THIRTY FOUR ain't no bore...

what a lame title for a post. oh well, it rhymes. can't go without giving a (much) belated shout-out to the BEST husband and dad on the P.L.A.N.E.T (at least MOST of the time ;) anyways, neal turned the big 3-4 on august 5th. he had a happen' farm-themed party with his favorite two year old. don't judge, i was THREE weeks out of giving birth and i just couldn't do two parties with two different themes! i hope he had a great day. here is my annual "34" for neal. I:

love his kindness
love his sense of humor
love his ears
love the dad he is
love the husband he is
love the friend to me that he is
love how he serves others
love how he loves my family, espesh my sisters
love how he helps me out with all my crazy ideas and projects
love how he entertains my OCD (usually)
love his smiley eyes
love his legs (seriously, wish i had such great legs-such a waste on a man) haha
love his brain and the way it works
love his jokes
love his creativity
love his crazy hobbies (i have had to GROW to loves these things about him ;)
love his work ethic
love his ambition
love his taste in homes...hopefully together we are going to build an awesome house this upcoming year!
love his opinions (usually lol)
love his sense or even lack thereof sometimes, of style
love his sensitivity to me
love that he loved/loves my mom
love the way he looks at lucy
love that he loves vacations
love that he loves adventure
love that he isn't afraid of change
love that he remembers and celebrates special days and anniversaries
love that he gives me pink roses
love that he has NEVER forgotten our anniversary
love that he loves holidays (almost) as much as me and let's me go all out
love that everyone loves him too!
love that he loves me!
love the example he is to my boys
love that he wants to drive his car to 200,000 miles (we are at 110,000!!!)
love that we have a REAL relationship, with ups and downs but that we have a vision of where we want to be together

i think that may be a few more then 34-but oh well! love you babe!

June 2009...

i am still alive...VERY behind on blogging, but still kickin'! i am going to do several posts to try to catch us up on our latest happenings...

BASEBALL:
gage and boe both played their second year of baseball. boe was in t-ball again and gage did coach pitch. they have both improved a lot since last season. they were both lucky to have AWESOME coaches, thanks Cory and Mark! it was fun to watch them play and see how much better they are getting.





BOE'S BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS:
we celebrated boe's birthday on june 13. he wanted a hotwheels birthday. we had everyone over for a pizza party and cake and ice-cream. go figure, it RAINED in the middle of june so we had to do it all inside! it was a fun night and we love our little boe-boe.




EIGHTH ANNIVERSARY
on june 15, neal and i celebrated our EIGHTH wedding anniversary! holy cow we are old...it's been quite the journey. we've experienced a lot together and there is NO ONE else on the planet who i would rather experience it all with. he "gets" me-and that is no easy feat! here's to MANY more wonderful years together...love ya.


WASATCH BACK 2009
FINALLY on june 19 the event that we had been training for, sleeping for, eating for, waiting for, looking for-ward to, dreading-etc. etc. was here at last! we divided into 2 vehicles, the women in one the men in the other. the ladies had the first 6 legs so we had to be in logan first-we met at kim's house at 4:30 in the A.M., packed up our stuff and headed off to begin our THIRTY hour jaunt across the back of the wasatch mountains. it was an experience INDEED. we slept in the YUKON, on the grass at the highschool and wherever we could squeeze in a few extra ZZZZZ's. after our legs were over, we would go shag the guys. it was a great experience. i loved doing it w/family and friends. i still haven't 100% decided if i am going to do it again next year. i am giving myself until the end august to decide, so we'll see.
i just have to give a little shout-out to the men in our group...by and large they took the hardest legs. they ALL did AMAZING, i mean, literally, they ROCKED it. i would say the last 4 runners had the hardest legs. neal, jerimy, adam and josh took those legs and i was so impressed with all of them. neal, jerimy and adam each had a part of the mountain going over guardsman's pass. neal's last leg is called the "RAGNAR" because it is the most difficult leg in the entire race. it is 4 miles STRAIGHT up the mountain at an average 8% grade. not only is it the most difficult let, it comes at the end of the race after a full day and night of running and little or NO sleep. neal did SOOOOO-O great on it. his goal was to run it in 49 minutes, he did it in just over 50. good job babe-so proud of you! here are a bunch of random pics from the race...
here we are-bright-eyed and bushy-tailed...we are all WASATCH BACK virgins-have NO IDEA what is up ahead for us...
MARTI getting ready to start us off
me starting my first leg, i was runner #2
kim running-seriously this chick ROCKED it!!!
kaylee and i being...us...look at here ROCK hard bod-seriously, she got the good genes...
go kent stockton go...k, so THIS guy-he ran an average 8 and a half minute mile on ALL three legs...i won't publish his age, BUT, he's MY dad and I am 31, hmmm...the guys nicknamed him KENT STOCKTON...let's just say he has some shorts that are "quesionable" in length...love ya dad!
neals cute brother darren-we were so proud of him! he trained so hard and did amazing! way to go DEE!
goats tethered up to their front yards are just the sort of things you see whilst running through small town utah..
getting ready to start the night legs...
me getting ready to go shower and eat at the morgan high school...
this was the sign below the start of the RAGNAR leg...it ain't lying...
neal coming up on the end of the worst leg EVER! getting ready to hand off to adam-it was eerily quiet during this leg, usually you have people cheering and shagging their runners, but on this one people were basically silent trying to help the runners concentrate...crazy!
adam getting ready to start the last leg of his run...
neal and i after the RAGNAR...he was seriously pale...i was super proud of him...

Mexico 2009...

What a GREAT TRIP with a GREAT GUY! Love ya.

Wedding Day...

Tag.
Saw this cute tag on KAMI'S ADORABLE blog and thought I'd play along...

1. Where did you and your husband meet? We met while we were working for the summer during college. We were SO YOUNG! I was 19 and he was 21-CRAZY!

2. How long before you kissed? Ummm, on the SECOND date. BUT, we'd known each other for several months, does that make it better?

3. Who kissed who first? He kissed me! I still remember what I was wearing, where we were, EVERYTHING, it was great.

4. How long from the time you met until you were engaged? How long from the engagement to the wedding? We dated for THREE years before we were married. We started dating in July 1998 and we were married in June 2001! I think that must be some kind of record in Utah! We were engaged for 5 months to the day, we got engaged on January 15 and were married on June 15.

5. How did he propose? He was still going to school in Logan and I went up for the weekend. We went to Lava Hot Springs with some friends and got back to Logan on Sunday night. The next day was Martin Luther King Jr. day and he took me to Hardware Ranch up Logan Canyon and asked me to marry him on the hayride. He had an awful, hideous FAKE ring and tried to trick me into thinking it was real. It was a great day, so much fun and one I will NEVER forget.

6. Did he pick out the ring or did you? We did together after we were engaged. I let him have a lot of say in it though ;)

7. Do you still like the ring? Yes, I love it and I am so glad that I do. For our 5 year anniversary he added a diamond anniversary band to go underneath it and I LOVE it.

8. Where was your wedding and reception? We got married at Gardner Village in the garden and had our reception in the reception center called the Gathering Place. A great place for the GATHERUM's to get married eh? Incidentally, another day that I will never forget was March 30, 2005 when we were sealed together in the LDS temple with our two little boys, Gage and Boe. Crazy how things come full circle.

9. How many bridesmaids did you have and who was your maid of honor? I had six bridesmaids, my three sisters, Neal's little sister, my friend Courtney and friend Melissa.

10. What color were your bridesmaid dresses? Light Purple, it was actually called shimmering plum or something like that.

11. What was your bouquet made of? White roses with some purple and sage green accents and highlights, but mostly white roses.

12. Who gave you away? My dad. I agree with Kami's answer on this one though, since she had to deal with all the stress, my mom did too :).

13. Did you cry during your wedding? Yes. So did Neal. Like a baby! Loved it!

14. What style was your dress? I loved it and still do. Very classic and simple, made of raw silk with very little embroidery or beading.

15. Was your wedding kiss sweet or sexy? Short and sweet.

16. Who caught your bouquet? My friend Melissa practically tackled my sister Kaylee to get it!

17. What flavor was your cake? Oh gosh, it was like 3 layers and each one was a different one. I think the one we cut was carrot/spice cake, it was delicious and I am still sad I didn't get to eat more of it!

18. Did you smash the cake onto each other's faces or feed it to each other nicely?
Heck no! And Neal is lucky he was nice about it. Seriously, I have major issues with people who are mean to each other with the cake. Don't think it sets a very good begginning tone for a marriage!

19. What was "your song" that you danced to at your wedding? When you say nothing at all by Allison Krause, but we had lot's of good music.

20. What did you serve your guests to eat? Oh geez, this was a nightmare. The reception center messed up on our menu. I don't remember what the outcome was except that my mom was a frenzied mess and I was too done at that point to care. I do know we got a hefty refund from the reception center because of their mix-up. I think we had the traditional food...honestly, I don't remember.

21. What did your friends do to decorate your car? We took a limo, thus avoiding the dreaded car situation.

22. What was your favorite wedding gift? Gosh, I don't know. We got a lot of good stuff, my parents pretty much furnished our first apartment. My mom's best friend made us a "wedding" quilt that I still love.

23. What was the worst wedding gift you got? a box of DI stuff from one of my parents WEALTHIEST neighbors, oh geez gotta love Gloria! I am not kidding, it was a box of mismatched "STUFF" I don't know how else to describe it. We were laughing hysterically going through it!

24. Where did you go on your honeymoon? Florida and Grand Bahama Island. It was awesome.

25. Looking back, is there anything you would have changed about your wedding? Oh hell, I wouldn't have stressed near as much and wouldn't have worried about all the little details. So lame because as witnessed in the above question, I don't even remember now what we served. Other then that though, it was a dream of a day. I loved it!

Now I'm breaking all the rules...I am tagging all my blog buddies that want to play this one. Tag...you're it!

Seven Years Ago Today...

we said "I do" and just so you know, even though we don't have "it" all figured out yet and things aren't always perfect, I'd do it ALL over again. Love you...

What Happens In Mexico...

This sign greeted us at the Cabo San Lucas Airport...Welcome to Me-hico...

Beautiful view of the Sunset from the beach right down from our hotel...

Beautiful Cabo San Lucas Sunset on Lover's Beach.
This little island is home to hundreds of sea lions. There were a bunch of babies-it was so awesome!
This is called the window to the Pacific because you are on the Sea of Cortez side looking into the Pacific Ocean-BEAUTIFUL!
This guy was seriously HI-LARIOUS. He was for sure high on crack but we got a kick out of him. Here he is getting ready and...
Hi-Ho-Silver-Mexican Style-he offered to take us horseback riding for $10-yeah, no thanks sir! But thank you for the entertainment.

This was the view from our room-so beautiful. I didn't think to get a picture of our room, but it was way nice-the tile work was AMAZING!
Neal and I in front of Lover's Beach. Our tour guide told us that it is called "Lover's Beach" because each year during hurricane season, the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific Ocean "come together" and merge. He did some various hand motions to make sure we understood...Si senor, we got it!

After 5 days in beautiful Cabo San Lucas and a week home to recover, I am finally getting around to posting about our trip. It was so much fun. We stayed in the Riu Sante Fe all inclusive resort and it was beautiful. I spent the majority of my time by the pool with a book and was able to read 3 books in the time we were there! Neal on the other hand is much more adventurous than me and managed to go para-sailing, golfing and snorkeling. I felt bad because I couldn't participate with him in most of his activities (well, let's be honest I COULD have but the pregnancy card is so nice to play sometimes :) Anyways, we did enjoy some great time together stuffing our faces and going on a sunset boat ride out to Lover's Beach and seeing all of the beautiful landmarks and sights of the Baja Peninsula. We also enjoyed a little shopping, Mexicana style, which is always a great form of entertainment, and although I had SO much fun and loved relaxing and being lazy, I was really excited and ready to come home and see my sweet kids. That lasted about 12 hours until they woke up Monday morning and regular life resumed and I wished I was back on the beach, but what do ya do?

...And We Are Off...

Off to Cabo in the morning! Can't wait to catch up with all my bloggin' buddies when I get back!

The Battle of The BULGE...

So Neal took me to the Ballet last night for a surprise night out. I love the Ballet. The music, the costumes, the graceful lines of the dancers, all of it. We had excellent seats and I was totally consumed by the beauty of it all, except for one bulging problem. Now, I don't mean to be crude or rude or offensive and I have gone to the ballet dozens of times so I should be immune to it, but for some reason last night, I could not get over it. The BULGE. The big, conspicuous BULGE. You ALL know what I am talking about. If I didn't know better, I would think that the tights are SUPPOSED to accentuate it. The dancers tops I swear are CUT to land just above it thus making it all the more noticeable. I really was completely distracted by it. I can't believe that I am admitting this to all of you, but I just wanted to get it out there. Does it make me a dirty, perverted girl? I don't know, I don't think so, I feel that it is something that is not in my control. Something that is just BAM there, following me around the entire performance. Just as I would start to lean back and enjoy, another AMAZING dancer would enter the stage with even TIGHTER tights and I would be back where I started. So, after much deliberation and yes, discussion with Neal, I am still just as puzzled as I was from the start. I don't understand it, don't get it and I really REALLY wish that with all the technology and knowledge that we have today that someone, SOMEWHERE could figure out a way to eliminate this problem. That being said, it was a great night and I loved the performance!

And again...

So I've been tagged again, this time about my hubby... so here goes...

What is his name? Neal Hamilton Gatherum
How long have you been married? 6 and 1/2 years
How long did you date? 3 years almost to the day of our first date
How old is he? 31
Who eats more? Him, usually, but sometimes I go on those "Thomas" binges and man oh man, I can really pack it in (my sissies are laughing and nodding their heads right now cause we ALL share that little problem!)
Who said I love you first? Him
Who is taller? Him, but only by a few inches, he likes to pretend he's taller AND bigger than he is!
Who sings better? I don't think either one of us is gonna be winning any tony awards for vocal performance!
Who is smarter? I would say we are equal, but smart in different ways.
Whose temper is worse? Mine, definitely mine (can we say anger management!)
Who does the laundry? ME
Who does the dishes? ME
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I do
Who pays the bills? Him, and I gladly let him do it, I don't like worrying about such things, but I do compulsivley check the bank webpage daily, or more than daily...:)
Who mows the lawn? Him for right now but starting next year the pleasure of the job is going to a "lucky" neighborhood kid or a lawn-care service, we have too big of a back yard
Who cooks dinner? ME (do you see a pattern here?!?!?)
Who drives when you are together? Him, he's kinda controlling like that-hahaha
Who is more stubborn? Oh gosh, we are both SOOOOOO-OOO stubborn and then we are surprised to see that same quality in BOE?!?! I honestly don't know, we have both mellowed in this sense, but we are both pretty bad
Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Usually me, in fact it used to ALWAYS be me, but he has totally improved on this aspect of our relationship
Whose parents do you see the most? Before my mom died, it was hands-down my family, but now that my dad is remarried and my sisters have all moved away, I would say it is about even
Who proposed? He did-at Hardware Ranch in Logan, it was perfect!
Who is more sensitive? Me, but he is sensitive in his own way and it's one of the things I appreciate most about him
Who has more friends? I would say we are about equal on that. We have been together for almost 10 years so our friends are now all mingled and mixed for the most part
Who has more siblings? He does, there are 7 kids in his family and 5 in mine
Who wears the pants in the family? I guess we both do, but maybe we each do on the issues that are most important to both of us, I don't know, my belief is that neither one of us should, I love going around pantsless!!!!

Okay, now I tag: Kami, Mandy, Marti, Amanda and Megan-HAVE FUN!!!

SWEETCAKES

So Neal has been out of town for ten of the last fifteen days. He is coming home tonight and I am SOOOOOOOOO excited. I don't realize how much of a help he is and how much I miss him until he isn't around, so I wanted to dedicate a post solely to him. Here are 10 things I love about him...

1. He is REALLY funny and sarcastic-and the best thing about his type of humor is he doesn't try to be funny, he just naturally is.

2. He is REALLY good with money. If it were up to me, we'd be broke, we'd have everything we want, but we'd be flat broke. Neal, however, is a pro with a budget (I call him the budget nazi) and I have to say that I really appreciate having financial security no matter what happens. I must really miss him, I can't believe I just admitted all of that!

3. He is an excellent dad. His work keeps him super busy and he is gone a lot, but when he is home, it's all about him and the kids. He gets down to their level and listens to them and validates them. I love how he treats them with respect.

4. My mom REALLY loved him, she told him that he was her soul-mate, he agreed and they forged a great alliance against me. Just kidding, but she did love him and always told me how lucky I was to have him.

5. He gets along with my friends and family, actually, he gets along with everyone. People enjoy being around him.

6. He is humble. He doesn't flaunt his accomplishments, he would never want someone to feel inferior to him and he is so good at making others feel comfortable around him.

7. He is quietly faithful. Just like he doesn't flaunt his accomplishments, neither does he flaunt his beliefs but he is such a good example of being faithful and living by faith.

8. He is optimistic and positive almost all of the time. I am more of a "glass half-empty" type of gal and he definitely sees more of the "half-full" side of things.

9. He enjoys the simple processes of life. He is good at recognizing the small, important things in life.

10. He loves Me!

Okay, sorry if that was too cheesy for some of you, but I don't tell him enough how great I think he is, and I do, I think he's the greatest! Love ya Babe!

Tag-I'm it!!!

So I've been tagged...I am supposed to come up with six interesting things about myself and my family...hmmm, here goes nothing:

1. We are the current owners of 2 dogs (Zepplin and Ellie) and 3 cats (Dingo, Elmo and Maverick)-all of which live outside-but still, 5 animals in a home where the mom/boss is NOT an animal lover...go figure!

2. Neal and I dated for 3 years before we got married. I think that might be a record in the state of Utah!

3. Neal, Boe and myself are all left-handed.

4. I have a bit of OCD and I CANNOT leave my house until all 5 of the barstools at the bar are pushed in and set in their own specific spot, that's just a sampling of my crazy obsessiveness.

5. The sales people at Southtowne Old Navy and Southtowne mall Gap/Gap Kids literally know me by name...not sure if that is really a good thing or not, but it's kinda interesting eh?

6. I still have a bit of a nail-biting habit, it's not quite as gross as actually biting them, because now I am obsessed with clipping them...another one of those OCD issues...

Okay, now I tag, Allison, Marti and Courtney...Have fun!