Seventeen Years Later

On Saturday Jeff and I celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary.

Who ever would have guessed that this:

Would turn into this:

We celebrated by taking the kids to the zoo, but they wouldn't keep them so we brought them home.

Jeff's gift to me was to take all four kids to the grocery store to buy a few things for supper. He texted me from the grocery store parking lot to inform me that the way to get a quiet van is CHEETOS. Genius. Pure genius. Yet another reason why I married that man.

We all stayed up late to catch fireflies. Amelia's an old pro, but it was the first time the boys got to catch them. They all had a blast, though we lost a few fireflies to some overzealous catching.

It wasn't a day full of romance and candlelight dinners, but it was a perfect way to celebrate this crazy, wonderful life we've built together.

© Trippin' Mama 2011

An Early Anniversary Celebration

Tonight Jeff and I celebrated our anniversary a few days early with a reservation at the chef's table at a great restaurant. The weather was beautiful, the food was delicious, and it was the perfect excuse for me to wear the Calvin Klein dress I picked up at the resale shop for the bargain price of $15.

All in all, it was a great evening.

When I came out of out bedroom all dolled up tonight, Amelia told me she really liked my dress. (That's my girl!) "I hope I can wear a dress like that someday when I'm a grownup lady, Mom."

The boys, on the other hand, immediately started to wail.

Jeff said, "Hurry up. They sense we're leaving so we need to just go."

I replied, "They don't sense we're leaving. They've never seen their mother in a dress before, so they know something is up."

You could almost see it written on their faces: "What the heck is that?"

That my dears is a throwback to the days before you came along and doomed me to a wardrobe of t-shirts and jeans, tennis shoes and shorts. And, yes, you are right. It is a sure sign that I am out of here, at least for a couple of hours.

Don't worry, I'll be back on Mom duty in my t-shirt and shorts tomorrow morning when you wake up. Though apparently I need to throw on a dress every once in a while just to get you guys used to the idea.

© Trippin' Mama 2010

Fifteen Years Together

Fifteen years ago today, Jeff and I got married.

Christy and Jeff ~ June 25, 1994

We were young.

(Would you believe I was only 13? No? Well, it was worth a shot.)

We were in love.

And life was very, very good.

Little did we know what God in store for us when we joined hands and said, "I do" on that day.

OK, we're married. So now what?

Since then we've lived abroad, each earned an advanced degree, owned two homes, built careers, traveled a lot, had a family, and dealt with both good times and bad. Fortunately, the good has far outweighed the bad.

If you ask anyone who came to our wedding and reception, they will tell you what they most remember is the "Bag Dance."

In fact, a friend of mine from college sent me an email just the other day saying the she thought of that and laughed at the memory. (Hi, Donna!)

"What," you ask, "is the Bag Dance?"

Well, it looks like this:

This is one of my favorite pictures from my wedding day!

My brother-in-law Kyle pulled this one on me. He'd only been married into our family for a short time, and since he wasn't a blood relation, I TRUSTED HIM. That was the last time I made that mistake!

WARNING: Do NOT try this on a bride or groom who do not have a sense of humor. You will not have fond memories of the day that make everyone laugh. And I do not want to be responsible for the ensuing umpteen years of, "Remember that awful joke..." that you will be subjected to.

So, back to the dance. Kyle had the wedding party all come to the dance floor. We were all given brown paper bags, and the rules of the game were that we were to put the bags on our heads and dance around until we ran into another person. Then we could take our bags off and sit down.

I thought it sounded like fun! I'm sure the champagne may have had something to do with my enthusiasm.

The music started and we all did as instructed. Except everyone else had been briefed beforehand to remove their bags and walk off the dance floor, leaving me to groove on my own.

Which I did.

And did.

And did.

The whole while I was under that bag yelling, "Where is everyone?"

I couldn't hear a thing over all the screaming and clapping from all our guests. I thought that was just to throw off the dancers.

Finally, I figured that if anyone could cheat, it was the bride, so I took my bag off and realized everyone was screaming with laughter.

Check out everyone's faces. We are all howling with laughter!

I love that everyone who was there had a great time and that Jeff and I are still married and laughing about this 15 years later.

So many things have changed in 15 years. Dreams have been realized, priorities have changed, waistlines, hairlines, and hometowns have shifted. But so many things haven't changed.

We are still young.

We are still in love.

And life is still very, very good.

Alex, Amelia, Isaac and Sam with Mom ~ June 2008