Yesterday, Jarrett and I celebrated our 11 year wedding anniversary. Its hard to believe its already been 11 years, but when you sit down and think about how our lives have changed, the challenges and celebrations we've encountered, the years start to pass by pretty quickly.
Honestly speaking, life has been pretty crazy lately and as of early last week, I truly forgot our anniversary was only a few days away. Between the trip back to Iowa, getting ready for school and actually having the first week of school, our anniversary was, I guess, at the bottom of the list.
Thankfully Jarrett remembered and told me early last week to make sure I didn't plan anything for Saturday or Sunday. I knew he had something up his sleeve and of course started asking question after question to figure how what he had planned. He knows I'm not good with surprises. He told me that we were going away for a night and that his mom and dad agreed to stay with the kids. From the moment he told me, we were going to get away and that the kids would get to have fun with Nana and Papa, I was thrilled! I couldn't wait for the week to pass by.
Jarrett and I are the first to admit, we are horrible at taking time for just the two of us. We know, we know, it is so important and couples really need to do that to keep the bond strong. I know, I know. Sadly the last "date night" we took, was a year ago right about now. Yes it was for our 10 year wedding anniversary. I think we both sometimes miss getting to go out, just us two as a couple. But... well ,I could list excuse after excuse and like I tell the boys, nobody likes excuses, so just don't tell them. So anyway, back to the highlights of our weekend.
Jarrett and I decided that we'd like to make our one, 24 hour get-away a yearly thing. If we think of all the money we save from skipping the monthly date nights, than we shouldn't feel guilty about splurging on one weekend a year to get away right? When the kids found out we were going to go away for an evening their first question was, "Can we come?" To which we answered no. They seemed to accept it, while clearly not being 100% for it. I think its good for us to get away every once and a while as we explained to them it is important for mom and dad to get to spend time together too and to get a break. Michael said, "Mom, you do get a break. You and Dad get a break from us every time you go to work." I told Michael, I'd remind him of his philosophy when he's a dad someday too.
Yesterday afternoon finally arrived and Nana and Papa came to babysit. I was so excited, I did my best to not run straight out the door the minute they arrived. Jarrett had to work yesterday morning so I "packed" for both of us. Sadly, I put "packed" in quotes because I think I had already turned my mind off and was in vacation mode. I didn't pack Jarrett a pair of shoes, or a change of clothes or even socks. And I forgot to put on and pack my make up, a hair brush or a change of shorts. Jarrett was shocked because I usually bring along one of everything and a few spares just in case. Thankfully we weren't that far from home and if we had to we could have went back home. We didn't.
We arrived at the resort and with so many options to choose from, we decided to first see what was on TV. I know, how sad right? Come on though, we don't have cable, so getting to see what was on HBO, or Bravo, or Discovery Channel, was a huge treat! Right away we settled upon Discovery Channel and some crazy reality show called
Naked and Afraid. It is crazy. So the gist is people VOLUNTEER to spend 21 days in some remote, crazy, dangerous place in the world, naked, and alone with one other person. They have nothing but one item they pick to bring along... most people brought a machete. I think we found it so fascinating for many reasons and we both decided we would NEVER go on this show.
Deciding we didn't want to spend out entire day watching TV we decided to head to the resorts water park, where we went in the wave pool, the lazy river and then grabbed a few drinks. It honestly felt weird to be there without the kids. It seemed like there were families everywhere and every single time I heard "Momma" I turned to see if it was one of my own. I think its just habit now.
For dinner we stayed on property and ate an entire dinner without interruptions. SERIOUSLY, NO INTERRUPTIONS! It was glorious. We talked about so many things. It was probably the most productive conversation we have had all year. Last year, we used our time away to talk about goals and what we wanted the next year to bring. Jarrett, who has been very stressed at work, asked to keep the conversation light and only talk about fun things, so we decided to skip the goal session and just reminisce about good times including our wedding, and of course the kids. It seems all our conversations come back to them.
For the rest of the evening we enjoyed each other's company while we tuned into our new favorite show. It was a marathon of
Naked and Afraid and so we knew we had to watch as much as we could. We drank champagne, ate chocolate covered strawberries and watched crazy people try to survive in the wilderness. How much better could an evening away get? Oh and we watched the sun set from our balcony.
I think one of the things we were most excited about in getting away, was getting to sleep in past 6:00 a.m. We both made sure our phones were on silent, that no alarms in the room were set and that the place was as dark as possible. This morning when I woke up and reached for the clock, expecting it to say 9:30 at the earliest. I instead found it to read 6:43! Yes 6:43 a.m. What in the world!?!?!?!?! Now, there's a sign you've been married for 11 years. You don't even need an alarm clock to wake up, you've been in a routine so long your body's own internal alarm clock wakes you to make sure you don't waste away the day. Yep, that's us.
By 8:30 we were both up, showered, had breakfast and were watching TV. The night before, in one of our conversations about the kids, we talked about how much they would have loved coming with us and that they'd love the water park. With our stay we got access to the park for two days and so, we decided that we'd bring them back to the resort with us to have a family afternoon.
We loaded up the car, yes with our one whole bag that I forgot to pack half the stuff, drove home and picked up the kids. We wanted to keep it a surprise for them (because I like to give surprises, not receive them), we simply told the kids to put on their swim suits. Gabriel's guess was that we were going to our local community pool, because, " Michael, don't you remember, it is free on Sunday" (which isn't actually correct either). Jarrett and I said nothing in return. As we drove to the resort, Gabriel said, "Dad you went the wrong way." so he pretended he was going to turn around as we drove into the resort. The boys asked, "Mom, is this where you stayed?" "Yes, isn't it beautiful?" They chimed back in asking if we could live here forever and how much money we would need to buy the entire place. Because Michael believes Ellen Degeneres is the wealthiest person in the world, he said, "Mom, does Ellen have enough money to buy this place? When I guessed and answered NO, he was speechless. "Wow, this place is AMAZING, so NICE. NICER than what even ELLEN CAN HAVE!"
We pulled into a parking spot and dad said he left something he had to go get. He then took the two park entrance bracelets, opened the back door and asked the boys to stick out their arms. He then put the park bracelets on their wrists. They said, "What's this for?" and that's when Dad said, "Mom and I decided yesterday when we were here, that you guys would like this place so much, that we had to bring you here too. So we are going to go to the water park today, right now!" They. Both. Screamed. Like. Girls!!!!! and repeated thanked us for taking them. To put it lightly they were thrilled, and continued to give us hugs and say thank you as we spent hours in the pools. Jarrett and I were both thrilled and happy we involved them in our anniversary celebration.
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| Isabelle waiting to hear the reason why we were just sitting in the car, watching dad put wristbands on the boys. |
We spent the afternoon swimming, floating in the lazy river, and just being a family. It was wonderful.
I'm so thankful Jarrett planed a weekend get-away for us. It was exactly what he and I needed and it made us feel completely refreshed about facing our normal, hectic, sometimes overwhelming and challenging daily activities. I openly admit, I could have used a few more days of the stress-free, mindless activities, but boy am I ever so thankful for the 24 hours we just shared.
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| The view from where we ate dinner last night. |
Eleven years ago tonight we were filled with wonder and awe about what our future together as Mr. and Mrs. would hold. We had big dreams, hearts bursting with love and a belief that our future ahead of us was going to be great. I sit here tonight, 11 years later and feel oh so blessed as just how our lives have turned out. Our life planned has not always gone according to the plan we laid out those first nights of being husband and wife, but as I reflect back on all that has happened and all we've been blessed with, I can't help but give thanks to God for giving me a perfect partner to share it with. Jarrett is my rock when I am weak and I hope I"m his when he feels unsure. He thinks of the kids and I first, above all his needs and he works oh so hard for our family. We are different and yet alike enough to compliment and come through our challenges together. I am so lucky and very thankful I get to walk hand in hand in this journey of life with my soul mate. Boy am I one lucky girl.
Until next time,
Angie
