Yesterday Jared and I celebrated 16 years of "mawage" and "tru wuv". I really did feel like a Princess Bride being sealed for time and all eternity in the incredible San Diego, CA Temple.
Our anniversary last year fell into the "black hole" that was the 10 months when I didn't blog. But it is definitely noteworthy now.
May 7th was a Monday last year and I was working at the office that day. I came home early though so Jared and I could go on an anniversary bike ride together. (We were training for a ride to the coast--55 miles for me and 80 for him and I needed all the bum-training I could get).
Jared said he told the boys they were in charge of dinner because this was our anniversary and we weren't going to cook. I was a little nervous about leaving them for 2 hours and with the assignment to cook. This was, after all the witching hour, which is hard for me many days with grumpy kids. Plus, JJ (who was 9 months at the time) was so mobile that I worried about him being underfoot with the stove on. Jake assured me the stove wasn't going to be used and that did make me feel a little better. We had family prayers and then Jared and I left.
As we headed south on 209th at 4:30pm in 80 degree heat, I soon started to regret it. 209th was crazy with traffic and there's no real shoulder. One truck flew past us scaring me by its noise and how close it was. If the passenger reached their arm out the window, they could have touched us. It was insane. Going west on Farmington was no better. It was going to be a long ride. We went north on Hillsboro Highway. We were going to go into Cornelius via Tongue Road, but I had ridden on Saturday with Wes and Bev for 15-18 miles and this was the quickest turn around for me yet. My butt hurt, it was hot and my legs felt like lead. Not to mention I still had a small nagging feeling in the back of my head about the kids.
We decided to just go straight on Hillsboro Highway into Hillsboro. I had never been on that road before and oh my! That was some scary riding with the traffic and lack of shoulder and the pavement was rough and sketchy at best in so many spots. I yelled up at Jared and told him that I didn't like this route one bit. But I stayed steady. And prayed a lot.
We finally made it to downtown Hillsboro. We went the back way to avoid the 3 lanes of traffic. Riding in town doesn't really bother me because a) there's usually a decent bike lane and b) the vehicles don't move as fast as they do on the country roads.
I braced myself for the worst on 209th. I'd never been on it before as a rider, but I know how bad it is because I've had to slow down for riders in my car. The road is narrow and there's no bike lane. I did some mighty praying to Heavenly Father. By His divine hand there weren't that many cars going south on 209th when we were and the ones that did, went far around us or drove by slowly. We made it home by 6pm after having gone 18 miles.
When we got back to our street and the house was in view, I was relieved to see it still standing and the absence of emergency vehicles out front (I have a very overactive imagination!) Cooper met us at the garage door and said we couldn't come into the house because there was a delicate operation underway. I didn't care so long as I could sit and drink some water. We got the three younger kids and sat on the lawn. Cooper came out a little bit later and entertained us with charades and then he escorted us back into the house through the kitchen. Our eyes had to be closed but before we did that, I noticed the dining room and kitchen were dark. There was also a makeshift door (a sheet tacked up with pins) in the doorway between the kitchen and dining room.
Once in the dining room, we opened our eyes and there before us was the dining room table set beautifully for two with my lighthouse plates and my grandma's goblets filled with orange juice.
Under the direction of Chef Jake, the kids made us a lovely candlelight dinner. Cooper was our waiter. Complete with his best French accent, he warmly welcomed us to the Italian restaurant Houghlinos for "fast, fancy and romantic food" :) He went on to explain that this exclusive restaurant is only open once a year, as well. Even Calvin appeared with his hands behind his back, his head cocked to the side and asked "How may I be of service?" It was super cute.
Jake took the kids outside in the backyard to eat their dinner so we "love birds" could eat alone and it was absolutely precious. Jake made homemade pizza...meaning the dough was baked from scratch. The recipe is enough for two pizza crusts, but even with some doughy parts to the crust, and Monterrey Jake instead of mozzarella as the cheese, it was delicious! I told the waiter to give our compliments to the chef.
Once we finished our pizza, we were brought root beer floats for dessert. Yum!
Jake looked pretty weary. He basically did the babysitting and the cooking and table setting and atmosphere setting. We were so impressed. He's made that pizza only once by himself with me supervising. I told Jake, in Jared's presence, that with the exception of the day I got married, this was the BEST May 7th ev.er! I asked Jared not to be offended. He smiled and said he wasn't and told Jake this would probably end up in my journal and it did...plus the blog :)
I had forgotten that I graduated from college and Jared drove 19 hours through the night from Illinois to be with me that day AND I found out I was pregnant with Jake all on May 7, 1999. And yet, this anniversary dinner meant more to me than all of those things combined.
2 comments:
That is SO sweet! Brought tears to my eyes, in all honesty. :)
Your children are adorable! How old is that Jake kid?
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