Love Letters.

Dear Patrick,

I found these.  And they made my day.

It was a few years ago that you wrote them (it might have been inspired by sweet Elder Scott who had written his dear wife love notes on hole-punches).

You wrote a whole pink post-it pad full of reasons why you loved me.  And told me I could read them all at once or save them and read them one at a time.  I decided to read them slowly day by day.  But shortly after that we moved and they got lost somewhere among the boxes.

But nearly two years later, when we moved to this new house, I found the little pink pad, hidden underneath a drawer in a dusty hutch and I was so glad.

Still I tucked them away--saving them for a special occasion.

Well, that special occasion came a few days ago, when I was feeling down and a bit sick and tired and stressed.  Like I said, they made my day.  And I had to take a few pictures of my favorites...

I love you too Sweetheart.

Mustache.

On a whim one lazy Sunday afternoon, I decided to draw a mustache on Patrick...

...and he actually agreed. 

I laughed until I cried and then we washed it off.  It was a bit scary for a minute when a faint mustache remained, but with a little more face soap and water, it washed off.

But, I still think Patrick would make one rugged looking bull fighter!

Mixing Paint...

The play continues.

{And this one was my little creation...}

Did you celebrate?

It was National Chocolate Milkshake Day on September 12th.  So we feasted on homemade frosties...

And then because our little boys (who were supposed to be sleeping in bed) decided to spy down the stairs to see what we were up to, we thought it only fitting to share our celebration...

Happy National Chocolate Milkshake Day!!!

Mark it down on your calendars...there's always next year.
Click here for the cute, free printables.

To Remember.

It's hard to say how much the little things matter.  And how my day turned completely around when, unexpectedly, sweet Patrick walks in the house at lunchtime with flowers in hand, and in my favorite color at that.  They warmed our table until full bloom and now they hang from a shelf drying away, preserving their beauty for us to enjoy all winter long.

Patrick's Turn to Plan. [The Daring Dive]

This year, for the first time since our first anniversary, Patrick had enough time to plan our anniversary trip.  We made a deal after our first anniversary that while he was in school, I would plan our trips since he had so little free time.  But now he's done, and I waited in anticipation for the day's events.

A few months prior he told me he had something planned that was a little daring.  Daring, is definitely not my cup of chocolate.  So I teasingly told him that if it was sky diving, he should just ask my dad to go on the trip instead of me, since I would rather die before I would go skydiving.  He just smiled his secretive little smile and didn't say a word.

Well, on the drive there to the "daring activity", as we got close I was instructed to close my eyes.  When I opened them, I still didn't know where we were or what we were doing.  But after hiking a few flights of indoor stairs in an unfamiliar building, we entered a door that said "iFly."  We walked up to the counter and the girl asked, "Are you flying today?"

Patrick responded, "Yep!"

"Okay, you just need to sign this waiver sheet."

I thought, "Waiver sheet?!  Flying?!  What are we doing here?!"

I looked at Patrick and he smiled.  "We're going skydiving!"

I felt my stomach plummet with sick, churning feelings knotting up inside.  "Skydiving?  Real skydiving?"  I was just about ready to ask if we could have a refund.

"Yes! Well, indoor skydiving," he so generously reassured me.

So my visions of falling out of an airplane 3000 feet above ground and literally passing out, changed to a vision of falling from an airplane about 500 feet off the ground in a huge gymnasium and still passing out.  Needless to say, the "indoor" part did little to comfort my racing heart.

In a daze, I shakily signed my death sentence and handed it to the girl, but what I really wanted to do was rip it from her hands and tear it up.  My nerves just couldn't handle this.  We don't even have a written will yet!  What about the boys?  What about Maylie?

And while all these thoughts were circling through my head Patrick escorted me to a bench where we watched some skydiving students.  And I began to relax.  Because it was not dropping from a plane, but just falling through a doorway into a wind tunnel.  And the best part was that there was a bouncy metal/mesh grate only a couple feet below the divers.  Just a couple.

And so began one of the most daring experiences of my entire life....and I loved every minute of it!  So much, in fact, that we might go back someday.  (I still need to learn how to do a flip!)

The rest of the day was splendid with a concert in the park, dinner at The Garden, and ice cream from Baskin Robbins.  We even found time to watch a little from the Food Network...which really was a vacation, since we don't have any channels on our TV.  The next morning we went to the temple, picked up Maylie from the Johnsons, and ended our day with a photoshoot of our dear friends in our old ward. (I will be posting those soon).

Thank you, Sweetie, for planning such a fun and *daring* trip!!!

{Note: you can easily tell who has the squishiest nose :)}

Summer Firepit.

Hopefully the first of many. 

It just feels like we're a real family now that we have a real job.  It's so nice to have our Patrick and Daddy home with us when he's home.  No more studying, late school papers, examination cramming.  Everything has just fallen into place for us...a perfect job, a perfect little cottage to rent, a new house to be built soon...and most of all, just time with the man we all love so much...

Graduation May 2012

Dear Patrick,

I'm not quite sure how to tell you all that's in my heart.  We've traveled on this road for some time now, and looking back I am utterly amazed at how far we've come.

It's hard to believe that we started this journey of PT school in August of 2009.  We only had a little bit of furniture, two bachelor's degrees between the two of us, a little two year old, an 8-month old, a heap of stored-up dreams, and a lot of love.

I could hardly imagine the day that you would graduate...it seemed so small and far away.  But now, here we are, and here you are, all grown-up and a Doctor of Physical Therapy.

And now we've accumulated a little more furniture, are renting a house, starting to build our dream house, and enjoying life with an almost 5 year old, a 3 year old, and our first baby girl.  Could life be any more magical? I think not.

You started the job of your dreams last week and I can't believe that we are here, living real life...not that life wasn't real before, but life was always waiting and waiting for the next hurdle to jump and the next bridge to cross.  But no more waiting.  This is life, and it is so incredible.

I was so proud of you as they read your name and you walked across the stage to be hooded.  Little tears blurred my vision, and I felt so bad that of all the people I wanted to clap for the most, I couldn't clap for you because I was videoing the whole experience.  It was glorious.

Well, now begins the next chapter of our never-ending love story, sweetheart.  And I'm so glad I get to spend this never-ending adventure with you.

Love always,

your Jamie

The Aftermath

Only a sunset on Valentine's Day could be this radiant.

Gifts for the boys were simple but special this year.  Mommy and Me journals, love letters, and three love coupons.

I had planned a Valentine's evening for Patrick, and even though my gift for him had not arrived in the mail yet, we both enjoyed the night.  Through words and service and music the Lord smiled down upon us and blessed us to grow in love and adoration--more than we dreamed possible.  And I really didn't think I could be happier.  But when Patrick gave me my gift, I was stunned and thrilled as happy tears welled in my eyes.  Wrapped in Thera-band was a can of beans...and wrapped around the outside of the can was this:

And this:

I have always been the one to plan and prepare adventures, dates, and anniversaries.  I really can't explain just how loved I felt when I opened this gift.  

Patrick, thank you for making this Valentine's Day experience one in a million.  But even more than that, thank you for just being you.  Thank you for the thousands of daily things you do for me that speak love...the kindness, the compliments, the little and big acts of service.  These morsels do add up to such an outpouring of love.  The sun shines a little bit brighter, the air smells a little bit sweeter, and my life is just so full of heaven because of you...

With Daddy...

Life ebbs and flows and we struggle to complete and accomplish without giving in to the constant temptation of busyness.

When school rolls around again, I always know Patrick will be so much busier and that "our time with Daddy" will be put on hold.  But as Patrick expressed one night, life will always be busy.  Even when school is over for him, he will have a job and callings and always much to do.  Busyness should not be a catch-all excuse for the time missed with growing-up children.

And he determined to do something about it.

He worked and prayed to find a solution, and now a miracle has occurred.

From my eyes I see a man who gets up long before the sun rises.  He gets ready, spends time with the Lord in scripture study and prayer, and then whisks himself off to school at 7:30 very morning--even when he doesn't have class until 1:00.  Then he studies and learns and writes all day, striving to complete as much "schoolwork" as possible on campus.  

 

He comes home around 4:00 every afternoon and devotes the rest of his day to his sons and then his evening to his wife.  He plays with his boys--bikes, 4-wheelers, Mario Kart, Candyland, iPod or computer games, hide-and-seek, the list goes on and on.  After dinner he bathes the boys and we work to put them to bed in order to have an evening just for us.

He doesn't receive a reward for any of these things...except maybe extra hugs from me...and a growing adoration from the boys.  When I asked Easton the person he loved so very much that he would want to perform an act of kindness for, he promptly replied, "Daddy."

Maybe in the world's eyes it isn't much, but in my eyes, my sweetheart is truly my hero.

Life is still ebbing and flowing...so much smoother now and I marvel to see us move along, peacefully growing harmony in our home.