25 favorite things

Today was the anniversary of Nic passing way. So for my own therapeutic reasons, and because they made me smile I jotted down 25 things that reminded me of Nic.

1. How he always had to make a big entrance. You always knew when Nic had walked through the door.
2. How dang competitive he was. Do I need to remind anyone about the game of risk, or the unfortunate game of Scum.

3. How much he loved our kids.I remember when Avery was born he kept saying "I never thought I could feel this way about someone."
4. I never could ride behind him on anything motorized. For example, our honeymoon we were jet skiing through the ocean. He forgot I was on the back, and left me swimming with the scary fish. Also, snowmachining once he forgot I was on the back and hit a jump. Thankfully the other couple was behind us to pick me up. Who knows how long I could have laid in that snowdrift.
5. How he cut his hair in a Mohawk to look like Chuck Ladell (the ufc fighter), but Lindsey and I kept teasing him that it was really to look like Justin Timberlake. He didn't think that was very funny.Or, how he let Che bleach his hair the week before we got married. It looked awesome. NOT!
6. He loved to take the stroker out muddin. How redneck is that.
7. He thought crash derbies was a sport to be taken very seriously, and entered every chance he got.
8. When we played paintball he always went along with my rules. Which were, I could shoot him but he couldn't shoot me. I don't think he had any idea how good my aim was.
9. He was a hard worker, and I loved working in spud harvest with him. We always shared a lot of laughs.
10. He was a really good cook. There are a few of us that would really like his secret marinade recipe. Even I don't know it.
11. He was always helping out the missionaries, and had a strong testimony.
12. Whenever he was talking to someone he didn't know he would start talking different. I was never sure what he was doing. Or if someone had an accent instantly he would have an accent to. I would give him endless grief over this. It always cracked me up.

13. He just talked funny in general (but in a good way). At his funeral the bishop stood up and gave a pretty good impression of this. He would drag out names, and give them a little drawl.
14. He used to ask me to dance during the preview music at movie theatres.
15. On our first date, he didn't walk me to the door. Instead he punched me on the arm and said, "Maybe I'll see you around sometime." Little did he know.
16. He used to bath with our kids every night. He was always looking for new bath toys for him and Mason.

17. He loved his family, and was close to all of his siblings. I think he talked to his little brother Rob on the phone more than anyone.

18. He taught Mason to stand up in his crib, and scream Suey.
19. He was always acting a little like a kid. I was laughing the other night with his best friend, about how they were jumping off of the bridge at our swimming pool (in Tx), and got kicked out. Then later that week we went to a go cart place and the two of them got kicked out for bumping into each other. He was always causing trouble. :)
20. He loved parties, and having people over to our house.

21. He was kind to everyone (when I wasn't always) I don't think there are too many people who can say they had a major fight with Nic.
22. How he was late for almost every family party in the winter. This was usually because he was snowmachining.
23. He loved to watch funny movies with me, and then would randomly quote them. Just because it made me laugh. Our personal favorite was Night at the Roxbury.

24. He loved to shop the ten for ten deals at Albertson's. This was the last thing we did together as a family.

25. He always made me feel special,and would thank me every time I cleaned the house. He also always had time for our kids. We were poor students, but he would always come up with fun things to do with them. My personal favorite was our weekly trip to Petco, just to look at the puppies and goldfish.

As I look back over the past two years, I am so grateful for the blessing that I had to be married to Nic, for the two kids that we have, and for all of the love and fun memories that I have to treasure. I am thankful for the life that I have now. For Neil, and what a great dad and husband he is. Most importantly I am grateful for the gospel, and the knowledge of eternal families. I am grateful that this life is not the end, and someday we will all be reunited, and can be one big happy family.

Che' also put a really cute post about Nic on her blog. You can see it at landonandche.blogspot.com