Happy Anniversary!

Today's our sixth wedding anniversary. It's been six years. Wow, time flies. It seems like just a few months ago when we were celebrating that great (but very long) day. For memory's sake, I thought I'd include a picture from that day - as one of my young men so observantly pointed out the other day: when it looked like I had a lot more pounds and a lot more hair.

Now, nobody ever said that every anniversary has to be romantic, right? Because I don't think we've ever really had a romantic anniversary - at least not on the actual date. Our first two anniversaries, I was out of town for work. So we've gotten used to celebrating this day on our terms, when we want to and how we want to. So it was with today.

Don't get me wrong. We had a great weekend. Jamie's dad and his wife, Carrie, (picture of them with Taylor to the left) came into town to come spend some time with the new grand-daughter, and we had a great time with them. And we're doing a good job of acclimating Taylor to the fun things in life - like Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, Oktoberfest, and her first football game (coming this week).

But in celebration of this anniversary, I'd like to share a couple of our funnier moments that we've shared together during our ever-exciting marriage:

A couple of years ago, we celebrated our anniversary a few months late by taking a weekend trip to New York. We went to a couple of Broadway plays and went out to some nice dinners. But what I'll remember as much as anything was this classic moment. Jamie decided to go to the famous "Oidad" Salon (http://www.oidad.com/) - a salon that specializes in curly hair. She had used some of the product before and had always wanted to treat herself to an appointment to this exclusive salon.

After her appointment, she was looking and feeling like a million bucks (the appointment almost cost that much, I believe), and was definitely wanting to show off her beautiful locks as we walked around the city. Well, we walked about five minutes and I was taking her picture in front of Rockefeller Plaza, when all of a sudden, she had a look of panic on her face. I asked what was wrong. She told me to check her head. I didn't know what she was talking about . . . until I went over to her recently-styled hair and saw that a pigeon had taken a nice, huge poop on her head. After the initial second of shock, even she couldn't help but crack up. It was freaking hilarious.

And while that story was kind of at Jamie's expense, I've got an even better one at my expense:

During the week of our anniversary about four years ago, the owner of the company that I work for (who happens to live near us) invited the youth group that Jamie and I work with in our ward, to his house for a swimming party and barbeque. 'Captain Bob' had a newly remodeled pool and patio and wanted to treat our youth group to a fun activity. Obviously, I was just a bit nervous. I wanted to make a good impression with the owner of our company, with our Bishop (who I thought might have second thoughts about me leading these kids), and with the kids themselves. One thing to note - Captain Bob is one of the greatest people I know. He is such a believer in people, he's so generous and thoughtful and an incredible teacher. Needless to say, he's also very detail-oriented, and in the case of this party, he was very specific as to how he wanted everything organized and how he wanted it to run. So, when a few of the young women started trying to push me into the pool with my clothes on, I wasn't about to let it happen. I love messing around with the youth and being a goof - but I told them that I really didn't want to be pushed in on this particular night. I made them a deal that I'd even jump in the pool with my clothes on some other night - but not that night and not at Captain Bob's place. They respected that, and they quit trying.
Well, after dinner I was walking towards the pool getting ready to set up a game for the kids. All of a sudden, I felt somebody grab me and start pushing me towards the pool, and I knew I couldn't do anything about it. So, I just reached behind me and grabbed on to the person. I basically said, 'whoever is pushing me in is coming in with me.' Less than a second later, I was in the pool - but I kept my promise. I held on to whatever I was grabbing. As I came to the surface, I was still holding something in my hand. I looked at it - and it was a blouse. I looked up, and the Stake Young Women's President was bright red - and shirtless, covering herself up. She had pushed me in the pool, and I had yanked off her blouse in self-defense, and everybody saw it. Hey - don't mess with the bull or you get the horns, right? Actually, Jamie reminds me that I looked much more embarrassed than the shirtless woman.

We've shared some wonderful memories together, which I'm grateful for. Sure, there have been a few rough patches along the way. But that's made the good moments even better. I feel so lucky and so blessed to be married to such an amazing wife. And while we hope to have many, many more anniversaries to celebrate, our anniversary from 2008 will be remembered as the first anniversary as parents, and that's what made it our best one yet.

And for those who have told us that our posts aren't complete without a new picture of Taylor, here she is in her cow outfit: