Happy 11th Anniversary!

*A little disclaimer...I could not find any other wedding photos. They are all in a box someplace and I don't know where. This one was in a special box I keep in my endtable, but I don't know how to hook up the scanner to my notebook, so I had to take pictures of these with my digital camera, and that is why they are so dark and blurry.

Last night, Steve and I were reminiscing about our wedding day eleven years ago--a much too sentimental conversation for a blog with an enormous cow emblazoned across it--but here a few choice memories I have of that day I felt might be more fitting.

I remember the night before our wedding getting in a big fight with my mom. (Please don't be mad, Mom.) She told me that I needed to get in and out of the bathroom quickly in the morning because lots of other people needed to use it before the wedding. Oh my gosh! I lost it! I'm pretty sure that smoke came out of my ears--and possibly my nostrils--when I told her that I didn't care if everyone else showed up at the wedding in their pajamas! That if I felt it was necessary for me to stay in that bathroom tweaking each individual curl and eyelash from 3 AM right up until the time when I had to get into the car, then so be it! (As it happened, I woke up at 5 AM, took a shower and had my hair finished in ten minutes, with enough time leftover to do my sister's hair and engage in a nice 2 hour chat with my aunt before we all slipped peacefully in my dad's car, arriving at the temple way ahead of schedule.)

I remember not eating anything at all that day. Even the tiny morsel of cake I sampled at the reception--the cake that someone spent days making--tasted like bunk.

I remember Steve kissing me as we were driving away from the ceremony en route to the luncheon while we were stopped at a stop sign and it was the best kiss of my life...up to that point.

I remember Steve kissing me later that day while driving on the Las Vegas Strip (where we would stay that first night) and accidentally slamming into the car in front of us. (It was all resolved peacefully, though. No major harm done.)

I remember (except for the car accident thingy) feeling nothing but peace and contentment that day. The nerves and stress I had felt the day before the wedding were completely absent. It was a really happy, happy day.

Here are some things I have learned about Steve in the eleven years since that day:

1. He asks for things like "maglights" for Christmas and gets really, really excited when he unwraps them. (I don't understand this, but I think it must be the equivalent of my excitement at receiving--say--a vacuum cleaner or something.)

2. He gets really excited about pulling teeth. He thinks the cliche "it's like pulling teeth to get 'em to do it..." is just plain silly, because for him it is easy to pull teeth.

3. He turns into a six year old at Christmas time. And whenever he is around his brothers.

4. He loves to grill. Anything and everything. Grilling tools also make good Christmas or birthday gifts. (Except I have never actually bought him any of the tools we own. He always beats me to the punch. He'll just go out and buy it when he wants it and then come home and say, "Look, I bought my birthday present early.")

5. He loves to play hymns on the piano on Sunday afternoons to set a reverent mood.

6. He loves to let the kids ride him like a horse. (Although we learned that it is possible for a kid to break an arm when doing so. Who knew?)

7. He has learned not to blush when his wife brings up embarrassing women's issues at parties (i.e. childbirth, etc.), or else she will continue to push the envelope just to get such a response out of him.

8. He has learned not to be too honest with his wife. For example, he has learned to never make comments such as "D'ya know what? You have great Halloween hair!" or "Wow, I've never noticed before, but you kinda have stumpy legs, don't you?" Now he says instead, "You are the most beautiful woman I know!"

9. He works really, REALLy hard and never complains.

10. No matter how much pressure he is under, no matter how much he has on his plate, no matter how difficult the path is, he NEVER compromises his integrity. For eleven solid years he has remained good to the core, and I am a better person for knowing him.

Wow! I am so lucky to have this guy:


Happy 11th, Steve! I love you!