15 Year Anniversary

On May 9th Rich and I celebrated our 15 Year Anniversary.  Since it was a busy weekday we decided to have a special evening at home as a family and then go out the next night alone.  Ava was excited for "Mommy & Daddy's Special Day" and was eager to help celebrate.

While Rich was at work Ava and I decorated.  We went to the dollar store and Ava picked out some decorations and a heart shaped balloon.  She was so cute trying to make everything special for us.  In a way she felt like it was her special day too.

For dinner we had homemade pizza.  Ava said she wanted to make pizza, but when it was time to make it she decided playing was more important.  I made the dough and used my heart shaped cookie sheet to shape the crust.  It was a nice dinner and a good suggestion by Ava.  Making pizza is something Rich and I use to do a lot when we were first married.  It was a fun and cheap date night.  I was happy to keep up the tradition.

After dinner we kept to our regular routine with bath time and getting ready for bed.  Before bed we did let Ava watch us open gifts.  Well, just Rich really.  Earlier in the day a beautiful bouquet of flowers was delivered for me.  I was so excited because I have always wanted flowers delivered.  My gift completely surprised Rich and I think he is still in shock today.  I got him personalized M & M's with cute little sayings and a new Citizen Eco-drive watch.  He was not expecting the watch, but I wanted to do something extra special because he is such a wonderful husband and father.

Once Ava was in bed we relaxed, enjoyed some quiet time, and planned our evening out the next night.  We looked forward to having dinner at our favorite restaurant, Il Forno Classico, and having a real date night.  Unfortunately, that did not happen, but for good reason.

The next day Bob and EmmaLee welcomed their cute little babies into the world.  I was able to help by watching Ezra while EmmaLee went in for a C-section.  That evening we got to go to the hospital and meet the babies, Tavi & Levi.  Due to all this excitement and change of plans we didn't have time for our more formal date night.  Instead we used the little free time we had to eat at The Habit.  It was tasty and we enjoyed a little bit of time alone.  (Fortunately, I'm a pretty cheap date and I real do enjoy a good burger joint.)  We decided to reschedule our formal date night for another evening.  I think Ava was happy because we said we would probably take her and she loves Il Forno Classico too.

My beautiful flowers.  Rich had some delivered for our anniversary and then another bouquet came the next day for Mother's Day.

Homemade Pizza

Ava helping Rich open presents.

Rich's personalized M&M's.

The say, "Love", "Happy 15", "Ti Amo. Mio Amore".

Rich with his new watch.