8 Years and Counting...

I'm having a hard time believing that 8 years ago I married the love of my life, my sweetheart, my knight in shining armor. It really was the perfect day. Sunshine and blue skies. We couldn't have asked for better weather. I'll never forget, for as long as I live, looking across the altar, into his deep blue eyes and feeling the reality of the whole thing. I had finally found my best friend. And I was his, for forever. It was indescribable. There are just no words. It was the best day of my entire life.

And looking back at these past 8 years, how swiftly they've passed, and yet I can hardly remember how I lived my life without him. He is my very best friend. The best listener. The best confidante. The best encourager and inspirer. The best of everything.

We have passed through so much together. The trials, the miracles, the joys, the sorrows, the failures, the triumphs, they have all bound us together and to the Lord.

There is nothing quite like the anticipation of looking forward to a date night every night--even and especially when we do the simplest traditions...talking, eating ice cream, watching an Andy Griffith or Dick Van Dyke episode, reading a book together. These simple moments at the end of the day, when it's just the two of us, make my heart dance. They provide me the motivation to do yet another load of laundry and sweep the floor again. These magical, simple evenings make all the struggles of young motherhood worth it.

I am happier than I have ever been. Each day my love grows stronger and my joy more beautiful.

Maylie stayed with my parents and the boys stayed with Patrick's parents so we could celebrate our anniversary this year. And thanks to my parent's generosity, they picked up Maylie so we could take the boys down to Riverton together and spend one extra evening together.  After dropping the boys off, we stopped at U-Swirl Yogurt and each made a blended, delicious, yogurt waffle cone. Whenever we begin our anniversary trips, it's always so unreal that it's just the two of us. We keep waiting for fighting, whining and "I'm Tungry!"'s from the backseat. But it's so refreshing to be instantly transported to our dating days and reminisce on all of the memories. The funny thing is, though, when they're away from us, we find ourselves constantly quoting and reminiscing about our children. They've become such a part of our hearts that we can never completely be perfectly happy without them. But still, these past few days were perfect!

After ice cream, we made it home and kick-offed our first night of our glamorous staycation by reading an extra chapter in "The Beyonders" (our current story we're reading together.) The next morning we got to sleep in! How wonderful it was to wake up when my eyes opened, instead of the usual weekend wake ups of the boys whispering loudly to each other, or Maylie calling me from her room. We took our time in the morning and pretty much did a "Jamie's idea of a relaxing vacation" all day long. I couldn't believe how still the house was and how relaxing it was to have quiet and peace and a day to take our time and flow through the day at a relaxing pace. We started with yoga and meditation (both of which I usually do by myself), and then made omelets for breakfast and I told Patrick all about learning to make true omelets from the chef at the Savoy.

After breakfast we had our personal scripture studies and then shared our inspirations with each other. After that, we went into town to do some window shopping. You see, we have this quaint little main street downtown that is so old and historic with little shops all around. I've always wanted to walk the streets and go through all the shops, and I finally got my wish. We strolled through the shops and found the cutest little old museum. We stayed there for nearly an hour. I was truly amazed at all the history and treasures I found in one tiny little museum. I was even asked by the sweet little old lady who showed us around if I would be a model for next year's fashion show when they model all of the old vintage dresses. I was delighted!

After making a few purchases here and there we sat on the shaded benches around the town square and heard the old clock chime while we ate our Perry peaches.

Then we went home, made Creme Brûlée, bought dinner at the hospital, and ate it on our patio listening to all of our favorite songs from "our day."

Later we watched a shark documentary, did some more reading and yoga before crawling into bed to sleep in again. The next morning we did another meditation, made oatmeal and then drove to the Logan temple to do a session. That was the highlight of the weekend. It always is. Afterwards, we ate lunch at Elements, ran a few errands, and then spent the next several hours on the road picking up our sweeties and getting home just in time to give them a bowl of cereal and tuck them into bed. 

I think I rather liked this simple staycation this year. We didn't go anywhere grand or spend much money, we just slowed down and enjoyed the simplicity of being together. It was perfect in every way.

I love you Patrick Alan Johnson!!!!!!!

Spies.

So with the dawning of our 7th Anniversary which will happen next week, we celebrated this past weekend with a trip to Little America.

But it wasn't just any trip.

I planned a whole spy surprise adventure with a spin off from North by Northwest.

Agent Kaplan (Patrick) and I (Eve) received a letter from the FBI instructing us to recover the once-again stolen microfilm.  We were given a decoy agenda of testing out some homemade spa products that I made beforehand.

I was so excited that Patrick playde along.  We had a blast sneaking around the hotel--looking for clues and dining at the exquisite steak house.  Little America is a place near and dear to me as my family spent many days there when I was little.  While my Dad would go to meetings, my Mom and sisters and I would play spy.  It was always an adventure.

So this was such a wonderful way to create new spy memories in one of my very favorite hotels.

Now, on to the clues:

After debriefing, playing Spy Alley board game, and swimming in the pool, we attempted to begin solving the mystery.  Throughout the course of the next few days, we received constant voice recordings in our Spy Kit vault from Julius Forbes (director of the FBI), giving us updates, itineraries, and instructions.

We found "The Source Book" the very first night we were dining.  And Patrick pointed out that the picture below the title looked like a hallway.  A few books down from the Source, there is a book with 2 men and a jug between them.  We knew, right off the bat, that this was going to be a key piece of evidence to the solving of the mystery.

Sadly, headquarters had to be moved away from the beautiful powder room that we used when I was a girl.  It was just too unfortunate that Patrick couldn't go in the ladies' room. :)

I just had to take a picture of this lovely vintage phone.  There were many throughout the hotel and they always made me smile.

When we found the "hallway" that looked just like the one on the book, we knew there would be clues for us to follow.


Sure enough, there was a candle burned out on the righthand candelabra...meaning only 5 were lit.

And here, there were only 8 lights lit instead of 10.

And here too.  So we decided to check floors 5, 8, and 16 for any clues.


We found a tear in the wallpaper on floor 8,

and a scratch on floor 16.

We attempted to look in the fire exit on floor 17 for any more clues.  Unfortunately, we missed this little plaque on the door:

So we had just a lovely time walking down 17 flights of stairs...(I have sore calves to prove it!)

We were so blessed with an open door at the bottom.  Otherwise we would have set off the alarm opening it!

After our goose chase that didn't produce a single lead we took some time to be silly, 

use our anti-bug devices (perfume and cologne)

 and take a few pictures...

Then I got a mysterious call from Richfield, and after going to a2zwordfinder.com to find some anagrams, I was sure of it.  The "chief" had sent us a message to tell us that the "filcher" had "filched" the microfilm and hidden it in an ancient "relic.".......

 ...strangely similar to the "jar" we had seen in the Wasatch room the day before.

So at breakfast our last morning, we knew we were being followed.

  After eating our buffet, we quickly headed upstairs to the Wasatch room.

There, we found another "Source" book and knew we were at the right place.  Two men were suspiciously following us everywhere (ending up in the gift shop)

and when I went to pick up the gray vase to buy it, this little honey pot caught my eye.  I had a feeling that this was it.  But when we went to buy it, the man told us it wasn't for sale because it had a chip on the inside.  (Trying to foil our plans to recover the microfilm, eh?)  Well, we asked if we could buy it anyway and he said, "I guess I could sell it to you for $3.  It's originally $30.  We tried not to enthusiastically yell yes and keep our calm composure as the saleslady wrapped up our treasure in white tissue paper.

We made our escape as quickly as we could to our car (hiding behind walls, doors, and cars as we went) and then drove to Bountiful where we discarded the tissue paper and tape (which were where the real microfilm was hidden) in the wastebasket of the temple.  It would be safe there until Forbes (director of the FBI) could recover it.

Here's a few more pictures from the best trip ever!!

Patrick's Turn to Plan. [The Daring Dive]

This year, for the first time since our first anniversary, Patrick had enough time to plan our anniversary trip.  We made a deal after our first anniversary that while he was in school, I would plan our trips since he had so little free time.  But now he's done, and I waited in anticipation for the day's events.

A few months prior he told me he had something planned that was a little daring.  Daring, is definitely not my cup of chocolate.  So I teasingly told him that if it was sky diving, he should just ask my dad to go on the trip instead of me, since I would rather die before I would go skydiving.  He just smiled his secretive little smile and didn't say a word.

Well, on the drive there to the "daring activity", as we got close I was instructed to close my eyes.  When I opened them, I still didn't know where we were or what we were doing.  But after hiking a few flights of indoor stairs in an unfamiliar building, we entered a door that said "iFly."  We walked up to the counter and the girl asked, "Are you flying today?"

Patrick responded, "Yep!"

"Okay, you just need to sign this waiver sheet."

I thought, "Waiver sheet?!  Flying?!  What are we doing here?!"

I looked at Patrick and he smiled.  "We're going skydiving!"

I felt my stomach plummet with sick, churning feelings knotting up inside.  "Skydiving?  Real skydiving?"  I was just about ready to ask if we could have a refund.

"Yes! Well, indoor skydiving," he so generously reassured me.

So my visions of falling out of an airplane 3000 feet above ground and literally passing out, changed to a vision of falling from an airplane about 500 feet off the ground in a huge gymnasium and still passing out.  Needless to say, the "indoor" part did little to comfort my racing heart.

In a daze, I shakily signed my death sentence and handed it to the girl, but what I really wanted to do was rip it from her hands and tear it up.  My nerves just couldn't handle this.  We don't even have a written will yet!  What about the boys?  What about Maylie?

And while all these thoughts were circling through my head Patrick escorted me to a bench where we watched some skydiving students.  And I began to relax.  Because it was not dropping from a plane, but just falling through a doorway into a wind tunnel.  And the best part was that there was a bouncy metal/mesh grate only a couple feet below the divers.  Just a couple.

And so began one of the most daring experiences of my entire life....and I loved every minute of it!  So much, in fact, that we might go back someday.  (I still need to learn how to do a flip!)

The rest of the day was splendid with a concert in the park, dinner at The Garden, and ice cream from Baskin Robbins.  We even found time to watch a little from the Food Network...which really was a vacation, since we don't have any channels on our TV.  The next morning we went to the temple, picked up Maylie from the Johnsons, and ended our day with a photoshoot of our dear friends in our old ward. (I will be posting those soon).

Thank you, Sweetie, for planning such a fun and *daring* trip!!!

{Note: you can easily tell who has the squishiest nose :)}

August Retreat.

It was one of the very best gifts Patrick has ever given me.  It was a stay in the historic Armstrong Mansion.  It was a creative getaway planned entirely by my sweetheart.  It was an August retreat in February--celebrating our 5 years, 6 month anniversary, which just happens to be in August.

Itinerary: Check-in at 3:00. Dinner at Rodizio Grill at 6:30.  Relax at the mansion.  Breakfast at 8:30.  Temple at 11:00.  Lunch at 1:30.  Pick-up Maylie at 2:00.  (The boys got to spend an extra two nights with Grandpa and Grandma).

{View from our window seat at Rodizio}

{The Rodizio Grill...}

{...my new favorite restaurant}

{On to our Room}

{Stairs in our room leading to...}

{...this...a jacuzzi in a tower room.}

{Back down.}

{There were all sorts of antique trunks that I kind of wanted to borrow...}

{Unlike the anniversary inn where breakfast is brought to the room, we ate in the formal dining room.}

{What a treat to be all by ourselves for breakfast}

{I think I would live here if I could.}

{The dining room chandelier}

{The crown molding}

Thank you sweetheart for the magical getaway.  It was, I believe, a trip to remember....especially since we received an official job offer in Patrick's inbox while we were there...hooray!

For you see, each day I love you more
Today more than yesterday and less than tomorrow.
~Rosemonde Gerard