happy ninth van-niversary to my very best pal in all the world!

Oh, Todd Henry Van Voorst.  The love of my life.  I'm so glad I have you.  I'm so grateful for your steadiness, your depth, your color, your character, your conviction.  Your loyal, unwavering friendship.  The way you make me belly laugh on the regular.  The intentionality with which you approach parenting, marriage, work, leadership.  The way you choose not to see me only for my (many, ever-present) flaws.  You're better than I am; you're better than most people, in fact.  I'm so lucky I get to share my life and my home and my kids and my highs and my lows and my memories and my jokes and my sorrows with you.  I wouldn't want it any other way.

Todd, you're the best thing about me.  Thank you for picking me!

HAPPY PENTIVERSARY!

as of today, i have spent five years of my life being a married lady.  and you know what?  probably the best five years yet.  i mean, there was that one year where my family spent a couple nights at the disneyland hotel, which was pretty good.  but that was evened out by that other year that i was supposed to go to horse camp but instead sprained my ankle by slipping off an intertube into embarrassingly shallow water so i had to stay home.  so - all things weighed, being married has been better than that time i got to spend the night at disneyland.  which is saying something.

in seriousness, i am dumbstruck by how hugely god has blessed our marriage.  todd and i just...fit.  he's the person that i would choose to spend time with if given the pick of anyone ever.  we're like those people who look like their dogs; half the time we're basically the same person.  and it's not that we haven't had our issues or areas where we bicker, but our marriage is generally just smooth-sailing and FUN.

what i know about him five years down the line: he likes puns.  he listens to books on tape.  he actively doesn't like to eat breakfast.  he makes up new words.  he listens to sermons and podcasts like it's a fun hobby or something.  he's great with our finances.  he has the strongest work ethic of anyone i've ever met.  he notices the work i put in.  he puts the kids to bed for me.  he's willing to eat rice all the stinking time.  he buys things like slipcovers for my birthday because he knows i like things like slipcovers.  he delights in good food.  he really likes new clothes, but rarely buys them.  he hates mowing but used to do it all the time because he assumed i hated it too.  he unloads the dishwasher.  he seeks god.  he loves my extended family.  he has gone so far as to say he doesn't mind our REALLY brown bathroom even though he doesn't like brown, just because i like our REALLY brown bathroom.  he is a great dad.  he is a thinker.  he wants to grow out a nasty long beard but doesn't because i don't like nasty long beards.  he brings home surprises for me, like gallons of the good milk or soda i can actually drink.  he doesn't make me watch violent or gory movies, even though it means he doesn't have anyone to watch them with.  he deals with my quirks, like how i always leave the cupboard doors open or how i insist on having my pans stacked in size order, without complaint.  he pretends not to see it when i pick my nose.  he gives me back rubs and leg rubs when i ask because he knows i'm a physical touch person, even though he hates giving massages.  he watches friends with me without much grumbling.  he keeps brass knuckles under our mattress.  he is a list-maker.  when we take the kids places, he is usually the one making sure they don't die or get kidnapped.  he thinks i'm cute and never says anything about the backloaf i've retained post-baby.

there are about a million more things i could list but i'll respect the fact that no one's reading my blog because they have a novel-sized hole in their life they've been hoping i'd fill.  i just want to say that i love my husband, i'm grateful for the time we've been given, and i'm excited to see what god uses us for together.  other than making the world's smartest, cutest, funniest kids, clearly.

happy anniversary to my incredible husband!!

YES! I LOVE THE TEACUPS!

once when we were dating, todd subtly got me on the subject of proposals and if i had anything specific in mind.  and in all honesty, i hadn't really thought of anything that i would find especially cool or romantic or stroke-inducing.  i just mentioned that i thought it would be nice if i could have pictures or video to look back on later, but i recognized this was kind of a pipe dream since having a photographer in your face kind of ruins the surprise of the moment i'm guessing.

in october of that year, todd's dear friend ami (yes, yes, as in the very womb that brought forth lisagrace alsbury herself) called me and said she was planning a surprise party for todd's birthday and could i find a way to get him there without giving away the secret?  and i was all, I. AM. ALL. OVER. THIS.

so that morning we were just hanging out at todd's apartment before running some errands when i was all, oh, i need to stop at ami's and borrow a book from her (stealthy, i know.).  so we hopped in the car, todd started shaking and sweating for some weird reason, and we drove over there.  and when we got there? SURPRISE!!! TODD!!!! IT'S YOUR BDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

there were presents and cake and games.  it was pretty awesome.  someone suggested playing pin the tail on the donkey and i was all, I. AM - AGAIN. - ALL. OVER. THIS.  so i waited my turn and when it came, i prepared myself to blow everyone out of the water with my uncanny ability to divine the exact spot on the donkey butt where my pin needed to go.  (also, this was the point in the afternoon where i loudly yelled, 'YES! I LOVE THE TEACUPS!'  which is a weird thing to yell.) only, when they took my blindfold off, someone had removed the donkey poster and replaced it with another sign that said in huge letters, 'will you marry me?' 

apparently todd had arranged the whole thing.  and i was all, TWIST!

of course, i started nervously laughing and going 'ohmygosh ohmygosh i'msosweaty ohmygosh.'  and because it was set up like a birthday party, there were approximately 700 people watching and taking pictures and video, so i can prove it to you sometime if you'd like.  then after i nodded a lot (but never actually verbalized 'yes,') and after todd also commented on how sweaty i was, we all awkwardly sat around and tried to pretend that we weren't all really uncomfortable and unsure of what to do next after the climax of the day was clearly over.

sometime when i learn technology, i'll have to upload the video and show you.  it's pretty much the most awesome and awkward thing you'll ever see.  here are some photos to convince you:

so if you're ever dying to hear me talk inappropriately about my perspiration levels, or hear lisagrace talk and laugh nonstop in a really shrill this-is-getting-exciting-but-you-have-no-idea-what's-coming kind of voice, or hear todd nervously smack his lips a lot, well then my friend, have i got a movie for you.  you just bring the gf'in' donuts and some corn-free popcorn (or, as todd calls it, popcorn't) and we'll do this movie night up rizz-ight.

ONE MORE DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

wherein i go into vague detail about that one time i had diarrhea.

i had an indescribably massive case of the flu the weekend todd and i 'officially' started dating.  he came up to spend the weekend with me at wartburg, and he had this whole thing planned out where he brought a towel and bucket and he washed my feet. (you know, like jesus did to the disciples to represent servant leadership.  somehow i got me a good one.)  oh, and then right after that i got all squirmy and asked him to stand in the hall so i could blast my insides out in the bathroom without him hearing (or smelling) anything and then regretting ever having liked me.  because, really.  that's a lot to sign on for: someone who can't even wait until the second date to go all mentos-and-diet-coke on you.

i felt like CRAP the whole weekend. (harhar. no, really.)  he tried his best to make it a memorable weekend (and also not gag), but i'm afraid most of what i remember about that weekend was that he paid twenty bucks for me to be able to get sick in the movie theater bathroom rather than at home.  i hope that as a twenty-seven-year-old guy sitting by himself watching Chicken Little in public, he was able to appreciate the quality of the animation and all that.  you know, to make it less weird that he was on his first real date with me...without me. 

i, on the other hand, spent that hour and a half trying to ignore how sticky the bathroom floor was.  (seriously, why are bathroom floors of movie theaters covered in popcorn butter?  who is doing what inside those stalls?!)  also i spent a good portion of that time praying that god would stop up my bowels and also dupe todd into thinking that i had only been gone for a normal-person amount of time.

anyway, long disgusting story short, we got back to my dorm, todd slept on the floor and i slept on the futon because i was too weak to make it up my loft, and too scared that i might not have enough time to make it down the ladder should another wave of disaster strike in the middle of the night.  (thinking through it now, it may not have been wise to allow todd to lie unconscious in the middle of my unlit path to the bathroom that night.)  but all's well that ends well, i guess, because here we are, nearly seven years later, close to celebrating five years of marriage, and ironically i have another stomach bug.  what a nice way to bookend our early years.  at least i'll never have to question whether todd knew what he was signing on for when he married me.

those are corn leaves in front of my dress. we're pirates from iowa. we're iow-ates.

aaargh, y'all.

this coming friday commemorates the day todd and i walked the plank down the aisle and said, 'i do, matey' five years and 20,000 leagues ago.  so get ready for some piratey, van voorsty fun on the high seas this week.  and by high seas, i mean blog.  clearly.

FOUR MORE DAYS!