I am a pretty, pretty princess

Tons of people, or like five, helped make my anniversary really special. (Thanks, everyone!) Should I tell the story in chronological order or by category? Hmm, I think ‘by category’ will illustrate how spoiled I truly was.\
The presents:

* Last fall I found a ring I wanted to mark the occasion (10 years, yo!). I was drawn to the sapphire stone because it represents loyalty and fidelity (except for Princess Diana, oops) and because the dark blue is so pretty. I was psyched when I found this and Kevin bought it for me:

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* A couple of weeks ago, Kevin accidentally surprised me early with a second present. (I opened it thinking it was something I ordered). It was new digital photo frame, like the one we got my parents for Christmas. I was oooing and awwing over it so much, Kevin decided not to wait until Mother’s Day. YAY! The first picture I want uploaded:

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The activities:

* Since we knew Kevin was going to be out of town on our anniversary, we scrapped our original plans and celebrated last Saturday. We went to The Cheesecake Factory and saw Juno. Woot. It was the perfect movie to see and an overall great night. (Spoiler alert: Ellen Page is the cutest thing ever. And Jennifer Garner made me cry.)

* My MIL called yesterday afternoon and offered to babysit the kids so I could go out. I whooped, “Hell, yea!” I saw 27 Dresses which was cute and perfect for the evening. (I’ve only been a bridesmaid/maid of honor six times. I feel like an underachiever now.) While I was out, my MIL and the kids cleaned up the toys in the tv room and did the dishes. Super woot!\
The deliveries:

* Shortly after breakfast I received two dozen long stemmed roses, perfectly arranged. They were beautiful and smelled so good. YAY! I love roses.

* A little later, the doorbell rang again. Max excitedly announced, “It’s another delivery!” It was a big brown box… for Kevin. Oh well, can’t win them all.

* But then! Late in the afternoon, I got an awesome gift basket from Kevin’s work peeps. Wheee. It contained pampering supplies and a gift certificate to a nail salon. I’ve never had a professional pedicure and I am really looking forward to it. (Thanks, Kevin’s work peeps!)\
The expressions of love:

* Kevin tells the world how he feels about me. Little old me. Aww, shucks.

* Kevin made me a heart. I think out of everything I received and did, this is my favorite. I can just imagine him in front of the laptop, making sure the heart looks right on the monitor; I love how his pinkies aren’t touching; and the expectant look on his face as he peers over the top of the heart at the camera. It makes my insides all squishy and my heart go pitter-pat. Thanks, hon. I love you.

Kevin making a finger heart.

Happy Anniversary, Lady!

Kevin Lawver making a heart with his hands in a very cheesy self-portrait photo.

Jen already posted her list, but since I’m in California, I’m not late with mine. I honestly can’t believe it’s been ten years. It certainly doesn’t feel like it. She said all the important stuff – that it’s been way easier than we thought it would be, and while we’ve had “issues” over the years, we’ve figured them all out together and come out the other side stronger and happier for it. Jen puts up with a lot. I travel too much, work long hours, am distracted when I’m at home sometimes (part of my New Year’s resolution, and I’m getting better, but it’s still hard to switch gears) and other stuff that’s not as important, but probably just as annoying.\
Jen already gave a partial list of stuff that sticks out to me, but I was thinking about it last night, and here are some other things that have made the last ten years fly by:

  • Jen’s verbal dyslexia. I wrote a blog entry about it a long time ago (thanks for finding it, Dave!), but she sometimes mixes up the first syllable of two words (like “toin coss” instead of “coin toss”), and then gets this look on her face like she knows she just said something funny but can’t figure out what. My all-time favorite is “Moodist Bunks”.
  • It’s that we’re pretty much always making things fun, no matter how stupid, icky or menial they are.
  • She makes me want to be a better man.
  • She’s understanding and never makes me feel bad about things I can’t control.\
    Like I said five years ago, I’d do it all again in an instant. The sun definitely still shines out your ass, sweetie, and you’re gorgeous (if you haven’t seen Juno, you really should). Actually, since both of our asses have “settled” a little over the years, it shines even brighter.\
    I love you.

10 Years, Baby!

Today is Kevin and my 10 year anniversary. Woot. I’m not surprised that we are this happy but I am surprised how easy marriage has been. The media gives marriage a bad name, I think.\
Sunshine still flies out of our asses even though we’ve gained weight, have hair growing out of new places, and started snoring. Of the past ten years, I remember: trying to fool around in our hotel room the night before Kevin’s brother’s wedding and being interrupted every ten minutes by various family members; getting in over my head while painting the guest room and sheepishly asking him to finish the room; and being grateful that he doesn’t fuss when the house is a mess and dinner hasn’t been made. Kevin remembers our cross-country move a year after we were married; and learning about our first child by walking in the front door and immediately being greeted by me asking, “Do you want to take your pregnant wife out to dinner?” We’ve also had fun vacations and holidays and big moments like the birth of our children, broken legs, world travel, postpartum depression, and huge promotions. Mostly, though, it is the small things that stand out. It’s been a great and fun ten years. We think the next ten years will be even better. Hurray!\
Kevin is out of town today, which is totally ok with me. In fact, it was my idea so that he could come home for a few days and rest up before going on another trip. That’s more important in the long run and that’s how awesome I am. 🙂 We celebrated our anniversary early and it was fab. To be honest, I am more sad that Kevin will be missing the Super Bowl than our anniversary or Valentine’s Day. Those last two occasions can be “moved” to other days, but I don’t think the Super Bowl can be postponed just for us. Too bad.

Me me me me me!!

Kevin is gone for almost a month and my friends think I should use this extra alone time to explore new hobbies. Doesn’t that sound awesome? Now that Brian is becoming more independent during playtime and is in school I actually have time for a new hobby or two. Except, I don’t have a clue what hobbies I want to explore. Anyone have ideas for me?

Brian, Snow Explorer

I Found You, Mommy

Jen took a bunch of pictures of the boys on Thursday playing in the snow. Enjoy!

I Got Interviewed!

Frank Gruber interviewed me about Adapting to Web Standards the other day, and has posted it to his blog. Go check it out. I almost sound like I know what I’m talking about!\
And if you don’t want to go all the way over there, you can watch it right here!

Upgraded

I finally got around to upgrading everything to Movable Type 4.0 (a, the security edition).\
It’s late, and I don’t feel well, so if things are broken, I’ll get to them later. Really.

He’p Me! He’p Me!

Kevin is torturing me by watching Jackass 2, though he did actually ask if I minded. Why did I say no?? OMG, the movie is sooo stupid. The worst part? I can’t stop laughing.

Taking Surveys

I know you all use the internet at least a little (because you’re here). I’m working on something new and threw together this little survey to see what folks use most often on the web. It won’t take you too long (only six questions), and would help me out a lot. So, if you’ve got five minutes to spare, please go take my survey.\
There’s no agenda here, I just want to validate (or disprove, either way) some of my assumptions about what people use most often. There are no wrong answers.\
The survey closes Friday night, and really, it only takes a couple minutes.

Are you there Mom? It’s me, Jen.

I need my mom to come mother my youngest because he’s doing things that are annoying (like asking for a specific food to eat and then changing his mind after he gets it) and things that are sad (like crying about going to school). Eeep.