Our second FIFTH ANNIVERSARY trip!!

No, it's not how it sounds. Me and Russ didn't get married to each other twice and we don't have two 5th anniversaries. But we did celebrate our 5th twice...sort of. Last year we decided to take a cruise with our friends, Jason and Kenz, and call it our 5th anniversary trip. It was aout 8 months early though, but we knew/hoped I'd be pregnant when the real thing rolled around so we wanted to go when I wasn't pregnant. But me being the sentimental FOOL (that was for you mom!) I am, we decided to have a little getaway on the real day too.Our "first celebration" of five years...just a little early! --summer 2010
Carnival Splendor Mexican Riviera (yes the one that got stranded a few months later with some other poor travelers...luckily it wasn't us!) Doesn't Russ look SO HANDSOME here??? Just admit it!
Just a little brisk xc skiing at Soldier Hollow, just minutes away from our Bed and Breakfast, Invited Inn. It was fantastic! Russ doesn't love the concept of doing something active amdist nature (whatever the weather conditions) the way I do but he still enjoyed getting out and doing something different...he said so=)

dinner at Snake Creek Grill in Heber. Russ's meal had blue cheese on it (eckh!)...they coded it in the description by calling it gargonzola!! Apparently neither me or Russ are familiar with cheese lingo, cuz we both hate blue cheese and didn't realize that his dish would be COATED in it! It was pretty icky. But we both like my salmon!
Our first date was on a drive up to Heber where we went to Dairy Keen. We love going on drives together and talking or playing name that tune with the radio. So after Russ's unsettling meal, he decided to get full on a sentimental Dairy Keen treat instead of a good meal!
Then I surprised him by taking him to Midway Ice Castles, also minutes away from our fantastic bed and breakfast. It was such an amazing display of creativity and originality! You should check it out, if you are local. Here are just a couple of many amazing pics we captured.

I gave him a note for each day for 5 days preceding our anniversary. They were all little clues on what fun thing we were doing that day. (I'll do a post on that later). This was the clue for the anniversary day. The quote is from the website for the ice castles, and I thought it perfectly described our relationship.

On the day of our anniversary my prince gave to me...

the most beautiful moment of my life at 1:40pm on the most sunny and warm winter day we had seen yet that year. You have also given me a relationship that is beautiful because of its "ever-evolving nature." That is why tonight I am taking you to a structure that is beautiful for those same reasons.

I love you sweetheart, happy 5th anniversary!

This is just a little shot of our room. The thing that was so cool about this place is it had a sauna and steam room in your room! How fun is that? The owners are named Bill and Susi, what cute names! They offer an hors devours hour where they serve drinks made to order (she uses a Blendtec for her smoothies and doesn't put any of that sweet crap in them!) and cute little classy hors devours. The breakfast the next morning was very classy and they served drinks made to order then too. They stayed and chatted with us for about 45 minutes, they are a really interesting and neat couple. I said I would spread the word about them. We love B&B's with character, this one will go on our list of winners for sure!

The next day we were able to do some sealings too. It was such a fun and reflective 24 hours. Thanks honey! Here's to another great year.

Happy Father's Day!

Father! - to God himself we cannot give a holier name. ~William Wordsworth I knew from the moment I first met him that he would be a fabulous father.

Gracee feels so comfortable with him. From her very first weeks, they were very well bonded--like two kindred spirits.

He's comfortable doing pretty much everything I do with her. He watches her in the evenings and on Saturdays when I go to work. He is very aware of her needs and her moods.

He enjoys all of the fun holiday parts of parenting that I like to cheese up and take photos of, or at least I should say he's a good sport about!

He is everything I ever hoped for in a husband and father and much more. I still realize/learn little things about him and think, "did I know I'd be getting that too when we were dating? Nope, that's just another icing on the cake."

One of the youth in our ward said that he's learned more from Russ in the last year than he has ever learned...that is one of my favorite things about Russ. He's an excellent teacher and example and has a burning testimony, which he is very passionate about sharing.

I am so grateful to have you as the father of my children honey! Thanks for being you because you're my favorite!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

Quirks

This is a recent journal entry that I thought was blog-worthy. Russ said it was okay for me to share it:
March 23, 2009
So we had the pleasure of a visit from Cary Arave (sista Bingham) and her husband Nate the other night. They live in CA. We were visiting with them and Kimberlee late Saturday night. It was so funny because Russ was sharing something that he is “adamant” about and said, “that's one of the few things I am adamant about, right Sus?” I couldn't disagree more. I'm sure he regretted having asked me...I went on to explain how no, he's not adamant about anything—except for his salad dressing, he has to have something creamy, preferably ranch. In fact the other day we were all out of ranch and Caesar and all we had left were two types of vinaigrettes. Since he hadn't had a salad or any veggies for about five days, I made him a salad anyway and counted on him being a trooper about it—which he was—but not without a little disappointed 5-year-old sad face asking me if we were still out of ranch. I told him we were but that he could figure out something and rushed off to take care of Gracee, my other child. =) Oh and then there are his cereals, there are only a handful out of the hundreds of options that he likes. Honey Bunches of Oats (must be spaced apart with other types of cereals), Frosted Mini Wheats(must be spaced apart with other types of cereals), Cinnamon Toast Crunch(must be spaced apart with other types of cereals), and Waffle Crisp (which I only give to him as a rare treat since it's pure sugar.) Occasionally he'll resort to Golden Grahams or Chex, but as he is going through the box he'll be sure to let me know that “we are almost out of cereal”. Oh and then there are leftovers....he can only have them about once or twice—if I try to stretch them further—he'll mysteriously 'forget' to eat that day at lunch or 'accidentally' leave the tupperware container in the car or on his desk at work so it's ruined. (In his defense, he hasn't done this for a long time). Oh and then there are bruises on apples or bananas. I have to cut them out, or he won't eat them. Then there is his yogurt, I can't buy any kind but Yoplait with the red label, I am not allowed to buy Yoplait “light”. To make a long story shorter, he then said all of these were just food things, and I went on to explain how he is absolutely right other than refusing to wash his face at night even though he obviously should, refusal to shave more than twice a week because he “hates it”. Who loves shaving?? After I finished off with a couple of other non-food quirks, he was actually speechless, holding a cushion in front of his face and trying not to laugh but obviously had nothing to say in his defense. For the first time in our marriage I left the unconquerable witty Russ SPEECHLESS.