Happy Birthday Kori - I Love You

Kori, a couple of months ago, you jokingly commented that you did not think I loved you anymore because I never seemed to notice you. Although that obviously is not true, I guess it wouldn't hurt (too bad) to make it a bit more obvious every once in a while. You once said that I had all the emotion of a pair of pliers, and the truth is, that was a bit of an insult … to the pliers. With that in mind, for your 30th birthday I have decided to try to write you a love letter. Here goes.

Growing up, I always assumed I would get married and have kids, but that was more of something that happened on the side, somewhere between saving the world and conquering wall street. I am not sure how adventures in Borneo and crocodile wrangling turned into a desk job with a wife and 3 kids living in a two story house in Pleasant Grove, Ut, but I can guarantee I would not trade what I've got for any amount money, glory, or African Safaris (and that is saying something). I can honestly say that I now have one and only one goal in life, and that is to enjoy every moment I can with my gorgeous wife and beautiful children. I somehow struck gold and ended up with everything that I never knew I always wanted

I love you and I thank you for everything. You are caring, wonderful, thoughtful, absolutely breathtaking, and best of all, an excellent cook. You are smart and extremely talented and are much more creative then you give yourself credit for. You take excellent care of me and are also the best mother any children could ask for. You have given me the most wonderful children in the world and although I often look at them and claim that I do good work, the truth is that you have done a remarkable job with what I gave you to work with.

Haley is amazingly beautiful and makes me laugh every day. She is sweet and is a great big sister. I never new that a 5 year old could take such good care of a 3 year old. She has strong faith and a pure soul. I suppose she could stand to be a bit quieter (I think she gets that from her cousin Maddison who has two volumes: mumble and megaphone), but truthfully, I am not sure I would change one thing. In theory she is a daddy's girl, but we all know she has me firmly entwined around her little fingers.

Logan is smart, strong and truly a man's man (aside from pink being his favorite color). He can throw, kick, jump, hit, and run with the best of them which means that we may need to permanently affix his bike helmet to his head so that he somehow lives to adulthood. Although he is a man's man when it comes to batman imitations and climbing anything God ever invented, he is also sensitive, loving and caring. He truly puts the pliers to shame.

Isaac is a charmer and has completely stolen my heart. I am not sure how but he gets cuter every day. One reason I know I want more kids is that I cannot imagine living without Isaac. I cannot fathom what life would be like if we had decided to stop at two. I suppose we just have to keep going until we get a rotten one. Then we can say, 'Well darn, I guess we should have stopped last time.' But at least then we will know that we did not pass on an Isaac. He is as cute as is babally possible, even though I still kind of think he looks like an old man named Ben.

I often lie awake at night marveling that it is possible to love something as much as I love my family. Of course, I also sometimes cannot sleep because of a hole in the plot of a movie I saw 13 years ago or for wondering how someone with as much money as Donald Trump has cannot seem to buy a decent haircut (seriously). Anyway, I am the luckiest man in the world, and I am absolutely, truly, and marvelously happy. And I have you to thank for all of it.

So here's for all the flowers I never brought home and all the spontaneous things I never did. I am sorry for the times when I did not adequately notice how clean the house was and I am sorry for the times I did not notice your new shirt or haircut (although I one time went 2 days before you noticed that I had shaved off my goatee, and come on, that's like half my face, so I do not feel too bad about the haircut thing).

As for conquering the world and all of my life's other dreams and aspirations, well, it turns out I was aiming too low. Its not that the dreams are gone, its that they have already come true (although I confess becoming a pirate or a wildlife photographer deep in the Amazon are both still slightly tempting). I am absolutely happy right where I am. In fact, I very rarely consider running away to Africa anymore.

I love you with all of my heart.

Well I guess that just about does it. I still think this love letter business is kind of embarrassing. I certainly hope no men read this, not only because of the damage it would do to my personal male ego, but also because, … come on dude, this is a blog, man up and watch some sports or something. And if any of your friends read this and feel inclined to say 'ahhhhh' in a somewhat wistful tone, 'I wish my husband would write me a love letter', I would not be too envious. Once in 8 years aint exactly a great track record. And if I am being completely honest, I borrowed the best lines from the pliers.

Yours now and forever,
Kevin