Happy Birthday Dear Jes!

Jes, a kid at heart!

(I had her permission to post this picture...sort of.)

Today is February 6th, my SIL Jes' 30-something birthday.  In honor of her special day, I thought I'd make her the star of the Frodo Seven Blog (a dubious honor I know).

I think the first time I met Jes, she visited our home with David on a short break from UVA.  It was snowing, and the two of them spent the entire day building a perfect igloo complete with a tunnel system.  This was when I started to suspect that she might be "the one".  There were other indications though.  First, Jes has no problem engaging with David in verbal problem-solving.  David is a math whiz and loves puzzles, so he often tackles mind-benders just for the fun of it.  Most (normal) people -- me -- don't find this fun and lose interest in the game quickly.  Not Jes.  She hangs in there with him to the bitter end!  She also actually understands what David does for Intel in his basement burrow.  I know that he's in their compiler group.  After that, it's all 1s and 0s to me.  

Here's Chris' favorite:  before David and Jes were married, there was a dare -- it's unclear who came up with it, but the agreement was if Jes ran a 5K race (3.1 miles) in under 20 minutes, David would ask her to marry him.  20 minutes is a challenging 5K time for ANYONE, even more so for a non-runner!  You have to average 6:30 per mile to do it.  Well, Jes must have wanted that proposal badly, because she laced up her shoes and started training.  On race day, she lost the battle, but obviously won the war...eventually.  

They got married in September 1998 and their wedding was unforgettable.  A couple of things stand out from the toasts that day.  Jes' Dad bragged that as parents, they were proud to have raised such a good Catholic girl -- funny because Jes had converted a year before the wedding.  Then (after a few beers), Best Man Neil gave a long, moving toast that ended with, "So...Here's to David and Christine!" Oops!  Christine was Neil's girlfriend at the time!  (FYI...we're all glad he later met Martina!)

So here's to Jes, and for your enjoyment, 15 Random thoughts about her:

1.  She is one of the most competent people I know.  She'd rather figure out how to fix something than call a repairperson.  She recently re-did an entire bathroom including installing a new toilet, sink and tile by herself.

2.  She is a stud.  She and David put together their huge, heavy, tall playset in the rain while she was eight months pregnant.  The image cracks me up a little.

3.  We are opposites in terms of food vices -- I prefer salty, she prefers sweet.

4.  I think she should start her own gift-consultant business.  She is great at coming up with creative or just appropriate gifts, and I often call her for ideas.  Come to think of it, maybe it's better that she not start a business.  Now, I get advice for free.

5.  Her blood runs orange and blue.  Both of her parents are UVA grads and she, David and I have huge diplomas from Mr. Jefferson's University as well.  I wonder where her kids will go?

6.  She is more like a sister than a sister-in-law and treats us all like we're as much her family as her first family.

7.  I plan to be on Jes' team for the next Kreitzer family softball game.  I get tired of chasing all the balls she hits over the fence.

8. If Chris wants to know if David brought his golf shoes or running gear on a visit, he asks Jes.

9.  We've been known to have fun Kreitzer family casino nights.  Jes always takes a turn as dealer.  I've never been to Vegas, but she seems very convincing.

10.  Jes and Chris have a few things in common.  They're both great with logistics.  They're masters at loading the car, map-reading and planning things.  I think Jes would have made a great Marine.   (And it would have helped her in that 5K.)

11.  Jes is okay with the fact that Chris has injured every one of her boys.  She still lets him play with them.

12.  Jes loves sports -- especially football.  When we had a family fantasy league, she had her own team and won the Super Bowl.  (Kurt Warner was her favorite player and quarterback.)

13.  Jes is the unofficial doctor of the family.  She is a pro at splinters and scrapes, appropriate since her original plan was to be an MD.  She'll quickly tell you though that she's happy with the way things turned out:  being a stay-at-home mom to Rachel, Alex, Zack and Matthew.

14.  There's more to Jes than meets the eye.  She has a few secrets she might share over a couple of drinks. 

15.  Even though I was happy for him, I was a little sad when David got engaged.  He was the first of us to get married and I knew it would change everything.  Of course, it did but that's okay.  Thank you, David for introducing me to one of my best friends!  

 

I visited Dave and Jes twice in Portland.  This picture was taken a month before their wedding.

Jes married into a god-daughter.  David and my cousin Jenny are Madeleine's Godparents and when each of them got married, Madeleine gained another Godmother and Godfather (lucky girl!)

On the way to see the DMB.  Dave and Jes were both in our wedding.  Chris and I got a box at the concert and invited our wedding party as our gift to them.  We're not sure how much our wedding party liked Dave Matthews, so it was a bit of a Homer gift.  We had a great time.

For our first anniversary, I surprised Chris with a long weekend at a B & B in Williamsburg, VA.  The first day, we met Dave and Jes at Busch Gardens.  Four adults with no kids at an amusement park.  It was so much fun!  We ran from roller coaster to roller coaster all day and even begged for one more ride at the end.  In this picture, we're riding Apollo's Chariot.

"That's another UVA first down!"  I think those might have been Rachel's first words.

One of the differences between me and Jes :)  Actually, it was part of a game at Tara's bachelorette party.

Jes and I have been pregnant together three times with due dates within a month of each other.  Here we are at the co-shower Martina threw us, very pregnant with Alex and Mia (respectively).

Our twins.  

Kreitzer kids come in batches.  One set of triplets.  Zack, Grace and (Tara's) Ryan.  Paige was born six months later.