Many of you know that Robert and I happily celebrated our 12 Anniversary last Friday (August 15th for those who want to remember to send us an expensive gift next year, a cruise maybe?). This was the 1st year that I have been able to tell Robert to buy me something; you know a nice something. Robert is good at creative, homemade gifts, but when he's not working he's with me, so he has no time to make something without me knowing about it generally! Anyways, who wants to guess what my husband gets me for our 12th Anniversary? Jewelery? Lingerie? Extremely sharp weaponry? OK, so not weaponry in so many words, but extremely sharp, yes! Shun sharp, to be exact. My sweet husband, who knows my great ambition to attend 2 more years of college at the Arts Institute (in the Culinary Arts Program), spent more money than should be spent for pressed steel and bought me a wonderful starter set of knives. Did I mention these are Shun knives, the kind Alton Brown uses? Wanna see? You know you do!
Now isn't that pretty next to the nice bowl my best friend from High School (Christine) gave me forever ago?
It's really only 4 knives, a honing steel, and some kitchen shears (the best kitchen shears ever!), but to a would-be chef it is the gift of knowing that my husband believes in me and wants me to keep learning and honing (pun intended) my talents in whatever venue they may be in.
Ponder.
Now that we've discussed the sordid present details (no, I didn't forget to give Robert his present; I'll tell you about it when it's done: computer problems... and he reads my blog, too, and I don't want to ruin the surprise), I want to record what we did for our anniversary. Robert's sweet cousin Marissa was home for a short time (they live in Baytown), and we got to have her stay with us for 2 whole nights (Thursday and Friday). Isabelle enjoyed immensely Marissa letting her sleep with her. Isa kept saying thank you in her prayers for her "sleepover" with Marissa. It was so cute. Our kids LOVE their cousin Marissa. Possibly b/c we spent so much time with them in Provo. For quite a few months, it wasn't a proper Sunday without Michael, Marissa, Ally, Tim, & Jodie (or some combination thereof) over for dinner, dessert, or games. Our family misses them all very much, and we are glad their parents live close by. Soooo, Marissa babysat Friday morning (you all remember Robert works 10 hour days M-Th, and takes Fridays off, right?) while we got to go to the temple and do some sealings. Other people renew their vows on their anniversary, well, to those of you who are not
"Mormon", this is essentially the same idea. The main difference is we were being proxies for someone else who needed that ordinance done. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to be baptized and sealed to their family for Eternity, but some people die before that can happen. In these cases the family of that person can submit their names and information to the temple and other people can come in and go through the ordinance in their place. You can only submit names of people in your family line generally. The ordinance is exactly the same as when you get married, so in essence we were renewing the sacred covenants we made the day we got married. And, as an added bonus, we had the great privilege of having as a sealer one of the men in my life who is like a father to me, was at our wedding, and helped me a lot when I was getting ready to be baptized. His sweet wife was also there, but she was doing other important work, so we only got to see her briefly. I won't mention names here b/c I don't know how they feel about privacy issues on the web, but it was wonderful. That was definitely the best part of our day. We stayed for almost 3 hours, and enjoyed some quiet, contemplative time in the Celestial room afterwards.We had planned on only taking about an hour and a halfish in the temple and having lunch "out" before 1:30, but work needed to be done, so we stayed longer than originally planned, and Marissa was gracious enough to watch the kids some more so we could go out to eat. We had a wonderful lunch at Salt Grass Steakhouse (if you go, have the shrimp and chicken embrochette appetizer, YUM!), then went to the mall and got my present at Williams-Sonoma, and headed home from our 5 hour date. I don't think the kids would have noticed we were gone if we hadn't said good-bye before we left. They adore their cousins. Thanks again, Marissa!
Later in the evening we went to Barnes and Noble to find a book Robert really wanted (and found out a new edition is coming out in October, so we're waiting on that), then went to Doneraki for a late dinner. I think we were all disappointed there. Cultural icon yes, good eatery not so much. But it was good time to hang out with Marissa before she goes back to Provo, away from us again. Have I mentioned we love Marissa, Michael, Ally, Tim, & Jodie? They should all move here.
And now I think I will rescue my husband from the sleeping arms of Isa and probably Horatio so I can keep him up to watch a movie with me. If you have any questions, especially about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and temple work, please ask away, and I will answer to the best of my knowledge or point you to a better source.
p.s. UNFinished Crafts Day was another rousing success. If you missed it, come next time, we missed you!
2 comments:
hey. where are you guys located now? I presume texas, but for some reason I missed the out of Utah phase of your lives.
And I can fully appreciate good knives. As a former culinary student, I covet few things... Good knives are a must in EVERY kitchen.
Happy Anniversary, you two! Sounds like it was so very nice.
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