It's Been 14 Years

How lucky am I that our wedding anniversary happened to be at a time when Jed was actually home to celebrate it with me!  That's two years in a row for us, wow!   :)

Jed and I wanted to do something special but not be away from the kids for too long.  I didn't want to deprive them of their dad.  We decided to spend one night away from home.  Our destination - Park City, Utah. 

 
The weather during our long drive was stormy but absolutely beautiful.  We had a great time just talking....with no interruptions.  :)

On our way, we did some shopping in Murray, Utah.  Running shoes and a dress shirt for Jed and a dinner dress for me. Our driving and shopping took longer than we intended and so we ended up just staying the night in Provo, Utah.   

That evening we got all dressed up for our date and went to a nice restaurant for dinner. 

No kids.  Just me, Jed, and delicious food.  What a great night.  Once we were sufficiently stuffed, we waddled our way back to the car.

Back at the hotel we took a few pictures with the camera timer:

Fourteen years, people, not too shabby!  And we still like each other too!

Hey kids, this one's just for you.  Are we grossing you out yet?

The hotel staff were super sweet and sent a HUGE piece of cake to our room, along with this note:
Sadly, we just couldn't fit any more food into our stomachs and so it just sat there.  However, we totally appreciated their thoughtfulness.  :)

The next morning, we drove to Park City to spend the day touring the town.  This is where some of the 2002 winter Olympic events were held.

We walked along historic Main Street.  Lots of fun shops to browse in.

Did all the dorky touristy things:

Yes, I am cold here. The morning was nippier than I thought it would be.  Wished I had worn pants instead but my poor legs needed some serious sun.  It warmed up later in the afternoon.

Since Jed calls me Dolly, he wanted me to get a picture with this sign.

We ended up going into this particular bookstore - Jed's a sucker for places like this.

Why take a picture of this?  Well, I finally revealed a secret to Jed in that little bookstore.  A secret that I had been hiding for a few years and I needed this tag to help make something right.  I will post about that in the near future. 

Later that day we began our long drive back home but not without first stopping to see Jed's dad, Tom, along the way.

This was the first time they had seen each other since before Jed left for Iraq.

I love where Tom lives.  It's a little piece of heaven. 

You may be asking why a United Kingdom flag is flying next to an American one?  Simple, since Tom's wife is British, she felt like her country needed to be represented as well.  :)

How would it be to wake up to this every morning?

I had to get a picture of Jed's scruff: 

Before Jed left for Iraq he had just a few white hairs here and there.  Nine months later you can tell the deployment has certainly aged him.  Fifty percent of his whiskars are now white!   Poor guy, he's even come home with more wrinkles.  Being in the military doesn't provide much of a stress-free environment.

Later Tom and Mo got cleaned up and took us out to dinner.  Jed's half-sister, Afton, and her family joined us as well.  Good times!