Sunday, July 18, 2010

An anniversary story....

This past Friday, July 16th, the husband and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary. No one said marriage would be easy, and with ups and downs we're still alive and kickin. It's amazing to me that the "D" word has never entered my household. Makes me a lucky girl. I know people younger then me that are divorced, so 5 years to me (and others I've learned) is one heck of a big deal.

We had to for-go our annual 5 day trip to the beach due to Miss Amels having no one to hang out with her! She usually goes to Nana and Hampa's, but this year they happened to be out of town. Could she have gone with us? Yes. Would it have been a vacation? No. So we decided we'll go sometime in September, which actually mirrors our actual wedding year, when we took a "mini-moon" to the Oregon Coast after our wedding and then took our "Actual" honeymoon to Maui the following September.

We still took Friday off from work, boy did we both need it! Miss Amels still went to daycare, because we pay whether she's there or not and they were going to the water park so who am I to stop her from that?? We had some coffee and I went and pampered myself with a pedicure from a gift card I got for my birthday back in April. Best. Pedicure. Ever. It was that, or it's been so long anything would have done. I now have pretty pink, neon toes that Miss Amels loves pointing out every time she remembers.

We then went to see Toy Story 3, which disturbed me. I know everyone I've talked to likes it, but Nick and I thought it was dark and sad. As most people I've talked to said, I cried at the end. The theater was nice and quiet, as we figured a 12:50pm show on a Friday would be. The jury is out on whether we'll take Miss Amels. She loves the first 2, but I can see where she might find this one a little scary.

We then went to dinner, which was nice. We actually didn't talk at first, I think because we've almost forgotten what it's like to have "alone, adult" time and not talk about the kid, or our day at work. We finally got goin and enjoyed dinner. The day before I stopped by Piece of Cake, the most amazing cake place ever (thanks to my sister in law's recommendation) that did our wedding cake. Our 1 year anniversary, we were able to bring in a picture of our cake and get a replica of the top layer made. Every year since, I've gone in and purchased 2 slices of cake for us to enjoy on our anniversary. As I walked in on Thursday afternoon, I saw that fate had hit me. There in the display case, was a 1 layer (not 2 like we got before) replica cake of our 1 year anniversary. Sold. I got the cake, which was probably more sentimental for me, but good none the less. Miss Amels loved it, and constantly asked for "bigger" pieces of frosting, which is all she ate. Thank goodness we have a fellow Piece of Cake lover in the house so young. More excuses to go back!

We weren't good about "gifts" this year in regards to waiting until the actual day. We had said no gifts at first, but this is not in my vocabulary. I looked up the "traditional" gift for 5 years, which is wood. Nick thought he'd be "cute" and say that wood could be an IOU, or a card...which at one point was wood. He got the look of "won't fly buddy". I think we treat our anniversary more like Christmas sometimes. I was due for an upgrade to my cell phone and got a steller deal on an awesome phone. On my materialistic side, I've always craved a pair of Coach sunglasses. I have a great pair of Ray Bans that were a wedding present I bought myself 3 days before my wedding. So I went to the Coach outlet in Woodburn (it's such a pain living so close!!) and now they adorn my happy little face.

I had an alternate idea for the husband when he threw me for a loop (I should have known) I had been saving up some money for some time and he starts showing me how our poor bb-que is dying. We thought about it, and we've had that thing since we lived in our apartment, some 7 years ago. Yes, it was time...anyone that knows my husband knows he's a huge bb-quer. His own rubs on ribs, 8 hour marinades (I called it a soak before and was corrected), his own sauce for chicken...you'd think we lived in the south. BB-queing is important to this man and of course, so is his "instrument". We spent a day a couple of weekends ago looking for a pool for Miss Amels (with no luck) but stumbled across THE BBQUE at Fred Meyer. I got the full tour and then I knew, he had to have it. He works so hard, and we rarely reward ourselves, so it was done. I found somewhere that was cheaper then Fred Meyer, had to have it delivered and finally with the help of a friends brother, it was delivered Thursday night (close enough to Friday, right?) He was like a kid in a candy store putting it together Thursday night and of course we had steak and chicken on it last night. AND, in sticking with tradition, it's a duel grill. 1/2 gas and 1/2 charcoal, or WOOD....damn I'm good.

All in all, the past 5 years and been the best, at times, and some of the worst, in my life. I wouldn't trade a minute of it and am fully looking forward to the next 5, 10, 15 and so on....really I'm just lucky to find someone to put up with me as long as he has...One lucky girl I am.

Came home from my pedicure to this:


Happy Mama:


Happy Daddy:

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