Today's Love

Becky & Joel- We love when Nathan sleeps during church! It takes place in the middle of nap time, but often there's way too much going on for him to get some shut eye. Today he slept for an entire hour at church. I think he's got this worshiping thing down- he's figured out how to pray and sleep at the same time!

A day behind......

Becky- I love musical theater. I love theater in general, but there's something about bursting into song and dance. I personally like to do this off of the stage as well, but it's a little more accepted when done on the stage. We went and saw a production of "Curtains" last night. It's a Whodunit comedy musical. It's not very well known, but really cute. For being a high school version there was some pretty good singing and of course Cathy Strong (Tara's mom) did a wonderful job with the choreography. Joel and I had a fun little date night.

Joel- I love midnight inspiration. So, I have to write a good piece of creative writing for my class (our prof says they should be good enough to submit for competition or publication). I want to write a short play (10-15 minute one-act), but I have been struggling with what to write about. In the middle of the night while I was feeding Nathan last night, it came to me. I've often wondered what baseball coaches talk about during low-key June baseball games--when there's no pitching changes to make and no pinch hitters to consider. And since I've been watching the Ken Burns Baseball documentary series, I have realized how interconnected baseball and American culture and values are. So I'm going to write a one-act play set in a baseball dugout where a couple coaches and a veteran bench player explore the significance of baseball philosophy. We'll see how it turns out. But thank heavens of midnight inspiration.

Day 5....a couple hours later

Becky- I love when your travel plans all work out even after all of the snow scare and worrying about the little tyke behaving in the car. We got out of Hershey without even seeing a single flake of falling snow and Nathan was an angel all the way up to New York. It was a sweet Friday night success.

Joel- I love the look on grandparents' faces when they see their grandson for the first time in weeks. We got up to New York last night, and it was just a lot of fun to watch Grandma and Grandpa Stuetz hold, kiss and play with Nathan. Family is great.

Nathan- I love my buffalo!!!!! Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Thompson!!!

Love is literally falling from the sky

Becky- I LOVE early dismissal days- thank you snow storm for being big enough that school is already officially been reduced by 2 and a half hours and it hasn't even hit yet!! Oh- make that 4 1/2 hours when you include musical rehearsal being canceled. I'm loving my life and my weekend!

Joel- I love the satisfaction of having a to-do list and checking off an item. It has been a long time since school has made me have a to-do list (other than wake-up on time and don't do anything stupid). So now that I have this creative writing class, I have things to read and write, and that means a to-do list, and that means checking things off of said to-do list. Yes, yes, I am indeed my mother's son.

"Day of Love" #3

Joel- I love peaceful nighttime snowfalls. Last night we got some snow, and I was reminded how mesmerizing those little flecks of crystallized water can be. I could sit there and watch them and be completely contented. One of the amazing gifts of nature that Heavenly Father gives us to beautify our lives.

Becky- Joel and I always seem to be on the same wave length. I was thinking of how beautiful it is in the morning with the pristine, newly fallen snow. However, my thoughts this morning were slightly of a lighter nature when I slipped 4 times on the ice in the parking lot on the way to my car. I had visions of falling and ending up in a cast for my entire lower body or having to sit on a doughnut cushion after bruising my bootie so badly. I was thinking- I love the use of my legs and the ability to sit and I would really love to keep it that way.

"Day of Love" #2

Becky- I love that Nathan slept in until 6:45am this morning. This may seem really early to most people, but he is usually up and playing by 5:30am! - morning people we are not, but apparently Nathan is, so it was SO nice that he slept that late - it's rarely happened before. I'm hoping it happens again real soon.

Joel- I also love that Nathan slept in until 6:45am. He is an early-bird, that's for sure; I hear other parents talk about how their baby sleeps until 7:30am or 8am, or how they were up "so early this morning" at 7:00am. They make me sick, with their "quiet time" in the morning and their "sleeping in" on weekends. (Honestly, I do love Nathan--today's lovefest has turned into something of a rant, but I do love him). It was just nice to have some quiet off-duty time this morning.

The Month of Love

As we were gearing up for February I started thinking about how our schedules continue to get busier - there are more musical rehearsals and Joel's finally back in class (I'm not sure that I would count "Creative Writing & Health Care" exactly the most arduous of days for Joel, but he has been on vacation for a while now, so you never know). Valentine's Day has never been my favorite of holidays (I have some good stories for you- some other time maybe), but I do like the emphasis on love. I wanted to make sure that we felt the love and not the stress during this month, so I have come up with our "28 Days of Love." Joel and I are going to write something that we love each night before we read our scriptures together.

Day #1:
Becky- I love that Joel is so excited about his weight loss. He was showing off his loose suit pants yesterday and was able to fit into a pair of jeans today that he hasn't worn in a really long time. He even tightened his belt one more notch this weekend. He gets this silly grin on his face when he talks about it. It's cute.

Joel- I was gonna put "...my family" here, but Becky's kinda showing me up, so I guess I'll go a little more in depth. :) I love how Nathan wakes up in the morning or from naps (not as much in the middle of the night). He may be shrieking like a banshee, but as soon as Becky or I walk in, he's all smiles and laughs. Sometimes he'll just grunt and shout his "happy shout" when he sees us--it just melts my heart. Even when he wakes up a little too early or hasn't napped as long as I would like, his reaction make me want to pick him up, squeeze him, and tell him how much I love him.

4th Week Semi-Completed

I'm not going to lie- we didn't exercise the majority of the week last week....
The incredible thing was that Joel still managed to lose 3 lbs.....unbelievable. I lost a 1/2 a pound. I'm just grateful I didn't gain weight. We're back on the wagon this week though, and we're going to redo Week #4. We'll let you know how it turns out.