Raye: October 2012

Well Clint and I just celebrated our FIFTH Anniversary on the 20th! Yahoo! I know that's not a terribly long time, but it is a big milestone for us and an exciting one at that!

We decided we wanted to do something different for our anniversary instead of the normal overnighter in Salt Lake or somewhere close, so we decided to go to St. George. We wanted to go for two nights, but we weren't sure what to do with Ellie. Clint's parents and his youngest sister went to Disneyland for UEA so they weren't going to be home. But Kenna and Navarro stepped up to the plate and said they would LOVE to have Ellie. ALL WEEKEND! That's a big commitment for newlyweds! :) But we were very grateful and couldn't have left her with two better people. She seriously LOVES them and had the time of her life!

So Friday night we left her around 6 and went to dinner in Layton. Then we headed to Salt Lake and stayed at the Parrish Place Bed & Breakfast. It is an old, large house that they turned into a little B&B and it was so cute! Definitely old and rickety, but it had a quaint feel to it and it was different, so we liked that! We ended up forgetting our phone chargers, so we found a Walmart that night, with a parking garage mind you, and ended up buying a Pint of Ben & Jerry's, three $5 movies, and a phone charger. How fun!

Then we woke up bright and early and headed for St. George. It took us 4 1/2 hours to get there which wasn't bad. But boy were we ready to be done with the car ride! Once we got there we went to In n Out for lunch and then hit up the outlets for some Christmas shopping. We utilize our anniversary every year to get a head start on the Christmas shopping so that we can try to avoid the Christmas crowds later.

We stopped at the Best Western Abbey Inn to check into our hotel, which we've stayed at before and LOVE, and then we went to the Claim Jumper for dinner which was Fabulous. Then went and saw Hairspray at Tuachan!!! I've never been to Tuachan and I couldn't have been more excited! It was a great performance and it was so funny. It was actually their last performance of the season so the cast was pulling jokes and goofing off the whole time. It was hilarious!

The Abbey Inn is a little more updated than the B&B, which was kind of nice! :)

Then Sunday morning we hung out, did a little more shopping and then headed home. All in all it was a great, long-needed weekend. It was so nice to hang out with my best friend. It's always nice to be together alone, but this weekend was extra special. I was emotional in itself because I was so excited that we hit the 5-year mark, but it was also nice because we were so relaxed. We laughed at the little things. We joked. We played. We enjoyed each other's company. It was the best weekend I have had in a long time. Yes, we missed our Ellie terribly, and she missed us, but it was the little reminder of why we fell in love that got to us. It was great, and I loved every minute of it.

Thank you Clint, for being such a wonderful husband, father, and friend. You are my best friend and I love you so much. You have turned my life around and made it the best that it can possibly be. I couldn't ask for anything more. I have it all with you. Happy Anniversary! Thanks for the 5 best years of my life!

On Monday afternoon I took Ellie outside to play with some toys after she woke up from her nap. She LOVES being outside, so she's always happy when we get to go out, even just to the mailbox.

The neighbor kids were outside playing and Ellie wanted to play with them soooo bad. She would walk over and just laugh and scream at them, so they finally came over to play with her! Really they came over to play with her toys, but she absolutely loved it! I didn't take a picture of the other kids though, because I wasn't sure what their mom would think! ;)

It was such a beautiful day! Man I love this fall weather!

Then, thanks to my Instagram App on my phone, I played with these pictures a little. They totally look better on my phone, but I thought they were kind of cool!