What I Love the Most...

Well I gather November is National Blog Month, so the challenge is to post a blog everyday.  I hope I've got this correct.  I think I'll take the challenge.  I wanted there to be some sort of theme for this whole "project" so it's going to be "What I Love the Most."

 Now this could be tricky because along with me loving my husband the most, there could be a post about my clothing and how much I love it.  I'm just saying; this is going to be thirty days of loving so there's bound to be a  few "less important" loving posts...

Well, I love my husband the most.  Where do I even start.  We met in college, in Geology class (of all classes) and I would look back and stare at him because I thought he was really good looking.  He would of course see me staring and later confessed that he was always racking his brain thinking, "where do I know her from."  Nope, didn't know me from anywhere, it was just me staring him down.   Obviously one thing led to another and we got to know each other.

I'd never thought a lot about marriage or even kids really.  I guess I knew that might happen one day, but I was headed to Santa Clara University to go to Law School.  Marriage wasn't even a thought, until I spent just a little bit of time with Kirk.  I had never met anyone like him before.  Does this sound cliche?  He spoke kindly to me, he was never offensive, he held every door open for me and the first time I met his mom she came in from the grocery store and Kirk went straight out to gladly carry in all of those groceries in for her.  These aren't the kinds of boys I was use to, that's for sure.

On April of 1998 he baptized me a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  We officially started dating at this point and we were married in the Oakland Temple on June 12, 1999.

Kirk and I had a bit of a rocky start.  We are from very different backgrounds.  He is the last of nine children and I am the oldest with a half brother that was born when I was thirteen.   So really, I was an only child.  There were a lot of arguments, things always seemed to bother me, nothing ever seemed to bother him.  I was use to undivided attention, he wasn't.  These things played a big part in the dynamics of our marriage.  But, with humble hearts (me and him), tears (me), learning to say "sorry" (me and him), talking nicer to one another (me), not interrupting one another (me), not taking things so seriously, (me) we learned to be great friends and companions to one another. See how most of that was "me" it's the only child business, I'm telling you....I'm convinced you folk out there with siblings are much more well adjusted.

Looking back the growth is amazing and there is so much more in store for us.  We have had six children in our twelve years of marriage and it's as a father that I really admire my husband.  He is totally, one hundred percent involved in their lives.  I believe that because we have a solid, not perfect, but solid marriage we can give our all to these children and he does for sure.

He has always been good with the babies.  No, I don't mean he held them when I had to do something or made cute faces at them, I mean he was better with them than I was!  His cousin calls him the baby whisperer because he has shown many a mom how to "wrap those babies proper." (That's supposed to be with a Southern accent, it's Kirk's favorite accent, the only one he can do. :)) Do you understand how this has helped me?  I mean it's basically because of him that the little stinkers would sleep at all, because I've always been horrible with the wrap.

He has always read to them.  He loves them with both his words and his physical affection.  He has always engaged them in conversation and play.  He holds them and lets them come into bed with us.  In fact, they've learned to go right to "daddy's side," because they know I'll get up and put them right back where they came from.  :)  He is concerned for them.  He shares his life stories with them, he gathers them for scripture reading and prayer.  He also gathers them for the family novel we always have going, that he picks himself after reading up on what the best books are out there for children.  He plays tennis with them two to three nights a week (when they become a certain age-we've become huge tennis fans) and he makes sure they journal.

Today our children are eleven, eight (nine this month), six (seven this month), four, two and nine months, am I forgetting anyone....nope.  I never thought this would be my life.  I love it more than anything.  My parents were never married, I lived with my mom and saw my dad every other weekend and in the summers.  I love being married to my husband and am thankful everyday that this path was put before me.  My life could have been very different.  This is the life I love and I'm excited to be living it. 

PS.  He always reads our family novel with a Southern accent; it's hilarious.