Happy Birthday Bobby!

Today is Bobby's birthday. For four months out of the year I am married to a younger man. Molly (Bobby's sister) and I always laugh about this one time when she asked me, "Katherine, how much older are you than Bobby? Six months?" I shook my head vigorously and said, "No, no, no.... four month" as if there was any remarkable difference in those two months.

What are birthdays for if not embarrassing the people you love with old pictures? :)

Bobby's mom sent him a package for his birthday filled with all of his class pictures and baby portraits. I've had so much fun looking through them. I love our dark-haired beauties, but I would love if we could have at least one little blonde boy that looks just like Bobby. He was (and still is) so adorable.


I love that big cheesy grin he has. And those shifty eyes remind me a little of Sophie. And check out those short shorts!

I can still remember what it was like when we first fell in love. I felt so lucky that he wanted to be with me. He was the first man I fell in love with and I fell hard. Those of you who knew me then can probably attest to that. I talked about him often, maybe a little too often. We wrote while he was serving his mission and I missed him very much. Our relationship is different now. You won't hear me gushing about how "I can't believe that Bobby wants to be with me!" It's fun to get carried away like that when you're dating, but I can't imagine that being a very healthy marriage, with one person always feeling inferior. I like to think we both have something to offer each other. But I can still flip back to that mindset. And it's fun to think of Bobby that way. One of my favorite memories I like to think back on is from when we were both attending Rick's college. It wasn't a huge campus. I often ran into my friends between classes, but it drove me crazy that Bobby and I never ran into each other during the day. I was constantly on the lookout for him, but our paths never seemed to conveniently cross. I had a job working as a secretary for the Communications department. One day the head secretary asked me to post fliers all over campus advertising some event. I was in one of the buildings on campus, with a stack of fliers and a staple gun, when the bell rang and the hall flooded with students. I looked up and saw Bobby walking towards me, with that same delicious grin and with his head kind of tilted downward and looking up at me in a flirtatious way. He was wearing his dark green cargo pants, his woolly grey sweater, and a blue work jacket with someone else's name on it that he picked up at a thrift store. (That's easy to remember because he wore that almost every day.) His hair was bleached and he had a red M&M's backpack on, a lipsmacker around his neck, and 2 or 3 safety pins placed randomly on his clothing. It was the best thing I'd seen all day. And I think it was right then as I noticed the way he looked at me that I thought, "hey, this guy might actually like me too." I remember feeling like I was going to float up off the ground at that moment.

Another reason I like to flip back to that old mindset is because the things that I wanted most at that time, the things that I used to daydream about- a happy marriage with Bobby, a happy family with Bobby, a home- I have those things now. And I think about how happy that skinny lovesick nineteen year old girl would be, and glad she knew what she wanted so young, but still had 2-3 years to finish her schooling and tour Europe, build some lasting friendships, spend time with family, and just learn more about herself before starting that happy marriage.

Here's some pictures of some of my favorite moments with Bobby under the category of our dating years (only because I don't have time to broaden that timeframe and because that seems to be the focus of this post.)

Throwing pumpkins from the top of the stadium at Rick's College with Janelle. A really fun night.

This was the day before he left on his mission. It was a sad day but that was the day I decided he was the one I wanted to marry.

Rollerskating. We loved to rollerskate.

At the airport. First time our eyes locked after his mission. (Minutes later he informed me that my eye color had changed since he left. I hadn't even noticed.)

I'm so grateful to have him as my husband. I love him dearly and completely admire and respect him. I couldn't ask for a better father for my children or a more supportive husband for myself. I love you Bobby. Happy 30th birthday!


Tonight for dinner we're having some of Bobby's favorites:

Wienerschnitzel
Macaroni Grill Bread
Peas
Yellow cake mix with Chocolate Pudding Cool Whip Frosting (He's so funny. I'd make him anything he wants and he wants cool whip frosting. thanks Betsy for that recipe. it is now Bobby's favorite unfortunately.)