"Then Why Aren't We Dating, You Idiot?"

We went to the air show in Grand Junction this weekend and on the way home, Tyler and I started talking about our dating years. (or I should say months over the span of years.) We were trying to remember it. It is ridiculous how fuzzy it all is in my memory. It's been 14 years since our first date. I wish I knew the exact date but I don't. I do know that it was the "Dear" Hunt Dance. I do know that when he asked me, we were at the top of "A" hall (I was making a mad dash for the bathroom because a pen I was chewing on had just exploded and I was sure there was pen all over my face) when he stopped me to ask me to the dance. I held my hand over my face pretty much the whole time and I am sure he thought maybe asking had been a bad idea. So our whirl wind, month long romance began, followed by months of not dating and weeks of dating, and years of not dating.... you get the idea. Here are the things we could remember well about our dating experience:

He remembers "riding high" because he was in his car with me, Heather, Jill and Miranda, "4 of the cutest girls in our grade" (oh isn't that nice). He doesn't remember if Hen was there or not. Sorry Hen.

I can't remember much clearly. I do remember the specifics of the time we went to see Hen off at the airport for his mission over 2 years after our first date. I had been secretly in love with him since that first month long fling, and somehow finagled a ride out of him even though we weren't dating at the time. Mike Smith, who we always call "George" came with us. Since our first date, I had this weird confidence that Tyler liked me whether he knew it or not so I would be insanely nice to him even when he had, through avoidance, ended our relationship many times. So I don't know I might have just called him up and asked for a ride. Anyway, we were on our way back from seeing Hen, and George had to stop at someones house in Salt Lake. Tyler and I waited in the car for him to come back. The radio was on and I can imagine it may have been slightly awkward and my face completely red. The song "Simply Irresistible" was on the radio and as it ended, Tyler said, "That's your song." A few thoughts passed through my head: 1. I was very grateful for the perfume with pheromones in it. It really seemed to be working like a charm. 2. Keeping myself calm because I didn't want to scare the boy I was secretly in love with (and not dating) by being too excited about being simply irresistible. 3. A little annoyed because we weren't dating, I might be right about him liking me and seriously, what was his problem?

A new song started on the radio and I recognized it and laughed slightly. "This one's yours," I said. The song "Insensitive" was playing. Looking back, the only song that could have been better in response to "Simply Irresistible" would have been, "Then Why Aren't We Dating, You Idiot?"

Tyler's Twilight Review

So I have finished the Twilight series, and have had a few days to mull over my "official" opinion of the books. First of all, I can definitely see why women are so crazy about Twilight. Edward is definitely a man that all of us mere "human" men can look up to as an example of devotion and unconditional love. I have definitely seen room for improvement in my life because of Edward's actions. Seeing a serious relationship from a female perspective is also educational. The appeal of Twilight, for me, was not the romance. Now, you are all going to say that I feel that way because I am a man. You have to know, that of all the men any of you have met, I don't fit the mold of a true man's man. Sure, I like football, Nascar, and 4 x 4 trucks, but I also love the movie Pride & Prejudice; I listen to Beethoven; I like Hugh Grant movies; you get the picture. So, I am not turned off by the romance. It is definitely a major part of the story, however, I kept reading because the of the intrigue of vampires, the super powers, werewolves, and impending battles between good and evil. Over all, I really enjoyed the books. It's a great story, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone. Amanda has made the statement that this series is the best she has ever read. I have to disagree with her. The Harry Potter series is a far superior story, as is Lord of the Rings. I would definitely put it in my top 5 book series list though.

Tongue Tied in Primary

Today, after church, we were talking to Hadlee's primary teacher. He told us that Hadlee was pretty amped up today. Which is kind of our fault. We went to Grand Junction this weekend and I think we deprived her of sleep a little. When she is tired, amped up is an understatement. So when he told us that, I just nodded, thinking 'glad I am in Young Women's.' Then he went on to tell us that he has a hard time keeping Hadlee and her friend Zach from touching their tongues together during primary. After which, he shot me a bit of a look. I immediately defended myself and explained that Tyler and I never do that kind of thing in front of our kids. He laughed but then looked at me like he didn't believe me and I am sure he was thinking, 'YA RIGHT, where else does a 4 year old come up with that idea.' Luckily our kids have desensitized the part of me that would usually be embarrassed. It takes a lot more than that these days.

On another note, I wanted to talk Twilight. When I first started dental assisting, I felt like it was my job to inform the world about the importance of flossing and explain to everyone I came in contact with how serious it is. I was clearly obsessed because I didn't mind asking strangers if they were flossing and explaining all the gory details of gum disease (and that's when I wasn't at work). That obsession has faded over time and now I have found a new one. I don't care if anyone flosses anymore, who needs teeth? People only need to be reading the Twilight series. I read through the first time, then went back and read my favorite parts and now I am reading them all the way through again. I just finished the first book. I LOVE THEM.

Another random note-I let Tyler blog once and I come back to find all this political crap on my page. Now it's riddled with religion AND politics, the two things you aren't supposed to talk about at a dinner party. No one has asked us to dinner since (except my dad) and now I think this is fast becoming the most controversial page on the web.

Life Without Amanda.

Hey everyone, this is Tyler again. I'm sorry you won't get any of Amanda's funny comments and clever one liners during this blog. Unfortunately she is currently (and for the past 9 days) indisposed. By indisposed I mean she has buried herself deep into the world of Edward Cullen. I know that most of you realize what this means, but for those who don't, she has been reading the Twilight book series. She accomplished the feat of reading all 4 novels in 5 days. Then just for more, she read the partly finished novel found on the twilight web site, that tells the same story, but from a different perspective. And now at this very moment she is re-reading the first novel of the series. It is amazing that we have accomplished anything else in the past week, but actually, a lot has been going on. Labor Day weekend we went up to Scofield and stayed at Julia's cabin. We celebrated Amanda's birthday that night by eating burnt brownies (that no one will take credit for). We played games and had a good time. Here is a picture of Amanda at the cabin.

As you can see, she was the life of the party. Anyway, we had fun hanging out with Jared, Julia, Kate, and my parents. On Monday, Amanda came back to the real world for enough time to suggest we remodel Hadlee's bedroom. I liked the idea and we went for it. I have to mention, that we currently have two rooms in our house that are under major renovations. The kitchen, and our living room. So, deciding to start this one may not have been the best idea, but it worked out. We finished the room in record time, and it was some of our best work. We patched up the old walls, textured the walls, removed the seventies orange carpet, installed new wood laminate flooring, painted, installed the molding, hung a new door, and put in new closet shelves. All in 6 days. The room looks great, and Hadlee loves it. We asked her today if she wanted to trade bedrooms with us and she declined the offer. Here is the finished room. As always, we didn't think to take before pictures.

This week was also Calvin's first week at preschool. He goes twice a week, and is there for a couple of hours. We bought him a backpack so he would look like a big boy.

I also wanted to let Hadlee start getting used to riding her bike without training wheels, so we went up and down the sidewalk a few times. She isn't quit ready but she did pretty good.

Considering all the reading going on around here, (commonly going on until 4 in the morning ) we managed to get a lot accomplished in one week. Oh, I have to mention that Amanda has not been the only one reading. I too have been reading the Twilight books, just not as obsessively. I decide to read the books because I thought it good business to find out why all the women in our ward wanted their husbands to be vampires. I mean, there must be some good information that I could use to my advantage in these books. After all, good church going LDS women aren't usually ready to trade in thier eternal companions for some blood drinking monster. So, that's why I started reading the books, but it turns out I really like the story. So, we survived the the invasion of vampires and werewolves into our lives, and even got a few things done during it all.