It's a little late, BUT

Our anniversary was on August 9th, our seventh. Cory planned it all without me, hoping to surprise me. He's not very good a keeping secrets, however, so I kind of knew what was going on. He gave up surprising me a few days before hand. (I love Cory's openness and guilelessness.)

Cory's parents were kind enough to take our kids for the weekend while we went to (fanfare, please!) Sandy! We stayed at a hotel a grand total of six miles away from our home - but it was great. We went to an outdoor Utah Symphony concert in Deer Valley, and spent the rest of the weekend doing the Salt Lake Parade of Homes. We really enjoy snooping through homes we can't possibly afford, and it's great for decorating ideas. Not that I spend a lot of time or effort on decorating, but it's fun to dream.

We did call up Nana to bring the kids to the hotel pool to swim, however. We just couldn't pass up the opportunity to swim with the kids. Lear was totally fearless, but it took Ella a while to get comfortable. She liked the jacuzzi a lot more than the pool. And, I learned that I can float - I never could when I was younger - but I have a lot more buoyancy now, since I weigh about 20 more pounds than back then. Since floating is so relaxing, however, I'll count this as the one upside to getting older and fatter. At least Cory and I are getting older and fatter together.

And on that note: Thank you, Cory, for the best seven years of my life so far - I know it will only get better from here.

Lear quote: "Yeah, I really want to marry Elena someday." Not until you're at least 25, mister!

Ella quote: "I gonna cook dinner to you, Mommy." Play food of course, but I appreciate the sentiment.