Grandpa Jack

Grandpa, today I received the unexpected news that you were called home. I can't help but think it was too soon. You were still too young and too in love to leave your sweetheart behind. I just saw you a few days ago and had lunch with you and my parents at Red Lobster. I sat next to you as we talked for hours and I couldn't help but smile at the funny things you said. I came home this weekend for an unexpected "birthday getaway" but now I know that God had me come home this out of the blue weekend so that I could see you one last time. I consider it one of the biggest most humbling blessings I have ever had. If I would have known it would have been my last time to laugh with you and hug you, I never would have said goodbye. But I am so grateful that I was able to see you before you left.

You have always brought joy to everyone around you. You raised 3 amazingly beautiful daughters, Kellie, Kim, and my momma Jackie, and an amazing son, Steve who love you. We all watched you with grandma and adored the marriage you two had - you were so in love and showed us how a true marriage should be. I will never forget your laugh, the stories you shared, the sometimes-inappropriate-touch you would give grandma when you thought no one was looking, how supportive you were, how loving, and how spiritual you were. You were and are an amazing person, Grandpa. You are already so missed. I can't wait until I can see you again. I love you Grandpa.

Love your granddaughter,
Ariel

God be with you till we meet again;

by his counsels guide uphold you,

with his sheep securely fold you;

God be with you till we meet again.

Till we meet, till we meet

till we meet, at Jesus feet;

till we meet, till we meet,

God be with you till we meet again.

Ode to My Wife

Hello blogosphere.  There's a slight change to the blog today; the previously silent half of the Peets will be posting today.  It is true that up to this point I have fallen prey to the standard husbandly apathy masquerading as machismo with regards to the family blog, but no more.  My wife has used this blog to talk about our lives, to share our fun times with our friends and to proclaim her love for me.  Well, its my turn.

For the nearly seven months (wow, it seems like it was just yesterday) that we have been married my amazing wife has taken over and executed to perfection so many of the household responsibilities - like this blog - and has done it without saying a thing.  Right after we got back from our honeymoon and started the work of everyday life, she started cooking dinner every night.  This on top starting in a new school with a jam packed schedule and 1 hour to and 1 hour from commute multiple times every week.  Now, I enjoy cooking and had been cooking for myself for the past 3 years as I lived alone, but all I do now is make us scrambled eggs on Saturday and Sunday mornings. I think she decided that one way she could serve me was to cook for me, taking that responsibility off my plate as I struggle with the work and pressure of writing my dissertation.  That has made such a difference to me.  I come home from work pretty exhausted and very overwhelmed with everything left to do, but I come home to amazing dinners prepared every night by the best cook I know - who also happens to be the most beautiful woman in the world. And now that I have been left to my own devices spending the past two weeks on the other side of the world (see previous post), I am falling apart without my wife.  I eat out every day for dinner, only breakfast and lunch are had in the little apartment I rented for a month but the results are not good . . .

Actually I forgot to eat lunch the other day, so when I got home at 4pm I ordered a pizza and had it delivered.  And for those of you who know me, you know I eat super healthy almost always and with my wife it has been really easy because she cooks the best, healthy food - including her pizza which is by far the best pizza I have ever had in my life.  It made eating this pizza torture as I sat and thought about my wife's pizza and how I am on the other side of the world away from her.  And, you can't see them in this picture but there are ants crawling all the kitchen counter and sink - probably due to the fact that I don't wash dishes and the sink hasn't been cleaned.  Now I always clean the sink and wash the dishes at home, but without my wife around so much of life just seems empty and worthless.  I actually love washing the dishes and cleaning and doing other stuff around our house because I know that it makes her happy and it makes me feel like I am pulling my weight (even when I clearly am not).  But not without her.

Apart from cooking every day, my wife does our laundry every week.  I haven't done it once since we started living together.  And then I got out to the Philippines and discovered that my laundry service that comes with my apartment takes 3 days to get my clothes back to me.  Since my wife did not come with me I obviously packed incorrectly - not enough clothes - and I also didn't think to look into the laundry situation until I had already worn each article of clothing twice and needed desperately to have them cleaned.  So when I found out that it would take 3 days to get my clothes back to me I decided that instead of walking around Cebu naked I would fill my bathroom sink with warm water and dish soap and dunk my clothes in.  And now they are hanging from the landing of the stairs in my apartment drying (though undoubtedly drying with a large number of wrinkles).

Let me restate that before getting married I lived 3 years in an apartment by myself - cooking, cleaning,  laundry, everything all done by myself.  So I have demonstrated in the past an ability to fend for myself, to feed myself and keep myself in at least decently smelling clothes.  But now, after having spent the best 6+ months of my life living with the woman of my dreams, my life looks like it is coming apart at the seams as I try to manage for just one month away from my wife.  I lived 3 years by myself and it took less than a day - heck, less than a minute - for me to feel the intense pain of loneliness away from my wife.

I used to have a queen-sized bed all to myself.  And I have always been a bed-dancer, moving all over the bed, ruffling the covers until they lay on the ground, kicking, rolling, adjusting and eventually ending up with my head the opposite direction than it began.  But with a few kind pleas uttered by my wife after a few weeks of waking up on the edge of the bed without a pillow or any blanket, my subconscious began to control my nighttime movements.  I think I'm pretty good now, and even though I've had a large bed to myself the past couple weeks I sleep as if she right there by my side.

But she's not and it hurts.  I can't cuddle with her every night.  I can't kiss her goodnight.  I can't wake up to her beautiful face, her smile, her soft lips and the breath she is self-conscious about but I love.  I have never hated going to bed and waking up more than I do now because I know what its like to go to bed with the love of your life and wake up with her by your side.

When we got married, she had to deal with being away from home for the first time in her life, making new friends and starting a life with me in a totally new and different place on the other side of the country.  It wasn't easy for her.  Many times it was lonely for her because I would work all day and then occasionally work all night.  But she did it.  Now that I am half a world away for still another 2 weeks, she has been so strong.  For sure she has been lonely, but she has been amazing.  I mean, she hates it (and probably dislikes me more than a little bit for leaving her to do some of my dissertation research) but she has handled it way better than I could have hoped for. Way better than I am handling it.

I can't express how much I miss her.  She makes every day worth living, worth experiencing.  I don't laugh much these days because she's the one who makes me laugh.  I've tried so many things to stop thinking about the pain of not being with her every day, but nothing works.  Except imagining the moment when I'll see her again, hold her in my arms and never let her go.

Cebu

Today's post is perhaps the saddest blog post ever posted after Valentines Day (a holiday I loathed until I met my husband). So if you're in no mood for a sad story, then go ahead and skip this post until, lets say, March 16th?

Evan left for Cebu today and will be gone for an ENTIRE MONTH. I cried my poor little eyes out this morning as I drove him to the Airport at 4:30 am. Not only does he have to leave for a month, but his stupid flight had to be sooooo ridiculously early. Thanks for doing that who ever you are.

My dad is also away from my mom for a month, but this is their first time being separated for longer than a week and they've been married for 27 years. What's wrong here? Why does it have to happen to me when I've only been married 6 months?

Today has been a way long and depressing day. I can't wait for it to be over, I just want him to come home. It's already so lonely, but tonight I have some plans - there is a box of brownie mix screaming my name in my pantry, and you bet your sweet bottom that I'm eating that whole pan tonight.

Will Evan still love me when he comes home and I've gained 20 pounds?

We are 8,833 Miles apart. 

On a happier note . . . 

I'll post about our Valentines day, too. It was great! We woke up and I made breakfast for him - I found this really amazing Apple Puff Breakfast recipe online and it quickly became one of our favorites. After we opened up gifts and he spoiled me rotten with Wicked tickets for this upcoming May and he also wrote me a poem. I decided to be super cheesy this year and made him and I "I Love My Wifey" and "I Love My Hubby" t-shirts (don't worry, I didn't make him wear it outside of the house. I wore mine today though). I also made him a Coupon Book from me to give him massages, etc. 

After presents I decided to make him some banana bread and granola bars to take on the 20 hour plane ride so that he wouldn't be starving. Later we went to the park, came home and got ready, went out to dinner to where we went last Valentines day, and then came home and watched Breakfast at Tiffany's. Once the movie ended I began to cry . . . not a good way to end love day, but hey, what do you expect, I put on a good face as long as I could. 

Apple Puff Breakfast

Our cheesy shirts. And yes, I am so glad I did them. 

While I was baking away in the kitchen Evan made these swan towels. 

On our way to dinner. 

Saffron

I love my Valentine 

6 Months

Today is mine and Evans 6 month anniversary.

It is crazy to think that it's already been half of a year. It's gone by so fast but it also seems like we've been married forever.
I couldn't be happier!

Happy 6 Months to us!!!

Recap of 2011

The year 2011 was the best year of my life (so far) for one reason: Evan. I am so in love with him and I cannot believe how lucky I am to be his wife. 

Recap of 2011

JANUARY

Evan had left home from Christmas break to North Carolina making me wait patiently for February to come. Santa had gotten me a roundtrip ticket to use whenever I wanted to go see him, so I of course, picked Valentines day. I was also working, and Evan and I had our "long distance dates" weekly, which helped the time go by faster.

FEBRUARY

 I flew out to North Carolina for 10 days. Our week was jam-packed with fun stuff to do and our Valentines Day was the BEST Valentines day I have ever had. I call him the "Romance King" because, he is.

MARCH

 The month of my birthday (I turned 21) and the month we got engaged. He was only able to come out for a few days, but it was a big trip for both of us.

April

 I flew out to be with him over his birthday (he turned 28 and yes, there is a 7 year difference between us). At this point, the long distance was really getting to me, I just wanted to be with him all of the time. During my stay, we went to the Outer Banks, went apartment hunting, and also went and visited the school I would be attending after we got married. And I was well into the wedding planning process and had my dress.

My inspiration for my wedding

MAY

Evan took a job at BYU to teach a class over the summer. I was thrilled about it but the thought of no more long distance was a little intimidating to me. 

JUNE

 We got our engagements taken and also took a trip out to Bryce Canyon for fun and for footage for our engagement video we created.

Engagement Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04vcvI8MLEg

JULY

Wrapped up the wedding plans and sold my car, Lucy (I still miss her). Evan flew out to North Carolina to move into our new apartment, I had my bridal shower, we got our "groomals" taken, and I went through the Draper Temple to take out my endowments.

AUGUST

We got married! August 5 in the Salt Lake Temple. My parents absolutely spoiled me with the wedding they gave me. I day dream about that day all of the time and wish I could relive it - it went by in a blur! Luckily, I had an amazing photographer who gave us loads of pictures and I am so grateful for them. For our Honeymoon we stayed in Park City for 4 nights and then flew to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico for 6. We deserved a long honeymoon and it was amazing. When our honeymoon was over we flew straight to North Carolina and moved into our apartment and then reality kicked in: we both started school a few days later. I was getting used to being the housewife; cooking and cleaning, etc. and loving every minute of it. 

SEPTEMBER

We got settled into our place; painted the walls, redecorated, and bought a few (a lot) new things with our gift cards. We went to the beach to celebrate our 1 month of marriage and became busy with school, work, and making new friends. 

a little piece of Utah in our home. 

OCTOBER

Had many fun date nights planned and experienced a lot of cool things to do in our town: Farmers Market, Art Festivals, State Fair, etc. And had our very first Halloween together. 

NOVEMBER

Evan and I cooked the entire Thanksgiving meal for us and Evan's parents who flew out to be with us for the weekend. It was so good to see them, we love them so much and are so grateful for them. I was also busy wrapping up the semester with finals and projects and Evan's Flag Football team won the championship.

DECEMBER

My first semester of my Interior Design program came to an end and we flew out to Utah to spend the Holidays with our families. It was a much needed vacation - I hadn't seen my family since our wedding day and I was really missing them. I wish that it was still Christmas Vacation. 

2011 was a great year and I can't wait to share the new years to come and the rest of my life with Evan.