Duck Dynsasty Wannabe

Rob and I have come to an agreement about his beard...

Let me just say that I really wanted to slap everyone silly that encouraged him with compliments about how good he looks with the beard (his mom was the WORST). Don't get me wrong, it's not that he didn't look hot-I simply disliked kissing all that hair! I wasn't buying into the Duck Dynasty facial hair love...it did not make me "Happy, Happy, Happy".

Since he LOVES it and I don't, we had to find a happy compromise. 
I admit it is his face and all, but I need to not laugh every time his beard touched me; so we made a deal. He could look like a Duck Dynasty wannabe from November 1st to February 28th and he will shave from March 1st thru October 31st. Although, he is trying to convince me that our Halloween costumes this year should be Robertson clan inspired and he needs to start growing it now-we will see who wins this battle soon enough I guess!

I am kind of afraid that for his 40th birthday next year he will tell me all he wants is to grow a beard for the entire year...I'm gonna have to start thinking now so my gift idea sounds way better than that!

Kicking Bear

When I was pregnant with Hayden, we didn't find out gender on the ultrasound. We thought it would be a fun surprise to wait-which drove a few family members & friends insane-heehee (we also did that with Rachel too).

Since we didn't know gender we knew we needed to have both a girl name and a boy name picked out.
Easier said than done.


We had already used our top two girl names, but Rob & I still managed to agree on Abigail or Ashley. Girl name...Done.

Boy names were WAY tougher. We knew his middle name was going to be Richard, after my dad, but beyond that we were stumped.Anything I came up with Rob shot down for one reason or another. Yet he wasn't contributing anything usable. While Cletus is a great name for a cartoon character or a hound dog, I will NOT use it for our child! He did manage to save me from making the horrifying mistake of naming him Harrison Richard...the nicknames of that combo would have haunted me FOREVER!!!

Oh that funny husband of mine!


We were running out of time, so I asked the kids one day what they thought we should name the baby. Never wise to let the older siblings name the younger ones...you get some kooky names that way!

Ben's answer was a classic...
"If it's a boy name him Kicking Bear. And if it's a girl name her Dancing Cow."

Since we have about 0% Native American in our bloodline I didn't think those were going to fly.

Rob instantly piped up, "Son, learn now that no woman, no matter how small she is, EVER wants to be called a cow". Wise fatherly advice, dear!


Rob & I finally agreed on Hayden Richard (Rob more or less acquiesced since he couldn't come up with something better).

Once we were at the hospital, we knew that if it was a boy, we were going to put 'Bear' on the nursery name card. Ben would be thrilled! That is exactly what we did and you should have heard the comments in the nursery!


"Did someone REALLY name their baby Bear?" (a nurse)
"I wonder if they named him after, Bear Grylls, the guy on Man vs. Wild." (a dad)
"That is so cool, I wish you would have let us name our kid something cool like Bear" (a young dad)
The nickname Bear stuck. That is the ONLY name Ben calls Hayden (unless he's angry at him, of course).

All considered, it's a pretty good nickname...although sometimes Hayden is more like a monkey than a bear, but that's a horse of a different color worthy of it's own post!

Once Upon a Time 13 Years Ago

This May Rob & I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary! I can't believe we started our "once upon a time" 13 years ago! I am more in love with him now than I was way back then...I am grateful I married my best friend. Thanks for making my journey through this life AMAZING!!!! I love you babe!

Dating-1996

Married May 23, 1997
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P.S. Thanks to my friend, Katie, who did a post like this on her blog...the idea was ingenious!

KICKBALL

We went out last night for a group date night.

Group dating after you're married...What?

It was a lot of laughs...until today, when my poor tired knees could barely bend (I am terrified how bad they will be when I get another 30 years of use on them!). But I digress, back to group date night...

It started with a lovely picnic in the shade by a creek and ended in a lengthy game of KICKBALL! We went to a park to play night games and YES my children were LIVID that we left them home (really a bunch of adults want to play night games?). We came prepared to play several games...capture the flag, squirt-gun tag, kickball, kick-the-bucket (since we are all older we figured kick-the-bucket was more accurate than kick-the-can). We put it to a vote & kickball won.

I discovered that Rob is an all-star kickballer. That man of mine kicked the ball so far on his first kick that it was a homerun! Woohoo!

It was a good time and I think we will do it again next month...maybe by then my knees will bend again and it won't be quite as hot!

Oh, by the way, and not that it really matters BUT...our team TOTALLY WON (don't believe anyone from the other team, we defeated them soundly)!

Way to Sell it, Old Man

Today I was reminiscing about the day Rob went to ask my dad for my hand in marriage...yes it was old-fashioned & I loved him for that. My dad had maybe said a total of four sentences to Rob up to that point in our relationship, so this was monumental in more ways than just one.

I was eavesdropping in the kitchen and much to my horror this was my dad's answer:

"Well you know she can't cook...actually she really isn't domestic at all. And she is expensive. She clumsy enough to cost a fortune in medical bills and she loves to shop for expensive stuff. I love Michelle, but I just thought you should know what you're getting into now."

Way to sell it old man and thanks for the vote of confidence dad! Now in my dad's defense, he had NO idea that was what Rob was coming to ask him about and was completely unprepared. He thought Rob was going to ask for a job...not his daughter! I didn't live at home, Mom & Dad had only met him a handful of times and so my parents figured Rob was simply another boyfriend in the long list.

Luckily for me, Rob did already know all of those things about me and he still married me anyway! Haha Sucker! :)

As it has turned out, I'm not too bad at cooking & baking. My general domesticity has come a long way. I seem to have gotten my clumsiness under some control so I'm not a walking medical mishap. As for the love to shop for expensive stuff...well that may take a lifetime to try to overcome (or maybe I'm not going to try)!

The Waiting Game

After Tuesday's 7.0 earthquake leveled Port-au-Prince, Haiti; Rob got a call from USAR asking if he had a passport. He doesn't. He didn't think he would need one for Search & Rescue since he isn't on one of the two International Teams. A foreign call out wasn't a possibility.

Then came the call saying that even without a passport they might get sent in. He was to gather his gear and be ready. In the mean time, he was to bring all the information needed for a passport so they could get started expediting one so he could get out of Haiti once his deployment was over.

There was a spark in his eye as he prepared to go. Rob is one of those men that is willing to run into a situation to help, when others are running away. I truly believe it takes a special kind of person to be willing to do what the task force members do. He is itching to get down there to try to help those poor Haitians. I could hear the disappointment in his voice when he told me that he got a "stand down" order. Although he said things are changing so quickly, there is still a possibility that he could deploy. The main hang up is getting these rescuers into the country. They can't land at the airport because of there are so many planes in the way that don't have any fuel to get back out. GRRRR!

He got word last night saying they might deploy next week for a shortened tour. So for now we play the waiting game, which for a woman of little patience-this is driving me crazy not knowing! The gear he keeps at home is currently just sitting on our bed ready for the word "go".

Mom thinks I am crazy anyway for being willing to let him go. In her mind the disease and danger seem like too big of a risk. But like I said before, Rob runs to the rescue when so many won't. I know the Lord will protect him if he goes. I really hope he gets to go, he would be able to do so much good.

I'm proud when he puts on his dark blue gear adorned with his badges & big clunky boots. The team has amazing people on it and I am glad Rob is a part of that! If he does deploy the real test will be if I can survive the children without him. He may return to find them duct taped to the wall!

The Prickly Plague

There are some men in the world that need beards:
*Some need one for medical reasons.
*Hunters need it to complete the crazy camo motif-you know it helps them hide in the trees.
*Lumberjacks need beards to try to help distract from all the plaid they wear.
*Terrorists need a beard to trap bugs or small food particles-never know when they may get their next meal while hiding in the spider hole.

Since my wonderful husband falls into NONE of the previously mentioned categories, I would think that he has NO GOOD REASON for the scruff that is growing on his face!!!

I love you dearly Rob, but the beard HAS TO GO! I admit that it's my own fault that you grew a beard in the first place-curse you Count Dooku Halloween costume!!! But since "laziness" isn't one of the acceptable reasons to have a beard I think you really should remedy the situation that is plaguing our lives...PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE!?!? I miss your smooth, lovely face! I really do love you, you crazy bearded man!

Tall Bob with a Jeep

When I was at BYU living the wild single life (as wild as one can get and still be eligible to go to the Y), I had 3 quirky criteria for the type of man I was going to marry. There are the usual standards: strong testimony, returned missionary, hard-working, intelligent, good kisser, handsome, etc...those are qualities I expected. These 3 qualities were in addition to all of the normal desired traits. They were something more...more of a long-running roommate joke than anything!!!

Criteria1: He had to be named Bob. This dates back to High School when I called everybody Bob. If I didn't know someone's name they were automatically called Bob. I decided it would be easier for me to remember my husbands name if it was already Bob.

Criteria 2: He had to be tall. I dated some guys that weren't tall, which was fine, but the majority of them were over 6'2" (I was so happy to get to college and find there were whole TEAMS of men that were tall-and they were actually willing to date someone over 5'2". I never made it to the basketball team...I started with the football team and ended with the volleyball players!Pleasant Grove High School unfortunately was NOT a tall-boy dating mecca). Now there was such a thing as too tall...I went out dancing with a guy that was 6'10" and I felt like part of the freak parade! I digress...sorry!

Criteria 3: He needed to drive a Jeep. Valerie, Rachel and I were going through a 2 year phase where we wanted to date guys with Jeeps so we could go up digging in the canyons.

Ironically, Rob fit the bill for ALL of the qualities! When he showed up for our first date, my roommates, Valerie and Rachel, flipped out. They knew I was going on a date with a man named BOB (back then, Rob was known to all his friends as Bob. A habit I had to break when I met his mom-I'll explain that some other time). They swung open the door and saw a TALL Bob...Rob is 6'4" (a perfect height, I can wear 4" stiletto heels and still feel shorter than him). The most amazing part was when we walked out to the parking lot and hopped into his JEEP! Rachel and Valerie stood on our balcony giving me the thumbs-up sign and yelling "he drives a Jeep-HE'S A TALL BOB WITH A JEEP...it's him"!

Rob kept asking what all the ruckus was about and it took me half of the evening to come clean and admit my quirky criteria lists. If you want to completely scare a twenty-something year old man, tell him that he is the only man you have met that fits your 3 main criteria for marriage on your first date! I did put it more delicately than that, but all he heard was RUN AWAY, RUN AWAY!!! He almost went and dropped me off right then without so much as a backward glance, but thankfully he persevered (I think he was persuaded by my kissing prowess-hahaha).

The moral of the story? Set your standards high...if you want a Tall Bob with a Jeep don't settle for anything less! I have NEVER once been unsatisfied with my goal achievement!