12 Years, Inspiration, a Wish and an Apology

This weekend D and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary. 12 years since we entered the doors of the Jordan River Utah Temple and made covenants that sealed us for eternity. Man, I LOVE the sound of that! I get to be with my best friend FOREVER! And he is amazing. In light of it being our 12th anniversary, here are 12 things I LOVE about D:
1. I love that D is kind and thoughtful and selfless.
2. I love that D make dinner more than I do! And man alive he is a GREAT cook!
3. I love that D is a really sweet daddy. Our boys ADORE him, and he adores them right back. He is DEFINITELY the fun parent around here!
4. I love that D works so hard and goes the extra mile, even if the people he works for may not notice or appreciate it. He just has such an honest, put in 110% work ethic!
5. I love that D is always trying to learn more about everything. Right now he has 2 books from the library on how to design web pages and use the internet to build a business. Because he wants to create a business with an online customer base, and wants to increase his knowledge of the internet so he can do it right.
6. I love that D loves to play. He talks of having more money than we "need" so that he can play with his family; vacations, a cabin, a camper, four wheelers - all things he wants so he can spend leisure time with his family.
7. I love that our family is important to D.
8. I love that D likes to talk to me, and that I don't have to do all the talking! I love that he WANTS to tell me about his day and what is happening at work, even if some of the things he talks about go over my head and are a little boring, I love listening to him talk about what is pertinent in his day, because he is willing to share that with me!
9. I love that D LISTENS to me. He tells me about his day, and I get to tell him about my day, which coincidentally involves our children and the people who are important in our lives. And he offers commentary and suggestions (when they are needed), which lets me know he has actually listened.
10. I love that D loves things to be beautiful. He made our yard in Utah so beautiful, and has made the yard in our current home pretty, even though it is a rental and he is NOT "invested" in this home whatsoever. He loves to come home and see a lovely environment around him.
11. I love that D is funny. He makes me laugh every day. And some days are just crappy, and on those days my sense of humor is lacking. But D somehow manages to make me laugh!
12. I LOVE THAT D LOVES ME! I know that is totally self-absorbed, but oh well. I LOVE HIM AND HE LOVES ME! Is there anything more comforting than that knowledge? I think not.

As a show of his love, D honored me yesterday by spending the day with our family, spending the day with my very dear friend, who is an inspiration to me. My friend Liz has spent the past year or so training for and raising money to participate in the Breast Cancer 3 day. Let me do that better justice. She has worked her TAIL OFF helping her 6 team mates raise money (each teammate must raise $2400), even though her portion was raised by early spring this year. She helped with fundraiser after fundraiser all summer long. AND she walked miles and miles and had blister after blister on her feet, and continued with her training walks, all to prepare for walking 60 miles in 3 days this past weekend. And she walked. She walked over half of the 60 miles. A knee injury prevented some of the walking. And then she met up with her teammates and she finished the last miles of the walk on Sunday amidst a firestorm in her life. My family and I hung out with her 3 darling girls waiting in the stadium for her triumphant completion of all that work. It was inspirational to be in that stadium with thousands of family members, friends, and coworkers who were there to show their support of those brave men and women who raised the money and walked the walk in the name of ENDING BREAST CANCER. And you know what? The Phoenix 3 day alone raised 4.1 million dollars for the Susan G Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. And in the words of the 3 day theme, "Everyone Deserves a Lifetime".

So, while we were busy with my friend's family, I went and forgot to call me sweet niece Alyssa to wish her a VERY HAPPY 10th Birthday. So, here I WISH YOU HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ALYSSA! I apologize for not calling you yesterday. I hope you had a great birthday. We miss you, cutie pie! And we love you!