Tagged by Michelle

How long have you been together? Met in June 1990. Correspondents for 3 1/2 years. Started dating in November 1993. Married in September 1994.
How long did you date: Depends. It appears like we dated for nearly a year before marrying. But as I brutally broke up with Clint 3 times, real-time dating was 6 weeks before we got engaged. But keep in mind--that was actually 3 two-week long dates as he either traveled to see me or I traveled to see him.
How old is he? 38
Who eats more? He does at dinner, but throughout the day I do. He usually only eats two times a day. I starve if we're working on a project together.
Who said I love you first: He says he did. We don't remember the actual event. It probably wasn't much of a shocker as he'd driven across country to get that first date. I think it was reciprocated right away.
Who is taller? Clint
Who is smarter? Talmage said today at dinner that Clint is smarter than me. :) I think Clint is more detail smart and I'm more big picture smart.
Who does the laundry? Clint. If he didn't start the laundry, it would never get done. I help fold and do all the putting away. I think I'd be better at starting the laundry if the machines weren't outside in our garage that is not attached to the house!
Who does the dishes?Mostly me.
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Clint.
Who mows the lawn? The lawn guy. Clint's allergic and I haven't done it since I was 7-months pregnant with Jack and went into cramps and said--this is for the birds!
Who cooks dinner?Me, except when we have company, when Clint often takes over--to my great relief. Cooking for other people stresses me out. Before we had kids it was 50/50--Clint's a great cook. I just cook for survival.
Who is more stubborn? Probably Clint. He says me. I give up.
Who kissed who first? This is a wierd question to me. It pretty much takes two people to kiss, right? I just remember it was a very good one! Clint was very proud that he waited a full 10 days of non-stop dating before the big kiss. Apparently this was not his modus operandi.
Who asked who out? There was no verbal asking. He just showed up in Provo with 2-weeks of leave. We hadn't seen each other in person for 3 1/2 years. I assumed that meant he wanted to spend some time together.
Who proposed? Same as Michelle and Matt. When we got together the 4th time it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that it was for good. But Clint asked me first by saying, "So what kind of a ring do you want?" (I said a sapphire, like Princess Di's. He said 'no way.' He wanted to make sure I looked taken when he was deployed for 10-months at a time. Probably good thing, considering how Princess Di's marriage ended up.) He later surprised me on a Pensacola beach with the ring.
Who is more sensitive? Neither of us is really sensitive, but as I get older, I get mad more easily and it takes a day or a miracle to cool myself back down.
Who has more friends? Clint does. And he's much more social. His idea of a weekend activity is inviting 6 to 20 friends over. I prefer hanging out with one or two. I spend more time with and talking to friends, but that may be because I have the time to do so.
Who has more siblings? I do: 6 sisters and 5 brothers. He has 3 sisters.
Who wears the pants in the relationship? Whatever. We make no uni-lateral decisions. We discuss everything--sometimes ad nauseum.

Ode to Clint

It's dawned on me lately of the two of us, Clint is the Romantic. Don't ask me why it's taken nearly 14 years for this to occur to me. But it is kind of surprising considering he's the studly Naval Aviator and I'm the chick, with a drama family and a humanities degree. But he's definitely more romantic and I'm more pragmatic. Take our engagement. He took me to Ft. Picken's beach in Pensacola at sunset. Me: you, me, beach---cool!--let's go for a run! Clint: uh...o.k. So we ran for about a mile before Clint called a break and tried to recreate the romantic scene he'd envisioned (and he was getting a bit worried about dropping the ring in the surf).
Months before every birthday and Christmas, Clint begins saying, "I know what you're getting for Christmas/your birthday! You'll never guess." I do never guess. He's great at surprises.
But the best way that Clint is romantic is that he always wants to be with me. That's what always has meant the most to me. Even though we've spent literally years apart in our marriage, he always makes it clear that he'd rather be home with me (o.k. I know some parts of Iraq were fun, but he was smart/kind enough not to let on to me).
I guess once you really get to know a soldier at heart, they're all romantics--they are willing to show their ideals in the most literal way possible--by putting their lives on the line to make the world a better place. He's a knight in shining helicopter, for sure. And I'm glad he's mine!
Here's him wrestling with the boys. I'm glad he's around to do this because they love it and I'm usually not up for it (especially in my current, round, shape).

You Don't Say

Some kiddisms of late:
Tal: Mom, I really want a dog. Because a dog is way better than a hermit crab. Cause, if the new baby that we're going to have gets caught up in a tree, the dog could go up and get it down. You see how a dog is way better than a hermit crab?

We were at the table with some young friends.
Jesse: I'm 5!
Thomas: I'm 3!
Jack: I'm P! I'm X!

Holy Snow!

While I'm enjoying perfect So Cal weather (my kids have no concept of seasons), my family is getting dumped on in Utah! All of Northern Utah is getting it, but the Ogden Valley, where I grew up got 67 inches in the last two weeks! Today The Valley schools closed for their first snow day in 20 years! Check my siblings blogs to see some amazing photos: Wilson Wombats and Edith and Casey. This should do great things for the water supply this coming summer! An Answer to prayers, if their roofs can just hold up!