Happy Anniversary!

Today is our fifth anniversary! Ironic that my blog about being mad at Jeff is followed by a blog about being married to Jeff, but hey, that's what marriage is all about. Ups and downs. Trials and tribulations. Cheesecake in bed. Wait, that's what this morning is all about! We're eating cheesecake in bed to celebrate our five year anniversary and debating how to spend this beautiful sunny day.

Five years ago on this morning, we were busy getting ready for the wedding. Our wedding included only our family - me, Jeff, Hayley, Hannah, Arlie and Harrison. Hayley and Hannah were my maids of honor, Arlie was the flower girl and Harrison was the ring bearer and usher. We had decided to get married with only a couple weeks' notice (after having spent the last year living together as a family and waiting to tie up loose ends from our  previous marriages!). That meant we planned, shopped and bought FAST. The best decision we made was to have our wedding at the Coeur d' Alene resort, where we got an all-inclusive package and a wedding planner that made it all SO easy to do long-distance. We got married on a weekend most of the family was gathering anyway, so no one had to do any extra traveling. Granted, our Seattle friends couldn't make it (with the exception of my best, best friend Tonya and her family - still love them for making the trip!), but most of the immediate family was there and some good friends as well.

In typical mom fashion, I busied myself with getting the kids ready and spent very little time getting myself ready! In fact, I quickly put my hair back in a couple of barrettes right before I had to walk down the aisle and didn't even pay much attention to my makeup, but it was fine because my kids looked beautiful and perfect! My dress was picked out by Tonya on a rush trip to Macy's the Monday before the wedding. We also found the girls' dresses there and found Arlie's flower girl dress at a boutique shop in Bothell the next day when leaving the orthodontist office. Right in front of us, in the window, was a perfect-looking dress and wouldn't you know, it was the right size too? Amazing. The boys got rented tuxes, which turned out great except that we picked them up on our way out of town, and didn't check the sizes. Harrison, age 7 at the time, ended up with men's pants, which Grandma Linda "hemmed" with a couple of safety pins right before the wedding!

I loved that all we had to do was show up in our finery and walk down the aisle. I loved that the minister included the kids in the ceremony, essentially marrying us as a family. I loved the food, the decor, the stunning view of Lake Coeur d' Alene, and the cake. Oh, the cake! The cake was, hands down, the BEST cake I've ever eaten in my life. It was created at Just American Desserts in Spokane and was covered with "tuxedo" strawberries (dipped in white and dark chocolate), cascading down the entire cake. Yum, yum, YUM. I still have never had a better cake. I wish I could replicate that cake every year for my anniversary, but that would require a five hour drive. Sigh.

The funniest part of the wedding was that Jeff's sister-in-law, Heather, decorated cans of "Flarp" (the "fart putty") with wedding pearls and set them out on all the tables. We had been hysterically laughing at this fart putty at the pig pickin' the day before, and so Heather thought it would be funny to classy up the cans and put them out as favors. It was hilarious and actually created entertainment for the many kids in attendance. Such a fun day!

The most touching part of the wedding was the toast Jeff gave. He had practiced it and even had it written out and in his coat pocket. It was sweet, touching, funny and really the nicest thing anyone's ever said about me. The part I remember most was that he said I made life a celebration, even the most mundane things. I loved that part. Because we've been doing it as a family ever since that day, and it's made us have so many laughs and good times.

I'm really the luckiest girl ever. Who could ask for more, really, than a great husband and an amazingly funny family who loves each other so much? Not me. I'm happy.