are not just “please” and “thank you”.

Around our house I know magic is about to happen when Jan says,

“The light is really beautiful. I’m going to grab the camera.”

When the light was right last week he took these…

Is Jan Dawson.

Right now he and I are sitting at the dining room table, each working on our lap top computers. Only moments ago, he casually glanced over and noticed that I didn’t have a power cable, then he checked my battery and said, “You’re almost out of power.” He then took the cable from his own computer and plugged it into mine.

Shucks! That is who I am married to.

Yesterday he watched ALL of the BBC’s series, “Wives & Daughters” with me. We were up until 11:00, snuggled in our bed with the his lap top & the very same computer cable he just lent to me, balanced on my lap.

Life is good.

&

I am a lucky, lucky girl.

&

did I mention he smells good?

okay, now I’ll stop.

Dear Chief Guy,

you know who you are where you are and why I am writing this you are not here to see what we have been up to whilst you do your thing miles and miles away from not here – which is where you are and it is irrelevant except for the fact that you are not here – which basically means that you are not with us – and that stinks, full stop

So, what do you think of my Faulkner impersonation? Deep. Right?  I always thought anyone could do what he did – but perhaps I am wrong? It is harder than it looks to not use any punctuation and blather on like there is some hidden meaning to what you are saying.

Hmmm.

What I want to know is, do you think when I try to write like Faulkner I am,

a) brilliant

b) annoying

Just checking.

Now on to the report and the photos.

Here’s what you have been missing:

Man, am I GLAD I bought that new tub of Eucerine! So is Clara.

You lucky dog, you have missed yet another snow storm ENTIRELY.

It has been okay because my mom, aka THE ROCK STAR has been here

And apparently the three Nephites are landscapers for our next door neighbors. They took pity on us poor females and shoveled the drive way with their big bad plow! Can you believe it?! SO KIND!

At any rate the girls were loving the snow

I on the other hand was VERY bummed out by the snow. I had arranged a whole day in the city – just me and the previously mentioned rock star relation – but had to cancel due to the snow.

When the going gets sad I go ahead and make SOUFFLE (thanks to dear AJ’s recipe – some of the sadness was alleviated)

It don’t look super appetizing, but you have had more than one of these so even though the camera on my phone is rummy – you know how good these suckers are.

Let Millie’s reaction be a witness to it’s deliciousness!

That night before bed Grandma, Millie & Clara cooked up a surprise for me.

A PERFORMANCE where the costumes were worn over their jammies, and Grandma provided a curtain which Clara and Millie used to their full advantage!

If you weren’t missing us before, I know you are missing us now!

Today was the Valentine’s party as Millie’s school. We walked through the door and sat down in the entry way to examine her loot.

Later in the day we watched a  romantic movie

Can you tell what it is?

How about now?

It was swell and inspired much mirth and you’ll never believe it –

D A N C I N G!

So that is the news with us.

Clara would like to send you a special message via her balloons,

Read it and weep

because we are weeping without you.

P.S. We hope that despite the fact that you are working very hard that you will stop and take time to

LICK THE FLOWERS!

oxox,

Lize, Millie & Clara

OH!

Where to begin?

Of the 34 years you’ve been alive you have spent seven of those years with me, your wife, Eliza J. Dawson. And I have endeavored to make your birthdays as wonderful as I could. (Remember when I tried to brow beat you into having a 30th birthday party – wasn’t that fun?!)

At least I am learning.

Slowly, but there is progress.

Now I just ask you what you want and give it to you — with only a small surprise thrown into the mix, like last year. (wink, wink)

Anyway,

I still remember when we were dating and you showed me your baby pictures.

That is when I knew I wanted to marry you.

Holy cow! Were you a little stunner.

WHAT would I have given to know you then?!

Seeing as you are a year older than me I can imagine that I watched you from heaven. I probably couldn’t help myself. You were so stink’n cute. I wonder if God let me be one of your guardian angels before I was sent to earth?

The other angels who kept a faithful vigil would see me swooning and wonder, “What is her deal?” and I would say, “One day that baby will grow up and be the man I marry. I’ll love him more than anyone in the whole world.” They would get it because you know, they’re angels and angels understand about love.

Anyway lets pull it back. Out of dream land and into reality.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

I know that I take your steadiness, your goodness, your kindness, your intelligence for granted every single day. So I am grateful for the chance to take stock and celebrate how much you mean to me and how grateful I am that you were born 34 years ago.

Would you mind if I briefly catalogued just a few of the reasons why I love you so?

I love how unflappable you are and I am grateful that despite my complete and utter flappability you somehow manage to just let it go. You even smile, a loving smile, when I go off on a tirade, have a spaz, or lose my mind. You let me be who I am without making me feeling like a total loser.  That is so kind of you, thanks.

I love to see you in action with our daughters.  You are not showy or flashy about the way you engage them – but with a gentle intensity you pay very close attention to what they are doing, and then you celebrate it. First by noticing how they are progressing and what they are doing, then you help stretch them further. You give them credit. You ask things of them that I don’t, then you show me, through your example that they are totally capable. They are so blessed to have you as a dad.

I love your brain. It is such a good one. Not only is it  packed with information, but I love how you take that information and break it down for me into bite sized pieces that I can understand. I love how your process all the information that you seem to endlessly cram into your brain. For example, I might read something about politics in the news paper that would outrage me. I would tell you about it and you would very calmly explain two or three other angles at which I could examine the story and come up with a very different conclusion.  You have an ability to do this with almost any subject in which you are well versed.

I love your sense of humor. I love your great big laugh. I can’t wait to share things with you in the hope that that great big laugh might come toppling out of you and fill my heart with delight.

I am grateful that you always look out for me – and find ways to help me. I know you have my best interest at heart. I feel so safe with you. I know that you would never ridicule me or knowingly hurt me. Remember the other night I came home and you had put Clara down successfully with a bottle and you could tell instantly that I was upset. You just held me then when you looked at me and saw that I had tears in my eyes you held me even tighter. You didn’t even understand why this would make me sad, all you knew was that I was sad and you were instantly on my side. Then you gave me the time to explain how wonderful and  hard it is for me to give Clara independence.

I feel like our marriage is made up of hundreds of moments like these. Moments of kindness and understanding.

I am so happy to be your wife. You are such a source of strength to me. I am grateful that you are honoring the commitments that you made to God and to me when we are married. If God were to come to me and ask me, “So, how is he doing?” I would give him the mushiest, gushiest report of the swell job that you are doing – as a husband, as a friend, as a provider, as a builder of his kingdom (he knows already, but if he were to ask, I would not hold back!)

I also love…your complete and utter dedication to the gospel, your enthusiasm for baseball, that you love to play basketball, the kindness you show to my family all the time, your generosity and that you support me in my efforts to be generous, your love of all things technological (and the ways you spend your effort helping me out in this department – whether it’s putting conference talks on my iPhone or helping me start a blog), and how you always make my birthday the most wonderful day of the year (I hope I do half as good a job).

I love you more than words can express.

Happy 34th birthday.

Last year on your birthday I gave you

a gift never to be topped

May this year be full of all that is good, and beautiful and true!

Love,

Lize

Your four year old CAN’T fall asleep.

She really can’t.

(must have been that 20 min nap she took on our afternoon drive to Target, darn it!)

So what do you do?

Scold her after she calls out for you (and wakes her younger sister)?

OR

Say, “What the heck! We’ll make tonight a late night.”

and then you pass her off to her dear old DAD, or as the case may be — Prince Charming.

Next,

Do this –

While watching this –

while wearing this –

And then, this is a MUST, you absolutely must get your “snugs” on.

Make them snugs count, little princess, because when the clock strikes 9:00, you needn’t fear the coach turning back into the pumpkin, but rather Prince Charming will turn back into your dad. And you know what that means.

It means bed time!

I stay at home.

I am a stay at home mama.

It is where my heart is.

Is this job hard? Yes, very.

Are there days that I want to poke my eyes out with a blunt stick? Yes, that would be every day.

Do I want to be anywhere else?

NO WAY, JOSE!

Do you ever have conversations with yourself? I do. And recently I have been talking to myself about why I stay home.

Reason number one,

And reason number two,

But seriously folks, I’ve been thinking about this a lot. I have high expectations for these girls. Not just that I hope they get into a good college, I am talking about eternal expectations. I believe that if I do my very best that God will let me be with these girls and their dad forever. That is what I want. So if that is what I want I know I can’t get distracted or snagged by what the world has to offer. For example “a career”. Since when did a career become better than shaping humanity?

Maybe if I had a career my co-workers wouldn’t spit up on me, or whine at me. But I doubt they would ever look at me like this.

And I know I couldn’t plant these on fellow co-workers all the live long day.

(Those cheeks were made for kissing, my friends. Soft as silk. Softer even.)

My baby has teeth (five and counting) and she has started to crawl. Even though these days feel endless, before I know it my baby will have all her teeth and be wearing a prom dress. And I want her to be ready for all this crazy world is going to throw at her.

When the world is swirling around her I want her to know that her mom is at home, waiting for her, praying for her, loving her, ready to help her with whatever she needs.

Trust is built over a lot of skinned knees and tears shed and midnight chats.

See those band aids? I put them on those knees. I kissed them better.

ME.

What a blessing to be a mother. I feel like this is the time that I prove to God that this is what I want more than anything else. If I have to earn the right to do this eternally, I better do it with my whole heart now.

I hope I will be kissing knees better through out the eternities.

Of late my mom has been on something of a roll.

She has been sending Jan special treasures in the mail.

It started with this fabulous-ness

It came in the mail all folded up with a sticky-note that read, “what do you get for the man who has everything?”

When Jan opened up the shirt over this logo another sticky-note was carefully placed and it read, “something that nobody wants”.

(Which one of these cool b-ball players do you think Jan is? I think he is the one on the far left who is taking that skinny guy DOWN! Or he is the one on the right hanging from the rim. Yeah! baby! If you’re wondering which one I am – I’m the one getting hit in the head with the ball.)

Oh, but it gets better, people.

This week in the mail Jan received yet another package from his ma-in-law

Can you read what is written under Jan’s name? In case you can’t, I’ll tell you -“Sports Enthusiast”. Jan was already laughing even before he saw what new treasure my mom had found for him.

My mom is a woman of many talents. But one you may not know about is her knack for writing pithy notes. She was FAMOUS in our high school for sending in the best “please excuse my child for [fill in the blank here]” type notes. The office ladies would hang them up and laugh about them for days.

Here is the note she sent to Jan

What did she send this time?

Jan was born in 1975. And we live in Jersey.

My mom sure knows how to pick ‘um, doesn’t she!

Thanks, Mama-dukes. Jan has already worn his Provo Men’s Basketball shirt (around the house). When I asked him if he has any plans to wear it to play ball with his buddies he just smiles, that famous Jan smile.

(our gardening clogs)

Saturday morning something transpired that has got me wondering if Millie has a future in botany.

Allow me to explain.

At 9:30 AM

I was outside weeding, Millie was in her room playing with “Sparkle Barbie-Q” (yes, as in BBQ) and “Sparkle Kevin”, Jan was home from basket ball and getting ready to head off to Home Depot and Clara lay dreaming (hopefully sweet dreams) in her crib.

At 10:00 AM

Millie decided to join me in my weeding endeavors. This was her first time weeding so I taught her the proper weeding technique, as in yoinking out those nasty suckers all the way down to the roots. Millie was a born weeder. She was awesome! So awesome that we made up a song that went something like this,

“I’ve got a daughter and she knows how to weed! She pulls ‘um by the roots, the roots the root’in, tooti’n roots.”

There were more verses and the tune changed every time, but you get the gist.  Millie was having a grand time.

Then she walked up to me and started to explain the horticulture which surrounded us.

Millie: Mom, do you see that (pointing to a weed) is is a “oblasis”. It is Italian. And you’ve got to be careful because it can really stick ya. It can stick ya in the knee, like a jelly fish, and then you wont be able to win the race. Or it can stick ya in the nose OR in the fingers and then you wont be able to wiggle them anymore.

Mom: Seriously? Wow! I’ll be careful. And from Italy, no less!

Millie: No from I-T-A-L-I-A-N.

(I explained to her that if something was Italian that meant it was from the country of Italy – “copy that”).

She then went on to explain to me that “if you don’t pick an oblasis  it will stay firm and then it will help the corn to grow and grow and grow!”

What the? I started to wonder if she’s been watching too much David Attenborough.

Later as I was hacking away at the rose bush on the side of our drive way Millie came up to me. She was carrying the “garden scnizzors” and she was using them to “sniz” the weeds.

Millie: Hey mom, do you know where any fleeps are?

Mom: I am not sure, what is a fleep?

Millie: (exasperated) You know! A FLEEP! I need to sniz some.

In case you have an inquiring mind, like mine, it turns out a fleep is a petal of dandelion.

So we found her some more of those and she got right to work, snizing them.

I carried on cutting back the rose bush which, by the way, I have NO idea what I am doing when it comes to this kind of thing, weeds sure, but anything else I don’t know what the heck to do with it! I mentioned to Millie that her Papa is a wonderful gardener.

Millie: Oh, yes? Like me?

Mom: Yes! He has beautiful flowers and yummy vegetables and when we go there to visit maybe you can ask him if you can pick some of his strawberries and raspberries. I bet he’d let you help him weed too.

Millie: Ooooohhhh! Does he also have peaches?

Mom: I think so. He is growing lots of trees but it takes a long time for them to grow and it is a lot of work.

Millie: Oh! Then he really needs my help – especially if it is hard and takes a long time.

Mom: No doubt!

At the end of our two hour garden tour of duty. We’d accomplished a fair amount.

Filled two garbage cans with: weeds, the remains of my hacked up rose bush, and grass that we dug up to make way for flower beds (BTW Jan when got back from Home Depot and helped out a TON!)

“What beds? I see no flower beds!” You say? This is a BEFORE shot..

Looky!

To the victor, the spoils!

Look at what our rosebush gave us…

We had enough roses to fill five small vases

in Millie's room

in Clara's room

in the entry way

And the  pièce de résistance is sitting pretty in the kitchen

Now our entire house smells like a Crabtree & Evelyn rose drawer liner – only a million times better!

If gardening was always this fun I swear, I’d be out there every day!

These invitations were sent to three little darling girls. The plan was to have a birthday tea in Millie’s honor. But last night the birthday girl came down with a temperature of 100.6, so I called all the mommies to let them know the party was off.

Millie was sad, but not heart broken (probably because we’d killed ourselves only two weeks earlier giving her a wop-dinger of a birthday! I am glad that counted for something.)

We told her if she was feeling better that we’d take her to the movies instead.

DEAL!

Well, she woke up without a smidge of temperature. So we tried to find a baby sitter, and couldn’t at such late notice. So I suggested that Jan and Millie have a daddy daughter date.

PERFECT!

Millie got herself ready.

When going on a date, is it possible to “over accessorize”? Not in Millie’s universe.

Clara was convinced that she was on the right track, fashion speaking.

Just look at her face! Complete and total adoration. “WORK IT, girl!”

In Millie’s purple polka-dot purse I placed a dollar bill – which will buy her about 1/3 of a bag of M&Ms at the cinema – but I know her date pretty well, and he’ll foot the rest. He is a true gentleman.

Off they go!

Have fun, you two cuties!

(For their viewing pleasure, you may be wondering? They went to see “UP!” -& I can’t wait to hear what they think of it!)

Just as I finished this post there was a knock on the door.

Sisckel and Ebert had returned and gave it “TWO THUMBS UP!”

Dang, I love those two!

and he brought the best part of Kansas back with him!

When Millie woke up very early Friday morning – we are talking 3:00 am early. She came into our room and saw her dad and was THRILLED! (How do kids do this, I wonder? How do they have energy and exuberance right after waking up in the wee small hours of the morning?)

“Daddy! You’re back!”

Jan was excited too (but maybe not so exuberant) he hugged Millie and took her back to her room, and re-tucked her into bed. She asked him, “Did you say hi to Dorothy?” and “Was she so beautiful?” For Millie a trip to Kansas did not involve Sprint’s head quarters. All Millie knows of Kansas is the Wizard of OZ.

Because Millie’s dad understands the heart of his little girl. He brought her a special something…

She poked her head around the door to find…

TOTO!!!!!!!

Millie was pleased, but didn’t want to fully celebrate Toto’s arrival until she had tucked her tootsies into these shoes

She wanted to BE Dorothy. But wait, OH, NO!  they no longer fit – which resulted in some serious tears, but mom had an idea

A bow to match Toto’s

(dang it, moms are so awesome!)

Millie then declared, “Now all we need is the rest of the costume.”

Then there were more tears – but not from Millie

Clara woke up and those tears quickly turned to smiles upon seeing dad

She was delighted to be introduced to Toto

WELCOME HOME, DAD! (and welcome to the family, Sir Toto)

Father dearest, Allow me to welcome you home properly with poke in the nose!

We love you, dad!