Getting older

I turned 29 yesterday. Eryka likes reminding me at each birthday how olllld I am, which is just silly, because I'm a whole 5 months older than her. (While I'm on the topic of birthdays, happy birthday to Dad on Tuesday and to Chrislynn on Friday). Well, I had hoped to make my first million by the time I turned 30. I don't think I'll make it unless I find a much more lucrative job in the next few months or ask for a raise in the amount of about 0.99 million dollars. However, thinking on my life today after church, I'm pretty happy with where my life is one year shy of 30.

The thing that really triggered it wasn't the fact that I had a birthday, but more because a new American family moved into our ward just a few weeks ago and they got me thinking about where Eryka and I are in our lives compared to them. The husband just graduated from business school and got a job working for a Spanish Bank. They just got married three months ago. And they both graduated BYU a year before I did. So obviously, they don't have kids yet, and are really just getting started into the whole marriage thing.

It made me feel pretty old, actually, that I've been married seven years longer and have three kids and they're probably both older than me by a year or two. I couldn't be more grateful for my beautiful wife and three fantastic kids. No matter how hard work is or how many hours I'm spending in my office, I always know I have them to come home to. They love me and support me. There's almost nothing better than the hugs I get from Isaac and Stella when I come through the door at the end of a long day. I had just Isaac and Stella to myself for a couple days last week when Eryka went to New York to finally pick up her Visa. We had a lot of fun together going to the amusement park, watching movies together and playing video games. It makes me happy to know the kids are secure in their love for us and in our love for them. They asked about Mom only once or twice, and when I explained where she was and when she was coming back, that was fine for them. They know we both love them and that we'll always be there for them.

They've both been really great with Joaquin. They love it whenever he's awake, and now they're starting to play with him (as much as they can anyway - mostly it's just him looking around while they play with each other). But they all love each other and do a really good job of sharing and showing love and helping one another (with the occasional violence - but that's kids, right?).

And Eryka is doing great recovering from labor and delivery. You woudn't know she had a baby just five weeks ago. Really, she looks great - and if there's any doubt, she's wearing a smaller size of jeans than before she got pregnant! (I say that just to brag on my wife and make everyone else sick with her - she's unnatural I tell you, unnatural).

Work is going well for me. It was really hard getting back into it after taking three weeks off (one for vacation and two for paternity leave), but I'm feeling back into the swing of things now. I also just need to remind myself that it's only until next summer, then I get a change of scenery (which is always good for me). Plus, I just need to remind myself I still have plenty of vacation time to take this year. We're planning a fun vacation in December. Sorry to everyone who was hoping we'd be coming home for Christmas - we've decided to stay in Europe and spend a few days in Paris and take the kids to Disneyland there. We've already booked the airfare, so we can't change our plans now (of course, we only paid 120 euros total for round trip tickets for the entire family - gotta love European discount airlines).

So I'll leave you now at the end of my rambling. Just remember, if you're ever jealous thinking I lead an exciting jet-setting life in an exotic location (now that's just me flattering myself, as if anyone could be jealous), anyway, just remember that I spend 90% of my waking life sitting at a desk. hmmmmm. . . exciting. . .