Then and Now

Nothing like looking back to see how far we've truly come.

December 19th, 1996:

Spent the day (well...at least an hour. Remember, I'm low maintenance) getting myself looking fine for my big moment. Spent hours happily smiling for pictures, hours more kissing my new husband, hours more driving in a blizzard to West Yellowstone hoping I didn't die on my wedding day and hours more enjoying being a Mrs.

December 19th, 2007:

Spent the day doing laundry, going to the library with Jay and the boys, standing in line at the post office to mail some last minute Christmas gifts, running into a grocery store to get Very Vanilla Silk (that's the highly specialized soymilk because he leaves sippy cup after sippy cup of regular milk AND regular soymilk untouched) for a certain spoiled toddler.

Finally, at 6:00 at night, we left with Maureen to the Grand America to celebrate our love with 1200 of our closest friends (the tabernacle choir/orchestra/bellchoir/conductors/organists and president and prophet of the LDS church). We had a delicious dinner, we were able to enjoy a performance by Jon Schmidt at the piano, listen to our funny and tender prophet speak, and watch the ongoings of some of the "bigger personalities" in the area.

The hotel was beautiful, and since Maureen went on our third date with us (we went to see Braveheart at Movies 8 and it was then when we first held hands), it seemed only natural to share the evening with her as well. Seriously, it was a fun night to dress up, get a babysitter and enjoy a fancy night on the town all for the low, low cost of...nothing!

Thanks to Maureen, we enjoyed a beautiful night at a beautiful hotel.

Our yummy meal of fish and steak

Just an intimate dinner for...1200.

But, not everyone gets to spend their anniversary dining with the prophet

Me and my sweetie.

No, it's not a goblet. It's a candle.

December 20th, 1996:

Spent the day driving to my hometown, checking into the romance suite at the cutest little B&B in town and later hugging and laughing with a room full of people who came to congratulate us on our happiness (although Jay did go down that night with a fever and nasty cold, so it wasn't incident free).

Not in the picture is a beautiful four-poster bed.

December 20th, 2007:

Spent the morning grocery shopping, left Sam with my sister-in-law, did some Christmas shopping with Henry, picked up Sam and Kelly's two oldest children for Music Makers at Melanie's house, fixed dinner, found Henry in dryer, practiced songs with Maureen, watched football and chatted with Clark and Stephanie.

Trouble

Deep, deep trouble.

December 21st, 1996:

Drove across the border to the breathtakingly beautiful, but bitterly cold Banff National Park. Checked into a cozy cottage and started a fire. Enjoyed day one of our northern honeymoon.

December 21st, 2007:

Received a call from my frazzled RS president wondering if I'd forgotten my assignment for our ward Sub for Santa. I had bought the stuff, but hadn't wrapped it so I dropped what I was doing (working on our Christmas letter), and rushed the presents over to her house. Spent the next five hours pulling my hair out because I had written the letter in Word Perfect (I prefer it) but couldn't format it to print at Kinkos unless it was in word. After much editing and some tantrums on my part, came downstairs to find a huge mess downstairs but had to leave it for later. Ran to Kinkos to print letter. Came home to fold, address and get letters in the mail by 5:00.

I had barely dropped off my Christmas cards at the post office, when I remembered my special order of gluten free pies and cookies that I had to pick up at a gluten free store. Drove around on the Friday before Christmas vacation in rush hour traffic. Perfect ending to a mind-numbing day. Came home and began picking up 1,000 pieces of plastic all over the downstairs carpet.

They are hard to see and impossible to vacuum up. Not just in this room, but all over the downstairs were these plastic shards made from left over clear plastic cups from our ward Christmas party. He got his tiny little hands on about 100 cups and made more mess than I thought possible in thirty minutes. Also, notice the constant floor display of ornaments. It's a losing battle I fight daily.

December 22, 1996:

Woke up to realize our car wouldn't start due to the sub-zero temperatures. Jay called a tow company who jumped our car (for $50 dollars...what a rip off) and we went ice skating on Lake Louise and then to have lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. Our trick to avoiding another costly jump? We left the car running all day. And night. For the rest of our honeymoon.

December 22, 2007:

Drove down to Las Vegas for BYU's bowl game as an anniversary gift to each other. Had no idea that it would take nine hours to get there (traffic, construction, stops). Still, the conversation with Clark and Stephanie kept me sane, as well as the amusement from trying to avoid watching Stephanie's brother and his new girlfriend kissing in the back seat of our van. Starting making the first of many jokes about the oft-used but never abused catch-phrase "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas".

Got to the game on time, but missed the first three plays because they only have one entrance into their parking lot and 30,000 other people were trying to get in at the same time. The game was a lot fun. We were mixed in with the UCLA crowd, but our seats were incredible, right on the 50 yard line, and even though it wasn't the most exciting game in history, the ending certainly was worth paying for the live event. Go Cougs!

Fans, family, friends and fun!

View from our awesome seats.

The final score. Luckily.

I had to prove that the trip was, indeed, an anniversary event and not merely another football game. Getting Jay to pose for a couple picture, and not do something goofy takes some quick thinking.

Jay re-enacted the dramatic ending seconds after the blocked field goal for me.

many fans rushed onto the field. We did not. Those days have long since passed.

Spent the next hour trying to get out of the parking lot (now 45,000 people trying to get out that same one gate), another 45 minutes trying to check into the Sahara (isn't Vegas in the hotel business? This is the best they can do at 11:00 at night?) another 30 minutes walking to a part of the strip where they actually have stuff going on (Caesar's Palace and the Cheesecake Factory for a midnight meal) and no time at all running out of the casino with my eyes on the floor trying to avoid the ladies dancing around the poles in their black lacy things (at this hour, the only way the security people would let us out of the building. I'm not in love with Vegas. Can you tell?)

This is the check-in line at the Sahara Hotel. I was not a happy camper right now. My poor traveling companions saw my least favorite personality. Whiny, grumbly, ornery Lucy.

December 23, 1996:

Spent the day inside our cozy cottage with a fire in the fireplace. Went out that night to the Fairmont Banff Hotel and spent more money on dinner than we ever had in our lifetime. We ate duck covered with a fancy sauce and danced on the beautiful wood parquet floor. Car...still on all the time.

like a fairy tale. Only our fairy tale took place in 30 degree below zero conditions.

December 23, 2007:

Had overpriced breakfast buffet (but still good. I simply didn't like the extra we had to pay because it was their special weekend "brunch" which meant there were things like meatloaf, sweet and sour chicken, sushi and crab legs that I did not even think about eating). Walked through the hotel's NASCAR memorabilia (a highlight for Jay), drove down the rest of the Las Vegas strip we didn't get to see last night and started on the seven hour drive home. We were much more subdued on the drive home and girlfriend was no longer with us, but it was fun and we had great conversation nonetheless. Picked up Seth and Sam from Aunt Peg's house and were greeted by a happy Henry who was watched by Aunt Sarah. Enjoyed a quiet night on my couch while painfully realizing that tomorrow is actually Christmas Eve. How did that happen?

Clark was the baconator. Hey...why pass up all-you-can-eat bacon? He's still too young to worry about arteries and such.

Jay and Dale

Jay and Rusty Wallace.

Jay and his favorite driver. Some multimillionaire who won't shave or be nice.

Not much has changed, huh? We're still trying to do way too much before Christmas which makes the holiday hectic. While I've cursed this December anniversary more than once, I'm still glad we took the trouble to celebrate "us" both times. Even if our present is a little more complicated than it was eleven years ago.

Now, we're down to the wire and I'm pretty sure I'm not totally ready for Tuesday. Which means tomorrow will be a nail biter. It's not really how I want the day to be, but I'm going to do my best to remember that Christmas Eve is really....usually...and potential still, my favorite day of the year.