On Love- in all of its sugary sweetness

These are a few quotes on love that I found on this page of Wiki. And I've put my thoughts on a few of them. They got me thinking.

"The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return"

• Eden Ahbez

Selo has taught me to accept love. For a long time, I didn't think I deserved it, and lashed out. For the last few years, he has taken his sweet and gentle time to let me learn that I am worth it, and he does love me. In return, I have learned to open the most sensitive part of my heart to him, and love him just as deeply.


"Love is the best thing that can keep you together"

• Anonymous

A relationship takes committment. When both parties are committed, a relationship can last through anything. And I do mean anything.


"When I saw you, I was afraid of meeting you.When I met you, I was afraid of kissing you. When I kissed you, I was afraid to love you. Now that I love you, I'm afraid of losing you"

• Anonymous The Voice Of Love by Silard Somorjay(soundtrack)Movie;The Streets of Beijing.

"True love is your soul's recognition of its counterpoint in another."

• John Beckwith ( Owen Wilson) in Wedding Crashers

Disagree

"Where there is love, distance doesn't matter."

• Mata Amritanandamayi

Distance does matter. The hardest times of our marriage are when we are apart. We prefer to live together, sleep together, and travel together, because we want to BE together. No matter where we are or what we are doing, being together is important to us.



"Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies."

• Aristotle

One can love themself, but love cannot blossom without another person. Love needs to develope between two separate beings, in order for both to progress and experience the deepest sense of acceptance and joy.


My own thoughts

Love gives hope. Teaches endurance, patience, giving, acceptance. Love is not strong because it is love, love is to be made strong by those that are committed to making it that way. Love is to be cherished and encouraged. Love is not equal purely by being love, equality is to be gained by respect earned and given. Respect cannot be forced or taken, but is one's own to keep and to hold. Losing one's self respect should in no way affect your respect for others.

Selo and I were talking the other day, and, once again, I realized how blessed I am to have him, and to be his wife. I started thinking about love. About our pasts, separate and together, about how much we have both grown, about what love really means and is, about how it has changed us, about people and commitment and family, about so much.

I love that we can wake up next to each other every day. I love waking up next to the man that is my husband, and knowing that I am his wife. I love the feeling of my husband reaching over in his sleep to wrap his arm around me. I love the feeling in the morning when he first wakes up and pulls me to him so he can hold me for just a few moments before we crawl out of bed. I love the way he smiles at me, and says good morning to me with those sleepy eyes. I love the way he tells me that my eyes are sparkly. I love the way he makes my eyes sparkle. I love being married to him.

Love is a verb and a noun. That means that you choose who you love, and you choose to cherish or destroy the love that you have. I love knowing that loving each other is our choice, and not an obligation or a burden or a neccessity. I love knowing that we are together because we love each other, and not because we have to stay together for the kids or have to help each other pay the rent. Because we want to be together. We want to be committed. We want to be faithful.

I love knowing we are happy. I love knowing that we are improving our lives. Working together to make things better for ourselves, and our future children. Building not just a place to live or to reside, but an actual home with love and laughter. I love laughing with him. I love hearing him sing his silly songs, and spin me around when we dance, and being silly and crazy together. I love hearing his different silly voices, listening to him play his guitar, enjoying the sounds of him moving around in the house. I love the pictures on our walls. I love the way he looks at me when I tell him I'll cook his favorite meal, and the way he says thank you so many times while he eats it. I love how he does the dishes and cleans the bathroom. I love that he is willing to put just as much work into cleaning our home as I am. I love watching him separate our laundry, and put his clothes away. I love seeing him hang his shirts in the closets, and talk about the hangers. I love seeing him make our bed, and mess it all up to tell me he needs me to "help him fix it".

I love going on dates with him. I love the way he takes me by the hand and says he's taking me out tonight. I love hearing him talk about the places he wants to go, and what he wants to show me at each one. I love the way he pays the bill, or buys the tickets, or leaves the tip, so that he can be chivalrous. I love how strong and manly he is. I love that he can open the jars I can't. I love that he wants to be my hero, and carry me across the thresh hold. I love coming home together, and curling up to relax after work or on the weekend. I love the passion we have. The look in his eyes when I know he's thinking about me. The intimacy of being able to read each other's thoughts, know what the other is thinking, finish each other's sentences, and predict what the other will want. I love the way we feel so connected to each other, so close. I hate the way I miss him so dreadfully while he is gone on business trips, or how I miss him so innocently while he is at work, but I love the hugs and wanting when we reunite again.

I am grateful for the commitment we have in each other. I was told a few weeks ago while talking to a married man that he did not want to hurt my marriage. I was shocked and simply stated to him that I love my husband, I am fiercely loyal, that I hide nothing from him, and I do nothing that would need to be hidden. I love knowing that we both have complete trust in each other. And not because we've "never been caught", but because we don't put ourselves in a position for something risky to happen. We have proven time and time again that we are committed to our marriage, and we will do whatever it takes to not just keep it but to keep it strong.

I love knowing we are equals in our marriage. We value the other's opinion, perspective, and point of view. I love knowing he appreciates me, and I love being able to show him that I appreciate him. I am grateful for the work that he does to support our family and our home. I am grateful for the time he puts into laundry and dishes and cleaning, so that I'm not left with everything. I'm grateful for his help to pay our bills, even though I know how much he hates the tedious monotony of punching in card numbers and writing down confirmation numbers.

We don't have the perfect marriage. We have problems and disagreements and fights. We don't always get along. But we are committed to work through every problem, love each other before after and during, and to make it work.

Picture Playing

I'm about half way finished. I have gone through all the pictures from our trip, organized them, uploaded them to my photo site so they are backed up (I try to keep all my photos backed up, just in case), and right now I am going through picking out the ones I want to put up and I am editing them if they need it. Tomorrow, I will go through the last three folders, edit the photos I pull, and then I will put them all into an album online to show off. This is a long process! But I love going through them. I love seeing them, and remembering everything. I can't say enough how much of a wonderful trip it was. And I have PhotoShop to thank for the progress. I don't use it much, but I sure love it when I do.

I'm off to bed. Work tomorrow, then more picture playing. Have a good night!

Selo's Birthday Vacation

We had a great time. It was fun, and relaxing, and perfect to celebrate his birthday. (Okay, we still would have rather gone to visit his girls for his birthday, but he was told no, so I did the next best thing.)

Here are some pictures of our weekend.

The weather was wonderful. It was a bit cool during the day, and cold at night. We left the doors open during the day, and snuggled at night. Perfect in front of the fireplace :)

Selo's Mom and her boyfriend drove down early Friday and went to Mesquite. My mom and her husband, Dave, drove Selo and I down Friday after work. We got there about midnight, and Susan and Bryan met us at the resort shortly after. We roamed the resort for a minute, then unpacked and got settled. Then we all went to bed and enjoyed our first night in our comfy beds. Selo and I had a huge master bedroom with a king size bed, a walk-in closet, and a master bathroom. AND a private entrance onto the deck. Mom and Dave had the other bedroom, and Susan and Bryan had the murphy bed.

Saturday morning, Selo and Dave started in on Guitar Hero III for the Wii. (Susan brought her Wii and Dave brough GH3.) I made breakfast and we all were stuffed. After breakfast, I brought out the cupcakes I made for Selo's birthday and we sang happy birthday to him. They were good cupcakes! I highly recommend the butter pecan flavor of cakemix. After cake and singing, Selo opened his gifts. He got a bunch of games, including Apples to Apples, and Monopoly with the new Speed Dice (it's really cool!) We played some of the games for a while, and snacked on all the food we had.
After the games, we went to dinner at Selo's favorite restaurant. It was sooooo good. They brought him out a strawberry sunday fr his birthday, and we sang to him again :) We then went to the mall, where we shopped for a while. He found two T-shirts that he really liked, so I bought them for him. It's not often HE pulls clothes off the rack that he likes!
We went back to the hotel and played more games. We started with Smartie Pants, a game Dave brought. Then we played Mario Party 8, which I absolutely love. And in the middle of all of this, Selo and Bryan still played a couple games of Chess.
Later that night, we all went to the pool. It was warm! And the hot tub was so relaxing. It was wonderful. I can't even describe how wonderful it was. And I got to see Selo in a swimming suit. Rawr Baby. lol

Sunday morning, after sleeping in, we got up and packed up. We took our time, since we were all so relaxed and lazy. We loaded the vehicles, checked out, and left. We went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. Mmmmm. After Cracker Barrel, we got on the road for home. A few parts were pretty scary, going through storms and stuff. But we made it back safe and sound.

We had a fabulous weekend. Selo kept saying over and over how he had such a good time and how grateful he was for the weekend away. It was a great birthday for him.

Thoughts on 2007

It has been a busy and emotional year for Hubby and I. I was just on the phone a few minutes ago talking to a friend about how difficult this year has been, and it made me realize how much we have been through.

January- Vacation to Myrtle Beach. Hubby's first time on the beach, and first real vacation (he said that!). This is where he proposed to me <3

February- Hubby's birthday. His first birthday away from all of his family. We had a big party for him to make sure he knew there were still plenty of people around that cared for him. My schedule at work changed. Hubby's youngest daughter had a seizure. (She is fine. Her mom took good care of her.) We start feeding the stray cat at Hubby's home, hoping to catch her.

March- WE GOT MARRIED!!! We got our endowments the same day we were married. Married in Washington DC, reception in Wilkes, temple trip and reception in Utah. Hubby started his new job the week after we got married, and we spent the week in Florida (paid for by the company!) so he could "train".

April- Hubby's youngest daughter's birthday. She turned four. Hubby's ex-wife got married. (Congrats to them!) We find out the cat is pregnant.

May- My schedule at work changed, again. The cat has her kittens. We fall in love with every one of them.

June- I left Corp America to become a full time caregiver. What a change! We moved into the lower part of a house, and I cared for the elderly couple upstairs. I started my blog.

July- Still adjusting to one income. Child support AND insurance (for us and Hubby's girls) began being withheld from Hubby's paycheck. Both are needed, both are huge. We pull the belt a little tighter. Okay, a lot.

August- My grandmother passes away at 90-something years old. We fly to California. Hubby's oldest daughter starts first grade. My Uncle Dachie passes away.

September- My sister has her first baby and my first nephew. Three days later, Hubby's oldest daughter has her birthday- she turned seven. We find homes for the Mama kitty, and three of her five babies.

October- I had my birthday- I turned 25. We find out Hubby's dad is sick, and book him a flight for the next morning to fly to Utah. Two hours later, the next call is to tell us he passed away. We book my flight out there as well.

November- Attend the funeral for Hubby's sad. Very very hard time. Hubby ends up in the hospital. The doctors can't find what is wrong, and send him home. We are waiting for the doctor to give approval for Hubby to travel so we can return to our own home, and back to our lives. It finally comes, and we go home. Even though my grades were still through the roof and I was caught up (or ahead!) in all my classes, I had missed to many days of school and the policy stated I was to be removed. I voluntarily withdrew to avoid any bad marks. Hubby and I left a few days later for our long awaited "honeymoon" and vacation of the year. We went to California with a bunch of our friends and went to FFXI FanFest 2007. It was an absolute blast. Then we went back to Utah for our planned Thanksgiving trip.

December- Many, many changes. I can't even list them all yet. But Christmas was wonderful. We had a great time celebrating our first Christmas as a married couple.


I am amazed at this list! I try to take things one day at a time, but looking back at this helps me to understand why sometimes I just can handle it all at once. I'll tell you this though, I am so glad I have my husband. He has been an amazing strength to me through everything, and I am glad to be there for him when he needs me, too. We still have some communication issues we are smoothing out, but he is amazing. We have a commitment to stand by each other through everything, and thinking back on just our first year of marriage, we are doing just that.

Finally Here Are The Photo Journals

We took over 300 pictures last weekend. That is only on my camera. There were about three other cameras running around at all time. BUT I have finished. I have gone through all of them. I have organized, cropped, editted, and they are ready for viewing. Yay! Most of them have a basic description or a caption, so I am not going to talk about each one. Which means, if you have questions or comments about them, you need to tell/ask me. Love to hear from you!

These are the newest ones that I have been working forever hard on
Utah There and Back
Mom's Wedding
Andrew and Rebeka Grass (This one you simply click on the sub album you want to look at. It was too big to have in one album, and this is more organized.)

And these are some older ones that have been edited and re-organized
My Family
Trip to North Carolina
Kendra Her reception and her house
Selo is so sweet I was having a bad night, stressed about moving, and this is what he did to help me feel better.
Moving to North Carolina
Judy's Birthday We decorated my step-mom's cubicle at work
Uncle Tommy's Memorial Ride My Uncle Tommy was killed on his bike. Every year we have a Memorial Ride for him.