Anniversary and Real Life

Yesterday was Jayze's and my 5-year anniversary. This is what I posted on Instagram and Facebook:

We're now five years into our forever. ❤️ It's been a heck of a ride so far. I'm grateful for our three boys, all the date nights, the constant hand holding and Jayze opening the car door for me, apologies and start-overs, prayers, trust and faith and hope in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, long road trips, multiple moves, game nights with family and friends, talking late into the night, tons of movies, hard work (and lazy days too), and lots and lots of happiness and love. I'm grateful for our marriage and that, with God on our side and with us working as a team, we can achieve amazing things.

Every word of that post is true. It's our real life. It's not perfect, but it's us, and I'm grateful for us. 

Since our anniversary landed on a Monday, we decided to ask our friends to watch Aidan and Kimball on Friday evening while we went on a much-needed date night. We kept it really simple: dinner at a new-to-us restaurant (Logan's Roadhouse - it was delish), a walk outside and wandering in Barnes and Noble, and then to a QT (Quick Trip gas station - they're everywhere in Wichita!) for dessert. 

Jayze surprised me after dinner when we pulled up to a water fountain squeezed between two buildings of an outdoor mall. He opened my car door for me, and then we walked hand-in-hand to a bench right in front of the two-tiered fountain. 

It was a beautiful evening and thankfully it wasn't too hot since we were in the shade. We practically had the place to ourselves too, with a few people meandering here and there and a couple of ducks waddling nearby. 

Jayze pulled out a handful of pennies, and we each took turns expressing our wishes out loud and then tossing the pennies into the fountain. I was sad we hadn't been able to do it for our engagement anniversary like usual, so Jayze surprising me with it on our wedding anniversary really made it that much more special. It was a magical evening. 

We wanted to make yesterday really special too, since it was the actual date of our anniversary, but this is what happened instead:

Kimball's doing :)

Not shown: a huge stack of dishes piled in the kitchen sink

Jayze had a super stressful day at work (as in really, really, REALLY stressful) and I had a really stressful day at home. I felt bad he came home to a messy house and no yummy dinner or homemade treat, and he felt bad coming home so stressed. We both hugged each other, said we didn't mind, and were relieved neither of us were disappointed with the situation. 

We ended up hitting up Taco Bell, browsing Costco, and doing Family Home Evening in our van on the drive home (which ended up being one of our best ones, actually). For our FHE treat, we splurged and bought some delicious chocolate milk we had sampled at Costco a few weeks back. Then we put the kids to bed, drank more chocolate milk, and watched Shark Tank. Later, we snuggled in bed, talked until both of us could barely keep our eyes open, said prayers, and fell asleep.

Despite all the stress during the day, the end of the day turned out pretty darn good. Five years is nothing to sneeze at, and I'm excited to see where the next five years takes us. 

I love you, my Jayze Flake.