Tagged.....again.... by the same person.

I guess I'll oblige, even though this is called a "hubby tag" and it therefore, should have been Mary writing about me instead of the other way around. I'll try to follow the question format layed out by my sis. I'll tag Amanda, my cousin Deanne, my sis-in-law Jenny, and just for funsies my Dad.

-Spouse's name?: Mary

-How long have we been together?: Since Feb 2001

-How long did we date?: We dated for 4.5 months before we got engaged. We were engaged for 4.5 months. Then we got married in Nov. 2001 and we've been dating ever since, though not as much for the last couple of years... I wonder why?

-How old is she?: Just turned 28

-Who eats more?: I eat more, no question

-Who said I love you first?: Me, but this has a funny story. I really didn't date many (okay... zero) girls seriously before dating Mary so I wasn't very suave in many of the necessary areas of dating. I pretty much didn't have any experience. I really wanted to tell her that I loved her but I also was a little unsure what exactly that word meant and what that would feel like. So while I wanted to say it I also wanted to be careful with how I said it. I don't remember exactly how I said it but I think I used one or both of the following words in describing/qualifying my love for her: "shallow" or "surface". Fortunately she knew what I was trying to say, not what I actually said. Essentially I wanted to tell her that I loved her but I also knew that our love could be much deeper in the future. Luckily she didn't hold me to the actual semantics and realized my meaning.

-Who is taller?: I think that I am, but if she wears any kind of lift on her shoes then I start to feel really short. Regardless, it's close.

-Who sings better?: Definitely Mary. I joined a choir to get to know people and that is where I formally met her, though I had eyed her previously. She has a much better voice and has a lot more training.

-Who is smarter?: Mary is way smarter than me. There is no question about who has more smarts. She's more inquisitive, a deeper thinker, better at writing and reading. I will say that I have a much better memory about things that I learn. She would confirm all of this I believe.

-Who does the laundry?: Mary does it about 80-90% of the time.

-Who pays the bills?: Mary, I couldn't keep track of all of that stuff. Refer to the one about being smarter above.

-Who sleeps on the right side of the bed?: Where did this question come from? Is there some power thing or omen about sleeping on a certain side of the bed? I sleep on the right side of the bed... always have.

-Who mows the lawn?: I mow the lawn and enjoy it. I don't think that Mary would really like to do this much. She prefers to be indoors where the temperature is moderate. Especially here as it gets super hot in the summers.

-Who cooks dinner?: I would say this has been fairly equal since I finished grad school, or at least since we got pregnant. However, let me explain this a little. I usually come home from work say hey to everybody and get several requests from Sarah. I explain that I need to check-in with "Mommy" first. I usually say something like: "do you have anything planned for dinner?", or "is there anything that I can do to help out with dinner?". It needs to be understood that this is not a demand or an expectation. Mary knows that I'm totally fine on any given night whipping up something on my own and that my request is usually just an effort to get things moving on dinner so that the kids can get something to eat. This has been particularly so during the pregnancy when the last thing Mary wants to think about is food. She often has thought a little about it and has an idea about what she wants to make for dinner, but needs some not-so-subtle prompting to acknowledge that we need to actually start making it if we're going to have a non-rushed evening and if we're going to get the kids to eat before bedtime. She often tells me what her plan was and then I get it going or do most of it under her supervision or assistance. I would say generally we do it together on some level but sometimes it's just me or just her.

-Who drives?: I drive, but Mary drives frequently as well. If it's more than a couple of hours we usually split it up, but generally I drive.

Who is more stubborn?: Mary is definitely more stubborn. If we're in an argument I am almost always the one to "give-in" first and approach her for reconciliation. I hate this at times and wish that she would be more willing to approach me but it's the way it is and who we are.

Who kissed who first?: She kissed a couple of guys first. I kissed no one first, except Mary. It was also the same night that I kind of told her that I loved her. I asked permission before attempting the amazing feat. It was an awkward kiss but she taught me the ins and outs of kissing as we dated and courted. However, I think that she's given up on me in this department.

-Who asked who out first?: This is a good story. So we knew who each other was but hadn't talked much. I got her number from a mutual friend and called her up to ask her out. She explained that although she would like to go out with me she already had plans. So, because she didn't ask for a rain-check or a re-schedule, I kind of was a little apprehensive about asking her out again. So a little while later this friend calls up and says he wants to set up his sister-in-law with my cousin (Jimmy). He figures it might be kind of awkward for Jimmy to go out with this married couple and this girl that he hardly knows so he asks me if I want to find a date and come along. I know that this friends sister-in-law lives in Seattle and knows Mary so I say I'll come if said sister-in-law can get Mary to come along and be my date. Mary is totally oblivious to my orchestrating of this "one-way-blind date" and thinks that this is just a pleasant coincidence. So I guess one of Mary's friends asked her out on our first date if that makes any sense.

-Who proposed?: This ones a little confusing too. I think that I proposed, but it's a little unclear. This is a lame story (read: I'm a little embarassed about it and wish I could do this part over) so I don't think that I'll tell it here.

-Who is more sensitive?:

-Who has more siblings?: I do... by one.

-Who wears the pants?: Mary, without question. I have some reasons as to why I think that is but I won't share them here. Also, I think that I'm capable of wearing the pants and would like to more on particular issues, but Mary is way better at it, looks better in them, and they fit her better. I don't think that I'm an anti-pants wearer (like I suspect my youngest brother is), but I think that it just works out for us the way it is. Does that sound like the answer of someone who would like to wear the pants a bit more but doesn't?

What do you think of the resemblance?

Today when I got home from work (a typical opening line for my Blog), Mary wanted Sarah to show me her painting from pre-school. She excitedly ran into her room and came out and informed me that she had painted a picture of "President [Gordon B.] Hinckley", the current prophet of our church. She's quite an artist but this is the first time that she's ever tried to depict him and she didn't have any kind of a reference picture or anything... this was straight from her memory with no prompting from us. So cute that she's thinking of such a wonderful, exemplary man of God while she's at pre-school. Her pre-school leaders, who are not LDS, were quite impressed with her painting abilities. So were we, to say the least. Sarah is almost 4.5 years old and her little artistic skills are really budding and she has loved her homemade "art kit" from Christmas. Gotta love the nose, the glasses and the little bit of hair on top.

Just cuz..

I was looking through some of the pictures that we have of Nathan... who it just seems that I can't get enough of right now... and just had to put these on here. There's no reason for this particular post other than just to show cute pictures of our little guy. The one in the towel is fairly recent... he loves to be wrapped like a mummy and then run down the hall and fall down, laughing all the way. The one of him crawling is at his Oma and Opa's house. And the last one is of him doin' some work in the yard while playing with leaves. Just cute pictures that I had to share with everyone else.

It is a good thing!

Oh man, I love how kids minds work! Today when I got home from work Mary informed me of a conversation that she had with Sarah earlier in the day and I just had to post it. Sarah was kind of quizzing her mommy and asking her a variety of "trivia" questions. So here's a hilarious part of the dialogue:

Sarah: Mommy, what animal likes to dig up bones and chew them?

Mary: A dog

Sarah: Yep, that's right Mom, good job. It's good that doggies don't know we have bones in our bodies, huh Mom.

Mary: (takes a little "processing" time prior to response) Yeah, that is good, doggies don't know a lot about peoples' bodies.

Sarah: Yeah, mom that is good, especially Sneakers. [Sneakers is Mary's folks' dog]

Good stuff... why didn't I think of that?

While we're on the age topic...

I've been doing some calculations in my head and I've realized that the following threshold will soon pass: Sarah is closer to High School than I am! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!! Can that be serious! Yep. She'll be 4.5 yrs old soon and I'm about 10.5 years removed from High School. Since Sarah will start kindergarten in the Fall and High School is typically your tenth year (keep kindergarten in mind for those of you that are thinking or saying "wait, I thought Freshman were 9th graders".), I imagine this threshold will take place in the next couple of months. It's a little scary to think that my littel girl is closer than me to the glorious H.S. days. WAIT. HOLD THE PRESSES. I just remembered something about how here in Idaho they have elementary, middle school, junior high school and high school, with junior high occupying grades 8 and 9. Maybe we were inspired to move here! Anyway, when I think about it I should probably be worrying more about middle school for Sarah then anything else... but regardless I'm getting old and she's growing up.

How old am I?

Recently in a group at work there was a new resident and so we went around the group of 15 or so (including one staff member and myself) and introduced ourselves, including our age and where we're from. Typically the stoic behavioral staff don't involve themselves much in things like this, but I typically do. When it got to be my turn I just said I'm older than everyone else and left it at that. Then I decided that it would be fun, after introductions, to see how old the kids thought that I was. Keep in mind that they don't know hardly anything about me in terms of my personal life except for things that I like to do, though they do know that I'm just recently graduated from grad school. They don't know that I have two little kids at home and one on the way. Anyway, so I asked them all to write down privately on a piece of paper how old they thought that I was. The lowest guess was 24 and the highest guess was 48 (two kids guessed that!). The next closest guess to 24 was 31. When averaging the age-guesses out it was discovered that the resident's thought I was about 39 or so, ten years older than I actually am. The staff member guessed that I was 44! I was a little flabergasted and was confused about whether I should be proud, glad, sad, or mad. I'm still a little confused by that. Let's keep in mind that I have a lot of gray hair and a receding hair line. But I also stop on occasion and throw the football on the rec yard with these kids or play a quick game of bump on the basketball court with them. I mean come on, 48! Are you serious. That's almost as old as some of their grandparents! Anyway, I thought it was pretty funny and I had them pretty upset when, after they finished guessing and I read off their guesses I said "alright, thanks for guessing let's move on to todays topic for group" and acted like I wasn't gonna tell them. I told them I'd be turning 30 in 2008. They were surprised.

Taken For Granted

We live in a military town with a local Air Force Base sustaining about half of the town, some of whom are retired. I've never been very familiar with the life of those that serve our country in the military and it's been a good experience so far, even if we do feel a little like outsiders at times. Anyway, in church on Sunday a member of our congregation was talking about how wonderful it was that he got to baptize his son the previous day. He then went on to talk about how nice it was that he was the one that got to do it, not someone else. I know from previous conversations that he's spent some time deployed in Iraq which has probably resulted in missing numerous significant events in his life and the lives of those he cares deeply about. This is something that I take for granted. While I don't get paid tremendously at my job, their are tremendous non-monetary benefits to my employment. I'm home by 4:30 or 5 and have nearly every weekend off. While this hasn't always been the case with grad school and such, I haven't really missed any significant life events of my wife or kids. I think that this kind of struck home when I was thinking about what this guy talked about and then realizing that I was a little bummed out that I had an appointment at church that week at 7:30 pm... prime putting-the-kids-to-bed-time. I rarely miss putting the kids to bed, let alone any other important events in their lives. I usually have breakfast and dinner with Sarah (and Nathan lately too). I'm grateful for those who serve our country and sacrifice so many tangible and intangible things. I'm fortunate to be able to help people while still enjoying so much time with my growing and lovable family. Pretty fortunate indeed!

It's a GIRL!

Today we went to our Doc's office for an ultrasound to hopefully determine the gender of the little baby growing within Mary. While we had to deal with a crotchety ultrasound tech who didn't want kids in the room (so Mary found out we were having a girl while I was in the waiting area with Sarah and Nathan) we're excited to have girl #2 and look forward to her arrival sometime around the first of May. There weren't any super clear shots (like with Sarah) to determine the gender of the baby but they didn't see any "extra parts" down there and they're pretty sure she's a girl.
Sarah is excited that she is going to have a little sister as that what she has been wanting and talking about. An interesting conversation between Sarah and I the other day went like this (with Nathan and Mary closeby as we enjoyed a Saturday morning in mom and dad's bed):
Jeff: "Sarah be careful of mommy's tummy. Remember the baby's in there".
Sarah: "Daddy, you put the baby in mommy's tummy."
Jeff (after a chuckle or two): "Really, who told you that?"
Sarah: "Ruby.... she told me that you put the baby in mommy's tummy"
Jeff: "Oh.... okay"

So this conversation happened after recent posts on Rebecca's blog regarding Ruby's uh, maturity... so I'll just say that I'm glad that Ruby gave Sarah the watered down version and I'll have to supervise their conversations and interactions a little more closely in the future ;*)

Mary's Birthday

Mary celebrated her birthday this week (won't say what day or year she was born for safety reasons as this is a somewhat "public" blog). We "slept in" until the kids came in around 7:45 and then made breakfast for Mary. She then took her time getting ready for the day and then left for some quiet time alone with a book. She enjoyed visiting a local quiet place where she spent about 4-5 hours reading "War and Peace". We met for a late lunch and then she went back and enjoyed reading her book. She's almost done with it and enjoyed the time away without the kids. Mary came back after some more reading and then enjoyed opening her presents with the help of a-little-too-eager-hands-at-times. Later, we all enjoyed some homemade ice cream cake (ingredients: tin roof ice cream, a fudge layer and crushed oreos) made by yours truly. After we got the kids down to bed - early (an inexpensive birthday present), Mary and I watched a decent but too-highly-recommended-movie, Stardust. Happy Birthday Mary!!!

Mary's highly anticipated and totally expected tortilla maker.

Thanks Mom, Dad and the Pierce's for contributing!

Throughout the present opening Nathan was (mostly) inadvertently whacking me, Mary, Sarah and the Christmas tree. He then enjoyed making noises inside the tube. Those long cardboard poles from wrapping paper can be so fun!

Ambidextrous?

So when Nathan eats, he generally likes to have a spoon in both hands, typically two different kinds of spoons (one big, one little). He also likes to have his sippy cup in one hand while he drinks his bottle with the other. Could he really be a switch hitter in baseball? Will he be able to dribble and shoot with both hands? The possibilities are endless! Or, it's just cute so we had to get a pic of it. We shall see......

Building Houses

So I came home from work one day with this house (Sarah's description, first picture) that Mary had built with the kids encouragement and support. Sarah and Nathan were really excited about it so we enjoyed some time in there together. This, of course, brings back memories for the both of us as we both enjoyed making forts/tents (as we called them growing up at my house) out of blankets and pieces of furniture with books and such as weights. It was fun to reminisce and to be involved in introducing this to our kids. The other day I came home to a much larger luxury suite that Mary had built and we again enjoyed some time in the tent together. I hope you enjoy the pics!

Mary's first tent/house/fort construction project.
Mary's luxury suite
Sarah inside the first abode with her baby and some necessary food
Sarah inside the luxury suite, if you look closely you may notice her food-stained cheeks. We were never really able to capture Nathan in any of the pics.... not sure why exactly.

Chooooo Choooooo

A while ago we were given some train track pieces that have since been added on from local garage sales and playing with the trains is something the whole family loves. Mary and I enjoy building the tracks and trying to make them creative and big (so that two little kids can coexist on the same track). I confess that I'm really proud of some of my engineering skills with this train track building business, as evidenced by the following conversation:

Jeff approaches Mary, who is in another room doing something productive and says, excitedly "Mary, come check out this new track that I built, I used all of the pieces except two... this ones pretty sweet!"
Mary: "Okay hun, I'll be there in a second"
Jeff waits a few minutes and then approaches Mary again: "Hurry hun, uh... Sarah really wants you to see it"
Mary sees right through "Sarah's" request but grins and comes and looks at it anyway.
Mary: "Wow, that ones pretty cool... nice work"
Jeff: "Yeah, did you notice how the track goes under both tunnels and I use both the splitter and the transfer pieces and that there's only two left over"
Mary: "Cool"
Jeff thinking to himself: "dude if my mom were here and I was like 5 or 6 years old I would get a way better reaction than what I got out of you just now.... don't you understand how awesome this is?!"

Anyway, the kids love playing with trains and if we build them a big enough track they can play together for awhile and generally get along and enjoy themselves. Sarah's getting better at fixing little breaks when Nathan wrecks something trying to scoot over it. At times we have to deal with repeated "Owie" reports from Nathan, which mean that his train is broken and needs fixing. I still get a little upset when Nathan decides it's wrecking crew time and destroys one of my precious and well-designed tracks.


What focus and determination! Mary and I just love watching Nathan play as he gets so absorbed and it is so cute to watch him scoot the train along a little and then scoot/crawl his little body to the next position to move his train a little farther. It's icing on the cake when he starts to make the sounds voluntarily or when he claps and says "Yay" when he's able to fix the train or his track after an "owie". Could this age be any more fun?


Sarah loves to play too but often gets a little upset when dad builds the track and then moves on. She loves to put the trees around the track and build little communities but has realized that they always get trashed as Nathan maneuvers himself around the track. She is usually really patient when their tracks cross or their trains are headed for one another. She is such a great big Sis and Nathan really adores her. Nice bangs huh!

Binge-Blogger

I'm a self-admitted binge-blogger. I rarely do one blog at a time and once I get going there are usually several blogs posted at one time. So, "Hello, my name is Jeff and I'm a binge-blogger". I think this is partly because I don't want to spend the time to do just one blog, partly because I like spending evenings with Mary, and partly because Mary works on the computer in the evenings during prime blogging times. I've posted a handful or more blogs tonight and have some more in my head but, alas, the bed is calling, so I'll have to binge another night. Also, don't make the assumption that just because I'm bingeing on the blogging that Mary and I are not getting along that night, it's just that I finally found some good time to do it, so I am. Any other Binge-Blogger's out there?

Fun in the Snow

It snowed Friday night and on Saturday AM we woke up with about 3-4 inches of snow on the ground. We had our Church Christmas breakfast Saturday morning and so after that we decided to go out and play in it. Nathan was of the staunch opinion that he only needed his regular outfit to survive in the white stuff and didn't like the all-in-one snow outfit that we had for him (a one piece outfit that included hat/hood, attached boots, attached gloves, coat and pants). He had what I might call an ultimate "onesie" on steroids. Sarah was excited to get out in the snow but complained that all of her stuff was "boy" stuff, so she was glad that she got to wear her lighter purple coat and red and pink matching hat and scarf.


Not a happy camper! Mom and Dad's response: "You're gonna go out there in the snow and have fun so we can take pictures of it whether you like it or not!" :^)

The snow out here in Southern Idaho doesn't pack as well as it does in wet Washington. So I could only make a 2.5 foot tall snowman, much to Sarah's dismay. Oh well, that seems fitting for the Hamm family.
Sarah's snow angel! She did such a great job and insisted that I take a pic of it.

The last time Nathan played with these toys it was sunny and warm. He thought he could just dust off the snow and hop back on his trike. He was pretty disappointed that the wheels were frozen, the seat and handle bars were slick, his thumb-and-fingerless gloves didn't grip anything, and the ground was really rough.

There were a few bright moments with Nathan in the snow but they didn't last very long. He was really frustrated with his gloves and his restricted mobility, as well as how cold all that white stuff was. He only lasted about ten minutes before he was unhappy being outside and furious that he had to go inside and take a nap... which he didn't really do. Sarah and I had a fun time. I really just wanted to play in the snow the way boys know best... throw snowballs. But, alas, I am a father and my only target was my daughter so I had to settle for either soft shots at the knees or sneaky ways like waiting for her to go under the tree and then pelting the branch above her with a large snowball and watching the snow fall on top of her. She wanted to throw snowballs at me but I had to make them for her, which she didn't seem to mind. I kept my snowball-throwing accuracy up by pelting the dish on the house, the wheelbarrow, the tree trunk and anything else that looked like a good target. Too bad Mary didn't join me. Maybe next time. Anyway, Sarah and I had a fun time and then enjoyed going in and drinking Hot (mine) and Warm (Sarah's) Chocolate. Mmmmmmmmm.

Last year when it snowed....

Last year when it snowed we had a grand old time outside with the kids. Nathan couldn't walk around in the snow much at all so he didn't spend too much time out there with us but it was a lot of fun. We were living at my parents place in W. WA and they have a great sledding hill in their backyard that is probably about 25-30 yards long. It's good enough to enjoy as an adult and a kid - not too fast but not too slow, with some blackberry sticker bushes to avoid. Sarah loved it until Daddy got a little too childish and had to build a jump, then she didn't like it so much and was ready for her "Warm Chocolate". The kids had so much fun and we got some great pictures. Before we got into the sledding, Jordan, Braden, my Mom, Sarah, Mary, and I all went outside and built a great snowman, named Spike (notice the pretzels for hair), whom Sarah still talks about today. Sarah loved having her uncle's around and enjoyed being out in the snow with them. One of the fun things that I remember about this is that after we got the kids to bed that night (or maybe it was the next night), Mary and I put our headlamps on and went out and did some sledding of our own! It took some convincing and probably some kind of bribing to get Mary to brave the cold, but we had a lot of fun and enjoyed that time together.


I love this pic with Mary and the kids! You can tell that Sarah is having the time of her life. We must have done a dozen or more trips each with the kids.
Our first family portrait in the snow with both Sarah and Nathan.
Here we are with "Spike" our snowman. Jordan is in the back on the left and Braden is next to him. Then it's Mary, Sarah, and I kneeling/squatting below. I think that Braden found the rocks for the buttons, one of which he (or Sarah, I don't remember) thought was shaped like a heart so they put a heart on Spike. So much fun!