The Man I Love

Today is Danny's 29th birthday and even though this is totally cliche to do, here are just a few things I love about him and that make me so glad I'm married to him.

• He's an optimist.






• He never complained when he had to pick up so much slack when the unbelievable fatigue of early pregnancy hit.






• He's sad when he doesn't get to see the kids before they're asleep.






• He honors his priesthood.






• He's very forgiving.






• He loves me even in those moments when I'm not very lovable.






• He's really good on a computer.






• He takes his role as breadwinner very seriously.






• He doesn't complain when he gets home from work and dinner isn't ready or the house is a disaster.






• He's very low maintenance.






• He loves me in spite of all my weaknesses.






• He's got a great sense of humor.






• He's willing to help around the house in any way.






• He's a very hard worker.






• He keeps me level headed.






• He happily puts up with all my quirks.






• He's smart - book smart and street smart.






• He's keeps his cool in situations that have me reeling.






• He's really great with finances.






• He's conscientious of my needs and feelings.






• He loves spending time with our kids.






• He's so easy to be married to.

I love you, Honey. Happy birthday.

"Music City" in a Day

We took our first roadtrip on Saturday and Nashville (aka: "Music City") was our destination. It's only two hours away and we made the trip in a day. To get into the spirit, we listened to only country music in the car both ways, probably more country music in one day than Danny ever thought he'd listen to before marrying me!

Our first stop was the Nashville Zoo for the kids. It was a good zoo and we especially liked the indoor exhibit that featured all sorts of reptiles and insects. My favorite things in there were the 300+ pound anaconda and the quarter-inch-long dart frogs. Danny favorite thing was the Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake. Elsewhere, Emily loved brushing the goats, Dallin loved the noisy howler monkeys, and Grandma loved the white tiger cubs.

After lunch at Burger King, we headed to the Country Music Hall of Fame. They had just tons and tons of memorabilia of country music singers dating way back into the 1920's like clothing, instruments, photographs, records, automobiles, etc. We'd never heard of most of the people, but it was all interesting anyway. We mostly enjoyed looking for anything George. We found one of his multi-platinum records, his plaque in the Hall of Fame, and a saddle of his. I also liked Elvis' 24 karat gold piano. When we were through walking through the museum, we stopped to peruse the gift shop so Grandma could buy a magnet.

Our final stop was the Grand Ole Opry. We'd planned on taking the last tour of the day, but it ended up being sold out. So we settled for the free Opry Museum instead. Again, we saw lots of memorabilia of people we'd never heard of, but we ejoyed it nonetheless. By the time we were done with that, we were pooped and ready for dinner. We saw an Applebee's nearby and thought it would be nice to sit a while. We had some good food and made the drive home. It was a great day and it was really fun seeing a new city. Oh, and to keep in the Southern spirit, we watched "Fried Green Tomatoes" (which is set in Alabama) after the kids were in bed. Good times!

We're so glad when Grandma's around - Glad as we can be!

By the time my mom leaves for Mesa, she'll have been here nearly three weeks. For me, they've been three WONDERFUL weeks! I love being with my mom, and I love the fact that she and the kids get constant interaction with each other while she's here. She is so helpful and literally cuts my work load in half. I'll turn around and lunch is totally cleaned up. I leave on an errand only to come home to a vacuumed house. I'll take some clothes out of the dryer and by the time I've put some wet clothes in the dryer, the ones that just got dried are already folded. She's amazing and accomplishes so much in so little time! She babysat last weekend so Danny and I could go on a date and she's tending the kids again tonight so we can go down to the Birmingham Temple. She's truly the best. We've also played games, done little household projects, run errands, and have just talked and talked. It's been so fun. Here are some other highlights.

Strawberries were on sale at the supermarket a couple of weeks ago, so we decided to make an angel food cake to go along with them. The kids loved helping make it.

One Saturday morning we went to Blue Plate Cafe for breakfast. We'd heard they have really good food and we wanted to try it out. I love breakfasts and this place was awesome. My mom and I were most excited to try the grits since we've never really had them. They were tasty! They were accompanied by biscuits and gravy, hashbrowns, pancakes, eggs, sausage, and country fried steak. All the food was phenomenal and the prices were super cheap!

For St. Patrick's Day Grandma offered to make sugar cookies with the kids. She cleverly improvised a shamrock cookie cutter (I don't own any cookie cutters. Those of you who know me well know that I rarely bake. There's been so much baking going on these past couple of weeks with my mom here - my kids don't know what is going on!). She even let them frost them on their own.

As if a making batch of sugar cookies wasn't enough for one day, Grandma kindly agreed to whip up her TO-DIE-FOR chocolate chip cookies with Dallin while Emily and I ran to the grocery store. We're still enjoying them and they are the most delicious cookie ever.

This week we decided to drive over to Scottsboro, a little town about an hour away, to shop at the Unclaimed Baggage Center. We spent a good couple of hours there and found a lot of great stuff for dirt cheap.

Yesterday I wanted to show my mom the Bridge Street Mall, a new, beautiful, outdoor mall. The weather was perfect for a nice stroll and we even found a few bargains. It was the perfect way to spend the morning.