I mean, angelic--wake up calls.

We were hesitant to go since we are preparing for Grad school, but we decided that there might never be another time in our lives when we can drop our kids off with my parents and catch a 20 dollar bus to New York city, all without having to drive, fly, or hassle with city parking. Next year we'll be in Indiana and my parents will be back in Utah, and who knows where we will be after that. If there is ever a time to "seize the day" this is it.

I'm telling you all this so that if any of you decides to come rob us, you can rest assured that it will be a waste of your time. We have nothing of value in our home. Oh, you wanted our 30 year old couch and chairs? Well. . .I suppose. Our old TV and rabbit ears that won't even work in a few months without a converter box? My target brand jewelry? Our toilet plunger?

It's all yours, if you insist. It probably will be a waste of time to expend the energy to haul it all away. And actually, seeing as we're moving several states over in five (gah!) months, you'd probably be doing us a favor.

Everyone have a Merry Christmas, or Happy Holidays, whichever you prefer. We certainly will. Seeing as our hotel room has free internet access, you might even leach a post or two out of me in the interim.

I've got a lot of work to do. . .

A couple of nights ago (for whatever reason--I don't know, so don't bother asking), Joel and I were talking about menopause. I made a comment about how it can drag on and on and it's a pain etc. etc., and he said:

"What, you just dry up and you're done."

Yep, I've got a lot of work to do with this one.

A Picture Says a Thousand Words. . .

So I'll give you a couple:

Congratulations on making it into the Notre Dame MBA program, Joel!

(The program begins in May and lasts one year, so we will be moving to Indiana by then.)
If you want dibs on football tickets, you'd better speak up. Notre Dame/USC is already taken.