Happy 1st Anniversary, Andrew Garrett!

It's our 1st anniversary today and I can't believe how quickly it's all gone by so far! I'm happy to be your wife and am so thankful that I ended up with you as a husband. You were totally worth the wait! As you know, I've made a few top 10 lists about my loved ones, so consider yourself fortunate to get one today. In no particular order, here are the things that I love about you:

1) You love Jesus more than anything.
2) You love me at a close second and have done an excellent job of loving me in the same way that Christ loved the church.
3) You are an amazing cook! Jess told me when I saw her this past week that she would know we had a good marriage if I was eating vegetables now. She was right and you doctor them up better than anyone I know, which makes me love eating them.
4) You are great at pulling information out of me, even though I bottle it up too much. I love that you're patient and willing to get to the bottom of things when we're having a conflict.
5) You're fun to hang out with. Whether it's going to Busch Gardens and Zaxby's, going out for a nice dinner, or spending time at home, I just love spending time with you.
6) Sometimes, when we get to the end of the week and relax, I think that it's like we're having a slumber party. Then I realize that it's kind of like I'll be having one for the rest of my life with my best friend. It's the best feeling.
7) You've been working hard at staying in shape and have been consistent with going to the gym. I appreciate that a lot of it is because you want to be healthy for me.
8) You're a wonderful teacher and have taught many of your students to love history. Plus, 10 out of 16 with a 3, 4, or 5 in AP is a huge deal! I know those kids look up to you and that you're a great role model for them.
9) You love your family and mine. This was always something that was important to me when I was looking for a husband and you exceeded my expectations. I also know that when the time comes, you'll be an amazing dad.
10) You're gifted musically. You sing, play the guitar, and write songs so well! I'm still hoping you or someone else will record "Thanks for the Memories" in order to make us a ton of extra money at graduation time each year.

I love you so much and love being married to you!

Book Recommendation- "The Reading Promise," by Alice Ozma

Last year, I was listening to the radio and heard the sweetest father/daughter story of my life. The man who wrote in said that he wanted something to connect him to his daughter as she got older. She was about 9 years old at the time and he decided they would see how many days in a row they could read with each other. The only rules were that it had to be for at least 10 minutes each night and the reading had to occur before midnight. It ended up that they were able to keep this reading streak going until Alice's first day of college. I thought it was so amazing that they were able to do this together and was very excited last week to find out that Alice had written a book about their experience.

I ended up reading it on my way to and from Colorado and was completely fascinated by it. When I first heard their story, one thought that ruined the sweetness of it was that I couldn't believe she hadn't spent any nights away from home. It turns out that she was a very well-adjusted girl, a good student who was also involved in theater. She had solid friendships and even a boyfriend or two. She talked about how they would read earlier in the day if one of them was going to be out late. There was one night when she had a very late play rehearsal and her dad ended up coming to it before midnight in order to read to her in the parking lot.

I loved reading about their father/daughter relationship and it seemed that she gave an honest portrayal of her life with her dad. She talked about how he would edit out certain parts of stories in order to keep her innocent and that his idea of physical affection was scratching his finger on top of her head. She could also tell him anything and respected him so much for the quality time that he invested with her. She ended up going on to Rutgers and getting her degree in English Literature, so it's obvious that all of the time her dad spent reading to her paid off.

Here's a link to their story on CBS News.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkqItDSfHTM&feature=related