Happy Anniversary

It all started June 4th....Twenty Eight years ago...that's 1980 for the math impared.....I remember waking up so very early to get "down below" to the Temple by 9 to be married at 10 (or so). Evanston had a beautiful blue sky and the whole way down to Salt Lake City was crisp and clear. I remember walking in the Celestial Room after the ceremony and thinking about how beautiful everything was. We really did it and it wasn't a dream. I only remember a few particular points of the day. I don't really remember the ceremony. ...except that Elder Paul H. Dunn married us....There...I said it...ok?....and except the part that Layton was so nervous that he wouldn't look at me over the alter and I was hoping that he would......sorry...... but most of the day was a blurr. I remember all of the family and friends who were there to say "congratulations" and the luncheon at the Lion House afterwards of stuffed pork chops. I wore a blue dress bought just for the luncheon and a necklace too. Layton wore a "form fitting"sage green suit with a button down vest and a short affro which could have walked right off of a magazine page from the 60s or 70s....ahhh, he was a real city dude.......The reception in Evanston at the church was lovely, the colors were blue and yellow. I wanted to have a wedding that was as close to my Aunt Gayle's as possible since she was one of my best friends and I looked up to her so much (and I still do). Her colors were blue and white or yellow and so mine were too..... and we had many guests come...around 400 with another 3-400 at the open house the next night at the Cottrell home garden reception. Our parents were all still young, very involved and knew everyone, thus the guests were their's not ours....(by the way, age has taught me the real reasons for receptions .... the more they give, the less the parents have to give) (now that my kids are marrying age, I would like to publicly thank the first parents that came up with this great tradition!). The gift of the day was woks and ice cream makers....we got like 10 of each, neither of which we have any of today. I remember that I felt like a princess and Layton was my knight in shinning armor! I remember being starved after the Evanston reception and both of us sticking our hands in the Cheetos bag on the way to Park City and then realizing that we hadn't washed our hands yet from the reception. We were grossed out but figured what the heck as we had already eaten the germs off so we kept eating....Layton had a gorgeous white camero and we thought we were pretty hot stuff. After the open house in Ogden the next night, we found out that the "friends" put open can's of sardine's under our seats so before we could take off we had to find them and toss them out. Layton also took the car through a car wash before we left town which I was disappointed about because I didn't want the dream to end yet and a decorated car was still proof of royalty for a day. I wasn't done being a princess for the day. We went to Nephi to the Safari Hotel that night and then drove on down to San Diego for our Honeymoon which we spent in DisneyLand and Seaworld and on a dinner cruise and at the beach. It was magical to say the least. We were so happy we figured that the rest of our lives would just be glorious with not a care to worry about. We thought everyday and everything was going to be just fabulous as long as we were together. We were young and in love and ready to take on the world..........

Well, life has an interesting way of putting you in your place. I would be lying if I said that those next 28 years have been magical and glorious and that we haven't had a care to worry about. Sometimes, we have had the most incredible times and other times it has been incredibly hard to breath. We have had joy and sadness, health and sickness, pleasure and disappointment. There were times we thought we would die if ever we were apart and times that we were dying for our own space. Twenty eight years is a long time. It is a long time...... but not long enough. Not near long enough to discover all that we need to discover about each other. I love knowing that we will still have joy and sadness, health and sickness, pleasure and disappointment. I want more time to figure out our likes and dislikes. I love shoving you at night when you snore so loud that it wakes me up and knowing that you will just roll over, kiss me in the morning and pull me to my knees for morning prayer. That kind of love takes time. Why, only a few years ago, I would loose sleep from your snoring because I didn't want to wake you up. I love seeing what you look like with a bald head and wrinkles and being able to finally dance without caring what everyone else is thinking. It takes a long time to morph into that person and I want to see what else there is to see. I love knowing that you can see me throwing up, or wearing braces or baking a cake with the wrong ingredients and still want to be with me, yeah, even love me.

Let's see, five children, 1 grandboy, more grandbabies coming, 13 moves, 6 homes, 2 weddings, 1 mission and 1 more and 1 more bride and 2 more weddings, 60 trips +, 2 jobs, 1 career, college, survial jobs, 17 cars, etc, etc, etc.....I am a work in progress, so are you and together we make life interesting and fun and yes, even magical...... until we are done....and then we will be ready for more, even eternity!

I love 28 years. It's not 10 or 20, 25 or 30 or 50. It's odd. It's fun. And, sadly, to oh so many people, it's unexpected. It's incredible. It's us.
This feels like just the beginning..... I love you forever and always!

Happy 28th Anniversay my dear !