In Defense of Theses and Marriage

I've been thinking a lot about marriage recently, specifically the one I share with Nick. When we began our life together, we sealed together our bodies and our spirits -- our souls. We promised we would share our time, laundry, dishes, joys, sorrows, laundry, accomplishments, homework, laundry heartbreaks, laundry, and everything else for the rest of our lives.

For the rest of eternity.

That's a pretty big commitment to make at 19 and 23 years old after only knowing each other for not even 2 years. And I couldn't be happier with my decision.

Now, 7 years and little bit later, we are closing the formal education chapter of our lives together today. Yes, my genius husband is defending his thesis today! These past few months have been hard -- filled with  early mornings, late nights, and very little time together in between. To put it frankly, it has been a time that has really stretched and defined our marriage and commitment to each other.

***And if you think I am using the title "genius husband" liberally, I would beg to differ. The title of his dissertation is "Magnetic Wreaths, Cycles, and Buoyant Loops in Convective Dynamos." Boo-yah!***

I would say the first year of our life together, facing infertility, and finishing Nick's Ph.D. are, so far, the defining points in our marriage where we really had to be firmly planted side by side, working very hard, to grow together as one.

 Our engagement picture entitled "The One We Like"

And after today, that defining period will be concluding. It's a kind of bitter sweet because as lives are shaped and defined they are also molded and formed into something new...hopefully better than they were. In our case, our lives are completely different than they were when we began as two separate entities, and how they are today is in large part due to the experiences we have shared as Nick has been working on his Ph.D. and all of these have happened while Nick's been a student.

I mean, the events of today is what our life together has been building and working towards since its inception! It's time to move on and be done, but I am certain that in 50 years this period in our lives will be regarded with love and fondness.

So I say with great pride: Nicholas, defend your thesis with honor, dignity, a stout heart, and a sure voice! I love you and the life we are moving to New Mexico next week! Truly, there could not be a woman as proud of or more devoted to her husband than I am this morning! My heart overflows with gratitude, love, joy, and excitement for you today as it does everyday I get to wake up knowing we are truly united and grow as one!

And just in case you don't know what a thesis defense looks like in practice, here's an example:

***UPDATE: Nick turned in his final dissertation August 9, 2013!!***

Let's Get Established, Yeah Yeah Yeah!

"Who, being loved, is poor?" -Oscar Wilde

Okay, cards on the table: I got married when I was 19-years old. Yup, I was a baby, and I looked like a baby, too. See?

It's crazy to think how young I was, and when I tell people, even those of the Mormon faith who tend to marry young anyway, I usually say my surprising young age with a quiet and ashamed voice. Not because I think I made a poor choice, but it seems to me that the world thinks I missed out on a lively single-life experience or that because of my marrying age divorce is inevitable or something along those lines.

Well, amid the sea of statistics and opinions that say Nick's and my marriage (he was only 23) is destined to be ridden with regrets and separation, a friend found and shared an article with me that helps me lift my head with pride about my decision to marry young!

"The fairytale wedding is [seen as a] gateway into adult life. But in my experience, this idea about marriage as the end of the road is pretty misguided and means couples are missing out on a lot of the fun."

 

The article goes onto say a lot of other things, but the jist of it is that since we all have to get financially established and secure our place in the world anyway, why not do it married to your favorite person and enjoy that establishing period all the more??

Good question!

The first example to the contrary I can think of is Scrooge in The Muppet's Christmas Carol who had someone he really cared about and lost her because they didn't have enough money for a descent home.

You maybe snickering to yourself because that maybe a juvenile example, but it's one that is not far from how some people choose to go about their single life -- alone AND poor. How sad! Why not be poor WITH someone who makes poverty a lot more pleasant??

A close friend asked us yesterday if we've been in school our entire married life, and we confirmed their suspicions. You could absolutely say that for the past 7+ years of marriage Nick and I have been getting "established." We don't have tons of excess resources. Neither of us ever spent a summer backpacking through Europe. Our birthday and Christmas gifts have usually been very small and inexpensive items. More than once we've bailed each other out of tough/expensive fixes using creative methods. We have had to say to each other many times four of the most loving words one mate can say to another: "We can't afford it." 

However, like the article said: we have also had so much fun!!  There's not a thing about my financially poor life with Nick that I would change because it has not felt like it was lacking in anything that truly matters! Oh how I love cuddling up with him at night and reminiscing about the life we've established together -- side-by-side, hand-in-hand, as we smile and laugh because we haven't had waffles in months since there are no extra resources to replace our broken waffle iron.

As I look ahead to our 10th, 15th, 20th, 50th, etc. anniversaries, I think how precious these "good ole' days" are going to be to us! How grateful I am to have found my eternal mate so early in my life and to have had the extraordinary opportunity to get established along side him!

Failed Adoption, Remembered Blessings

I've written about our failed adoption before in very little detail here and here, but this is the first post in which I have used names or pictures, of course with pertinent party's permission. My guess is I have a couple more posts in regards to this experience up my sleeve in the future.

Every night, just before we read scriptures together and go to sleep for the night, Nick and I write in our Blessing Book, which is a joint daily journal where we record one way we've each seen the hand of the Lord in our lives that day. Tuesday night, just after writing in it about scheduling our first couple of home study interviews, a flood of memories of anxiety and anticipation came rushing back in my mind. I opened up our previous, completed book and it fell open to the following entry:

December 30, 2010

[Nick's Entry] Today we drove to Roseburg and met Hayley, Hannah, and their family. We were at their home for nearly 4.5 hours. We talked about our feelings about adoption and parenting, played with Hannah, ate lunch, and had a wonderful time. I got to hold Hannah while she slept for about 90 min. She is a beautiful little girl and if it's right we would love to have her as a part of our family. We were very impressed with Hayley's parents and siblings as well. The meeting generally went as well as we could have hoped. We are still waiting for Hayley to decide, but we already feel close to Hayley, Hannah, and the whole family.

[My Entry] There were some really tender moments today while talking about open adoption and what we really want for our children. We want them to know they are loved tremendously, which is why they were placed for adoption. It was clear that assertion gave Hayley and her mother, Jesse, a lot of peace. They are such a good family and I hope and pray that over the coming years we get to stay in contact with them no matter what. They are dear people and it would be an honor to have them in our family and us in theirs. It is comforting to know that whatever happens Hannah will have a wonderful life.

 Hannah and Hayley on the day we met.

I continued to read, and read, and read. I was captivated by my own story, like it was from another person in another time and place altogether. All those loving thoughts towards Hayley, Hannah, and their family came rushing back into my mind, and I sincerely missed them. I missed the connectedness I felt with them as we went through the crazy ups and downs of that particular adoption experience. And then, in an extremely familiar way, I longed for our next child, and then in a not so familiar way, I longed for the relationship we will have with their birth family. That was a new and exciting feeling!

We don't have a daughter named Hannah, but we do love a little girl named Hannah almost as if she was our own, because for about 24 hours in our hearts and minds, she was going to be. It was so easy to fall in love with her, Hayley, and their family. Hayley and I still exchange emails every couple of months (so grateful for those), we're friends on Facebook so we can see pictures of Hannah being amazing, and we follow each others' blogs to keep up on each others' lives.

As for Hannah, just as I said she would, she has such a wonderful life with her mom, aunt, uncles, and grandparents. Even though that experience was very hard, stressful, and caused a lot of intense work-out sessions (I guess that's not so bad), I wouldn't change that experience for the world. Hannah and Hayley continue to touch and change our lives for the better, and they are so loved and honored in our home, and will be forever.

Hayley and I have even talked about having a playdate with our girls, so I hope someday we can still pull that off. Trip to Alaska, anyone??

Love Grows!

When Alexa woke up from her nap yesterday just a couple hours into the whole ordeal, she was just crying and crying and I decided to go in and see if I couldn't soothe her back to sleep.

I just held her and rocked with her.

I did this for 1 hour and 20 minutes. That wasn't expected, but very welcomed.

While I was holding and reading Peter Pan to her I got to thinking: "it's not fair that I will not get to do this with our other kids." The more kids we add to our family the more my time has to be divided between each of them. I desperately want my babies with me, but it's just not fair that they won't get as much of me as I want to give or feel like I they deserve to have.

And so I held Alexa a bit tighter.

I may have shed a little tear, mourning for the pending craziness of my future life where I won't be able to take up my child for 80 minutes and just hold him/her. By ourselves. Without interruption.  Just one more gesture that I could make to help them know how much I love them.

I was saddened by that thought and then this idea scurried across my mind for just a moment: "I'm pretty sure I can be happy as a mom of just one beautiful baby girl, and then she can have all my attention, and all my love."

But just at that moment, this musing entered my mind: "Love Grows."

Time may not be able to be justly divided between everything and everyone I love, but that thought gave me hope. The pounding in my chest as I feel my heart pump out love for my daughter and husband will only get more powerful with every new addition to our family. The joy I feel each day as my daughter embraces me with a tight neck-hug or a slobbery open-mouth cheek-kiss will only widen and deepen with every child that comes into our home.

My mourning turned into songs of rejoicing once I realized that even though nearly everything in this world we experience is finite in expanse and scope, love is the one exception. It grows and grows and grows until your heart feels like it may not be able to contain all the love that is growing up inside it and is then poured out from overflowing cups of love and joy as little drops of tears from one's eye.

There is no need to fear the impossible list of future responsibilities and tasks that will surely unjustly steal away those precious moments I wish I could have with each of my children when I know that God has given us such an incredible gift. He gave us the capability to experience and share love with one another. And then, as if that wasn't enough, we get to grow right along with love and are able to watch love grow and develop into a starry night of infinite beauty and possibilities filled with relationships of our families and dear friends. 

I so gratefully praise the Lord that love grows!

Mourning My Fertile Life

I think this is the third time I've started this post, because I've had the feelings and thoughts but have been unsure how to form them coherently.

That was until I watched this video (again) and realized that sometimes I, like NieNie, mourn for the loss of the woman I thought I was going to become. By now I thought I was going to be a young mom with 4 kids under the age of 6 with one on the way and planning on having at least 2-3 more. I wanted to have that beautiful family of young children causing raucous during church with my hair frazzled and exhausted at days end because I had worked so hard at being a pregnant mom trying to wrangle my small but growing family. That woman I imagined had been bred for motherhood glory, endowed with child-bearing hips and so many babysitting opportunities in her youth it would make anyone's head spin! She was everything every other mom looked to as a pillar of strength because she fulfilled all her responsibilities with her young family and still served others willingly and faithfully and kept her home cute and beautiful. Her life was far too perfect to be actually real for anyone to be living. It was unrealistic, sure, but in some sense plausible.

Occasionally, more often as we go through adoption paperwork, I mourn over the loss of that once idealistic scenario of mine. That picture in my head of that woman I thought I would become fades with every passing day that I am not pregnant or not adopting another child. I do--I really mourn that woman because I know she will never exist. At least not how I pictured her...not how I pictured myself and my life and my family. Many tears have been shed over her, and many more are still to come, I'm certain of that.

I am already 25, almost 26, and have only one baby and there are currently 4 exposed nails pounded into my walls where frames have been removed and nothing has replaced them. The mother and homemaker at one time I thought I would be at this point is a fantasy, and sometimes when I linger on that fantasy I forget about the fantastical life I do have.

My husband is a wonderful provider, financially, spiritually, emotionally, et cetera-ly for our family. He loves me and we just celebrated a wonderful 6th anniversary together this past Saturday.

My daughter is a miracle in our family placed with us for time and eternity by two wonderfully amazing parents who love her as much as Nick and I do. Not many parents have people in their children's lives that love their children as much as they do, but our children do/will.

I had the opportunity to get an advanced education where learned so many fascinating things, but mostly that I am capable of doing things I never thought I could. In that vision I had of myself in the past, I never ever was doing data analysis and really enjoying my work. That wasn't my "area" of skill or interest.

I think perhaps the thing I am most grateful for that I could not have ever guessed as a younger woman was that I would eventually be so incredibly grateful for the trial of infertility as much I am today. How could I have known that the experiences related to my greatest trial (so far) would shape my faith and the way I serve others and the compassion I have for others and the love I have for my husband and daughter so abundantly that I can't imagine my life without those experiences? And why would I want to?

I  have such a wonderful life and I am blessed everyday to be living in it! Sometimes thoughts of that once-fantasy life creeps in my mind and I once again take a moment to mourn the loss of that young mother who has it all and can grow her family whenever she wants. Sure those thoughts come, and I honestly don't want those thoughts to ever go away completely. While the specifics can't be as I thought they would be, the happy home and family I imagined certainly can be. That vision, while different, is a lot closer and more attainable than I sometimes think it is. And those visions I receive of that version of me who has "it all" keeps me striving for "it all" (as much as I can control) in my current circumstance.

And even if I never have another child, or a dog, or a home that is the envy of the neighborhood, I still have such a beautiful life! And I am grateful for it everyday!

I honestly wouldn't change a thing...except for maybe those exposed nails on the wall. Something must be done there. 

My Valentine Can Romantically Beat Up Your Valentine

Yesterday while organizing the filing cabinet (super fun!) I came across a letter that was written to me exactly 6 years to the day prior. This was written by Nick to me for Valentine's Day when we were engaged. I'm not going to share all of it with you, but here are some of my favorite parts:

"To really show you how much I love you will take an eternity of love and devotion."

"You are the highlight of my life...I have been told that if you do it right, life just keeps getting better and better. With you, I can see how that could easily be the case."

"I love you, Miss Sullivan, and I always will...I can't wait to start our life together."

I love my husband so much, and after 7 years of being together, I just can't believe that I love him so much more than I thought I could! He is everything I could ever want for myself, my daughter, and my life. I am so blessed to have him walk with me, hand in hand, everyday for the past 7ish years!

And if that wasn't enough to convince you of how wonderful Nick is, look how cute he is with his girls!

Happy Valentine's Day (even though your valentine isn't as wonderful as mine)!

Music Monday

Every once in a while I like to explore Amazon's Free MP3 Downloads including their up-and-coming artists. Yesterday this song was on there and I really liked the feel of it. The more I listen to it, the more I love it. The artist is Barnaby Bright (married couple, love it) and the song is Gravity.

Below are the lyrics, and I don't know that I understand all of them, but I'm very interested in exploring them further. Nick is in California this week, and I don't know, this song just makes a lot of sense today. "One alone is only half the heat."

And can I be the first to say that this dude is a wicked-awesome guitar player. Seriously!

I've tried I've tried everything I know
Anything to let you go
But I just keep on sinking
I lied when I said I was alright
I'm anything but alright
I am anything but winning
Take your world off my shoulders
Weight is breaking me
Into pieces it's colder
One alone is only half the heat
Take my brain from your fingers
And throw it at the sea
Then drop it from a high place
drop it from a high place

It's only gravity, gravity
Something strong is pulling me, gravity

We cried, … as I fell into the moon
You cried for me I cried for you
We said everything would stay as
You've tried, you tried everything
Anything to save my soul
I'm not sure that it's worth saving

Take your world off my shoulders
Weight is breaking me
Into pieces it's colder
One alone is only half the heat
Take my brain from your fingers
And throw it at the sea
Then drop it from a high place
drop it from a high place
Let it fall

It's only gravity, gravity
Something strong is pulling me, gravity
Gravity, … gravity.

I Just Love Games!

And here's a game I can get behind: a 30 day music game! I'll post more than just this for the next 30 days, but I wanted to play, so here I go!

I do have some catching up to do, so bear with me. And I'm doing my best to pick songs I haven't used for Music Monday, so that will take some effort also. Isn't music just so powerful?!

Day 1: Your Favorite Song
 "I could no sooner choose a favorite star in the heavens." -Danielle, Ever After; But since I must, or else this game would be "zero fun, Sir."

For our fifth anniversary Nick got me flowers and made a slideshow with this song in the background. It was very amazing! I know this has been on Music Monday before, but that's because I just love this song, so much!

Day 2: Your Least Favorite Song

This may not be my all time least favorite, but the first time I heard it I switched the station because I thought "how annoying is her voice? Who is this joker?" Then I found out it was Katy Perry, and it all came together. And the premise of the song, that teenage love is the best out there...I'm not convinced. 

Day 3: A Song that Makes You Happy

I have an entire playlist entitled Happy, and pretty much every song I love makes me happy, so this is like choosing a favorite again, and that's really hard. But I chose this one because how could this song not make anyone happy? Another of their songs that makes me happy is this one.

Day 4: A Song that Makes You Sad

This song was sang at my Grandma's funeral. She was the Grandma that was closest to our family, and it was heartbreaking for everyone when she left this beautiful world she loved so much. I can't listen or sing this song without choking back tears of memories and gratitude.

1,826 Days and Counting

Boy, we look so different! Most importantly, I think we both feel different since that day. We feel better. Like better versions of those young kids.

Not like 5 years of marriage is enough to age someone significantly, but we really had no idea what we were getting ourselves into 1,826 days ago...but I think that's for the best--he may have backed out!!


You wanna know something? Before we got married I made a list of everytime I got the feeling that this was the right thing to be doing. One of those things on that list was something my mom said to me:

"He respects you as I as I do."

Another was something my sister, Jen, said to me:

"You and him would have a happy and loving home."

Another is something my friend, Rachel (really not me), said to me:

"He is so nice."

Ya know, I think I made the right choice. In fact, I know I did. There are many things my wonderful husband is not, but he has all the important stuff down! He even made a picture slideshow set to the tune of this wonderful song. Talk about a smoothie!

People say that your wedding day is supposed to be the happiest of your life, but I disagree. How can that day compare to last night, watching those pictures on that slideshow of the life we have built together, and then playing with our little nearly 10 week old daughter, and then going to sleep in our home that we have made our own?

If you couldn't guess, they don't even compare. Not even close!

Music Monday: Happy Valentine's Day!

Rachel's Pick:

This was on our wedding video and my roommates and I would blast this and dance around the apartment like idiots to this song before we got married. So great!

Nick's Pick:

This almost made the wedding video cut. Check out the awesome music video they won't let us embed here.

Tuesday Tunes

We were sitting in a cafe last week while in Seattle and this song came on. It was perfect and we both love it...almost as much as we love each other. While he's still there and I'm here and there is so much uncertainty in our lives right now, this song gives a lot of joy to me. I bought it yesterday and have listened to it 11 times on iTunes since, not including the videos I watched for the post. Sorry about the lame video, but focus on the music and words.

Music Monday

Rachel's Pick:

The most played song on my iTunes since practically forever. Clearly you can see why.

Nick's Pick:

Great Expectations

I just listened to this excellent Charles Dickens tale while driving to and from work. Thank goodness for public libraries. In the novel "Great Expectations" refer to a large sum of money, and Pip (which may or may not be my new favorite name for our future fish), is given this money to make something great of himself.

Playing "Don't Eat Pete" at a Halloween party.

I have my own Great Expectations, something great I have been given to do something great with. That great thing I have been given is my life. Pip's "Great Expectations" originated from a stranger's money, all of ours originated by the grace of God. The following is one of my favorite scriptures:

Counting Blessings

I read a comment on a blog by a woman who has had a number of health issues, including ones that keep her and her husband from having kids. She was addressing those with kids and said

"we would trade the best day we've had without kids for your worst day with them."

Ya know what, we wouldn't. I 'm not judging this girl or think less of her. I cannot begin to fathom the level of their difficulties as a couple. I'm just saying, for us, we have a pretty nice life. 

I wouldn't trade our most difficult and sad day for any other families' most spectacular. That's because we know we are where we are and who we are because of those days.

As a 3.5/5 star movie once said "How could [we] be angry when this is clearly as God intended it to be for [us]?"

We still ache for our children, quite often recently, but "when upon life's billows you are tempest tossed...count your many blessings see what God hath done."

1. We have a rock solid marriage. Seriously, it's everything I ever wanted.

Thursday Thirteen #20: Movies We Love

These are movies we both love and enjoy, or have enjoyed, watching together. In no particular order:

#1: Hitch

Okay, I lied, this is probably the classic choice for both of us, which is why it was first.

A Smattering of Pictures

I do love making my house feel like home, but honestly it's not really easy for me. Sometimes it takes a while, like this project. My fear: what if I put in all this work, and hate it...or worse, someone else hates it.

Well, on Monday, Nicholas and I did it together. Wanna see?

This is what we started with (a big, scary wall):

Happiness is...Quaker Cereals

There are only a few things Nicholas gets really excited about, two of which are:

Cereal sales, and 

Quaker Life and Oatmeal Squares.

So this is what happens when the two come together...12 boxes of cereal decorating our fridge. Only 10 are pictured because we've already eaten 2.

The cinnamon ones are for me because I prefer a little extra spice in my life on occasion.

This is not the most boxes of cereal we have had in our house due to sales, however. Nicholas bought 20 boxes of various cereals when we were living in Provo and they were going for $1 per box. "It never goes bad," is always his excuse. I think it's excessive, but very cute!

FormSpring Question and Answer

You've always been such a happy person and you and Nick are absolutely perfect together.  You both genuinely seem happy.  Besides the whole infertility thing, have you guys EVER had a problem??

Nope. Our life together is perfect.

Okay, not really, but I think we handle the problems that do arise very well. Everything is a "we problem," not a "me problem." This is a lesson I am still learning, and something I had a really difficult time with after we were married. Infertility was my fault and I needed to deal with it. Student loans were my fault and I needed to pay them off. Marriage is very difficult when you view the relationship as two people who love each other living under the same roof. Problems HAVE to be addressed by the unit.

Nicholas is endlessly patient with me as I still, on occasion, have episodes where I feel guilty about my weaknesses. He reminds me that "If [we] are not one, then [we] are not [God's]" (D&C 38:27). We are many things, but if nothing else, we are His children. That vision of who we are has been and will continue to be invaluable when it comes to our marriage and family.

And if we "genuinely seem happy" it's because we are! We have such a good life, we know it, and we look forward to the life God has in store for us!

Ask me anything

An Infertile Love Story

Couples that have difficult experiences, whatever they are, have an opportunity for a blessing. They get to know exactly how their partner feels about them. Not many have that chance, or take that chance even when trials do come. Here is a post from someone else who has experienced a great trial, and it is so clear how close she and her very own Mr. Knightly have become because of it. Inspired by her, and my own storybook romance, I begin a love-letter. It gets gushy, so stop whenever you don't have the stomach for true love...

Dear Mr. Nelson,

Right now (a couple days ago) we are some 34,000 feet up in the air and I'm listening to Michael Buble while you listen to your Wallflowers. Do you remember on our first date how we went to Divine Comedy, then got milkshakes and talked for well over an hour about who knows what, but it was comfortable? Do you remember that we went back to your apartment and started watching The Princess Bride and you fell asleep? I tried to sneak out, because I was so uncomfortable, but only made it as far as the back door until you woke up. We decided to part for the evening and I thought "well this isn't going anywhere, he fell asleep and didn't even walk me to my door." Looking back though, I'm glad you didn't. It would have been awkward and I probably would have tried to shake your hand.



Remember when you proposed and I didn't say anything. At all. For what seemed like minutes (but what was probably only a few seconds). I just couldn't believe it was all happening, and I was trying to remember all the lovely things you had just told me because I realized I should have been paying better attention. I had known what I would say, I just wasn't prepared for the event. How does one prepare for major life events anyway?

Funny the way our life has turned out, huh? We're not where we thought or planned we would be, which makes me believe God has a bigger and better plan for us. We'll keep moving forward though, my arm draped over yours (because that's more comfortable for walking than holding hands), and embrace the life that's waiting for us. Any trial with you is better than any blessing with anyone else. Thanks for choosing me.

Joseph is under that bucket. You were so cute playing with them!

While we're on the topic of gratitude, thanks for killing all the moths that come into our house (you know the moths and I are on bad terms). Thanks for forcing me to buy nice things for myself every once in while, and always supporting me when I go to the store for socks and come back with a new swimsuit, new shoes, and no socks. Thanks for always telling me the story of when you knew you were going to marry me whenever I ask, usually as we're laying in bed and I'm wide awake and you're exhausted. Thanks for always encouraging me to be understanding of my ovaries who are "doing their very best" instead of being angry and frustrated towards my body. Thanks for always reminding me that we are infertile, and it's not my fault (unless I'm intentionally sabotaging our family). Thanks for loving me because of my flaws, and not in spite of them. Thanks for encouraging me to get ready for bed even when I insist that "I'm not sweepy." Thanks for making me laugh everyday.

Thank you for making eternity with you look very promising!

With Twu Wuv,
Your Wife

Thursday Thirteen #9: Mis-Predictions

If you were to jump on The DeLorean and go back 4 years to when we were first hitched and asked us to predict where we’d be today, I think we may have said that we would have:

1. More kids
2. Fewer houses
3. Less pink in Rachel’s closet
4. More blue in Nicholas’ closet
5. Fewer shoes in Rachel’s closet
6. Fewer Sketchers in Nicholas’ closet
7. More pets
8. Fewer cookbooks
9. Less schooling for Rachel
10. More car repairs
11. Fewer bus rides
12. Less expensive haircuts for Rachel (never guessed I would upgrade from Great Clips)
13. More expensive haircuts for Nicholas (never guessed I would be cutting his hair)

We both agree that I have changed quite a bit over the last 4 years and Nick has been pretty constant (with some welcomed wardrobe adjustments by yours truly). Our ying and yang is one reason why we work so well together! It was fun to talk about these things last night over dinner at this delicious little Chinese restaurant with the best Won Ton Soup and BBQ chicken ever! Which reminds me, I totally get to cross that off my live list. I'm excited to see what unpredictable things the next 4 years brings us!