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This past week has been a rough one. I work for my father’s company, doing menial stuff for the most part, and I don’t really like it. But this past week, I was given another assignment that has been keeping me at work for long hours. I enjoy what I am doing a lot more now, but I’m doing it on top of my other responsibilities, so it is requiring me to be at work from 5am to 5pm. 12 hours almost every day. I don’t mind it so much, because I am finally doing something that I enjoy, but I hate being away from my kid so much. I used to go to work a bit earlier, and then I was finished with work by noon or one, so I can be there when my kid gets out of preschool. Now I’ve been working until 5, I usually don’t get home until close to 6. I’ve been doing much better getting my son to go to bed at a reasonable hour, but that means that I only see him for about 2 hours every day. As much as I’ve been enjoying work, I miss my kid. I don’t know what to do. It doesn’t help that I’ve been having my best friend baby-sit, and I’m sure he’s sick of it by now. Not to mention my son doesn’t like him very much. I could go back to doing what I was before, but it is so boring and not very satisfying. Or I could quit entirely, and look for new work. Or I could see if they would hire someone else to do the job that I used to do, then I could get to work later, but I wouldn't be paid nearly as much as I am now. Besides, that wouldn't help much becuase my kid is in pre-school for most of the morning. I could take him out of pre-school, but he needs the social interaction. Why does it have to be so complicated?

Today is my wedding anniversary. Six years ago today I married the most amazing person ever to walk the face of this planet. And then nearly three years ago, she passed away due to the complications of cancer, leaving me to raise our son by myself. On this day when I am remembering her so much, I just thought I share some of those memories. I met my wife in the seventh grade. It was the first class of the day on the first day of school, in the first year of Jr. High. She showed up in my math class 20 minutes late. She was kinda funny looking. She had the braces and funky shoes and a hat that she refused to take off even during class time. Her clothes were mismatched and slightly too big for her. Later that day, I noticed her again in my PE class, my choir class, and in my history class. She seemed to be everywhere. I couldn’t keep from watching her she was just so strange and different. I didn’t talk to her at all that day, or at all for that first week. Then on Sunday it turned out that she was in my ward. Her family had moved in about a block away from my home. She was the second oldest of ten kids and her mother was pregnant with an eleventh. She never said much, but every time that she did say something it was very smart, or subtly hilarious. She had insights that I never could have thought up in a million years. I only ever really got to talk to her in my PE class. We would always be on the same team, and we would run together. I don’t know if you could call us friends at that point, more like acquaintances that hung out in PE together. I didn’t really start hanging out with her until eighth grade. My best friend moved away, and the rest of the group that I hung out with started getting into drugs, so I started hanging out with her instead. We were 13 years old, and I loved her. I was always very careful not to let that show, I didn’t want to ruin our friendship. Our sophomore year of high school, she turned 16. She started dating. I got jealous. I wasn’t 16 yet, so I wasn’t allowed to date. That made me so angry. That was the first time I ever really doubted the church, because it seemed to be the church that was keeping me away from her. I quickly learned my lesson. It was the church that was protecting both of us. I turned 16 three months later, and I asked her out… just as friends. So we went. It was the greatest night of my life. It wasn’t really all that different from when we would hang out before, but just calling it a date made it feel special. We dated… just as friends… all through high school. She would date other guys, and I would get jealous, but I was careful not to show it, I think she knew though. I never dated anyone else. We would joke around about getting married, but she never seemed to be serious about it. She would joke about me not dating, but I would always just play it off. Then we graduated from high school. She went to BYU, and I got a job at home. We were separated, and I was miserable. I would call her at least once a week, but I missed her. She would tell me about the guys she was dating, and I would give her advice about what to do to win the guy she currently had a crush on. I did it. I hated it. But I loved her, so I did it. I got my mission call to southern California, and I left. I didn’t even get to see her before I left; she was still at school. She wrote me once a week, every week. She still told me about the guy that she was dating at the time. She would tell me about her worries about never getting married. She told me everything. I comforted her, and I gave her advice. I loved her. She started dating one guy pretty seriously, and I was sure that she was going to marry him. She seemed happy, so I tried to be happy for her, although what I really wanted to do was jump on the next plane to Provo and strangle the guy. This was getting pretty near the end of my mission. I got off of my mission just as she was getting out of school for the summer. She met my plane with my family. I didn’t know that she would be there, and my heart leapt, and I wanted more than anything to just run to her and hug her and kiss her and ask her to marry me. Then I remembered that I hadn’t been released officially yet, and that she had a boyfriend. The next week, I asked her to go out with me… just as friends… for old times’ sake. We went. I tried to convince myself that I didn’t still like her after nearly three years of being apart. It didn’t work. That fall both of us went to BYU. She introduced me to her boyfriend. I kept myself from killing him. After a month or so, he got angry with her for spending so much time with me, and he asked her to stop going on just-as-friends-dates. She refused, and they broke up. A week later we started dating not just as friends, and a month after that we got engaged. We were married March 8th 2002 in the Provo temple. We were sealed for time and for all eternity. Even though she died just over three years later, I know that our time together is not over. I look forward to the day when we will be reunited again. In the meantime, I’m trying to raise up my son in a way that she would be pleased with. Between my wife, and the Lord, and a lot of help from my family and hers, I’m trying to make my son into a man that my wife will be proud of. So anyways, Happy Anniversary to me!

I've been working with my son on his writing. He's an excellent reader, but he definitely has work to do with his writing. He came to me tonight and told me he had written a story. I typed it up as well as I could, the handwriting was a little difficult. I wrote it letter per letter what he had down. Pretty impressive for a four year old. The translation is down at the bottom, as well as I could figure out at least.

Yester day I mad a pie to eggs 25and2  pawns Eva shoogr 9 powns ev milk 1powd ev bobre Q sos and I mad 7 appl pan kaks I seek Ipoot in ro eggs and to ro appls and 52 tur tl shells bbbbbbbbrbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbrb bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbrb bbbbbrb bbbbbrb bbbbbrb bbbbbbbbbbrb bbbbbbbbbbrb bbbbbbbbbbbbbrb soryfffffffffff I brbt brbbrb brb brb brb brb brb brbffffffffffff ohno no moor ches stiks  ffffrostid kaake mmmmmmmmmmm mi fafrit  iast nit I brpt,rims cat bat nap snak sandl handl vas  bas 1 fun maka run 2 wish a root 4lpun the theoor5l[pun a hiv .beezzy the be mom olwastmact himwrkroor he wood not get eny theinr woeday wel he wuz buzzyn froothe gortheins.rustlatr

.I broke a sentins.lo loolo loo loo lo

down the hil throo the woods erownd the lake over the wall up the tree in the windo bak in bed.I trid to make a piy in

sted I mad modre oiyl yek I hate that!ckench ckench .if you eat one moor ckooky

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr   NO!NO NOOOOO,GRrrRRrrrrrrrrRRrRrrRrRRRRRRrrrRrRRRr,haaahaaagrr

Translation:

Yesterday I made a pie. Two eggs, 25 and 2 pounds of sugar, 9 pounds of milk, 1 pound of barbeque sauce and I made 7 apple pancakes. I think I put in raw eggs and two raw apples and 52 turtle shells. (burps……) Sorry, I… (more burps……) Oh no! No more cheese sticks. Frosted cake! Mmm, my favorite! Last night I burped 809 times! rhymes, cat, bat, nap, snack, sandal, handle, vase, base. One, fun, make a run. Two, wish a root. Four, pun the door. Five, pun a hive. Buzzy the Bee’s mom always made him work or else he would not get any dinner. One day, well, he was buzzing through the gardens (the rest later…)

I broke a sentence. Lo, lo, lo. Down the hill, through the woods, around the lake, over the wall, up the tree, in the window, back in bed. I tried to make a pie. Instead I made motor oil. Yuck! I hate that! Crunch crunch if you eat one more cookie. Grrr, no! No! Grrr.

My son is four years old, and he is an awesome kid. I love to be around him, and I love his personality. Except at bedtime. The kid does not sleep. I used to put him in his room and say he could play or read until he fell asleep. I would lock him in, and then not worry about him until morning. I could usually hear him in there untill probobly 10 or 11 at night. That worked alright, until he figured out how to get the door unlocked. Now he'll sneak out of his room and make a mess of things late at night after I have gone to bed, or at least retired to my bedroom. So usually, I'll stay awake until I'm positive that he is asleep before I go to bed. Unfortunately, this means that I usually only get 4 or 5 hours of sleep a night, I have to wake up early for work. I can't deal with this anymore. I've been trying to figure out some way to make him go to sleep earlier, but I'm coming up with dead ends. He doesn't take naps, he doesn't sleep in too long, and he always seems to have an endless supply of energy. Maybe I should just get the doorfixed so he can't unlock it anymore.

Tags: Kids