Our anniversary

Brad and I did something that we have not done in a LONG time. We actually had a night—a whole night to ourselves! I found places for all the kids to go and we stayed at the Canterbury hotel downtown. It was beautiful! And it was located right next door to St. Elmo’s Steakhouse where we had reservations for dinner. There was a private entrance to the mall on the second floor from our hotel and we went to the movies afterwards and saw Bourne Ultimatum. It was good. All in all Brad and I had a wonderful time just the 2 of us. I resisted the urge and did not call and check on the kids. I knew that if anything was wrong they would call us. It was nice having an uninterrupted dinner…not having to get up at 6 in the morning because our little angels were up…It was wonderful. I loved it and I think I fell in love with Brad again. =)

Happy Anniversary

It’s been five years that we have been married now. Some days I still can’t believe it. God has blessed my life with Brad and our 5 kids. I am so thankful for my husband. Brad is wonderful. He takes care of me, makes me laugh, loves me deeply, but most importantly he has been such a wonderful spiritual leader in our house. I’m more in love with him now than when we got married.

I think back to our wedding day and the anticipation and excitement that filled me. I couldn’t believe that I was actually getting married. I don’t really think I was nervous. The only thing I was really nervous about was saying my special vows correctly. And I screwed those up and vowed before God and all of our guests that I would obey Brad. I like to think that God understands that I didn’t mean to say I would “obey” him. =) We had a beautiful wedding and I was on cloud nine.

We’ve had our ups and downs over the past five years. And it’s honestly been in this past year that I think our marriage has done the most growing. I’ve always had a problem expressing how I feel. I’ve never wanted to cry while I was talking or any of that so I would just bottle everything up. Over the past year our communication has changed drastically! We are able to talk with each other freely (most days) and I’m not afraid to say how I’m feeling. I think what had enabled this change has been openness and willingness on my part---along with a lot of prayer for God to change me. I’m so thankful for where Brad and I are now in our marriage.

I’m thankful that we’ve stuck it out and worked on our problems and loved and trusted each other enough to get through it all. I love you Bradley Scott.

Date Night

Brad and I haven’t gone out on a date since the AFC Championship Game in January. So we were so due for some together time. We watched my girlfriend’s little boy Friday night and then on Saturday she watched our crew. Brad spent the day working on our oven---trying to get it up in working order. I took the boys to get their hair cut. Gabe desperately needed it. He was looking sooo shaggy. I got home from getting the boys hair cut, changed, and then took the kids to Dani’s house. We really didn’t have any plans so this is how our evening went.

Our evening started with a very romantic stroll through Lowe’s. We returned the wrong color paint and got the right color. Mission accomplished. We decided to go to Bob Evans for dinner (which I think really was a good call) and we got seated right away because they weren’t busy. It was so nice just the two of us being able to talk and not be interrupted by one of the kids. It was nice to be able to eat my dinner while it was still hot and at a leisurely pace. =) We were going to go to a movie but then decided that since there were no kids at home we would go buy a movie and go home and watch it. It’s cheaper than being in a theater and more comfy. But on the way to Super Target I had a brilliant idea! A roller skating rink opened up about a month ago and I thought that it would be fun to go roller skating. I have no clue what I was thinking!!!!! Don’t get me wrong, it was fun…more fun than I’ve had in a long time. But I discovered that I can’t really roller skate. Granted, I haven’t been roller skating or roller blading in 10+ years. Maybe I would have done better on roller blades, I don’t know at this point. Brad on the other hand was showing off for me. He was skating backwards and speeding around the rink. He came up behind me at one point and thought that it was a really good idea to grab a hold of my waist. I told him I was going to fall and he didn’t let go in time….Down I went. My rear and back hurt like you would not believe! We stayed on out on the rink for a little bit longer and then got off for some healthy competition in Arcade Games. Once again, Brad showed me up…he beat me at 2 games of Air Hockey. I won the first game and then got a little too cocky and he won the other 2.

After a little rest we got back on the rink. Unfortunately we only got to skate for a couple more songs because then they turned it into “Glow in the Dark” skate time. In other words, the black lights came out and if you didn’t have on light colors or a blinking glow thingy then you had to get off. It was okay though because I was so done! We had not done anything like that ever. The closest thing was when we went bowling and that’s been almost five years. It was funny though because it was Teen and Tween night along with Open Skate…I felt like an old fogy and I’m 25. We were among the oldest people in there. We did find it a little disturbing as these teen/tweens are shaking their butts and boobs all over the rink. I don’t remember all that the last time I was at a roller skating rink…but I know times are a changing. (One thing is for sure, if my daughters ever choose that behavior they will not like the consequences. I just had a talk with them Saturday morning about respecting our bodies and being modest about our clothing…fun stuff to have to discuss with my eight and nine year olds.) We did still go get our movies and then got the kids and went home. The kids went to bed and we got to watch one of our movies. It was a blast! =)