I laughed...

Not when my husband looked at me and said, "I didn't get you anything for our anniversary tomorrow."  But when I replied, "I didn't get anything for you either."

The good part about that whole conversation...I really don't need or want anything from Pat for my 17th anniversary tomorrow.
A date, like we have planned, will suffice quite nicely.
Being with him is the best gift I've been given.
Being with him eternally...even better.    

Year 17

In 1993, I made one of the best decisions of my life.
I chose to marry my best friend.

This year, this month, we celebrate 17 years of wedded bliss life together.

It wasn't until last year that we discovered how wonderful it was to spend an extended amount of time together.
The only time we had spent away from our children overnight, together, was in the hospital as I was giving birth to another sweet child.
As wonderful as those times were, they weren't romantic by any stretch...and our minds were very much preoccupied with the event of that day.

Last year, for numerous reasons, we made the critical decision that in order to repair, preserve and strengthen our marriage, we needed to spend time together...alone, as a couple.
Truly, it was probably one of the best decisions we have made as a married couple.

This spring, we knew that going on a "couples retreat" was imperative.
It wasn't a question of IF we would go, but simply WHEN we would go.
We set our budget, discussed places we'd like to go, and discussed which dates would work best.

It was at the end of April that my sister sent me an e-mail stating that tickets to Hawaii were at rock-bottom prices.
We have wonderful friends (Dawn and Jeff Peterson) who live on Kauai, and although we had often talked about visiting them while they lived there (over the course of the past 3 years), we knew that it was outside of our budgeted realm, and we'd just have to wait.

It only took one phone call to Pat to tell him that tickets were within our budget to start planning for our get-away to Kauai.

We were blessed to go over Memorial Day weekend, and suffice it to say, it was FABULOUS.

We both have Kauai fever...we would go back in a heartbeat if we had the finances to take our family.  Our friends were AMAZING tour guides and hosts.  THANK YOU PETERSONS!!!

Here are a few pictures of our trip:

                                                        Dear friends, Dawn and Holly...at Smith's luau                                                                                        (where we were serenaded by a Love Boat like singer... :-/ ).                                                       Na Pali Coastline...only accessible via hiking.  It's GORGEOUS!                                                              A close up of me and the top part of the sand castle Pat and Jeff built at Hanalei Bay.  

                                                        And the full castle...along with a little kissing.  :)                                                                                                                                           A Hawaiian sunrise...over the ocean.                                                         The second sand castle of the trip.                                                            The greenery and growth on Kauai was amazing.                                                                                            I snapped this shot after we had boogie-boarded through a long, dark irrigation tunnel that came out at a beautiful waterfall and swimming hole.