Happy Anniversary

We've been married twenty-one years.  Next anniversary we will have been married half of our lifetimes.

I feel lucky and blessed and grateful.

There's nothing extraordinary about our marriage.  We disagree, we get cranky, I send him to the store for fruit and he comes home with the wrong thing, I am abysmal at directions and zero navigational help on road trips.  Still.  It's pretty great too.  We have the same goals.  We have these three children that mean the world to us and it's comforting to have a partner in raising them.  We put premier value on our marriage and we want each other to be happy.

That's worth a lot.

Yesterday I went into Adam's office and declared I wanted to go to Maverick.  Adam said, "OK."  And we went.

This is the summer of Maverick.  Diet coke + nugget ice + fresh limes.  It sort of makes your day.

And it makes my day that when I want to go, Adam is all in.

It's the stuff happy marriages are made of.

Not my email

I can't decide if I feel guilty about this or I helped Eithne dodge a dental bullet:

First there were the reminders:

You've got to hand it to Huntington Pediatric Dental Group/Dr. Stephanie for their persistance:

Aaaaaand I'm guessing she missed the appointment.  (That's what happens when you don't get the reminders.)  Did that dissuade Huntington Pediatric Dental Group?  No it did not. 

Because Eithne's dental health is important to them.

Huntington Pediatric Dental Group:  Do you maybe have a phone number for Eithne?  That may be the best way to reach her.

*****

I get lots of Facebook notifications for different Thelmas. 

I was intrigued by this one because of the profile picture.

Here's the close up.

My only response to that is:

The hero

A hero (masculine) is a person or main character of a literary work who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through impressive feats of ingenuity, bravery or strength, often sacrificing his or her own personal concerns for some greater good.

If my life were a literary work, Adam would be the hero.  That makes me the wife of the hero, which feels like a lucky place to be.

Saturday I washed all of Gavin's clothes and carefully hung up his church clothes so we would be all ready for Sunday.  We were going to leave church a little early, come home and feed him and then take him to the airport.  It was all planned and going to work very well.

Then on Saturday afternoon we heard from Gavin's parents.  They called because, where was he?  They were at the airport to pick him up and he...wasn't there.

What?!?!

It was one of those times when the world starts swirling and nothing makes sense.

So here's what happened.  Months ago, when Stephanie and I made the plan for Gavin to come, she told me the dates were the 22-31.  I marked it on my calendar.  You might as well say I wrote it in my blood.  When it's on the calendar, it's a done deal.

Later she sent the flight itinerary.  I noted the flight times.  I didn't even pay attention to the dates because I'm 1) an idiot and 2) see number one.

I thought I already knew the dates.

The dates had changed.

He was supposed to fly home on the 30th.

I apologized as best I could and Stephanie was, of course, very gracious and told me not to worry.  They would find another flight.

I said that we would pay the change fee because it was 1) my fault and 2) see number one.

Later in the evening I called Stephanie again to check on progress and she said they couldn't change the flight so were going to buy another ticket.

I felt so terrible.  

Adam, a.k.a. my knight in shining armor, pulled out his phone and said he would call Alaska Airlines and get the flight changed.  Meanwhile I called Brent and said, "Don't buy the ticket yet!"

He said, "I already asked to change the flight and they said no."

Adam is Adam though and he's really good at that sort of thing.  Soon enough, he had Gavin on a new flight and was chatting with the Alaska Airlines employee on the phone about someone also with a last name of Davis who lived in Orem and had taken her horseback riding.

I can't tell you how many times this scenario has played out.  Me, in distress.  Adam, to the rescue.

This has been a challenging summer and often, when I don't know where to turn in my own brain for peace, I turn to Adam.  He's a night owl and many nights, I can't sleep and stumble down the stairs to find him.  He stops whatever he is doing and turns his full attention to helping me.  He says the right things and listens and provides perspective.  He's not only good at convincing Alaska Airlines employees to help him.  He's also excellent at convincing me it's going to be OK.

The number one reason it's going to be OK is because I'm married to the hero.

It's a beautiful world

Friday afternoon we headed to the mountains.  It was nearly 20 degrees cooler there.  It was the most sane thing to do.

We went to one of several Silver Lakes.  I'm not sure if the same person named them all Silver Lake or if they were copying each other.  Either way, it can get a little confusing when you're a newbie and trying to google your way around.

It was absolutely beautiful.

And I guess the sun was bright.  Here 2/3 of the children have their eyes closed.

We walked on a path all around the lake.

There were a mama and 6 ducklings on that log.

As we passed another group of hikers, Adam said, "Do you notice a lot of these people don't look very...healthy?"

I said, "Yes, this is an easy trail.  This is for indoorsey people."

(Picked by me so my knee wouldn't give me any trouble.)

Adam said, "We've got to get your knee stronger."

He wants harder hikes--I'll keep working on this knee.

We drove up and over the mountain to Park City.

What a sad world it would be without mountains.

We drove around Park City, seeing the sights, then dropped into Salt Lake.  We went to the Church History Museum which is what we tried to do Monday but it was closed for Pioneer Day.

Raise your hand if you think it's ironic that the Church History Museum was closed for Pioneer Day....

We had a nice time there and walked around City Creek a little.  By the time we got home in the evening, it was slightly cooler.

Mission accomplished.

Books I read in July 2016

The Masqueraders by Georgette Heyer ***

I usually avoid reading the back cover or dust jacket of any book.  Too often there are spoilers and I don't want to know.  This book left me so confused right in the beginning/middle that I gave up and read the back cover.  That sort of cleared it up and I was able to limp along until things became more clear.  I read a lot of this book on different nights at about 2:00 in the morning which is my insomnia time of choice lately.  That may have contributed to my confusion.  It ended up being a good book though.  It was set in Georgian England and had its share of sword fights, balls, gambling, romance.  I liked it. 

Landline by Rainbow Rowell ***

I liked this book too.  I have to note here that the language was not fabulous.  I forget about language in books and then I give my mom a book for her birthday that has bad language.  It happens a lot.  So note to self...  Rainbow Rowell books read like romantic comedies.  And I like them.  And they make sense even at 2:00 AM.

We Never Asked for Wings by Vanessa Diffenbaugh **

This book mostly stressed me out.  I had nothing against the characters or plot, it was just stressful.  The characters found themselves in really difficult and complicated circumstances and I didn't see an easy resolution.  There were illegal immigrants, teen pregnancies, abandonment, deceit, bullying, socioeconomic injustice.  Yikes. So I didn't love the book because it caused me anxiety.  And yes, I am shallow.

You Are My Only by Beth Kephart ***

This was a pretty good book.  It alternated between two stories and was sort of heart breaking and also hopeful.  It was about a baby who was stolen as an infant and her mother that was committed to a mental hospital in the aftermath.  There were kind and redeeming characters throughout.

It's hot

That's the consensus.   It's been around 100 degrees for the last several days and that will probably be the case for the foreseeable future.

Hot.

Yesterday, looking for an air conditioned activity,  I took the kids to BYU to go bowling.  There are plenty of bowling alleys between here and there, but I like BYU.  It is one of my happy places.

Also, it turns out if you are an alumni, you get to bowl for a $.25 reduced rate.  That tuition is paying for itself!

It also turns out that these kids are not pro bowlers.  I won.  Not because I'm good.  They're just that bad. 

Our next stop was the art museum.  We walked around and looked at the National Parks paintings which I love then we went to The Way Things Go exhibit which was a 30 minute video that is like a Rube Goldberg machine times 1000.  It was pretty incredible.  It involved fire, water, wheels, pulleys, balloons, chemical reactions.  I was mesmerized.

I love art museums.

Later in the afternoon I got a text message from Virginia Beach.  (I love text messages from Virginia Beach even more than art museums.)  Rebecca Justesen for the win!

Elder Morris is a tall kid.

And I think they're having fun.

Even though it's hot there too.  Rebecca said it was 110 + with the heat index.  She said they weren't melting, which was reassuring.

Awhile ago, I emailed this meme to Braeden:

He wrote back:  amen.

Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

Sitting around the dinner table the other night, we reminisced about the trouble they got into when they were little.  I reminded Gavin of how I used to do criss-cross applesauce on his back in primary to keep him quiet.  "Oh yeah!" he said, "I remember!"  Adam told him about when he took three year old Gavin out of primary to the hall, kicking and screaming.  Adam calmly put him over his shoulder and said, "I'm bigger than you are.  I'll wait until you're ready."

I don't think Adam could do that now.

I told Mark about when I buckled him in his car seat during church, kicking and screaming.

I don't think I could do that now.

Good thing the boys became more civilized.

Adam asked them if they remembered taking walks before primary to get their wiggles out.  It was sort of genius. Every Sunday he'd take them both outside to count sprinkler heads on the church lawn.  Even when it was raining.

They remembered the time they hid out on the stage all during primary and no one ever caught them.  "What?!?" I said.

"Yeah," Mark said, sheepishly, "I guess we never told you about that one." (I'm guessing their primary teachers were relieved that day.)

I told them about the time Mark came home from Gavin's and told me he'd given another kid a bloody nose.  I felt bad (and let's face it, worried about repercussions from the other kid's mother).  "What happened?" I asked, exasperated.

"Gavin threw me at him."

Then I felt a little better.  I wouldn't have to take the entire heat for that one.

The other day I heard them downstairs wrestling over cookies.  Lots of crashing to the ground and thumping noises and laughter.

They are like big puppies.

I love these boys.

As evidenced by the following pictures, sometimes you've just got to flatten Mark.  It's the only way.