8 Crazy Years Continued

In my haste to post my wedding pictures, I didn't wait until the day was actually over to record all the anniversary events. Tonight Brian and I went out to dinner at Cafe Sabor in Logan while my sister Laura babysat Kylie. After dinner we realized we still had another hour until we had to be home. So what did we do? We went to Borders and browsed the magazine rack together--something we haven't been able to do for a very long time. As sad as it sounds, it was nice to sit next to each other in comfy chairs and flip through magazines. Brian read machining and jeep mags while I indulged in my guilty pleasure reading a People magazine. Here's a picture of our wedding day (the orange spots are thanks to our previous cat, Kuss, who spilled my hot chocolate on my favorite picture!) and a picture of us on our 8 year anniversary:

8 Crazy Years

Today is our 8 year anniversary. We were married on March 30, 2001 in the Logan, Utah temple. Brian and I grew up in the same neighborhood in Smithfield, Utah. His parents moved from the farm in Preston, Idaho into the house around the corner from my childhood home when he was 14. Before his mission, our only conversation was a note I passed to him in church asking when he was going to take me snowmobiling. His reply: The very day your dad lets me. He left on a mission and I was dating a guy who was getting ready to leave on a mission. I had big plans to wait for this missionary and get married soon after his return. (Note that I was a sophomore in high school at this time. Good grief, I was young!) Before the missionary came home I started thinking that I had better get some dates in before he returned. After all, it was my senior year of high school. (Good grief again!) Brian started to catch my eye at church and I put on the charms and sent out the vibes to get him to notice me. One morning, while driving to early-morning Seminary, I passed Brian coming home from the night shift. A very persistent feeling told me to stop and talk to him. Ignoring the feeling I went about my day, but continued to feel that persistent idea. I finally thought, "Heavenly Father, if that's you and you wanted me to stop, then just recreate the situation and I'll stop next time." Within a day or two I drove past his house just as he was getting home from work. This time I stopped, chatted with him, and casually mentioned that we should go to a movie sometime. We ended up going to God's Army and making homemade ice cream. The next date, of course, was at the farm. After 2 weeks of dating he put me on a tractor to see if I could handle it. Having driven a '74 Dodge Powerwagon through high school, the tractor was no problem. That sealed the deal for Brian and he knew I was the one. A few weeks later the missionary came home. Brian let me have my space to figure things out (while slipping flowers and cards in here and there). Long story short, the missionary couldn't compete with Brian. We were inseparable the summer after graduation until I left for BYU-Hawaii. Brian took sleeping pills and slept for 3 days after I left. We ran up a $1,000 phone bill calling across the ocean, much to my parents' horror. Brian flew out to visit during Thanksgiving vacation. We hiked up to Laie Falls and there he asked me to marry him. I came home after one semester and began planning a wedding.

Eight years later we've moved 11 times between 4 states (Utah, Idaho, Virginia, Louisiana) chasing his career as a helicopter pilot. We have a beautiful 6 year-old daughter, and a very sweet kitty.

Attitude

Kylie has developed a serious aversion to leaving the house, though she ends up enjoying herself once she finally gets out. Today we had to make a trip to Wal-Mart. She was upset, as usual, and threw a toy down the stairs.

Katie: "Kylie, go to your room. We don't throw toys."

Kylie: "Good, that's what I wanted to do!" Slams the door.

Can you imagine what it's going to be like in 10 years?!

Sallie Likes to Help

I can't scrapbook/craft in peace. No, it's not Kylie...it's the cat! She is right there, every time, batting at anything that moves. She was particularily annoying this past Christmas when I wrapped presents. I'm surprised she didn't get any whiskers cut off while I was cutting the paper.

Tonight's Conversation

Brian: "Kylie, you're acting like a spoiled brat."
Kylie: "Well you're acting like someone who's spoiling me!"
-----------------------
Brian: "Kylie, you gotta keep trying and figure it out."
Kylie: "Dad, I'm not a scientist!"

Someone has a little too much attitude tonight!

Picture Tag

Tag, ya'll are it!

*Go to the document settings/my pictures on your computer *Choose your 6th file *Choose your 6th picture *Blog about it *Tag 6 more people!

This picture was taken December 26, 2008. Cache Valley had a huge snow storm on Christmas Day, which made conditions perfect for sledding. We drove up to Richmond and sledded with friends and family. At first Kylie was too scared to go down the hill...so she walked. The little dot amongst all the white snow is Kylie, trudging down the hill. She finally went down with me and found out that she enjoyed it after all!

Me & My Girls

Brian has been in Arizona this week training for his new job as a life flight pilot. He'll be gone to Arizona for a week then home (kind of) for a week. I say "kind of" because while he's home he'll be doing work for the Bountiful guys as well as the school in Logan, who just made him Chief Pilot! And there's always the farm. Last night all us girls curled up in one bed and kept each other company.

Treehouse Children's Museum

We drove down to Ogden to play at the Treehouse Children's Museum with some friends. Kylie has been out of school since Wednesday this week and we've been having lots of fun!

Springtime in Utah

The weather has been tantilizing us with thoughts of spring, pushing 60 degrees over the weekend. This morning we woke up to a world covered with snow, and it hasn't stopped! We have received a good 6 inches today. Spring will have to wait.

Rice Experiment Update

My brother reminded me of an experiment I started over 2 years ago, which prompted me to pull out my jars of rice to see what had happened over the past year. Here's the rice one year after the experiment started (ignore the date stamp on the photos, it's wrong):

Here's a picture of the rice about this time last year: This is the rice today:

The "positive rice" is still white and fluffy and otherwise unchanged from the year before (other than being jostled around by moving from Louisiana to Utah). The "negative rice", on the other hand, continues to deteriorate and discolor. See my previous post for more information on the experiment: ourjoyinthejourney.blogspot.com/2008/04/musings.html .

It was fun to have my brother over tonight with his friend, Bill--who is 3 months cancer-free!!! Alex came over to get a foot zone and so I could see Bill who's visiting from Kentucky. Doesn't he look great for being in remission only 3 months? He showed that cancer who was boss. Alex has a lot to do with that too. My brother makes the best faces. It's impossible to get a normal picture.

Kitty Rodeo

Lately Sallie has been having a problem: her ID tag becomes lodged in the decorative metal of her food/water dish. When she tries to pull away, the whole food dish mysteriously chases after her, sending her into a flurry of fur and scattered food. Usually her rodeo-like gyrations dislodges the tag from the dish within a few feet. However, last night the food dish won the rounds.

I was sitting down with a bowl of ice cream to watch Whose Line Is It when an explosion of noise sounded behind me. Sallie took off running, sending water and food flying in all directions. The silver dishes landed some 5 feet away while Sallie continued her furry flurry across the room. Her back legs kicked up in the air just like a horse, trying to free herself from the evil grasp of the metal base. She paused, panting, by the stairs, then shot off for her place of refuge: under the futon. I managed to grab the food dish, dragging Sallie along with it, out from under the futon. It took some wrestling to get her free. As I mopped up the lake of kitty water, cursing and laughing at the same time, she looked on from around the corner, dejection personified. By the time I got the camera out she came out of hiding and pretended like nothing happened...but not before coming back to her restored food dish to give it a sniff and look at it as if to say, "WHY?!"

There Are Crawfish Legs In My Sink

Each time I cut Brian's hair, Kylie has to help. Her jobs include spraying his hair down with water, combing it flat, and cutting the top with the electric clippers with a guard. She takes her job very seriously. Earlier, Brian was playing "horse" with Kylie on his back, crawling around and occasionally bucking. He laid down to take a break and I jumped on top of Kylie, squishing her between us, teasing that we were making a Kylie sandwich. She cried out, "I'm cheese!"

Last night, at the grocery store, Kylie spotted a small package of crawfish. She begged and pleaded to get some. Being that it was only $1.88, I conceded. It's about that time of year when our ward in Louisiana has their huge Crawfish Boil (see earlier posts for pictures). Kylie LOVES crawfish and I can't peel them fast enough for her. Brian never experienced crawfish during our time in Louisiana, so he got his first taste tonight. He is of the opinion that they taste like mud.