101 Things I love about my Husband!

Having a baby changes a lot of things. Parenthood has been the greatest blessing and a big adjustment also. One thing I've wanted to be sure of is that Lloyd and I are able to keep our relationship just as much of a priority as taking care of our little boy is. I saw this idea online and thought it was a great idea. What better way to focus on all the little reasons why my husband makes me happy. I think this will be a fun way to remember all the details that make each day a blessing. I hope it will help me to be a better wife to occasionally do a deep evaluation of my love for my hubby and remind myself just how lucky I am to have him.

101 Things I love about you...

1. I love that we are "Eternal Buddies"
2. I love how much Treyson loves his Daddy and lights up whenever you come in the room
3. I love that you honor your priesthood
4. I love that we share an obsession for "The Office"
5. I love the high pitched laugh that comes out when you get telling funny stories with your friends or brothers
6. I love that we were married in the temple
7. I love that subconsciously you like to cuddle with me more than you think...even if I only know this because you pull me in while you're asleep
8. I love how you help Treyson pick me a flower in the yard when I'm having a bad day
9. I love how goofy we can be together
10. I love singing in the car with you
11. I love that you work so hard to provide for us every day
12. I love that you still hold my hand in the car
13. I love that we have hopes and dreams for our future together
14. I love watching you with Treyson because I can just see how much you love him
15. I love that you still love me even when I let my emotions get the best of me
16. I love when you ask me out on a date... even though you already know I'll say yes
17. I love a lazy day off with you at home
18. I love your smile
19. I love that you make me want to be a better person
20. I love it when I hear you bear your testimony
21. I love when you surprise me... Even if it's as simple as picking up a Disney movie for a date night at home
22. I love to watch you play air guitar to "Queen"
23. I love that you love me being a stay at home mom just as much as I do
24. I love when you remind me "it's all going to be ok" when I'm stressed
25. I love your sense of humor
26. I love that you are such good friends with your siblings, it's made me love them like my own
27. I love when you wear your cologne... It reminds me of when we were dating
28. I love when you help Trey kneel so we can say prayers
29. I love that we can be REALLY impulsive buyers sometimes... It usually makes for a funny memory
30. I love that Treyson has your dimples when he smiles
31. I love when I'm getting up to leave the room and you pull me back for a kiss first
32. I love when you help clean the bedroom
33. I love when I can just see that look that says "I love you"
34. I love when you sing the lyrics wrong
35. I love that you put up with my sarcastic humor
36. I love knowing you have deeper thoughts and feelings that you let show sometimes
37. I love the fact that if we were forced to talk in movie quotes for the rest of our lives... we would survive
38. I love it when we do something spontaneous
39. I love to fall asleep on the couch in your arms
40. I love that you always mow the lawn and keep the yard looking so nice
41. I love watching you joke around with your friends
42. I love when you do the dishes
43. I love how you interact with the Young Men in your calling
44. I love when we just talk
45. I love when you tell me how much you liked dinner tonight
46. I love that you make me laugh every single day
47. I love that you always take care of our cars and keep them running so well
48. I love when you show Treyson off... you're such a proud Daddy
49. I love that you read "The Hunger Games" with me
50. I love how good you are with your nieces and nephews. It's one of the very first things that made me fall in love with you
51. I love sitting on the porch together
52. I love that we own a house, and that we made it all our own
53. I love the fact that we both like to eat, just as much as I love to cook
54. I love when you come give me a kiss me goodbye before work... even if I'm still asleep
55. I love that you know just when to come take a turn with Trey if you can see me getting flustered
56. I love when you stop me from doing the dishes and start dancing with me in the kitchen
57. I love going on walks together
58. I love when we go on road trips or long drives in the car
59. I love all our inside jokes
60. I love when you tell me I'm beautiful... even if I usually disagree
61. I love the fact that I still miss you after you leave
62. I love when a song makes me think of you
63. I love when you call during the day just to check up on us
64. I love that you served and loved your mission... I loved you for that before I ever knew you
65. I love that every summer we become slightly obsessed with Snow Cones
66. I love to play video games with you... even though I'm horrible
67. I love to cuddle up on the couch and watch movies together
68. I love when you make Sunday morning pancake breakfast
69. I love when you rub my feet or tickle my arm
70. I love when you sing to Treyson
71. I love when you initiate a kiss
72. I love how handsome you look right after a hair cut
73. I love when we talk about church and the Gospel
74. I love how Trey sits and watches Sports Center with you
75. I love that you didn't give up on me when we were dating
76. I love knowing that you read your scriptures
77. I love that we are working together to get out of debt
78. I love that you take me to the Temple
79. I love that I can't hear Jack Johnson without thinking of you
80. I love knowing that you listen to the spirit
81. I love when you offer to pick up dinner after work when you know I have had a bad day
82. I love when you fall asleep during a movie with your head on my shoulder or lap
83. I love that you let me warm up my cold feet under your legs at night
84. I love how entertaining it is to watch you cheer at a football game
85. I love when you bring me breakfast in bed... even if you get a little help from Burger King
86. I love Christmas time with you
87. I love knowing how much you care about us as your little family
88. I love that you are the last person I see every day and the first one I see every morning
89. I love that you think its so funny to have my quote "Finding Nemo" when we can't fall asleep at night
90. I love it when I get a kiss in public... even if it's a little one that no one even saw
91. I love to hear stories about your day at work
92. I love when we host Football parties... you get to watch and I get to cook!
93. I love your singing voice
94. I love when you "win" at church by getting Treyson to sleep when I can't
95. I love getting to see you on your lunch breaks at work some days
96. I love that you know me so well
97. I love that you dress up with me for Halloween even though you hate it
98. I love when I walk in the bedroom and find you saying your prayers
99. I love that you are so determined in everything you do
100. I love when you read Treyson a bedtime story

101. I love you very most because of the person that I am because of you. I couldn't be the wife and mother I have always wanted to be without your love and companionship. You are the greatest blessing in my life.

"... What really matters is that he will love you, that he will respect you, that he will honor you, that he will be absolutely true to you, that he will give you the freedom of expression and let you fly in the development of your own talents. He is not going to be perfect, but if he is kind and thoughtful, if he knows how to work and earn a living, if he is honest and full of faith, the chances are you will not go wrong, that you will be immensely happy". - Gordon B. Hinckley

Here goes nothing...

I am not entirely sure why I am creating this blog. I am afraid that it may cause family or friends to feel as if they need to take time out of their busy days to read this just to prove their support to me, or to make me feel good. To be honest I have debated even posting this at all for that reason, but in the end, I realize I need to do this for me. Sometimes it helps to just get my thoughts out there, something a little more concrete to really think through things that happen in life. I find that by walking myself through a situation, I find clarity and end up answering my own questions sometimes. I would love to think my little boy, and future children could have this to look back on and be able to get to know the real me from a day to day perspective. The good, bad, and ugly as its all unfolding.

I have been meaning to keep a journal for some time now but can never seem to keep up with it for more than about a month... ok maybe a week. I am a new mom and I think there are just so many other things on my to do list, that taking the time each day to sit down and write in an actual journal easily gets pushed aside when there is always laundry to be done, dishes to be washed, dinner to be cooked, and a baby to be fed. So my hope is that by having this journal online, that is easy access and literally at my finger tips at almost any given moment, that I can really commit and make this a priority.

I have been thinking a lot lately about who I really am. I love my family and friends deeply and would do anything for those that I care most about. I am also an active member of the LDS church and find so much joy and meaning to my life by striving to live by its teachings. I was just looking through some old posts on previous blogs I started in college and when I was first married. I was kicking myself for not doing something like this sooner. It's sad how quickly we can forget about things in the past, yet looking back to those posts its like I'm teaching myself things today that weren't even meant to be a lesson learned when they happened.

I have always been the happy go lucky, but somewhat shy girl. In high school I was involved in art, photography, choir, school plays and musicals. I liked to play guitar and listen to anything from alternative rock, to country, to musicals. My creative and musical sides were pretty much what defined me and I was passionate about them. I had amazing friends, but looking back I realize the shy girl in me let them sometimes control a little more of my life than I should have. They weren't bad influences by any means, and I'm grateful for the great memories I have from high school, I just wish I would have taken a little more "me" time once in a while to discover who I really was.

Graduation day came and I was so ready to run away from the small town, and everything that came with it. I was on a mission to break out of my shell in college... Prove to myself and the world that I was no longer the timid, goody goody girl from Snake River. I was bound and determined to leave it all behind and become a confident, outgoing, and fun girl who would EASILY find her prince charming and ride off into the sunset and never look back.

Well... Plans change! In my efforts to change my image, I opted out of going to sing hymns on campus with my roommates on Sunday evenings. (To goody goody, for the "new" me... And EXACTLY what the "old" me would have done and loved) Then I heard the school was putting on my favorite musical!! "Thoroughly modern Millie" I would have died for a chance to even be in the chorus! So you can imagine my disappointment when I realized I found this out 3 days AFTER auditions had closed. But that's ok, I decided I'd survive... The new "cool" me was then willing to put the musicals in the past, and move on to more "mature" things. Surely I could just leave this part of me behind to.

I did try to hold onto the "artsy" part of myself with only a couple unfinished paintings in my apartment to show for it. So art got thrown to the wayside as well. In another effort to show the world the new me I started my first blog... it was the cool thing to do and I was creative and crafty enough that it was fun for me. It was mostly pictures of me with my roommates and cute stories about my new boyfriend, but as soon as that boyfriend turned fiance I dropped that blog and started a new one to document our soon to be family events. I wasn't consciously trying to leave college in the dust, but looking back that's exactly what happened. I was so focused on being the new perfect little wife, that I always wanted to be, that I subconsciously dropped my efforts of the "new and improved college girl" to commit to my "new-er and improved-er" housewife. Long gone were the days of playing guitar, photography, or singing anywhere but in the shower... I had "grown up" stuff to worry about now. And I never realized until now... Almost 4 years later that I wish I would have done things differently.

Now don't get me wrong, I ABSOLUTELY love and have never once regretted being a young, LDS, housewife to an amazing husband who is without a doubt my better half, and a mom to the most amazing blessing in my life, a 3 month old baby boy ... But I am discovering that I may have left some of the most important parts of who I really am behind in that college apartment, and yes, maybe even that high school gymnasium years ago.

I had always heard the stories of Mothers having a melt down trying to find who they are after "losing their identity" to their children and becoming "just a mom". I never quite understood it just because that's all I ever wanted to be was a mom! I know it's my greatest calling in life, and now that it's finally here it has got me thinking a lot. I can absolutely see how you could get "lost" in motherhood now because it can literally consume your every moment. So I have always had a goal in mind to be the kind of mom that keeps herself in check enough that I don't end up resenting my motherhood... Ever. I want to be in a good enough place with myself, my husband, and my Savior Jesus Christ, that I can enjoy being a mother and everything that comes with it, even on the bad days.

With that being said, I feel confident in my relationship with my husband, and my Savior. Obviously, there is always room for improvement, but I am striving each day to do the little things that bring me closer to them both. Now as for myself, this is where the work comes in. I've never thought I would be one to lose my identity to my motherhood, but as I have been reflecting lately... that's not even a possibility at this point. I am discovering that I have never completely found myself to start with! I have been continually dropping all the little things that make up who I really am, and just going with the flow in life. I guess my thinking was if I got rid of all the things from my past, that new things would just pop up that make me into this perfect person I thought I was supposed to be.

Lucky for me, the one thing I have never lost is that happy attitude and outlook on life. It may have gotten tarnished at times, but even through the bad days I am usually able to see the positive. I have been very fortunate to be raised in the Gospel by loving parents. I have never questioned my testimony, or the fact that centering my life around the gospel is exactly what I want to always do. However, I know from experience, that even when I don't understand everything, and things get hard... living the Gospel makes me happy. I think this is the reason I have been able to "float" through life, happy as a clam even if I didn't even realize myself that I was missing a few things on the inside.

But now I have something to live up to. I wan't to be a wife and a mother that my family can look to as a strong woman who knows herself and has pride in where she came from and where she is going. So here it is... this is my resolve to find myself in every aspect of my life. I plan to learn and grow from every part of me that I have previously tried to run away from. I want the world to see me for who I really am, even if that isn't who I thought it would be. I want to pick up where I left off and embrace the parts of life that I was passionate about but thought I didn't have time for anymore.

My name is Sunni Lee, I am happily married to the man of my dreams. We have a beautiful son together who blesses our lives every single day. My family is my greatest joy in life. I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and I am so grateful for that. The gospel gives my life meaning and a reason to live the best I can so I can be with my family for eternity. I am shy. I love to make people laugh. I am happiest when I see my husband playing with our son. I have a deep love for art, and photography. I am "just a mom" and that is the best compliment I could ever receive. I am drawn to music and I love to sing and play the guitar. I am independent. I love alternative rock, and my favorite band of all time is Relient K. I am self conscious, and don't usualy have much confidence. I like to listen to my music a little to loud. I still sing and dance around my house to my favorite CD's while I clean. I love to cook, but hate the dishes. I stress a little to much. I recently discovered a love for reading. I don't have to give up who I am to be a good wife and mother. I am determined and smart. I am unique. I am ready to embrace all of this and resolve to make the next chapter in my life the best yet. I am ready to become who I was meant to be... Just Me.