2011 summer vacation - week 6

On Monday, shortly after tucking the girls in that night, I went in to check on them and found them snuggled up together!

We went to the Kroc Center with Mike and Jessica and had an awesome time!!  We were so glad Jess and Mike decided to come with us.  They had a great time playing together in the water, and Kyrie even talked Jessica into going down the slide! 

Saturday was Derk and my 10 year anniversary!!  Can you believe it?!  I sure can’t.  We had a very nice day together thanks to Derk’s mom, who watched the kids for us the whole day!  We did some shopping, saw Harry Potter, had sushi for dinner, and walked around the boardwalk in downtown Coeur d’Alene for a bit.  Of course I didn’t think to get any pictures until then!  Check out the gorgeous sunset!

The love of my life! 

Today I went into the bedroom we’re staying in to find Bri had snuck Isis into bed with her.  How sweet is this?!  She’s missed having her kitties inside so much, I didn’t have the heart to take Isis out!

This evening we went to my mom’s and got to enjoy the pool we set up a few days ago.

I can’t believe next week we’re going home!  It’s gone by so fast.

Our 9th anniversary

Can you believe we've been married for 9 years?! I sure can't. It makes me feel really old! ;-)

This year we hired a babysitter for the kids so we could go out for a long evening. One of my Mia Maids came over to watch the kids for us, and the kids love her. I don't love paying for a babysitter, but my kids have so much fun with her that it's totally worth it to do it every now and then!

We headed out and did a little shopping first. Then we went to Ah-So, which is one of our most favorite restaurants that we never get to go to because it's super expensive when we've got the kiddos with us. We normally do teppanyaki when we go, but this time we decided to eat in the dining area instead because we had a movie to catch. Dinner was......interesting, to say the least. Seating arrangements were very close quarters (they were packed), and we were seated next to a very strange couple. They were older (40's) and were dating, and the guy kept criticizing every single thing his girlfriend said or did. He definitely wasn't a lady's man, and we both hope he got dumped after dinner! ;-)

Dinner was SOOOOoooooOOOOoooo good! We decided to be brave and tried some sushi, and then we each really enjoyed our entrees. Here's Derk right before trying the sushi. It was delish!

After dinner, we went and saw Inception. It was really good! We really enjoyed the directing, the actors all did a great job, and it was a very clean movie (as far as swearing/sex go). We did end up having a group of younger girls sit right next to us, and they kept laughing LOUDLY at parts that were NOT even meant to be funny, and they kept texting through the whole movie. That was distracting. But we still had a great time. Here we are in the theater. Derk thought I was a dork for taking pictures in the middle of the theater, but I didn't care! :-)

What a fun and crazy 9 years it's been so far! I really love reflecting back on how our marriage has changed over the years. I knew I loved him when we first got married, of course, but the love we have now is so much stronger and more complex than it was back then. It's quite amazing to think about! :-)

The Big 7!

Derk and I met back in August of 2000. The last day of August, to be exact. I'd just gotten home from my first day of college classes, and my mom asked me if I'd go out and get her some food. I told her I would and asked her what she wanted. She said she wanted a McDonald's burger, which was really rare for her. She's not a fast food person at all, and I can't remember her ever eating McDonalds. She sweetened the deal and told me to grab myself something, while I was at it, so being the wonderful, fantastic, completely awesome daughter I am, I went to get her some food.

At the drive-thru window, this girl starts talking to me. She asked me questions that just weren't normal McDonalds-paying customer type questions like was I dating anyone, did I have plans for that night, what was I studying, etc. At first I thought she was hitting on me and got really weirded out. She laughed, sensing what I was thinking, and corrected me, saying she was trying to find a date for one of her best friends, who was a guy, by the way. Then I laughed at myself for thinking such a thing, and for some reason agreed to meet up with her and said best friend later that evening. She said she'd pick me up after her shift was over.

When Caroline came to pick me up, and she and I became instant friends. She took me over to this house where this guy lived with 4 of his best guy friends. It was the epitome of a bachelor pad, even down to the choice magazines they kept on the back of the toilet. :) She introduced me to Mike. He was super nice and a great guy.

As I was getting to know Mike and Caroline better, this guy comes home from work wearing his uniform. He came in, said hey to everybody, and went into his room to get something. I turned to Caroline, asked her who that guy was, and then asked her to please set me up with him instead. So she introduced me to Derk, and that was it. We were together every day from that point on. I like to say that I fell for a guy in uniform, even if it was just a Pizza Hut uniform. :)

7 years and 3 kids later, here we are. We've learned so much about ourselves and each other along the way. He's put up with me learning to cook and several failed culinary creations he's lovingly named "Hillary Goolash" - as in, "Hill, you're not making Hillary Goolash tonight, are you?" :) I've put up with him learning to put the toilet seat down so I avoid middle-of-the-night-fall-ins.

I think we're a great balance for each other. He's the spontaneous one, I'm the planner. I'm the neat freak, he's, well, not the neat freak. I'm more reserved, he doesn't care who's around to hear. He's into sci-fi, I like romance (certain vampire novels, anyone? 16 more days!!!!). He can't sleep with doors open, I can't sleep with doors shut. But we're united on the important things. Like tonight when we were finalizing what to do to celebrate, we were totally in agreement that we had to be the coolest parents on the face of the planet. And the fact that we're both horribly indecisive. At the same time. That bugs. But we're still united, even in our indecisiveness. Those things totally qualify as "important things".

So, being the indecisive couple we are, we didn't finalize any plans until this afternoon. We were sitting around, thinking about what to do, and it finally hit me. I knew exactly where to go! And Derk, being the totally awesome husband/Daddy he is, instantly agreed and said I was a total genius (okay, maybe he just instantly agreed and didn't say the genius part, but I know he was thinking it).

Yes, we really spent our 7 year anniversary at Chuck E. Cheese.
Told ya we are the coolest parents on the face of the planet.

Happy anniversary, Derk! You've taught me about music, art and literature. You've taught me how a woman should be treated and loved. You've taught me about the gospel. You've given me the 3 most beautiful, wonderful children in the world. These last 7 years have been the best years of my life. Thanks for all the laughs, smiles, tears, hugs, kisses, near arrests, everything. I'm grateful for every last moment. I'd even go down another dirt road with you again if you asked me to.

I love you!