Dearest Emmy-
Happy birthday! This will be the 9th we've celebrated since we were married, and I've loved every minute of it. I still think you're perfect. I still think you have no guile. I think you're the best mom in the world, and you remain my absolute dream girl. I couldn't possibly ask for more.
~188 of my favorite memories (by no means complete):
- Seeing you in the temple right before we got married--what a beautiful girl!
- Sitting in the celestial room with everyone who loved us, daydreaming about how lucky I was and what might become of our new life together
- A wonderful kiss at the wedding
- Riding in the carriage
- Dinner at George's
- Going to Ensenada with the guys
- Hanging out the window in Conneticut to clean the windshield
- Moving in 27 below weather
- Flooding the Medford house
- Rides from Davis square home
- Days on the beach in Boston
- Calling the preschool as I went in for surgery
- No way you should watch TV on the sabbath (unless it's Nascar!)
- Bowling until my legs hurt
- Trips to Maine, complete with Lobsters
- Finding the gorgeous tables and Woodmans on our trip to Essex
- Olives with the McMullins on valentines day #1
- The cat that peed on the bed. . .thrice
- The firt visit with Mikas
- A great week in Boston with Jim and Lori
- Moving to Jacob's barn
- The cherry sideboard surprise
- The little black kitty
- The flying squirrel
- The giant turtles in our back yard!
- The Air Force grill barbeques
- Nightmares of your dad seeing the bright red BMW
- Long nights at MIT, hanging out in the Lab
- Always wanting to sail, and never quite managing it
- Swimming in the neighbor's pool
- Teaching nursery together
- A bump with a tree in the grand cherokee
- The grand marnier souffle
- "Detroit is just as I imagined it"
- Cooking school in NYC
- Making the stoplights for the temple dedication
- "that man needs to calm down!"
- No Boeing. No Exxon. No McKinsey. No Visteon.
- Seattle in the winter, complete with a plant tour
- San Diego in the summer, complete with lots and lots of mexican food
- New York with the family, complete with Niagara, the WTC, and Po with Misty
- Losing the first little one
- Finding out about Mr. Moo
- A rocking chair trip to vermont
- Many weeks on the couch preparing for generals
- Lots of saturdays in the Temple
- Aujord Hui and the fly
- Olives, Capital, Prezza, etc. . .all since "we wouldn't be able to do it again"
- The TV interview on Christmas night with my pregnant wife in the snowstorm that no one would go out in
- The conference call at the hospital
- Meeting Matthew--or was it Michael??
- "Hi, I'm Mat"
- Our angel at the hospital
- A bit of a run in between grandma and the ice
- A freezing house, grandma with a broken leg, a husband going to take his generals, and a new baby--how did you do it?
- Renaming the baby "Mr Silly"
- "Dude, you forgot your Dr. Pepper; don't worry--I got it for you"
- So much On the Border takeout that we couldn't stand it anymore
- Saving $20 bucks, but getting the handicap room in Vegas
- The new silver SUV
- The new titanium sunglasses
- The collision between the silver SUV and the titanim sunglasses (guess who won??)
- MBA graduation
- Continuing on in Boston--exactly where we were supposed to be
- Our baby loves Howie Day!
- Learning to wrestle one little boy on the floor of Jacob's barn
- The Five for Fighting concert
- The Howie Day concert. . . that didn't happen
- Our great friends from Boston--Josh & Christie, Murray and Anna, Jen and Dave, Jeff and Allison, Annie and Greg, Joel , Dougie, Burke and Melanie, the balmforths, Ron and Sue, Tom, Clay, so many others--what a wonderful time
- Blueberry picking on your birthday
- The next call from McKinsey
- The interview process that landed us in Cleveland
- The call from the Ritz--"honey, I feel like this is where we need to be"
- Saving $20, but getting the post office party at the holiday inn!
- Finding our dream house at hunt club
- Another baby's coming!
- Finding the apartment
- Those gay guys at the model home
- Swimming with Matthew
- Matthew saying goodbye every morning from the apartment window
- Strawberries at the Marriott
- The envelope with the house plans
- Trying to choose our colors for three days--all in the boston airport
- The next conference call at the hospital, except at Mt. Auburn this time
- Meeting William--or is it Michael??
- Renaming him Willians
- Driving to work on thanksgiving right before my defense
- A few minutes late to the defense. . .that's ok
- Capital Grille after the defense
- Taking the family to Utah for a month of post-defense decompression
- The very, very tired pictures of me after the defense
- Preparing the house for you
- Moving into a house with no lights in the family room
- Installing trim in the dining room and living room
- Finding beds for the boys
- Learning to wrestle with two little boys on the floor of our new house
- Late nights talking, and loving every minute with you
- Late nights complaining about a horrible time working in Mentor
- Questioning whether we had done the right thing
- Our first talks in the westlake ward
- Matthew finding the hot dog
- All of our wonderful friends in the westlake ward
- Meeting Jodi and Gavin
- Meeting Eric and Shelly
- Being ever so glad when ben and tara decided to come live in hunt club
- Getting called to be EQP, with the big long discussion about headlights
- "Don't tell him to get a truck!!"
- Getting the Lord's truck
- The chocolates at the Westin in Grand Cayman
- Breakfast at the chocolate shop in Grand Cayman
- Snorkeling at Stingray City
- Tommy's baptism
- The new sprinkler system
- Driving to St. George to get a puppy
- "Hmm. . .maybe not a good time for a puppy"
- Looking forward to Joseph
- The new blue car to fit all three kids
- Meeting Joseph Michael "Big Daddy" Musso
- "I want to go to the park, Dammit!"
- Leveraging the Cayman to get the black 335
- A wonderful trip to California (albeit on the wrong weekend!)
- The first trip to Sea World
- "Matthew Musso, we don't pee on our friends on the sidewalk of On The Border"
- Learning to wrestle with three little boys
- Lots of wonderful trips to see our families, with several snowy trips over the mountain
- Will's first set of stitches
- Will's second set of stitches
- Our perfect three little boys
- Moving to Lorain ward, with 4 months of relief
- Getting called to the HC by President Rice
- Sending Laura off on her mission
- Watching you serve all of our friends, helping whenever, wherever you can
- Mr. Moo starts preschool
- A wonderful, wonderful trip to St. John
- Hikes through the jungle and pictures at the sugar factory
- The world's most picturesque wedding
- A long flight home from St. John, complete with tired, crying children
- Losing a wonderful grandma
- Christmas in St. George
- The red mountain with the boys
- Christmas in Montrose
- A great trip to Florida
- Stuffing the family into two rooms at the Diplomat
- Canoeing through the mangroves
- The old rooms at the Dolphin
- The second trip to Sea World
- The first trip to Disney World
- Visiting the animal kingdom hotel
- The white Mercedes
- A fun--and I mean FUN--new basement, with lots of room for wrestling
- Pop's truck as a bicycle backstop
- A trip out west for Tinny's wedding
- Swimming lessons with Jenny
- The Big Ring
- Roasting Joseph's wiennie
- The daddy-matthew airshow tradition
- Mr. Moo's first day of kindergarten
- Mr. Moo's F-22 self-perception
- Lots and lots of legos
- Trips to the Zoo
- Boo at the Zoo
- A new little Boo at our house
- A wonderful couple of days in Amsterdam
- Waffles at the Pulitzer
- A walk through the Van Gogh museum
- Visits to the science museum
- Our trip to Columbus and COSI
- Mr. Moo's girlfriends (he doesn't kiss them very often, though)
- Skiing down the hills of Montrose with Moo and Willians
- Skiing down the hills of Brianhead with you, moo, and willians
- Meeting little Dafu again as he learns to talk
- Two perfect days in Paris
- Montmarte
- Le Tour Eiffel
- Notre Dame
- The river boat
- La Grande Cascade
- Our awesome new playset and trampoline
- Your complete support through the toughest 6 months of my working life
- Our little gymnasts
- Kindergarten graduation
- Friend injured at our barbeque, and all of your service taking care of his family
- A great weekend in Oregon, with beaches, toy shops, and kites
- A full house this summer
- Our little swimmers
- Our quick drive to NYC
- My perfect family
Quite a list--missing many, many more memories but more than enough to soak my keyboard with tears of gratitude for you. I can't tell you how much you mean to me, how much you mean to our family, and how much you mean to so many other people in our lives. You are the person I look up to most, the person I trust most, and the person I most want to be with.
After nearly 10 years, you are still the best thing about me. I love that we can't think of any "rocky patches" in our marriage. I think that August 17 is the best day of the year.
Thanks for marrying me.
Love,
your chris
