101 Reaons Why I Love Crystal

So this morning I posted a short blurb on my anniversary and how much it means to me. Well a few hours later I found out that Crystal posted this piece and I feel that it shouldn't go unanswered. So here goes 101 reasons why I love Crystal:

1. She always speaks her mind.
2. She tries to not always communicate like a woman.
3. She encourages me to have a better relationship with my son.
4. She loves me.
5. She thinks that I am handsome even though I am short and round.
6. She always makes sure that I am wearing sunscreen.
7. She is a stupendous cook!
8. She forces me to try new things.
9. She has reintroduced me to Utah and its wonders.
10. She can do math in her head. (Quickly and correctly).
11. She remembers most everything.
12. She keeps the house clean.
13. She does the laundry even though she hates it.
14. She buys me tools, and encourages me to use them.
15. She’s gorgeous and she doesn’t know it. ( Better for me ;) )
16. She encourages me to get exercise.
17. She wants to stay home and be a mom to our children.
18. She is an excellent mom.
19. She feigns interest well when I talk about work or geeky stuff.
20. She always expects me to improve, but has faith that I can do it.
21. She isn’t afraid of getting her hands dirty.
22. She works extremely hard in all things.
23. She really cares about people.
24. She does lots of things for others.
25. She worries about me.
26. She knows how to use power tools.
27. Sometimes she wears pigtails.
28. She lets me play video games even though she doesn’t like them.
29. She makes sure that I dress well.
30. She cut my hair even though she was afraid.
31. She doesn’t yell.
32. She never makes fun of me when I cry.
33. She can predict most of my responses and moods, sometimes just by the tone of my voice.
34. She is very intelligent and helps people with math.
35. She could have had anyone and yet she chose me!
36. She lets me spend time with my friends.
37. She is not easily intimidated.
38. She tells me she loves me all the time.
39. She makes sure to give me a hug and a kiss when I get home from work.
40. She lets me hold the remote.
41. She knows that sometimes playing with Beepers is more important than housework.
42. She reads to Beepers every night.
43. She makes up songs for us to sing as a family.
44. She took me on a hot air balloon ride.
45. She keeps me living within my means.
46. She understands complicated things like insurance.
47. She has good decoration skills and fashion sense.
48. She encourages me to help others.
49. She supported me through school even though that meant that she was basically a single mom for a few years.
50. She makes sure I eat right.
51. When I cook dinner, she is grateful.
52. She likes adventures.
53. She likes to camp.
54. She lets me take pictures of her, even though she hates it.
55. She decides what to eat almost every day. (This is hard to do.)
56. We compliment each other.
57. She was daring enough to marry someone shorter than her.
58. She likes to mow the lawn.
59. She plans trips well.
60. She knows I am a geek and loves me in spite of it.
61. She listens to me.
62. Whenever I see her I always feel my heart skip a beat.
63. She can always make me feel better.
64. When she laughs it brightens my day.
65. She lets me get the car fixed at a garage, when I don’t want to do it.
66. She always smells great. Especially her hair.
67. She can type really fast.
68. She listens to me tell the same stories over and over and rarely tells me that she has heard that one before.
69. She loves to support local and small business.
70. She loves the farmers market.
71. She always finds great deals and saves us a lot of money.
72. She helps me make decisions.
73. She is faster than a speeding bullet, can jump tall buildings in a single bound…well at least to me she can.
74. She is really good with her hands, making crafts, etc.
75. She understands my obsessive personality.
76. She organizes my closet.
77. She knows where things are.
78. She doesn’t get mad at me when I can’t remember where that “one” dish belongs.
79. She can get things off of high shelves for me.
80. She doesn’t own fifty pairs of shoes.
81. She is tough.
82. She makes me feel important and strong.
83. She tells me when I have bad breath.
84. She taught me how to ski.
85. She was the first to take me snowshoeing, X-country skiing and water skiing.
86. She is usually right.
87. She encouraged me to finish school, when I wanted to give up.
88. She gives me a reason to wake up everyday.
89. She plays Tetris with me.
90. She is my psychiatrist.
91. She misses me when I am gone.
92. She calls me everyday at work to tell me she loves me.
93. She lets me spoil her.
94. She has good friends.
95. She has learned to love German food. (Even sauerkraut.)
96. We can talk about anything and I never feel embarrassed or uncomfortable.
97. She went on a second date with me, after the first one failed miserably.
98. She is competitive.
99. She packs my bags when we go places.
100. She knows I am not perfect and loves me anyway.
101. She is everything to me and always will be.

Edit: 102. She bought me an Xbox 360.

Yes, it was her idea first and I am sorry if anyone reading this doesn't care for mushy stuff, but this is how I feel. Happy Anniversary Crystal.

HOLY Matrimony!

Today marks a very important day for me, it is our fifth wedding anniversary! Crystal has endured all of my bad jokes, sarcasm, bad tempers and crazy ideas for five years now. Now that is endurance. Honestly, I am so glad that we are together and I would be really lost without her. When I was younger and tired to picture myself as being married, I thought that it would be good, but I was way wrong, it's been absolutely great. I love my sweet princess and my children, and even though we don't have a lot of money I do believe that makes me the richest man of all. So Crystal, if you are reading this, just know that I am looking forward to spending eternity with you.

My Precioussssssssssss!

I have been trying to make it a habit to go to the gym three times a week, before work. Sometimes I am successful and sometimes I am not, but that is not the point of this post. Before my workout I take all the stuff out of my pockets and remove my wedding ring and I put it in the pocket of my gym bag. I put that stuff in a locker, lock it up and then go on my merry way. After the workout I retrieved the bag and began to empty it's contents. I quickly realized that my wedding ring was missing. I know that I had put it in there, so I searched the bag more thoroughly just to make sure that it wasn't hiding in any of the corners. Much to my dismay it wasn't there. I thought back to earlier that morning and remember that as I was walking from the car to the gym, that was when I began putting the stuff in the gym bag. Oh no! I must have dropped it. I couldn't believe that I lost my ring. To me it's not the fact that it would be semi expensive to replace but even though we have only been married five years, I am attached to it and what it represents. Anyway, I dashed outside to retrace my steps. I started at the main entrance and worked my way back to the car, scanning the ground like a helicopter searching for an escaped convict. Suddenly I spotted something, it was my ring, my precioussssss! Laying right in the middle of the main drive in the parking lot. I can't believe how blessed I am. People must have been walking by it for the last hour and a half and no one picked it up, it didn't get run over even though it was in prime position for cars to drive over it. I still almost can't believe it as I look down and see it resting on my finger. Today was a tiny miracle just for me...

Falls O' Plenty!

Installment two of the infamous Georgia trip. Two more exciting days have passed and now that I have the internet at my fingertips I will keep you all updated. Who knew that Georgia had so many waterfalls, “Not I,” said the cow. In two days we have visited Tallulah Falls, Minnehaha Falls, and Toccoa Falls. The first were grand and large, we climbed down 620 stairs to get to a suspension bridge for a better view. Then we had to climb back up! Minnehaha falls were smaller but amazingly beautiful, lots of cascading falls and it was breathtaking. The third is very tall and drops straight down. It just happens to be on the campus of a religious college, and in 1977 was the site of a horrible flood.

We stayed at a beautiful bed and breakfast that is nestled into the countryside and very secluded. It was beautiful and very serene, despite the fact that it was a little hard to find. (Off the beaten track!)

We have also tried boiled peanuts, which seem to be very popular here, but I didn’t particularly care for them. We also drove through a lovely little town that had a very strong German influence, and was very pretty. “So little to do and so much time, strike that reverse it.”

Tallaluah Falls

Suspension Bridge at Tallaluah Falls

Crystal and Beepers hiking down the stairs!

Toccoa Falls

Beepers eating a Georgia Peach!

Minnehaha Falls

Crystal at the Bed and Breakfast

Rear view of the Bed and Breakfast!

Life is turning up Peaches!

So far our trip to Georgia is going great. We have had a blast visiting with our friends and visiting new places. Beepers has been on his best behavior and we are really proud of him, he did exceptionally well on the plane. (Knock on wood, because we still have to go back.)

I have found out that in the last few days we have been to the World’s Largest Aquarium, the World’s Largest Drive In, and America’s Busiest Airport. Whew! We are exhausted. Here are some visuals for those unfortunate souls who cannot be here.

Gettin' some good Southern BBQ!

Eating peach ice cream at The Varisty

At stone mountain.

We were driving around and drove by this weird building and just had to take a picture.

Beepers on the plane.

Crystal and Beepers at the zoo, they let you get really close to the animals.

The family at the zoo, if you look closely you can see elephants in the background.

Beepers pressed up against the glass at the aquarium. Yes that fish was probably that big!

Reading Railroad..

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have a fairly addictive personality. After school ended last summer and Crystal reintroduced me to the library, I dove right in and started reading books like crazy. Crystal suggested that I keep track of the books that I read, and that kind of appealed to me, so I did it. The only problem is that with me being a geek, I took it one step further and made a spreadsheet with graphs and everything. As I finished a book the other day I religiously updated my spreadsheet and then glanced at the totals, I was actually surprised to see how much I have done since the beginning of the year. *****Brag Alert****** Since January 1st I have read fourteen books totaling 5564 pages. ****** End Bragging ******

I realize that this represents a significant amount of time but I try to limit myself to times when Crystal and Beepers are either sleeping, or otherwise occupied. I really enjoy it and I am excited to see how much I can accomplish before the year's end.

Digger Dan!

I love having bragging rights.

Beepers loves construction equipment

Camping in Zion Easter weekend. There were reports of Superman in the area.

Hiking in Zion

For some reason Beepers loves green peppers and if anyone is using them to cook for dinner watch out it might turn up missing.

Already an expert climber