Happy Anniversary!!

16 years ago today, I joined my life with Rick's. We've been a team ever since. Team Jeffs. We were a team at BYU, while we pursued our Bachelor's degrees. A team while he worked on his Master's at Purdue, and I stayed home with the newest member of the team, Dallin. A team as he took a job with Caterpillar and continued his Master's and I continued to grow the team by adding Dailie and Audri. We worked as a team as first time homeowners in Lafayette, IN. We've grown gardens and remodeled and dealt with a number of small catastrophes that at the time seemed astronomical, and now seem sometimes comical. As a team we planned and built a new home in Lafayette, and added Eliza to the team. At that new house, as a team we learned much about landscaping and working on and enjoying our 10 acres. Then came the time to move the team to a new location, and we worked together to settle in a new place- Peoria, IL. Not long after the move, Daniel was added to the team. The years have ticked by at an unrelenting pace, and we've worked as a team at many things. We've aided and supported each other in many callings in the Church, supported each others' hobbies, found time now and then to devote to our relationship, spent hours talking about many subjects, laughed hard together, worked hard together, learned new skills together, served others together. So much of my personal growth has come as a result of having Rick on my team. Sure there are times that things irritate me about him, as I'm sure he feels the same about me, but if I step back and take a look at my life with Rick, I know I wouldn't trade it for anything. Happy anniversary, Rick!!


We had a chance over the weekend to get away to Chicago to celebrate. We went with my brother David and his wife Julia, who also recently celebrated their anniversary. I took the camera to Chicago with me, but once we were up there, I realized I did not want to be bothered with carrying it around. It felt liberating to walk around without a purse, bag, cell phone, camera. Rick took a few pictures with his Blackberry, and I may eventually put some on here, but maybe not. We had a GREAT time!! We saw lots of things and ate lots of yummy food. Thanks to the Papenfuss and Powell families for helping out with the kids, to break up the time that they were without us.


Friday night we ate at a Spanish Tapas cafe- delicious. Then we went and watched Cirque Shanghai on Navy Pier.

After the show, we rode the 14 story Ferris Wheel, wandered through the gardens and shops, and walked back to the hotel, stopping at an amazing marketplace and cafe for dessert, Fox and Obel's.

Saturday morning we ate at one of the hotel's restaurants, home of the nation's top pastry chef, Laurent Branlard. I did not have enough room to eat everything that I wanted to : ). Next we visited the Art Institute of Chicago. I'd forgotten how interesting museums are when you can actually read the things you want to read without being pulled to the next thing of interest to the children with you. We had lunch at Frontera Grill, the authentic Mexican restaurant of Rick Bayless. Again, delicious food. Our final event was to see Blue Man Group. We've wanted to see them for awhile, and it was very entertaining.