Ten Years

Rob and I have been married TEN YEARS today!

We were married Friday, October 8, 1999 in the Mesa temple. Our reception was that evening, and then we flew to Cancun the next day for our honeymoon. Shall we take a trip down memory lane?

Engagement photos....

Now, having been to lots more weddings in the past ten years, there are probably some things I'd do differently if I were to plan a reception today, but it was nice. We had fun, and and our families and lots of friends helped us out in so many ways to make it a special day for us! It's kind of too bad receptions aren't longer so you can spend more time with all the people who help out or travel from out of town or go out of their way to be there for you. It's nice to read the guest list and think about all the people we love who came to be there with us.

A few interesting things from our wedding day...

Like the bride forgetting to bring her white shoes and only having BLACK ones to wear out of the temple...

And having a fountain punch bowl that LIGHTS UP RED when you plug it in!

And I had to include this picture because, well... look!

...cracks me up.

Rob sliced up his hand while cutting string off the car so we could get into it, and he did a good job not bleeding all over the white rented tux. "Are you okay? Don't bleed on the tux!"

We drove off into the night, happily ever after....

WAIT. Almost. We stopped by my parents' house on the way to our hotel so we could hang up my wedding dress and leave Rob's tux, and he discovered one of the car vandals' keys in his car! So he took off to bring the keys back to the reception while I changed clothes at my parents' house. He said he got some pretty confused looks when people looked into the "Just Married" car and just saw some poor guy driving along by himself.

Mind you, it really was a great day! But what would a stroll down memory lane be without some entertaining details? We can't forget that stuff.

We had a good time in Cancun & got to do a lot of interesting stuff, like swim with dolphins and ride wave runners without glasses or contacts (going without glasses or contacts is an adventure in itself for both of us!) and checking out the Mayan pyramids at Chichen Itza.

When we got home, both of our parents came over and we opened our wedding presents. Later, we had our first meal in our apartment: melted American cheese on hot dog buns. Then it was back to work and school!

We had a good start, and ten years & two kids later, things are still going pretty well, entertaining details and all!

Happy 10th Anniversary, Rob! I love you!

Fall!

It's fall!! Either that or we're having a cold spell. The high was only 90 today!

Rob didn't have to umpire today, so he actually got to play softball. We went to a couple of his games. The kids loved riding their scooters at the park.

Then we hiked up Monument Hill. It's the point where the surveys for the whole valley started back in the 1860's. The whole city was mapped out from this point, and they have a little plaque and concrete compass rose right on top of the mountain. Erin is getting kind of interested in maps, so she got a kick out of that. We could see just about everything from up there. Downtown is just above Robbie's head, and Camelback Mountain is to the right of that.

Don't worry - they're not that sunburned. They just get pink in the heat like their mom.

Monument Hill also butts up against Phoenix International Raceway, so we got a good view of that. On Saturdays, they open up the racetrack & let people pay to drive their own cars in there. Kind of interesting to watch. Robbie really liked that, since it was so similar to the Cars movie. (Robbie really hated this cactus. I told him to be careful & not to touch it because it's pokey, and then he didn't want to go anywhere near it!)

The Base & Meridian wildlife area is right at the bottom of the hill, so we went down there for a little bit. We threw a lot of rocks in the water, and the kids put their toes in for a little bit. It's a well-used area, I'll say, because there were plenty of beer cans & grocery bags lying around. It bothers me to see so much crap around, but it's still a fun place to go.

Then Rob had a break between games, so we met him at Hungry Howie's for pizza. Pretty good pizza - same $5 carryout deal as Little Caesar's, but not quite as... well... Little Caesar's. You know.

We went home, had baths and cooled down for a bit, and then we went back to Avondale for Rob's last game. His team was undefeated & won the tournament, so that was pretty fun for him. Right now, he's proudly wearing the t-shirt he won (ha ha). Here are the kids watching him bat. (Not sure what's going on with the umpire & the catcher, though)

We're tired! But it was a good day, and I'm so happy the bearable weather is here!