13 Days of Love

Towards the end of July, I got the idea to do 17 days of why I love Jake - one for each day leading to our anniversary and sealing. Then I forgot about it. Go me. Pregnancy brain ROCKS. But I remembered on August 5th and starting do it, so it's 13 days of love instead of 17.

Day 1, I decided to write Jake an email. His phone doesn't tell him when he gets emails, so I wasn't sure how long it would take before he got the message, but he found it before the end of the day. Here's the email from Day 1:

Part 1 of Day 1

Part 2 of Day 1

I miss counted days and thought it would be 12 days of love, hence the first sentence. He text me late that night when he was at work and said he got my email and that I had made him smile. Awwww. Made it totally worth it.

The next day, I went to the grocery store and bought a few goodies that I could give to him on some of the days. We found these cookies one of the last times we went to the store and Jake LOVES them, so I bought him a package and left them for him in the bathroom where I knew he would find them.

Day 2

Day 3, I put a Gatorade & his note in the fridge before I left for work.

Day 3 - I love you because you help me in the kitchen

Day 4 was one of my favorite days. I got ready for work that morning, not quite sure where or how I wanted to give him his "daily love." I packed my lunch, like I always do, and left it on the kitchen counter and then went in the bathroom to finish getting ready for work. He came in and told me he put my lunch by the door for me. Well that was nice, thanks love. So I finish getting ready for work and leave and get to work and open my lunch box for a snack around 11:30 and there is a little note on top of my lunch.

And I started crying. Along with getting a HUGE smile on my face.

My emotions are AWESOME right now haha.

And then I opened it and read it. And cried and smiled some more. I got home from work and read it again and was like bawling. Seriously bawling. My husband is the sweetest, awesomest, most thoughtful guy ever. Seriously?! Babe, you made my WHOLE day!

My note he left for me

Day 4 note I left for him - I love you because you're sensitive

Day 5, I couldn't really think of anywhere to put it. And I was so focused on it being creative that I ended up forgetting, so I sent him a text that night before we went to bed. SUPER lame, I know.

Day 5

But Day 6, I made up for it - I wrote him a note before we left for the BYU game and slid it under his hat in the bathroom along with a $15 iTunes gift card - his favorite. It took him until 8 that night to find it, but he found it!

Day 6 - I love you because you accepted and are fulfilling your calling

Day 7 was Sunday, and we always take the iPad & iPad mini with us to church. I wrote his note in the morning and stuck it in the iPad mini, then put them both in my church bag. I made sure throughout Sacrament Meeting & Sunday School that I only pulled out the iPad. Right before he left for Young Men's, I handed him the attendance rolls that we keep in my bag and the iPad mini. He said he didn't need the mini but I told him to take it anyway. At the end of his lesson, he opened it up and found my note. I'm sneaky!

Day 7 - I love you because you have been great throughout this pregnancy

Day 8 was Monday and I wasn't feeling quite as creative or sneaky. Jake had been home all day and when we spend the day together, writing his note slips my mind. By the end of the day, I was panicking trying to figure out where to hide it. I hurried and wrote a note and put it on a bottle of Pepsi and stuck it in the fridge. When he woke up to go to work, I told him to make sure and check the fridge so he saw his note and his still warm Pepsi. Shoulda put it in a LITTLE earlier lol.

Day 8 - I love you because you're a great " Mr. Fix It" 

Day 9 I totally spaced it. I sent him a text just after he left for work. I seriously feel SOO lame when I send texts, but I couldn't think of how else to do it since I had dropped the ball that day!

Day 9

Day 10, I was DETERMINED to be awesome and sneaky. I hadn't made dinner {I am AWESOME aren't I???} so Jake left with a little bit of time before work to stop and get something to eat. Which meant he would be using his debit card. I hurried and wrote a note and went to put it in his wallet behind his debit card. His wallet is always in his work pants, which are always in the laundry room. Except for this ONE night. I looked and looked and couldn't find his work pants ANYWHERE. I came in the bedroom just as he woke up and was making excuses for why I needed to turn on the lights. As soon as he went out of the bedroom and into the bathroom, I pulled out his wallet, folded it behind his debit card and shoved his wallet back in and tried to make his pile of clothes look like it did before. And it worked - he didn't suspect anything and he found my note when he went to pay for his dinner. I was pretty proud of my stealth skills!

Day 10 - I love you because you help me not stress about little stuff

Day 11 was the day my sister & brother in law had their graduation ceremony at BYU and as a result, Jake & I spent most of the day together. Which translates into I totally forgot to hide a note. So he got an email, again. Man I am SO creative haha!

Day 11

Day 12, the day before our anniversary, I decided to plan a surprise date for Jake. I saw on the Dating Diva's blog sometime last year a super cute idea for a 4 year anniversary - click here to see Wendy's idea that I copied. As I was leaving for work that morning, I grabbed Jake's golf clubs and stuck them in the trunk of the car. I wrote his note while I was at work and stuck it next to his golf bag so he'd see it when we got to the Ranches Golf Course, the one right by our house. When I got off work, I went home and changed and then we went to get some lunch and then drove to the golf course. He was really surprised!

Day 12 - I love you "fore" being so great of a husband "fore" the last "fore" years

Day 13 is another one of my favorites. I decided to make a video of pictures from the 4 years of us being together. I had been planning on taking a few days to work on it, but I got it all done in 1 day towards the beginning of the 13 days. It took a little while to get it converted into a format YouTube would like, and I added a few pictures and deleted a few throughout the days leading up to day 13, but I am pretty pleased with how it all turned out. It's fun to see some of the highlights of the last 4 years of our lives. Jake's reaction was worth every second of time I put into times a billion - he was incredibly impressed that I did it by myself {seriously, he told me like 10 times} and he even teared up a little looking at all our memories since we got married.

If you want to watch the video, click here.

I am SO glad I did this. I think I might make it a tradition to do every year before our anniversary. Happy 4 year anniversary Jake, I love you more than anything!