The last tribute before I go under...

My tribute today is for my sweetheart. Brian and I meet when I was 14. My family had just moved into his families ward. We became quick friends. I had the biggest crush on him and later found out that he had one on me as well. The downfall was that he was 18, that is not legal in case some of you didn't know. Brian owned a lawn care company for about 7 years as a teenager. I was in need of money and babysitting wasn't cutting it anymore so I started working with him. We would mow up to 50 lawns a week and it was usually just me, Brian and his baby sister Melissa aka Missy. In this picture is Garth (Brian's dad), Grandpa Hanks(his maternal grandpa), Hunter, Brian and Ricky(married to Sharree, Brian's sister)

Just before I turned 16 I quit working for Brian. At this point he was dating girls from college and would frequently bring them to work with us. I really liked him and it was hard for me to be around him and these girls. So he did the college thing and I did the high school thing and we stayed in touch here and there. My Senior year Brian came to our house to show us the engagement ring he had purchased for this girl Angie. We had never heard of her and didn't know a lot about her. What my mom drilled out of Brian was that he was pretty much marrying someone that didn't fit any of the standards he was raised with. (He was be rebellious and was rebounding off of a 2 year relationship and jumped straight into marriage.)

Those of you who know Brian know that he is very head strong and stubborn. There wasn't a sole on this planet that could tell him not to go through with it. So that was that. He married Angie in the Spring of 1999. I attended the reception and at that point I had come to the reality that Brian was officially off of the market. So I graduated from high school about a month later and went on to College up at the U of U.

This is us at the circus at UVSC this last spring. We had a blast. McKadie loved it.

So about a week before I got really sick and had to leave school I got a phone call from my mom saying that Brian and Angie had separated. I felt bad for Brian. We were still good friends and I didn't want him to have to go through this. Well on top of that Angie was 3 months pregnant with Sadie. So then I get sick and end up moving home to my mom's in PG, about a mile from Brian's parents home. Brian moved home when they separated. Well I was out of it for a while, really out of it. Brian shows up to check on me and gets mad at me(more like he harassed me) for not letting him know I was home and sick.

Brian loves to go 4-wheeling and motorcycle riding. He has done it his whole life. This is a picture of him and Sadie after a muddy ride. It is by far one of my favorites of him.

So we start talking and visiting and old feelings were rekindled. That is the short version. It took a year for the divorce to go through. We found out on Saturday that it went through on Friday. So Saturday night I treat us to our first official date at Golden Corral, Brian was broke due to lawyers bills and such. Sunday night we headed out to my grandma's house in Mapleton for a birthday party and Brian proposed. 4 Weeks later we were married on November 25th, 2000 in Pleasant Grove. We were sealed almost 2 years to the date later on November 30th, 2002 in the SLC temple.

This is a picture of Brian sitting at temple square. This face of his is commonly mistaken as him being grumpy, but what people don't always understand is that he is a very deep person. Right here he was thinking about some personal things and I snapped a cute pic of him.

Brian is my best friend. He has been there through almost all of my hard times. He was there when my uncle died. He was there for me when my dad went to prison. He was there through it all. People's chins drop when they find out we were married only after 4 weeks of being engaged. I wouldn't change it for the world.

Brian loves me no matter what. He reassures me that it doesn't matter if I am heavy or skinny that he will always love me no matter my size. He said that he didn't marry me for my drop dead gorgeous self, he married me for who I am inside. The nerdy dork as we like to tell our kids:) This picture was taken of us in December in AZ.

When I was pregnant with Hunter we won custody of Sadie. We have full physical and joint legal. Angie has told us that in her heart she just can't give her rights up and for some reason can't agree to let her have us sealed to us. In the end we have faith that Heavenly Father will work out all of those details in the end. Sadie knows we love her and that I am so grateful to have her as my daughter.

I have a picture like this with Brian and all of our kids. The one of him and Sadie was when he meet her for the first time when she was a week old. Angie didn't think he would care to know that she was born, HELLO he was fighting for custody from the get go. Anyways, this is a picture of Brian with McKadie in September. He truly loves each one of his babies.

Brian is my "Favorite" person in the universe. I am having a hard time with this tribute because I am afraid that I won't be able to describe in words what he means to me. He has a billion wonderful qualities about him and getting to them all seems impossible. It's like having a jar full of sand and being told to describe each grain individually.

Obviously this is Brian giving his biggest silliest cheeser smile. McKadie was only a couple of months old if that. He is such a proud daddy.

Brian is the first guy I ever held hands with, yes while we were mowing:) We tried to hide it so that no one would know but later we find out that it wasn't the case. Brian is the most tender hearted guy I know. He is so selfless and giving and is the hardest working man I have ever meet. He was raised by great parents and they taught him well. I doesn't do jobs half way and sloppy, he does them right and he does them well. That is pretty much how everything in his life is. He is a super daddy.

Brian is great at taking the time, the little moments with the kids. In this picture he is making a snowman with Hunter. Brian is always taking the time to do things with them. Last week he was out working on his truck and Hunter comes in and tells me that dad was playing football with him. It's things like taking the time from doing things Brian wants to get done and just spending a few minutes with them to make them know that he loves them and that they mean everything to him. One time when we lived in AZ I found Sadie in a closet with Brian. She was holding his drill and was trying to drill screws into some shelving that he was putting up. It was so cute, she couldn't have been more than 2 1/2 years old.
When we got Gretchen, our lab, he built her a mansion of a dog house, and it took him days to finish. But I have a bunch of pictures of the kids helping him on it with daddy's hammer and screw drivers and everything. They will always remember those times with him and I am so grateful they have those memories.
This was the Sunday that we blessed McKadie. I love that Brian will be silly with me. I am a whacky character and am often found acting a bit dorkish, Brian doesn't care, in fact he will often join in.
This picture was taken Christmas Eve of 2007 in AZ. There is a personal joke behind Brian's shirt he is wearing. Have I mentioned that I would be lost without him. We have so many common things in this life that we like and enjoy. To list a few: country music, western/native American art and decor, camping, fishing, our kids:), good uplifting music, the gospel, good movies, and so many more. One thing about my husband is that he is not afraid to show his emotions. I remember we had only been married about 8 months or so. I was in the bathroom of our little basement apartment and we had music playing while we were getting ready for church. It was Afterglow. I went into the living room to do something and I saw Brian and he had tears streaming down his face. I asked him what was wrong and he smiled and said, "I'm just a boob." and pointed to the stereo. He loves our Savior and I love that about him. Some other times that have touched my heart when I have caught him tearing up is when Hunter and McKadie were born. Or at his grandma Hanks or grandpa Gillman's funeral.

This is a picture before we were heading to the Strawberry Days Rodeo this summer. What a hottie. On many instances we have been told that he looks like Tim McGraw, although I am a big fan of Tim, I have to say my sweetie is a lot sexier:)

Brian and I don't fight. I know that is weird for some people especially since we have been married almost 8 years. But we don't. We don't yell at each other. When we disagree about something we talk through it. We talk about a lot of things. We have frequent pillow talk that last for hours, and no I am not doing all of the talking. We have had some hard times that we have had to deal with, but I am grateful that we not only have a strong marriage, but a strong friendship to back up that marriage. It has helped us through some tough times. Brian is a very respectful man. He opens the door for me. When we are playing games, I always get to start them out first because I am the lady of the house. It is a rule he was raised on. Brian was also raised that you respect women, they are queens and Goddesses. He has never layed a hand on me, and never will.

This is a picture of us at our first Tim McGraw and Faith Hill concert. What a hottie I have. Geesh, I know I am cheesy but I love this guy to death and then some, good thing we are sealed for eternity.

Brian is a great singer. He sang in the A Capella choir in high school and has sang in many quartets and solos for church activities and sacrament meetings. I love it when he sings. Brian is a great dancer. Before my declining health took over my body, we would go country dancing all of the time. We really enjoy and I hope that after surgery we will be able to go more often. Brian is excellent at math. I call him my walking calculator. He can do hard math in his head and it always amazes me.

Did I mention that I love how he loves me? He supports me in all that I do. It has been expensive for him too. When I told him that I wanted to start doing photography seriously he was behind me 100% and checkbook in hand. He is my best critique, meaning he is honest but doesn't be brutal about it. He supported me when I wanted to have my breast reduction. I was afraid that he wouldn't be as attracted to me or would look at me different, he has done nothing like that and still treats me the same as he did before. He is always there for me when I am having failing health. He waits in the waiting room during all of my surgeries and every time I have been on bed rest he is taking over all of my chores and even though it wears him thin he does it with a smile. This is where it is hard for me to say everything I would love to say about him. I have a hard time coming up with words to describe what I feel for him. And I hope for his sake I show him how much I love him and am grateful that we have each other.

Brian is an electrician. He will be done with his apprenticeship in the spring. He is so good at it and he loves it. This picture is of him on top of the catwalk at the Real Soccer stadium where he has been working since January. He was on lunch and no this isn't a grumpy face this is just a picture of him tired and worn out but he sent it to me to let me know that he was thinking of me. For the first couple of years we were married Brian and I would talk every lunch break for the whole lunch break. Now that there are kids in the picture and I don't have as much free time we don't always get to do that. But he still calls me in the morning to let me know he got to work safely, I am super paranoid...I know it's ridiculous. He also calls me on his way home so that we can chat about the day and whatever else. I also love how he will call me and tell me to listen to a certain radio station because the song that is on reminds him of me. What a romantic! Also, Brian hasn't had a guys night out in I don't know how long. I don't ever remember him even having one. I asked him about it once and his response was, after a 40 hour week he doesn't have much spare time other than eating and sleeping and house chores so he said he would rather spend all of his spare time with me. My heart melted. What a babe. It also means the world to me that he understands how important it is for me to be a stay at home mom. I worked for a couple of years while we were first married and Brian and I came to an understanding that it wasn't worth it and that I needed to be home. I plan on going back to school when the kids are all in school full time and Brian supports that but doesn't want me to work unless I want to and the kids are not at home. I love him so much for taking the gospel principles so literally and is faithful to them. There are so many things I would love to say about Brian. I try hard to tell him and show him regularly how much I love him and how much he means to me. It is killing me because this weekend there is a family reunion and I will be in the hospital. I know how much he wants to spend time with his family, especially because he doesn't get to spend much time with his parents or his sisters. So I want him to go and have fun but the selfish part of me wants him at my side in the hospital. There is just something about having him there that no matter how much pain I am in, I feel better knowing he is there.

So Bri, I love you and you mean everything to me and then some. You are my favorite and I just want you to know that I look forward to spending the eternities with you! I love you babe!!! XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOY...Y is a secret Brian and I have...people have tried to guess what it means unsuccessfully and we will take it to the grave with us....