honey you are the rock upon which I stand

I love being married.  It's so great to find that one special person 

you want to annoy for the rest of your life.  

~Rita Rudner

Let me start out this blog with an update on our WILD little pup.

He has now discovered freedom and is finding his independance.  Last vet visit he had gained 3 pounds.  He has lots of energy and loves long walks.  He is just about potty trained and has learned the "sit" command.  He likes to hang out on the porch and keep an eye on the neighborhood.

And chew on sticks, of course.

The hot weather has been tiring him out and he has finally discovered the perks of the cool concrete floor.

He likes to help me cook.  While I was making this yummy lasagna he was sitting on the kitchen rug watching me.  It's fun to have a kitchen buddy.

He thinks he's more human than dog and tends to sleep on pillows.

He gets more food now and he really chows down during mealtimes.  He's getting so big!

Since we were celebrating our anniversary on Sunday and were going to be out of the house I decided to make our homemade meal on Friday evening.  We used our China and our crystal for the first time.  We had steak, fried seasoned potatoes, croissants, and green peppers.  It was delicious and thanks to Eric & Ashleigh the wine we drank with dinner was called "Monogamy Cabernet."

Aaron appreciated that I cooked the steak in the style of my great Grandma Schneider.  Cooking it in a pan on the stove makes it tastes delicious!

Saturday afternoon we took Brutus over to visit his Grammy & Papa.  He sure loves riding in the car!

He rides in the back seat like a big boy now.  He is very observant, but not very aware of the fact that turns make him fall over.

My Mom & Dad gave us a set of knives and a salad spinner (which I was in desperate need of).  Thank you for the gifts and the beautiful card!  Brutus knew something was fishy Sunday morning when Mommy & Daddy started packing for their night away.  He wouldn't leave our side.

He even had quite the adventure with Daddy while we were watching our wedding video the morning of our anniversary and crawled completely under our bed to get his favorite ball.  It was pretty silly!

The traditional First Anniversary gift happens to be paper and my very creative and sneaky husband commissioned an artist/clothing designer to sketch my wedding dress.  Isn't it amazing? I am so excited to get it framed, then I can see it whenever I want!

Thanks to my Mom's freezing skills and her thoughtful responsibility for the top of our cake on our wedding night we ate the traditional bites of our original cake that morning as well.  It was very special to have that saved and also surprisingly delicious.

My thoughtful husband had even brought home flowers for me on Friday evening after work!  Beautiful roses in celebration of our wedding and the 3 year anniversary of our first date; on which he also brought me roses.

This picture was taken right before we were getting ready to leave for our overnight at Ameristar.  I know it's blurry, but this is a rare shot of me and Brutus as I am usually the one taking the pictures.

Aaron reserved a gorgeous room for us at Ameristar in St. Charles for the night and we checked in early and went down to enjoy the pool/hot tub.  He had thought of booking the same hotel for our wedding night, but I am glad he decided not to because we were both so exhausted that evening we would not have been able to enjoy the room or the amazing view.

I couldn't help, but snap a few photos, the room was SO fabulous.

I told Aaron when we arrived that I wouldn't have been upset if we stayed a few days more and he reminded me that there was a vital room missing...the kitchen!  And, this is not a put down in any fashion, I love to cook and he loves to eat my cooking so I agreed.

It was a beautiful view of St. Charles, one neither of us had had the opportunity to appreciate before.

I had to snap a shot of the date while we were in the elevator on the way back from the pool.

After the pool we got ready for our anniversary dinner!  I had made reservations at a restaurant on Main Street St. Charles called "The Vine."  They were very understanding as I requested a bottle of champagne be brought to the table, brought the champagne flutes we used at the wedding reception, and had then fix up a special dessert for us at the end of our meal.  This was all done, might I add, secretly.  My hubby had no idea.  When they brought out our champagne and the flutes he admitted, "It's a good thing we watched the wedding video this morning, because I never would have recognized those glasses."  That's men for ya!

Aaron showing a little attitude before our appetizers arrived.  He was hungry!

So happy to be out to dinner with my man.  It was really exciting to celebrate our anniversary for the first time at a special restaurant.  We even got to brag about our pup!

Aaron got the Duck Wellington, which was delicious, and finished every bite.

I went with the Pasta Puttanesca as the cheese plate and Lobster Bisque that were our appetizer and soup course filled me up.  The pasta was still very delicious.

They did a fantastic job with the dessert.  Aaron didn't know about this little surprise either and it was wonderful to have it brought out without him knowing.  We never order dessert either so the flourless cake was a special treat!

After dinner, we returned to the hotel and went to gamble in the casino.  We had a great first hour, we played video poker (Aaron made the decisions, I pressed the buttons), learned how to play craps, and even doubled some of our money betting black at the roulette table.  As expected, we ended up losing some of our money, well, most of it, but it was an enjoyable evening.  If anyone would like to explain slot machines to me, please feel free.  Those things make no sense.  We had some drinks and a midnight snack and then, in true fashion, fell right to sleep once we returned to our room.  Now that we have the pup our bedtime tends to be between 9:30-10 so staying up until 12:30 was tough.  I had a wonderful time celebrating with my husband and our mini-vacation was the perfect amount of spoiling.  After all, I feel spoiled every day just being married to such a wonderful, thoughtful husband.

I have to say, even though we were having a wonderful time, both of us missed our little boy.  We were very excited to come home the next day to see how he had survived his first night without us.  He adored his dogsitter and was happy to see us.  We took him out for a round of frisbee, his new and favorite toy, and he pounded, chewed, and caught it to his little heart's content.

This is hilarious!  He hates when it turns over and he can't pick it up.

Waiting for Daddy to throw it.

Success!

For the rest of the week I am officially a daytime babysitter and Brutus gets to have some fun making new friends with Sean and Brynn.  We are having a great time and he loves having to new "puppies" around to play with.  Father's Day is coming up and I am excited for family dinner at my parents to celebrate the day.  Sunshine is a little sparse this week, as we are experiencing typical Midwest summer weather so I can't wait for the weekend.  I hope to get in some pool time with my hubby!