Happy Anniversary :)

This is post is dedicated to Tom. Well, Tom and me. Our four year anniversary was this last week. Yes, it is the week before block so No....we haven't celebrated yet, but we will. :) So here is a little "Tribute to Us" post. It's sort of like a "History of the Couple: Tom and Laura"

Tom and I met in February, 2004. I had just started my first semester on campus at BYU. My first semester was spent in Vienna, Austria. The first week of class, I met a boy named Channon in my German class. I thought he was a nice kid, so I started hanging out with him and all his room mates. This group of three boys: Channon, Tom, and Shawn, ended up being known as "The Collective". (That part is a long story, ask if you wanna hear it).

"The Collective"

(Shawn, Channon, Tom)

After a few wonderful weeks of "The Collective", I decided that I wanted to start dating Tom...the quiet one. I told Channon to set us up. So he did! Our first sort-of date was to a basketball game. I don't think it counts, though, because I was the third or fourth girl that Tom called and the only reason he called was because he HAPPENED to be driving right by my apartment. But nonetheless, our first one-on-one encounter was a BYU Basketball Game.

It was a pretty fun date, so we decided to go on some more. Tom bought us symphony tickets, so that was our next date. I think it was our first official date because he actually planned on calling me ahead of time :) He brought me flowers and everything. We ended up running a little bit late, so instead of eating at a fancy restaurant, we ate at Wendy's! We were in full formal gear and everything! It was pretty classic :)

After the symphony, we continued dating and it was a pretty fabulous summer. Well, one thing led to another and we were engaged in July 2004. Tom proposed to me in a pretty fabulous way. He was living in Chicago and I was in Salt Lake going to school and Tom had thoroughly convinced me that he did NOT have time to get a ring over the summer. So he was flying down to go on a family trip with me. After I picked him up from the airport, we were driving around down town, then decided to walk through some of the main sight seeing spots. We stopped over by Abravenal Hall (our first date) and he said, "Hey, let's sit down...I wrote you a poem." I was like, "You wrote me a poem?" If any of you know Tom...he isn't really the poem-writing type of guy :) So he wrote me the cutest, sweetest, funniest poem I've ever heard and at the end he asks if I would be his wife! I said YES!

Then we went to Lake Powell with my family! Perfect Timing!!!

(Horrible hair, I know.)

We were married on November 5th, 2004 in the Los Angeles Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was pretty much the perfect reception. I'm not going to put a bunch of pictures up (they're on my facebook if you're curious). We had a HUGE jazz band, a beautiful cake, a sit-down dinner with synchronized serving, and TWO ice sculptures! We even had waiters walking around with hors'deuvers (sp??) and everything! It was pretty spectacular :)

Since we've been married, we've been on MANY adventures. We've gone to LOTS of sporting events:

This is us at the ginormous Mountain West Basketball Championship series in Las Vegas. Tom won tickets to all the basketball games. Let me tell you...that was a lot of basketball! It was really fun, though!!!
We've been to a Dodgers game in Los Angeles, and a Diamond Backs game in Phoenix, a Bees game in Salt Lake, and a Cubs game in Chicago.

And of course...a couple football games. "A couple" meaning every single one every season except two: one the weekend we got married, and one the weekend we had to go to California so I could have surgery on my arm. Tom still blames me for both of those :) hahaha!

We've been to lots of musical events, too. This is us at a Killers concert. We've seen The Killers and Yellowcard. We've also seen LOTS of operas and symphonies.

We've been to Italy and seen the Colosseum, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Florence, etc.

Even St. Anthony's tongue and chin...

(This is us right after we landed in Italy...soooo sleepy....)

We finished school and continued our adventures:

We certainly do like to travel...

We've been to Hawaii and flown over the erupting volcano... (I'm 7 months pregnant, too!)

We went to the beaches on Hawaii, too...

Tom is a huge support of my music, too. He came and watched me perform with a heavy rock band when I was 9 months pregnant!! Pretty hard core, huh??

Well, since we had been happily married for a while, we decided to expand our family. And move to the Caribbean!

We're quite the happy little family...

And go on lots of adventures together :)

So this is a tribute to being married for four years and all the adventures, laughs, tears, and memories we have shared along the way. My husband is the best husband in the world. He loves me so much, and I love him. There are literally hundreds of reasons why I love Tom. Aside from the fact that he is the most loving, considerate, supportive, wonderful husband ever, here are anther 50 reasons why I love Tom, in no particular order:

1. He loves me back.
2. He always tries to understand my music mumbo jumbo.
3. I have convinced him that Blink 182 is not that great of a band.
4. He constantly tries to teach me football mumbo jumbo.
5. He used to take Ella to the beach when we first moved here, so I could take a nap because Ella was waking up almost every hour....every night...
6. He studies so hard because he wants to do well so our family will have some financial security.
7. He opens jars for me that are too hard for me to open.
8. He reaches things on the top shelf that I can't reach.
9. I can talk with him about anything and we can have ginormous discussions that we disagree with each other on...but we know its just the discussion topic that is different between us.
10. He'll sit through four hours of opera and barely even complain about it. BARELY!
11. He would do absolutely anything to make me happy.
12. He lets me pick out his clothes sometimes.
13. He lets me buy shoes...even though I absolutely do NOT need anymore!
14. He rewarded my good grades with shoes in college :)
15. When I was pregnant, he would go to the store and buy me more fruit snacks or popsicles.
16. He opens the door for me.
17. He sometimes sings in the silliest voice that makes me smile
18. He rubs my back and plays with my hair
19. He does the sweetest, most thoughtful things when I least expect it.
20. He stands up for me to anyone else no matter what, even if I'm wrong...but then later explains to me why I shouldn't have been doing what I was doing!
21. I can cry on his shoulder.
22. He is so strong in the gospel that sometimes I can lean on him for support...especially down here...
23. We can laugh about how crappy things are till our eyes tear up.
24. Sometimes he teases and tickles me until the wee hours of the morning.
25. He deals with my temper tantrums and tizzy fits with just smiles and nods.
26. He'll go shopping with me...even if its torture.
27. We can talk about anything for hours.
28. He is Mr. Fix-it with everything. He's pretty good at it, too...except the computer :) hehehe
29. He isn't afraid to get his hands dirty doing manly man stuff, but can be just as metro when needed.
30. He is so stinkin' smart, but isn't big-headed about it.
31. He makes me laugh and smile more than anyone.
32. He gives the best hugs and kisses.
33. He manscapes for me.
34. He does a victory dance when he beats me at cards...it kind of makes me want to punch him...but its just so stinkin' cute :)
35. He can be just as competitive as me.
36. He deals with my selfishness and is slowly teaching me to think of others before myself.
37. He teaches me how to be a better person in all aspects of things.
38. He helps keep me motivated in whatever I need motivation in.
39. He supports all the things I do and totally helps me do whatever I need to do.
40. He is such a good parent to Ella.
41. He changes poopie diapers with minimal complaining (NO complaints now, actually, since the poop in the crib episode)
42. He loves to cuddle as much as I do.
43. Whenever I do something real dumb, he totally puts up with me and doesn't make me feel too stupid :)
44. He loves to listen to me play the piano and loves listening to the songs I've written...even if they're crappy.
45. He tells me I'm cute all the time.
46. If its something really important to me, he lets me do whatever I want: wedding planning, baby decorations planning, etc.
47. He will take the back seat to my over-dominating-sometimes-aggressive personality.
48. He doesnt' think I'm too loud.
49. He has the best bear-paw hands to hold.
50. He's just so darn good-lookin' I can't keep my eyes off him.