Birthday lovin'

Lily gave me a great birthday present. 7 1/2 hours of uninterrupted sleep for both of us. I felt like a new woman. Bless her heart.

And Mark gave me the gift of not complaining when Lily had the biggest blowout of her entire life (all 4 weeks of it) on his shift. And he gave me the gift of a dentist appointment which he had set up for me. Because after two birthdays this week, and the kind of cakes I like to make, I will DEFINITELY need an appointment. And he gave me a few great house presents and coupons for backrubs, "dates with just yourself," and a haircut. 6 1/2 years of marriage has taught him to speak my love language fluently.

Sage drew me the cutest picture of a cake ever, which was the artwork that accompanied the tray of breakfast in bed that she, Mark and Eliza brought me after letting me sleep in!!!

And Eliza was happy to help me polish off the real cake. That girl is a giver after her mother's own heart.

And Krista and Bryce gave me my cell phone (after I left mine and ran off with hers the night before...oops!) and Bryce watched four kids for two hours while Krista and I shopped and went out to eat.

And there were nice phone calls and emails. And the compliments were wonderful.

I am loved. And spoiled. And I have a big head.

And now to contribute to Mark's big (birthday) head. Here is part of a little list I compiled for him that Danielle insisted on me posting. (You have Danielle to thank for half of the posts I put up.) It's kind of a lengthy list, so feel free to skip down to the pictures at the bottom.

Reasons I love Mark
(including but not limited to the following)

--He always tries to buy me clothes. And get me to buy clothes for myself. And is genuinely disappointed when I don’t come back with $150+ worth of new clothes after a shopping trip.

--He packaged the extra fajita meat from dinner and labeled it “fajita guts.”

--He never gets irritated with my obsession with Jimmy John’s. And he lets me rave about how “healthy” (my BLT--ha!) is every time.

--No one appreciates a killer chocolate cake like he does (besides me).

--He’s always on a quest to help me perfect the method of cooking beans. He asks many Latins for their secrets to legume success and passes them on to me. And when asking for advice by reporting my failure to cook beans without having them split, he uses the plural “We can never cook them just right…”

--He always takes care of Sage and Eliza in the mornings so I can sleep.

--He takes baths with the kids. They love it, and I am grateful to not have to be the one to get yelled at for scrubbing Sage’s hair too hard, getting water in her eyes, or disciplining Eliza for drinking more than 2 cups of bathwater each time.

--He teaches our kids all kinds of songs—from Broadway (Wicked, The Sound of Music) to Disney to Abba to Spanish Children’s Songbook Songs to Annoying (I Want a Hippopotamus). Sage and Eliza know the lyrics to so many songs; I never cease to be amazed.

--He keeps up the Spanish with Sage and Eliza in spite of occasional rebelliousness (S) and disinterest (E).

--He is willing to watch any movie I want (including Chick Flicks), pretend not to see when I shed a tear or two at sad parts, and give me total control of the remote—in spite of my excessive use of the fast forward button.

--He bought me a Pregnancy Pilates video for me because I expressed interest. Even though I never actually used it. Because I am lame.

--He has never gotten mad at me for adopting, overusing and stretching out his Notre Dame sweatshirt. (He’s probably just happy I’m not wearing the bright orange “Becca” one.)

--He sings funny songs by inserting his own favorite words into familiar tunes (usually “Scranz” or “Dogger[man]” or “Shnooks” or “Pooch”). My favorite this week was hearing him sing “Who’s got skin that’s pasty white? Eliza’s got skin that’s pasty white” to the tune of “Must be Santa.”

--He values good literature, serious scripture studying [and is uncompromising in his determination to do this every night], revisiting general conference talks, and good logic and writing.

--To me he is the ultimate example of the scripture “Before ye seek for riches, seek ye first the kingdom of God” in his pursuit of a law degree and the line of work he chose to pursue after obtaining it.

--He is a great father. He recognizes the need to spend quality time with his kids, and makes it a priority. He reads to the girls, takes them to the library, plays with them outside, plans activities they will like (swimming), and patiently allows them to participate in adult activities with him such as refilling his pill case each week.

--He makes sure we have family prayer every morning and night, and conducts scripture time each night.

I am one lucky birthday girl.