Anniversary memories

Wes and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary on Thursday! We've been together 7 years total, and its fun to look back and remember how we were when we first got together and where we are now. If you know us well enough, you know that we are both super romantic people. Any time we are with each other people around can see the animated hearts floating around us. We hold hands, frolic during spring days, lay the PDA on thick, about as thick as the sarcasm seeping through this post. So, we are past the "newlywed" phase (honestly, I believe we were past the newlywed phase before we were even married), but we still have time to share our love, and thanks to my BFF, we were able to have a nice dinner for two on Thursday night!
We had originally planned on making reservations and going to Beningo's for dinner. I've never been there, but the reviews have always been good, so we thought that would be a great place to celebrate our 4 years of love. However, through no fault of my own, I scheduled a daycare interview for 6:00 pm on Thursday. Remember, no fault of my own. We decided to try out Wildberries, a new restaurant in town. It was delicious! Their menu was huge, and after 20 minutes, we ordered a large feast! While we were waiting for our "one of everything" to arrive, we started down memory lane, and I thought I would share some of my favorites!

1. The first time I took Wes out for his birthday
Ahh, the first birthday spent together. I was bent on making sure he had fun, that we enjoyed our time, and I made a great impression on his friends. Just one, tiny little problem. I was broke. My moneyless self wasn't going to let that stop me though. I put the charm on, we enjoyed a fabulous dinner, I paid, and after all the festivities were over, I borrowed $40.00 from him so I didn't overdraw my checking account.

2. Telling our parents I was pregnant
Wes' parents were easy. They lived across the street, we walked over, told his mom, and then a day later said to his dad "we've got some news." He said "You're getting married." "Nope, we're having a baby." I can't remember exactly, but I think his response was something like "Yeah, its the same thing." My parents, however, were a bit different.
To break the news to my parents, I announced we were coming out for dinner. When we got there, people were over. So we waited til we ate. While we were eating, there were constant interruptions. I decided to wait til we were done eating. Once the table was cleared and the dishwasher was loaded, I built up my nerve, but then my mom had a phone call. While she was on the phone, family friends showed up. So, right there, in the middle of everything, I just said "BTW, I'm pregnant." Not quite the announcement I had planned on making, but, nothing goes the way I plan it.

3. Our first Fantasy Football draft
Being pregnant requires you to lose most of your social life. It did for me, anyway, seeing as up until I got preggers I did a lot of drinking. Since I couldn't drink, and Wes was playing FF anyway, I figured I should throw my $20 in and see what I could do. Wes went through the rules with me, explained how the draft worked, and after many instructional hours and FF magazines, I felt ready and educated to draft my all star team. Things were going good. There were many players to be had, and as my 2nd turn came around, I was so excited to draft my back-up qb. I was in shock at how everyone was passing up the good back-ups. With surety in my voice, and a bit of cockiness, I announced "I pick Eli Manning!" The room of guys went quiet, then erupted into laughter. Why was this funny? It was 2004, Eli had just been drafted, and he was the back up qb for the Giants. It was then that I realized a back up quarterback wasn't for "bonus points," but instead you needed a second qb as your back up fantasy qb, in case the first qb was hurt or on a bye week. Oooohhhhhhhhh, fantasy football draft lesson learned.

4. Payton being born - no explanation necessary

5. My engagement ring(s)
I LOVE my engagement ring. I could tell that our relationship was headed to "the next level" so I took proactive measures, went to a jewelry store, found my friend Greta and picked out my top three. I then took her business card home, explained to Wes that she was a friend and she new my taste and left it at that. On March 7, 2005, he surprised me on my birthday by asking me to be his wife! How excited I was that he picked my favorite ring, and I wore it with pride. It was a bit big, but that didn't stop me. I wanted the world to know I was taken, and I didn't want to take the ring off for anything.
One day, while Wes was outside playing football with his nephew, I was doing laundry. I went to the bathroom, flushed, washed my hands and...wait...my ring was gone. A wave of panic overtook me. It had to be here somewhere! I checked the washer, nope. I checked the dryer, nope. I scoured every couch cushion, every basket of laundry, the sink, and then it hit me. I flushed my ring down the toilet. I had to have. It was nowhere in our tiny 2 bedroom trailer. More panic, I had to tell Wes I flushed my ring down the toilet. With tears in my eyes and hyperventilation in my voice, I broke the news. Along with his dad, they cracked the toilet open. They found a penny, a pair of nail clippers, a comb (yep, a comb), but no engagement ring. I was devastated. Not only did I have to buy a new toilet, I had to buy a new engagement ring. Luckily, we had homeowners insurance, and they covered the loss, so I was given a replacement ring for free. And for some reason, through the generosity of Zale's, they replaced that ring with a different ring, because it was not symmetrical. The new ring was ordered in the right size, and it hasn't come off my hand since. Well, now it won't come off, seeing as I've gained a few pounds.

I could go on with our favorite memories, but time is up, for now, babies are waking. We did enjoy our smorgasbord of food from Wildberries and the bestie gave the kids a bath. It was a great anniversary!