Five Years (and Counting!)

Back in December, I was talking to my mom. I was really feeling worn down that Rachel still wasn't sleeping through the night. And I was hanging by a thread with the whole nursing thing. But we were actually talking about how she's working on revamping her living room. She said I should come up soon and help her figure some things out. I told her I'd come up for my anniversary if she'd watch my kids for the night so Brian and I could get a hotel and have a break. She said she'd do it. "Are you sure mom? Rachel isn't sleeping through the night and she won't take formula." She said she'd be fine; she'd had six kids. So, gratefully and excitedly, we planned our anniversary trip to Idaho. It seemed quite fitting to celebrate our five years back where it all began. 

We drove up to Idaho on our anniversary.  After visiting with my mom for a little bit and getting the kids' beds set up, we headed to Idaho Falls. We stayed in a hotel overlooking the Temple and the falls. We had dinner at the hotel and then headed over to the temple to do sealings. We even got to be in the same room we were married in (even though it has since been remodeled and looks totally different). After the temple, we got dessert to go from Chilis and headed back to the hotel to enjoy a night of uninterrupted sleep. 

Then, about 1:30 a.m., we were awakened by the obnoxious sound of our hotel phone going off. When Brian answered it, the front desk guy told him that our car alarm was going off. Brian got up, turned the alarm off, and went back to bed. And in my sleepy mind I laughed. So much for uninterrupted sleep! It's like we had a kid with us! About the time we fell asleep again, the phone rang again. Car alarm was going off. Brian went to turn it off. We went back to sleep. Then, about the time we fell asleep... yup, phone again. This time I answered it. I told the guy to just come get our keys. And I'd like to say I was really congenial about it, but I wasn't. Long story short, Brian and the front desk guy decided that the wind was probably shaking the car and setting it off, so the hotel let us park it right in front of the building so it was out of the wind. Apparently, it was just fine after that. Before we left the next morning, we took a picture of our little troublemaker:

And a few pictures of ourselves:

 And a few pictures to try to capture the coldness of the night: 

 And some more pictures of us:

 And then we headed back to my parents' house. I was worried that my mom would be grumpy that we were getting back so late (it was almost noon). But, when we walked through the door, she simply said, "We've decided to keep your children." Rachel, who had just started sleeping through the night the day before our trip and stopped nursing two days before our trip, slept soundly through the whole night. Michael did too. They were both sweet and wonderful. A few minutes later, Michael and my dad walked through the door. Michael was on top of the world. He'd been out helping Grandpa with something. (And they had a whole acre of undisturbed snow to play in).  Turns out the restful house was the one my kids were in!

 Oh well, we still had a great night, despite our attention-crazed car. Thank you so much, Mom and Dad, for taking such great care of our kiddos so we could have a night out. It was fantastic!

And, because I'm sappy like this, here's a video/slideshow to catalog our last five years of marriage (and our almost one year of dating.)



I'm so grateful for Brian. I couldn't have picked a better partner-in-crime or a better co-captain for the rest of my life. I'm looking forward to the next five years...and the infinite years to come after that!