Mom,

I couldn’t ask for a better grandma for my children. I so appreciate that you respect my boundaries, that you offer advice but never push your opinions, and that you make me, my husband, and my baby feel so loved.

I should have married one of the Royal City boys, then I could move into a trailer right next door to yours.

I made these raw brownies for TH for his birthday. Surprisingly good! I agree with her, worth investing in the expensive dates. I didn’t add in the almonds, which was a mistake, they needed the texture. My mom said they tasted a bit too much like dates, but TH and I agreed that the only thing we would change would be adding even more cacao and a little bit more sea salt.

The best part about these? I felt like I ate dessert, but I didn’t have that gross sugar-high feeling that I get after regular brownies (particularly those from a box mix). In part because these are so rich that you really don’t want to eat more than one. Frequent commenter Sophia pointed me to My New Roots, the blog where this recipe came from and though I don’t plan on going all raw anytime soon, she is sharing an abundance of incredibly healthy vegetarian-friendly recipes that I would love to try. This lentil salad is calling my name…

For Father’s Day this year we did something a little unconventional, toured a windmill farm with my dad’s family and learned about how they are manufacturing energy in the Columbia Basin. I liked it! I hope we do some similar things in the future.

I really liked this tour guide because she didn’t yell at us when we weren’t paying attention. I was able to take pictures and spend time with my family the way I wanted.

We learned that the solar panels aren’t as energy efficient as the windmills.

One of the blades was damaged in transit and they were unable to use it, which gave us the chance to look at it up close. You don’t really grasp how massive they are when they are launched so high up in the air.

We had to wear hard hats and safety glasses for the tour,

and if you weren’t careful they would blow off you head and down the mountain (as happened for my cousin Melissa).

The whole family, minus my mom who was watching T1 (if you can’t wear a hard hat, you can’t go on the tour).

A family picture was taken for my cousin on a mission.

We had fun posing like the wind was going to blow us over. It really felt like it might! Apparently the wind was strong enough that day that we almost didn’t get to go on the tour.

We entered the base of the windmill in groups of 5 or less and the nice guide shared a few interesting facts (they really were interesting). All of the components are held to the wall with magnets, a handful of the mills have elevators to take dignitaries up when they come visit, and climbing this ladder requires special certification.

After the tour we went inside to eat some lunch, and T1 tried to convince me that he could have worn a hat and gone on the tour after all!

S,

It’s a big day for you, and you won’t let me bake you cake or buy you something shiny and new, and so I dedicate this post as an homage to you, the man I love so much.

Thank you for being so kind, coming to fix my computer for the second time after doing it the year previous. Thank you for breaking the honor code to spend time with me sometimes. Thank you for massaging my calf while we studied. Thank you for agreeing to go to ward prom with me. Thank you for being so naive and not realizing how many girls were interested in you.

Thank you for encouraging me in my weight loss efforts from the time we started dating, and now into our marriage. Thank you for hiking the Y and giving me a kiss whenever I said I was tired and wanted to stop. Thank you for putting up with my desire to take pictures of everything.

Thank you for being someone my family could support me being married to (I think they like you better than they like me).

Thank you for placating my desire for a meaningful engagement story.

And for letting me plan my dream wedding.
Thank you for your hotness.

Thank you for deluxe date night. Thank you for the ways you’ve changed and grown with me as I develop a passion for real food and issues surrounding diet and nutrition. Thank you for your flexibility. Thank you for listening to my arguments when we disagree. Thank you for putting me in my place when I am wrong.

Thank you for agreeing to move forward with babies and parenthood, even though we had no idea what to expect or how to prepare.

Thank you for my home birth, an experience that changed my life. Thank you for those hours you spent in the birthing tub filled with urine-tainted water. Thank you for holding my hand, for telling me a thousand times that I could do it and how proud you were of me.

Thank you for trying really, really hard to be a good dad. Thank you for all the diapers you’ve changed, bottles you’ve prepared, smiles and laughter you’ve elicited, hugs you’ve doled out, trips up and down from the car with a baby in your arms, and a million other things that relate to parenthood. Thank you for being a united front with me in our parenting attempts. Thank you for the many mornings you’ve left our warm bed to care for the baby so I could sleep in. Thank you for being the kind of man I hope our son grows up to be.

Thank you for taking me to Poland and Europe. Thank you for making me more logical and rational, for expanding my world view. Thank you for working so hard to support our family so I can stay home. Thank you for supporting me during times when I’m stressed, even though most of those times are because of Jenna Cole or That Wife, two things I devote a ridiculous amount of time to for no profit (yet).

Thank you for the things that are far too private to share with the world. Thank you for your hotness (it needs to be said twice).

Thank you for joining the Church over 10 years ago. Thank you for the hard work you do in your callings and for honoring your priesthood. Thank you for the times when you force me to realize that what I want for our future is far more important than what I want right now. Thank you for being my sounding board when things get crazy online. Thank you for the late nights where we can’t seem to get to sleep because we have so much to talk about. Thank you for holding me close and letting me sob into your chest when things get hard. Thank you for being the kind of man I wouldn’t want to live a single day without.

I’ll keep my promise, but it will be a miserable existence without you.

Happy Birthday EC

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I love this extended coverage of our church because of the two LDS presidential candidates. I hope it’s helping clear up any misconceptions YOU might have. As always, feel free to ask questions here, or on my Formspring page.