11 Years

Jared and I celebrated our 11th Anniversary this weekend.

We went to Seattle and literally relaxed the whole weekend. We pretty much slept in, went shopping, ate good food, and watched movies. We had a few other things we were thinking about doing, but when it came down to it, we just wanted to relax. Life has been crazy busy and it was nice to just enjoy each other's company and hang out.

11 years---that's a pretty long time, don't ya think? It made me stop and think, "How in the world have we put up with each other so long?!"

So here's 5 keys to OUR happy marriage----

5. Laugh, laugh, laugh and have fun together---Even though we are totally different, we always have fun together. One of my favorite things about Jared is his sense of humor. He's hilarious and always makes me laugh. We literally laugh together all the time. It's good to be able to poke fun at things. He even takes credit for the fact that on the whole, I've gotten funnier over time. When we were first married, I wasn't funny at all and couldn't take a joke, which apparently made it irresistible to Jared and his family members to tease me mercilessly. Even his Mom, who was the previous "butt of all jokes", used to tease me along with everyone else.

4. Have some common interests---Apparently ours include going out on dates, eating good food and watching TV shows or movies together. All things we did this weekend. All sedentary activities---which explains his spare tire around his stomach and my muffin top. Whatevs....I guess that's a goal for the next 11 years...work on some more active common interests.

3. Never work together on home improvement projects---Umm, yeah. We are terrible when we work together. Did I ever mention that we worked together briefly in college? Thank goodness we were already married because I think that if we had been dating, we would not have gotten married. Apparently, I'm grouchy when I have to work on something I don't want to. And bossy. And want things my way. Basically, I want to be "Project Manager" on things, but don't like to get "my hands dirty" so to speak. And I'll be honest, half the time I don't even know what I'm talking about. Meanwhile, Jared is like the opposite of a "handy man". Do you remember the Cosby Show and how Cliff can't fix anything around the house? That's Jared. He's clueless when it comes to fixing things, so it's no wonder I lose my patience. I've got two words-- CHAIR. RAIL.

2. Never interact with each other when hungry---It's amazing how we can go from being totally nice to each other and having a good time and then suddenly, like someone flipped a switch, we get totally grouchy and annoyed with the other person. Then we realize that we are starving and we need to eat. After some food is in our bellies, then everything's fine.

1. Buy a GPS and then NEVER go anywhere without it---Our GPS {or "Candy" as we lovingly call her} changed our marriage. Sounds dramatic, I know, but seriously, it did. When we would go anywhere out of town we would inevitably get lost, and then it would turn into a frustrated yelling match. Of course he wouldn't stop for directions and neither of us have any sense of direction...it wasn't pretty, peeps. I am not exaggerating when I say that literally every trip somewhere included missing an exit and going out of our way anywhere between 15 min. and 2 hours.

I should have known when we got engaged that we would constantly be getting lost and then argue about it. Did I ever mentioned how we got engaged? Oh, yeah. Jared had proposed at Universal Studios right before the park closed. We were alone, and it was very sweet. I was soooo excited and soooo happy. Then we had to meet everyone we came with back at the car because the park closed. WE GOT LOST FOR CLOSE TO TWO HOURS LOOKING FOR THE CAR. When we finally found the others we came with, they were TICKED. And rightfully so. But now, over tons of years of experience interacting with us, people just know it's our handicap.

Ever since we got "Candy" though, we don't get lost anymore. It's terrific. We know where we're going and no more fighting.

I'm glad we were able to have a fun weekend together, Jared---even if you did almost ditch me in the House of the Lord---HA! HA!!! Happy Anniversary!!!