31st Anniversary

Today was Hubby and my 31st Anniversary!  He left me a lovely card. He sent me a text message and left a message on my cell phone, singing to me ... "Happy Anniversary to you, Happy Anniversary to me,  Happy Anniversary to us, and now I better go!" LOL

I called him to wish him a Happy Anniversary and asked if he wanted to meet me for dinner.  He said he was going to cook me a steak dinner and fix salad as a surprise, but that could wait a day, and we could go out and enjoy a meal.  He had even picked up a good bottle of Merlot.

I had gone shopping and found a perfect card for him.  The first one I found, and it said, I Believe, and part of the message said... "because you are the best thing that has happened to me!"  I had to laugh, as
that is what Hubby says about himself to me!


I've been wanting a hair cut and style, so I walked in to the first place, and they had an opening.  5" shorter and layered, I feel lighter.

I met Hubby at The Steak House and surprised him with my hair cut.  It doesn't look that different, but now has a style!  I gave him my card.  We sometimes don't do cards, so this was a nice surprise for him, too.

We had a delicious steak dinner, toss salad, and baked potato with the toppings!  I had a strip steak smothered in mushrooms and he had one smothered with fried onions.

We went to dinner early enough that we had the room almost to ourselves.  That was so relaxing to sit and talk, without the distraction of other people around us.

What a lovely evening!

Then we came home to put 2 round bales in to the horse lots, with mud everywhere.  At least the rain had stopped.

You can take the girl out of the country but you can't take the country out of the girl.

Horses need to eat too!

30th Anniversary

March 21, 1981 - March 21, 2011

Hubby and I celebrated our 30th Wedding Anniversary yesterday! I was just too tired last night to get much posting done.

Time just flies, doesn’t it? It just seems like yesterday we were at the church, snow blowing around us, with not a care in the world. We were married at a church in the small town that I grew up near, as the small country church couldn’t seat everyone. We had some snow the night before, and some of hubby’s family couldn’t travel the 3 hours to come to the wedding. We rented a fire hall, mom had bought all the food and the hall ladies served the food. Has anyone else had Pigs-in-the-Blanket at their wedding reception?

Within months of getting married, we moved from near Philadelphia to near Pittsburgh. Living their for 2 years, we had a baby girl. We moved to north Detroit, living their for 3 years and had a baby boy. Then we moved to Nebraska, and within a 1 ½ years, had another baby boy. We were on a small acreage for 6 years before moving to our current location. 19 more years have passed. Kids in and out of high school and college. Years of showing horses, from 4-H to Open Shows to QH Shows. Mock Trial. FFA and FBLA. Football games. Wrestling matches. And lots of horse shows. Grandbabies coming.

30 years of living with my best friend. Some ups and downs, but mostly ups.

30 years of trying to make each other happy, even though there were sad moments.

30 years of Christmases, Valentine’s Days, and Birthdays.

30 years of Anniversaries. The 25th was very special, as hubby surprised me with a Surprise Party and a Renewing of our Vows. He totally surprised me with sneaking photos out of the home for a friend to make a slide show. He organized the food. He invited friends. He found some of the items from our wedding to set out! I didn’t even know that he knew we had that stuff!

Kids are gone. We are both working, and partly working for ourselves. We have been empty nesters long enough to enjoy it, and to start remodeling the house!

We try to make each other happy, but some times are tougher than others to do that. But those times are unhappy times, so we try to do what the other person wants and we try to do something “for” the other person. That is what love is all about.

We’ve come to a time in our life where we are really trying to understand each other, and what we each want out of life. We are trying to give each other the freedom to enjoy our own hobbies, yet manage to stay involved. We are at a point in our lives where we want to do things together, yet have breathing space to do things separately.

This could be a hard time together, as we are spending more time together, without kids and activities. Without extra work. And we this could be a great time together, as we have the extra time to enjoy each other. To do things together. To go places together.

To ride together. To enjoy the sunrises and the sunsets. To sit outside at the end of the day to enjoy a cup of coffee or a glass of ice tea together. To lounge together in the evenings.

30 years have past. 30 years are ahead of us.

Happy Anniversary, Honey. Thanks for the special card.

Love you Bunches and Bunches.

Parents 65th Wedding Anniversary

My parents were married October 15, 1945. 65 years ago today.

Last weekend, Tom and I flew to PA for a surprised Anniversary Party. Dad knew about the party but didn’t want to tell mom (pronounced mum. Remember, I’m from western PA).

Mom is going through some dementia, and we are sure she is in early stages of Alzheimer’s. She will not be tested, as she thinks they will tell her that she isn’t right in her head. I understand. She knows that she doesn’t remember everything that she does during the day, and she is fine with that. I’m glad, even though I don’t understand how she isn’t upset that she doesn’t remember. But I’m very glad that she isn’t upset and she seems fine with how she is. She also has Scleroderma, which has arthritic symptoms, giving her poor circulation, which affects her hands and feet and makes them very cold.



Dad has some health issues, even though he is still very healthy. Like all older men, he has had his share of Prostrate issues, and is on medicine for that. Like a lot of older people, he has cataracts. He had one removed about 2 weeks ago, and had a bad side effect that has caused him to have no vision in that eye. The prostrate medicine can cause side effects during cataract surgery. Dad’s eye went through a lot of movement towards the end of the surgery, causing the eye to fill with blood. The blood was drained a few days later, but there is still no vision. We are hoping that within a month or 2, the vision returns. Dad needs the cataract on the other eye removed. He is understandably very nervous to have that surgery!

Many couples don’t see this Anniversary milestone. We are glad that our parents have stayed fairly well and are happily married.


Enjoy the family pics!

Happy 65th Anniversary, Mom and Dad. We love you.

 

My 29th Anniversary

Today is my 29th Anniversary. It just seemed like yesterday that I was married to Tom. Then there was the birth of 3 children, Sara, Jacob and Micah. Each of them went from preschool through high school, and finally college. 2 of the children are married, and each of them have a 15 month old baby. I am a grandmother to Makenzie and Caden, and loving it!



For the first time in a long time, both Tom and I slept in! It was lovely! I woke up early, but drifted in and out of sleep, as I’m sure that Tom did too. We finally got up a little before 9! We had an egg and bacon sandwich on toast.

Tom did chores, as he had to see if he could get our tractor started to do round bales to the horses. He changed the ignition, but that wasn’t the problem. So it looks like I’ll be feeding horses baled hay for the next week.



Tom and I went to the Home and Garden show at the Lancaster Event Center. We are thinking of building, or having someone else build, a sunroom and a screened porch. As we walked around, we also looked at hot tubs. I would just love sitting in a hot tub in the middle of winter!!!

Jacob and Amber had called and we needed to meet him to pick up an outside table set. We took it over to his house, and Tom helped him to install a ceiling fan while I played with Caden.





Caden also tried helping Pop and Daddy with whatever he could find to help with!



Tomorrow is Amber’s birthday and we took a gift and some Easter decorations.

Micah and Amy met us at Jacob’s house too. We all went to Fireworks for our Anniversary. We had an enjoyable time, visiting and catching up with everyone. I had an excellent red wine from Chile, so good that I had a 2nd glass! Caden loved watching the flames of the fireplace. He shared our dinners, and loved the cornbread and the macaroni and cheese. I enjoyed an excellent steak with mushrooms, and a baked potato with all the toppings. Tom enjoyed a full rack of bar-b-que ribs!



In 2 weeks, we are going to see Sara, Jake and Makenzie for Easter. It has been 2 months since we have seen them, and it will be fun playing with Makenzie too.

Now I’m relaxing on our reclining sofa, watching Undercover Boss. The sofa has a heater, warming up my lower back. Feet up and drinking a glass of merlot. Hubby snoring on the other end of the sofa. I turned his heated sofa seat on too.



Life is good. During hard times, remember the good times! I’m ready for another 29 years! And playing with the grandkids! Maybe next year, I’ll be lounging in a hot tub in our new sunroom!