Happy Anniversary to Us

Well, we've reached a milestone that we quite like. Today, we celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary. In some ways, it feels weird that it's been that long but, in other ways, it feels silly that it's been so short. Rob, Kyr and I went to our favorite Japanese restaurant for dinner tonight which was great. The food was delicious and we had lots of fun hanging out together.
This last Saturday night, though, Rob and I had the chance to have a more romantic evening out. Kyr spent the night with her best friend (thanks, Lauralyn!) so we could run around together. We decided to drive out to Bowie (about 2 hours away) to eat at the restaurant where we ate on our honeymoon drive many moons ago. We really enjoy driving around together and this was particularly fun. I love my man so much but I also really, really like him. We love to take drives together so there's a really good chance to talk about nothing which often leads to our most interesting discussions.
We found the restaurant pretty easily which was nice. We both remembered where it was pretty easily. It's been updated a bit but still looks very similar. Our waiter was fantastic. He was flabbergasted that we were old enough to be married for 15 years and congratulated us heartily. It was a fun meal even though my dinner was only so-so. It was fun to talk about the people we were when we were married. We laughed about how little we knew each other then compared to now but how much we were truly committed to having a successful marriage. We talked about our marathon honeymoon drive. We left Texas four days after our wedding in the evening and drove 28 hours straight to Utah where we were going to stay with my family for a short while. We were driving a VW bug and foolishly took the route that went through the Rockies instead of around. There were times that the bug was going about 8 mph as we climbed and climbed. Rob was so stressed because his good friend had just destroyed his bug's engine when it threw a rod and he was pretty worried. It was a pretty crazy drive but we had a lot of fun. I have no idea why we were so obsessed with not staying at a hotel but we were. :-)
After we left the restaurant, we decided to take an adventurous way back home. We were pretty sure we knew where a highway connected to another highway so we went and drove it. We're kind of silly that way. This time as we drove, we started talking about when we were dating. Rob told me about when he decided to marry me. It began with my psycho dad taking him aside and telling him to get serious or get away from me. While he was a fruitcake, this one turned out well for me. :-) I'm not going to fill in all the detail here (cuz I'm pretty sure I'm already rambly) but it was so interesting to hear much of what he told me because I'd not ever heard it before. Fifteen years later and I hadn't heard that part of it yet. It's so funny to me to discover how many things we still have to tell each other...and we talk a lot. :-) It's so fun to look back and see all the things we've learned about each other and ourselves. I think I'm going to have make a list...
15 Reasons I'm Glad I Married Rob
1. He's freakin' cute.
2. He's so patient with all the "learning about myself" I've had to do.
3. He's a FANTASTIC dad whose particular strengths often match up with my weaknesses.
4. He has a really great, quirky sense of fashion anchored by Converse.
5. He is a wonderful gentleman.
6. For some reason, his little nieces all LOVE him, even if they don't really know him or spend time with him. It takes about 2 minutes before they're crawling all over him. I find that incredibly attractive.
7. He is an incredibly good tinkerer which kept our old VW's running for years and now provides us a very comfortable living.
8. He works so hard, oftentimes doing gross or really uncomfortable things. He just does them, does them well, and doesn't complain about it.
9. He has a highly amusing sense of humor that I love.
10. He is a great partner in trying to improve our family and our lives.
11. He honors his priesthood and sets a great example to Kyr of what kind of man she should marry.
12. He loves to surprise me with things...like rearranging the entire garage because I mentioned it'd be nice to actually put our car in it, cleaning the kitchen for fun, etc.
13. I love his voice whether he's singing, talking or even just humming.
14. He is the best person around when you feel icky; he does anything that will help me feel better.
15. My last reason I'm glad I'm married Rob is because I can't imagine wanting to spend eternity with anyone else by my side.
I think I'll head off to bed now.