This Picture is Worth a Thousand Words (My Favorite Picture of Charly and Me)

Good thing I have a picture because I don't want to write a thousand words and I know that none of our readers want to read a thousand words.

Choosing the picture for this blog was hard because there are a ton of great pictures of Charly and me together. I finally chose this one and I'm excited to see which one Charly chose.

This is my favorite picture of Charly and I together. It's from one of our first dates. Charly and I are really goofy, well, I'm goofy and I rub off on Charly. We are always laughing and always having fun. I think this picture represents that.

In this picture we were just at the mall trying on random hats and glasses. Charly loves taking pictures and it was a good excuse for me to put my arm around her so we took lots of pictures.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words (My Favorite Picture of Ben and Me)

Ben and I decided we wanted to do a short and sweet post this week, since nothing particularly exciting or funny happened to us since we last posted (unless you count Benjamin pretending to be a dinosaur as he ate his broccoli at the restaurant on date night ...). 

This is my favorite picture of Benjamin and I.

I know, I know, it has someone else in it. But here's the thing. This is one of the first pictures Ben and I took together, back before we were even dating for the first time. Also, the guy on the left is my very best friend Jeremy, who is currently on a mission. 

After Jeremy left on his mission and while I was long-distance-dating Ben, I would look at this picture and it would break my heart, I missed them both so much.

But looking at this picture, that's when I knew where I always wanted to stay.

Right there, between Jeremy and Benjamin. Forever. 

Understanding Women 101

This is a story that demonstrates my progress with understand women. I feel like I'm coming along quite well compared to most men but I also know that I still have a ton to learn.

Saturday was Brynndi's baptism and it was super cool. I love going to baptisms because the Spirit is always very strong. After the baptism Charly and I went over to Brynndi's grandparent's house for some food. They had a chicken salad with tons of fruits.

I. Love. Fruit. Especially strawberries and they had all kinds of fruits including strawberries.

On my first helping of food Charly turned to me and asked, "Can we could eat dinner with my mom, Jon, and Luke at Olive Garden?"

"Sure," I said. I was actually pretty excited. I like spending time with Charly's family.

After finishing our first helpings Jon and I went to get more fruit. We both piled mounds of our favorite food onto our plates and walked back over to Charly.

Now at this point of the story we need to jump into Charly's mind. She is thinking, "I just told Ben that we are going to Olive Garden right after this. He needs to save some room for that." 

But what she said was,

"You know were going to Olive Garden right after this?"

Now lets look at my mind. I'm thinking, "Charly just barely told me that we are going to Olive Garden. Why is she telling me again? Oh well."

And what I say is,

"Yup. You told me that."

After this statement Charly just kind of laughed at me and went back to talking with some family. I, on the other hand kept wondering why she had told me we where going to Olive Garden when she knew that I already knew.

A few minutes later I realized what she was actually trying to tell me and I just started laughing. I don't even think that Charly realized, at the time, that I didn't know what she was saying.

If there is one thing I've learned about women it's that they don't always say what they mean. They sometimes say something else and hope that you'll catch the message.

It's really funny how different we are. Men and women are so different. We can sometimes act the same but we just aren't built the same but that is what makes marriage so much fun and so rewarding.

The Loaded Plates

On Saturday, Benjamin and I went to my cousin's baptism. My mom wanted to take us, along with my brother Jon, to Olive Garden for dinner while we were in town. I talked to Ben and Jon about the plan while we ate outside, making sure it was okay. Then I called my mother while the boys both disappeared into the house. 

"Hey mom," I said. "Do you still want to go to Olive Garden?" 

"Can Jon make it?" She asked. 

"Yeah, he says he doesn't have other plans." 

"What time would we be going?" My mom went to bed pretty early. I checked my iPod; it was a little before four. 

"We're leaving in just a minute, and then we can go. Does that work for you?" 

"Yeah, we'll see you in a bit." 

Just as I was hanging up the phone, Ben was coming out of the house, carrying a plate loaded with food. I gave him a look. 

"What?" he asked, popping a strawberry into his mouth. 

I gave him another look. "Did you know we're going to Olive Garden after this?

"Yep," he said, "I remember you saying something about going Olive Garden." He picked up a piece of watermelon and put it in his mouth. I rolled my eyes.

That's when I saw Jon coming towards us, also carrying a plate. It was loaded with chicken salad. 

I sighed. "I give up." 

10 Reasons Why I Fell in Love With Charly

Here are the top 10 reasons why I fell in love with Charly.

1. She has a strong testimony of the gospel.

This is number one because it is the most important to me.

2. She loves me.

This one is also very important. I know Charly loves me because of the way she treats me. She is patient with me when I'm going through one of my hobby phases. She writes me love notes and nice things all the time. She makes me feel like I'm the best guy alive even when I know I still have a ton to learn. I love her for it.

3. She loves children.

This is something we both have in common. We love to be with children. From day one we were always around children. We would both play with them and be silly. I'm usually much sillier than Charly though. We are excited to have our own children some day and I know Charly will be a great mother to them because I've seen her with children.

4. She is adventurous and fun to be around.

It's always an adventure with Ben and Charly... That's our motto. Some of the dates we have been on were the most fun I have ever had. We've sneaked cloths pins on to strangers, volunteered at clothing stores as greeters, put on puppet shows, and went to tons of fun dances.

5. She is a writer and she loves reading.

Yeah, I cheated and put two in here. Reading and writing is something we have in common just like our love for children. We spent lots of hours talking about different books we had read and others that we might read. Charly writes stories and I think she is an amazing writer. I love reading her stories.

6. She always tries to think of others.

I can think of many examples where she has done this but the one that stands out most to me is when she worked so hard to make sure everyone could make it to our wedding. She had to sacrifice some things that she wanted in order to make it possible and I admire that in her.

7. She wants to home-school our kids.

This one is pretty straight forward. I was home-schooled and I loved it. It is something that is important to me and it is to Charly as well.

8. She laughs at me.

I'm really.... goofy. Some people think I'm funny and some people can't figure me out. I love that Charly always laughs at me, even when I'm being ridiculous... and trust me... my jokes are ridiculous.

9. She is patient with me.

I sort of already put this one down up close to the top. Trust me though, sometimes I take a ton of patience. You should just watch me put my shoes on.

10. She is beautiful.

Don't say it's shallow because it's not. Everyone wants to fall in love with someone they find attractive and everyone has their own version of attractive. In my world Charly is the most beautiful girl I have ever met. Sometimes I just stare at her and think how beautiful she is. She usually gets mad at me for staring at her. I think it's cute. My favorite thing about her looks is her eyes.

End

I love Charly so much. These 10 reasons, and many more that I didn't even list, remind me every day of how much I love her. I'm so lucky to have found her and also to still have her.

My 10 Favorite Things About Benjamin

1. He loves me. And I thank Heavenly Father for him everyday.

2. He tries so hard to be a good husband, especially with the little things. For example, while both of us like our house to be clean, I'm the type of person who likes everything to have a spot, a place where it "goes." Ben isn't really like that at all. When we first got married, I would joke with Benjamin because he would forever be leaving his shoes all over the place. So, I would pick them up and put them in their "spot" in the spare room. When I joked with him, I was only kidding; it didn't actually bother me at all. I've caught him several times now, though, taking off his shoes and putting them in their "spot." He such a sweet husband because he does little things like that everyday.

3. Ben loves to just be close to me. The first few times Ben came over to give me a hug for no reason, I asked him "What? What do you want?" My family just isn't as touchy (if you want proof of that, go try to give my brother Jon a hug). It makes me feel so loved that Ben comes over to cuddle with me for a minute or to give me a hug, or just scoots closer so that our arms are touching before we fall asleep.

4. He lets me cry. I know this one may sound weird. It's not that I'm sad all the time, I just cry a lot. I am a very emotional person. I cry when I'm happy, I cry when I'm frustrated, I cry when I'm upset, I cry when I'm angry, I cry when I feel the spirit, I cry when I feel particularly blessed and thankful.  But Ben, as the sweet and caring husband he is, will just hold me until I'm done and then make me laugh. I cannot even tell you how much this means to me.

5. He takes people as they are. This is something that I noticed (and admired) right away in him, and I've always admired him for it. He doesn't judge people or criticize them for their differences and their flaws. He sees those things as them being them. He knows they can change, and helps them do so, but in the meantime, he simply lets them be themselves.

6. He works on improving his many talents. Do you understand how talented my husband is? He does everything--art, guitar, singing, violin, piano, programming, reading, writing, dancing, the Pokemon card game, riding a unicycle. Seriously. He does everything and I love that about him.

7. His jokes. They're ridiculous, every time. But everyday, without fail, he makes me laugh. Every single day.

8. He believes in people, but more importantly, he believes in me. And when you have someone believing in you in every day, it doesn't take long for you to start believing in yourself.

9. He serves others. He is better than me at seeing other people's needs and meeting them. He's such an example to me in this. It's one of the reasons I fell for him. I knew I was looking for something special in my (at the time, future) husband.This attitude that Ben possesses was one of those things.

10. All of these are just pieces of what makes Ben such a wonderful person and such a great husband. And I love all of that. But do you know what my absolute favorite thing about Benjamin is? He's my husband.