Our Twelfth Anniversary

Back on May 6th...

(I realized as I organized this post that...

if one is blogging about a date then...

she's not going on enough dates,

youknowwhatI'msaying?)

In our driveway, headed out.

Giddy to be going out with an empty back seat.

Where to?

Turkey Run...

 Getting ready to hike trail nine.

It's the farthest out and we only hike it without kids.

Which is twice now.

 Surprise waterfall

 Trying to take a self-portrait with the waterfall,

but we keep blocking it.

Everybody to the left.

There.

 Cute in grey.

Lunch at the Inn.

I'd like another pot roast melt please.

 After lunch and lounging in the lodge

we found this shelter house and watched the rain.

 Here's a tour of the little shelter house in the big woods.

 Trying to start a fire with our car lighter.

No go.

But you could imagine.

 Cheers with our elder-approved bubbly, Martinelli's.

Thanks again to Debbie for giving us a day together.

I love my man

and love spending time with him.

He is my favorite.

I think it's amazing that there is a person who knows me really well...and likes me, you know?

Like, he wants to be with me always and forever.

That's a lot of overlooking my long list of faults.

I can trust him

and talk about whatever with him

and be all different kinds of personalities around him

and he likes my sass
(Sass.  With an "S")

and he's patient when I'm an emotional mess.

And look at his smile.

And his eyes.

I love his hands.

He has good hands.

Hi sweet man.

I love you.

My Paul

June is Paul's birthday month and we've had fun celebrating him.

He took us to a Mediterranean restaurant one day and to a Turkish one another night.  Delicious and fun to share international food with friends who basically stick to fried American food.

Many local friends dropped by the house with love offerings of cookies.

Peter set up a treasure hunt for Paul to find his gift from him.

A clue under the printer.

Peter gave him a money clip,

something Paul's been wanting to replace his wallet.

I asked Reuben if he wanted to get Paul a gift and he said,

"A cup."

"You want to give him a cup?"

"Yes."

So he picked out this very special set of dishes

for Paul to use as his very own.

Starbucks sent Paul a postcard for a free birthday drink

so we took that on our date last night,

which was also a part of the birthday festivities.

To the Mat Kearney show we went!

Thank you birthday money from our parents

and a free ticket from a friend.

Such a sweet time together.

And for the record,

I predicted Mat would wear a horizontally striped shirt

and he did.

Which isn't really that impressive if you're

up on Mat Kearney.

But still, one point for me.

Our date night continued over to this morning

as the boys had a sleepover at a friend's house.

And now I must go retrieve them.

Good-bye treasured date-night.

Hope you had a Happy Birthday Celebration,

Sugar Lumps.

Ha.

Colorado

It's already been two weeks since we were a mile high in the Colorado sky.

 We flew into Denver, then drove into, over, and through the Rockies.

There they are up ahead.

 This was my attempt at photographing the woman running with the Special Olympics' torch.

I didn't quite get her.

She was accompanied by four or five police escorts.

 We paused in Glenwood Springs so I could reminisce of good times had here in the past.

My mom and I took a road trip from California to this small Colorado town to visit Colorado Mountain College, where I was considering majoring in photography.

The college is still here.

 Paul reaching the top of one of the monuments in Colorado National Monument Park.

 I don't know what's going on here.

My inner ninja, perhaps.

We enjoyed having several days of just us.

Just us = no kids

I had some down time,

which was an amazing feeling.

Look at me knit.

Professional style.

I don't have any pics showing why we went to Colorado.

If I did, they would look like this...

 

We met with a lot of people -

trying to determine if the Paul and Stacey piece fits into the grand puzzle of this organization.

The Board approved us to join them.

And we probably will.

Just need to settle in with a Jae-min first.

Our Date

Paul came home at noon and changed into a dapper suit.  So I stayed in my gown and we went out.  It was a lot of fun.

The Museum of Art had a 2:30 tour with the theme of Love.

So Sweet.

We enjoyed having the docent all to ourselves.

And she even obliged to our suggestion of a detour to show her my favorite painting.

Sunlight

by Frank Benson.

Makes you think of Anne of Green Gables, I know.

Painted during that same time.

1909.

 Then to the Nourish Cafe for a fancy salad lunch

overlooking the fountain.

 Then to a very Pride & Prejudice location

on the grounds of the museum

for a relaxing, romantic picnic of

Martinelli's, chocolate, and cheese.

 Isn't that Mr. Darcy's home there,

in the background,

past the fountain and long lawn?

 Cheesy us.

 It was a beautiful day.

Many thanks to Steve for our new picnic blanket.

We then went over to The Circle to purchase

all the varieties of raspberry chocolates at

South Bend Chocolate Company.

(They have six.)

While circumnavigating the Circle

we received many 'Congratulations!'

and 'Did you already have the wedding?'

To which we replied,

"Thank you." and "Yes."

and then giggled to each other.

Thank you to Debbie for watching the boys.

And to my husband for being so romantically fun.

Boys in a Box

So Paul and I were cleaning out a closet upstairs today when I discovered a box of letters and mementos from various people.  Boys, mostly.  I had no idea I had kept them.  But since I did, let me share them with you.  Because it's sweet.  And Kate and Will were just married and my anniversary is in a few days and I'm feeling romantic and sentimental.

 Tony Dobson.

Our parents were friends when we lived in Wisconsin.

When I was age 2-4.

That's the last time I saw him.

But for some reason we wrote letters and sent pictures through my senior year of high school.

I had a huge crush on him and

so hoped to marry him one day.

On one of his envelopes I wrote,

"I love this envelope."

Then on his letter I had circled his closing, "Love, Tony."

Ha.  I wonder if he still has my letters.

He's married now.

He should really throw them out.

 Ted McCrummen.

My first kiss, I'll just tell you.

On the front steps of my house.

This is the rose corsage he gave me.

It looked better eighteen years ago.

Can it be eighteen years ago already?

He surfed and wanted to be a marine biologist.

I think.

I haven't seen him since 1994.

 Bret Taylor.

I was totally surprised to find these letters from Bret.

Sorry, Bret, but I have no recollection of corresponding through mail with you.

He was a college friend who was going to ask me to the formal Spring Banquet,

but guess who asked me first?

Mr. Love of My Life Paul.

We were not lost in love at this point though.

Maybe he was.

A bold freshman asking out a senior.

We had a lovely time.

Paul's mom has a framed picture from that night on her bookshelf.

Anyway, apparently Bret and I wrote the summer

I lived with Aunt Phyllis - 1998.

The summer Paul and I were beginning our romantic relationship through letters.

Phyllis used to prop up my letters from Paul against a vase of flowers on the dining table, waiting for me to find them.

I don't know how she gave me Bret's letters.

I don't remember getting them.

The last letter I have from Bret is dated October 10, 1998.

A month and 4 days before Paul and I became

"Paul and I."

Nice guy.

He's happily married.

To not me.

 David and Carly.

My dear younger siblings wrote to me in college.

I found a few letters from them.

Here's a birthday card when I turned 22.

David wrote, "Get your foot gooder!"

Carly said, "I hope your foot gets better because pain is painful.  He he."

I guess I had just had surgery.

Thanks for the love.

 My Mom.

Did you wear these hair clips in the 80s?

I remember my mom making these.

I loved how the ribbons dangled in my feathered hair.

These were the school colors of

San Mateo Christian Academy.

I went there in Kindergarten and first grade.

I prayed with Miss Brian, my kindergarten teacher,

to become a Christian.

The little Bible she gave me is also in this box.

 Bye bye boys.

So, I shared these letters and stories with Paul.

Then told him how lucky he was to have me.

Then I put the boys' letters in the recycle box

and the flowers in the trash.

 Paul Tyler.

This hat box

(as if I have a hat)

contains gushing words of affection from my betrothed.

We became a couple five weeks before I graduated college and headed to graduate school.

For a year he lived in So. Cal. and I lived eleven hours north.

We wrote letters.

Lots of letters.

I barely used email in 1999

and I'm so glad because now I have this collection

of precious words.

When we hit a rough spot in our marriage

I come to this box and remember the foundation of our relationship.

We were so cute.

"...and thereto I give thee my troth."

Love

Need a good love story?  I mean a true tale of sincere love?

Read the comment from the last post.

Love from the spleen.  Wow.

Makes me feel kind of bad for causing him so much pain.

One More

Guess what?  We have one more video from our trip to Chicago.

"Really?"  I asked Paul.

Apparently so...

So, I couldn't hear most of that dialogue.  The first scene is our car coming up from the depths of valet parking.  We parked it at the condo for the three days we were there and just traveled by foot and train around the city.

Next, it shows us sadly leaving the big city, but fortunately headed the right way, according to the traffic.

Finally, a repeat stop at the dairy for the mega ice cream sundae.

Did I mention it was a superbly wonderful trip with my man?  It was.

I'm tempted to take the boys on a day trip to the Dunes next Wednesday so we can witness the sand sculpture contest and play a bit ourselves.  We may even camp overnight if it's not raining.  The temperature is supposed to be in the 90s with lows in the 70s - perfect for camping.  I don't like to be cold.

Don't be fooled by those smiles.

We were really miserable.

The Beach!

The Dunes State Park (on southern Lake Michigan) has been calling to me for many moons.  Paul brilliantly suggested we stop in on our way to Chicago.  It was a fun mix of typical beachiness, but also had hiking trails on wooded dunes.  It was great.  I'll show you...

I await a return visit with boys in tow.  I think they'll love it too.  It's the closest thing to a California beach out here in the midwest, that I know of.  Is a six-hour round trip worth it to roll in the sand and be chased by waves?  It may be.

Tomorrow I'll post actual happenings in Chicago.