15 Years Of Marriage

For the past few years, I have told Steve that I want to go to Hawaii with him for our 15th anniversary. He's never been and it's been 22 years since I've been there.  We decided that we'd do it and we'd save up.
Those years went quickly, and we weren't exactly in a position to go to Hawaii when I realized that this was the year we were going to go, but guess what! We are still going to go to Hawaii, made possible by my cousin who is getting married this summer in Maui and is paying my plane fare to be her photographer!
We are trying to save up all the money that we can because it is still costly to vacation in Hawaii. So I'm trying to watch our spending more closely.
So, when our anniversary rolled around this year, I asked Steve when he came home from work if I should go buy us a cheesecake, just to celebrate a little. He said, "Why?" And was somewhat confused. Realizing he forgot I responded with, "For our anniversary." At that, he got a look on his face that was priceless and a little shocked. In a somewhat apologetic tone he squinted his eyes at me and said, "Happy anniversary, honey!" Then he agreed we should have cheesecake and bring home some tasty things for dinner.We had Totinos pizza, a favorite of ours that dates back to when we were first married. Those little pizzas are only about a dollar each.

I also got sushi that is made fresh every day at our grocery store. Yum!
And the cheesecake was a step-back in time to our wedding reception when we served a variety of cheesecakes.  For us it was the most decadent dessert around.

Oh, Steve also requested ice cream. Ice cream is something we always had in the freezer when we were first married. I remember being shocked by the giant bowls of ice cream Steve would dish up. I remember coming home from work and going to dish up ice cream that we had just bought the night before only to find a little bit left at the bottom of the quart. His threshold of when ice cream starts to make him feel sick is much larger than mine.

And so we indulged in some of our favorite foods to kick off our anniversary celebration. In a few weeks we will be enjoying Hawaii together! 

It's a joy to be married to Stephen.  His sense of humor and drive to always learn and improve makes me happy. He sacrifices his happiness frequently just so we can have a steady income.  I really hope we can figure out soon how to be profitable entrepreneurs so he can find joy in providing for our family. We're looking forward to the end of the school year in a couple days. It will be nice to have a break from that responsibility for a bit.

Alex's Graduation Party At Tucanos

Our family was excited that we got to go to Tucanos to celebrate with Alex's college graduation. We had made sugar cookies the day before with special pink vanilla frosting, and we decorated one especially for him with 2018 written in gel icing across the front and candy pearls dotting the outer edges. We wrapped it in a cute basket we made out of a paper plate, slid it in a bread bag and tied it with some curling ribbon. Totally made with love!  Then we drove 2 hours and some to BYU.

Graduation was long and boring in the Marriott Center with multiple colleges graduating. We listened to them call names of the graduates for well over an hour. Alex was one of the very last, and when his turn was getting close, he texted Heather and we all got ready to cheer. I think he appreciated the love and support, and he told us that he could hear us cheering for him! After graduation, we went and got pictures outside then off to Tucanos for all you can eat meat buffet!

The graduation party was requested that only adults attend, but since I was confident that my children's behavior would be sufficient for such a place, and they really had no other place we could take them, I brought my kids. They got to be the lucky recipients of the exciting ambiance and fun as the waiters brought around a variety of meat on swords for us to partake. There was also a delicious salad bar and warm food buffet that served all kinds of foods including little cheese breads, rice and beans, lobster bisque, pasta and sauce, sushi, fried bananas, and salads.



When we got there there was a bit of confusion as to our group reservation, and they began to seat us only to discover that there were not enough chairs for us. So we had to leave the restaurant for a time while they finished getting a table ready for us. Because it was graduation, the place was packed to the gills! But waiting wasn't so bad because we were in good company! I think we finally got seated around 8 p.m.. After we had our fill of food, we gave Alex a hug and congratulated him and drove to Steve's parents house where we would be spending the night.