(Haun is Sean's nickname, I coined the term when we were dating because it mixed "honey" and "Sean" together)
In honor of his 27th birthday, let me tell you 27 things about Sean Willardson.
1. He is the most determined man I have ever met.
He was determined to serve and complete a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Ireland. During the last month of his mission he sprained his ankle so bad that he was on crutches. He could barely walk or ride a bike. His mission president wanted to send him home early and honorably, but he begged to stay. Even though he was in terrible pain, he finished his mission (his mission president told me this story in person).
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| Him and his favorite companion, Elder Gleave |
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| I love this picture because you can see his gorgeous red hair on the top of his head. :D |
His determination did not stop there. After he returned from his mission he went to BYU-Idaho. He was then determined to find a wife. Rejection was certainly not going to stop him. Three dates a week was standard for as he searched for his eternal companion. Even after all of those failed dates, he never gave up. He had his eye on me and once he knew I was the one, he was patient. When we first started dating, I took him with me to our summer home to vacation with my sister, Rachelle, and her family. We were gathered around the table playing cards and my sister said something pretty bold, "Sean, I'm surprised you are still around."
She did not necessarily mean it against him, she just knew how many guys I had dumped. His reply shocked us all, "Well I hope to be around forever."
What did he mean? Was he serious? Yes. He was determined.
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| That very same day he said "forever" |
And he succeeded. We were married 8 months later.
Next on his list was a college degree. Although he worked and worked on school, he could never manage to get the grades he deserved. Although he was disappointed, he never gave up. We recently discovered he has struggled his whole life with Attention Deficit Disorder. Did that ever stop him? No. Even when I asked him to quit so that I could just "support the family" he said "NO!" He was recently accepted into the business school at the U of U. And although he absolutely hates the U of U, he is still absolutely determined to get that college degree. He is set to graduate the end of next year in accounting. He works 40 hour weeks than studies more than 20 hours a week and cares for William while I work nights. With everything on his plate, he has still been getting A's and B's. I am so proud of him!
2. He loves children.
When we were first dating I asked him a valid question, "how many children do you want." His reply was simple, "ten."
I laughed. "Are you serious?!"
"I want as many children as I can possibly have. Of course I wouldn't expect my wife to give birth to all of them. We could adopt the rest."
Where did this guy come from? He was serious. He also said that he believed the father is just as responsible for changing diapers, feeding, and waking up with the babies in the middle of the night. That was something a man had never told me. He kept his word. He often gets with with William and tells me to go back to bed.
I grew to love him as I watched him play with my nieces and nephews. He immediately loved them and they loved him.
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Summer 2008, my niece Abbi and Sean   |
One of my favorite memories of him was when we went shopping with my little nephew for his two-year-old birthday. We got into the large Walmart and my cute tiny little nephew grabbed Sean's hand to show him his favorite toys. I walked behind as I saw this sweet tall 6'3 man lean to hold this little boy's hand. I was so attracted to him that later I just started kissing him in the middle of the aisle at Walmart (Jaden was well occupied with the toys). Moments later we heard my mom yell, "I saw that!" : D
One of the hardest days of our married lives was the day we learned we may never have biological children. I had never seen Sean so down and sad. Through his cries he sobbed, "We will still get our ten children, it just might be harder and take longer than we thought."
It cheered me up. I laughed and finally admitted, "I don't think I ever agreed to having that many children in the first place."
Watching him father William brings tears to my eyes as I am writing this blog. When William was born, he held him and cried. "Is he really ours? Is this real?"
I cried replying, "Yes."
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| So Proud. |
William is his first priority. When he gets home from work, he finds me and William and immediately hugs and kisses us. Then he will play with William for an hour or so before he goes to studying. In the evenings if he puts William to bed, he doesn't ever want to actually put him in the crib. He will rock and sing him songs until William falls asleep in his arms. Often I just watch him through the crack of the door and smile.
Tomorrow is Father's day, and I truly believe William could not have a more loving father.
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| He is always silly and makes William laugh. |
3. He is a romantic
Sean is all about the romance. When I had just made our relationship "facebook official," Sean wanted to take me to the hospital for my capstone in Idaho Falls on July 4th. I reminded him several times that I had to be there at 0545 which meant that we had to leave Rexburg just after 0500. He dropped me off in the morning and even walked me up to the pediatric unit. I was still confused as to why I was dating this guy. Later that day he texted me and said, "I want to take you to lunch when you are ready."
At my lunch break I ran out to meet him. He opened my car door and there on the seat was a pine cone (I picked a pine cone and gave it to him as we were on a walk several days before). Next to the pine cone there was a note that read, "Press play on the iPod"
Immediately the following lyrics played aloud,
From the moment I saw you
From the moment I looked into your eyes
There was something about you I knew,
I knew That you were once in a lifetime
A treasure near impossible to find
And I know how lucky I am to have you
'Cause I've seen rainbows that could take your breath away
The beauty of the setting sun, on any given day
And when it comes to shooting stars I have seen a few
But I've never seen anything as beautiful as you
If that wasn't enough,
he grabbed my hand and began singing the song to me!
At the end of my break I
returned to the hospital in a pretty deep daze. One of the nurse's looked at me
and said, "Anne, are you okay?"
I sighed, "yeah, I
just have a really weird boyfriend. He is not like any other guy I have dated
before. I just don't think I like him as much as I thought I did."
"What
happened?!"
I explained what he did
and many of the nurses gushed, "I wish my husband would do things like
that! Don't let that guy go!"
Apparently I was
not listening because I broke up with him the next day.
Of
course a week later I realized the nurse was right and well, you know the
rest of our story.
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During our courtship, I
had never been so spoiled. He was constantly giving me flowers, stuffed
animals, love letters and any gift that he thought I would like. Everyday, the
first thing in the morning he would text me and tell me that I was beautiful. Every
day. He would fix me dinners, take me for romantic walks and dates. One day I
found a note in my make-up bag that said, "you don't need make-up, you are
beautiful without it." He would say the cheesiest things like, "if
you were a flower and I was the sun, I would only rise for you." Dating
Sean was never ever dull.
After we got married, he
still would come home with flowers or dinner, a favorite movie, candles, and I
seriously can't recall everything. I finally told him that our budget couldn't
survive that kind of romance. But he still finds other ways.
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| Made me dance in the street. Look at his face, he is so in love. |
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| Bananagrams note |
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| Flowers sent to my work on a bad day. (He picked the same flowers that we had at our wedding) |
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More flowers at work
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| Random card he bought saying, "I know it isn't V-day yet, but I couldn't resist" |
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| Breakfast served in bed. |
| There has never been a doubt in my mind that Sean loves me. Unfortunately I don't have every single one of his cute thoughts or services documented in writing or picture. I will get emails through out the day with the simple phrase, "I love you." Texts that read, "I miss you." And love songs sung on my voice mail Even when I could not possibly look uglier he looks into my eyes and says, "you are beautiful." I could go on and on with many more stories. |
4. Compassionate
Sean is the most
thoughtful and giving man I have ever known.
I had such a hard time
the day my twin sister got married. I sat and texted Sean about how much I was
struggling. He begged me to let him take a shuttle from Rexburg to Centerville
that night just so I wouldn't have to dance alone at the wedding. Then he would
return on the shuttle the next morning to be back at work by 0400. I was so
snotty and said no.
However, he called my
mom the next morning and asked for my address so he could send some flowers.
She said, "Sean, don't waste your money doing that, we are leaving for a
family reunion in a couple hours."
Once again he was
determined, "I know, but the floral shop said they could have them there
in an hour!" My mom was pleasantly surprised.
The card read, "I
wish you were here, but you're there. And there doesn't know how lucky it
is."
While we were dating I
had surgery on both of my ankles. The first time in August (newly coupled), he
took time off work to care for me. When I came home from my surgery, he
carried me upstairs to my bedroom. The first thing I noticed was that he had
cleaned my room. That was a WOAH! He would carry me up and down
the stairs during my recovery at my moms house. Made me food to take with my
medicine. Changed my ice packs. How could a man be so gentle and loving? But he
was. He would fall asleep next to me in a chair holding my hand. The antiseptic
turned my foot green and I complained about my ugly toes. Later that day
he returned from the store with nail polish and painted my toenails pink so
they would be pretty again. :D
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| Picture of him carrying me while in my walking boot. And taking me out to dinner. |
I had an interview with
my bishop while I was dating Sean. I told him I wanted to serve a mission and I
wanted to start my papers. The bishop changed the subject to Sean and asked,
"did you know that every Sunday he volunteers to come early and pass the
sacrament? And every Sunday he comes to my office and asks me if I need anything.
I think maybe you better figure things out with Sean before you consider a
mission."
During the Easter season
before we were married, I got really sick with bronchitis. Sean showed up with
a box of orange juice, a "get well" card, and a huge fuzzy Easter
bunny. I smiled and asked him why he brought me a giant bunny. In all
seriousness he said, "so you can cuddle with it when I'm not there to hold
you." Although I never used it for Sean's intentions, it is still stuffed
in a box in our basement. I figured we could give it to our kids one day.
I had always wanted a
yellow lab. But Sean did not like dogs. However, he loved me more. He surprised
me one day by taking me to see a batch of puppies. He let me pick the one I
wanted. When she was old enough to take home, he stopped at Walmart first to
buy some towels so she wouldn't have to be on the "hard surface of the dog
kennel." How cute is that?!
One day he decided to
take Fiona for a jog. He came home all sweaty and heaving. I asked him what
happened. He had a really worried look on his face and said that Fiona had
stepped on a thorn and her paw was bleeding. He didn't want her to hurt the
rest of the way so he carried her several blocks back home. She must have been
at least 40 pounds!
When I was pregnant I
had the worst morning sickness. Sometimes he would fix me three different
dinners to find something that wouldn't make me nauseous. There were many times
I would wake up in the middle of the night vomiting and he would always clean
the mess. One night I woke up and began vomiting in the bowl next to the bed.
Sean woke up and held my hair back as I wretched my guts til there was nothing
left. After I was finished he quickly took the bowl, cleaned it out, and
returned it to my bedside. I began crying and Sean asked, "what
is wrong?"
"I was throwing up
so hard that I peed the bed."
Without any
hesitation he escorted me to the couch, changed the sheets, and
started the laundry.
I am pretty sure he is a
better nurse than I will ever be.
His love and compassion
is not just for me, but for his family, my family, his friends, and even my
friends. I think he is pretty incredible.
Well, I guess I'll make
the rest short and sweet.
6. His favorite color is
green.
7. His favorite
foods are rice pudding, ice cream, and pizza.
8. His favorite hobby is
cooking! He makes our dinners several times a week. But he rarely
follows a recipe. He likes to just mix things together and experiment with
flavors (he is a good chef!).
9. His favorite thing to
talk about is his mission in Ireland.
10. He loves cuddling.
11. He loves dancing.
12. Soccer is his
favorite sport.
13. He bleeds blue (even
though he goes to the U of U).
14. He is an amazing
bowler and averages a 220.
15. He has a strong
testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
16. He loves to read.
His favorite series are The Will of Time. He read Pride and Prejudice in one
day.
17. He is really good at
trivia questions, especially Jeopardy.
18. He would love it if
I let him drive a motorcycle (I think they are too dangerous).
19. He is always
thinking of new ideas for about anything and everything.
20. He does the ironing
in the house (I prefer to mow the lawn).
21. He loves The Lord of
the Rings, Star Wars, and Star Trek (classic nerd).
22. He is very stubborn.
23. He listens to
classical, opera, Disney, pop, and country music. His favorite songs are Viva
la Vida by Coldplay and the Queen of the Night's Aria from The Magic Flute.
24. He loves musicals
and theater.
25. He has a fear of
heights and for the most part he does not like roller coasters.
26. He still wants ten
kids!
27. And just in
case you did not know, he is mine for all eternity!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
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