Olivia turns four. In Pictures.

Misunderstandings...

A couple days ago we took the girls to Taco Bell for dinner. When we announced that was the plan Abigail was overjoyed. "TacoBell! TacoBell!" She shouted over and over the whole way there. And then bursted into tears upon arrival. "Abigail what's wrong?"
"Tacobelll!!!" She cried over and over. After a few minutes of trying to figure out what was wrong, I realized she was saying, and thought we were saying, "Tinkerbell".  I think I'd be pretty disappointed too, if I thought we were going somewhere with Pixie dust and fairies, and got refried beans and processed meat instead.

Aaron and I have learned we can NOT, ever, tell Abigail to "chew" her food. One night Abigail was playing with her food, and then talking with it in her mouth. Aaron told her, "Abby, CHEW! Chew your food." And Abigail faked sneezed all of her food that was in her mouth back onto her plate, with a great big "ACHOO!" The most hilarious part of this, is that she thinks she's being obedient! She thinks when we say "chew" that this is exactly what she wants us to do. So it's not uncommon at our dinner table to hear, "Abigail - bite your food... with your teeth, bite it and bite it and swallow."

Olivia's nickname is "Yaya". Abigail has a mama, a dada, and a yaya. Just fyi. So the other day Nathan was doing his baby crunches that he's started doing lately. I noticed and said, "Oh yeah Nate, work those abs!" And then Olivia came by and said, "No Mom, tell him to work those Yayas!"

And then tonight Aaron came home and I told him all I was doing for Olivia's little cold. "I gave her some hot Innergize, and some euthanasia." To which Aaron replies, "Echinacea?"  "Yeah, that."

Life.

Each day is an adventure around here. Today we went to the zoo for a fun Dr. Suess story time. It was really cute. Kids had a good time.

I've started babysitting for a family in our apartment complex. It's been nice. Living on student loans isn't very fun, so it's nice to have a little extra. Being able to take the kids to McDonalds or something without having to worry about the money is really nice.

Abigail has started using  a lot more words. One of my favorites is "also". We were talking about all the people who love her. I told her I love her, and Daddy loves and she said, "And also, Nanny loves me." And to me it was just so cute that she added the also. And she continued on and on with everyone she knows who "also loves" her.

Olivia turns 4 next weekend. Seriously how the flippety flip did that happen?? FOUR! I am so excited for her though. She is turning into such a sweet girl, and a great helper. It's nice to have a right hand gal to grab binkies, or even entertain Nathan for a minute while I'm cooking dinner. Although it still boggles my mind that she's not my baby anymore, and somehow I have two more. Three kids, seriously? If I stop to think about it, I freak out a little. Old people have three kids... not me!!

Nathan is just our little cuter head. As dubbed by Olivia. He laughed for the first time the other night and melted our hearts. We've been trying to get him to do it again but all we can manage is a smile. My kids are not big laughers. Makes me sad. Maybe I need to laugh more.

Aaron is doing amazing this term. He is only three weeks into his term but has had three tests, and he got 100's on two of them. One of them was rumored to be the hardest test of all of pharmacy school, according to some guys in the year ahead of him. And yeah, he got a 100. I'm so proud of him. I know he doesn't like when I brag about his brains, but this is my blog so neener neeener neener!

And I'd say that's a pretty good snapshot of our life right now.

Instant Gratification

My children were born into an era of extreme instant gratification. Any television show they can think of can be watched instantly on Netflix or the internet. They don't even have to sit through commercials! Gone are the days of waiting until 10:00 to watch David the Gnome. We can chose from 100 episodes of Dora at any time we want.

I remember wanting to hear a New Kids On The Block song and sitting by the radio waiting for it to come on. If my kids want to hear a song, I put it on youtube and they are happy as can be.

When I try to take a picture of Abigail she says, "Let me see it!" before the picture has even snapped. Remember waiting weeks to get film developed?

 Last week we took the kids to a drive thru for ice cream. We were waiting in line for our order, when Olivia complained, "Uughhh this is taking ONE HUNDRED AND NINE YEARS!"

I want my kids to learn the importance of delayed gratification, so I find myself telling them "in 5 more minutes" for no reason other than to make them wait. I'm not sure it makes any difference, or if there's even a point. I guess it's just the way the world is now. And it's only getting worse -or better I guess depending on who you ask.

There's probably a better way to say what I'm trying to say. It is just so crazy to me that when my kids ask to watch a show, I can put it on. There's no waiting. They expect food to magically appear in front of them the moment they ask. And they want to look at the pictures before the autofocus can even adjust to capture the image. So what do you do about it? How are my kids going to learn to develop patience? Or the satisfaction of perseverance? 

Silliness that must not be forgotten.

For unknown reasons our house smells like a skunk. It has been driving me nuts. I expressed this to Olivia today and she said, "Well I know it can't be Daddy - I saw him putting on his deodorant this morning. Oh no! Maybe it's me! I don't put on deodorant...ever!!!"

And Abigail talks like a Kennedy. I don't know where this accent of hers came from but it makes me laugh daily. I will try to capture it on video. I keep trying to get her to say, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." But it's a bit wordy for her two year old brain.

And Nathan talks like a little cartoon baby. Seriously the sounds that come out of this child are.the.cutest.sounds.ever. He literally says, "goo-goo" and "gaaaahhh" and just melts your heart with his adorable babble. And did I mention he started rolling over? When he was 6 weeks old? He is a crazy little fellow and we love him.

There is more, but I've already forgotten. My brain cells are dying rapidly due to lack of sleep.

A Love Story Part 4... The Marriage

So this wraps up my love story series. Hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!


We were engaged on April 27th, 2005. We were then married August 5th of the same year. Talk about fast. I should probably apologize to you if you were my friend or family at that time. I was pretty much oblivious to everything except for the fact that I was going to be MARRIED. I didn't really care much about the details of the wedding. I wanted it to be a fun day, but I really didn't get hung up on things being a certain way. I was really focused more on the marriage than the wedding. If I could go back and do things differently I might have cared a little more. But really it was just lovely. We were able to have a reception in Arizona and in New Jersey thanks to my wonderful generous family. We had a wonderful honeymoon that seemed to last forever.
    I can honestly say I love Aaron more now than I did then. Which isn't hard, since really I barely knew him back then. It still feels right. One night during those brief weeks when we were just dating, and not even engaged yet, Aaron was hugging me. I fit perfectly into his arms, and he commented on it. "You just fit. You fit so perfectly it scares me." I asked him why it scared him. He said, "Because what if you don't want to fit anymore?" Well honey, seven years later, I still want to fit. In fact, every time he holds me like that, I think about that comment. About how much we've changed over the years, but I still fit just right in his arms.
    I don't think there was a moment when we truly "fell in love". More like a moment when we realized we fit. We work. And we wouldn't want to be with anyone else. It's not always rainbows and butterflies around here. But we are always working at it. We help each other. We better each other. We really bring out the best in one another. At least most of the time.
    It can be easy to focus on someone's faults. Especially after marrying them. You can start to be annoyed by every little random thing they do. Aaron and I call this grapefruit syndrome. Reference from here. Learning to look at each other's strengths and ignore their weaknesses, is one way our marriage has blessed me. Happiness in marriage is not about changing, or changing your spouse. It's learning to love and accept each other, as we are.
   I think the most important thing I've learned from my marriage is how to be truly selfless. I worry about Aaron and he worries about me. Aaron also has to remind me that he never says anything to hurt me. Although sometimes Aaron says something completely innocent and I, being a woman, will find a way to take whatever he said in the worst possible way. Lets take last night for example. Baby was screaming his head off. I asked Aaron if he had the pacifier. He said, "All you handed me was a baby in a towel." All Aaron was saying was, no, all he had was the baby and the towel. All I heard was, "No you useless excuse of a woman - you just handed me a poor freezing cold baby in a towel and no way to comfort him. I'm going to just sit here on the couch and do absolutely nothing while you freak out." Yeah, sometimes Aaron has to deal with that. Poor guy. But I'm always trying to be better. And I usually realize when I'm being ridiculous. It doesn't always mean I admit it right away, but most of the time I get there.
   I'm not sure what else to say. Almost seven years, three kids, a move across the country later, and I am so glad to say that I truly love my marriage. We protect our marriage. It is our number one priority. I can't tell you the peace and happiness that brings to me. We've been through a lot together, and always come out stronger and closer. I'm excited to see what eternity brings.

A Love Story Part 3...The Proposal

The next four weeks were full of dinners, a baseball game, meeting friends, meeting family, a cabin trip, breakfasts, lunches, ice cream in the park, etc. We saw each other just about every day during those weeks. I was so content. I had moved to Arizona with hopes of finding myself. I likened myself unto the girl sung about in Dixie Chick's songs about needing wide open spaces. I didn't want to find love. I wanted to figure out who I was. But, I think I found that through my relationship with Aaron. I was able to talk to him and tell him everything. Things I didn't think I'd ever tell anyone. I kept waiting for him to run. And then one night he called. There was something about his voice, I knew a lot was on his mind. He asked to come over and "talk". We had been dating just over two weeks at this point.
   He showed up at my apartment looking pretty sullen. We walked around and eventually ended up at a little  playground. We made small talk for a while. I was trying to ignore the tension growing between us, as I figured he was about to break up with me. He finally looked at me and said, "Look Lauren, I've been praying a lot lately about us. I was reading my scriptures today, and went to the temple, and I got a really strong impression. I don't think you're supposed to be my girlfriend for much longer..."
        I choked back some tears. And started to say, "Okay - well that's fine..." When he interrupted me, took my hands and said, "Because I think you're supposed to be my wife."
      Pretty much felt like someone punched me in the stomach. Or slapped me in the face. It was a physical shock. "WHAT!" I exclaimed. And he repeated, "I think you're supposed to be my wife." And then I punched in him the arm. With all my might. The first of many arm punches Aaron would receive because of his phraseology.  "Seriously!? You thought that was the best way to phrase that?"
     "Well I figure you're going to think I'm nuts, and break up with me right now anyway, so I thought I'd have some fun with it." Was his response.
      "I'm not going to break up with you. I don't think you're crazy at all." Was my response. Which completely shocked him. I then proceeded to tell him how I already knew he was going to be my husband before he ever even kissed me. Then we both cracked up laughing.
     So he asked me to pray about it. Which I did. But I already knew the answer. Despite how crazy it seemed, and how crazy I would think anyone else was for doing what I was doing, I knew it was right. It's hard to explain if you've never experienced it before. But I just knew, deep in my soul, that marrying Aaron was the right thing to do. I also knew it wasn't going to be easy.
     We decided we'd probably wait until after the term was over to get officially engaged. At least that's what I thought. However, four weeks to the day, from that first fateful Wednesday when I called him first, Aaron officially asked me to marry him.
     He thought he was so tricky with having me plan our date. Which he was. Because I literally had no clue what was coming. Of course he suggested a few things along the way. So we ate Cheesecake Factory where Aaron was nervously worried about making sure his truck was locked, while I just thoroughly enjoyed every bite of my Chicken Madeira. We stopped by my apartment on our way to Saguaro Lake to look at the stars, like we did four weeks earlier. I had been dressed really nice, but wanted to get into something more comfy for the drive. Aaron insisted I stay in my cute clothes. Which ticked me off. My roommate also urged me to stay dressed up, which I just thought was weird. I ignored both of them and put on my sweatpants and t-shirt.
    As we drove out to the lake I told Aaron I wasn't sure we should get engaged so fast. Or maybe we should just break up. I really have no idea why I was saying these words. Aaron didn't even acknowledge what I just said. All he did was take his cell phone out of his pocket and call his friend Sean. This infuriated me, and sealed in my mind that wasn't a good idea after all. And I had no clue what he was talking about. I now know that Sean was at the lake setting up music, flower and fruit where Aaron and I had shared our first kiss. With me dropping this bomb of not wanting to get married anymore, Aaron had to tell Sean to maybe hold off. He was able to communicate all this with Sean, by talking about yard work. Or something. I was convinced at the time that Sean was helping Aaron's parents with something and Aaron had to tell him what to do. After 22 years of best friendship, I guess you can say a lot without really saying it. Anyway... back to the story at hand. Aaron pulled over. He asked me if I would say a prayer to know where these thoughts were coming from. I agreed. As soon as I finished my prayer I knew that these thoughts were not mine. That may also sound strange if you've never experienced it before. But I know that I was letting outside forces effect the decision that I honestly knew was right. I apologized to Aaron. I told him I still wanted to marry him. That I still knew it was right. And that I loved him. Pretty sure you could have heard his sigh of relief about 2,000 miles away.
     He carried a blanket awkwardly as we walked down to the pier. I didn't know what he was doing. Turned out he was carrying a box of long stemmed roses under that blanket. I probably saw the box and never even knew what it was. As we walked to the end of the pier, music started playing. I STILL didn't know what was going on. There were flowers everywhere. Potted plants. Flowers. Fruit... like watermelon and pineapple. (Yeah I didn't know what that was about... Sean's doing. It all makes sense now that I know Sean.)  Then Aaron started singing my favorite love song. Eric Clapton's, Wonderful Tonight. It felt a little strange to stand there being serenaded to, having no clue what was going on. Then he finished the song and gave me the roses. Then he got down on one knee. And then I knew. He told me he got me a ring to replace the one I lost there, four weeks ago. He told me the only thing he would ever change about me was my last name, if I'd let him. Then he said, "Lauren, will you marry me?" And I said, "Yeah!" And he said, "Yeah?" And I laughed and said, "Yes! Yeah. Yes." And then I couldn't open the ring box. It was dark. And tricky! But he put that ring on my finger and kissed me. And kissed me and kissed me. A few minutes later a fisherman went by. I yelled to him, "We just got engaged!" And I'm pretty sure one of us said, "She said yes! Everybody mambo!"
     And so that was it. On April 27th I was engaged to the love of my life after the happiest four weeks of my life. Which has lead to the happiest years of my life.