Happy Anniversary!!

Yesterday was a glorious day. We started our morning with Jake making breakfast for us all and we actually got to sit at the table together and eat - there was real conversation happening! And neither of us was holding a baby or bouncing a baby! Do you realize how monumental this was? At this point I knew, this day was gonna' be special!

And it was.

We then took a walk down to the lake. With the girls in their double stroller and Cole in his wagon, we made our way two streets over to the water. It was beautiful weather and we took advantage of it! Cole likes to walk down the dock and watch all of the boats and wave runners go by. The water and sky were both a radiant blue. We didn't stay long, but it was just nice to get out of the house and enjoy some fresh air together - fresh air that didn't involve yardwork, which is what we'd been doing the entire day before!

Then, Jake and I got a treat later that afternoon when we dropped the kids off and went downtown to celebrate our anniversary. We decided to be bold and try a restaurant we found online called Zocalo's - a trendy, authentic Mexican restaurant. The atmosphere was casually romantic with dark wood, bright paintings and candlelight at each table. The food was wonderful - many foods that we had never tried before. Here are some pictures -

Jake's sampler of drinks

Jake's dessert - Apple crepes - Delicious!

My dessert - Molten Chocolate Cake - Melt in your mouth goodness!

Unfortunately, we didn't get a picture of our appetizer, which was so beautiful - and more importantly, so tasty! And I wish our entree pictures had turned out better - but they don't look so appetizing in the photos. To give you an idea of how eclectic we were, Jake's meal included a cactus paddy - which they were out of, sadly enough, but what a crazy thing! I had a tuna steak over orzo and Jake enjoyed steak medallions in a really hot, but so yummy sauce.

After our three course dinner, we drove around our old stomping grounds, fondly remembering our early years of marriage living downtown. We then drove to Lincoln Park where we found a bench amongst the flowers that were fully in bloom and gorgeous! We read through the message our pastor performed in our wedding ceremony and then read the vows we wrote to one another. We decided year that we would focus on one thing to work on and grow in for each other in the next year. This was our new vow - or an old vow that we realized we needed to work on. I am really excited to have started this tradition with each other that we will revisit every year when we celebrate our anniversary.

Self-portrait

Getting a little silly
Beautiful!

(We asked a random stranger in the park to take our picture - didn't he do a great job? Come to find out, he is a writer who took a few other pics of us along with the architecture in the background to use in his writings - you just never know where you might see us again!)

We had such great time, realizing how much FUN we have with each other. It's hard to remember that sometimes when we're constantly serving others, namely our children. Dr. Stowell told us once that if we keep working at our marriage now in the midst of the craziness, we will have ultimate ecstasy when our children are grown and it is just the two of us again. Many couples seem to miss this - I hope we don't. If the friendship and bond we have now is nothing compared to what we can have, then I am certain great things are in store for us. Thank you, Short family for taking care of and loving our kids so we could focus on why we fell in love in the first place!

Five great years - and many more to come...