29 BABY!!!

Happy Birthday Dallas! Seriously, where has the time gone? It seems like yesterday that we were engaged and my mom called and asked for Dallas' birthday, so she could add it to the family calendar. Dallas had turned 23 on January 22nd that year and my friend Jennilyn was going to be 22 on the 23rd of the upcoming January...I got a little confused. So although I remember his birthday on the correct date every year, it is on our family calendar for the 23rd, so our extended family still thinks it's on the 23rd every year. Sorry babe!! This is my public apology.

To see just how cool my husband is, you'll have to visit our last blog post from February of last year. We'll be a little more low key in the celebration department this year, but still have a blast I'm sure.

Since Dallas is 29, I've included my TOP 29 REASONS of why I love him and think he's the best. (For those who've known us longer than two years, I KNOW I did this when he turned 27, but I'll have you know this is a list of 29 NEW reasons. When you have a husband as COOL as mine, it's not hard to come up with more).

Drum roll...

Here we go!

1. I love that he doesn't take himself too seriously.

(See 02/08's blog post for more details on this picture J)

2. I love that he knows he can get whatever he wants from me if he plays the piano for me, but doesn’t abuse this power. J

3. I love that he’s quick to say, “Thank you,” or, “I appreciate…”

4. I love that he always takes care of the little things like getting the mail, taking out the trash, regulating the heater, setting up electronics, putting the toilet seat down, changing the breaks, etc…etc...etc.

5. I love that he is always willing to listen to my opinion, even when he doesn't agree with it.

6. I love that he always asks s if there is anything he can do to help.

7. I love that when he is wrong or says things he shouldn’t, he apologizes and doesn’t make excuses.

8. I love that he’s never a dream stealer or a fun sucker.

9. I love that he can play guitar hero like once a month and still blow everyone out of the water.

10. I love that he never rushes through things and does well at “being in the present.”

11. I love that he’s a problem solver not a problem finder.

12. I love that he always opens the door for me wherever we go.

13. I love that he eats nasty things in China on business trips and acts like, “It’s just another day in the life of Dallas Stahle.”

14. I love that he initiates getting Lincoln in the morning or if he wakes up at night

15. I love that he eats my cooking, good or bad and never criticizes it.

16. I love that he always asks me at some time throughout the day, “Have you gotten all your words out?" (According to Dr. John Lund, men have 7,000 words and women have 21,000 they use in a day…this explains a lot J).

17. I love that he makes me laugh every day

This bottom picture...when he first shaved, it actually freaked me out and I was not laughing, but as a result of #19, I got over it and now think it's hilarious.

18. I love that he’s never guilted into anything. He does things for the right reason and stands his ground.

19. I love that he's helped me realize that my moods are a choice.

(This is me at the early stages of #19, while experiencing #25. And yes, that is a RC helicopter in my hair).

20. I love that he’s not all that concerned about what everyone else thinks, does or says.

His are the ones on the right. When my sisters were visiting, he got pedicures with us and upon Brooke's suggestion to get Hot Pink polish, he obliged and topped it off with Palm Tree "nail art."

On our Victoria, BC vacation with the Dixes, Dallas forgot PJs. Here he is after mooning me (obviously couldn't post that pic due to the nature of our blog audience). These are my PJs.

21. I love that he is NOT a fair weather fan.

BYU of course.

Sporting his Mavs paraphernalia. We went to the Mavs/Blazer game on Christmas Day last year.

22. I love that he makes me feel that being with me or with our family isn’t a sacrifice or inconvenience even when it is.

23. I love that he's passionate about his hobbies.

24. I love that he reminds me to pray when I need to the most.

25. I love that he asks for remote control cars and nerf guns for Christmas.

(Obviously not a picture of either, but another example of what he did ask for for Christmas)

26. I love that he can find almost anything I lose (still looking for my glasses J).

27. I love that he’s always able to keep life in perspective and see the bigger picture.

28. I love that I can trust him with anything and everything.

29. I love that his love of being a dad is completely obvious.

Happy Birthday Dallas! WE love you!

Ash and Linc...or Link, however you prefer to spell it today. XOXO.

Ivan's Wedding! ...and Bachelor Party

For those of you who don't know, on Jan 1, 2009, my little brother Ivan came to live with us in Oregon. He had a semester off from school and we were excited to have him live with us while he worked to save money for the next semester. Well, during that short 4 months he became very involved with the "locals", and next thing we knew... BAM!!!! He was getting married. So less than a year after moving to Oregon, my little brother became a MAN!! Dec 19, 2009. In honor of his new life, we got a bunch of us married MEN together and celebrated the night before. Here are some pics of the event.

Just kidding, you only get one picture... at the very beginning! What happens on a Bachelor party, stays there... unless you're married and tell your wife what we did. Then everybody hears about it and has an opinion. So needless to say, we tried really hard to get Ivan in trouble with his new wife. I think we succeeded, but she doesn't know the half of what we really did! :)

Anyway, I had a special shirt made for Ivan (pictured above). On the front it read:

23 YR OLD

VIRGIN...

And on the back it read:

...NO MORE!!!

DECEMBER 19, 2009

Mike (Baranie's husband) also brought a bowling ball with a heavy chain attached to it that Ivan had to wear all night long. We padlocked it to his leg. He also had to wear a sombrero. I don't know why, but at least he looked stupid. That was our goal. Now this is were I leave our happy story and leave your mind to wander...

Now let's move to the wedding!!!

Lindsay Zook took a ton of awesome pictures. Seriously, you should hire her. She's good. Go to her blog. http://linzphoto.blogspot.com/. Go right after you read this. You'll be impressed. Here are some of the photos she took. I'm way impressed.

Ahhh.... Ivan with his own ball-and-chain :) Oh yeah, did I mention yet that her name is Ashley? I guess not. Well her name is Ashley. You know what that means? She is the second Ashley Stahle living in the state of Oregon. Cool, huh? Oh wait, did I also mention that my oldest brother's ball-and-chain is named Ashley too? Oh yeah!! Ivan has completed the trifecta!!

We're still trying to figure out naming rights among the three. Do we go with A1, A2, A3? Is A1 whoever joined the family first? Whoever is the oldest? Whoever is the tallest? What if we just go with my oldest sister's idea, Dashley, Jashley and Ivashley? That could work right? My head hurts...

Don't fall in!!!! Whoooo, that was close!

See Ivan laughing in this picture? Look closely... He probably farted or something gross and cracked himself up.

This is a picture of Ivan with his dashing older brothers who taught him how to be a MAN!! Go us!! Okay, I admit... Ivan is cooler than us both put together... NOT!!! We rock. Better luck in the next life FOO!!!!

Finally, some good sense. Get him out of that picture!! Thank you A3/Ivashley for fixing this picture!

So in summary of these pictures, you can see how happy and in love Ivan is with his ball-and-chain. So he's going to keep her and we couldn't be happier for the two of them. The ceremony was wonderful and you couldn't get them to quit smiling. We're very excited for Ivan and A3/Ivashley to begin their new lives together.

After the temple ceremony and pictures, we headed down the street to have lunch with all the familiy. We picked this great Thai restaurant that A1/Dashley and I love. Thai Basil(http://www.thaibasilcuisine.com/) Go eat there today!! It was great! We had Yellow curry, cashew chicken, pad thai, vegetable beef, and more! It was really good and everyone seemed to love it.

This is me pretending to be in charge or something. Notice, no one is listening to me...

Ahh... I love pad thai!!!

The best thing about Ivan getting married, was that my family was able to come and visit us in Oregon. It was so fun to have them come visit. This picture is my oldest sister Baranie and older brother Jay. My nephew Maverick (Afton's youngest of 3) is turned away and Levi (Baranie's youngest of 5 is on her lap). We were glad all the babies got to come and meet Lincoln. they were all born within a year of each other.

This is Von, who is the owner of Thai Basil and my mother Selonna on the left. Von was so helpful and gracious in arranging her restaurant for so many people. The service and food were excellent!!

This is Link learning that he loves the taste of oranges. I think he's going to love lemon meringue pies when he is older.

...ditto with Mailie.

So for the record, Ivan is the favorite uncle. It sucks, but he does seem to have that one cool talent of being loved by all the nieces and nephews. I'm jealous. In this picture you have Levi on the left, Maverick in the middle and Lincoln on the right.

We took a family picture. Isn't Link adorable? He's always smiling like that.

Would a picture be complete without Nana wanting to join in? I think not!

The decorations for the reception were just beautiful and we had so much fun setting up! This is Ivan and A3/Ivashley having their first dance together. How sweet...

So they wanted cupcakes instead of cake. That's a sweet cupcake. The chocolate was to die for. I don't even like chocolate flavors and this was incredible!

My sisters with my ball-and-chain. Hot mamas!!

This is a picture of Ivan trying to get the nerve to find A3/Ivashley's garter. Let's just say his face was kind of red.

Here's Link getting ready to send the happy couple off on their honeymoon. He wanted to have as much energy as possible so he could be heard over the crowd.

Here's Maverick stealing some poor lady's shoes. He liked how they matched his sweater. They were a little big though.

So here is their car before they took off. Unfortunately, someone had saran-wrapped the car doors shut, filled it with balloons, and written "Shaggin Waggin" on the back. After a few frustrating mins of agony as Ivan was further delayed, he finally got his wife in the car and was off. We're so excited to have a new addition to our family and can't wait to see Ivan and A3/Ivashley have a great eternal marriage. Good luck guys!! (Editor's Note: There should be no such thing as a real ball-and-chain in marriages, and this reference should not be understood as anything other than a term of loving endearment. I've never felt of my wife as a "ball-and-chain" and only used the reference in this article for comic effect. I love my wife deeply and the 5+ years of our marriage have been the best years of my life.)

Christmas Vacation

All the Simmons Kids home for Christmas!

BYU...REPRESENT!

Another family pic.

Dustin in a very typical stance.

Brooke and me on one of the Go Carts. Dad rocked everyone's world with making sure the go carts were all up and running for some hard core fun!

Grandma Geri kicking a field goal!

We had a Simmons Family Soccer game at Del Oro the day after Christmas to work off some of those extra sweets! Here are some action shots that Brooke took with her new camera...

Aidan was obviously tired...he fell asleep with his head OFF the bed. Lol.

The Beatles Guitar Hero with Grandpa Jay, Grandma Geri, and Great Aunt Helen!

Grandpa Wade tickling Matty.

Rachelle with Matty watching everyone participate in Guitar Hero.

Lincoln with Great Great Aunt Helen.

Heath is obviously entertained, yes?

Brooke and Matty.

Mom testing out the Go-Carts.

Me helping Dad make biscuits and gravy for breakfast on Christmas morning.