If you really want to get to know a stranger

Go to the Post Office.


Since I have had Bridget I have noticed that wherever I go people tend to open up. I don't know if a baby makes them feel vulnerable or the fact that I am usually wrestling around a squirming child, a car seat, and an overloaded diaper bag makes them feel that I couldn't possibly judge them. 


It usually starts out with them giving me advice on how to raise kids. 
(Sometimes I really do appreciate what is said.) 
Then for some reason, if there is enough time, it turns into a autobiography. 


And when you are at the post office, there is always enough time. 


Yesterday while standing in line I got to know the two unrelated ladies behind me fairly well. I know their names and addresses, I know that Laureni has two kids; Ashley and Michael. Ashley is living in Finland right now on a study abroad and Michael's birthday is on Saturday. 


But Debra, poor Debra has had a rough life. Both of her children were miracles, very difficult for her to get pregnant. A couple weeks ago one of her employees had a stroke while showing some customers a vacuum, he's ok but still down. She was a daddy's girl and her dad died a few years ago of lung cancer, so she took her mom in and she was diagnosed with colon cancer. Debra herself gets a mammogram every year and they found a cancerous lump in her breast, when they went in to remove it they found two more. 


It was a lot to take in while in line at the post office.


Sometimes people just need someone to listen. 
And a hug. 
Hugs have the ability to soothe the soul. 

And so does this little lady, she can soften any heart.

Tagged

Totally tagged.
I think.
I saw "April" on my friend Elizabeth's blog but she is really popular so there is a good chance she knows more than one April. I'll just pretend I am the only one.

THE RULES:
1. Post these rules
2. Post 11 random things about yourself
3. Answer the questions provided by the one who tagged you
4. Create 11 new questions for the people you tag
5. Tag 11 people

Random Things: (does it feel like there is nothing left you don't already know about me?) [double negative] If you would like to read more random facts about me: here & here

1. My favorite food is homemade chicken noodle soup.

2. There are 6 kids in my family and we all have a different eye color.

monica - green

sarah - hazel

aleena - sky blue

april - brown

doug - grey

russ - dark blue

3. I love the smell of a swamp cooler

4. I got my bachelors degree in Art History

5. If I could get my masters degree anywhere I would choose: Sothebys Institute
6. I watch "the morning after" on hulu, I think it's hilarious.
7. I own more costumes than clothes.
8. My mom and sisters have the most beautiful deep set eyes. I didn't get that, I have very flabby eyelids. My mom said I'll probably need a lid lift by 30. In case you wanted to know more about my eyelids, they get sunburned every summer.
9. I love to decorate big. If I am going to put a picture on my wall it's going to be big.
10. I made an amazon.com wish list so Trevor could always know what to get me for holidays.
11. I hope to never have any pets. (my poor kids......I'll take them to the zoo).

Questions I Answer:

1. What's your favorite drink?

Water. that might be boring but nothing quenches like water.

2. What animal are you most afraid of?

Snakes

3. What is your favorite thing to do on vacation?

Trying new things. Whether it be foods or activities, I like making memories.

4. Do you like your name? If not, what do you wish your name was?

I do like my name. Fun tidbit, April is my middle name, my first name is Donna. Named after my grandmother who died when my mom was 1 of MS. Mine and Donna's birthdays are two days apart. I like having a legacy to live up to.

5. What are your top three favorite movies?

She's the Man, Pride and Prejudice (bbc), Scarlet Pimpernel

6. What are some characteristics you look for in a friend?

Someone who is genuine. Genuinely kind, genuinely likes other people, genuinely excited... etc. I like feeling like we are genuine friends rather than not knowing if they really like me or not.

7. Do you consider yourself creative? In what ways?

no, but I am a good copy-cat.

8. What's your favorite season, and why?

Summer! the sun just makes me happy. I love not being cold.

9. Do you believe in ghosts?

Yes absolutely.

10. What is your ideal weekend? (Relaxing at home, time outdoors, getting work done?)

relaxing in a nice clean house.

11. Are you a dog person or cat person? (Or "other")

I am a dog person as long as the dog doesn't shed, and a cat person because they are mellow and you usually don't know they are there.

New Questions
1. What are you thinking about right now?
2. Are you afraid to die?
3. If you could go back in history and give someone (anyone, including yourself) advice (that may or may not change history) who? and what would you tell them?
4. Fruity or Chocolate?
5. Bungee jumping or scuba diving?
6. Do you prefer wearing neutrals or colors?
7. Cinnamon rolls or Donuts?
8. Dream car?
9. Which sucks you in more, Bob Ross or Antiques Roadshow?
10. Would you rather have old inherited money and sit around all day doing needle points like they do in all the Jane Austen movies or be a very successful business person making all your own money but you had to work for it? why?
11. Movie or song that makes you cry every time?

I tag:

Ashley B, Ashley E, Brianna, Lauren, Callie, Jemaica, Carrie, Jaime, Nycole, Stacy, Brittanie, Katie

Even if I didn't tag you feel free to participate! Send me a link to your post or make a comment with your answers. I love getting to know people better.

Just a few things

#1. and most important.
Today is the last day to enter my GIVEAWAY.
Remember you have to be a follower of my blog AND leave a comment on the giveaway post to be eligible to win.



#2. Do you like my new blog title and header?



#3. It's amazing how quickly I can go from feeling like a great mom to the worst mom in the world.
Last Friday we played outside, Bridge got to try out the swing for the first time and loved it!
Totally relaxed.
It wasn't too hot but it was a nice day. I do not know how I didn't realize her skin is brand new and has never been exposed to any of the elements......... She got sunburned.
Pretty bad.
Luckily I had some lavender and pretty much bathed her in it.
But today her little nose is peeling.
Oh man I feel so bad.

#4. My sister gave me a big box of shoes for Bridget.
I think it's safe to say, she is a shoe girl.

#5. I got a new thermometer from Costco online.
I am so excited about it, it's so much easier to take her temperature.
I could never get a good reading from her armpit and I never dared going for a rectal read.
Annnnd It only cost me $26 bucks! I love Costco.

Curl up and Dye

Wowza we had a busy weekend. 


But first things first... I got my hair done. 
I woke up on Friday morning and couldn't handle it anymore. 


My kitchen shears were in my hands ready to take a whack at the lady mullet. You remember this monstrosity, right?

I decided that would probably be something I would regret so I called up my sister-in-law, Stacy, and told her to drop everything she was doing because this was obviously an emergency.


When I told Trevor I was going to get my hair done he asked me if I lost the 10lbs? (rats! he remembered). 
Uh, Almost. 
(it's kind of true, I only have 5 more lbs. to go.)


The real reason I wanted to loose the 10lbs. is because I really wanted to try out bangs and I was afraid if my face was still chunky it would look funny. 


I took some after pictures but for the life of me I cannot get my camera to work so you get some awesome photobooth pics. Please keep in mind this is just after I woke up I haven't brushed my hair yet.... or teeth.

It was kind of funny, I was nursing Bridge on Saturday flipping through the channels and A Walk to Remember was on and I thought, I look like Jaime Sullivan.

Hey, look who just woke up!

 And stinks really bad. 

Looks like a bath for us this morning.

 I got a phone call and Bridge took matters into her own hands. Should I be worried my 6 month old already knows how to use a computer?

 Here you go, a naked baby picture to help you get through your monday.

My New Desire

People are down right amazing. 

After I posted last week that I wasn't feeling well I experienced an outpouring of love. Sometimes I am so touched by how kind and thoughtful people are. 

I had a wonderful friend stop by to see if she could take Bridge for a while so I could sleep. 

Another incredible friend dropped off some delicious soup. 

And still another neighbor chatted with me for a while keeping me company, then after some time I found out her husband was out of the country for ten days. 

I do believe I have learned my lesson.

two things actually:

# 1. There is no need to complain. 

Otherwise you will be humbled. 

In my case I was humbled through the sincere graciousness of good hearted people. And I felt pathetic in my murmuring.

# 2. Act. 

I had people text and call or write me messages of well wishing, it was so nice.  

Then three amazing women did not wait for an invitation, they took it upon themselves to help me.

The shameful thing is how many times I have had the thought throughout my life: 

"Oh I should call so-and-so and see how they are doing, see if they need anything." 

Yeah right. Have you ever when someone asked if you needed anything truly took them up on it? 

"No, I'm fine, Thanks though."

I am sure is the response 99% of the time. Because of the typical response I don't often even make the phone call.

But since when do we need permission to serve?? When the act of service is performed it is never unwanted. Often the emotion encountered is overwhelming gratitude.

And that is what I felt, intense gratitude for these ladies, whom if they would have asked I would have denied them on the spot.

So I have decided I want to be more like them. I need to start acting, I know I won't regret it.

and in case you are wondering, we are feeling much better round these parts. night and day difference.

A Single Parent

The last few days have taught me I could never be a single parent and I have great respect and sympathy for those who are. 


The day Trevor left for his trip I came down with the flu. 
No big deal the flu is easy to handle: take my vitamins, drink lots of fluids, and get plenty of rest. 


Did I somehow forget Bridget in that equation? 
I quickly realized there would be no sleeping in bed all day.
However, she did take an exceptional morning nap which I participated in so I thank her for that.


As the afternoon progressed I started to go down hill: with a pounding head, the chills, and every part of my body aching, even my teeth. Whenever I move I can hear the whooshing of blood throbbing in my ears.


I have a heavy flow from my nose but seeing as it is already chapped, I started shoving toilet paper up it to catch the ooze (don't pretend you haven't done that in your life). 


Bridge is fascinated by this new thing coming out of mommy's nose and created a new game of grabbing the toilet paper and ripping out the self made snot damn. She has gotten really fast, and particularly in my current state I can't keep up.


But perhaps the worst was when all I wanted was a relaxing bath to drive away the aches and chills. Well, seeing as there was no one else to take care of the little lady while I took my bath I figured it would be great if we took a bath together. 


She has recently figured out how to splash, so fun. 


But the best part was when she got to see her "food" in a setting other than when she's eating and got excited and gave me, for lack of a better word, "titty twisters."
Needless to say, my bath was not as relaxing as I had hoped. 


So all of that and then add on top having to work to support the family to be a single parent?
I know could not do it. 


It's still a few days until Trevor comes home... I cannot wait. 

Birthday wish list

Apparently my ability to take pictures is directly related to the charge in my iPhone.... and thievery.


I stole my mom's DSLR Cannon camera for a while. 
For some reason she wanted it back.


But now I don't take as many pictures. Yes I have a point and shoot but the downfall of point and shoot is the time it takes it to realize I have hit the "take the picture"button. 
That is crucial time with a 5 month old, every picture I have is blurry. Oh just not cute.


My birthday is next month.
Trevor, this is all I want:

Or I'll take a Nikon. I'm not picky.

If any of you know about cameras I would love some advice. 

Nothing like a good workout.

We got a gym membership with free childcare. Therefore, I have no excuses.

Besides, they have classes and I really like classes. 

I went to a step aerobics class, a few things I noticed:

1. There are a lot of people working out in the middle of the day. Especially men 20-30-years-old. Do they not have jobs? Someone needs to tell them that they may initially attract women by their muscles but most ladies don't stick around when that's all there is.

2. I was the only one who could not for the life of me remember the combinations. 

Even the lady next to me who was roughly 7 months pregnant had the "ball-change, box-step, knee-lift, bow'n-arrow, elvis-leg, fairy-fly, repeat" down.

3. This wasn't even zumba and I'm having this much trouble.

4. The class was taught by a woman who was probably 55, with a rockin bod. Who knows, she could be older? Or perhaps younger deducing from her well tanned skin in the month of February. She kept looking at me with a hopeless expression... does that mean I will never have a body as rockin as hers? 

5. The combination that she kept repeating loudly "this is the easiest one" I always seemed to be up when everyone was down. Then this popped into my head:

I may have looked worse. 

But bless my own heart, I'm going to keep going back until I get the dang elvis-leg, fairy-fly down!

Why do I blog?

I was thinking about it the other day.

Why do I blog?

I don't have the excuse that I am doing it to keep people updated.

The main people who would care; namely grandmothers, don't often read my blog.

Actually I don't think many of my family read my blog.

In fact Trevor rarely reads it, only when I tell him to. Although he does link it to his facebook which is nice. (But I've kind of taken that over too.)

I don't consider this my journal, although it is great to have a record of everything I have posted.

It may be a vain thing.... I really do enjoy when people tell me they read my blog.

But then I was realizing, I look at life differently since I started blogging.

I notice more details.

How ever ridiculous the phrase "blog about it"is, it's absolutely true.

I go through my day and I will have thoughts that were once just passing thoughts that I would never have remembered again. But now I don't let the fleeting thoughts (or moments) whisk away, I give them attention. And sometimes they end up on here, shared with the whole of the inter-galactic web world.

I feel as though I am more aware of my life and I live it more fully...because I blog.

I actually think more...because I blog.

I take way more pictures....because I blog.

I blog because I love to live my life.

Not just a bad hair day.

Bridget let me sleep in until 9:00 this morning! Thanks so much Bridge, but you know you didn't have to, my birthday's not for two whole months.

My hair is driving me crazy. 

I have been loosing fist-fulls of it with post-pregnancy baldness, plus it has grown out so there is no style or shape to it. 

So I decided to make myself a deal. 

I can't cut my hair until I loose 10 lbs. 

That sounded like good motivation until

I woke up this morning and looked at myself in the mirror and thought, 

"You have a lady mullet."

It's true, I do.

Here, I'll prove it

 

I know what you're thinking....yikes. 

So now I have to loose 10 lbs not just because of my own annoyance with my hair,

but for my compassion on human kind. 

It's not fare of me to subject anyone to this.

I needed to be sure it was unattractive and not just sexy, 

so I had to take a few more pictures.

 See that little baby bump.... there's no baby in there. 

So you all have to endure the mullet until that's gone.

Scenes from the...

Nutcracker. 

Not really.

Have you ever seen "Little Rascals?" 

It's the part when they are at the dance recital, the dance teacher says it. 

Anyone?

Oh wow. I obviously have not gotten enough sleep the past couple days.

In fact that's why I didn't post these pictures yesterday. 

Bridget has decided she doesn't need to sleep, ever. 

Not from 3am - 7am.

Not at nap time. 

I mean I know she is smart, she grows and learns new things everyday.

But I think she's still pretty young to think she is doesn't need sleep anymore. 

I'll google it.

Well, who knew it was possible to get on a tangent from the title?

here are some pictures.

I was going to do just pictures from valentines day, but we'll make it an assorted array.

This post seems to be a little aimless.

I said "smile."
This is what I got:

Grandma Ruthie made Bridget a special Valentine pillowcase.

Just hangin out.

she's probably thinking about how she doesn't need to sleep anymore. 

 I can't get enough of these faces, or these cheeks.

Now it's nap time... wish us luck.

3:30 AM

The past few nights 3:30am has been a very active time at our house.

Last night when Bridget woke up for her nightly feeding she ate like normal and nearing the end I was getting ready to put her back in her bed when she decided it would be an excellent time for a poop. 

But not just a poop, a blowout. 
I know it doesn't look that bad, but it was everywhere.

 I thought I could just wipe her down and head back to bed but it required a bath.

Baths in the middle of the night aren't the best baths, I tend to be impatient. 

Bridge seemed to enjoy it.

 It's funny, babies don't seem to apply to any of the social rules, 

I get so happy every time she poops. 

Even when it's at 3:30AM.

Everyone's nicer after a bowel movement.

That brings us to a few nights before.

I get up with Bridget in the night and 98% of the time Trevor sleeps through any noise she or I makes. Which I am grateful for, I would feel bad if he were a light sleeper. 

On this night I was up feeding Bridget, Trevor didn't stir when I got up to get her.

Usually when I feed her in the night I sit in the chair with my head down and doze until she's ready to change sides.

I had my head down when I felt someone touch me! 

It came from deep in my gut, a raspy explosion out of my mouth: 

"OH MY GOSH!"

As I gripped my baby tighter to my body in a protective hold,

I started swinging my other arm ready to do some lasting damage to my perpetrator.

"Oh, Whoa! Hey!" 

It was Trevor.

He had come in on his way to the bathroom and decided to stop and was giving me a kiss on the forehead when he was assaulted. 

But the damage was done.

Adrenaline was pumping through my veins.

Bridget was crying.

And Trevor had some pretty good slap marks.

Have you ever watched the discovery channel, Trevor?

They call us Mama Bear for a reason. 

It took us all a little while to get back to sleep.

We love 3:30 in the morning.

It's the new 9:00.

What is a stronger word for "sore?"

Thanks Bridget for giving a visual to how I feel:

I have started to work out again.

I guess being pregnant and having a baby are some pretty good reasons for talking myself out of going to the gym. 

However, now that my baby is 4 months old and I am still 30 lbs overweight I didn't have any more reasons not to go.

Now my body is saying "yeah, you think you can take an entire year off? I'll show you!"

And I respond with a whimpering "owie."

You Wanna Bet?

I have noticed that most people especially those in marital relationships have a system on how they deal with those unwanted tasks or disagreements that come up usually on a daily basis...

- Who is going to take out the garbage?

- You think bathroom has NOT been cleaned. He thinks it has.

- Lets get Mexican for dinner. I'd like Chinese.

- I think your pregnant. No, I'm not.

So what is a fail proof way to quickly alleviate any further discussion?

Rock Paper Scissors of course.

via: pinterest

But for some reason rock paper scissors is not mine and Trevor's go to system.
We are daredevils! we live our lives on the edge, major risk takers! or we just really like rewards. (and probably in my case I am enjoy being right all the time). So as very important situations arise when we have differentiating answers/ideas/opinions we put a healthy wager on the table. 

For example:

Ape: "I think my bellybutton is going to pop out."

Trev: "Let me see. No, I don't think it will. It still has a long way to go."
Ape: "So do I, and she is just going to get bigger in there. I'm kind of amazed it hasn't popped out yet. And look, when I pull on the sides it pokes out. It's only a matter of time."
Trev: "Yeah but your bellybutton right now still has a hole and even when you pull on it it's soft. It won't pop out."
Ape: "Do you want to bet?"

Like I said, we only reserve the betting for very serious matters.

Unfortunately this conversation happened a few weeks ago and I my bellybutton still has not popped out (the crazy thing is I really don't want it to, but I want to win... man life it tough).

But then I was talking to my mom the other day about popped out bellybuttons and she said:

 "Bellybuttons don't usually pop out if you had belly fat before you were pregnant."

Thanks for always telling it like it is mom.

So I guess it's safe to say Trevor will win this one and I won't get a romantic date night and he will get the fuel pump for his dune buggy.

Hypocricy?

Is it beyond pathetic of me to say I really don't like cell phones when I carry around 3 of them?

It's true I really do have three of them; I have a work cell, a personal cell, and we used to have iphones before I got angry at our phone bill and canceled them but I still carry it around to take pictures with (and for other apps I use). However, they are more often than not out of battery or on silent so I don't answer them anyway.

And now for a visual,

here is an awkward picture of me expelliarmus-ing Trevor's cell phone out of his hand. In a movie theater. They have like 1,214 ads before the movie begins to turn off your phone.

"But they are so convenient April"

Sure they may be conveninet, but they have ruined human interaction... or enhanced it ...

I haven't quite decided yet.

Dear Trevor,

How do you really feel about shopping?

Keepin it Real

#1: Trevor and I are headed to Idaho tonight to spend the rest of the week at a cabin for the Millar Family Vaca! I am really excited. It will be so nice to hang out with family, eat good food, swim in the lake. Especially because we have yet to immerse ourselves in any body of water this year. I am serious, not a swimming pool or even a bathtub. I haven't even ran hobbled through the sprinklers. So my hefty body is definitely looking to feel weightless with a good float in the lake.

Aren't we a good lookin bunch? And guess what? by November we will have three additional members to this photo! We produce like fruit flies!
***Note: only Jamie and I are expecting but in this picture Stacy was still pregnant with Carli, therefore the 3 additional members.

Picture was taken by: CallieMaePhotography

#2: I wear compression socks to keep my feet and ankles from swelling. Like a grandma. And I really like them. Wish I had some in every color.

#3: Some people are angels and they don't even know it. Yesterday I got an incredibly sweet note in the mail. I don't know who it is from, it was not signed and there was no return address. So this is my attempt at thanking whoever sent such a thoughful card, you will never know the impact you had. It was truely a blessing and an answer to prayers, thank you for being my angel.

Spiders

I am surprised I am not more afraid of spiders seeing as though I have had a few run in's with them. Currently our house is... I wouldn't say infested per se, but we definitely kill quite a few spiders on a weekly/daily basis. (It probably has something to do with the empty fields and pastures that surround our house.

So this morning, I was on my way to work, driving a long on the freeway when low and behold a spider comes dangling down right in front of my face!

picture: via

So I shriek a little bit, but I'm driving and I have no way of outrunning the thing and I can't kill it because it's in midair! What do I do?! For some reason it felt way more important to dispose of this little spider than to actually pay attention to the 2 ton machinery I was operating at 75 miles per hour. So as I tried swatting at the string while trying to make it so the spider wouldn't drop in my lap I may have been swerving in and out of the lanes, but alas the spider did drop! Luckily it was on my foot, so I stomped on it with my other foot. At this point I finally look up out the windshield feeling relieved but somewhat disgusted that I had spider guts on my foot instead of a loose spider crawling all over my body. As I corrected my steering wheel and got more in the center of my chosen lane, a grandma in her Buick passes me with her middle finger glaring me down... I don't blame her one bit.

Would you like to hear more of my past with spiders?

This one is a good one.

It was the last few days of Summer and I was heading back up to Rexburg for my very last semester of college, ever. My room was a disaster as I was trying to pack everything up to move. I had been out with my friends one night and by the time I got home I was exhausted, I had a few blankets and my laptop on my bed so as I went to move my laptop out of the way I saw something move. I looked a little closer and it was a huge spider with a massive white butt! Talk about making your skin crawl! I audibly screamed but unfortunately my parents and brothers were out of town so no one was there to rescue me! I was so sicked out I couldn't go anywhere near the spider so I just left it and went upstairs to sleep in my parents bed.

Well when the next day came so did the stark realization that I had to pack up my entire room and I left an abnormally large and disgusting spider loose in my room. I looked around where it had been the night before but I didn't find anything so I put tube socks, rain boots, and a scarf on (to protect myself from the heinous monster) and went to work. Not too long later I was folding the blankets that were dumped on my bed when I folded one back and there was the monstrous white-butted beast! I screamed a little more and then did a very noble thing, I called up my buddy to come kill it for me. Bless him, he really did come over to kill the spider that was in my bed. (I just realized that could totally be a pick-up line "come save me, there is a spider in my bed!") When he saw the spider he determined that it would be better to catch it rather than kill it. Sure, whatever, just get it out of my bed!!!!!

My hero! he catches the disgusting spider and I immediately google it to figure out just how poisonous white-butted spiders are. Now here is where it gets worse/better, later that night I go to check on my creature and there are a ba-gillion little spiders all over it's back and all around the glass! (see above picture) That horrible monstrous spider was PREGNANT!!!! And it almost had all of it's horrible baby spiders IN MY BED!!!!! I should be traumatized, right?!

On a completely non related subject I decided to make cookies to take to our neighbors that moved in next door but I ended up taking the dough to work with me today and I ate all the chocolate chips out of it.

Why can't I be a better neighbor?

Legit Surprises

Trevor and I have not been very good about surprising each other when it comes to gifts.

I am super ridiculous because I will usually talk through (with him) the gifts I could potentially buy him to figure out if it will fit in our budget. Whereas he is super cute and cannot keep a secret because he just gets so excited!

I am proud to say we BOTH pulled off spectacular gift surprises for our anniversary this year!
I got Trevor a welder, which is something he has wanted really badly but never thought I would get him just because there are a lot of different options to welders that make no sense to me. But I was tricky and called up his buddy, Jordan Taylor, and he was able to help me find exactly what Trevor would want in a welder. I think Trev was more surprised that it wasn't something he would have to take back! (bonus points to me!)

But then Trevor goes and surprises me for the first time!

Since being pregnant I have had some great experiences with retaining water and swollen extremities, therefore I haven't been able to wear my wedding ring since about week 16.

I did not expect it one bit but he got me a replacement band that will actually fit my finger! He said he picked this one out because it had the same pave diamonds that my wedding ring has. (I swear to you he even said the word pave!)

Seriously I have one amazing guy!

Our "Thing"

Ever since Trevor and I have been married I have had a desperate desire to figure out what our "thing" should be.

You know, the thing that couples do together, the thing that you only do with that person, and when people ask you say "It's our thing." like that's all the explanation one should ever need. Like it could be: working out together (I wish that was ours), or gardening, or Slurpee Monday's, or making homemade pizza every week while watching re-runs of Fresh Prince. It's something you do mostly because you love to do it together. In fact you would be in trouble if you did it with anyone other than your other, or even by yourself!

For example, Trevor's sister and husband are garage sale-ers, that is their thing. They both love it, and they totally work the circuit. Every Saturday at 8:00AM they are out hitting up garage sales trying to find the best deal or the hidden treasure.

Another example: I had a Young Woman's leader who told me that she and her husband are boaters. When they were first married they could barely afford rent but the first thing they bought was a boat because that's what they both loved to do, especially together, and they have always had a boat.

I had some neighbors who's thing was motorcycle rides. He had a motorcycle but they would go on rides together in the evenings. She once told me she loved that it would give her a quiet moment to just think and close her eyes, she could hold close to her husband but they didn't need to talk.

So now back to Trevor and me, literally for years I have been trying to figure out our thing. We do a lot of stuff together, and there are a lot of things we both love to do, but for some reason nothing seemed to be the thing. Until one day, I realized what it is... we read. That sounds so anti-climactic and super boring, but let me explain:

I love to read and Trevor... not so much. His idea of fun is not curling up with a good book and getting lost in another world. Weird, I know. So, as it happened I would read all these fantastic books and I would want to talk to someone about them or I would bring them up in conversation with him and end up explaining the whole book. So that's when I started reading to him, and surprisingly he loves it! We read at the park, or in the backyard, or in the car (I am a lucky one that doesn't get carsick when I read), or before bed. I get really into books and I laugh and cry, and the best part is Trevor laughs and crys right along with me. Sometimes I make him read but he doesn't really like to, he says "I like the sound of your voice" so with my heart melted I go on reading.

Do you have a thing?

PS it doesn't have to be with a spouse, maybe it's even something you do by yourself, but it's your thing?