Happy Mothers Day!

This post is about our kids and the joy they bring to us. I am so happy to have you as my wife and mom to our kids. With every experience I have with you and our monsters I am reminded to how truly blessed we are.

C1 (Ton-Ton)

Carson has been the ground breaker for us. This little boy not only took us from being married with out kids but taught us the true joy of being parents. I distinctly remember how I wasn't sure if I wanted to be a Dad and how from the moment he was born I was transformed. He is special because he is smart and careful and always has an opinion about something (reminds me of you in that regard). He was a pudgey baby that loved to eat and he called himself Ton Ton...which you and I thought was very funny. Carson has always been a bit dramtic and very sensitive. Do this day he still 'bolts' if he gets hurt. All in all he is a very sweet boy that has made it very easy to love being a parent. Personally I enjoy taking little breaks with him to fly our airplane and just talk about things that are important to him. Currently he likes legos, talking about video games (he doesn't have any), the trampoline and playing 'baby' with his sisters (ugggg)

C2 (Nine-Nine)

Caroline is the perfect addition to our family. Not knowing if we would be good multitaskers she has taught us that having multiple kids is a good thing. She is by far the happiest and sweetest out of our monsters. The little girl gives great hugs and is the first to ask people to play out on the playground. She absolutely loves Carson and loves playing all kinds of games with him. Her nick name comes from how she pronounced her name for the first time. We didn't think we could love the color pink and little Nine-Nine has taught us the greatness of the color and all that it comes with...princesses, abbiecadabbie, hair bows. Caroline is clean challenged, she spills, smears gets gooey at a drop of a hat...showers and baths don't have a chance against her. Caroline has a tendancy to be a little aloof, but don't let her fool ya because she is quick as a whip when she wants to be.

C3 (little stink)

We are still learning about this little creature but what we are finding out is that she does things when she wants to. The little one just turned two and just decided to start talking...I don't think she couldn't talk but rather she didn't want to. Little Stink as we call her will have the most personality out of all our kids. She has two dimples that show when she smiles and laughes. The little one can be seen sucking on toothpaste, playing with her sisters toys and wearing shoes on the wrong feet. She loves animals and makes sure to yell and scream as soon as she see one....oh and don't leave her alone with bugs because she will shreak in fear.

Has it been 10 years?

As a gift to you, my sweet bride Kimberly I have decided to create a blog that shares memories of the past and adventures of the future. After losing your Dad this year I realized that how much we hung on every word that friends and family posted to his blog. I remember hoping each day to receive a new post, and the joy it brought when we did. So for our 10 year anniversary I thought I would start the celebration of our lives together before and after kids. Hopefully a modern day slide show that we can annoy our kids with and enjoy for years to come.

So to start, I am going to share some of my favorite memories over the past 10 years.

It must of been fate!

Yea well it isn't much of a secret...I was kinda of a nerd back in college...Who would have thought a good looking sorority girl like Kim would have taken interest in a dude like myself. I mean really have you seen a picture of me back then....yikes! Well this is how it happened through my eyes.
After a much needed but difficult breakup I found myself in a bit of crisis to understand who I actually was. My awesome sister stepped in and tried to help me out...I ended up with some doc martin boots a new wardrobe and of all things a 24 month tanning membership...I guess I was really pale from all the computer games and projects that I had to work on. On a side note, I think I still have 14 months of available tanning credit up in Lubbock. I mean you never know when you may need a boost in color.
So there I was up in Lubbock sporting my new threads and a new very 'healthy' looking glow. Again my sister stepped in and helped me get out and go to the Dance Club to meet girls...I remember dancing very awkardly with my sister and her friends (Lisa, Marie, Mckalia). Regardless I had found something I hadn't ever had before....CONFIDENCE. Well it may seem like I am on a rabbit trail reminiscing but in reality the confidence my sister and her friends helped me discover gave me what I needed to meet Kim my soon to be wife.
So rewind the clock prior to the breakup I mentioned above...I was unloading my sweet ride (the brown hornet) after taking a trip to the grocery store and well around the corner this girl came zooming by doing this unusual speed walk. I took notice and stored it away..Fast Forward to me sitting in my apartment with my new found confidence...This girl who I had seen several times kept popping into my brain. Well that is how I dreamed up my super romantic/ border line stalker idea. I would place a note from a secret admirer on her car and wait for her response...now I call that confidence! Well regardless the Curious in the Crossroads concept was born.
The first letter was simple and to the point...It explained that I had taken notice of her from afar....Now I look back at my execution and my words and I would have to say that taking notice of someone from afar sounds like you are looking at them through binoculars or a telescope. It is a miracle that I didn't get the police called on me. Back to the note...I remember trying to be very nonchalant about placing the note on Kim's car...I planned several trips to the apartment mailbox to be foiled by my nervous fear of getting caught. Once I delivered the first note I was on a roll...I delivered 2 more notes before I told Kim what car I drove... Again, it must have been fate, because I drove an 86 Ford ranger painted in two tone brown... Why would this girl think I was cool? After anxiously waiting for a response I got a simple note from Kim...It said something like this...My name is Kim call me 797-2396....I didn't call...I sent her another note because I was smooth.

After the next note, I decided to call her and that is really where we knew there was a spark. From the get go, we talked and talked and talked and talked some more...Which if you know anything about Kim she hates talking on the telephone....again fate. If I remember correctly we talked for about a week before we decided to meet each other. We met under bungalow number three and I was about as nervous as I can be. I remember not having much to say and all my telephone confidence had dried up and went away. It was raining outside so I invited her to my place where we traded pleasant small talk, nothing like our phone conversations. After our brief meeting, Kim and I retreated back to our apartment's and called each other. I remember her being disappointed in our meeting and her also giving me a courtesy date for the day after Valentines.

All I knew was that I had to come up with something very creative to impress this girl and show her that tanned nerds were cool. That is exactly what I did.

Iltis Power

So it was set... we agreed to go on one a date one day after Valentines Day. My mission was to take Kim out and do something that she would like and hopefully the conversation would be better and more comfortable then our first meeting.
So it was set, I was going to take her out to Ransom Canyon and take pictures with our 35mm film cameras. See, in one of our marathon conversations she mentioned that she was taking photography class so it was my genius thought to take her out and take pictures of cool canyons and neat architecture. The hope was that if all things went well that I would have her over to my place for dinner afterwords.

So I picked up Kim in my sweet ride(brown hornet) and I was very intentional about trying to drive conversation and be very interested in the time we could spend together. I remember thinking how cool it was that I had actually got a girl to go out with me from a 'secret admirers' note. Well anyway, upon arriving at the top of the canyon we stopped and got all of our gear. Kim had her school camera and I had my parents setup (that I pretended to know how to use). So I took my camera out and it wouldn't take a picture so I called my Mom (smooth move on a first date) and remember getting mad at her because the battery was out...so if I remember I acted as if the camera was fine and I went around and pretended to be photographer man... The energy on the date was great, Kim was easy to talk to and very straight forward with how she thought. I really liked that she was opinionated about most everything without being rigid or hard to be around. So in simplicity things were going well and I invited her to my place for dinner and she accepted...YES!

Knowing that she would say yes...and well how could she not...I had already planned dinner. Grilled chicken breast with boiled Artichokes and something else I don't remember. Since Artichokes took awhile to cook Kim made herself right at home while she waited. I think she went straight to my music collection and started pulling out the CD cases. What she realized was that most of my CD's were not in their respective homes. Figuring that we didn't know each other very well she wouldn't bother...well she did...and before you knew it she had organized my entire music collection. From Michael Jackson to Madonna all my cd's were back in their place. I found it kind of funny that she couldn't stand that the cds were so disorganized. So dinner went off without a hitch...we talked and ate on TV trays. Kim had never had an artichoke until that day and she wasn't too thrilled about eating one until she tried them. Dinner was good, I ate half of mine and she ate all of her's (somethings don't change). All in all, we never stopped having stuff to talk about. She seemed very interested in me and well obviously I was interested in her.

After dinner, Kim took the chair and I took the couch (big burlap friend) and we literally stayed up all night talking. I knew two thing...I was glad that I had left a note on this girls car and that once she got to know me she couldn't resist the Iltis power .

Fun Memories from our days of dating

Wow Factor 5
Black Smoke (reference Brown Hornet)
Texas Tech Games
Two Stepping in the Bigger's living room
Eating at Kagels with our parents
Architecture Building
The Photography Lab
Roller Blading with slow bearings
Going with my sister to Road House Ruby's
Dateline on the couch
You Falling asleep in Movies
The Hammock in Todd's appartment
The Park Apartments
The nasty sludge that came out of the Air Conditioner in the Park Appartments
Stadium Seating
Eating with your Dad up at Ranger Stadium
Blue Planet
The Mike Crain Dance
Taking pictures at the fountain for your graduation
Spanky's and Fried Zucchini
Breaks in the Summer to Water Ski
Tokyo's
Bahama Bucks
The Stoneleigh
Saving Belle Belle from the Pound
Going to Carlsbad Caverns with your brother on a whim.
Alf? (not really sure what to say about this)
Eating at your parents house every night after work
Trying to get the Pot Roast away from Toby.
Madonna Rain Sound Track
Jumping into really cold pools together.
Playing Monopoly with your Parents (and laughing really hard)
Choking at dinner the first time I met Cecilee
Taking tours on the internet while in Virginia
Long late night conversations while doing my internship
Our Book that we passed back and forth to each other.
The 50 gallon fish tank
The tiny apartment you had after graduation.
The Prelude and how many times we washed it.
Midtown Printing...and the delivery van.
Going to the Drive in Movie Theaters to watch the Horse Whisperer
Hub City and meeting your parents.

I remember it like it was yesterday.

I remember the day like it was yesterday. I woke up thinking about our rehearsal dinner and how much fun it was despite all the tears from Kate's wedding video. I went over all the funny toasts and memories that were shared in my mind. I think I recall most of the silly stories were about me for some reason. So I rolled out a bed...played a few video games (not much has changed) and ate some KFC for breakfast. I don't really recall why or how I got KFC in the morning...but I do remember it being good!
Before I knew it I was at Perkins Chapel in the little dressing room up in front with a couple of the guys getting our tuxes on . I remember being nervous but not about getting married...more about repeating the vows that Daniel (our pastor) asked us to repeat (incurable short term memory issues that I haven't resolved). After waiting for awhile all my groomsmen (Mike Smith, Mark Smith, Bryan Sanson, Todd Nicholson) were ready and standing in place waiting not for you...but for me....What, where was Iltis??? Well somehow I got myself locked out of the church....All I recall is seeing your brother open a door and me having to run & hurdle a hedge to get back into the church....I walked in the door like nothing was wrong, hugged your brother and shook a couple of the groomsmen's hands and stepped out into the chapel.
There were only a couple of things that I vividly remember from our wedding ceremony.
The first was how time stood still when our ushers (Kyle Russell & Mike Crain) opened the doors to reveal you and your beautiful dress. I remember literally being overcome with emotion seeing you standing there. You standing there I just had this rush of thoughts and memories of everything that had led up to this day...talking on the phone, dating, graduation, our first jobs, engagement it just rushed over me. Everything looked perfect, your dress, your vail your hair....I was awestruck on how lucky I was to be marring you...
So as your Dad escorted you up the isle, I really wasn't paying much attention...that was until he passed me your hand and I remember how real it all felt to be standing there with you. There I stood with you and your Dad a little more nervous and with way more tears that I anticipated having. I remember putting my hand into his and him grasping my hand like I was his new son. This was my other vivid memory and it was truly a moment where I felt loved and welcomed in as one of the newest family members. I little skinnier, a little nerdier but I felt welcome.
I actually don't remember if I got the vows right, but I do remember crying a bit as I repeated after Daniel. Pretty typical me...that said, the 'I Do' kiss was a good one and I think I heard a couple of "oh yeah's" from the crowd, which was worth the risk. We were wisked out the doors of the church snapped a quick picture...and well... we were MARRIED!

And we were off...

As we got in the Limo to leave I remember looking out the window and thinking to myself...wow we are married...wow it is weird to think of myself as a husband...wow Kim looks good in her dress...wow I actually gave the big kiss in front of 200 people...WOW Kim really looks good in her dress. The reception was great, it was located at City Place in Downtown Dallas. Even though it was scheduled for a three hour party it went by in an absolute blink of an eye. I remember meeting lots of people and seeing people I would have never thought attend. We had a DJ that we had provided all the music to for the party....and well he didn't really want to play our music...I think I remember some really great Rap songs being played while Kim's grandmother was sitting next to the dance floor...awesome! We danced a well scripted dance to the Beegees as we arrived (Thanks Arthur Murrey) and I didn't step on Kim's toes or dress but I did tug on your vail a couple of times. I remember our cake being beautiful and smashing a good chunk in her face and Kim returning the favor. I am pretty sure I took her garder belt off to Barry White's 'Lets Get it on' while getting several oh my's from the crowd...That was a fun. The night was a blast and before I knew Kim and I were opening the doors to a crowd of cheering people throwing bird seed at us as we got in our chariot. We were riding in our newly repaired brand new truck (story in itself). The windows were down and people continued to throw seeds at us while we waited for the photographer to take our picture. To this day, I still find a bird seed or two when I am cleaning the inside of my truck....Back to the story, after a couple of quick pictures, I revved my engine and put the truck in gear (almost hit the photographer) and headed for our honeymoon.