40 reasons why I love you, Kristin, on your 40th birthday


  1. I love your eyes. I still remember the first time I saw you. You were wearing that red and white striped shirt, a jean skirt, and a white bow in your hair (yes, this was in 1991). But, your eyes are what really caught me.
     
  2. I love your smile, I love your lips, and I love kissing your lips.
     
  3. I love your cooking. Not only that, but you also always make sure I get the biggest and best portions of your amazing food. I wish I could lose some weight, but I love your food.
     
  4. I love your laugh.
     
  5. I love you for asking me on our first 2 dates. Since I intended to not having a girlfriend before my mission, I avoided you. Somehow, even though you don’t really remember when we first met, you ended up asking me to two girls-choice dances. I finally gave in and the rest is history.
     
  6. I love you for letting me kiss you that first time—even though you had never kissed anyone before and were terrified.
     
  7. I love you for waiting for me for 2 years while I served a mission in Colombia. January 26th, 1992, (four months before I left for Colombia for 2 years) God spoke to my heart and I had the peace in knowing you and I would spend the rest of our lives together. I didn’t tell you this because I knew that you would know at the time that was right for you. I can’t imagine how tough it was for you to wait and wonder if things would still work out 2 years later. Thank you for your trust in me and your trust in God.

    I found this in my journal when I was in the MTC in May, 1992:


     
     
  8. I love that God knew you were the right one for me.
     
  9. I love that you sent me a letter every week while I was on my mission.
     
  10. I love you for bringing Jeffrey, Ally, Justin, and Savannah in to this world. It was a challenge with your diabetes, but it was me and your doctor who had to say “no more” in the end . God blessed you with the ability to forget the pregnancies and the capacity to love and want more children. Even in recent years you sometimes wonder if it was the right decision to have your tubes tied. I have to remind you that YES, it was the right decision.
     
  11. I love you for your ability to understand God’s will for our family. You were the one who first knew that Savannah wasn’t our last child. You were the one who first knew that Brooklyn was next—and oh what a joy she and Claire have been.

    What would life be like without these two:

           

     
  12. I love how you have always babied our babies. You spoil them rotten, so I have to un-spoil them. But, every child needs to be spoiled by their mom.
     
  13. I love you for helping me to go a little easier on the kids at times. Yes, discipline is important, but you help me to better love them as well.
     
  14. I love you for teaching our kids how to be good students. The skills and discipline you are teaching them will benefit them the rest of their lives.
     
  15. I love all of the pictures you take of the kids. If it weren’t for your pictures and comments on Facebook, I would miss out on a lot of the cute things that they do.



     
  16. I love you because you want to go on trips with our kids. Our trip to Florida was perfect—swimming with dolphins, seeing the girls dress up as princesses at Disneyworld, hanging out at Harry Potter Land, and more. I will always remember that amazing experience.

     

       

     
  17. I love your appreciation for God’s creations.
     
  18. I love that you want to visit Bryce Canyon over and over and over again. Your grandma grew up in that area. You love it because of your family roots, because of the beauty of that place, and because of the evidence of God that it shows us.



     
  19. I love you because you want to go on vacations with just me. Scuba diving, eating at fun restaurants, sight-seeing, or just relaxing.



     
  20. I love you for putting up with all of my warts and weaknesses. I have too many to count. Despite that, you still love me—most days (and I don’t blame you on the other days).
     
  21. I love you because of how supportive you have been while I have started and grown my business over the last several years. It hasn’t been easy—I know. I appreciate how patient you have been while I have pursued this dream of mine. I couldn’t have done it without your support.
     
  22. I love you because you can translate “geek”. I know that sometimes (or a lot of times) I am too left-brained. You can somehow understand the 1’s and 0’s that I speak. You can then translate that for others end then even respond back to me in a way that I can understand. You have a rare gift.
     
  23. I love you because you always take my side—you always have my back.
     
  24. I love how you are always so willing to help other people.
     
  25. I love your artistic abilities. I am amazed at the cooking creations, the scrapbook creations, the home decorations, and your quilts.




    Kristin's booth at Spring Quilt Market 2011:



    More of Kristin's quilts are here:  www.cutequiltpatterns.com

     
  26. I love how generous you are. You are always quick to give to others. You make quilts and give them away, you take homemade soup to people who are sick or who have had a tough week, you take neighbor kids to school, you call or visit those who need someone to talk to. You have a caring heart.
     
  27. I love you because you take care of all of the “details” for our family. There is always milk in the fridge. The kids always get where they need to go. There is always toilet paper in the bathroom. The bills are always paid. Somehow, you wave a magic wand and all of this stuff gets taken care of.
     
  28. I love you because you are the perfect complement to me. I’m not good at casual conversation with friends, but you are. I’m not good at kissing Brooklyn’s owies, but you are. I’m not good diagnosing and figuring out family health issues, but you are. The list goes on and on. Without you, there my life would be incomplete.
     
  29. I love you because you “get” me. That’s not easy to do :-). You understand what I say, and what I don’t say. You know why I do so many of the things I do—often times better than I do.
     
  30. I love you because you laugh at my lame attempts at humor.
     
  31. I love you because even when I embarrass you, you say that I don’t. I’m a computer geek. I know I can be embarrassing. I might not know when, but I know it happens simply because of who I am--but you never admit it.
     
  32. I love you because you are afraid of spiders and mice. That way I know you’ll always keep me around. I suppose Jeffrey and Justin make me somewhat replaceable, but they’ll be leaving home in a few years.
     
  33. I love you because you want to talk my ear off each day when I get home. I love that you want to know how things went for me that day, and that you can’t wait to talk about the kids, your latest quilt creation, your friends, and so on.
     
  34. I love you for the good person you are and always have been. You are almost too good to be true. You are that way because of choices you’ve made since you were a little girl. Being a good person is just “who you are”.



     
  35. I love that you love God.
     
  36. I love you because you’re not perfect. You’re pretty darn close, but I’m glad to know you well enough to know you’re still human. Like, for example, when that one lady did that one thing, and you told me everything you wanted to say to her (but then didn’t). At least I know you *thought* it.
     
  37. I love you because you are sentimental. You still love “our song”: Everything I do, I do it for you. You still love Los Hermanos—the “nice” restaurant we would go to on special occasions when we were first married. You still love driving by the apartments where we first lived, walking through BYU campus where we first dated, and walking around temple square in Salt Lake City where we were married.
     
  38. I love you because you are my best friend. These last 21 years have been amazing. I can’t wait for the next 50.
     
  39. I love that you are mine for this life and the next.
     
  40. I love you because, in my eyes, you are the most beautiful creation God has ever made. He made you just for me—and he didn’t make any mistakes. As we go through life together, you magnify the joys, you minimize the pains, you make this life what life was meant to be for me. Because of you, I know there is a God since life couldn’t be so perfect by chance.
     
There is so much more….but 40 will have to do this time :-).

I love you, Kristin, with all of my heart.

Sean