Happy Valentines Day

Dear Wendy,

                Do you remember that book we read called the “Wednesday Letters?”  Maybe I’ll follow a tradition of the Valentine’s Day letters.  I wrote one last year.  I’ll write another one this year.  Maybe I’ll write more frequently, but I’ll at least try to do that much.

                I love you so much more now than I did just one year ago and I knew that would be the case.  I’ve always felt like I couldn’t love you more but every day I do.  You make me happy just being around you.  I love the way you look at me sometimes and you’re reaction when I ask you what you’re doing.  I’ll try to look at you that way more often.  I’m always looking away because I don’t want to get my face “icky.”  It’s that OCD thing again.

                We’ve done so much this year.  We had fun camping and going to Goblin Valley.  We’ve played ultimate frisbee every week.  We went to Florida and visited the Keys.  I won’t take the time to mention all of the little things we did.  Every time I do anything I want it to be with you.  I love looking at our pictures and remembering how fun everything was. 

                I really am thankful that you put so much work into the house.  And I really am bugged sometimes that you want to do it in the first place.  Even though it’s not a priority to me I’m very thankful for your hard work and effort and I know that you do it for us.  I can tell that you love me and you want to make me happy.  I can see how much time you spend trying to make me happy.  I want you to know that I appreciate that.  You are amazing.

                We’re going to have a family together this year.  I’m scared to death but I’m happy that I have you to help me.  You will be a super mom; the kind of mom that anybody would be proud to be.  I hope that you know that.  I hope you haven’t given into my non-stop criticism.  I worry that it’s going to sink in and you’ll believe that you are less than you are.  Don’t let me do that.  I’m trying to be better but never stop pointing it out.  Hopefully that won’t be something I pass onto our children.  I grew up that way, being criticized about everything.  I eventually learned it was a less effective way to show love and concern but not before it became a part of me. 

                I love how hard you work and how patient you are with me.  I can be an absolute jerk sometimes and you still love me.  You put up with my quirks better than anybody I’ve ever known.  You are always working on something and always looking to better yourself and everything around you, including me.

                Thank you for putting an emphasis on us attending the temple.  It’s something I don’t typically enjoy doing and I’m glad that you’ve made it a priority for us to go every month.  I’m also very thankful for you help teaching primary.  You bring a lot to our team. 

                Don’t worry about your job so much.  Something will work out and I think we’re doing okay for now.  I don’t want you to be so stressed out that you make yourself sick or sad.  You are doing everything you need to be doing and that makes me proud. 

                I love you, Wendy. 

Cool Google Maps Imagery

(12:02:24 PM) Brian Kramer: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Rugdeveien+39+Bergen&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=39.320439,60.205078&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Rugdeveien+39,+5097+Bergen,+Hordaland,+Norway&ll=60.360883,5.369267&spn=0.001502,0.003675&t=h&z=18&layer=c&cb
(12:03:34 PM) Brian Kramer: go to street view and that, and they are on the left… go down the street and they start chasing the truck

Happy Valentines Day

I feel tremendously lucky to have found you.  Several years ago I could never have imagined the happiness I feel today.  I’m experiencing a level of joy that I didn’t know was possible.  The scope of my happiness has totally changed. 

I feel like I do very little work for how much benefit, happiness and stability I get back from our relationship.  You are always doing something for me.  You wake up early for me, you go to bed late for me, you make my meals, you wash my clothes and you keep our house clean.  I owe you everything.  I feel inadequate because I will never be able to be as good to you as you are to me. 

I always want to be with you.  You are the first person I want to talk to.  You are the person I want to tell stories to.  I love it when you laugh.  I love it when you make me laugh.  I have so much fun when I’m with you. 

I love that we don’t argue.  When we do argue I know it’s not important because underneath the argument there is us.  I love that you’re patient with me and you can let me be right even when I’m not.  I love that we never cross boundaries and we never draw lines. 

I love that we talk and we look at each other and we waste time together.  I love doing nothing with you.  I love doing everything with you.  I like our drives and our walks.  (Thank you for tolerating my camera.)  I love when we play frisbee together.  You are my best friend.

I love you.

Wendy’s Biggest Loser Food Challenge Dream? I dunno…

Last night Wendy sleepily put her arms halfway around me, opened her eyes halfway and said:

Wendy:  “Huck, huck.”

Ben:  “What?  Did you just say, ‘huck, huck?'”

Wendy:  “Yeah, it’s what it says on your screen.”

Ben<perplexed>:  “What’s screen?”

Wendy<with the slightest bit of annoyance>:  “Your screen, not mine.”

Ben<now laughing>:  “Wendy, what are you talking about.”

Wendy:  “It’s your food challenge.  Each week you have a food challenge.”

Ben:  <laughing>

<three minutes passes>

Wendy:  “Why are you laughing at me?”

 

Wendy doesn’t remember any of this conversation but I jotted down some notes of what she said so I wouldn’t forget it in the morning.  This was the conversation almost verbatim.

The Christmas Spirit

Ben (11:42:31 AM): scott is saying that a job that refreshes a materialized view is missing.  how do those jobs get destroyed?  do they manually have to be deleted?
Ben (11:42:46 AM): or would the job be destroyed if i had manually refreshed a mview.
James (11:43:25 AM): I’m not sure why it would be missing
Ben (11:45:01 AM): it better not have anythign to do with canada or obama because i’m sick of that right now.
Ben (11:45:22 AM): or communist china
James (11:45:34 AM): I think it actually has ties to all three
Ben (11:46:13 AM): that’s it.
Ben (11:46:14 AM): i quit.
Ben (11:46:53 AM): hey, so
Ben (11:46:57 AM): why didn’t you take a sick day?
James (11:47:00 AM): you can’t quit
Ben (11:47:05 AM): you sounded bad.
James (11:47:11 AM): yeah…
James (11:47:26 AM): I woke up with a sore throat
James (11:47:39 AM): I have a bunch of meetings later for a project I’m on though
Ben (11:48:08 AM): that sucks
Ben (11:48:16 AM): well…
Ben (11:48:29 AM): try to touch as many high ups in acs and novell as possible.
James (11:49:14 AM): haha
James (11:49:16 AM): sounds good
James (11:49:20 AM): get them outta here
Ben (11:49:23 AM): and if you happen to see obama or any canadian or chinese officials or chinese-canadians…  touch them too.
Ben (11:49:57 AM): i’m not suggesting you kiss them or anything…  maybe just rub your face and hands on their food
Ben (11:50:00 AM): and sneeze a little.
James (11:50:22 AM): alrighty
Ben (11:51:07 AM): as long as i’m making requests…
Ben (11:51:15 AM): can you figure otu a way to make us rich?
Ben (11:51:22 AM): oh, and can i start calling you santa clause?
Ben (11:51:30 AM): you’ll have to start wearing red.
James (11:51:40 AM): sure

So, let me explain this post before I have Chinese or Canadians or Chinese-Canadians knocking down my door.  It’s nice to have a shapeless face or ambiguous, amorphous entity or object on which to blame all of life’s problems.  You can’t blame God because it’s not His fault.  He has given people free agency.  People are imperfect.  It’s their fault.  I didn’t want anybody to FEEL bad though so it had to be a group that I didn’t have a lot of contact with.  I wanted a group that wouldn’t report back, almost like it didn’t exist.  A small group…  that’s really hard to find…  like the Chinese.

Yeah…

And Canada…  well, eveybody blames Canada.  And Obama.

Ben’s 31 birthday!

Ben turned 31 on Tuesday November 17th. His family celebrated on the previous Sunday. They made a yummy dinner with salmon and veggies and for dessert his sister Holland made Swedish pancakes, which he loves! I have come to find out you cannot substitue whole wheat flour for white, which I like to do. Also he will not eat brown rice unless I make it into sugary rice pudding. 🙂 Anyways, on his birthday we went to Tucanos and ate till we wanted to explode! It was yummy, but neither one of us know when to stop.

After weeks of debate about whether to get a Playstation 3, Wii, or XBox 360 we finally decided on the Playstation 3 because it is also a great Blu-ray player.  We headed off to Best Buy with 3 Best Buy gift cards and 2 Visa card gift cards to make the purchase. It was quite the expense with the added remote control and extra controller and of course we had to buy a couple Blu-rays. We got great ones though; Disney’s UP, Star Trek, and Chronicles of Narnia- Prince Caspian (First movie Ben and I watched Together).  Happy Birthday Sweetie!!! Now we are only 4 years apart instead of 5. That makes me feel better 😉 .