4 weeks ago today...

I married this man!

Oh, how I love him!

He is perfect for me in so many ways. He tells me I'm pretty at least 10 times every day, and he makes me feel beautiful even when I've just woken up, and I haven't showered, or brushed my teeth, or put on any makeup, or even run a brush through my hair.

He tries to cheer me up even when I'm grouchy and acting like a brat... at our open house in PA, I came home from getting my hair done, and it looked so awful that I started bawling. Jacob just laughed and tried to crack jokes to cheer me up as he helped me take out the bobby pins and even tried to help me re-pin it. It didn't look any better, of course--my sister-in-law fixed it for me later--but it was the thought and effort that meant so much to me.

I can always count on him to help me with the dishes, which is the household chore I hate more than anything else. I think he does them more often than I do. If I make us a meal, he will usually do the dishes for me, and I appreciate it more than he knows.

He makes me laugh on a daily basis. One thing that I knew the man I married would have to do was make me laugh. And he does not disappoint! And he enjoys the fact that I think he's funny (not everyone else does?), so I guess it works out for both of us.

He ALWAYS opens my door for me when I get into the car, and if I'm slow enough getting out that he can make his way around the car in time, he'll open my door when I get out as well. He's such a gentleman. :)

He helps me to relax. I worry about everything and cause myself so much unnecessary stress, and he helps me to wind down when something is making me up-tight. He's so non-stressful and calm that he helps to balance me out... and I hope that I help him to worry a little more about the things that he needs to worry more about. ;)

I love that he is always learning! He loves to read up on different topics and learn seemingly random facts that he has been wondering about. He will sneak out of bed at 2 in the morning to research topics online that he has been wanting to know more about.

His scriptural knowledge intimidates me, but I love that too, because it makes me want to learn more. Any questions I have when we're reading our scriptures together, he can almost always answer for me. I learn so much more when I read with him because he is such a great resource.

He helps me to be a better church member. I feel like the things that I am weaker with in life, he is a little stronger with, so he helps me out.

He knows me so well. He knows my moods, and my facial expressions and what they mean, and how to judge my tone of voice, even the differences in the ways that I cry... Tonight I burned my thumb trying to take a baked potato out of the oven, and when I dropped it and it smashed on the floor, I just started sobbing. So Jacob laughed and sat me down on his lap, hugged me for a few moments, and then kissed me on the cheek and cleaned it up. He looked and me and said, "That was just the last straw for you today, wasn't it? That is one of your cries of frustration--when too many things have gone wrong, and this one was the last straw." And he was right. It had been such an awful day, and I was tired, and I was hot from trying to cook dinner in a 450 degree oven in our non-air conditioned apartment in the July Utah heat, and that stupid baked potato was just too much. I love that he knows me well enough that he can tell by the way I cry what is really upsetting me.

Jacob truly is my best friend, and I feel so lucky to be married to him and to spend every day for the rest of my life and beyond with him. I am so excited! Life is good.