Potential

I am not a Katy Perry fan.  She bugs.

However, her song Fireworks is one of the coolest songs I have heard in a long time.  I love the message.  Thanks to the Glee episode last night, this song is stuck on the brain.

"You just gotta ignite, the light, and let it shine
Just own the night like the 4th of July...

"Even brighter than the moon,
It's always been inside of you,
And now it's time to let it through."


I was on the phone with Romney last night and we were talking politics...(confession, we are political junkies...) and he casually told me that I should start a "Moms for Mitt" campaign here in Colorado. 

WHAT?!?

Now, this is not to say that I am going to accept the challenge...I am after all a crazy mom who can some days barely make all my appointments, make beds, successfully feed my kids just 1 vegetable and let's be honest, keep it together...but I'll admit that I have been thinking a lot about what he said. 

Mostly, because I took it as a great compliment that he thinks I still have the potential to do something on that grand of a scale.  He still sees a potential in me that I have long forgotten.  Believe me, I am right where I want to be...happily married and able to stay home with 4 inspiring kids...but thanks to Romney's challenge, I think it might be a healthy exercise to ask myself every now and then:

"Have I reached my full potential? Am I still a firework?"

A Cozy Sunday Gift

Yesterday after we got home from church, Romney pulled all the kids into a bedroom and shut the door.  A few minutes later, I was basically tackled with hugs and ordered to get cozy in my PJs.  The covers on by bed were pulled back and I was presented with a diet coke and told to get in bed and relax.  Bliss.  It took me a minute to give in and allow myself to enjoy the gift I was given, but I finally did and I spent a couple of hours to myself.  I read a great book and I slept.  It was heaven.  At one point, cute Christian even came in and turned up my electric blanket to a 3.  He said, "Here mom, that is so you can be extra cozy."  It was so sweet.

It was such a thoughtful gesture for Romney to do that for me.  He just gets me and understands that sometimes a closed door and a fluffy bed and of course a diet coke, is all that is needed to reboot to my "Mom System."

It was interesting however,because as I laid there enjoying the warmth and quiet, I could hear the laughter of Romney and the kids in the other room and I actually felt a little jealous of what I heard happening outside my bedroom door.  They were playing games and it was obvious that the kids were in heaven.  They had their dad all to themselves.  No cell phone.  No TV and let's be honest, no mom.

In giving me that cozy time to myself to reboot, it was more than the quiet and relaxation that gave me the strength and determination to be a better mom this week.  It was hearing Romney choosing to spend time with his kids and the sounds of happiness coming from kids who felt loved.

It was a good reminder.  Thank you Romney for the "reboot" in so many ways....xoxoxo

14 years and counting....

I had a crush on Romney when I was 9-years-old.  We lived in the same neighborhood for two years and although we never spoke, I referred to him as my "boyfriend."  I even have a childhood journal entry to prove it.


Romney and I have been together since 1993; the same year we both transferred to the University of Utah.  We met at an institute dance of all places, which is funny because we both hate dancing.  As soon as we saw each other we hugged.

We were inseparable from the start and I am sure that we drove people crazy with our our constant PDA.  I think that some of my younger siblings thought that James Taylor was our personal soundtrack.   Even my grandma would always say, "You two have the hots."

A few months later, we did an internship together in Washington DC and we even worked in the same office.  It was torture trying to keep our dating life a secret from our supervisors.  I am pretty sure that we failed, because one of them said he was sure that the two of us "went to the movies and stuff..."
 

I decided to serve a mission and was called to the Germany, Dusseldorf Mission.  We were engaged two months after I got home.  This picture was taken the night we got engaged.

OCTOBER 19, 1996

We were married in the Salt Lake Temple.  It was a cold and bitter day...the first day of snow that year.

Since we have been married, we have moved 10 times, lived in 4 states, owned 6 different houses, traveled to Europe, Hawaii, Florida, California and too many others to list and last but not least, we have had 4 kids.  It has been a happy journey and thanks to Romney, our days have been filled with laughter.

A lady from Romney's mission in Switzerland called him the day we got married and when he told her it was snowing in Salt Lake City, she said, "Snowy day, happy marriage."  I guess she was right.  I couldn't agree more. 

Cheers to our happy past and future!