Perfect Answer

I can't even remember why, but for some reason tonight Sam was misusing the word cellulite, which resulted in the following conversation:

Me: "You don’t even know what cellulite is."

Sam:  "Yes I do.  It’s the stuff right here." (pointing to his belly)

Me: "No, it’s the stuff on my butt."

Sam: "No, that’s muscle." 

Just one more reason why I love the guy!

v-day

Check out these YUMMY treats Sam made for me on Valentine's! This brought me back to our first Valentine's Day together. We had been dating for a few months--he made me a bunch of these and I wrote him a cheesy/funny poem on a card I made for him. The strawberries are gone of course (luckily he makes me more every year), but Sam still has that card.

Once in awhile I get in a crafty mood. I'm a little low on Valentine's Day decorations, so I thought I'd make a centerpiece for the kitchen table. I friend of mine from high school has this awesome crafting blog/website where I remembered seeing this cute paper craft around Christmastime. I decided to make a Valentine's version, but wanted to make a few alterations. I do this a lot whenever it comes to anything that requires following directions, especially when I craft and cook.  Usually everything turns out just the way I want it. That was not the case this time. My changes to the banner piece (making it double sided, and hanging on ribbon at the base of the topiaries) resulted in a lot of frustration and WAY too much wasted time. However, my sweet husband and a lot of hot glue saved the day.  Here's the (almost) final product.

I still have to finish the bases but I'm giving it a rest for now.

Happy Valentine's Day to my two guys! I am head over hills for you both. I am the luckiest girl in the world!!!

#1 Man

This morning I slept in! Even better, I awoke to find this on the kitchen island along with two pie crusts resting in the fridge. 

 

I wasn't sure where my two favorite people were, though. I thought maybe they were outside shoveling the snow that fell overnight so I peeked out the front door and found these darling footprints on the porch.

I was so glad I got to see these before they were shoveled away forever. 

Turns out they were at the store buying more pie supplies. How lucky I am to have a husband who gets up with our one-year-old so that I can sleep in AND starts making the Thanksgiving pies!

We are headed out in a couple of hours to spend Thanksgiving at Sam's sister's. We're bringing the pies and a couple of sleds.

First Haircut

I've been trying to get Sam to let me cut his hair for years.  He has the greatest hair ever, and I must admit I was a little scared I'd totally screw it up, but I still wanted to give it a try.  He FINALLY let me. 

Holy Shmoley!  Look at all that hair!

The result.

Sam says he likes it, but I don't think I'll know how he really feels until the time comes for his next haircut.  We'll see whether or not he asks me to take care of it.

Slumber Party!

Last weekend my sister and brother-in-law went out of town. We figured this was the perfect time to follow through with a promise Sam made to their kids to have a slumber party where we stayed up all night watching movies and eating popcorn and candy.

We didn’t end up staying up all night, but we did watch a movie and eat popcorn and candy.

And of course there was jumping on the bed that turned into a pillow fight.

The 4-year-old woke up in the middle of the night because she had a nightmare that her daddy was the Grinch. I tried to console her, but I was also trying not to crack up at her nightmare story. She woke up again, but before I could get up, Sam was headed to the living room to check on her. I woke up awhile later and Sam was still gone. Then I found this:

After that I only woke up once because the baby wanted to snuggle (that was heaven!). In the morning I was awakened when Sam and the girls brought me breakfast in bed.

Yes, I married the best man in the world!

We went to church the next day and got some interesting looks. A lot of people know we are hoping to adopt, so I think they thought we hit the jackpot!

Where It All Began

The other night we went bowling and it reminded me of our very first date.
I met Sam about a month or so before we first went out. I was immediately interested in him, but I wasn’t sure what he thought about me. I actually made the first move. I had a work-related event that involved filmmaking. I knew Sam had been working on a documentary and that he had a passion for film, so I figured it was the perfect excuse to ask him out. He turned me down. Apparently he had to work or something. A few days later he asked me out to go bowling.

When we pulled up to the bowling alley, I was a little mortified when Sam pulled out his very own bowling ball and shoes. Who has their own bowling equipment? For the first couple of frames Sam didn’t do so hot, but I was doing unusually well. Sam proposed a bet; whoever lost had to make the other one cookies. We shook on it—I didn’t really care if I was being a sucker. After that it was all downhill for me, and Sam started throwing strikes.

After bowling we went out for hot wings and then over to Sam’s friend’s house to watch a movie. I have no idea what movie we watched, but I do remember Sam held my hand for the first time. He took me home after that, walked me to my door and gave me hug goodbye.

That night I couldn’t sleep. I was very surprised by this because our date wasn’t really much different than most of the other million first dates I had been on. I did like Sam A LOT, and I really wanted to go out with him again, but I usually have no problem falling asleep. I tried everything I could think of. I wrote in my journal, I counted sheep, I even read War and Peace. I did sleep sometime between 5:00 and 5:20 a.m., but that was it.

So that’s where it all began. Sam still kicks my butt at bowling, but at least now I get to go home with him after the game. And after all these years, I’m seriously considering buying my own pair of bowling shoes.

Sam's the Man

He cooks AND bakes.

One Sunday he felt like bread and we were out.

So he made TWO different kinds. I just did the dishes.

Here’s a cake he made me for my birthday. How cute is that?!

Iron Chef Sam at the first Annual Corn Festival at the Navajo Village Heritage Center.

He made traditional Navajo dishes and introduced his new creation,

The Navajo Cheese Steak. Yum!

He's very creative.

Our neighbors cut down a giant tree in their yard, so he took a chunk of the trunk to make a powwow drum.

Last summer we went to Lake Powell and he made an awesome sand castle.

At Pioneer Trek he made a makeshift shower so I could wash my hair …

The rest of the ward ended up using it, too.

Everything’s much better with clean hair!

He knows how to make me laugh.

At least one Hotel in Mexico has a trampoline and we were lucky enough to stay there.
Sam performed a hilarious cheerleading-meets-Cirque de Soleil routine
while diners at the nearby restaurant looked on.

Sam SERIOUSLY prefers this picture over the one we use at the top of this blog.
We have it in our house and it makes me laugh every time I see it.

I LOVE this guy!

Four is Better than Three

Yesterday Sam & I celebrated our four years of marriage! Sam woke me up with breakfast in bed--a big plate of yummy pancakes. The rest of the day included work, a visit to the dump and stocking up on year supply items. It was the best anniversary ever!!!

Okay, I'll explain ... We had discussed going to the Anniversary Inn to celebrate (yes, it's totally cliche-y), but I'm still a gimp after having foot surgery two weeks ago, and well, we didn't think we'd really get to "enjoy" it all that much. Anyway, we decided to just spend a night out together. Sam picked me up early from work (the surgery was on my right foot, so he's my chauffer 'till the boot comes off) and he was a mess. The poor guy had a nasty cold. I suggested we put off the night out another day so he could get some rest and he took me up on the offer. We decided that before we settled in for the evening, we'd take a quick trip out to the dump to unload the back of our truck that was full of ceiling tiles, yard trash and old baseboards and door trim. We're remodeling our entire house and the junk piles were taking over. So out to the dump we went. What a weird place that is. Not exactly romantic, but the fact that Sam, in his sniffley state, had loaded up the truck with all that junk was definitely a turn on--the things that get to you after being married for awhile!

Then we realized we had some keys that my sister Emily needed by Saturday--and I wanted to trade out her book I was borrowing, New Moon, for Eclipse (being gimpy has at least given me time to read!). We arrived at her house to find they were feeding the missionaries and they invited us to join. We enjoyed delicious homemade stew and bread sticks along with apples and melted caramel for dessert. Yum! We talked about goal setting and missionary work, and about a talk Elder Packer gave last week about the changing times. Again, not exactly romantic, but it was uplifting and greatly appreciated. After that we decided to stop by a nearby store we'd been planning to visit anyway to stock up items for our year supply. We've slowly been trying to build it up since we got married, but the fact that we've moved a few times has given us an excuse to hold off really getting into it. About a month ago we decided that we'd rather worry about moving a few more boxes rather than starve if the the you-know-what hits the fan.

Anyway, after that we went home and went to bed early. Sick husbands need their sleep. But before we fell asleep, we got the giggles together.

Yes, I do mean it when I say it was the best anniversary ever. It might not have been romantic in the worldly sense, but it still was in a more personal way. It's been four years of being married to my best friend. Even the dump isn't too bad if he's there, too.