The Anniversary That Almost Wasn't

It was our 15th Anniversary, the Crystal Anniversary - it should've been a big one. It was anything but.

Neither one of us was really in a celebratory mood. It was hard to get in the right frame of mind for all things fun and exciting while Dad's passing was still so new. We decided we'd just go out for the night and call it good.

I had decided it was past time for me to help my mother-in-law with Thanksgiving dinner, this year especially since I really felt she didn't need to do it. But, Eric's uncle had asked her if she was still doing it and she is too nice to say no. So, we had planned to just spend the night of the 27th with Mom so that I'd be there early in the morning to help get things going.

The plan was that I'd take myself and the kids and we'd meet Eric after work at his Mom's. She was willing to babysit the kids so we could go out.

I get everything packed, the kids all ready to go and then I pack up the car. When I go to get my keys and get the kids in the car - I can't find them anywhere. I look everywhere I can think of and they are no where. I call Eric and he can tell I'm stressed. He tells me to relax and keep looking, so I do. A short time later it occurs to me that he had my keys last and so I called him back and asked him where he might have put them. He swears he put them in the usual spot, but that's where I first looked and they weren't. I finally tell him to just look in his work bag to see if he might have them with him. He DOES!

So yay, we found the keys - but our next issue was that Eric didn't drive to work. He carpools and his buddy drove that day. He didn't feel comfortable asking his friend to skip out of work early so he tried to get a hold of his mom who could pick him up from Trax and then bring him home. I'm not sure how it happened, but Eric works with someone who actually lives out by us. They aren't really friends, so they never go to/from work together - but this guy overheard Eric's phone calls and volunteered to bring him home.

So now that we're 2 hours behind our 'schedule', we get the kids in the car and we're all set to head out. But then the car won't start. Seriously? It's the only vehicle that we have that can fit the whole family and we'd really rather not take 2 cars. Eric jumps the car and we are on our way.

We get to Eric's mom without any other incidents and we arrive at Mom's exhausted. But it is our anniversary so we still want to do something. Because Mom had her friend, Kathy with her, she said she'd watch Jace for us as well. With some hesitation I left him with her. It was weird to be without him, but also kind of nice.

We drive around for a bit not quite knowing where we want to eat, but we finally decide on Chili's. We had a nice, quiet meal and enjoyed each other's company. We decide we're really too burned out to do anything else, but I had to stop at a store for a pie to take to my mom's for Thanksgiving the next night. I knew the pie selection would be pretty picked over and I prayed there'd still be a banana creme. I was lucky.

After the store we went back to Mom's. We found that the kids were good, but gave Grandma lots of chances for some fun pictures.

Tanis performed an impromptu concert for Kathy:

The girls modeled their choice of outfits for the day (Shaylyn wore Ailey's shirt, Ailey wore Shaylyn's shirt):

Lex and Nate channeled their inner artists:

And as is usual for babies, Jace got lots of attention:

So we got back to Mom's and I gave Eric his simple gift, a slideshow video thing of our wedding highlights. It was a harder task than it seemed. I took a 2 1/2 - 3 hour long thing and cut it to 45 minutes. Didn't matter though, he still slept through it. However, because Mom and Kathy were still around they watched it and loved it. Eric apologized for falling asleep, but with the way our day was - I didn't blame him. I was surprised I stayed awake. I decided I wanted to share parts of the video with anyone who wanted to see it so I cut it down yet again to just over 15 minutes. I think that's almost as good as I can get.

A few things I notice/I'd like to point out on the video:

        * The video was made by Eric's cousin, who did it as a gift to us. He's in no means a professional.
        * The first thing you see in the video is introductions
        * There are a few cut outs during introductions where it seems tables didn't quite get finished - this is due to divorces that have happened. Didn't need to keep people in it that are no longer related, eh?
        * The gift from Eric's Dad was something he started when his first son was married. Funny thing this time was that I too came from a pro-BYU family, so it wasn't quite as funny as I'm sure it was the 1st go around with a daughter in law whose family is pro-UTAH.

        * I spent too much time dallying around in the morning and didn't have time to do much with my hair for the luncheon - that's why it looks as marvelous as it does. Thank heavens I had a cousin-in-law who's a hairstylist, she made me look so much better.

        * The Precious Moments Dolls were a wedding gift from my parents.
        * At 8:17 you can see Eric's brother, Greg, sneak out to 'vandalize' the car. Eric says he can see his Dad toss the keys to Greg, but I haven't been able to catch it. I think he's crazy and it doesn't exist.

        * That bench was NOT a bench for 2 and we were both crazy skinny.
        * My little brother, Devin, did the signature table - he volunteered.
        * Eric's best men were his 2 brothers. My bridesmaids (as shown in video) Melinda and Amanda (my friends), Eric's sister-in-law Wendy, then my 2 sisters - Kami and Kaeloni.

        * It's my baby brother, Logan, pulling the chair across the floor. He was bored.

        * Kaeloni ended up getting sick. :(

        * Cutting the cake felt awkward. I wasn't sure how to do it with Eric - so he had to be the one 'in charge'.

        * We had to have a chocolate cake (which I hate), because Eric hates cake in general - but figured he could handle chocolate.

        * Eric's cousin, Kristen, took it upon herself to be my train servant. I didn't mind.

        * Eric is visiting with his Grandpa at 14:24, this is the Grandpa that he looks like - so you can see what Eric will look like in his 80's.

         * Soap and rain don't mix...
         * I learned early to make Eric the pack mule. HAHAHA! I also learned how to keep him waiting.
         * Yes, I hugged my Dad goodbye and ignored my Mom. I'm praying I had hugged her a few minutes beforehand.
          * Eric's MAYBE gained 5lbs. since we've been married - I've gained 12x that. UGH!
          * The music is longer than the video. I know. I'm sorry.

So that was our 15th anniversary, nothing too wild or crazy - but I think this year we were really able to just focus on all that we've gone through in 15 years and how thankful we are to have each other.