A good patient

I have a big standardized exam with fake patients tomorrow. I needed to brush up on my exam skills and Sharon humored me. Thanks for being my perfect little patient!

Having friends over

Had friends over for dinner today. Sharon invited them. It was really nice to have them over, especially since we haven't done that in a while. Neither of us are very social, but I think Sharon is more so than I. I like talking to people but often find I don't take initiative to maintain or build friendships. Glad Sharon is there to help me out a bit in that regard.

Cake and pies and a basketball game

The Arizona elite eight game is going on now and Sharon made carrot cake for tomorrow and is now making pies to give to someone for watching the kids for her on Monday. I folded the laundry, but I have mostly just been watching the game. Thank you Sharon! You are wonderful.

Planning fun things

The types of things that Sharon and I come up with to do for fun are often different. A while back sharon had us go to an activity downtown that I wasn't very excited about. There were some fun things and we had a good time. I am grateful for her initiative and taking time to plan things for our family to do together. She snapped this fun picture of us.

Helping Enoch learn to write

Enoch does quite well writing and drawing. He knows his letters very well for his age. I know this is in large part because of all the practice papers Sharon gives Enoch. She is really good about making little worksheets that Enoch can practice with. She made a packet protected by sheet protectors that can be drawn on with dry erase markers too. I'm glad she is so resourceful and helping our kids stay stimulated.

Potty training in 4 days

Sharon has been potty training Michael recently. I've done little to no work; this has almost all been Sharon's doing. Michael was getting lots of rashes because he wouldn't tell us when he pooped. I thought that if he couldn't even tell us that he pooped that there would be no way he was ready to potty train. Sharon, on the other hand, decided enough was enough and she had to try. Now it's day 4 and Michael seems to be completely dry during the day. When he needs to pee he goes into the bathroom unannounced and does the whole deed by himself, including taking off and putting back on his undies. I am very impressed by him, and especially by Sharon for making this all happen and doing the work and taking the initiative.

Sharon took the above photo

Young mommy

I like this picture because it reminds me of when Enoch was that age and we were brand new parents. Sharon looks so fun and vibrant in this picture that it would be easy to imagine she's in her early twenties playing with her first baby.

It's hard work being a mom

I came home really tired today at 7. Long day. Sharon's was longer. I caught her dosing off on the ground at 8 when the kids went to bed. Thanks for working so hard!

My romantic coupon book

Several years ago Sharon made me the most romantic coupon book. I never got a chance to use most of them, but luckily she didn't write an expiration date! One coupon was for her to watch a ball game with me, so I cashed it in tonight to watch the Arizona Gonzaga game. It's half time now and it's been fun to watch it with her.

Budding photographer

Sharon was doing her homework today, taking some pictures at the park using the skills she learned. I really like this one she took of Peter. It's unedited but really captures Peter.

Back to school

Sharon is doing a photography class that people are putting on at the church. Last night she was looking through our camera manual, doing her homework. She was really cute about it. I think it's great that she's putting herself out there to try something relatively new. I love that she's not afraid to try new things.

Catching the funny moments

Sharon's been taking lots of videos of the kids recently. I really like this recent one. I'm glad she puts forth the effort to catch those moments.

Time with the kids

Today I got home a little bit early. Wasn't expecting to get home until after 7. Got to eat dinner with everyone. Afterwards I took the kids to play outside while Sharon did dishes. I'm grateful she did that and let me have that time with the kids.

The best visiting teaching reporter

Sharon's visiting teaching district supervisor told her that she's the best visiting teacher she's ever had. Sharon not only does her best to do her visiting teaching, but she reports it every month via email. She's very responsible.

Ward missionaries

Sharon and I are now ward missionaries. It's fun to have the same calling. Our first assignment is a to make lots of phone calls to set up member lessons for the missionaries. Yesterday I did dishes as Sharon made phone calls. She used to be nervous on the phone, which I can understand since English is her second language. I hated using the phone in Taiwan. She did great, however, and I loved listening to her call people. She is so sweet and kind when she talks to people. It's hard to say no to someone like that.

Ninja turtle cake

Sharon made this amazing cake for Enoch's party. The topping is something called a fondant, which I hear is pretty tricky to make. She did it perfectly, and it was not only cute but tasty, too.

After the party

Enoch's party was today and I think Enoch really enjoyed it. I'll put pictures up later. We are exhausted and going to bed! Today I just wanted to say that Sharon is an amazing mother and the kids are lucky to have her.

Party tomorrow

One more day until Enoch's party. Sharon is doing so much. Just look at her party favors! Amazing.

Pie master

I got home from work in the morning and told Sharon the residents were having a pie party tonight with ice cream. I told her the cupcakes she made would be wonderful. I went to bed, and when I woke up she had made a chocolate cream pie. She's amazing!

Everyone was very impressed by her pie and they thought it was very cute she made it for us. It was way way way better than all the other store bought pies. One of the surgeons told me how good it was during a delivery.

I haven't had much time to help at home recently, but Sharon is doing even more than acting as a single mom. She's doing that and taking care of me! I have a super woman as a wife.

Cupcakes

Sharon was up late tonight making cake and cupcakes for Enoch's party. She texted and asked if I wanted to bring any to my L&D team. Thanks for helping me get an edge on those evaluations!

Ninja turtle party

Enoch's birthday party is this Saturday. I hope he has a good time. I love how hard Sharon is working to make this special for him. He probably has no way to comprehend how much his mother loves him! Probably true for all children.

Sleep all day

After working all night last night Sharon let me sleep during the day. I was impressed that the kids never came in and woke us up. Thanks for being so thoughtful and supportive!

We are going to have fun and we're going to win!

Yesterday we went to this kids thing downtown at a park called Discovery Green. There were some competitions that kids could enter. We were bummed we missed the 6-9 month old crawling competition, because Peter might have won or at least done very well. But we still had a lot of fun in some other competitions. I love the photos below because it shows how intense and fun Sharon was at it.

Notice she's got Enoch by the foot!

You should be a hat model

In New Orleans, there was a wonderful hat store. Sharon tried on hat after hat, and we couldn't help but keep on trying on more since she looked so good in all of them. Another customer in the store kept on commenting about how great she looked in all of the hats. Sharon's symmetric face and long and shiny hair really do make her a good match for nice hats. I've never really cared for nice clothing in the past, but seeing these $100 hats on my darling was something special.

A Beautiful Woman

5 years later I still think my wife is incredibly beautiful and very attractive. That's because she is!

You're really good at finding stuff

In a house of 4 boys, poor Sharon is the only person who can ever find anything. I've heard the stereotype that moms are the only person that can ever find anything, and how wives always get annoyed at their husbands for not being able to find stuff. I never really thought it was true. But then I heard Sharon grumbling when the kids kept pestering her to help them find their lost toys. And then a few seconds later I found myself asking her to help me look for my wallet and phone. I guess it's true.

Today, I was going to turn on a Bible story on the TV for the kids. But I could't find the remote control. Good thing Sharon was home! She is the glue that holds our family together.

Beautiful food

A while back, Sharon made this. It was beautiful and tasty. Yum

Turtle Head

Turtle Pinata

Sharon already shared this on Facebook, but I'm putting it on here too. I told her that I didn't think she could make something so cute. Then I realized that sounded really bad. She said she wasn't sure if she should take that as a complement or not. I told her that it was her choice... :0

I think I was just trying to say that I thought it looked really good and I can't imagine myself personally ever making something as good as that.

It's also pretty awesome that she's willing to put in so much effort to make something so special for Enoch.

Persistence

Both of us got behind on our goals last week on our trip. Sharon's goal is to read the Old Testament this year, and mine is to tread The Book of Mormon in Chinese. Sharon read three day's worth of material tonight. Her persistence motivates me to not give up on my goal. It's definitely motivating to see her reading, and I'm grateful for her good example!

Gift giver

We came home with quite a loot. Today we went to a donut party at a friend's house from the ward. Sharon suggested we bring their kids some gifts from Mardi gras. Great idea, and embarrassing it wouldn't have crossed my mind. Sharon is a thoughtful, giving person!

A wonderful trip

Today we got back from our trip. I wrote the past week of posts before we left on our trip, thinking we would go on our cruise. It turned out that fog delayed a day of our cruise, making us miss one of our ports. Sharon and I both decided that if we went on the cruise anyway, we would probably be party poopers, always thinking about not getting to go see the ruins on the Yucatan. Knowing this about ourselves, we got a refund on the cruise and made a last minute trip to New Orleans.

It was a wonderful, wonderful trip. The spontaneity of it alone was fun, and being able to explore a new place together and learn about a culture rather foreign to both of us was a blast. By serendipity we caught the head of Mardi Gras season and saw some wonderful parades. That was something that I never planned on doing, and realistically we will never do it again. Best of all, of course, was getting to do it all with just me and Sharon. Four full days of alone time without the kids was a marvelous, liberating, refreshing thing. We are so grateful to Mom for making it happen!!

We are more in love than ever, and we had a lot of fun together on this trip. I like this picture of Sharon after the parades. Whenever I do something fun, I always wish I could share it in some way with Sharon. The parades were fun, but because of Sharon they were a blast. She was enthusiastic and having the time of her life, and I felt lucky to be with her.