Wishes and Lighthouses

I have harbored a secret wish for a while, I have always wanted to see a lighthouse lit up at night.  I love lighthouses with all their history and mystery.

Heb's parents offered to watch the kids for the evening (the best!) and so we went to a movie.  On our ride home down the Dare Trail, we realized that we had overshot the beach house and were just ten minutes away from the lighthouse.  This was our moment, we seized it and went on a little adventure.

There in the distance, we saw the light blinking, dim and distant at first.  In the darkness, we pulled up close to the base and could see it's faint outline before the light came on in its designated pattern.  You know that each lighthouse blinks a different light pattern so boats can differentiate them.

We stood there together and just watched it brightly blink and then return to the darkness, ever consistent and faithful.  It was the most incredible thing I've seen in a long time.

It took me back to back when Heb and I were first dating, we went on a date on Valentines Day.  We drove up to Bear Lake together and ate pizza, something we've done for many subsequent Valentines Days.  We talked and held hands and for the first time felt like there was some real potential for our relationship.  We drove over to Bear Lake and stood on the bank.  In the quiet darkness, we watched to snow fall on the water.   It was a really special night for us. 
  

While we were out watching the lighthouse blink on and off in the darkness, Heb turned to me and said that it felt like Valentines from so long ago.  In our busy, kid filled life, it's hard to find those special moments in our relationship.

This moment almost didn't happen.  I'm not always the best at asking for things but one of the lessons I learned from the beach this year is to make things happen.  I want those special moments in my life.  I walked away knowing that I need to ask more, seek more.  
  

First Dates and Ice Cream

We went out for ice cream last night.  By itself, it was not a momentus event but we went in celebration of our first date.  Twelve years ago, Heber and I went out on our first date to an Aggie Basketball game.  It may have been the only game we ever went to together.  We were on a double date and went back for ice cream and games after the game.

That time seems like an entirely different life ago, and it was.  There has always been something special about Heber.  Even from that first date (when I thought he wasn't interested in me after all but really he was), I knew that he would be important in my life.   I'm happy that some things don't change with time. 

It was such a hard day at home that we almost didn't go.  It was one of those days that I completely lost it (I hate those days).  I want to imagine that I am the perfect mom that can handle anything with endless patience and love but some days I am not and the magic of motherhood is lost.  We are in so many transitions right now with Leo giving up naps, a round of immunizations and teething that has caused our sweet baby to be so ornery and fussy.  And, I'm pretty sure this is about the 27th time this winter that we've been sick. 

Oh January, you get me every time.  Please end soon.

Valentines

I wrote this ages ago and it got lost in the newborn tiredness.  Thought I'd share it anyway. 

Valentines day was this last week and it got me thinking of our first valentines together.  Heber and I had gone out on a date or two but Valentines was kind of a turning point in our relationship.  We went up to Bear Lake and had pizza at a little restaurant.  Bear Lake is about 45 minutes away through a canyon. 

The first year we were married, we got all nostalgic and thought we would recreate that first Valentines.  The plan was to drive up to Bear Lake and to eat at the little pizza place.  It was a very snowy drive through the canyon.  When we got up there, the pizza place was closed for the week, as well as pretty much everywhere else in town.  It's a tiny town that is really only busy during the summer so it's a ghost town around February. 

We ended up at a gas station looking for info and maybe a bag of chips to tide us over.  It was there we heard about the two dinner options, the truck stop or a small restaurant on the edge of town.  We chose the restaurant and I'm pretty sure we paid $8 for a full steak dinner with dessert.

While most people are out dining at fancy restaurants, Heb and I celebrate with pizza in honor of that special Valentines day so many (many) years ago. And this year, we stayed in town for pizza.

I have two little Valentines to celebrate this year.  I love them so.  

One of the best smiles I've caught recently.

10 years.

A decade seems like a long time, considering I haven't even completed my third.  In 10 years, I have gone from college freshman to graduate, to wife, to employee, to grad student, and now to mother.

A lot can happen in 10 years. 


It was 10 years ago that Heb and I went on our first date.  How could I know that it would be the ruggedly handsome guy in an REI backpack and jeans would be the one.  It was kind of an accident, the way it all happened. 

We met up again at a party (I found out later that the party was engineered by him so that he could see me again).  They planned a hike, I didn't expect a call the next rainy Saturday to cancel the hike.  He invited me to a basketball game (neither of us big sports fans but there's not really much to do in Logan).  We talked, we had ice cream, it was good.

Now, all these years later our lives are completely intertwined.  He is my home, where ever we are.  Who would have known that a chance meeting so long ago would change the course of my life forever. 

Choosing him was the best choice I ever made. 

First Dates

Nine years ago, Heb and I went on our first date.  That is pretty much 1/3 of my life. 

I first met Hebs way back in 2002.  He asked me out to an Aggie Basketball game early that next year.  Heb and I were trying to remember the team they played and I'm pretty sure it was the Gaucho's (who knows what school). 

What was significant about the date was that we talked the whole time.  It was just so easy.  It didn't hurt that Heb is so handsome too.  We talked and laughed and then went to have ice cream on Darwin Avenue.  Who knew that one evening would change my life so drastically. 

Back when we were dating, I put together a journal of our time together.  This is part of what I wrote about our first date: "I had a wonderful time with you.  It was one of my best first dates.  After that, I wanted you to like me.  You were so quality and genuine that I wanted to be part of your life.  I wanted to continue to laugh and to talk to you."

After that, I ran into him in the Sci Tech library or maybe stalked him there (I can't remember).  I'll never forget his yellow backpack.  It is just so Heber.  We never looked back after that.  We dated, we wrote while he was on the East coast and then while I was on the East coast.  We just clicked.

We celebrated last night by going to get ice cream, seemed appropriate.  We talked all about what it was like at the beginning about how we fell in love and knew we loved each other at exactly the same moment.  It's good to remember those moments, it only makes the present so much sweeter.