Love

*Disclaimer: I HOPE to get this post done before valentines day, but it's already been a couple days in the making. Ella, however, is trying to make it so I won't live until valentines day. She's been quite the bear lately, so I feel like when she's not being needy and whiny (like right now) my brain is so wasted from dealing with her that I'm not much use during her good moments.

Ah...love! I tell you what, I got REALLY lucky in this department!! Steven is, without a doubt, the best match for me. Our 9 year anniversary was on Tuesday. NINE YEARS! I can't hardly believe it!! But, it's pretty amazing how, 9 years, and 4 kids later, I love him so much more than I did when we got married. Actually, looking back on it, I think it's kind of crazy how I married him and thought I was SOO in love with him, and now looking back I realized that I didn't have a CLUE about love.

Our anniversary was great. I was happy all day just because it was our anniversary. I pawned my kids out to some amazing ladies and drove the 35 minutes to Steven's work, in the middle of the day, without kids, to have lunch with him, without kids (did I already mention that part?)!!! It was so great. For some reason, I enjoy going to out to breakfast or lunch more than dinner. I think that's because I feel like I'm playing hooky from my real job or something. Anyway, we shared some amazing fajitas, talked without interruption and even kissed a bit!! (shhh....don't tell anyone!) Then I drove home and picked up our kids. I made meatloaf and twice baked potatoes for dinner (a favorite of EVERYONE in my house) and over dinner we talked with the kids about why we love each other and why we chose to marry eachother.

The BEST part of the whole day was during this conversation at dinner. You have to know that Steven isn't known for his tact, and I'm constantly telling him that he needs to filter what comes out of his mouth. But, honestly, this is one of my favorite things about him. He always says what he thinks and doesn't just say what he thinks you want to hear. As a result, I always know I can trust that's he's giving me his honest opinion (and surprisingly, I rarely get my feelings hurt, because, even without a filter, he never says hurtful things to me). Anyway, Steven asked the kids why they thought he wanted to marry me. Landon said "Because she's pretty....and kind of fat" (sadly, the last part is a true statement! Over the past year, while nursing Ella, I think I've gained at least 15 pounds, and I wasn't thin to begin with!!). Steven told Landon that wasn't a very nice thing to say and that Landon shouldn't ever tell someone that they're fat. THEN, he says "Landon, you'd be fat too if you had four kids!" Then, as soon as the words left his lips, he looked at me with huge eyes and said "That didn't come out right!!!!" Oh man! I was laughing SO hard I was crying. I couldn't breath. Ella started to cry because my hysterical laughter scared her so much!!! Nine years ago, if he would have said something like that I would have cried from hurt feelings. But, now, I know how much he loves me. I know that he loves me even if I am 'kind of fat'. And I'm so thankful we're in this together. I honestly, couldn't ask for a better person to spend my life with.

And to end, here is one of the MANY reason I love Steven so much:

Not only does he tolerate our kids in our bed, but he LOVES it (and I hate it!) But, I love that he loves our kids SO much, and cherishes the times he gets to snuggle with them (or, like in the above picture, have their legs draped over him) even if it's at 2:00 in the morning!!