Fancy schmancy anniversary plans. Try not to be jealous.

Twenty-two years ago tonight, I was here:



Twenty-two years later, ie TONIGHT, I was here:



It's a summertime rite of passage, as far as I'm concerned.

Our kids had never been to the drive in. Although they were curious about how we would actually hear the movie (whatever happened to the speakers on the posts? Does anyone know? Now it's played via a radio station and people around us were pulling boom boxes and portable radios out to hook up .... we weren't that savvy, so we just turned Blaine's truck radio up REALLY LOUDLY and prayed the battery wouldn't be dead at the end of the movie ....) they wound up enjoying the evening.

It was an awesome night for it ... great temps, light winds, plenty of snacks from home, and a movie we all enjoyed. Please take note of the poor couple in front of us, attempting a romantic evening out by going to the drive in, in a convertible. It's very Danny-and-Sandy, don't you think? I'm sure it was extra-special-romantic, sitting ten feet from my kids, listening to them laugh hysterically at the Capuchin monkeys, complain that they couldn't hear and why didn't we bring a boom box like everyone else, rummage through the snack bag over and over and over, laugh some more, and then argue about who was taking up the most room in the truck bed. Although, if that couple truly wanted a romantic evening out, shouldn't they have picked a movie that didn't involve Ben Stiller and museum statues coming to life?



Honestly, I can't think of anyplace else I would rather have been.



Happy Anniversary, honey. Here's to another 22 years of buttered popcorn and overpriced soda.

Anniversary Shenanigans

So, I mentioned to my sister earlier this week that Blaine and I were considering getting a sitter for our anniversary tonight, and possibly going out to dinner and a movie. She immediately offered (which leads me to believe she’s going to be hitting me up for some reciprocal babysitting very soon) to keep our kids for us …. all three of them ... OVERNIGHT. I mean, all night, no kids? No having to watch Drake and Josh all evening? No one asking for chocolate milk before bedtime? No one sneaking into our bed during the night, and then sleeping sideways until Blaine and I are both hanging on to our respective sides of the mattress for dear life? What the heck would we even DO with ourselves???

So our dinner and movie plans quickly morphed into dinner and dancing and drinking plans, because ha-ha, I can be hung over in the morning and there is no reason not sleep in! Well, except for our Sunday School garage sale that I have to work at, at 8am. But still, drinking!! and dancing!! Until I remembered that Blaine no longer drinks. And he’s never danced. Not even when he was young and coordinated. I hardly think he will embrace dance clubs in middle age. So I decided maybe bowling was more up to speed. Then, he had a root canal this morning, and was still not feeling well this afternoon, so we downgraded back to dinner and movie, fairly low-involvement activities. Which I guess is good for old farts like us.

When I got home from the pool early this evening --- SANS CHILDREN --- he *still* wasn’t feeling great, so we downgraded even more, to take-home from Kentucky Fried Chicken. And Blockbuster.

And that is how, on my 21st wedding anniversary, I came to be sitting on the sofa at 7pm, in a swimsuit and cover up, eating mashed potatoes and gravy right out of the Styrofoam container with the little plastic spork, watching “We Are Marshall” with my husband on the sofa.

And how at 11pm, as I type this, he is crashed in his recliner and I am playing on the computer, doing wild and crazy things like ordering rash guards for the kids off ebay.

PS. I think the truth of our anniversary lies in the fact that there is no one else I would rather stay at home and watch rented movies with than with him. Original recipe and all. But considering last year we celebrated our anniversary by TAKING A CRUISE TO ALASKA, I’d have to say this year was a bit of a let-down. We didn’t even buy each other that stainless steel kitchen sink like we talked about.

Gah, we’re pathetic.

Try not to be too jealous of us.

100 Things

PS. I apologize in advance for the little red x's I'm sure you'll get in place of some of the pictures. There's no way on God's silver-internet that all these photos will come through and most likely I'll crash my entire Geocities account in the next day or two, due to the sheer volume. But hey, we'll give it a go.




100 Things I Love About You:

















1. I love that after 20 years, yours is still the opinion I seek first, and respect most.

2. I love that you are patient with me, even when I’m crabby.

3. I love the way your ass looks in blue jeans.

4. I love that you don’t talk during movies.

5. I love that you never begrudge me any of the money I spend, even though I don’t earn any of it.

6. I love how you are always nice to my friends.

7. I love how you take care of the lawn, because Lord knows I’m not going to do it.

8. I love how you always let me pick the movie.

9. I love how you don’t get mad, even when it’s a chick flick.



10. I love how you make grilled cheese sandwiches for all us, and always put extra pickles on mine even though you hate pickles with every bone in your body.



11. I love seeing you in uniform.

12. I love how you automatically save your pizza crusts for me.

13. I love how you always carry the groceries from the van into the house for me.

14. I love that you carry them without me having to ask.

15. I love how I feel safe around you.



16. I love how the kids feel safe around you.



17. I love how you always let me plan the vacations (San Diego, Nov 2004)



18. I love how you always have a good time on them (Legoland, Nov 2004)

19. I love that you encourage me to spend time with my girlfriends, and support my weekends away to scrapbook. I know the kids love it, too, because you most likely feed them hot dogs, and pizza, and mac and cheese, and spaghetti (your specialty!) while I am away.




20. I love that you are such a good listener.








21. I love that you have such passion for your hobbies.





22. I love that you look so sexy pursuing them!






23. I love that through example, you have shown our children how to be courageous.



24. I love your dedication to serving our country.





25. I love that you help our children when they are tired, and that they know they can depend on you for that.





26. I love that you are willing to make a fool of yourself, if it means it will make our children laugh.




27. I love that you encourage me to bring the kids to your office, so they can know what it means to have a good work ethic, and can see for themselves how hard you work to provide for our family.



28. I love how seriously you take responsibility for the spiritual welfare of our family.






29. I love that you do all the “manly” chores around the house, like mow the lawn, take out the trash, and put up the Christmas lights each year.






30. I love your love of the game, and how you share the sport of baseball with our children.






31. I love that you are always willing to lend a helping hand.

32. I love your sheer intelligence, and the fact you are so unassuming about it.

33. I love your passion for history.






34. I love the way you call me every day just to check in.

35. I love that you will go to the store for me if I realize I need an ingredient for dinner.

36. I love that you used to always eat my food, and usually go back for seconds, even if it wasn’t very good. I know that you will again someday.




37. I love the way you help our kids feel successful and confident, even on something as simple as the monkey bars.



38. I love the relationship you are building with our children.






39. I love that you know when I need a break, a hug, a nap, a diet soda, a kick in the ass, or a kiss on the lips.




40. I love that the first time I ever went fishing, it was with you. And I love that I actually caught something. And most of all I love that we got a picture of the two of us that day.






41. I love that you are the one person with whom I can be totally honest, and to whom I can tell all my secrets, and never fear that you will judge me or quit loving me.






42. I love the way you encourage our children to find their sense of wonder.






43. I love the way you will take our children on pony rides, even though you've hated horses ever since your sister’s horse kicked you when you were young.






44. I love that you introduced me to your military lifestyle twenty-odd years ago by inviting me to a Dining Out in college, even if the concept of a grog bowl was foreign to me.






45. I love that through the military lifestyle, you’ve exposed me to so many people and places these past twenty years. You knocked my white picket fence wide open, and I’m so grateful.






46. I love when you tell me I am a good mother.






47. I love that you treat the girls in our family with respect, so our daughters will someday expect the same respect from their husbands.






48. I love that you loved me enough to ask me to marry you. (Engagement picture, 1986)






49. I love that you always look forward to attending the kids’ school and sports activities (50’s Night, 2004)





50. I love that you encourage our kids to use their imaginations.








51. I love that you play with our kids.






52. I love how very much they love you for that.






53. I love that you are a living, breathing example of the truest form of empathy.

54. I love that you always have time for our children.









55. I love that they trust you to hold them secure, no matter what.






56. I love that you treat me with respect, because our son sees this, and will one day treat his wife with respect.

57. I love that you never lose your temper when one of the kids spills or breaks something.

58. I love that you used to hold my hair back when I was younger and would drink too much.






59. I love that you are so incredibly unselfish.

60. I love that you have such nice legs from playing catcher in baseball all those years.

61. I love that you have put up with me through some very unfortunate hair choices:


“The Too-Short Phase”


“The Too-Dark Phase”


“The Big 1980’s Perm Phase”


62. I love that I can spend all day with you, and still look foward to spending the evening together.

63. I love that you listen to my music in the car, even though you hate it.








64. I love that you give in to my requests to take the kids on nature walks, even though you always wind up carrying them.

65. I love that you always manage to get all the suitcases in the van, no matter how much I’ve overpacked for vacation.






66. I love the way you’ve treated our pets.






67. I love the way you’ve taught our children to treat our pets.

68. I love that you always tell me I’m not fat, no matter how much weight I’ve gained.

69. I love the way you listen to me, even when I’m rambling on about nothing.

70. I love that you don’t have a dishonest bone in your whole body.

70.5. I love that you are showing our children what it means to be a good husband.

Brayden, age 10: Daddy is a good husband because: “When you need help he helps you and basically he just helps you with stuff. And when you’re lonely he spends time with you. He’s funny and he’s really loyal to you. And if he promises something, he’ll do it, and that’s what makes him a good husband.”

Kellen, age 9: Daddy is a good husband because: “I don’t really know what you two do because I’m really at school most of the time. A person is a good husband if they treat us nice and make us chocolate milk all we want.”

Kendrie, age 7: Daddy is a good husband because: “He’s nice and he plans things good on your birthday. He takes care of you if you’re sick.”




71. I love your willingness to be around my family, and how they are always welcome in our home.

72. I love that you asked my father for permission to marry me.

73. I love the way you squeeze my hand three times to say “I love you”.




74. I love that when you say you will do something, you do it. Even building a deck which I had no idea you knew how to build.






75. I love your broad, square shoulders. Especially when they are carrying one of our children.






76. I love your hands; how they can be gentle, strong, soft, caring, and capable, all at once.

77. I love the way you mop the kitchen floor, and look sexy doing it.

78. I love that you hate whiny, lazy people, just like I do.

79. I love your calm spirit. You are the perfect match for my spaz-i-ness.




80. I love that we have been celebrating New Years Eve together since 1985.

81. I love that you keep the garage and the inside of my van clean.

82. I love that you bring me diet sodas when I ask, and sometimes even before I ask.

83. I love that we are best friends.

84. I love that God is your first priority.




85. I love that the kids and I are a close second.


86. I love that you let me take up more than half of the bathroom counter.

87. I love that you are always willing to clean up vomit, be it animal or human, because you know it makes me sympathy gag.

88. I love that you have allowed and encouraged me to be a surrogate.

89. I love that you know so much about aviation history and how planes actually stay up in the air.

90. I love that you are an import snob and refuse to drink domestic beer.

91. I love that you think you are good with names, when in reality, you are terrible with names.




92. I love the way you never complain (at least not too much) when I buy “some assembly required” furniture.

93. I love that I can depend on you.

94. I love that you have read the entire Bible.

95. I love that you don’t make fun of my complete and total lack of geographical knowledge.

96. On the flip side, I love that you are a good sport when I kick your ass in Trivial Pursuit-Pop Culture Edition.




97. I love that you don’t blame me when the kids repeat a curse word, even though we both totally know it’s my fault.

98. I love that you are obsessed with the Weather Channel and the History Channel




99. I love that you are so patient with our children.








100. I love that you have always been a hands-on dad.






101. I love that you are teaching our kids how to fish.






102. I love that you go in late to work every year on the first day of school, so you can take the kids to school with me and let them know how important their eduation is to us.




103. I love that you can admit you are wrong. Like that time we were getting our portrait made, and I told you to bring a red tie and instead you brought a burgundy tie, and we got into an argument right there in the photographer's studio about the difference between true red and burgundy and you didn’t believe me that burgundy has a purplish tint and wouldn’t match my red sweater and tried telling me it didn’t matter and I didn’t know my color wheel only to realize that I was right and you were wrong and your tie looked like shit with my sweater. And oh, how we laughed about it later.




104. I love that you take the kids four-wheeling at Aunt Kelly’s, even though you hate it, because you know that they enjoy it.










105. I love that you have loved all three of our children from the first moment you laid eyes on them.

106. I love that you clean up the kitchen every night after dinner.




107. I love that you will ride the Tilt-A-Whirl with the kids when I start to feel sick from riding it too many times.






108. I love that you teach by example.




109. I love that you teach our children to be kind and to love one another.




110. I love that you don’t lose your temper, even when it’s been a really, really, REALLY long day.





111. I love that you humor my insistence on matching or coordinating outfits for our family every year in our Christmas picture:




"1998"




"1999"




"2000"




"2000"




"2001"




"2002"




"2003"




"2004"


112. I love that you won’t care, or probably even notice, that my “100 Things I Love About You” list has gone way over 100.

113. I love that our first date together was a blind date, and even though we didn’t like one another, we still wound up together for over twenty years.



114. I love that we can look forward to the next twenty, too.

Happy 20th Wedding Anniversary, Blaine, I love you.