Eleven on Eleven Eleven Eleven

Shane and I shared a very special anniversary this year. Not the number of years necessarily, but the way it fell.

Eleven years ago, we married--on November 11, 2000.

That meant that we celebrated our eleventh anniversary....on 11/11/11.

We thought that was pretty cool! Okay--I thought that was very cool. I shouted it from the proverbial rooftops for every person who would listen to me!

My mother gave Shane and I the absolute BEST present of all--a whole 24 hours to ourselves! We decided to get away over night in Indianapolis.

We are fortunate to live pretty close to Indy. It is a wonderful city, full of great things to do but not too crowded with scary people with traffic with overpriced everything and it's easy to go there on a whim.  So we Pricelined a hotel and headed off!

Quick picture before we got on the road. Photography lesson to be learned here? 

Improper lighting causes terrible shadows! *giggle* I love the picture anyway.

We arrived at our hotel, which was nicer than we imagined it would be!

Score big points for Priceline!

The view that night was incredible! Love the city lights.

And the bathroom reminded us of an upscale spa retreat!

I told Shane it was not sleepy time yet. We were going out for a night on the town!

 We decided to eat dinner at the famous St. Elmo's Steakhouse. It was wonderful. Right up my alley! Fancy everything (Shane joked with me that the busboys were dressed nicer than him, which was true--they were in tuxedos!)  with gourmet food to boot.  I was as happy as could be!

Shane was really excited when they brought us out some bread...until he took a peek in the basket.
*sigh*

I believe his words were, "What the what?" but he was brave and tried each one anyway!

His words after eating "the black one" (which, incidentally, 

the rest of the world would have referred to as "rye") was.....

"The salt on the outside is delicious."

Got to love that man!

The next day, we awoke to a gorgeous sky and warm fall temperatures.

The hotel breakfast was amazing...even better because it was free!
Compliments of the front desk, in honor of our special anniversary!

We headed out for some adventures. We did some Christmas shopping....

....and of course, another meal before heading back!

We had never eaten at Maggiano's before, but it will definitely not be our last time!
The food was wonderful and so was the atmosphere and service.
I would highly recommend it to anyone!

I love you so much babe! I had such a wonderful anniversary trip--and thank you again, Grandma Jane, for being such a wonderful care taker for the boys and Lola! We could not have had such a wonderful time without you.

Here's to another 11! And another....and another....

10 years ago today . . .

I married my best friend.

I would have never thought it possible at the time, but my love has grown leaps and bounds. Praising the Lord today, for 10 of the best years of my life...and looking forward to many more 'tens'.

I love you with all my heart babe! (A big, red, puffy heart *grin*)

Wordless Wednesday

**because my 'anniversary love note written in soap on my mirror' said enough**

Best nine years....e-ver....

Yesterday, Shane and I celebrated nine years of marriage.

{Want to see some wedding photos of our big day? Click here! to read my post from this time last year.}

It was a great day, and I would like to blog more in depth about it. I hope to, anyway, but time is my biggest constraint--when you are nursing sick children back to health, computer time is not at the top of the to-do list!

Thank you again to Grandma MJ, who kept the boys last night so that Shane and I could celebrate together!

Shane, I love you more than anything on earth. Thank you for being my best friend, a wonderful father, and the greatest hubby and provider I could have ever dreamed of!

8 years today

If you follow my blog, you know that Shane and I already celebrated our anniversary (early) with a wonderful trip to Chicago. But, now, our exact anniversary 'day' is here, and I thought I would take a minute to share a glimpse of what my life was like, eight years ago today....

Our program, my bouquet and Shane's boutonniere, my shoes, and our rings

During the song that I sang to Shane at our wedding, "(Won't you) Give me forever"

Lighting the Unity candle

First kiss

Me and my very special Grandma Franzi

The 'official' wedding pose

Oh, I just love this one. Just the two of us in the candlelight

Cutting the cake

Rings
And, lastly, two of my very favorites. Off to the Honeymoon!

It's been an incredible eight years. I wouldn't change one thing--not one--about our time together. I'm thankful for all the wonderful times--and there are so very many--and, truly, I am even thankful for the difficult times. I feel blessed to be able to say that the most difficult times in our marriage have been times that have only brought us closer to God and to each other.

Here's to 60 more years babe! I love you with all my heart.

Eight amazing years, one amazing trip

Shane and I had the best time in Chicago for our anniversary. We really love going to Chicago....of course, I had the option to go wherever I wanted to, but I actually picked Chicago over other places. It just seems to hold a special place in my heart.

One of my fondest memories was a day early on when we started dating, and Shane took me downtown to go shopping and to dinner. We spent forever in Crate and Barrel, just eying all the stuff that was way too expensive for us to actually buy *grin*, then headed to dinner at this wonderful hole-in-the-wall restaurant, Gino's East. It was the original Gino's--barely any room in there, and has since been shut down in favor of a newer and much larger building. It was, officially and to this date, the best pizza I have ever eaten. (I've been back since, and it's still awesome--but there was something about that pizza that day. Or, maybe it was my company.....) Then, we headed down to Navy Pier and walked, listened to this really cool blues band for awhile, and then watched the Friday night fireworks display.

Chicago has been extra special to me ever since that day.

We did so much on our trip, and really enjoyed just being together and celebrating our marriage and the gift God has given us in each other. More and more everyday, I appreciate Shane for who he is as my husband and the father of my children.

I don't know how I could possibly be any more blessed. (On a side note....I sure do love you, babe.)

Now that you are all gagging (HA!).....here's a quick recap of some of our activities!

Friday morning--walking from our hotel down to Michigan Ave!

We are right above the Chicago river in this picture

Back at the Swissotel.....the view was amazing!

(that's the Chicago River, and Navy Pier is sticking out at the end,

in case you aren't familiar with the city)

Friday Night--Dinner at the new Gino's East (still awesome, by the way)

And then, one of the biggest highlights of the trip--

Down to Broadway in Chicago to see......

It was amazing! I can't say enough good about this show. FAB!
Another really great highlight was Sunday night. I got tickets to The Second City, and we enjoyed three hilarious hours of comedy. We laughed 'till we cried--literally!

Somehow, we were seated in the very front row....however, we were not spit on by any of the actors, nor were we openly mocked (Shane was a bit nervous about the latter). The girl right next to Shane, however, was sung to...just think, that could have been me *sigh*

Seriously, could we have been any closer? That's the stage right to the right of Shane

My cheekbones were actually hurting at the end of the night
Monday afternoon, just before heading home, we made our last stop at the Patio restaurant for a beef sandwich--another one of our favorites. It was yummy, as usual.

We were sad to be leaving our mini-getaway.....but yet excited at the thought of coming home to see the boys. The greeting we received from them was very loud and very joyful, which was great--it was good to know that we were missed, and how much they really did love Mommy and Daddy! (At one point in the trip, Colin was distressed over the fact that we were coming home soon, because that meant that Grandma MJ was returning to her house--he was NOT fond of that idea at all! But, once it was explained that Grandma would still be around just like before, all was well with the world again.)

All in all, the trip was everything I was hoping it would be and more. Thanks again, Mom, for taking such awesome care of the boys for us--we could not have had this fantastic experience without you!

All my bags are packed.....I'm ready to go

While I won't be "leaving on a jet plane," in about two hours, Shane and I will be heading out for an amazing five day anniversary trip.

We try to get away in some capacity every year, but this trip is the longest we have had in quite some time, and I am soooooooooo excited. Every year Shane and I take turns planning the trip--the destination, the hotel, the activities, the restaurants--it is great fun, but also a lot of work and preparation. I have the even years--it's our eighth anniversary this year, so I did all the planning. (I truly love those odd years, Shane.....)

Grandma MJ is taking off work Friday and Monday and will be keeping my little men....I've said it before, and I'll say it again: they couldn't be in better hands. Still, my stomach is starting to turn flip-flops at the thought of being away from them for so long.

Oh how I will miss these guys so!

But, I know we are going to have a great time--after all, I planned this whole thing *grin*!