Fourth/Fifth Anniversary

Thursday was our fourth wedding anniversary and marked five years since Zach and I met.  :)

We had to work, but I did let my students go a bit early, and Zach surprised me by taking me out to Orange Leaf when he picked me up.  I enjoyed the brownie and raspberry yogurt with raspberries and white chocolate chips--heaven.  :)

Friday night, we went to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse to celebrate. They sure do know how to make you feel special! When we arrived, they kept greeting us with "Happy anniversary!" and our table was sprinkled with red rose petals (which is why I took a picture of the bread on the bed of roses *lol*).

Our food was so yummy--although Zach said the steak wasn't quite as good as what he had at Morton's that time in Boston--and I am planning on making the copycat sweet potato casserole very soon because it is CRACK.

At the end of dinner, our server Cornelius brought us a complimentary slice of flourless chocolate cake with a candle and took our picture. (We're not really sure what they do with those pictures. Zach thinks there's a creeper in the back with them...) We had him take one on Zach's phone as well.

I told Zach this should become our annual tradition! And we laughed and laughed when the valet opened Zach's door when we were leaving because he didn't realize I was the one driving...  (Zach's been on meds for his back, which makes him too loopy to get behind the wheel.)

We had kind of a weird year presents-wise:  I put together a brew-your-own-root-beer basket, and Zach got me some new silverware and a creation called bed-bands that helps your sheets stay on because we've been battling it out over getting some new sheets.  (The ones I love have shrank a little, so now we can use them a bit longer.)  We liked each other's presents a lot, but they were just...weird.  *lol*  I have to say the bed bands work great!  I've got to wash up the new silverwear, so they can go into rotation.  And I can't wait to brew the root beer and some ginger ale.  Apparently, homemade is where it's at... :)

We’ve been through a lot over the last five years: lots of dates, lots of fun, lots of love; and grad school and graduation, unemployment and job searching, moving across the state to new jobs, and getting more responsibilities that comes with the multitude of blessings and burdens of working to help others make their lives better; and enjoying more Netflix and Hulu than I can measure, far too many yummy meals, and not very many yucky ones, too much candy, not enough travels, so many LEGO bricks, and two fluffy cats who make our home complete; and immeasurable laughter, some tears now and then, a near-death experience, and a hope for a future together, bounded by an increasing love, forever and ever, in all times, in all places, in all ways. Forever.

Or, if you would like something a tad less mushy, here we (The Royal We) are BY THE NUMBERS;

5 years since we met

4 wedding anniversaries

3 homes (Baridon, Hot Springs, and Bentonville)

2 furbabies

1 life together

Throwback Thursday: My First Kiss(es)

Today, I'm linking up with Bonnie over at The Life of Bon for Throwback Thursday.  And we're going to talk some kissing...

Have you ever thought about how gross kissing is?  And how we, as humans, thought to do it?  Like who thought pressing lips against someone else's would feel good?  The textbook we use in our composition classes at the college has an article on how kissing may have evolved, and it could go back to when mothers chewed their children's food and deposited it in their mouths (like mama birds).  And in times of famine, the feeding motion (kissing) would give the hungry babies and toddlers comfort.

Anyhoo...

I was pretty boy crazy as a very tiny girl.  I was always "marrying" one of the neighborhood kids (Rocky and Scotty mostly, depending on where I was living at the time), and I had a crush on a boy named Andrew in kindergarten, and I used to kiss ALL of his stuff that was stored in our bathroom.  (We had a bathroom in our room that doubled as a closet.)  Yes, I KNOW.  CREEPER.  (Me, not Andrew.)

Here I am in all of my creeper kindergarten glory.  My mama was pretty upset I didn't take my sweater off for my class photo.

Fast forward a few years, and I am best friends with Jess, and we are both fighting over a boy named Tim, who was in Jessica's grade but liked me more.  (I was two years older.)  When you are a teacher, you make a FOOL of yourself every day, and one of the ways I do this is by telling and showing my students my first kiss.  (Not actually showing them--get yer minds outta the gutter, folks.  I don't kiss my students.)

in my fifth grade glory/model phase

I will pull directly from a PowerPoint I used last spring.

In fourth grade, I had my first kiss with Tim ______ during a sleepover with his little sister.  We were playing Truth-or-Dare, and my best friend Jessica dared him to kiss me.  I didn’t want to kiss him, but Tim kissed me anyway with Jessica’s help.  It wasn’t a real kiss because I was able to turn my head away.  But Jessica still got mad at me for it.

VERSUS

His name was Tim ______.  When I was in fourth grade, all of the girls (and boys) in my neighborhood were younger than me, including Tim’s little sister Amber.  So when she asked me to spend the night in her dad’s brown-gray tent in their overgrown backyard, I packed my favorite pillow and a Barbie toothbrush.  She also invited my best friend Jessica, who swore she was going to marry Tim as she doodled his name in a heart on her notebook.  (They were in the same grade.)  Tim suggested we play Truth-or-Dare, a game we took very seriously in elementary school, so Jess dared him to kiss me.  I, of course, being much older and wiser, refused to kiss this baby and pushed him away and squealed.  But Jess held me down while Tim went in for the kill.  His two puckered lips came at my face like an alien spaceship zooming through the sky.  I thanked my stars when I was able to turn my head at the last moment but not fast enough.  Tim’s kiss was . . . slimy.  And salty.  Wet in a woozy kind of way.  We were two kids who had rode our bicycles in the sun all day and were now coated in a fine layer of sticky sweat.  Ugh.  Despite this failed first kiss, Jess was jealous and mad—at me.

The first example tells the story.  The second one shows the story.  And it almost makes my students want to throw up.  So...winning?!  Yes.  Yes, I am.

My first real kiss happened when I was sixteen and dating this guy that I didn't really like--but everyone else thought he was hot--and I used to skip class and go hang out with him and his best friend, who my best friend was dating.  And he kissed me one afternoon in the back of Steph's car, but I kept my mouth shut tight.  And then we broke up.  After he kissed another chick.  No big deal.  I didn't really like him.  But I'm mad at myself to.this.DAY for letting my grades drop over those few months.

my blonde-highlights-show-I'm-a-rebel-and-discovering-myself phase
(Also, the Polaroid I-Zone Instant Camera Phase)

The next guy I kissed kinda ruined kissing for me because he was really good at it, and I tend to count that first kiss with him as my first real-real kiss.  I think I was seventeen.  It wasn't until I kissed Zach that anyone came close to David or close to surpassing him.  Of course, this guy had lots of practice.  (Um, he changed girlfriends as often as he changed his underwear, I think.)  And it's not like I kissed a lot of guys.  (Um, maybe five?  And most of them only once.)  Then I dated another guy named David (David #2), and the first time I kissed him, his teeth knocked against mine so HARD that I thought I might have chipped a tooth.  So I never thought I would find someone who could kiss as well as David #1.

But then I met my husband.  After I dated a really country boy, who dipped (for those not in the know--chewing tobacco), so when I kissed him, I tasted tobacco and sweet tea.  Ewww.  Let's try again.  Ewwwwwwwwww.  See?  Kissing is gross.

(In his defense, he was pretty sweet.  And we had the same birthday.  Just a good ole' country boy.  Just not my type?)

during my country boy phase

(Tasha ended up marrying her country boy, who was friends with mine.)

Oh, and I kissed two three (um, four?) more guys in there somewhere, one that was kind of rocker and angsty and I was crazy about; the second I don't really remember except for the fact that we kissed in the rain because I wanted to get a kiss in the rain, and then another guy who had had lots of practice kissing, too.  I really know how to pick 'em.

my wild kissing days with my pal Katie on her birthday

And then I met my husby.  And on our first date, we were walking around one of the college campuses in Conway, and we sat down on a bench, he put his arm around me, and then he said, "Kiss me."  And so I did.  And it was gooooooood.  :)))

And so we decided to kiss forever!

But I'm not letting you see that because I think kissing photos are awkward.  Just like this post.  ;)

WHAT ABOUT YOUR FIRST KISS(ES)?

A SUMMER OF THROWBACK THURSDAYS

BLOG STYLE

Greek Is Greek? The "Tri Omicrons"

Today, I'm linking up with Kelly at Messy Dirty Hair to tell you about my "Greek" days! Why is "Greek" in quotation marks like that? Well.... I wasn't exactly Greek, but I was in a "sorority." Meet Erin, Emily, and Rose.  (Erin is also my cousin!)

Yep, we are that classy and sophisticated. Okay, these are a bit more normal:

We were roommates my junior and senior years in college.  None of us knew Emily; she just signed up for our apartment because there was a free space in it.  Rose went to high school with Erin and me and was in band with Erin, too.  We did find out that Emily's boyfriend was in choir and in Nick's (Erin's boyfriend) music frat (Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia).  And thus we bonded quickly.  One of our first weeks together, we did a craft night and decorated canvases with our names to put on the wall.  But this was before my digital camera and the smartphone-era, so I don't have photos of that.  :(  I do remember I almost wrecked driving us home from Walmart and thought I had scarred Emily for life!

We had movie nights, made up games (like "Fun," which is what you see with the streamers), and cooked and baked together.

With our first Halloween together, we started a tradition:

Yes.  I went as a pregnant homecoming queen one year.

Because we started spending a lot of time together, it meant that we spent a lot of time with Nick and Philip and their Phi Mu Alpha friends.  After a while, we got sick of hearing about their fraternity stuff all of the time, so we decided to start our own sorority.

with the guys

And the Omicron Omicron Omicrons were born!

This is us throwing up our sign.

Yes, I know it can be seen as something kind of sexual.  That's half the fun.  ;)

(We first thought we were the Tri Omegas, but Nick clarified that the "O" is not the Omega sign.  *lol*  Apparently, we didn't pay much attention in church or in history class!)

We've been Tri O's through illnesses, vacations, weddings, birthdays, babies, and holidays.  After all, O's are never-ending. ;)

Be sure to say hello if you are a Greek (or non-Greek) popping in!

What I Wrote Wednesday

Last week, I sent a little card to my cousin Erin, who is pregnant and on bed rest.

You can see a bit of the card through the envelope.  It is from a set Zach got for me on our first wedding anniversary (paper) with my name and a bird image.  (He used my maiden name and initial as that is what he calls me.  My first name and maiden name go together very well and are usually said in one run-on breath!)  He also got me a wax stamp, which I used, but as you can see, I dribbled a bit of the wax!

Today marks the 29th day of bed rest, and little Keegan Michael has made it to 37 weeks (technically, full term)!  So my newest second cousin should be arriving any day now.  I can't wait to see Erin and her husband Nick meet their son and grow as parents, and I can't wait to love on that baby.  :)

Erin and Nick have been together since we were in high school and went to the UCA together, where Erin and I were roommates for two years, our roomies helped Nick put together his proposal, and we were all in their wedding, etc. etc. etc.  (Nick proposed on the football field after the homecoming game, and then they got married in front of the school fountain.)  In short, we (Erin, Nick, our roommates, and I) have a long history together.  My cousin was probably my first friend as our dads lived in the same town when we were small, so we were just blocks from each other for a few years.  And after my parents divorced and we moved to another town nearby, Erin and I ended up at the same middle school through high school.

I'm so thankful for my cousin and for all our memories.  And I can't wait to have many more, starting with Mr. Keegan!

Erin and I as babies

We are about six months apart.

I hope you aren't afraid of clowns!  Also, I'm pretty sure the kid in the back went to high school and college with us...

 Maybe we were running away together?  I suspect we were about five or so here.

Easter 98?

We were in middle school/junior high and ever so awkward.

my high school graduation in 2003

Since Erin is six months younger, she just missed the cut-off date and started school a year later.  We were getting slightly less awkward here.

NYE 2006-2007

 This is with our roommate Emily in 2007.  Our other roommate Rose had to have emergency surgery to have her appendix removed and ended up having to withdraw before the spring semester was over.  We took silly pictures with chalk messages on the sidewalk next to our apartment and put together an album for her.  This was the year we started living together and began our "sorority," the Omicron Omicron Omicrons.  That's why we are attempting to make the "O" face.  ;)

celebrating Emily and Erin's birthdays in November 2007

my college graduation in 2008

Erin's bachelorette party in May 2008

 

Erin and Nick's wedding on May 31, 2008

Phillip (Nick's fraternity brother) and Emily's wedding on May 23, 2009

 my wedding on September 19, 2009

 my reception on December 20, 2009

 with Kristen, Erin's sister, at our family reunion (September 2010)

Erin's favorite holiday is Halloween, and as her birthday falls shortly after, she and Nick usually host a Halloween party.  This year, they did a murder mystery.  Rose went as a Hollywood glamour gal, I was a peacock, and Erin was a western can-can girl.  We had so much fun trying to capture a photo of our Omicron faces!  (I posted more of our Halloween adventures last year.)

 at the baby shower Erin threw for Kristen to welcome baby Zachary (June 2011)

at Erin's baby shower thrown by Rose and two other friends (December 1, 2012)

I love you, cuz-cuz!!