Anniversary

This past weekend was the 12th anniversary of the day we got married. What's more, tomorrow marks twenty years that we've been together. It sounds weird. We shouldn't be that old yet..and yet we are. And I guess physically I feel it...but mentally, I can't wrap my head around it. It seems like only a few years ago that we were still a couple of carefree college students. But in actuality, a few years ago, we already had two kids!

What did we do to mark this momentous occasion you ask? Um...well, not that much. Christian's Dad and his wife came up for lunch on Saturday because they could not make it before for Christian's birthday. So we had a nice visit with them. They brought up a couple of the girls' younger cousins and they had a blast playing in the treehouse together.

When they left, the neighbor kids saw the opportunity to come over and play but we told the girls that they had to clean up some of the mess they made with toys and stuff all over the yard. The girls are so stubborn and lazy that they just wanted to play and not do what we asked. Caitlyn was the only one that put in half an effort to begin cleaning and since the neighbor kids sensed that we would most likely send them away and force the girls to clean up, they rallied our girls and helped clean up some of the mess that they didn't even make! In the end, they got it to a more reasonable mess and we let the kids play for a little while while we finished up with other stuff.

We exchanged a couple of token gifts and had left overs for dinner! We couldn't spend any more money for anything else as we unexpected got new dining furniture for our family for our anniversary (and it will have to do for Christmas too). But we happened upon it and we could not pass up the seriously good deal we would be able to get on it. We ended up getting in for over 50% off! We love it...except now we aren't able to do anything except um, enjoy it! But it works out pretty good, since we love to cook (and unfortunately, we love to eat even more). Now we don't have to worry about the kids leaning on the old table or guests leaning back in the old chairs and having the whole thing fall apart.

We got it as an "antique" and it seemed sturdy enough for our needs but then we had kids (enough said). We considered refinishing the old furniture but we found that the veneer was awefully thin already and the stain on the furniture ended up to be just a paint "stain" and was starting to come off and then we put some deep dents and scratches in it. The kids ground in playdough and other muck into the seat covers then a couple of guests broke a piece here and there on the chairs and it didn't seem like it would be worth while to put any work into trying to restore it.

Then we found this and had to have it. It was solid and kid friendly and versatile enough for our needs...plus it carried the right price.

After the kids went to bed, we did, however, get to build our first fire of the season in our fireplace. It was finally cold enough...well, okay, we opened some of the windows and stuff to make sure it was cold enough. Marian had gotten us this awesome fire screen for a house warming gift. And Christian's dad got him this really nice grate to go in the fireplace for his birthday.

And so, we sat and reminisced of all the by gone years. Here is a picture of us on our honeymoon, twelve years ago, up in our cabin in June Lake.

What a difference twelve years, two kids and I won't mention how many pounds later makes.

On Sunday, we had church and the responsibility of our callings. We are usually exhausted with a long Saturday and we try to take a nap Sunday afternoons after we get back from church. And with that, the end of another day disappears. We set the kids up at least to watch a movie and we manage to steal a few hours alone together preparing a nice meal. Exciting, huh?

These are the days we really wished we had family a little closer that could give us a bit of a break. But now we are back to our schedule of the kids being in and out of school all day. We manage to steal some time together now and then over late night movies and lazy mornings pittering around the house and working in the garden after the kids have gone to school. Tomorrow is the last day of school for the month. They will only be attending school about half of November because of Veteran's day, parent teacher conferences and a whole week off for Thanksgiving. Wish me luck.