Happy Valentine's Day!

So this morning Matt got up as usual to prepare for teaching early morning seminary, which means he's up before 5 am. Today he was louder than usual, and woke me up several times while he was getting ready in the master bathroom - I was especially annoyed because I had been up three times with Claire already, so when he came out I said - can you please be quieter? - in probably not my sweetest voice.

Then when I woke up later on, I went into the bathroom and noticed a homemade valentine on the counter with a coupon book of fun treats, along with a large York Peppermint Patty on the counter (I asked for no chocolate since we are doing weight watchers, so he knows that it is a low point treat). I instantly felt bad for being rude to him - and to make matters worse, when I went to take a shower, I saw that he had colored all over the tiles with bath crayons and written little love notes and flowers for me to find. So that was the noise - him scribbling away on the walls :)

So, not to be outdone, I had put together a list of the reasons why I love Matt Hiller to put with his gift - I meant to do 30, since he turned 30 earlier this month, but I ended up with 50. So, I hope you single friends don't gag on this cheesy list, but here it is:

Reasons I Love Matt Hiller
February 14, 2008


1. He plays with my hair at church
2. He is a good storyteller
3. He tells me I look skinny when I know I don’t
4. He gets along with my family and even loves my parents
5. He changes poopy diapers and even volunteers to change them at church
6. He lets me pick the type of sandwich we split at Subway
7. He will watch Project Runway and Top Chef with me
8. He laughs at the same commercials over and over again – namely the Sonic and Snickers Feast commercials
9. He is the King of Random Knowledge
10. He wants a dog really, really bad but doesn’t go out and get one because I’m not ready to have one just yet
11. He can make Claire smile bigger than anyone else
12. He was the first one to make Claire laugh out loud
13. He loves Disneyland
14. He took ballroom dancing lessons with me when I was pregnant, and I still felt sassy
15. He cried at our wedding, even though I didn’t
16. He is good with kids and even teenagers like him
17. His favorite TV shows are Dog Whisperer, Monday Night RAW, Man vs. Wild, Survivor and Lost
18. He speaks Vietnamese and takes me to our favorite Vietnamese restaurant where we are minor celebrities
19. He teaches early morning seminary and gets up before 5 am every day to try to make the Old Testament fun to learn about
20. He watches Claire some days while I am at work
21. He always vacuums because that’s my least favorite chore
22. He joined the church when he was 21 and went on a mission when he was 23; he is a good example to me of sacrifice and service
23. He is good at sports, especially soccer, volleyball, swimming and basketball
24. He claims to have the best chocolate chip recipe on earth but has never made them for me; instead he eats my cookies which are in reality, the best
25. He is the only sibling in his family with beautiful green eyes
26. He has lived in California, Alaska, New Mexico, Texas and Nevada – I was scared to death to move and change schools as a kid, so I am impressed with anyone who has moved a lot
27. He gives great back and feet rubs
28. He reminds me to say our prayers at night
29. He isn’t shy about giving out hugs and kisses
30. He always flosses and has perfectly straight teeth without ever having had braces (maybe I hate him for that one…)
31. He will assemble things for me even though I know he doesn’t like to – as in cribs, baby toys, the pot rack, etc.
32. He talked to my belly every night when I was pregnant to make sure that Claire was equally aware of his voice so she would recognize him when she was born
33. He has a great sense of humor and makes me laugh all the time
34. He joined weight watchers with me so I can have a “supportive environment” to lose the baby weight
35. He counted Claire’s sneezes when she was born because he thought they were so cute
36. He wears his t-shirts inside out so he isn’t flashing a logo or brand around
37. He has received straight A’s since going back to school last year
38. He doesn’t get mad when I groom him
39. He will come visit me at work sometimes, and has brought Claire to visit me too
40. He can park, parallel park and back up any vehicle – which makes me so nervous, so I let him park all the time
41. He bought me a beautiful necklace after Claire was born and I will always remember her birth when I wear it
42. He made us wait to find out if we were having a boy or a girl, and finding out ended up being a really amazing moment
43. He washes my car
44. He makes breakfast for me all the time – rice and eggs
45. He wants to have all girls, which most guys would never ask for
46. He has a strong testimony
47. He is a good teacher
48. He does the dishes for me
49. He has his own quirky style and doesn’t usually ask me for clothing advice (even though I give it to him sometimes)
50. I know that he loves me and I never doubt that he is sincere when he says “I love you” at the end of every phone call