Three Year Anniversary

On November 23rd, Adam and I celebrated three years of Marriage! I have to start off by thanking my In-laws who funded our anniversary festivities this year. Adam and I like to spend the day together, going to dinner and staying a night in a hotel. I mean, out of 365 days a year, we should get at least one night away with no kid right? Finances were tight this time and we decided not to do our traditional get away. Thank goodness my mother-in-law is on the ball with gifts this year. She wanted to get all her shopping done early and asked us a few times what we wanted. We couldn't think of anything we REALLY wanted right now...other than celebrating our anniversary the way we usually do. So, at our request, that's what we got and it couldn't have been better spent.

     We started off at Boondocks to play like little kids. Adam got to impress me with his driving skills in go karting and zombie killing ( I was very impressed). We spent all our coins on the giant claw machine trying to win Emery a stuffed animal. Those things are so rigged!
     Following our playtime, we had dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. As usual, I can't resist their calamari so I got that and  then we split the Steak Diane as always. This time we gave the lemonade a try and HOLY SHMOKES! The cucumber lime is my absolute favorite!
The one tradition I wish we wouldn't continue is overeating on our anniversary. We can take the food to go but we try to eat it all in one sitting and feel like complete gluttons after. After dinner, we dragged ourselves over to The Anniversary Inn. If you're looking for a unique hotel, this is the place! We stayed in the Jungle Safari room with all the elephants and crocs and Zebras. I love the customer service here. They also gave us complimentry sparkling cider and cheesecake. YUM.

Twenty four hours later, we headed back home. It's such a treat to spend quality time with my husband. The next few days I thought about the last three years and everything we've learned together.
I've learned patience. As a couple, our goal is to be better than we are overtime. It takes patience to accept shortcomings and love to continue encouraging  and nurturing each other's growth.

I've also learned to forgive FAST. I remember one time, I was givng input that was not needed on something which created stress for Adam, as he told me later. He made a remark that upset me and I felt like he deserved the cold shoulder. But, a few minutes later, I saw how hurt he was, how sorry and how he didn't mean to upset me even though that was the result. Knowing him, he has a hard time concentrating on anything knowing I am upset. I quickly grabbed his hand and told him it was okay and to enjoy our evening together. The night could have been miserable for the both of us, but we made the choice to forgive and move on QUICK.

Adam once shared a story when we were newly weds. Say, I am backing out of the driveway and I run over my kids bike. I didn't do it on purpose, it's the last thing I wanted to do but I did do it. Most times, our spouses don't have the intention of hurting us even though that's the outcome so its wise to forgive and forget.

I've also learned that the Saviour needs to be part of the marriage. Individually, as we follow Christ's example and his Gospel, it becomes easy to be on the same page, easy to forgive, easy to understand each other, easy to love, easy to serve. I think it's this way becuase our desires become the same. When I pray and study my scriptures, it helps me feel closer to Christ, and when I don't do these things, I feel more short with my husband and that's not fun for anyone.

I have learned so much and still have so much more growing to do and I'm so happy I can do that with Adam. He's so supportive and still gives me feet rubs every week. What a guy!