#13

Kevin and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary this year!  We told the kids that it was essentially our family's birthday since our marriage was where it all began :)  And since any good birthday is an excuse for a treat, we opted for our family's favorite...cheesecake!  I used my Mom's recipe, which we all love, and added 13 candles.  We blew them out as a family after singing a made-up anniversary song to the tune of Happy Birthday.  Pretty classic, I know :)

The next weekend, Jerry and Bev came to watch our kids so we could have a little getaway weekend. We didn't really have definite plans until 2 days before, but it was all perfectly lovely.  We stayed in Fort Worth close to a great shopping area, Torchy's Tacos, and Woodshed Smokehouse.  It doesn't get better than that :)  It was so nice to have time just the two of us.  When we would brainstorm about our weekend plans, I kept telling Kevin that I just wanted to hold hands and hang out together.  And that's exactly what we did for two days.  We had brunch, shopped for a few hours, tried a new ice cream shop,  laid by the pool, ate too much at the Woodshed, watched a movie, laid by the pool some more, and treated ourselves to a couple's massage. Kevin was hesitant about the massage, but he knew that I really wanted to do it.  (He thinks massages are weird, but I assured him that they were great.  I hadn't had one since my BYU days, so I was looking forward to the experience.)  He said it was a good experience, but we both thought it was a bit rougher than we expected.  They always instruct you to tell them if it's too rough, but I also wanted them to massage out my tight shoulders, so I just suffered through some of the tight spots, haha.

It really was a great weekend, and a great way to celebrate us :)  The kids didn't even miss us because they were having a blast with Grandma and Papa.  Highlights for them included a trip to Denny's, and a visit to the Dollar Store. I love that they sent us pics!  It was weird for me to be away from my babies, especially at the pool where I am used to taking care of someone.  It took me a while to relax because it was such a shift in mindset, but once I did, it was quite pleasant.

I love the family that Kevin and I have created, and I'm so grateful that we were able to celebrate our family's birthday, both with the kids and without them!