MY NUMBER ONE!

So I told Sam I would follow Lindsay's excellent example and do a post a day for all of April. So this is my first. Unfortunately, I am not clever or funny and I don't have a houseful of cute and humorous little kids to blog about. So I am going to have to be as creative as I can get at night, seeing as how I am totally a morning person. I know, I know: do it in the morning. Mornings are so busy.

Well, I decided I should do my first post on my Number One: my husband, my best friend, my constant companion, Alan.

We met on an airplane and nine months later were married. What an adventure! He has kept my life, that would have been boring, filled with variety and interesting adventures. Little did I know what being both a cowboy and a hunter (to quote our grandson, Toby) would mean in our lives.

We have lived in three states, but traveled through much of the US together. He's been a wise and loving father. He's honored his priesthood and magnified his callings. Like my father, Alan has had the gift of healing which has blessed our family in so many ways.

Alan loves his grandchildren and shows it in so many ways. I think they love him back, too.

Alan is definitely a little quirky. He loves to hunt and seldom misses an opportunity to traipse through the wilderness to shoot something. He prefers to go bird hunting. I have never had to worry about his success since he is a natural marksman. I finally had to give him his own room to put all his trophies on display.

We have had more breeds of dogs over our 41 years than most people have even heard of. I have been trying to keep our number at 2, but no one can imagine how many times a month he finds another dog he just can't live without. I finally gave in to a third, a Wheaten Terrier. I am not happy about it, but he committed to me he would walk the other dogs daily and spend a half hour each morning just playing with all of them. I have a few other deals, but they will come out later. I actually surprised him with this dog. I can't believe we have a house dog. He will be tired of it soon, but it is really a sweetheart, so far, as much as a dog can be a sweetheart. I am sure the honeymoon will be over soon. At least this one doesn't shed and seems to be housebroken.

Another quirky thing about him reminds me of my dad. He gets "car fever" less frequently than "dog fever" but he can't have a car too long. Car payments are a way of life. This is his latest. He did make an awesome deal with his car dealer client, so I guess it could have been worse.

Alan was born a century late. He should have been a cowboy or a pioneer crossing the plains. I have coerced him into the city life, but the cowboy inside keeps showing himself. He had our niece, Brooke Smart Sadler paint him in all his regalia. She caught him, don't you think?

Marriage is never simple and easy, but it is wonderful when we help each other grow, see another side of things and bring out the best in each other. I am so grateful to have Alan as my Number One.