8 Years.

One thing that I know for sure, I am terrible and documenting our anniversaries! I've been looking back on pictures and I have MAYBE one picture from each and not even one we didn't take ourselves. My goodness.

Oh well, at least I'm writing this soon enough so that I can at least remember what we did. This year was an off year so I wasn't nursing, so you better believe we got the heck of out dodge. My kind mother volunteered to come and stay with the kids on Friday night so we could get away and spend the weekend together.

We left Friday night and headed out to SLC with zero plans except for where we were staying. I like the idea of not having plans, but being the 2 indecisive individuals we are, it wasn't the best of ideas. We decided to head over to Bruges in Sugarhouse. We hadn't been in forever and have added a lot of their menu. We both got sandwiches and fries and each switched a half of our sandwich and then, of course, each got our own dessert waffle. It was so nice to be able to sit and chat on our own, without having to wrangle little people. I loved being able to eat my food while it was hot, such a luxury now. We quickly decided that date nights need to happen much more often and we have a few on the calendar. This is the only picture I got from Friday. The fries really were divine.

After dinner, we headed back to our hotel. We stayed at the Little America this year and I loved it. The mirrors in the bathroom make you look like a goddess and I'm not even overexaggerating. Just to show how wild and crazy we are, we promptly got into our jammies, turned on the Office, and feel asleep before 11 p.m. Yes, it's true. Honest to goodness though, I just wanted to get away and SLEEP. I wanted uninterrupted glorious sleep. We did just that. Of course, our internal clocks kicked in at around 6:45 a.m. and we were up and at 'em for the day (dang children!). It was nice to get a jump on the day though. We laid in bed with no one begging for milk or cereal and then slowly got ready. It was dreamy.

We ate at Village Inn for breakfast and then headed to an early movie. Jeremy hadn't seen Fantastic Beasts and I was all for seeing it again, so that was our first choice. After the movie we headed out to the new Cup Bop restaurant in West Valley and savored every bit of that meal too. I LOVE CUP BOP. It's got to be one of my favorites, ever. After lunch we just kind of drove around aimlessly. We had a few ideas, but surprise, couldn't commit. After about 10 minutes I jokingly suggested we should go to another matinee before the prices go up and J.rue was sold so...we went to ANOTHER movie! I don't think I've ever done that before in my life. This time we chose Hidden Figures and we loved that one too. I was also surprised how nice it was to squeeze in 2 movies...without children.

After the movie, we ran home to change and went up to do a session at the temple. My mom really did run the gambit all day, and when we got home the kids were in bed and the house was spotless. Bless her.  It was so refreshing to get away, just the two of us. I'm currently trying to figure out when she'll come and babysit for us again!

Lastly, here are the pathetic anniversary pictures I was able to scrounge up from years past:

2016 - J.rue's mom took the kids for the WHOLE day, which is huge, nursing baby, remember? We stayed around town but from what I remember we hit up a BBQ place (above), went to a session at the temple and then went to the Mandarin for dinner. I of course have no pictures of us together.

2015 - This is the first (of only 2!) time that we left Ellie overnight. I still laugh about it because we dropped Ellie off at my mom's and went home to sleep, haha! I don't even remember what we did that day, but it was just the 2 of us, so I'm sure it was delightful.

2014 - This was actually an awesome anniversary because we were in Hawaii! We went out to visit Jeremy's parents for 2 weeks and had a blast. I think we did some hikes, napping, and then went to dinner at this delicious place called Ono's Steak and Shrimp for dinner. It's one of my favorite places to eat on Oahu. We're going back for one last visit before his parents leave in April and Ono's is probably one of the things I'm looking forward to the most!

Sadly, that's as far back as my google photos go. Hopefully I was a little better before 2014 and at least documented that they happened. Either way, I've loved being married to this man for the last 8 years and am delighted to spend forever with him. He keeps me honest, laughing, and comforted. J.rue is a worthy priesthood holder, honorable husband, and perfect daddy. I won the lottery with this one, I really did.

I love you buns!

Long Weekends Are Good For The Soul

Our family had a lovely long and lazy weekend and I always hate to see those end. J.rue and I didn't get to spend our anniversary together because I was up at a youth retreat in Park City, and while I had a grand 'ol time, I was more than ready for this weekend. My mom kindly volunteered to watch Ellie overnight. I was worried, mostly for my mom because Ellie can be kind of a turd when it comes to breaking regular routine.

Friday night we went to my brother's basketball game and then got Ellie all set up. After going through my million "what-if" scenarios with my mom, we took off. J.rue and I thoroughly enjoyed our good nights sleep and sleeping in. Our little dolly doesn't sleep in past 7:00 am hardly ever. I didn't even open my eyes until 9. It was heaven. We spent the rest of the day eating out, relaxing, shopping, and test driving some cars, which is surprisingly fun. Mostly I just enjoyed spending time with my love, uninterrupted. We don't do that enough.

Of course, my mom and brother kept us updated all days with photos of our little miss to ensure my crazy mother mind that she was, in fact, behaving herself like a little lady. I don't even know why I was worried, she adores her Mimi and Uncle Cale. Before we picked up Ellie, we snuck in a solid nap and then gladly rushed over to pick her up. Honestly, she could have cared less that we were there. See? I worry far too much.

Sunday we spent our morning at church, our afternoon cooking and napping, and the evening with family. Exactly, how Sundays should be spent. I'm also trying a new thing where I take a picture of Ellie every Sunday. I'm trying to keep better records all around and since we're guaranteed to get ready almost every single Sunday, I figured that this was the perfect day to do it. I'm excited to add siblings to the photos in the years to come and have a fun record of them. Ellie isn't super into the idea, but I'll break her eventually :)

Monday we did lots of shopping and had lots of family time. Errands are much more fun when it's the 3 of us, J.rue makes things infinitely easier, and more fun. We ate lunch at Lee's Mongolian in Ogden, my favorite dive, and Ellie loved it just as much as I do. Oh, and we got ice cream. I love any day that includes ice cream. We ended our long weekend with Anchorman 2, which personally, I would recommend skipping. I only made it about 30 minutes in before falling asleep, but it was less that impressive.

So there you have it, a good equation for a solid weekend. Husband, baby (some of the time) and lots and lots of naps.

A POST ABOUT NOT A LOT

Have you ever just wanted to write a blog post, but didn't really quite have anything to write about? That's kind of how I'm feeling today, but as I look over my past year of blogging, I don't really think I did it enough. There are weird gaps and things that will be forgotten that I don't really think should be. So I'm just going to write a little. Let's see what I come up with...

This is us at Cheesecake Factory last night. Jeremy looks like someone just said something surprisingly awkward...or like I just farted on him...and I, well let's just say that dark restaurants and bright flashes are not complimentary of my pasty exterior. If I could have 3 wishes from a genie the first would have to be a good singing voice, I don't know who I would exactly want to sound like, I'm still working on that part. Maybe Mindy Gledhill or the girl from Civil Wars. Something light and dreamy. Second, I would wish to look good in every picture. I have a gift of being in all the wrong angles (wrong leg popped, droopy lip, you get the idea). The third...I haven't decided yet. Thinking of your 3 wishes is very serious business and should never be taken lightly.

Sometimes when I'm driving home I think about my 3 constant wishes. Ever since I was about 10 I've dreamed of having a star worthy vocal chords, so I just figured that one made the cut. The pictures thing is fairly new. I'll let you know in 10 years if it had what it took to stick around.

I've decided that Jeremy and I eat at Cheesecake Factory just enough, but not enough you know? When we're together we get to some serious scheming and this is our latest...We're thinking that we should go to Cheesecake Factory at least every six weeks. When there, split the Chicken Costaletta (the most divine dish) and finish up with a slice of cheesecake and a shake. Meaning, the cheesecake is mostly for me and the shake for him, with a few bites in between shared.

After dinner last night we spend the rest of the evening running to my mom's and his mom's, movies needed to be exchanged before final packing was done. We walked into my in-laws and their house was empty, meaning a lot empty. It's definitely surreal having their house packed up and only a week left of their company. I think it really hit me Monday. I had a little cry fest on the way home. It's going to be hard and different, and well, I suck at changes. So, not to dwell on the sad, when we were over there sitting all together in the empty family room, the infamous Brookie Jayde took it upon herself to provide the entertainment. She was babbling, and running, and spinning, and tumbling around like she owns the place. I hope as she gets older and the world gets to her that she can keep her strong willed spunk and enthusiasm. Oh we love that girl.

I was looking through my phone, camera, and ipad last night and realized that about a good 70% of my pictures are of her. Between her momma and everyone else who loves her, this girl is going to live a well documented life. Here's a few other from over the past year that I just love:

Oh! I love her.

And looky what we have here my friends, a blog post, pulled out of nothingness. 

Happy Thursday. It's a Thursday-Friday for me so I love it that much more. Be safe driving in the snow tonight, it's supposed to come with an angry wrath upon the freeways at about 4 pm.

CUATRO

I'm 23 and I've been married for 4 years. Usually, when those two topics come up they're actually presented in reverse order. First, they're just surprised I'm married in the first place (this probably has to do with the fact that I still apparently look like I belong in the halls of Ogden High)...followed by the "how many years?" question. Lastly, they do that little eyebrow raise and then proceed to ask me how old I am. I quickly go through the motions...I'm currently....YES, I got married when I was 19...and a half.  That half is very important to me. During these conversations divorce statistics and unsolicited advice are given. I just smile and nod and just know if my wife heart that I'm going to be married to my husband forever...and also that I'll be younger and better looking than them at my 50 year wedding anniversary than they will be at theirs. I know I'm rude. Sometimes it's a little more fun though. Because, yes.

This years celebration was a good one. Since our anniversary is smack dab in the middle of the week, and we see each other about 57 waking minutes on a good day, we thought we'd celebrate the Saturday before. Of course I was awesome and took only one picture. One really flattering, professional looking picture. Here we are in all of our 4 yeared marriage glory:

Actually, I just looked at it full size and I think I'm going to pass. Enjoy a couple other pictures from the past year instead how bout...

We started off our day of festive love celebrations by not waking up until 9 am. Our puppy kids actually let us sleep in until 9 am! By 8 am Coop usually lays on my stomach and does his most polite and quietest growl, informing me that it is, in fact, time to get up and play. Please.

Anyway, we took our time getting up and getting ready and then headed off to Beyond Spa for our couples massage (they just opened a sa-wanky new place btw). Our first visit was during first anniversary for a nice couples massage and pedicure. This year we opted to keep it simple and go for just the massage, for 80 minutes.  You guys, I had someone rubbing me down, NAKED, for an hour and twenty minutes. Be warned, once you make the jump, you'll never go back. I told J.rue that we must budget for at least one a month. AT LEAST. I think he's considering it.

We followed with a quick lunch at Applebees and then a movie at the good 'ol Kaysville Theater. Pitch Perfect. Oh that fat Amy. Gets me every time. Bologna Barb, not so much. Then, came Jeremy's half of the day. He decided it was his mission to find an xbox game that I would agree to play with him. I kind of think the xbox is evil, so it was quite the feat. We settled on some Sonic racing game that sucked at, but I think the husband had fun. Secretly, I had a little bit of fun too. Shh! don't tell. We can't be making this a habit or anything. Because, you know, I' a lady and such.

J.rue then decided that after all that racing, sea food was in order. Sea food for all! So I was whisked off to Red Lobster, we obviously decided to go so fancy for our meals that day, and stuffed ourselves full of shrimp. We rolled each other home and crawled into bed fat and happy. The next hour or so was spent on our pillows, whispering back and fourth about our dreams and schemes for the future. We're so excited to see what this next year has waiting for us. I think we're most excited about the prospect of adding a little rue to our family (not of the fur type this time around). Fingers crossed.

I love you j.rue and I'm so glad you love me, even though I can be, what you call "difficult" and "stubborn" at times. Whatever that means.

p.s. The season premier of Cougar Town was on last night. This is how I celebrated, you know not being a wine drinker and all, Cheerwine had to do: