10 years

My husband and I hit our 10th anniversary on May 19th--yes! Here are a few of our wedding pictures taken at the LDS Manti temple where we were married:

Comedian Rita Rudner said, "I love being married. It's so great to find that special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life." There's been some of that, of course, but overall, we've had a great 10 years. You never know how you or your spouse will react to having kids, work stress, health problems, financial decisions, issues with friends and family, and SO many other possible challenges, and I'm grateful we're still on the same page. We have much more love and understanding for each other now, and I hope that's true at the end of the next 10 years too.

Here's the card I gave to him:

Hee hee! I loved that because I think jokes about gas are funny, but it's even funnier because it's entirely untrue. My husband basically never lets one go around me, and he is VERY displeased if I do. Can I use the bathroom while he's in the shower? No. Does he want to see his children born? No. In fact he took his contacts out for the birth 1st Brother so even if he did see anything, it would be a blur. At first I thought these attitudes were over-the-top, but I've come to appreciate them. Note: he will change any poopy diaper [from one of our kids] and has admirably dealt with kid vomit on several ocassions. So I guess I have the best of both worlds.

Ahhhhhhhhh!

I was minding my own business, ordering the Beavis and Butthead Do America soundtrack CD on Amazon (for Red Hot Chili Pepper's version of Love Rollercoaster, of course, which cannot be found elsewhere), when I was confronted with this:


and then this:

Get her away! Get her away! I would have liked to be a fly on the wall during the discussions about this ad campaign. "Yes, these scary mannequin-lady underwater shots should sell lots of swimsuits. Send them out immediately!" That model must have felt so weird during the photo shoot; I probably would have been giggling the whole time if I was her.

Two years old!

My little guy turned 2 last week! Here are a few things about him right now:

-Like 1st Brother, he talks a lot. He will speak to someone on the phone until I tell him it's Mama's turn again. My overall favorite word he says is "eyeball." I'm also very amused by the older boy words he knows: "Batman," "Iron Man," "Indiana Jones," "Star Wars," "gun," and "McDonalds."

-He's been very spunky with 1st Brother lately, hitting and pinching him, and screaming, "No, NO!" for the littlest reasons. But he is timid and quiet with other kids and easily shares most toys (or hands them over as a kid approaches as if to say, "Here man, just take it. I don't want any trouble, okay?")

-Can sing a recognizable version of the ABC song, count from 1-10, identify basic colors and tell the Golden Gate and Bay bridges apart.

-Pizza, french fries, and jelly beans are favorite foods (not that he gets them often). He's a picky eater and small for his age, but that will probably change.

-He's in a big cars and trains phase but still loves basketball, the "I'm going to get you" game, and throwing/kicking a beach ball while he stands on Mom and Dad's bed.

I let 1st Brother stay up late the night before and help set out the presents (we've fallen into a tradition of having the b-day boy go on a treasure hunt for gifts). Mom and Dad re-gifted the wooden train track and fake food sets from storage. We also gave him a kitchen set that 1st Brother's classroom was getting rid of--I scrubbed it down really well. The thing about having a second boy and living in a small space is that you DON'T NEED OR WANT MORE STUFF! Thus the re-gifting, especially since he didn't know what was going on.


He did get some new things from extended family: the Thomas, Percy, and Toby trains were a huge hit as were the Thomas sound and drawing books, Toy Story wall stickers, and felt activities for church.

He had an Entemann's glazed donut instead of a cake, which our family much prefers. 1st Brother suggested we draw train tracks on it with icing and put Thomas on top:

We kept our day time activities low key. Providing friends at playgroup with snack ziplocs of goldfish, mini marshmallows, and gummy worms was the extent of our other celebrations.

Cured

I'm not a big herbal remedy person, but I have come to believe in grapefruit seed extract. On several occasions it has chased off or shortened the duration of my cold symptoms. You squeeze 5+ drops into a beverage and drink it up to 3 times a day (it's crazy bitter, so putting it in juice or milk is a good idea). You can do this every day for good measure, but I just drink it when I think I'm getting sick. It's available online (try vitacost.com) or I got my current bottle at Whole Foods. Big thanks to my mom for introducing it to me!