On this day 11 years ago...

My husband and I had our first date 11 years ago today. I had liked him for ages and had wanted to ask him out several times, but always chickened out. Finally he asked me out for February 1, 1997. He told me what we were doing was a surprise.

He picked me up at my house and we drove to Salt Lake City. We talked non-stop the whole way there. That is one thing that I have always loved about being together. We can talk forever! We stopped at Wendy's for dinner and got kid's meals. We played with the funny toys that came in them...we even still have them! And we did the games on the paper bags they came in.

After dinner we went to an outdoor iceskating rink. I had never been iceskating outside before so it was really fun. It wasn't too cold that night and the skies were clear. It was a beautiful night. I was trying to teach D how to skate backwards (this was really just so I could hold his hands lol!) and I was attempting to do some jumps. Consequently, we both ended up on our bottoms quite a bit. We had some good laughs over that. We skated until they shut down the rink. We hated to go because we were having so much fun.

We drove back to my house, again talking the entire time. He gave me a hug goodnight and left me to dream sweet dreams of him all night. And I have been dreaming them ever since.

My 1 year Blogiversary...

Well I have managed to last a whole year in the blogging world. It has been so much fun. I have learned so much. I love all the new ideas and inspiration I get from blogging. I am never without a fun new idea for something. My house has become more organized thanks to Works for Me Wednesday. I have kept in touch better with my friends and family, and learned lots of new things about them. I have made lots of new online friends whom I look up to and adore. It has been a great year. I love having my little online journal. My real journal has been suffering greatly in the last year, but at least I have a record somewhere. I have been going through a blogging drought lately. Not being able to post pictures has really slowed me down. Hopefully soon I will be able to do pictures again. Thanks to you all for hanging out with me throughout this year. It has been great.

I wanted to link to some of my favorite posts, but I have never figured out how to do it, or my computer just won't let me. So if you are bored you can look through some of my past posts, or hit some of the ones you have missed.

Here's to another year of blogging...this one should be an interesting one!

Our Love Story...

My husband and I celebrated our 9 year wedding anniversary on Saturday. We had a "hot" date. We went to the temple and to C@fe Ri0 for lunch (if anyone has a recipe for a dressing similar to their creamy tomatillo, pleas let me know!), and we did a little shopping. We have always done the traditional presents for each other for our anniversary. This year the traditional gift was pottery. We bought each other 8 large pots for our patio:

My husband also surprised me with a skirt, shirt, breakfast, and this beautiful bouquet of flowers from our backyard:

He is the most wonderful husband, and I am so grateful I have been able to spend the last 9 years being married to him.

I thought I would share our love story (the very short and condensed version because blogger is hating me today!).

We met in the spring of 1996 in an Institute class. There were only 6 people in the class, and D was the only guy. We both considered dropping the class, but then our teacher made us the class leaders. We took turns organizing and conducting our class devotionals. We talked a few times during this class, but not too much. I thought he was incredibly handsome, so I was pretty shy around him. Consequently, he thought I was a snob and didn't want to talk to him. After the class ended we saw each other around campus and at Institute activities. We talked to each other whenever we saw each other, but we were both dating other people at the time. After our other relationships ended we started talking a lot more. I would "conveniently" place myself wherever I thought he might be. I wanted to ask him out several times, but always chickened out. He finally asked me out, and we went on our first date on February 1st. We had a really fun date going out to dinner and going ice skating. My life was a bit complicated at this time because the missionary I had been "waiting" for came home four days after our first date(that whole situtation could be a whole other post). Well, needless to say, the best man won, and the missionary fell by the wayside. D and I continued dating and we became engaged on May 1st, and we were married on August 19th in the Salt Lake Temple. And life has been blissful ever since...well not completely, but on the whole, life has been wonderful. We have been through some rough trials, but love each other all the more because of them. I am so grateful I am married to the man of my dreams. I love him dearly.