14 years........

5 months of whirlwind dating

1 week engagement 

We got married in a fever

14 years

5,110 married days

4 awesome kids

2 babies lost

4 deployments 

6 different homes

3 different states 

And all the memories in between them make up our life!!

1st Annual East Coast Skids Reunion

What is that? Well they are trying to get the old & new skids community together once a year. (Skids is an affectionate term for those who maintain & fly the huey (....the aircraft that my husband flies) and cobra. They also land upon the skids.)

Most importantly, it was a "date night" for Ben and I.

We have been trying to steal one night a month to just be a couple. You know enjoy each other's company without having to cut up anyone's food, yell because someone is being disobedient....just to remind you in case YOU and Your Spouse have forgotten what this is exactly!

So for our kiddos....we love you but need to be able to love each other more so that we can raise you right. That's why our date nights are so important....you don't understand right now but God-willing someday you will!

So fun to get dressed up and not worry about what is on my clothing or in my hair

Carolina BBQ, friends, live music, & seeing some old war heroes!

Have I mentioned that I have the hottest skid pilot around? I would even say the most handsome pilot ever!

Week 36 of 52/ Thursday 5

August Date Night

Dinner and Dancing with Friends

Before date night with my hunky man!

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Entry Word: happy
Function: adjective
Meaning: experiencing pleasure,
satisfaction, or delight

Entry Word: content
Function: adjective
Meaning: feeling that oneʼs needs
or desires have been met
My Five Things that have made me happy1. My birthday is this week. (It makes me happy to celebrate another year that God has given me even if it means getting older!)2. Seeing family (some of which I have never met) at a beach near us.3. The pool! I never get tired of going there for Mommy and me!4. Seeing friends get their Marines back from deployment & their families back together.5. Serving on our pre-school ministry at church to the best of my ability.

July Date Night

Ben and I have been trying to make a concerted effort to get at least 1 date night in a month. Seems easy right? Well with Friday night fellowship every week & church on Saturday nights, it is not always that easy.

We have been luck this month because we had two date nights. My parents watched the kids for us while we were home & we met 2 other couples out.

Our small group was canceled on Friday night this week so we decided to grab the opportunity and run with it.

We dropped the kiddos off at a local hourly drop-in (Kidz Bizz) and went to the shooting range. We have still not settled on a handgun for home defense so we rented a 9mm to play with. We both had fun and very good aim! If I could just get the slide back on this gun I would be pretty lethal!

We went out to dinner at a new Mexican resturant, Papi Chula's, and then rescued the kids to come with us for ice cream at Carousel Sweets.

What a great time! I am SO looking forward to next month!

Slight height difference with us :-)
Posing because the hubs asked so sweetly!

And so I returned the favor!

Valentine's Day Extravaganza (Best Date)

Today over at http://www.fivecrookedhalos.blogspot.com/ is Day #2 of Valentines Day Exravanganza. The topic is Best date. Enjoy!

Oh my goodness.....so many to choose from! Most of these pictures/dates are pre-kiddos but that's just when we could move around easier. We still have some pretty fun dates now too!

I mentioned yesterday that one of my most memorable dates was a September 11th tribute. It was very moving and interesting. We got to see the Marine Corps silent drill and the Marine Corp band. It was so very neat!

Another date that stands out to me was when we went to see "Riverdance." We had such a great time and it was the first time any guy had actually taken the time to pick something more "feminine" for a date, plan it, and surprise me with it!

As a surprise, Ben's uncle took us for a one year anniversary ride in the helicopter over Milwaukee. It was so much fun to share that with Ben. (He is a Huey pilot for the Marine Corps.)

We did a "photo shoot" for my friend Dana's photography class. We were tired of smiling and GASP kissing at the end but we got some really awesome shots that became our engagment pictures! Ben was such a good sport about the whole thing and even got into doing some of the poses.

Ahhh.....when we lived out in San Diego, Ben humored me and took me to lots of "touristy" places. Sea World, Disneyland, the Zoo, the Wild Animal park, etc.

Here we are at Disneyland

The Wild animal park
Here we are in Puerto Rico.....we had MANY fun dates while we were here but I think that this was before the crazy "Starbucks" experience. (For those of you that know our funny story about that!)

Last year, we left the kids with my parents and went to Charleston, South Carolina. It was so nice to be just "us" again. We had some fun dates here but my favorite was going kayaking. I knew that Ben had been wanting to do it and we had such a great view of Charleston!

Now next will be some indoor rock climbing when we can get away again!