Anniversary review

As you might have noticed from the well wishes in the comments to my last post (thanks Cheryl!), Ryan and I have had an anniversary. On the 21st, we celebrated 10 years of marriage! We marked the occasion by trying an area steak and seafood place, which turned out to be really good! We took Kerensa with us, and she tried her first PB&J sandwich (that we had brought from home). Unfortunately, she didn't like it (but don't worry we're still working on that), so she ate bits and pieces off our plates. After dinner, we went home, put Kerensa to bed, and went back out (thanks to Grandma and Grandpa McCrea who manned the baby monitor!).

Now what do you think Ryan and I did with our free evening? I'm sure the answer will surprise you. First, we went to Toys R Us and checked out all the fun toys that Kerensa can play with now that she is 1. While I had my eye on a sandbox for her, we bought her a corn popper (you know, one of the classics) and a big ball (at a whopping cost of $1.50). You might wonder why on our anniversary we would go to a toy store, but I have found that it is tremendously fun to pick out things for Kerensa. I don't want to spoil her, though, so I try to be judicious in my purchases! Ryan tries to reign me in, but that is hard for him to do because over the past ten years I have held our purse strings rather tightly! So he is continually amazed how I will buy things for Kerensa and still won't buy things for myself. Anyway, I digress, but I am going to be buying a sandbox soon. Although, Ryan tells me I have to help him restain the back fence first!!

After Toys R Us, we ventured over to Barnes & Noble. We spent quite awhile here just browsing. Out of my perusals was a book on toddlers and a book on weaning, so you can see my focus was still on that baby! We almost made it out without buying anything, but we did buy something for ourselves. (This past weekend I found a good toddler book at a garage sale for 50 cents, so I made the right decision when I put that book back on the shelf). After B&N, we went through the drive through at McDonald's for some milkshakes.

We had a great day and did some reflecting on our marriage. I looked up the sign for ten year marriages, and it is tin/aluminum because at 10 years your marriage has shown that it is durable and can stand the test of time. I would agree with that statement, although all marriages can falter -- no matter the time frame. I would change very little over the last ten years of our lives, and I think that says a lot.

While I was pregnant, someone at church told us that we would have a hard time remembering what we did for those years without children. That hasn't proven true for me. I can remember how things were and don't regret the years we spent by ourselves. We had a lot of time to learn and grow as a couple and had time to indulge in some selfish pursuits in "DINK"dom (aka dual income no kids). Over the last year, it has touched my heart to watch Ryan become a daddy, and it has added another layer to our relationship that I could never have imagined. So Ryan if you read this, thank you for being you, for sharing your life with me, and for evolving into fatherhood with your own unique style!