Happy Birthday to Husband!

I have to say birthdays are more fun when you are actually WITH your spouse, but as Craig is working today and my mind has been flooded all morning with the memories I have of him I thought I'd do a count down of 10 of the moments when I knew he was the real deal (I'd say fell in love, but it just sounds so cliche). 

The following is more for posterity then anything, feel free to skip as needed. 

10. For those who know us well, a couple of these will be old news but I think the first moment when I knew that Craig was different was actually the moment we broke up...what?! Yea, I know but it was. We were both super irritated with each other, we were both moving away in opposite directions, and without going into detail we'd had a lot of fun together but it wasn't working out. I called Craig and asked if we could talk and I remember he said, "uh oh, is this bad?" on the phone, but then volunteered to come pick me up which I thought was really sweet. The inevitable came out, he said yea he wasn't feeling it either but he was so nice and respectful and just plain cool, that even as I was telling him I thought we'd both do better with other people I have to say I was impressed! Then as we got to my apartment and I was about to leave he said something to the effect of, "So yea, we'll both see other people. Let's for sure stay friends and...you want to go grab some ice cream real quick before you go?" haha I was so shocked, I thought "this boy is crazy I just broke up with him, and he wants to buy me ice cream?!" but I have to say I was totally intrigued and even after I went in the house I remember thinking he really was such a quality guy. He wasn't petty and prideful like most guys are when you say it's not working out. He didn't get mad, he was just himself all the time, in every situation I'd ever seen him. I LOVE that about my man the most I think. 

9. Family. Craig is very family and community oriented, and I love it. The first time he took me to meet his family was when he asked me to be his girlfriend. We went on a four-wheeler ride, where he decided to spontaneously chase a bunch of deer lol and then hiked up to a cave that I guess he and his buddies had found Indian pottery and some other things in when he was young. We sat and talked and he told me about his family and about how he'd had sleepovers with the guys up there when he was young. He told me a lot of stories from his childhood. He showed me some really old broken pieces of pottery they'd found and left up there and we mostly just laughed and goofed off, but I remember feeling really impressed with how important his family's legacy was and how much he loved them. It was a fun place to watch the sunset and he kissed me for the second time up there, teasing me afterwards that he just didn't think that telling his family I was just his good friend Dorothy was going to cut it after that, and asking me if I could think of a better title. ;)

8. Craig will try just about anything. I love it! He totally thought I was crazy when I asked him to go sky diving with me, and it did take some persuading but once he made up his mind to go I think he was less nervous then I was. Craig will try any type of dancing just about, any sport, any game, he'll eat anything once, and he somehow does it all without worrying about looking silly, or not knowing how. I wish I was more like that, I get nervous often and easily, and there are a lot of things I think would be fun secretly but chicken out on.

7. Another funny moment I was remembering this morning was from our first kiss. Don't worry, I won't go into any details, but we'd been going out for a few months and it was this kind of serious, sappy moment and then he kisses me and suddenly bursts out with, "Oh my gosh, I thought you'd kiss like a homer!" It was so anticlimactic that I couldn't stop laughing and kind of sputtered, "what?!" He seemed so genuinely shocked, "well you were home schooled as a child, I was fully prepared for you to be a horrible kisser!" Totally. Killed. The moment. I just remember laughing so hard and asking him if they taught lessons in public school that I didn't know about. 

6. We had known each other for a long time but he was working pretty far away and we'd decided we would both date other people since long distance relationships always seem to get so sticky. I'd actually gone out with a different guy that night and he'd turned out to be a jerk in the worst way and I remember getting home that night really shaken and just upset. Craig called RIGHT as I got in the door and I hadn't really had time to pull myself together yet and must have given it away in my voice because he immediately asked what was wrong. Normally I would NOT have told anyone, much less someone I liked, but the story came out and he was pretty furious. I think the thing that impressed me most though, wasn't just that he was mad and concerned, it would have made most men angry. I was more impressed that he didn't yell or scream, he said everything he could think of to make me feel better he told me over and over again that he'd be happy to get in his car right then and there and drive 3 and a half hours to be with me, he wanted to call every guy and person he knew within several miles and have them come over and make sure I was fine etc. It was one of the many many times I have been grateful to be with a man who isn't a hot head or a fly-off-the-handle kind of guy, but a very kind, logical, sincere person. 

5. Summer concert dates. Nuff said. :)

4.  Every year Craig goes hunting. Not my thing, but very fun for him, especially if he gets to go with his Dad and brother. Some of my favorite dates however are because of hunting (I'll explain). Every year that he goes on a hunting trip with his family, he comes home and takes me on a special date to the symphony. It's kind of a you get to do what you like to do, and then I get to do what I like to do, arrangement and I LOVE it! The symphony wasn't his favorite thing at first (well it still isn't his FAVORITE thing) but after a few times he has started to really enjoy it and it is something I look forward to every year in anticipation.

3. Somewhere along our dating life I told him my favorite flowers by far were wild ones. He took me on the COOLEST hike after that in the mountains and collected a bouquet along the way for me with some BEAUTIFUL wild flowers! We saw more varieties then I've ever seen since on one hike. Apart from being frustrated that I hadn't brought a wild flower book with me to look them all up, it was definitely one of my favorite dates!

2. When I was about 16, I was browsing over my Mothers library of books and came across Gene R. Cook's book, "Raising Up a Family to the Lord". I was bored so I sat down and started looking through it and within a few days, I'd read the whole thing. I Love it. It goes along with so many things I wanted in my family then, and so many things I want in my family now. I told myself then and there that any guy who wanted to marry me would have to read that book. When I told Craig about it he said ok but I could tell he was skeptical. At the time he didn't know he liked reading (he now reads more then I do), and so the idea of reading a random book about parenting was probably super strange to him, but he said ok, and took the book home with him. It took him a year to finish but he would read chapters when he got a chance and then on our next date we'd talk about different things in it. I think it was awesome for us and holds some of my favorite memories because it opened up all kinds of goals that HE had for his future family and before we got married we had thoroughly discussed kids, discipline, all kinds of religious and church topics, money, budgeting and everything finance, and a whole lot of other things like personal goals and dreams that we had. We always joke that the reason we don't argue now is because we got it all out of our system before we were married, but honestly I am so grateful that we had so many discussions and am glad I married someone who wants to learn new things and is teachable. Really, being humble and teachable alone is what success in marriage is all about to me. And now I have a life time to learn to do it better! 

1. Number one is a toss up between the moment I knew I was in love with Craig and the moment I knew he was in love with me. I'll save his moment for another time.

 My moment was very simple. I hadn't seen him for about 6 months after we broke up the first time and moved our separate ways and a friend of mine, knowing I had dated a guy from Tooele asked if I would text him and see if he had someone's number, who was also from Tooele. I kind of hesitated cause we hadn't had any contact at all since we split but I went ahead and did it. He text back with the number and then said he was going to be in SLC in a few days and asked if he could stop by (I later found out that was a lie). I swear that he walked in my door a different person then the one I had known before, there was something so different about him, that I couldn't put my finger on. I remember we hadn't made plans and not knowing exactly when he was coming I was walking out the door to go get the oil changed on my car right as he was coming up. He volunteered to take me, so we dropped my car off and then he bought me an ice cream cone at a little shop across the street.  I remember just sitting there across the booth from him, sitting in a weird position with my feet up on the seat like I do when I'm really comfortable, goofing off like we'd never been apart and suddenly having this weird feeling come over me. I'm honestly not a twitter-pated kind of girl but I couldn't stop staring at him and I kept wondering what on earth was so different about him. I was so at ease with him, it was like I was hanging out with my best friend, seriously, not like hanging out with an ex. I mean it should have been so awkward, right?! Anyways, that did it for me, I was pretty crazy about him from then on out. And.....the rest is history...a long history, about how it took me another year and a half to ACTUALLY stop hyperventilating long enough to "take the plunge into matrimony", but a good history nonetheless. ;)

Happy Birthday, babe. I sure think you're great!