Seven Blessed Years

Our 7th Wedding Anniversary

I've decided I'll have to make a tradition out of taking this sort of picture of myself when we go out to celebrate our anniversary. It wasn't until I got home and loaded my pictures onto my computer, I realized I did exactly the same shot last year, at The Oxford Hotel. Weird.

I have to be honest, Justin planned this little anniversary getaway 100%, he completely spoiled me, and I fought him on the whole thing, believe me. I didn't want to leave Eisley {clingy pregnancy hormones} and I told him we didn't need to do anything this fabulous, especially while I was 9 months pregnant. He reminded me that: 1. We wouldn't have a chance to get away again in quite a while, no thanks to Miss Violet and her expected neediness upon arrival. He's right, who knows when our next vacation might be? And our last vacation was well over a year ago... And: 2. Our first five years of anniversaries went uncelebrated.

I caved. And I'm really glad I did.

The first thing we did for our mini-getaway was to go see Cirque du Soleil's Alegria. It was, of course, magical. We've seen two other shows before, Varekai & Corteo. We have yet to see a CdS show that didn't leave us astounded. It's an art form on it's own.

They have everything: contortionists, trapeze artists, flame throwers, clowns {the artistic, non-scary kind}, out of this world costumes, tantalizing music... we love this art form.
Since Alegria was running down in Colorado Springs, Justin decided to make reservations for us to stay in nearby Manitou Springs - a quirky, hippie town that sits at the base of Pikes Peak. I've always loved a trip to Manitou Springs - it's the town Boulder can only aspire to be. Seriously. Gorgeous old buildings, history, amazing views of the mountains and rock formations - there is no town quite like it in all of Colorado. It's a CO gem, to be sure.

And Justin, he picked the most lovely place to stay: The Cliff House.

Except it wasn't all green & lush when we were there last week, for obvious reasons. This hotel was brought back to life just over a decade ago after a fire destroyed it's original body. Still, the hotel carries a sense of history with it, and still looks just as lovely as ever. Yes. If you know me, even just a little, you know Justin made a fantastic choice in staying here. Just like last year with The Oxford. The man knows how to aesthetically please a woman.

The Cliff House has suites named after the celebrities that have stayed there, such as Kathy Bates or Buffalo Bill. Ours was the Jenny Lind Suite -she was a Swedish opera singer, just like me.
To say the least, it was very nice. Too nice...
It was wonderful and superfluous. Wonderfully superfluous, I won't ever forget how lovingly my husband planned this.
A TV behind a painting! What the...? Take that, Holiday Inn Express...Our gift from The Cliff House. {So beats a shower cap. Even though there was one of those, too...}
Except there was no butler. We had to serve ourselves our own drinks. Lame...

No, but seriously, in case you have any doubts on the quality of this hotel...
behold! You know a place is really schnazzy when they provide you with Aveda products. When I saw these I knew we'd be okay... {but I still checked the mattress for bed bugs.}
The Cliff House, to my surprise & delight, was furnished with well over 20 {just from the rooms we saw} original Rockey paintings. Charles Rockey is a famous Manitou Springs artist. I love his work, and I recognized it almost immediately as my mother owns an original Rockey. She obtained it when she was living in the Springs doing theatre at the Iron Springs Chateau Melodrama and Dinner Theatre. Today he's quite famous - it was amazing to get to see so many of his works up close.
The Cliff House was filled with historic items that I wanted to steal... but Justin reminded me that they had our credit card on file and this wasn't just some hotel bathrobe you can charge to your room...
Another Rockey of The Cliff House during it's restoration:
We didn't have too much time to bum around Manitou, but we did walk down the main strip just a bit. It's a very eclectic little village!

I panicked when I realized we'd forgotten to pack chocolate. But no worries, the local fudge shoppe had us covered.
Most of their little shops weren't "my type" of chic boutique, but interesting and lovely nonetheless.
We even took a stroll down Lovers Lane. Seriously.
And then headed back to our room {I labeled our room on the picture below}.

We got cozy and watched... The Fugitive. Most romantic movie. Ever.
Justin had made dinner reservations at The Cliff House's dining room. It was absolutely delicious! We had a dinner for two special with house salads, fillet mignon, and creme brulée. Although I did get really angry at myself for not bringing the camera down, especially when another couple a few tables over had the waiter snap their picture - I was insanely jealous. In the morning it was time to pack up and go home, leaving all luxury behind - but getting back to Pie was worth it. One last stop, however, was to get a couple's massage at the Columbine Day Spa. This was a first massage experience for both of us - and this sent our weekend anniversary getaway over the top.

It's a joy to look back on 7 years with Justin - and to look forward to many more. The weekend ended with me feeling like an incredibly spoiled wife, which is exactly what I am. But I still look back on last year's anniversary with so much fondness, I know the memory of this year's anniversary will last a long time as well. Next year I think we should just go to McDonald's...

Night Owl vs. Morning Man

This morning Eisley decided that getting up for a 7am screaming was in order. We think perhaps another tooth is breaking through? Justin was up and out of bed before I even comprehended what was happening and whether or not I was still dreaming.

This morning reminded me {for perhaps the 537th time} how lucky I am to have married a morning person.

We've established a system, rooted in the days when I was getting up at 1am & 4am to pump breastmilk, of Justin being the nighttime caregiver. In the early days, as an exclusive pumper, I tried to hold up to 2 red-eye breastpump sessions and getting up with Eisley, feeling like that was my job as mom. Unfortunately, that only made for an incredibly stressed and sleep-deprived Heather, which made everyone's life more unpleasant thanks to my grumpiness. So to help {as well as to tame the monster I become under such times of exhaustion} Justin turned into the "Midnight Mr. Mom".

As spoiled as I feel sleeping through any midnight fussing {which is rare now anyway thankfully} I am also SO thankful that Justin can handle this. He's a God-send in these moments. Whereas, if our roles were switched in that moment, I'm afraid to admit that I would be completley resentful. Why does *he* get to sleep?! Why is this happening to me?! I need more sleep! ... and probably in tears, too. Oh yes. I cry very easily when I'm overly tired. Just like my daughter.

As the mom, I feel like I just should be the one getting up with her in the early morning, but I'm like my own mother: a hard sleeper and incredibly difficult to wake up. When I do wake up, I'm usually not in a pleasant mood, and also very disoriented. It takes a lot of time to wake up when you're this sort of person. Justin has learned over the years {which by the way, we've now officially hit 9 years together!} to wake me gently. On Sunday, he woke me up for early church by stroking my cheek. Aww :-)

I usually spend the first 10 minutes of each day trying to disentangle my dreams from reality. {i.e. this morning was "Yes, you *did* watch a funny Lord of the Rings spoof right before bed last night on YouTube. No, you *did not* build an escalator in your parent's living room."} Such is the life of a deep sleeper/non-morning person.

Additionally, it never ceases to amazing me how Justin can bound out of bed at 6am and go cheerfully entertain our daughter. He goes from 0 - 60 in two seconds. Nice. I'm actually jealous. He's expressed similar amazement to me about my night owl nature, because on any given night I can easily stay up until 2am before getting tired. But that special talent is unavailing when you have an infant. {It mostly just comes in handy for your college years.}

I have to say after almost ten months {TEN MONTHS!} I'm still in utter disbelief everytime Justin says "It's okay, honey, you go back to bed." I usually ask - half asleep, "Are you sure???" Because Lord knows I wouldn't be that okay with it. He never complains, for which I am quite grateful.

So I guess this works for us. It does benefit everyone when I'm well rested, I have to say, and at least Justin and Eisley catch up on some of the bonding they miss out on while he's at work.

But, I concede: Justin is pretty much the better parent between the hours of 11pm & 8am.

PS - Have you seen my latest cakes?

Tuesday there was a knock at the door, it was another Jehovah's Witness. They've really been hitting my neighborhood a lot lately.

Wednesday there was a knock at the door, it was Eisley's {paternal} grandma to drop off a Valentine's outfit. For Eisley, not me.

Thursday there was a knock at the door and when I went and opened, there was a box waiting for me with my {early} Valentine's inside.

They're beautiful, thanks honey!

5 YEARS!

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Justin and I are celebrating our 5th anniversary today. I can't believe it's been 5 years since we married, and about eight and a half since we got together! I was thinking earlier today about how we've spent a third of our lives together already... crazy.

We got married very young - at just 19 years old. I've never regretted that decision.

My husband and I have always had so much fun together. I often wish we had our own camera crew that followed us around, because the best moments are when no one is around, we're both just being ourselves and enjoying each others company.

We're best friends. I tell Justin everything. He knows me better than anyone else in the world, and I'm pretty certain I know him just as well.

We've had our ups and downs in our relationship, but looking back I see more ups than downs. And in a society where the divorce rate is skyrocketing, I know we're lucky. 2008 was rough at times, and definitely was a year that tested our dedication to each other. But I know we're good together. We work. And so when we're in the middle of a down, I know an up is on it's way back around and that this time we're a little bit stronger, older, and wiser.


When Justin and I were in high school together, we didn't like each other for the first couple years. Justin thought I was annoying and silly (which I was). I thought he was a nerd (no comment). When Justin joined the theatre crowd, we slowly became friends.

After a few months, we were great friends. Soon, we started thinking romantically about each other. Suddenly, we were very much in love. I think our strong friendship that came before our romantic involvement has much attributed to our successful marriage.



We knew well before graduating high school that we were going to get married. At first we said we'd wait until we were 24 or so. Then we said maybe we'd wait until a few years into college. But it got harder and harder not to LIVE together, so we bumped up the date to January 3rd, 2004. (After the proposal, that is.)

Some people thought we were crazy. Some people were pretty dramatic about it. Some people told my mom she shouldn't "let us" and said, "Don't they know they have their whole lives ahead of them? They're so young!" My mom wasn't worried. She knew us...

Of course we knew we had our "whole lives" ahead of us! Who better to spend it with than with each other?

No marriage is perfect, and I won't pretend we don't have our challenges. We have our fights, our disagreements, character flaws, and our selfish moments - of course we do. We have moments where we drive each other crazy, yep! But I love Justin and I have a lot of fun with him. I couldn't ask for a better father to my daughter. And we balance each other.

And you never stop growing, either. You never stop learning about each other. These days when I hear about people getting engaged after only a few months of dating I worry a bit for them. Because nearly everyday I learn something new about us, and we started dating over 8 years ago.

When I was little my mom used to tell me often, "I pray all the time for your future husband... and that he's blessed and a good person...." I used to roll my eyes and blow that off.

But looking back, I know God heard my moms prayers. And He granted them.
Here's to five years. Here's to many, many more.