Life with the Brudfam

Eighteen years and counting

I met The Guy when I was only 19.  We dated a year and a half before we wed when I was 20.  Little did I know what a great husband he would make.  He is the best.

To celebrate our 18th anniversary, we went to our favorite temple (where we were married as well as both of our parents) to do sealings.  I loved hearing those beautiful promises again and recommitting myself to be a better wife.  Not in the cook more, clean more way.  But to love unconditionally.  To remember that the Lord is a third partner in our marriage.  And to make our relationship and our family my number one priority.

And now, 18 reasons, plus one for good measure, why I love The Guy:

1. He encourages and believes in me.

2. He reminds me not to gossip or speak ill of others.

3. He loves our girls.  A lot.

4. He cared for me through three pregnancies, three victories over cancer, lots of trials and tests of our faith, as well as lots and lots of good times.

5. He puts up with my emotions.

6. He tells me I am beautiful, even when I think I'm not.

7. He works hard for our family.

8. He believes in himself.

9. He encourages me to be independent.

10. He tells me that I can when I think I can't.

11. He blesses our home with the priesthood.

12. He patiently answers 20 calls from his daughters/me each day and never gets frustrated or bugged that we call him so much.

13. He is handsome.

14. He is romantic.  I love it when he writes me love notes.

15. He loves his family.

16. He loves my family.

17. He loves the Lord.

18. He makes breakfast for the girls every day of school.

19. He wants to be with me forever.  Lucky me.

 

We may have more wrinkles (and one of us has a lot less hair), but we are certainly more in love and more committed than we were 18 years ago.  And we were crazy in love then.  I can't wait to see what the next 18 have in store for us.

Date Night

Snow was falling all day long.  So magical!  Then The Guy and I dressed up in our warmest clothes and headed downtown to see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir concert on Saturday night

 

We ate dinner at ThaiPhoon 

{Evil Jungle Princess Beef and Lo Mein with brown rice...mmmmm good!!)

and then walked down to the Conference Center to hear a most beautiful concert.  While we waited for the concert to begin, I tried snapping a few photos of us in our seats, and the Guy was not exactly cooperative.  I think he may be sick of me trying to get pics all the time to put on the blog.  

       

It was such a lovely evening and so nice to escape with my silly and funny and oh-so-handsome husband for an evening of Christmas cheer!

More fun together

On our little getaway, we had to go to Mesquite (and if I never go there again in my lifetime, I'll be just fine...) for a day.  The Guy had to play golf for a work.  I wasn't feeling great.  So I stayed in bed and napped all day while Nanny 911 played on the tv in the background.  I was hoping that I would absorb some new parenting skills while I napped. (I'll let you know.)  When Jeff got back, we went for massages down in the spa.  It felt amazing.  

The next morning, we headed to St. George.  We drove around looking at houses (The Guy dreams of moving there someday).  I found the house I liked.  I loved that it doesn't look like every other house down there, and is in an older and more rural neighborhood and isn't totally new--it's a remodel.  Isn't it lovely?

We ate lots of good food. Like snacks at Great Harvest.  Dinner at the Pasta Factory (my favorite) and dessert at Nielsen's Frozen Custard.

 

We probably had the most fun playing GuitarHero late into the night.  I made The Guy put on a pair of my glasses and we giggled and rocked out all night.

 

oh, and I beat him in the all around competition--10 songs to his 8.  

Here I am in all my Guitar Hero glory.  Long live the head-bangers!

We also made it to In-n-Out Burger on our way out of town on Saturday. And yes, that is the sun shining. It was perfect outside and we sat on the patio to eat.

It was tasty and I pretty much stuffed my face. And then we climbed back in the car and drove back home to our babies, who we were so very happy to see!  

Tagged

My sweet friend and neighbor, Julie, tagged me.  

I didn't mind answering these fun questions about "The Guy"...

1.) What is your husband's name? Jeff 

2.) How long have you been married? 16 years full of lots of laughter, trials, fun, adventures, cooperation, commitment, and love.  Sounds cheesy, I know, but it's true.  I adore him.  And I happen to know he adores me too.

3.) How long did you date? 1 1/2 years

4.) How old is he? My hunk of a hubby is 39 years young.

5.) Who eats sweets? He eats more ice cream (late at night in bed: Haagen Daz Vanilla Swiss Almond); I eat more daily treats and sweets.

6.) Who said I Love you first? I'm pretty sure I said it first.  But he kissed me first...see #18.

7.) Who is taller? He is, which leads to a funny story  He comes from a family of short Swiss people.  His dad is 5'6" and his mom was 5'1".  He was always the shortest & scrawniest kid in class in elementary school.  Every night he would get on his knees and pray to Heavenly Father that he would one day grow up to be 6 feet tall.  Guess how tall he is?  6 feet. See, prayers are heard and answered! 

8.) Who can sing best? Neither of us is too good, but I would say that I can carry a tune better than he can.

9.) Who is smarter? That's if-y--sometimes him, sometimes me. 

10.) Who does the laundry? When we got married, Jeff was the master launderer.   I ruined a few of his shirts and he had to show me how to really sort laundry.  But I am now the laundress--bring on the stains and I'll get them out.  But when the piles of clean laundry are strewn all over our bed at the end of the day, he always helps me fold it and put it away.  

11.) Who pays the bills? He pays the bills.  It causes me anxiety.

12.) Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I do.

14.) Who mows the lawn? I am happy to say, he does.  And he does a darn fine job of it too.

15.) Who cooks dinner? I cook dinner. And he makes breakfast every single day!!!  But if he is in charge of dinner, it means pizza or Cafe Rio.

16.) Who drives? Definitely Jeff.  I give him directions, though, so we don't get lost.

17.) Who is the first to admit they are wrong? We are both pretty good at it.  

18.) Who kissed who first? He won't admit it, but he totally kissed me first.

19.) Who asked who out first? Neither of us.  It started with a kiss (after hanging out as a group), and just progressed.  

20.) Who wears the pants? It depends on what we're talking about.  But generally we make decisions together.  However, I often care more about things than he does, so it may appear that I do.  But I don't, right Jeff?

Ok, now I am supposed to tag a few people...Let's see...

how about Brenda and Chanda and Erica.  Have fun!

Utah football

I am a big BYU fan and The Guy is a Utes fan. But we both cheer for eachothers teams until we play eachother. We got some tickets for the Utah game at the last minute tonight. Perfect weather for a football game.