background: I am the first counselor in the primary presidency (sidenote: we have 4 kids old enough to be in the primary - the teacher to child ratio is 2:1 - more on that later since it makes for pretty entertaining stories and I'm seriously considering renting kids for our primary program next month) anyways, our ward was having a Preparedness Fair today and had no one to man the "Kid's Corner" (aka babysit all the little kids). So naturally I volunteered myself... and Mike. And so the adventure began...
We had around 12 kids ranging from 8 months to 5. After the first twenty minutes we learned a) there was no way to keep the kids in the Kids Corner of the gym b) never underestimate the crawling speed of a baby and c) all kids will want the same toy at the same time. We had a good time though. I loved watching Mike hold a baby while taking requests to draw ninja turtles (you should have seen the detail on the weapons - this guy knows his stuff).
Towards the end we scooted all the kids over to listen to a presentation given by the fire department. Mike had a five year old little boy sitting on his shoulders so he could see better, and he starting flicking the kid's shoes. The little kid scowled at him and yelled, "Hey! Stop that! I don't like to be manhandled!"
That moment made the whole two hours SO worth it.
and a year later...
on saturday we celebrated our first anniversary! it is hilarious to watch mike open presents - not even open them, just be around presents. he poked them a little when he thought i wasn't looking, and makes funny little humming noises right before he opens them. i think his favorite gift was his own cooking-ish brush. after months of trying to steal my paintbrushes for marinades he finally received his own brush, which he was slightly excited about :) he surprised me with an awesome mini-trip to salt lake to stay at the inn on capitol hill, which is definitely one of the coolest buildings we have ever been to. i secretly pretended it was our house the entire time we were there.
it's a christmas miracle! well. close anyways. mike has to have a root canal. if you are not familiar with BYU health coverage and the cost of dental procedures, they don't mix well. we were close to finding a cardboard box on the corner and nixing Christmas for the next five years, but Mike' sister Annie is AMAZING. she used to work at an endodontics office [dental-ish] and called in a couple favors. we are building her a shrine in our living room. we love you Annie! [and now we can buy you a Christmas present]
