9 years of bliss

Happy Anniversary to us!! As of Wednesday we have been happily married for 9 years. We celebrated this weekend by spending a night at the lush and beautiful Green Valley Spa. W-O-W! We had so much fun! We brought the camera...but it turned out that the batteries were totally dead. You can google the spa if you want to see pictures, it's a wonderful place.

Aunt Tam was kind enough to take our kids for the night and they had a great time. She really is the best Mom there is and we feel blessed that our kids get the benefits of being with her. They ate stuffed shells, went to the water park, watched lots of their favorite Little Einsteins and Charlie and Lola, and got to play with a new baby kitten.

We had been swimming at the spa before and have worked with a few of their guests in our wellness program, so we have spent a lot of time there, but never as guests. It was fun to be pampered by them, instead of being the pamper-ers.

We got there in time for dinner, which was quinoa stir fry. (The spa only serves food that fits in this diet called "New Lifestyles" or something, and it is all beef-free, pork-free, wheat-free, soy-free and dairy-free. What is left, you ask? So did I. The answer is quinoa and rice.) SO, anyway, it was actually pretty good, although we ended up so hungry by 10:30 pm that we came home for a bowl of cereal and then went back. :-) Don't tell!

Next on our agenda was a hard core yoga class that left us with muscles shaking and fat cells starving (hence the bowls of cereal later). The instructor was big on alignment, which intensifies everything, and boy, did we feel it.

We topped the yoga class off with a couples deep tissue massage. Neither of us had ever had one and may not ever do it again, but since it came with the package, we went for it. Don't get me wrong, it felt amazing and the most relaxing thing we have ever done, but there was something about being naked in front of strangers that felt a little bit awkward, even if we were covered in a sheet. Kwint's chronic sore neck is gone and my sad little feet got the rub they have needed for the last 3 years, so it was worth it.

We loved our room. It was so clean and pretty and plush. The bed had one of those fluffy duvets that poof when you do a belly flop and you get lost in the poof. (I know because I tried it.) There was a massive TV, jacuzzi, kitchen, etc. They gave us two soft teddy bears that we gave to our kids and a line of earthy skincare products which smell yummy.

For breakfast I had steel cut oats with agave nectar (by the way, Staci, I loved it and I am going to get some) and Kwint had rice bread french toast. He liked it, although we couldn't really decide what is so bad about whole wheat. We are totally into super health foods, so we loved it, but it was no where near the 3000 calories that Kwint needs every day.

The spa takes their guests on hikes every morning, but we skipped it because having lived here for nearly 6 years, we have been on all the ones they were offering that day, so we went and worked out in their gym and then went to the temple to do sealings. It was really nice to think back on our wedding day and hear the beautiful words of the covenants with an even deeper love and much less nervousness than 9 years ago.

We feel so thankful for each other and the blessings of our marriage. Marriage is not easy, we all know that. It takes a lot of work and I am so blessed that I married someone who is willing to do that work and is so selfless, loving, kind, and loyal. He supports me in every silly little thing that is important to me and helps me when I want to change. He treats me like the Disney Princess I wish I was. :) Kwint is always trying harder to be better and has been everything I had ever hoped a husband would be. It may sound cheesy, but that is what anniversaries are for-- a socially acceptable time to be as cheesy as we want to be.