Anniversary

We celebrated our 12th anniversary yesterday. I can honestly say I would gladly do it all again. I love being married to Aaron.

We didn't have much in the way of plans. We'd tossed around maybe ordering Chinese food or maybe taking the kids and going out to dinner. But when I picked up the kids they were ALL in a mood. Several meltdowns occurred before I could even get them into the house. I knew I didn't want to take that all out to try and enjoy a dinner.

At the very last minute (6:15, for a 7:00 start) I texted the lovely Sarah to see if there was any chance she could babysit at short notice on a school night. I'm grateful that both she and her mother agreed to it! Sarah and her brother Adam came over and suddenly the kids were different people! Happy, cheerful, fun to be with! Where were those kids 30 minutes ago?

Aaron and I drove around a bit deciding where to go and decided to try Pinocchio's Italian Restaurant downtown. It was pretty good... though we found it very odd when another couple came in near closing time when the restaurant had pretty much emptied out; and with almost every table in the restaurant to choose from, the hostess chose to seat them RIGHT next to us. The tables are not spaced far apart, either, so we felt like we were suddenly on a double-date with these strangers. :)

We had a nice dinner together. We didn't have to feed anyone else, or referee anyone's arguments, or clean up after the kids (though I'll confess that I had to clean up after myself several times because I kept dropping noodles, LOL; usually I can blame that kind of thing on the kids!). We joked that we should have gone to Subway for dinner, since that's where we ate on our wedding night. :) By the time the wedding and reception were over, we were starving and Subway was the only place still open! So we enjoyed a romantic wedding dinner of Subway sandwiches back in our room at the bed and breakfast.

We reminisced about previous anniversaries. For our first anniversary, we spent the weekend at a bed and breakfast in Manitou Springs. It was very romantic.

For our second anniversary we had similar plans, but a major blizzard struck and the whole city was snowed in for several days. We were disappointed to cancel our plans, but still enjoyed the time together away from work.

On our third anniversary, Haley was 3 months old. We wanted to do something special, but we had this tiny child to deal with. So we drove the 8 hours to Vernal to visit my parents for the weekend, solely so we could leave Haley with my mother overnight and we could spend the night at the bed and breakfast where we'd stayed on our wedding night. It was lovely, but in retrospect a little ridiculous to drive so far!

And then... we just kind of stopped doing anything much. Too difficult with kids! We've generally managed a dinner date (though I know we were snowed in at least a couple more times - March 19 is apparently prime time for a big snowstorm), but we leave it at that. That's ok. It's the day-to-day life that makes our marriage special, not just one day.

I enjoyed the surprise flowers that I found when I got home from work. I enjoyed the evening out with Aaron. I really enjoyed coming home to find the kids already asleep! And most of all, I've enjoyed being married for the last 12 years. Happy anniversary, sweetheart!