All Ya Need is Love, Love is All Ya Need

HOT! HOT! HOT! Today was a scorcher I tell ya! Mandi and I took Haylee, Avery, Emily and Sarah over to my mother-in-laws to swim today. Since we had the whole pool to ourselves I didn't mind putting on a swimsuit. I haven't bought a new one this year and last years is just a little too tight. I looked like two bears in a pup tent fighting over a fish! I have lost seven pounds so far but that is not really a dent. Being the first time in the pool for the season I had a bit of trouble trying to get myself up on the float properly. I flipped backwards once and sideways a couple of other times. Had I had a video camera, I swear I could take second place on America's Funniest Videos! Mandi laughed so hard she snorted!

Today is my Anniversary. Beau and I have been married for four years. We have been together for eleven. I still remember the first time I kissed him. He always made me feel so ushy gushy. He still does. I think that is how you know it is true love. I am going to share some of my favorite memories of him.

The first time I made dinner for him was a catastrophe. The kids were at the babysitter, Mandi was out for the night and I had a great vision in my head of how the night would go. I popped the chicken in the oven to bake and proceeded to put on my makeup. About fifteen minutes passed and I opened the oven to flip the chicken. WHOOSH! The entire oven up in flames. I couldn't extinguish it. I shut the oven door called 911. At the time Alex was two years old and loved to hide things. On this occasion it appeared that he had hid a plastic tumbler in the oven and when I slid the baking dish in it pushed the cup to the back of the oven out of view. When Beau arrived he found firetrucks in the parking lot and firemen in my apartment. Did someone say McDonalds?

In 1999 I had a surgery gone wrong. It was to be a simple laproscopy to determine if the cyst on my ovary needed to be removed and if need be the ovary would be removed. The ovary was removed. In addition, the surgeon nicked my small intestine while pulling the scope out. This caused major complications to the point that I almost died. I was in the hospital for two weeks with thirty something staples down the full length of my abdomen. Beau was there the entire time. Even though, I was pretty much out of it the entire time and I was certainly was not good company. I could barely even talk with the stomach pump they stuck down my nose and throat. When I was finally discharged he came to stay with me and helped me shower, got me food and even helped me walk because the muscles in my legs had deteriorated from laying for so long. This is the point when our relationship went from serious to committed.

Back in the old days when we both fit on one couch comfortably we would lay and watch movies for hours on a Sunday. I loved that. By July 30th we will be laying like that again.

Every once in a while we will wrestle. He can usually take me though. I need to work on the guns!

After trying to learn how to drive a stick shift many, many times before he was able to teach me in just a few hours. He is so patient.

When Beau proposed to me I had no clue. It was Christmas Eve. Mandi and Josh were there and Danielle, Alex, Haylee and Emily. Avery wasn't born yet. It had been a cold winter and I had been scraping my car windows with my credit card or a CD case for the longest. He let me open one gift Christmas Eve...when I opened it I found a high tech window scraper with a fancy fur glove. I was so excited. He kept urging me to put my hand inside to show him how it would work. I still didn't realize what was happening after I felt the small square box inside the glove. I took it out. He never actually got on one knee but it was implied. Obviously, I said yes.

I asked Beau what his favorite memory was and he said it had to be when he "stalked" me for weeks before getting the courage to approach me at the bar. He said he has lots of good memories that he thinks about all the time but that is the one that sticks out in his head.

Happy Anniversary Beau! I love you always!