Post Valentine Post

Reading Suburb Sanity tonight and her post for Valentine’s Day, I thought maybe I’d talk a little about Rick and I. Where to start?

We were high school sweethearts (sigh). We married at the end of my senior year and Justin was born before our first anniversary. We struggled and played for a couple of years, then divorced for a couple of years. Finally we decided we couldn’t live without each other (another sigh). We’ve been married (this time) for 33 years, that’s kind of weird when your only child is 36, but that makes life more interesting.

He celebrates our first anniversary and I celebrate our second, so needless to say we don’t really do anything for either one. Not that I really care, sometimes he has to remind me that it’s our anniversary (which one?) Anyway, anniversaries have never been a huge deal to me.

Now one un-holiday, Father’s Day, is kind of a favorite of mine. Those wonderful male type people that plan National Guard summer camp must not want to be home for Father’s Day. For many years Rick was gone on this day. So……one year I got the brilliant idea to order Victoria’s Secret “stuff” and have it delivered directly to him at Camp Williams. So for a few years, during mail call on the Saturday before Father’s Day, he would receive a special package from “Vickie” and keep all the guys guessing. Rick loves to joke, and he takes as well as he gives, so he loved the questions and raised eyebrows the packages brought.

The first Valentine’s Day Rick was away from home, still in Mississippi training for Iraq, I was at work as usual and in walked Marilyn and Margene from Albertsons, carrying the most beautiful red-tipped, yellow roses I’d ever seen. Still makes me cry thinking about it. He’s so cute, HE loves yellow roses with red tips, so he will occasionally bring them home from work and he always says “they’re your favorite, aren’t they”? The same kind of roses arrived by the same delivery girls the next Valentine’s Day when Rick was in Iraq. He has some very thoughtful friends at work, and he loves me.

We’ve now been married quite a while, we’ve pretty much gotten used to each others weird issues (not that I have any). He’s become my best friend over the years. He’s the one I want to spend time with, whether it’s at home arguing over the TV changer and whether I can read AND watch TV at same time or not, or going out to a nice restaurant, he’s the one. We don’t go to too many movies, he kind of has a “don’t like movies” block, but I really just want the big bucket of popcorn anyway.

So, when he gets home next Sunday I’ll be on my very best behavior so he knows just how much I’ve missed him these past 2 ½ weeks. I’ll try to weasel a movie out of him, and he might agree and then I’ll probably want to stay home where it’s warm and cozy. We’ll probably compromise with me bringing dinner home from Costa Vida, and enjoy ourselves and an evening at home with Baxter and the Bonz’.

Rick and I at Kits Beach, Vancouver, BC July 2008

 

Super Bowl Sunday

 

Quincy, Shay, Tanner and Rick in their 3D glasses enjoying the commercials.

 

Mom, aka Sweetheart Grandma, stunning in her 3D's.

A Thousand Words Thursday

This picture is me in front of a store called "JB and Me" in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This is a cute store with fun, funky stuff. Justin spent the week with me in Grand Rapids in August last year and we stumbled onto this store. He has a picture like this with him pointing to the sign, which he promises to send. This sign has significance because we have some very dear friends that nicknamed him "JB", for, of course, Justin Bonzo. Albo has since passed on but his beautiful wife Maggie "Muggs" still calls him JB, even though he's now 36, and he still loves her for it. So, some very special times in my life have been spent with just "JB and Me".

Rickism

A place to get sandwiches and pizza - DoNiMos.

Discombobulated in Bolivia

After reading Debbie’s post at Suburb Sanity today, about her son being discombobulated, and combobulated not being a word, it got me thinking about “Rickisms”.

Now anyone that knows my Rick knows that there are times his tongue doesn’t spit out exactly what he meant for it to. Things get twisted and “discombobulated”.

Example in point. After his tour of Iraq, well really his whole adult life, he’s had a hard time sleeping. I know without a doubt that it’s not my snoring, I admit I snore, but how bad can it be? Well, that’s for another time.

Anyway, we bought him some Melatonin and to help him sleep. Justin just happened to be visiting (good witness) and Rick said he was going home and take a melanoma and go to Bolivia. He really meant that he was going home and take a melatonin and go into oblivion. From then on we joke that we are going to “Bolivia”.

Great guy, takes as good as he gives. We still call that clothing brand “Tommy Hilliger”. Gotta love him and his twisted tongue.

All tucked in

I've been watching for something fun or funny to blog about. Not much going on lately. Well today I finally have something funny to tell everyone. Not that it's really something I'm proud of or even really want to admit I did, but here goes.

You know how you see little kids come out of the the bathroom with their dress tucked in their panties? Well that was me today after a funeral in my ward. The family and most of the congregation had exited the Chapel, I walked to the front to move some flowers to the gym. A lady in my ward was right behind me when I started to turn around and she was about to hyperventilate. She said "your skirt is tucked in your pantie hose or something". I could have slithered right out the door. She looked even more humiliated than I felt, I mean she was bright red. Instead of slithering like I wanted to, I laughed and made some lame comment, adjusted myself, and went on about my business. You have to realize I have a hard time laughing at myself, but I tried really hard, I'm trying even harder not to be REALLY BUGGED by the whole thing. I would guess there were only a small number of people who saw, because they were going the opposite direction I was, but wasn't one enough????

I came home and told Rick, thinking he'd never let me live it down, do you wonder about my sanity in telling him in the first place. Well, all he said was "that's better than toilet tissue hanging out of your pants". He had told me about a lady who had just come out of the restroom at Albertsons, where he works. She was wearing sweats and a sweat shirt, and trailing behind her was a string of toilet tissue hanging out of her sweats. What in the heck would you do? I'm sure he was rolling on the ground laughing his head off, not about to approach her and end her embarrassment.

I'm going to start watching other people really, really closely and blog about THEIR misfortunes not my own. Have a great weekend and be sure to look in the mirror at your butt before you exit the restroom.

Losing Pam

It seems that I've been posting pretty serious stuff lately. I really will post something happy and crazy sometime.

I lost a very good friend Sunday, after a 10 year battle with cancer. Her name is Pam Hunsaker and she's been the Treasurer at American Fork City for the past 24 years. Pam is the type of person that everyone flocks around. She's loud, cute, funny, smart, always happy. We have had some great experiences over the past 12+ years that I've been the Cedar City Treasurer. We've spent time playing in Chicago, Salt Lake City, San Diego, and St. George. We've gone on boat tours, watched fireworks, eaten waaaaaaay too much and enjoyed every minute.

One of our best trips was to Chicago in 2005. Rick had been in Iraq for about a month, so he was otherwise occupied. Justin and Chris met us all in Chicago to spend the week playing. I flew from Cedar to Salt Lake and the rest of the way with Jolene Jackson, Claire White and Pam. As we got off the plane and went to retrieve our luggage, there stood Justin and Chris waiting for us. Pam, Jolene and I are all within a year of each other, Claire a little older. I think Justin and Chris weren't really sure what to do with all us women, and they named us "The Premarin Patrol". We shopped, ate, played, and ate some more. In between, we actually found time to attend our training. We had a great time and it will always be one of my favorite trips. Here are Pam and I in Chicago.

This is Pam lovin' on a male mannequin during our Chicago trip. Pam was always like this. It didn't matter if she was feeling under the weather, she was the life of all the parties. She is such a great example of endurance and love.

Pam has 4 children, 2 boys and 2 girls. Her oldest son just got married in November and I understand that she felt well enough to have Thanksgiving dinner at her house in November. It was just the first part of December, after feeling so tired and run down, she went to the doctor and was told to get on hospice, there was nothing they could do for the cancer, that had spread so quickly and so far.

Bless her heart, she fought a good fight, for 10 long years. She so wanted to stay with her family, and us her friends, that love her so much. Thinking about her today I just know that Heavenly Father is having the time of his life. He's enjoyed watching her from afar, now that she's there with Him, she is totally entertaining Him. She will absolutely keep Heaven hopping.

For our friends that were to our conference in St. George in May, remember Pam the professional "butt drummer". This will always make us laugh and remind us how short life can be. We love you Pammie and will miss you so much.


Me, Jolene, Deanna and Pam having fun in Chicago.