Easter Pictures

Take a look at our little Easter boy!

Such a stud, wouldn’t you say?  

Our friends Janny and Brian came over for Easter dinner, so we exchanged taking each others’ family pictures.  We had planned on doing it at the first snowfall, but that happened after they were already out west visiting family, so now we’re doing first sign of spring, right?

Finally some pregnant pictures, right?  I’m strangely not too sentimental about this state of being.  I’m ready to be able to give all of myself to my family and house again.  But the fact that our next family pictures will have our precious little girl in them makes it all worth it.

You know you want to see how much fun it is trying to get an almost 2-year old to take family pictures, right?

Airplane!

I guess I was oblivious to this little fight…or at least pretending to be.

Belly Button!

Rawr!

The occasional toss-up.

Car!

Profile pic….yeah.  P.S.  25ish lbs of baby weight and almost 30 pounds of Oliver.

Tickles.

Awww!

“Dad, that guy’s trying to make me smile”

Squishy kisses.

Baby going CRAZY!

We did take pictures right before dinner.  Bad idea for Oliver, good idea for his clothes.  

I love our little family!

No One Mourns the Wicked

Have we ever mentioned Off-Fridays on our little blog?  Matthias's job has him work 9 hour days to receive every other Friday off.  Granted, he does have to go in on some Off-Fridays, but usually only for a few hours.  But they are so wonderful to try to maximize holidays by planning them appropriately.  This weekend we had a 4-day weekend because of how Off-Friday landed.  Lovely!

On Friday we did the normal stuff, like grocery shopping and cleaning up the house.  Plus Matthias took the baby for the morning and let me catch up on my coupons.  That evening we had some friends over from Matthias's work for dinner.  Matthias made La Bandera, which he ate just about every day on his mission.  Mmm..so good!

Saturday was more work around the house.  I entertained Oliver, who has been under the weather lately with a fever and the sniffles, and Matthias was busy sanding/staining/sawing/drilling, etc in the garage.  He's working on refinishing a solid maple desk that our neighbors found for us in a dumpster.  Sanding it down got rid of the treadmark stains, and now Matthias is just about done with the desk, just with the drawers and hutch to go.  He's amazing.

Also, this week Oliver discovered how to slide the baby gate out so that he could climb the stairs, so Matthias turned our cheap $20 baby gate into a $90 hinged baby gate with just a couple of hinges, a latch, and a couple of 2x4s.  It works amazingly, and yet again Oliver is deterred from the stairs.  He can climb up them wonderfully, but sometimes he tries to sit back so we have to catch him.  He also isn't interested in trying to learn to climb down stairs yet.

That night we risked leaving our sick baby with a sitter because on Thursday night Matthias heard that Wicked was at the Boston Opera House, so we bought tickets for Saturday night, in the back row.  They had to be shipped overnight, but it was totally worth it!  After calling my brother to scope out parking ideas, we remembered that some friends would always take the T (aka subway) on their adventures in Boston, and my brother had recommended the same, so I got to take my first ride on the subway!  I forgot my wider-angle lens, so this is the best picture we got of us on the Subway:

After walking back and forth for awhile we finally discovered which direction we were going and found our way to the Boston Opera House.  Beautiful!

Please excuse that I was too lazy to make my panorama shot look better.  You get the picture.  Look at how intricately carved everything is?  It's amazing!  What was even more amazing was walking inside!

Does this not look like the ceiling in Beauty and the Beast?  That was my first thought.  I mean, no cupids, but the grandness and intricacy of design?

I wish there weren't mobs of people that kept us moving so that all of my photos turned out blurry.  Red on red damask wall papers.  Marble.  Gold leaf.  Intricate carvings.  Curved window panes.  Isn't luxury so grand?

Speaking of grand, how about my date?  The pictures of me were far too blurry.  The moving masses make photo taking stressful.

Can you just imagine those chandeliers being lit with candles?  Not sure if they kept the ones that were original or anything, but I always wonder how they go about adding electricity to such ornate things.

 Yes, I was even amazed by the carpet.  I wanted a picture of the stairs covered in this carpet, but again, masses of people.

Oh yeah, and the play was absolutely amazing, just as I knew it would be.  This is Matthias's illegal snapshot from behind my purse.  The view was great besides the heads in front of us, so better seats may not have made much of a difference.  What's funny is that I have a very similar picture from the first time I saw wicked, which was the weekend before I met Matthias.

A lot of people looked at us weird when we told them that we saw a play called "Wicked".  In case you don't know, it's a wonderful musical about the Wicked Witch of the West, pre-Wizard of Oz.  Like her birth and school days and what led to all the people in Oz being terribly afraid of her.  You find out that really, she always had good intentions, and her wickedness to Dorothy and such was out of anger, but a short-lived wickedness that she left so that she could go about doing good like she had wanted to all along.  And, dun dun dun, she and Glinda are best friends.  The music and dialogue are so clever, too.  We were amazed by the choreography and the total flow of the entire play.  I asked Matthias after it was over if it was worth paying that extra $25 for overnight shipping of the tickets and he definitely said yes.

Then we took the T back to our car and drove home having one of those talks that only we can have.  I love being married to my best friend!

Note to self:  Check that wider-angle lens is in your purse before assuming it is.

Easter Baby

Just some early Easter pictures of Oliver.  Isn't he a doll?

Ice Skating and Other Valentine's Goodness.

On Friday we drove up to Concord to buy some ice skates from a guy on craigslist.  He randomly had a pair of men's skates in size 8 and women's skates in size 7 that fit Matthias and I perfectly.  Because we went there on off-Friday we got the barely-used skates before the many other calls of interest were able to make it out there.  The guy we bought them from was really nice and was selling them because he's moving to Florida soon.  He taught us a bit about the care of skates, and how to best break them in, and even told us about hockey and skating on ponds.  We drove away with new skates (new to us...used maybe 6 times before we bought them) and were so excited to find someplace to skate, maybe even a pond!

Saturday morning we put together a wonderful breakfast of Eggs Benedict, where I gave Matthias a centerpiece of scripture marking pencils and an oil vial for Valentine's Day.  Don't worry, I put paper heart toppers on the pencils and put them in a vase to fit the holiday a little better.

Then we called up a young friend from the ward who is in love with "Oll-ee-ver" (as she calls him) and invited her to come ice skating with us so that we could take turns skating and holding Oliver.  We had so much fun!  It had been almost 5 years for me, and even longer for Matthias, and we both only fell once.  Not too bad, if I say so myself, and the exercise was so refreshing!  And the skates are even better than I was expecting!

We had to take our friend to something at the high school, so we only stayed for about an hour, which was perfect timing for Oliver. After his nap I fed him and then we took him over to one of his biggest fans who has been begging to watch him since he's just a little older than her youngest grandson who lives out west (and because he's absolutely adorable!).  While she watched him we went out to Applebee's with our gift card from Christmas (thanks GnG!) and just had a blast hanging out together and not having to worry about Oliver getting upset.  As much as we love Oliver, having date nights is still really important because we can just be our candid selves together without having to put on our responsible parenting faces and constantly be interrupted by strangers who just can't get enough of our cute baby.  After we were done at Applebee's, we still had a while before we needed to head back for Oliver, so we hopped on over to Lowe's and dreamed about renovations and turning a house into our home.  I know, a date night to Lowe's?  Perfect!

We went to pick up Oliver to find out that he had been a champ for his friends!  We do have a really good baby, who even made friends with their dog.

After getting home and putting Oliver to bed, we just sat on the couch together, cuddling, and listening to all of our sappy love songs (see Matthias's post).  We were contemplating how Valentine's day is a completely commercial holiday these days.  The generic gifts of chocolates and flowers don't really mean anything at all.  However, hanging out with each other, even if it's at Lowe's, or just cuddling on the couch and talking to each other remembering how cheesy our love story really is--that's what makes Valentine's Day such a wonderful holiday.  I always hated Valentine's day because I didn't understand it growing up.  I thought I was always being left out when I didn't get flowers, chocolates, or balloons.  Now, I could care less whether I get anything at all, as long as I get to spend times with Matthias just thinking about how far we've come, and how cheesy and wonderful life has been together.  We've decided to never get generic about gifts, but to get each other gifts as we think of them, and then find an excuse to give each other gifts.  They mean so much more that way, and are so much more fun to give!  We also each have lists going of gift ideas for each other, and Matthias is very anti giving each other lists.  It's really weird for me, growing up in a list family, but I'm learning to appreciate it.

Today we got to sing in church with some friends - "Dear To The Heart Of The Shepherd".  We also passed out a few Valentines that made people smile really big.  Afterward we were starving because we'd had breakfast late and left before we had lunch, so we just ate leftovers instead of making the fancy Rachel Ray meatballs we'd been planning on.  However, we then continued a tradition that Matthias started two years ago and made some chocolate fondue to dip strawberries, bananas, pretzels, and Teddy Grahams (new this year!).  I think fondue will be the perfect tradition to keep up even as Oliver and the future kiddos join in for the family closeness that should be felt on Valentine's Day.  Too bad I can't go back to my depressed middle school self and tell myself to enjoy that plate of cherry chip cake cookies because they were good, not because they were all I had.

Valentine’s Playlist

Music has always played a large role in my life. It can help me to feel emotions deeper and serves as a creative outlet for me. I’ve also thought it was interesting how strongly a certain song can bring back all of the emotions, thoughts, and memories from a previous era with which you associate that song. I suppose that’s why couples often have “their song” that does that for them. Megan and I have had various “our song”s throughout our relationship that are meaningful to us because of music, the lyrics, or the strong emotions we associate with that song. So without further ado, allow me to share several sappy stories from our relationship, in reverse chronological order, which all help to make up our Valentine’s Day Playlist.

1. Because

I remember listening to Elder Nelson’s conference talk, Nurturing Marriage, while I was on my mission and thinking, “Wow! When I get married, that’s what I want to do!” A few months ago I related this to Megan and we watched the talk for a family home evening activity. At the end, Elder Nelson quotes the lyrics of the song. We quickly searched up the mp3 and the sheet music so we could enjoy the song and think about nurturing our own marriage anytime we wanted. BTW, Perry Como’s recording is great too.

For this Valentine’s Day, Megan made a scrapbook page with a vintage looking wedding photo:

Also, I put the mp3 on my player and listened to it on repeat all week so that I could have the words memorized to sing to Megan this weekend for Valentine’s.

2. Mario Kart Love Song – Sam Hart

Here’s a surprisingly sweet song about one of our favorite Wii games. Megan found it randomly on Youtube last year when our busyness in school was at its full height. To distract ourselves and give us reprieve from the long study hours, we would play Nintendo together, play the guitar together, as well as other activities. Now that we’re real people and no longer students, we have the chords learned so we can play and sing the song ourselves to fondly remember those crazy school days when we dreamed of being exactly where we are right now.

3. Iris – Goo Goo Dolls

Like many people in our age group, Megan and I both liked this song since middle school. But unlike most popular music, this song has a three/four beat (well most of it anyway). In December 2008, we attended a winter formal dance at the Tucson Institute of Religion. After we were married, we felt kind of awkward going to Institute activities as they are generally geared towards singles. Regardless, we through out all inhibitions and had an absolute blast at this dance. When Iris came on, we took advantage of the unique time signature and aggressively waltzed, except for the parts where the three feel isn’t as pronounced, at which point we head-banged. I’m sure the single people all around us scoffed and thought things like, “Married people are so gross.” But mean while, it felt so good to have a genuinely good time together without having to put up any appearances.

4. Every Time I Look at You – KISS

When one thinks of the band KISS, one generally thinks of long hair, crazy make up, studded leather, and guys with really long tongues playing heavy metal music. Somehow though, KISS managed to hatch a really beautiful love song. Even though the lyrics for the most part don’t describe any relationship I’ve ever been in, I really enjoy strumming out the chords and singing the song, and Megan really enjoys listening to me pretend to play the guitar while I sing this song. Maybe it’s how I do the high pitched “wooohooo!!” (see 3:12 of the video) or maybe it’s just how I look into her eyes and sing, “you’re everything to me.”

5. Do You Want to Know a Secret? – The Beatles

This song represents a funner, flirtier side. Shortly after we were married in summer of 2007 we drove out to visit the house of one our friends, Nikki, for dinner. Nikki lives far from urban or even suburban Tucson. She lives pretty much out by Picacho Peak. It was a beautiful clear desert summer evening and the colors in the sky as the sun set were amazing. I remember on the drive we drove past a road named Amber Sunset, just as we were enjoying an amber sunset. Megan captured the photo on her cell phone, which picture remains as her cell phone background to this day. On the drive, we were listening to the Beatles and when this song came on, I sang it to Megan in full out playful, flirty mode. Now whenever the song comes on, we tend to act exactly the same way.

6. Downtown - Petula Clark

Downtown is the least of love songs on our list, but the time/place/emotion association for us is one of the most meaningful. Our wedding day, as one might imagine, was very hectic. We were married in Mesa, AZ. Then drove two hours+ to the industrial side of Tucson to pick up Eegee’s for our wedding reception, then close to another two hours to Sierra Vista for our reception. AND we planned on driving back to Tucson after the reception was all finished. It made for one exhausting day even before you add all of the emotionally exhausting stuff, like getting married, into the equation.

Towards the end of the reception, we had all of the gifts loaded into our little silver Camry, which completely filled the trunk and the back seat even into the front seats a little. Then when it was finally time to leave, to avoid the lingering crowds and awkward goodbyes, Megan grabbed my hand and ran for the door. She then secretly came back in through the kitchen to kiss her parents and we stole the a platter of chicken salad croissant-sandwiches. Then we got in the car and were scot-free! We couldn’t believe that we were finally married and it felt so good to just drive away together on the other side of all of the stress. And the first song to come on the radio as we were on the road driving away from it all was Downtown sung by Petula Clark. And smiling we sang it to each other. Now that song recalls all of those memories and emotions for us.

7. Til There Was You

Megan had received a bit of very good wedding day advice: try to notice and remember simple little things about your wedding day. Well, one thing that I noticed while we were outside the temple taking pictures before our wedding was that somewhere, I could hear bells ringing. I was in a particularly sentimental mood (with the whole about to get married thing) and this made me think of the first line from this song, “There were bells on hill, but I never heard them ringing ‘till there was you.” Then that song was in my head for much of the day. Not a bad song to have in your head, especially on your wedding day.

8. Para Tu Amor – Juanes

When we were dating, I would send Megan emails every night, because I knew that her night time routine was to check her email right before bed. Being the silly returned missionary that I was, I would often right Spanish in those emails, knowing full well that she didn’t understand Spanish. Also those emails were usually gushy lovey-dovey. Often I would recite lyrics from Juanes love songs to her as they easily encompassed the Spanish and the gushy lovey-dovey. Para Tu Amor was one of these songs. Then when I was driving from Las Vegas, NV to Sierra Vista, AZ having decided that I was going to propose to her, this song seemed to capture everything that I was feeling. I played the song for Megan as we were driving to the place where I proposed to her, and I probably played it on the way home too. I was in a pretty cheesy mood.

Fast forward to Valentine’s Day 2008. Megan had been listening to this song on repeat for weeks so she could learn Spanish sufficiently to sing it to me on Valentine’s Day. She also learned and memorized the chords on the guitar. I couldn’t stop smiling (and I probably) as she performed for me the culmination of weeks of effort, Para Tu Amor.

9. Always – Irving Berlin, as performed by The Mormon Tabernacle Choir

Sorry, couldn’t find a video of the arrangement I wanted. Clink on the above link above for the mp3.

Since we were dating, Megan and I have often listened to The Mormon Tabernacle Choir’s weekly broadcast, Music and the Spoken Word on the BYU TV website. After sitting and talking with Megan for a few hours one Sunday evening in my apartment, we turned on the weekly program. It was the week of Valentine’s day (2007) and Lloyd Newell gave a special spoken word about a cute old married couple that showed their love for each other through service. Then the choir sang Irving Berlin’s Always, and we spontaneously danced together in the living room.

10 – 13. A bunch of lovey dovey country songs.

When Megan and I were dating, I insisted that I didn’t really like that much country. I mean, I had a few that I liked, but overall, I told her I could only take country in small doses. This disappointed her a little as Tim McGraw is one of her favorite singers. In December 2006, we were driving up the mountains above Sierra Vista to play in the snow and I told her about a mysterious unmarked CD I found in my collection that had a bunch of random country songs that I, for the most part, really enjoyed. So we put on the CD on the way up the mountain and song after song, Megan laughed and teased me, because the CD wasn’t random, but mostly Tim McGraw!

After this revelation, she shared with me some of her favorite Tim McGraw songs and why they meant so much to her, including My Best Friend which Megan has already blogged about. As we’re waiting for a response on the offer we’ve put in on the short-sale house, Megan says that Set this Circus Down describes our position in life quite well. The other two country songs are just good love songs that fit the lovey dovey country category that we both like.

14. Somewhere Over the Rainbow / What a Wonderful World – Israel Kamakawiwo'ole

This was the very first THE SONG that Megan and I had when we were dating. Israel K. has struck an emotional chord with me ever since I went to Hawaii my senior year of high school, and I love Louise  Armstrong song, What a Wonderful World.

Here we are in November 2006 about to go on our first Institute formal dance, complete with duct tape corsage. The date began with a formal candle-lit spread I had set up at previously at our favorite Tucson spot, Eegee’s.

At the dance, Megan and I had a great time with each other and our friends. Holding each other on the dance floor just felt so right and wonderful. Then during the dance, that song came on and the music seemed to put everything together and everything else just disappear, and it was only me and Megan dancing together in a wonderful world.

Since then, life just continues to be wonderful, not perfect and not easy, but wonderful. As our relationship continues to develop and our love continues to grow, we’ll experience new emotions together and I expect that new songs will capture those memories and emotions. Then perhaps those songs too will be added to our Valentine’s playlist.