Tuesday, March 14, 2006

A Tenth HE Won't Forget......

Jeff & I got back late last night from celebrating our tenth wedding anniversary in Dallas. Overall, the weekend was wonderful and just what we were needing. The Mansion at Turtle Creek is AWESOME and I highly reccomend it to anybody needing a weekend getaway to a five-star hotel. Nevertheless, it got off to a rocky start.........
Let me set the scene: Friday night we are traveling down I35 South in the BMW, which Jeff has lovingly washed and detailed by hand the previous day so it would look extra good for it's stay in the big D. Things are going well until we hit Marietta, OK, about 15 miles north of the state line. Suddenly, we are in a traffic jam that goes on for as far as the eye can see. In the middle of freakin nowhere. With no exits available until the Winstar casino at mile marker 1. Unbeknownst to us, we were caught in the horrible mix of fans headed to the Big 12 tournament in Dallas and construction on I-35 which narrowed it down to one lane for about 8 miles. It took us two freakin hours to drive 15 miles. You have to understand, I married a man who, like the rest of us, absolutely hates getting stuck in traffic but add in the fact that we were in a HUGE traffic snarl in the middle of Nowhere, OK and it was almost too much to take. I'm talking sitting on the interstate, not moving at all, while you watch traffic on the northbound side whizzing by at full speed. Apparently, though, somebody upstairs thought we could take a bit more and added in a thunderstorm. Did I mention it hailed?! Three waves of it? Ranging from pea- to nickle-sized?? Now I know that's not very big, but if you've ever been in a car while hail is raining down on you and your vehicle you know it doesn't sound pretty. Especially in your BMW M5 that you spent last night polishing by hand. I'm telling you, the stress of watching my hubby go through that on what was supposed to be a relaxing weekend without the kids was enough to leave me with mouth ulcers by Sunday morning (a delayed effect of stress in me) . The only blessings are that we had plenty of gas in the car (we came across several that died on the side of the road after running out) and neither of us had to pee. Be thankful for the little things in life!!!! I am very happy to say that once we broke free, a few miles into Texas, the rest of the weekend went without a hitch. Dinner at the Restarant was awesome and they started us off with champagne and finished by writing "Happy Tenth Anniversary" in chocolate around the edges of our dessert plates. Sometimes a little butt-kissing is so awesome, and the Mansion is supposed to be one of the best in the world. Jeri: you'll be happy to hear that Thomas is still there and giving WONDERFUL massages. He's also still acting as bellman, too, which makes seeing him the next morning after he's done your massage to be picking up your bags interesting.......On the way home we stopped for brunch at the Cracker Barrel located at the Outlet Mall of Gainsville. After totally cleaning our plates (Jeff was like "Wow. You WERE hungry!!") we cruised through Gap. Jeff totally go into picking out clothes for the girls and it was very sweet for me to see him like that. He picked out their Easter dresses and several outfits for summer. Awwwwwwww. It was one of those precious, sweet, totally sappy random moments when you realize how much you love your spouse, and that after 12 years of knowing him he can still make you feel all mushy inside and lucky he chose you.

The girls had a wonderful time with their grandparents other than Maggie getting what was some kind of 24 hour bug with a fever on Sunday. I think Kendall really got to bond with them, and since she's been so affectionate lately, they were eating it up all her hugs and kisses.

My mom was originally supposed to keep the kids but ended up spending most of the week with my grandmother, who we recently had to move into assisted living after she fell and broke her shoulder. She's had a hard time adjusting (who wouldn't?) but seems to be doing better. I sent her a bunch of pictures of the kids and I'm hoping that'll cheer her up. She doesn't want any of us to see her just yet, so we're going to have to try and keep her spirits up via mail & phone calls. Keep her in your prayers.

That's about all I have to report. Hope everybody here had a great weekend!!!! Call me if Spring Break at home with the kids starts getting to you; we'll get together!!