8 Years And Counting

A little hard to believe... 8 years married.

We started with a very unusually quiet morning - it was nice. Our thoughts turned back to our wedding - to the true beginning of our family. It was fun recalling details of our "honeymoon" (the first couple of days after we'd been married) like that we hadn't cleaned off the car before going to get breakfast at a little cafe. We were given a cozy little booth in the back of the cafe - alone - with congratulations. And when we stopped in at the mall to find the kitchen store was going out of business, so we got an awesome deal on glasses. And birdseed flying out of our car vents for years afterwards (btw, thanks Melissa for letting my sister in to do the damage)! And covering each other in cake! (Okay, so that was reception)

Anyway, as we went over those cute and silly memories, the children started getting up one at a time. It was fun to see them come down stairs and join us in our room. We cuddled, laughed, and played for a couple of hours - always with the first response to each child as they came down the stairs being "Happy Anniversary!"

We really love to celebrate the beginning of our family with our family! It truly is a day for all of us, not just Bob and I! The kids love it as much as we do... they've been looking forward to today for quite awhile... almost as impatiently as Christmas... though we don't do gifts. But they love to celebrate... and to have Midnight Delight (our own family creation which we only have on our Anniversary).....

But, alas, no Midnight Delight this year... Peter can't have chocolate and we all agreed it wouldn't be fair. So we spent time off and on today figuring out just what to make... in the end... well, we settled for chocolate chip cookies (no chips for Peter, Beth or Jeremy) with a dash of cinnamon. As they came out, Peter starting singing "Happy Birthday" and we all joined in to sing to us.. the family! It was fun!

It was Stake Conference today - regionally broadcasted - and all four children were sick in some degree or another with a cold. So, I stayed behind to watch them.. Bob was tempted (due to the nature of wanting to just be a family today) but needed to go as a High Councilman and to take our neighbor too. It turned out to be fine.. the kids went round and round with stories while drawing pictures, putting on puppet shows and playing little people. Bob came home with a copy of conference, so he watched it again, while I watched it for the first time. It was a great gift... I so very much needed that first talk more than anything!

All in all, we had a good day... reflecting on the things that are so special and dear to us... remembering what is important... and drawing our children close as we remember what it really means to be sealed for all eternity!

Happy Anniversary to Us!