5 Years of Wedded Bliss!!

So today is our 5 year wedding anniversary!! 5 YEARS!! It's crazy that we have been married so long and yet so short a time! Some days it seems like we were never not married, and some days it feels like yesterday when we were dating and getting ready to be married. It's so much fun to be married to your best friend who is a dreamy tall dark and handsome chap. The other night we were reminiscing about our first date. We went to the Chihuli art exhibit that was going on during and after the Olympics in SLC. I remember thinking to myself, "I wish he would hold my hand." It was a fantastic date which also included my first "Mr. Freeze." (Basically a root beer float, but blended up, so delicious.) So I thought, being our anniversary and all, I would tell some fast facts about Zack and Shannon:
1) We both love cats. The first time we talked about cats, we realized that we both had a cat named Pepe. How strange, destiny? I think so. To bad his Pepe was super cute and loved to crawl all over you with purrs and kisses, while our Pepe hated us and hid under the bed all the time or we might have gotten them together!!

2)Both of our favorite Author is Thomas Hardy. Although we now read very different books, Zack reads mostly psychology stuff out of necessity, and I read whatever people recommend me, but we always have a place for Mr. Hardy in our hearts.

3)We both love to eat! Particularly ice cream. (Okay I love just about anything as long as it's food, and big plus if it involves sugar or bread.) Zack L-O-V-E-S ice cream. I think he could eat it twice a day and still want more. I have always liked ice cream, but not to this degree. However since our marriage, his influence has been to my ice cream demise.

4)While on a food note, I like to cook, and Zack likes to eat what I cook. It's a good partnership.

5)We love music. We like to hear it, talk about it, and look for it. I think if we were stranded on a desert island and could have one thing, it would be our ipod (with endless battery supply of course.) We like to make up songs about our cat, Oliver, each other. We like to dance in our kitchen to it, etc.....

Anyway, those a just a few of the things that we enjoy together and what makes us a working team. I LOVE YOU ZACK!! Let's shoot for 5 more!

*The photo is old, but fits the occassion!

Musical Monday!

I decided that I would start to highlight some of the music that Zack and I are listening to these days. There are so many good bands out there and so little time, so we might as well share!! I always like to hear what others are listening to and there are always so much good music to combat all the junk that the radio plays!! Zack is actually a better candidate for this since he LOVES, and I repeat LOVES music. But he is really busy and thus the blogging is left to me. But maybe I can get him to pitch in on Musical Mondays. So I think what I will do is to just list the band I am digging that particular week. I have a habit of really liking someone for a period of time and listen to them non-stop over and over and then move on to someone else when I get sick of that. It sort of drives Zack crazy, but hey, we all have our own musical styles right?! Anyway, I have been totally digging CAT POWER this week. She rocks!! We have her CD named YOU ARE FREE. I think lots of people have heard of her since she was recently on the JUNO soundtrack, but don't stop there! She is totally RAD! We stumbled upon her a long time ago, but never actually bought anything until recently, and since then I have been addicted!! Very atmospheric, sometimes soft soothing, and yet groovy at the same time. I love her! So far we only have YOU ARE FREE, but she has a lot of CDs and they all sound pretty good. I know her other albums are going to be on our music wish lists. Anyway- Give her a listen!

Wrong Field

So Zack is working on a project for school which is about death, how we perceive it, what sort of cultural actions we take, how we view the dead, etc... he has been visiting a few mortuaries and cemeteries to gather information. I have always liked cemeteries, they are so interesting to look at, especially when they are really old. Maybe this stems from the fact that my Grandma lived next to a cemetery and so we would go over there as kids and look around. I like to see what peoples names are, if they have a story on their tomb, where they were born and ended up....anyway, I like them, but they do creep me out at times. So it was a particularly nice day here in Craziville, and by nice I mean it was above 32 degrees and the sun was out. So Oliver and I went with Zack to a really pretty cemetery that we always pass on the way to church. We were walking around looking at headstones, enjoying the brisk outside air, Oliver was running around and unfortunately biffed it big time and scraped up his nose. I felt really bad, but he did look pretty tough after, a real bruiser. Anyway, we kept wandering and then I see a car parked by one of the graves, and this guy is out there milling around. And then I look closer and he is swinging a baseball bat. What in the world?? We kept walking around and he is just over there swinging his bat like he's at the batting cages, or batting practice or something. It was really odd. He noticed us and stopped for a minute when he thought we were looking. But after a minute he took it up again. I looked and he had a couple of bats resting up against the back of his car. He would periodically put down one bat and pick up another and start swinging. It was strange, and a little disturbing. What do you think he was doing? Maybe his baseball couch was buried there and he was coming to show him his improvements? Intriguing. I have no idea, but it was creepy, and I think the guy was in the Wrong Field!

A little piece of sweetness!

Often when Zack gets home or leaves for school he says, "should we have a family hug?" and then the 3 of us hug, one of us holding Oliver in our arms. (I know, aren't we cute?) So today I was holding Oliver and we were saying goodbye to Zack as he headed out for another day of school. Zack asked Oliver if he could have a hug, and Oliver said, "my family hug?" I was so cute! He just said it on his own. What a sweetheart. Not only is our child adorable, but sweet as well! :)

This boy has balls on the BRAIN!!

Oliver has been talking a lot lately and it's been so much fun! He has been saying single words for a while now, but now he is starting to put words together and he has even said a few sentences. But most importantly he has learned the names of different types of BALLS!! He loves balls, he is obsessed with them. He talks about them all day long and he can spy a ball anywhere. ANYWHERE. He has a hawk eye for balls or anything that resembles a ball. He has memorized what page in his books contain a ball of any sort. For a while now he has been saying basketball, soccer ball, baseball, and football. And he is now adding to his repertoire tennis ball and golf ball. (thanks to Zack's coaching.) He loves to look at balls on the computer as seen in the video below. He could sit for ever, way longer than a toddler attention span should let him, and look at different types of balls on the computer. (He also loves looking at cars and trucks, cats and dogs.) He has an association with church and basketballs. About a month ago I asked him if he want to go to church and he said "basketball?" I said church, and he said "basketball." So we figured out that he plays with the basketballs in the gym at church when we have activities and so to him church = basketball. So now he always says "church, basketball, church, basketball." It's really funny. Another ball story: I took him to walk around the mall just to get out a little since it's freezing here. Well, they have those kiosks in the center of the mall that have jewelry etc... so we are walking by and all of the sudden Oliver stops and says, "basketball!" I look and there is this little gold charm to put on a bracelet or necklace that is a basketball. I couldn't believe that he spotted it, it was so tiny! The woman in nursery asked us if he likes balls because she said they have a blanket they get out and sit on for music time that has bears and toys, but it does have a ball on it. She said every time she gets it out Oliver immediately points out the ball. Well there are countless stories about how much Oliver loves balls, but if you really want to make his day, let him wear one of his 2 sweatshirts that have a ball on them. Woah, that just about blows his mind all day long!! He loves it, he will point at it all day long. This boy has balls on the brain!!