Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween! I'm excited to start what promises to be a rewarding tradition of dividing Liam's trick or treating stash into candy with and without peanuts, and then properly disposing of anything with peanuts. And by properly disposing, I mean eating. By myself. There's no need for everyone to suffer, right?

The Only Place on Earth Where It's Cool to Touch Pigeons

Look. I know I've been home for over a week and I haven't posted a single thing, but I keep forgetting to take the Italy photos off of Ben's laptop. I finally got the last photos off the camera today, but the only ones on there were from our last day in Venice. Don't get me wrong, Venice was cool, but I had planned on doing some kind of recap of the whole trip. Instead, all you get is this:

A Few Things You Should Know About the Villa Passalacqua

• Vincenzo Bellini lived here for four years while he wrote three of his most famous operas.
• George Clooney has a house nearby, where he lives for four months out of the year.
• It is currently owned by a couple from Utah, who live in all 80 rooms of the house with just their two daughters, except for six weeks out of the year when they go on vacation and rent it out.
• Right now, I live here.

We’re in Italy with Ben’s boss and his wife, and I honestly didn’t know there were people who took vacations like this. Here’s a picture of the villa from our boat on Lake Como:


It’s the giant white one right in the middle. Can you tell that I’m feeling a little out of place here?

The Truth Is...

30 Rock is even better than The Office.

Tagged

Honestly, who starts these things? My former friend Kat tagged me, and unlike e-mail where I can delete whatever I want and no one will ever know about it, I'm afraid I might get arrested for not participating in a public game like this. So here goes:

Where did you meet your husband?
Deseret Towers, freshman year at BYU. Ben was one of those smart kids who graduated from high school early. He was in Rebecca’s freshman ward, and when all of the other guys left on their missions after freshman year, Ben was still 18. I lived across the street from him and one day Rebecca introduced us. We looked like this:


What was the first thing you said to your husband?
No idea. Get real, that was 10 years ago. “Hi”? “Nice to meet you”? “Your roommate is weird”? “What’s with all of the National Enquirers hanging on your walls”? Probably something like that.

Where was the first kiss? First date?
The first kiss was outside the dorms, January 21, 1998. That’s four months after we met. First he dated my roommate for a few months. I guess you could say it wasn’t exactly love at first sight. And I have no idea where the first date was, if there was one. The romance is killing you, isn't it?

Did you have a long or short courtship/engagement?
We dated on and off for 5 years (including the mission), then officially got engaged on Easter Sunday 2002 and married on June 28, 2002. I’d say that means long courtship and short engagement.

Where did you get engaged?
Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Colorado

Where did you get married?
Los Angeles Temple. We looked like this:


How did the reception go?
Fine, thanks. If I had it to do over again, I would get cooler flowers, but it was pretty fun. A string quartet played for the first hour and my all time favorite band, the Boney Mountain Mamas, played for the second hour. You really can’t go wrong with the Mamas.

How was the honeymoon?
Fun! We went on a Caribbean cruise and ate a lot. Also, we snorkeled, scootered around Cozumel, and gambled a little bit. If I had that to do over again, I would definitely find a cruise ship with a Flowrider.

I tag anyone who wants to play. Is that too lame?

Why I Love My Husband

While driving home from the mall yesterday, Ben started talking about rockets. He was telling me all kinds of stuff he learned recently about rocket engines, and while I was trying to pay attention to the conversation, I couldn’t help but notice we were only going 50 mph on the freeway. Then, right about the time he was saying stuff like, “they make nine engines, even though they only use three” or “it takes five years to manufacture each one” or maybe something about “if anything goes wrong during the launch sequence…” he started exiting the freeway at the totally wrong exit.

I cut off the conversation to ask him where he was going and he swerved back onto the freeway and back into reality. “Huh,” he said. “I guess I was just following that car in front of us. I wonder why I'm only going 50 mph on the freeway.”

So Religious

Once every month or two, when I’m feeling especially brave, I tell myself it might be fun to check on Liam before I go to bed. So far it’s always been the opposite of fun. He wakes up the second I turn the doorknob, and he doesn’t just fall back asleep if I don’t open the door. Once that doorknob turns, he’s wide awake and ready to redo our pre-bedtime rituals. "Milk!" he yells. "Milk! Milk! Bath! Bath! Bath! Book! Book! Sing!" I have this hope that one day he’ll sleep through the twisting of the doorknob and I’ll see him sleeping like an angel and forgive him for the words he repeatedly yells every day.

I have to wake Liam up for church on Sunday, since ours starts at 9:00 and that’s usually what time he wakes up. It’s the only day he gets a morning wake up call, so he always knows when it’s time for church.

The other night I was feeling pretty brave, so I turned the doorknob in such a way that only a sleeping 2-year-old can hear—like I always do—to see if this would be the night that he would let me watch him sleep. And like always, Liam was awake and standing up in his crib by the time I had the door cracked enough to peek at him. Only this time, instead of asking for milk, he said, “Church.” Even though it was Monday night, pitch black, and 3 hours after he had fallen asleep, he was ready for Sunday morning.

When In-Laws Turn Cool

Last night at band practice, my mandolin pickup wasn’t working. My brother-in-law, Ryan, happened to be at my house and asked if he could take a look. He started taking apart something that I didn’t know could be taken apart, and then said, “Oh, this just came unsoldered. Let me grab my soldering iron from my truck.” Honestly? Who keeps a soldering iron in his truck? Ten seconds later, it was as good as new.


And to think I was about to pay $169 for a new pickup. I guess I probably owe Ryan a Coke or something.

Thoughtful

My family is having a contest to see who can be the first to lose 7% of his/her body weight and keep it off for two months. Everyone puts in $50 to play and the winner gets the pot.

Last night I was working on a website for my brother and he was instant messaging me his suggestions. After changing his mind several times, he made sure to thank me for my work. He said, “I owe you big time. Tomorrow I’ll eat an extra chicken enchilada just for you.”

The Color of Money

As Liam and I were checking out at the craft store last week, the cashier asked Liam if he wanted a balloon. Of course he did. Then she asked him what color balloon he wanted. I wasn’t sure if he would understand this question, since I had never given him a color choice before. But before I had a chance to clarify, he shouted, “Green!”

A day or two later I was getting Liam some cereal and I asked him what color of spoon he wanted. Again, he asked for green.

Since he asked for green two out of two times, I decided that must mean green was his favorite color. I was elated that Ben, Liam, and I all had that in common. I started to wonder if favorite colors could be passed on genetically.

Then I saw this and realized it's probably more likely that I passed it on forcefully than genetically.