Will and I stopped giving each other anniversary presents long ago, maybe even after the first year? But in honor of our anniversary today, I present A Celebration of 15 Years (with a lot of help from a blog post that I wrote in 2008 for our 10-year anniversary - click here to see it).
Zero-ith - We were married on August 8, 1998 at College Hill United Methodist Church in Wichita, KS. Will made the mistake on the night of our wedding of ordering the VERY EXPENSIVE COMBO MEAL FROM WENDY'S instead of ordering one item off of the dollar menu like I thought he should. ;) We went to St. Louis for our honeymoon because it was cheap and all of the activities there were essentially free. And we both agree that the most memorable moment from our honeymoon was a bear in a very uncompromising position at the St. Louis Zoo with all of the parents trying to explain to their questioning children what was happening. ;)
1st - We took a trip to DC as more of a "real" honeymoon than our abbreviated St. Louis excursion. On our anniversary itself we went to the "very classy" TGI Friday's (my first time there). We have no surviving photos of this trip, so below is another wedding shot.
2nd - Drove to Topeka to eat at Olive Garden. I was turning 21 in 20 days....but still couldn't drink yet. If I had planned this blog post before we left for our big road trip, I could have included a picture around that time from our physical photo albums. Since I did not, here is a picture of Olive Garden:
3rd - I was out of town at a conference in Atlanta. When I got back, we drove to Junction City to eat at the Cracker Barrel (yea, classy us!). Here is what Cracker Barrel looks like:
4th - We were both interning in Kansas City that summer. We went to the ever-yummy Jack Stack BBQ in Martin City. (This picture is from Christmas of that year, aka when we got a digital camera....what's 4+ months??)
5th - We were vacationing in New York City with Julie and Charlie on the Coolest Vacation Ever. That day, we all went out to Coney Island. In the evening, Will and I saw a show (I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change!) and ate Thai food afterwards at a really crappy place. I didn't know it yet, but was pregnant with Annika.
6th - Annika was 3.5 months old. She accompanied us to the Olive Garden right by our house. (This picture is from our birthday celebration a couple of weeks later.)
7th - We had just moved to Florida a few days ago. The 3 of us went to Olive Garden, where Annika proceeded to throw breadsticks over her shoulder. Decide to nix "fine dining" with a toddler.
8th - Will and I went to a local Vietnamese place over our lunch hour, sans Annika (see Year 7 above).
9th - We headed out to the classiest place of all over lunch: Logan's Roadhouse. I had just returned from my annual accounting conference (which is always the same time as our anniversary), and had just found out I was pregnant with Daniel.
10th - We went to Downtown Disney and saw Cirque du Soleil Orlando while Nonnie watched the kids. We were technically a week early because of my accounting conference. And this photo is too hilarious!
11th - Went on a cruise to the Bahamas!! We did it the week after our anniversary and Nonnie flew down to Florida and watched the kids for a whole week while we cruised around the Caribbean. I had just graduated with my PhD so there was a lot to celebrate. ;)
12th - The kids went to stay with Nonnie for the weekend! (I am sensing a theme...THANK YOU, NONNIE!!) The most memorable things about that weekend were (1) we went to the Chef Cafe for breakfast for the first time, and (2) we spent a lot of time attempting to find a bike for me but did not end up purchasing anything because I couldn't decide.
13th - Once again, after my accounting conference, the kids went to (wait for it....wait for it....) Nonnie's house while Will and I went to LAS VEGAS for a few days!! We went to five different shows while we were there and ate at the Top of the World Restaurant at the Stratosphere.
14th - Will and the whole family came to DC with me for my accounting conference. The evening of our anniversary we all went out to an Italian restaurant with my best bud Denise. And, the kids got their much-anticipated Build-A-Bears (Daniel got a Darth Vader Rainbow Bear and Annika got a Calico Cat that she named Wendy).
15th - This year our anniversary falls in the middle of our Big West Road Trip Adventure! And what better way to celebrate than than our item on the agenda today: seeing the Grand Canyon with the kids! This has been such a wonderful adventure for our whole family.
Happy 15th Anniversary, Will. You truly are the best thing that has ever happened to me. I love you!
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