Off he rides, on his noble steed, a valiant figure, straight and tall! To wake his love with loves' first kiss! And prove that true love conquers all!

When I was little, my favorite movie was Sleeping Beauty. I loved Aurora and her charming Prince Philip. I hoped someday I would grow up and marry someone brave and handsome like him.

Most of the time, my husband is every bit the charming Prince Philip. And that's quite a feat considering that I more resemble the evil Maleficent over Sleeping Beauty.

I fell in love with him on one of our first dates when he told me that he always wanted ten kids. A man who wants ten kids is a rarity. I've only met one other guy that wanted ten kids. I knew I couldn't let Chris get away when he shared this desire with me. I just loved him from that moment on.

When Chris was getting close to graduating from college, I was starting to dread his job search because it meant we might have to go far away. I didn't want to leave my family. I didn't talk to him at all about it because I was so nervous about what he might say. One day he comes to me and tells me he's decided to look for a job only in the Toledo area because he knows we'll be needed there by my dad and sister. I was relieved and so happy. I didn't think I could love him more that I did at that moment! We started sending out resumes. I think we sent well over 100 to every company in Toledo we could find. He had some interviews but no offers. We were both starting to get nervous. Here he was graduating with a wife and two children and has no prospect of income. Finally, he gets an interview with a radio station based on a recommendation of his boss at the Wharton Center who is friends with a manager at the station. He was offered a job and the same day we leased an apartment about 2 miles from my dad's house. It was divine intervention that brought us to Toledo. Two days before we were supposed to move, my dad had surgery on his bowel that caused him to have quite a long recovery in the hospital and nursing home. He was never the same after that and wasn't able to live at home with my sister. We were really needed there. Chris listened to the Spirit and put his potential career to the side to care for family. He's such a great guy.

He was a hero to me when he was able to recognize someone in need and struggling and rescue them from peril. Again, he listened to the whisperings of the Spirit and did as prompted.

Again and again, time after time, he has come to my aid. He has never had to fight dragons or Maleficent's Goons but he yells at mean neighbors for me and mean people on the phone. He tells the kids to stop fighting and be nice to me. He gets me out of jams and picks me up when I am falling down. There are times when I ask him for something that seems impossible for him to deliver on and I bug him about it and he says, "Have I ever let you down before?" And I think and think and I can't think of a time.

He's not perfect but he's perfect for me. And when it comes to the big stuff he is perfect. It's the big stuff that counts and he always delivers when it counts.

Happy Birthdays!

I've got two special birthdays to celebrate today!

First, my little Cameron is 4 today. It's hard to believe that he was born four years ago. Seems like yesterday. My due date was June 2 and as I went overdue I was so worried about having him on June 6 because then his birthday would be 6-6-06 and then maybe he would be a devil child. Some days, I think he might just be. :) But most days he is sweet and lovable. He has grown so much this year. Here are some of his accomplishments: completing a year of preschool, potty training, learning to pedal his bike, putting on his shoes by himself, creating multitudes of Spore Creatures and helping put away the laundry. Good job, Cameron! I love you!


Second, today is my dearest, darling Christopher's 38th birthday. I couldn't ask for a better husband, friend, father, counselor, partner and sweetheart. I love him so much! He makes me laugh every day. He comforts me when I'm down. He's patient with me when I screw up. He puts up with all my quirks and failings. He makes me happy! Happy Birthday, Chris!

When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.

Chris and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary last week. We got married on February 23, 1995 in the Toronto, Ontario, Canada LDS Temple. It was a cloudy, gray day outside but my heart was bright and sunny because my best friend and I were sealed together forever.

I think the best part of the experience was sitting with him all alone in the Celestial Room as we waited to be escorted into the sealing room. We looked in the eternity mirrors and our smiling faces went on forever and ever.

Over the past 15 years, we have had days with smiling faces and days full of tears. We have our yucky moments, like any married couple. Yet, Chris remains my very best friend. I love him and I also genuinely like him. Being together makes me so happy.

Chris, thanks for making me so happy! I love you.

You know who I am? In the field of local-live-home entertainment, I'm a god!

Today, Chris did a magic show for the kids' school assembly. He did an amazing job. I love watching him perform. Even though I have seen the tricks a million times and know how they are done, I still enjoy watching and I laugh at all his jokes. Watching his shows reminds me of some of the first times I saw him perform magic.

Chris and I met at the LDS Living Center in East Lansing. I lived in the girl's building and he lived in the guys. My roommate and I had just moved there from BYU and we didn't know anyone, so we decided to throw a little party and invited all the residents and hoped that we would get to know guys people. It worked. Lots of people came and we had fun and danced and ate snacks. It was a great party. This guy, Chris Vos, came too and brought some "magic tricks" with him. Being the snotty 19 year-old that I was, I thought "magic tricks" were about the gayest thing you could have at what was supposed to be a really cool party. I didn't go over the the "magic" corner of the living room where Chris Vos was wowing and amazing our guests. I stayed in the safe, ungay, cool part of the living room with the music and the dancing. But pretty soon I was all alone. Everyone was watching Chris Vos. I slunk my way over to the crowd to get a peek and couldn't believe what I saw. He totally stunk! He couldn't remember how to do the trick and kept screwing it up. I was so embarrassed for him to fail like that in front of all those people. And then...WHAMMY...he does the trick and amazes my socks off. Then I felt like an idiot..the not remembering and screwing up are done on purpose. I know now that it's called a "sucker trick" cuz the magician is suckering you in to believing that he can't do it and then he totally blows you away. Chris is awesome at it!

After he used his magic on me and won my heart, he would do magic all the time for money for us to live on. He worked for a talent agency in Detroit and would get gigs at the country clubs down here all the time. I would drive down here from East Lansing with him and sometimes I would sit in the car and wait for him. Sometimes I would go in and sit with the coat check girl while he would perform. In those days, putting together his show took FOREVER and I was really impatient. It would make a huge mess in our apartment. I hated that part of the magic. I once broke one of his tricks by playing with it too much until it just collapsed in my hands. We laugh about it all the time because I am always breaking stuff accidentally.

Every apartment and house that we have lived in has had a playing card stuck to the ceiling after Chris did the "Card on Ceiling" trick. It is a great part of our house. I love that our kids love his magic and that he is teaching them how to do the tricks so that they can have a great talent like him. Chris, you bring magic to my every day.

Happy birthday to my darling bunny boy(s)

Today is Chris and Cameron's birthdays. Chris is 37 and Cameron is 3. Every year on Chris' birthday, his mom calls up all our phones-home, cell and work-and leaves a personalized song by Captain Kangaroo on the voice mail. I think she has to fire up the turn table to do it. It reminds me of the phone call that Billy Crystal gets from his mom on his birthday in "City Slickers." I love it that she does that because it seems like something I would do.

Cameron got to have a fun party with his friends during which we played traditional party games. Anna made the best Pin-the-tail-on-the-Donkey game. Cameron got to blow out his candle in a blueberry muffin. The kids had fun and the moms did too, I think.


It's hard for me to believe that my tiny Baby Cameron is 3! Even harder to believe is that my dear Christopher is 3 years from 4-0.

I'm not pushing your buttons. I know me. I know what I like.

The time has come for me to blog about my husband and the strange things he has been doing the past few months. Slowly over a few months, he has been changing into someone that I don't know. Don't get me wrong, the changes aren't upsetting in anyway... just very drastic and different for him.

I have known Chris Vos for just over 14 years. I have loved him almost that same amount of time. We will celebrate our 13th anniversary next Saturday. To know and love Chris Vos is to know and love all the things about him. Even things that are a little annoying. When I was in YW, I made a list of characteristics that my future husband would have to have. I still have the list. Chris meets most of the characteristics. Funny, loyal, spiritual, Eagle Scout, RM, check...check...check...check...and check. However, I ignored one item on the list because it didn't seem relevant the more in love I fell with him. This characteristic was that of being an avid reader. Chris does not love reading the written word. As we courted, I realized that in high school he did not read books required by teachers. Pride and Prejudice...nope, The Scarlett Letter...ditto, anything by Shakespeare...again no. The last book he read was called "Jacob Two Two Meets the Hooded Fang," by Mordecai Richler. While this book is funny and rewarding, it's not the first thing that comes to mind when discussing classical literary works. Growing up, I had a very good friend (who happened to be a boy) that I also was completely enamored with who was an avid reader. We had the most interesting and wonderful discussions of literature and I wanted this type of conversation for my future life as well. However, my heart won out and I married Chris in spite of his lack of literary prowess. (You can ask him what he gave up to marry me. I'm sure the list is long.) During our 12+ years of marriage, I would many times read a wonderful book and long for Chris to read it so we could share and discuss. He did read during our marriage, however his choice of books left much to be desired. Some of his favorites: "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill, "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" by Robert Kiyosaki, "Awaken the Giant Within" by Tony Robbins, and anything by Steven Covey. Excellent books, perhaps, but not what I prefer on my nightstand. After finishing the final Harry Potter this summer, I sighed and wished aloud that he had read them so that we could discuss. This must have gotten the gears turning in his brain because last month he says to me, "Go downstairs and get me the first Harry Potter book. I think I'm going to read it." There was nothing he could have said to me at that moment that would have shocked me more. In fact, I was certain he was kidding and did not retrieve said book for him. He kept bugging me about it and so finally I went and got the book for him. Which he read!!! He read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. We had a nice little discussion and much to my delight, he asked for book #2. This has blown my mind. I. am. totally. blown. away.

Ok, change #2. Or should I say #"er." A few months ago, he says to me, "I think I'd like to learn to speak Chinese. Could you look into it for me at Schoolcraft?" I looked at him like he was speaking Chinese at that very moment. Am I understanding correctly? You want to take a college course to learn to speak Chinese? My surprise came from the fact that he didn't love school. Didn't really love college...not math or communications or really anything he had to take. He loved knowing where you could get the greatest burgers on campus at (Peanut Barrel). He loved listening to Duran Duran on the jukebox and eating wings at BW3. He loved using the IM's and working out. But the actual work of school...not so much. Knowing this about him, I was again blown away that he wanted to go to school and take a class. Like the book, I didn't take it seriously. I didn't look into it for him. He started to beg me to do this...so I finally gave in and now he is taking a class called "Conversational Chinese." He loves it and is learning. Just in time for "Ni Hao, Kai-lan."

Ok, the last change is the strangest by far. As long as I have known Chris he has been an onion hater. Hate isn't really strong enough to describe his dislike of onions. Loathing, repulsion, horror, disgust: these are better. He loathes onions. My dad put onions in most of his cooking. Chris hated it. My dad wasn't one to cater to personal dislikes and food aversions. His philosophy was, "learn to like it or go hungry." Chris will go back to Taco Bell if onions are accidentally left on any of his items. He will tell waiters and waitresses that he is "allergic" to onions so they don't forget to leave them off his order. I once watched him choke down a dish made by some dear friends of ours entirely of beans and onions. Very strong onions. It was not pleasant to witness. So last night we are on a date and want some Chinese food. Our budget is limited and so we opt for a little dive where the prices are low. The dishes have some onions in them and he starts to pick around them. He says, "I really wish I liked onions. It would be so much easier." Pretty soon, I am witness to him putting large pieces of onions in his mouth which he proceeds to chew and swallow. "Not bad," he says, "I guess it's just mind over matter." For the third time in just 2 months, I have been left totally flabbergasted. Not a sound comes from my mouth. I cannot respond to the scene I have witnessed. We finish our meal and he continues to eat onions and trade Chinese pleasantries with the wait staff.

It was like an out of body experience. I am looking at my husband who I know so well reading books, learning foreign languages and eating onions. If I wasn't completely sure of his loyalty to me, I would be concerned about maybe a Chinese, book-reading, onion-eating mistress. I know this isn't the case however. I am learning some very important lessons from Chris' new interests. First, you can make changes to yourself to please your spouse. He is reading because he loves me and knows it makes me happy. Second, you can improve yourself in ways you never thought possible. Who knew Chris Vos would learn Chinese? It seems outside the realm of possibilities. Who isn't to say that one day I might possibly be Jennifer Vos, Certified Nurse Midwife. Or Jennifer Vos, writer of books. It could happen. Third, just because something is a certain way and has been that way for a long time, doesn't mean it has to be. I can change. Thank you, Chris, for teaching me. I love you.