Our 14th Anniversary

 On the Friday before our anniversary, Jeremy surprised me with a trip away to St. Louis.  Now, let me give you a little back story.  For weeks beforehand, I had been saying that we didn't have to do anything for our anniversary since we went to Florida last year.  I also had been saying that I had been wanting to go to the Lake (Osage Beach) or to Indianapolis to get our couples tattoo.  I never once mentioned St. Louis.  And, if you know me, when I go places other than home, I like to be out and about DOING things and experiencing the new place I am in.  I want to have fun.  I hate going away and then doing the same boring crap I could do at home, only paying for it.  Seems downright stupid to me and Jeremy knows this and agrees.....typically. haha!
Also, I was beat from the night before.  So, he tells me on Friday at lunch time.  I am dead tired, haven't even gotten dressed yet, Cullen and Eden were being naughty, my head hurt, etc.  And he says, surprise, we get to go away to St. Louis (he'd been planning it for over two weeks)!!!  Oh, and you have to pack for us, pack for the kids to go to Grandma's, shower, etc....all by 4:00pm!!  Initially, I tried to be excited (because who wouldn't be, right???).  He left to go back to work and then the reality of it all hit me.  What the crap was he thinking!?!?  He leaves me with all of the crap work to get ready for it.  AND....what the heck are we going to do in St. Louis???  I texted him on facebook and asked all of these questions and he said he didn't know.  Seriously.  I didn't want to spend money on nothing and could think of a million other things the money could go to.  And since he had never said anything to me in advance, I had visions of hanging out with the kids all long weekend, maybe setting up the tent, working on the swing set, having fun as a family and what not.  Ugh.  Then I thought okay, Colista, suck it up, your husband is trying to be nice to you.  I somehow pulled it together enough to get things thrown together.
Oh and I also forgot that I was in the middle of making 7 pounds of ground beef into meatballs to freeze. Yeah.  *sigh*
We got the kids to Nauvoo and set out for St. Louis.  The ride there was nice, the moon was full and AMAZING.  I took about 500 pics of it but, I won't bore you with all 500....only the one at the top!

 Jeremy had reserved a room for us at the Westin.  It was super nice.  It is the hotel right outside of Busch Stadium although the Cardinals were out of town that weekend.  We got in the room about 10 or 10:30.

 The bathroom was awesome and had a rain shower head which Jeremy told me was his main reason for booking the room there.  SMH. It was also very private with a very long hall going to the living area.  Complimentary stuff everywhere! 

 Our mini bar, t.v., fridge, desk, etc.

 Right when we got in, we ordered a late snack from Room Service.  We got spinach and artichoke dip and some cookies and milk.  Jeremy knows that room service is a MUST for me and they had great room service.  We ordered breakfast in the morning too which was MUCH more fancy than our snack the night before and I forgot to take a pic of it.

 I took this from our window.  That is part of the City Gardens and the parking garage next to Busch Stadium.  Below is the hallway outside our room...it curved in and out and was striped and awesome. 

 Right in front of our hotel.

In the morning we ventured out walking in downtown St. Louie.  We walked down by the riverfront the arch.  No idea what we were doing.  The line to go up in the arch was really long and wrapped all the way around the outside of the arch so we skipped that.

 My hubby.  I love him.

 We took a carriage ride for $30 bucks that was a huge waste!! Don't do it.  The whole riverfront was flooded and the "ride" was literally three blocks down, then turn around in the middle of the street and the same three blocks back....maybe 10 minutes.   The most interesting thing was the statue of Lewis and Clark that was flooded.  And faking being interested in the carriage drivers schpeel about the river and how flooded it was and could get.....she didn't realize that we live right on the river too.  *sigh*

We walked down by Laclede's Landing which is a really cool little area of town with the original streets, cool shops and restaurants, and the casino.  We couldn't think of anything to do so we thought we would go to the casino.  Well, somehow I left my driver's license at home on the computer desk and they wouldn't let me in.  For reals.  FML.  Then we left the casino to walk back to the hotel and got drenched in a downpour.  It sucked really back.  I was wearing slippery flip flops and a shirt that was see-through when wet.  And my zipper kept coming undone.  Just another thing.  I was pissed off that so far we had spent a crap ton of money and not done anything fun.  Stupid.
We actually considered heading home at this point.  I was done and Jeremy was done dealing with me.  It all just felt like such a huge waste.  Then we decided to head out to the outlet mall.  OMG, it is so freaking cool!!  We stayed there most of the day.  There are a crap ton of really good stores and then there are a ton of fun things to do in there as a family.  We are going to take the kids there sometime too.  They have all kinds of kids stufflike go carting, bunge jumping (indoor small version jumping thing), rides, a ton of restaurants, etc.  I think some Christmas shopping will be done there for sure.  It has the biggest Children's Place store I have ever seen.  It goes on forever and ever.  And we made out like bandits with all the memorial day sales~!
We just hung out and ate the next day which was annoying for me again.  I just felt like he planned a whole trip around a flipping shower head.  I enjoyed parts of the trip but overall it was a giant waste of time and money.  He tried but, instead I just felt left out and annoyed.


But, the good side of all of this is that things like this do not drive a wedge between us. In fact, just the opposite.  Trust and honesty are key pillars in our marriage.  We are honest with each other almost to a fault, haha.  Anything, I say or do, Jeremy has either heard before or knows about.  I tell him every single thing I am thinking or doing.  And he does the same for me.  We tell each other if one or the other is acting stupid even.  haha!  I we literally die without him.  He is my rock.  The person I bounce my every thought, whim, desire, frustration, anything and everything with.  We tell each other our deepest, darkest secrets.  We know each others weakness and faults.  We stand beside each other through thick and thin. I am so beyond blessed to have spent the last 14+ years with him.
We really want to renew our wedding vows and have another "wedding".  We have even checked into a few locations and what not.  Our 15 year anniversary would be perfect time to do that but, we also thought about going to Ireland for our 15th.....hmmmmm.

To my Jeremy:
You know my true thoughts and I know yours.  There is nothing in the world that you could do that would ever change my love for you.  It is unconditional and forever.  And as a side note....you are sexy as hell!  Love you more than life itself!!  Muah!! Fourteen years, baby!!  YeAh!