4th Anniversary

Stacie's and my 4th Anniversary is tomorrow. I can't believe it has been four years already. Being married to Stacie has been a great blessing and I wanted to pay tribute to her here. I know I said my last post would be the final one for this blog, but I decided to bring it back since I haven't written anything about actually getting married and how I felt about that.

Our Anniversary coming up has brought back memories of the day we were married. It was the best day of my life, literally. Our sealing ceremony was full of emotion for me. Stacie looked beautiful, and it felt so perfect and right to be marrying her. I had a feeling of certainty that marrying her was what God wanted me to do, that he was blessing me with this marriage to her. Our time in the temple was so peaceful and joyful. And the rest of the day was great as well--it felt like a perfect day. The time with family and friends on the temple grounds after our wedding, then the wedding dinner, were full of joy and fun. It was a great celebration of our uniting and creating a family.

Now, four years later, my love for Stacie has grown, and so has our family. There are four of us now and another on the way in a few months. It is a lot of fun to have a family. I am so blessed to have married Stacie and be living the life that I am. Stacie is amazing at taking care of us all. She is the love of my life, and I can't imagine being without her. Our two boys are so much fun and such great kids. I love the way that Stacie takes care of them. She is a dedicated and loving mother. They are in love with her! She is also a super fun mom. The other morning it was raining when we all woke up, so Stacie told the boys we needed to go outside and play in the rain. They were excited and Braden ran and got his boots on so he could jump in puddles. Pretty soon we were all out getting soaked in a warm summer rain, jumping in puddles. Stacie, despite being pregnant and not feeling very well was in the middle of it all with our boys, loving being out in the rain as well.

I love that Stacie is such a great mom to our boys. She puts a lot of work into taking care of them and teaching them, and it is a lot of work. The few times that I've been in charge of them for the day have worn me out, and Stacie does this every day! I feel full of gratitude that she takes such good care of our boys every day. She is a great teacher to them, and I'm constantly amazed at the things Braden knows how to do at his age. She is great at teaching them the gospel--I'm always amazed at how she can come up with a great family home evening lesson that is brief enough that the boys will pay attention to it, but full of the simple parts of the gospel that they can understand. And her testimony shines through as she teaches our boys, I know they can feel it, and it is a great blessing to them to feel that from their mom.

She makes sure they have fun as well--we have had a great summer full of Disneyland, swimming, slip 'n sliding, fishing, parades, fireworks, and being outside, all of which Stacie plans for these boys.  She is also so in tune to their little personalities--she always seems to know why they are happy, or grumpy, and how to make them feel better when they cry.

Stacie is an amazing wife, too. I love being around her, and she makes me feel taken care of in little and big ways. For example, she does simple things like putting surprise notes in my lunch or cooking dinners she knows I'll like. Or she pretends we have an important reason to go somewhere like the Recreation Outlet while we're out running errands. When we were at Disneyland she kept insisting that I go on rides like Tower of Terror and Space Mountain while she stayed and waited with the kids--I really appreciated that, though I tried not to take her up on it too often. She also does an amazing job at birthdays, Christmas, Father's Day, and other holidays. I can never top her. She always thinks of thoughtful gifts and plans fun parties. I had to put a picture in from my birthday a few years ago when she bit the bullet and wore BYU gear, put Braden in all BYU clothes and made BYU birthday hats for everyone. It was a fun way for her to show how much she cares.

I love this woman, and I'm so happy that we were married four years ago. That was the best decision I have made in my life, and I'm so glad she decided to marry me as well. I love living life with her. Even the every-day things in life are better with her at my side. I love that she is full of love and concern for others. I love that she is gentle and kind to children--even all of the neighborhood kids love her. I love her sense of humor and how she can find the funny side of any situation. I love her testimony and faithfulness. I love her inner strength. I love going running with her. I love how beautiful and radiant she is. I love that she texts me funny stories about our boys while I'm at work.  I love that she likes to take care of me--cook dinner, and pack me lunches, and ask me how I'd doing. She is a beautiful, brilliant, amazing woman, and I look forward to an eternity with her and our family.

Braden will be talking about this day for a while

Braden wanted to go running in the rain with Mommy

At the parade

Braden loved going on this ride with his mom

Painting snow, playing "spider webs" and running through a finish line.

We have a fun mom.

The cousins getting pirate treasure at Braden's birthday party-Stacie put together a treasure hunt complete with a map and treasure chest. For the next few weeks Braden kept asking when he could have another pirate party!