Espana!

Jeff got home in October from his mission to Spain.  The plan had been to go with him and my parents back for a visit, but then when we started building a house we decided to scrap it. 

 

But then we realized we couldn't and we had to go.  So we did. 

 

First off the 13 hour plane ride was heavenly.  Not so much the 45 minutes of sleep the night before, but the flight was an amazing start.  I slept, I watched TV and movies, I read books . . . I got to do whatever I wanted, with no kids . . . and to top it off someone brought me diet cokes the whole time. 

 

The trip was off to a good start. 

 

We had a day on our own before we met up with Mom, Dad and Jeff.   My mom had tried to prep us on how to NOT look like tourists.  About 2 hours into our journey to the hotel we were failing miserably. 

 

 

The tallness of us, the bright colored stripes we were both wearing and then dragging luggage through the grass was a huge give away.  

 

The deal was that Ansen would quietly trust me and I would get us to the hotel.  And I did it . . . and he did too. 

 

After a nap, we headed to The Rambles to take a little looksie and to the Carrefor for some essentials . . .

 

And then we had to go somewhere easy for dinner . . . so we went with Hard Rock Cafe on The Rambles. 

 

Some Gelato and then back to the hotel.  Lisa taught us a little rule about travel.  Everyday deserves a Gelato . . . and we went with it. 

Ans n' Ash - Part 1

We met in Logan the day before school started in August 1998. Ansen introduced himself as, "Ansen, like Hansen . . . mmmm bop, but without the H." (Ansen doesn't remember when we first met, but he soon could not forget me:) 

He and his friends took me and all my little freshman roommates to a lot of school activities.  They took us to the cemetary at 2 in the morning to see the weeping woman, taught us to jump the fence and run around in the football stadium, played with us in a huge all apartment complex waterfight, snuck us into the underground tunnels of the school, drove us to Aggie A night, and showed us where to get free dinner every night of the week at difference school activites for the first 2 weeks of school.

This is the night I "impressed" him at Olive Garden by drinking 11 pink lemonades and 7 breadsticks and who knows how much salad.  And then thrifty me boxed up my actual meal and had lunch and dinner for the next day. 

The all apartment complex waterfight.  This was the first night I knew I would get along with my roommates and also realized the guys across the way were pretty cool too (we all teamed up).   And yes, I wore overalls.

The M4 girls is what everyone called us.  We all really got along . . . and we got along with Ansen's apartment too.  We played pratical jokes on one another all year, went shopping, ate dinner, hung out and got in all out wars.

I'm vividly remembering the dried oranges we had to clean off the door the last day of school that they thrown at our door at some point in the year.  I think I remember a broken window when they were trying to get in and pull us out the window.  I definitely remember a tampered with juice bottle and I remember salt in their whole gallon of milk . . .  yeah, we were all dumb.

We went on our first official date to Homecoming in October.  It moved pretty fast after that and by Thanksgiving we were thinking wedding - maybe. I e-mailed my Dad to ask him how my "friend" would know if they were following the Spirit correctly.  Dad caught on and thought "this little girl thinks she's going to get married" and wrote me an 11 page reply. 

(This was actually the Sweethearts Dance in February)

I went to Maine over Christmas break to meet his family, but we told everyone at home that I went to Farmington (left out the Maine part) to visit a friend - I wasn't ready for questions.  

We got engaged on February 12, 1999.

Stollers

For years Ansen has made fun of my "Stroller Collection" that we store in the garage.  And I'll admit I've worked up quite a small collection.  Each with a very different and very important purpose.  The single jogger, double jogger, single mall stroller, and the sit and stand mall stroller.  I finally got rid of the baby carseat stroller. 

But after all the years and years of complaining I've heard about my stroller collection it was Ansen that necessitated the purchase of yet another stroller this year.  Another stroller of exactly what we had in the garage at home . . . and made me die laughing. 

We realized we forgot to bring a stroller to Disneyland as Ansen (no joke) was bagging on my Stroller Collection at my cousins' house. 

It wasn't intentional, but that was how Ansen figured out a way to get his and Matt's golf clubs in the car to California . . . not bring the stroller - plenty of room! 

Anyone want to buy a gently used sit and stand?

Go Aggies!

Jen texted to see if we were going to "be around" the coming weekend and assuming they just wanted to meet for dinner or something I waited to figure out what was going on that weekend with Ansen.  Finally Jen called and she actually just wanted to know if we wanted to go to the USU game (everyone down here in Utah County calls is the BYU game) at BYU stadium.    Ummm, yes. 

And it's just on the 50 yard line, 8 rows back.   Ummm, yes. 

No kids.  Ummm, yes.

Young-ish and dumb.   Ummm, yes. 

Lukcily Ansen just got a new USU sweatshirt last year for Christmas (he's not wearing it in the picture) and luckily Christmas is coming up soon and I'm going to get ask for a new one since I'm sporting the same one I bought freshman year.  Luckily huge sweatershirts were in style then and it still fits me now. 

We had a blast and I figured out I actually like football when it's a team I care about and it's only 8 rows back on the 50 yard line . . . I don't ask for much. 

It was an ESPN game and just like the old college days we did whatever dumbness we could muster to be on TV.  Ansen wasn't in this picture that Jen's mom texted . . . but he was being dumb too.  I had to keep jumping to be seen . . . but of course I did it.

Our future USU roommates were all sound asleep with the babysitter when we got home (Skylar didn't make it in the picture). 

Ansen says there's only two special people in my life that separately we have two full brains, but together (everytime) we barely have one . . . Jen and my cousin, Lyndsey. 

Together . . .

Ansen and I celebrated our 13th anniversary this year.  Last year on our anniversary we talked about what the next 12 years would bring . . .

Addison graduating from high school . . . maybe married (we hoped not)

Maybe moving?

Olivia driving and dating

More kids?

Another job loss?

Cancer? Death?

What will our kids do or be?

Financial hard time or good times?

Vacations we hoped for . . .

And 3 months later we experienced our biggest challenge yet . . . my car accident. 

We survived it together and we are better for it. 

Who knows what is in store next for good or for hard, but it's good to be doing it together. 

To celebrate, we went to Wicked  - and loved it!

Good Golly!

Ansen and I have been married for 12 years now.  12 years. 

I don't even know how to articulate everything I feel about this (all good things).  It doesn't seem like that long ago we were in college . . . meeting at Village Inn for dinner at 2:00 in the morning, rushing across campus in the freezing cold with Ansen holding my hand in his pocket to keep it warm, sharing the one car we had for awhile, sleeping in on Saturdays mornings and taking midnight walks.

And now we have these three crazy rugrats, we're making dinner at 6:00, we're cleaning this house for what feels like all the time, sleeping in is 8:00 and we only sometimes get to go on walks by ourselves.  But it really is the life!

We celebrated with dinner at Flemmings.  I treated Ansen with the gift card I got from a client which I had thought would get us two separate date nights . . . that was a laugh . . . I had no idea, but really good.  My parents took the kids for the night and then we went shopping in Park City . . . alone (heaven).

 I'm sure that not too long from now it will feel like yesterday that our little kids were making us colored anniversary banners.



The Simpler Days

Ansen was up in Logan late week for a Beta Alpha Psi (the accounting franternity) meeting and the Aggie basketball game.  Ansen sent me a text of a picture of the basketball court and a message that said being there made him miss our days at college together.  

When I think of Logan it has this special place in my heart.  Talking about Logan makes me smile, makes me giddy, and makes me happy. 

I lived there for 6 years by the time it was all said and done.  I met Ansen the second day I was there.  We dated in Logan, we were in engaged in Logan, we moved into our first apartment in Logan, we learned how to fight (or have a difference of opinion and work through it) in Logan, we did the (hopefully) dumbest things we'll ever do in Logan, we got involved in our first ward in Logan and met some of the greatest people we know in Logan, we learned to budget in Logan, we learned to worked hard in Logan, and we had our first baby in Logan.  (Oh, and we got an education in Logan.)

Being in Logan and talking about Logan always makes me melancholy for the simpler days . . . the days before mortgages, before big time consuming church callings, before serious bills and serious jobs, and before . . .

KIDS!

It was a great life, but it's an even better life now.  I know it's a little crazier, I know we're a little more tired and probably grouchy on occassion, I know the expenses are a lot (LOT) more, and I know it will only get worse.  So much worse I can't even imagine, but . .

I would be lost without them.  These little people mean everything to me! 

And I'm so glad that I have Ansen doing this with me and sharing these sweet kids with me. 

11 Years ago today . . .

. . . Ansen asked and I said yes

( It was the same calendar weekend . . . engaged on Friday and Valentine's on Sunday.)

Once in a Blue Moon Date Night

This weekend Ansen and I went out since I feel like we haven't really had time to talk in a long time and we had the best server at Olive Garden. I mean an incredible server. We drove all the way to the Sugarhouse Olive Garden, but we got free soda and did I mention the excellent customer service?

My hot date

Ansen's even hotter date

And our awesome server. Can you see the warning in Lisa's eyes that says: DO NOT TAKE THAT PICTURE (but I did and I posted it).

Nine Years Baby!

(Posted weeks late . . . . ) Today (July 22) is our anniversary! Nine years! Makes me sound old, but not quite the case since I was only 19 when we got married. Amazingly we both still graduated from college with a Master's each, we have two beautiful, smart kids and ta -da . . . we're still happy together!

I used to think that there's no such thing as "the one" but after 9 years with Ansen I know he is and was the ONLY one for me. Sad as this is Ansen, my favorite thing to do with you is big projects together. Ahh, I know it's sad. But I love lots of other things too!

Ansen, I love you because . . .

1. You support me. You have never held me back from anything I wanted to accomplish. You're my biggest support system and I love you for that.

2. You're a great dad! Our girls love you! I love that you play baseball, hide and go seek, the Clifford game (that I hate) and horse with them. I love that you even put your swimming suit on to go swimming in the kid pool. I love that you're just as capable of a parent as I am and that you step right in and we're equals.

3. You are competitive. I'd hate to have to play games with someone who didn't care who won my whole life so I'm glad we found each other!

4. You're patient. I like the calendar full and the days packed and then eventually it all falls apart, but you're patient with me and put it all back together.

5. Your commitment to the gospel. Life can be busy and hard, but I'm grateful I know that the gospel comes first. I'm grateful for your testimony, your mission, and the daily commitment to keep at it.

6. You love music. Though you can't appreciate the array of music I do, I love that we love music. I love that you actually know the words (every word with perfect exactness). I love that the first time I drove in your car you sang "Amanda" by Boston at the top of your lungs.

7. You work hard. You work hard at work, you work hard at home and you work hard on us. Thank you.

8. You laugh and you laugh loud. I love that we understand each other's humor and we still think things are funny the 20th time around. I hope I'm always afraid to bend over in front on you because I know you're probably going to poke me in the butt.

9. Your enthusiasm. I'm glad you're celebrating the day that some guy had pine tar too far up his bat and caused a huge fight in baseball 20 years ago. I love that you love the Yankees, I love that you love golf, I love that you love Nascar (I'll never say that one again), I love that you love your concealed weapons permit, I love that you love to be surprised. I love that you're excited, little or big.

10. Your random knowledge. Though I'm usually made to look like a fool, I love that you know a little bit about everything.

11. Your shopping skills. I love that you understand bulk shopping, clearance shopping and you're always up for the hunt. And I have to add I am SO grateful we see eye to eye in our finances.

Ansen, you're the one for me always, forever, no matter what. Look how far we've come, can't wait to see what happens next!