Day Trippers

Today is our anniversary. As far as I can tell, no seven-year itch. We actually celebrated a couple of weeks ago by going to Tahoe. Okay, so I had a conference in Carson City, NV, and we spent most of our time there, but we did get over to Tahoe a couple of times. It was fun.

Anyway, today we took a drive and spent some time in eastern Utah. And here's what I got out of it: my husband loves me. Seven ways--one for each year we've been married.

1. He takes me places like this to celebrate our anniversary.

Every year we visit a different LDS temple and enjoy worshipping there. This year was Vernal Utah's turn. I think it was grateful.

2. After going to the temple, lest I start feeling too classy, we get to go to D.I. if there is one, or to garage sales or a different thrift store. If time permits, we do all of the above.

3. He always remembers to find out what the traditional anniversary gifts are. This year's is wool. I'm knitting him a little something. Almost finished. His plan was to buy me yarn (so I could knit him socks--haha), but believe it or not, there are no yarn shops in Vernal. D.I. had a lovely wool coat though, and it fit me perfectly. So that's what I got. He also also got me a beautiful suit (not wool, but it fit so nice, he said I could have it). The previous owner either never wore it, had it dry cleaned just before donating it, or both. It originally came from JC Penney, but I'm going to pretend like it came from Macy's, because it really is that gorgeous.

4. We don't have to talk all the time. Like if we're driving for five hours--no pressure to babble. So we'd talk about stuff, and then we'd look out the window, listen to jazz, and stuff like that. And every moment was lovely.

5. He lets me pick the restaurant. And doesn't have a cow when it's too pricy. And even leaves a twenty percent tip without being prompted. None of these things (except allowing me to do the picking) are in his nature.

6. He makes me laugh. Always. And his jokes are almost never at other people's expense. Even when they are, they aren't mean.

7. My cooking makes him weep tears of joy. Well, it would if he wasn't too much of a man to show it. Instead he just chokes out one word, like "'sgood," and eats like crazy. I am certain that he doesn't say much because he can't trust himself not to break down out of love and appreciation for me. For breakfast this morning, we had blackberry banana-stuffed crepes, a spinach omelet, and homemade country potatoes. I made enough for eight people, because I decided to share with the kids. I'm generous that way. Daltonboy sat at the table and silently put away about twenty crepes, five eggs, and a pound of potatoes. Incredible. And he'll never gain a pound. Anyway, he enjoyed it, and that's what counts. And tomorrow I'll go back to watching his fat and sugar intake.

Here's some stuff we learned about Vernal:

A lot of the people drive trucks. Not all of them, though. Seriously. There was a VCR in the back. And it was gone when we came out of the store.

Other towns should take a page out of Vernal's book when decorating for the holidays. You can save a lot of time and expense by decorating for all the fourth quarter holidays at the same time, for example.

Town Center:



In case you can't see it properly, you have, from right to left:

T-Rex (in costume) eating a turkey drumstick. Also, he is covered with Christmas lights. Daltonboy takes issue with the size of his arms, which he feels are too spindly even to hold that drumstick. I say it's an artist's interpretation and there's obviously some meaning there. What that meaning is, I don't know.



In the center is our Christmas tree. See the star on top.

On the far right we see a giant pumpkin wearing giant Groucho glasses. The nose is covered with fall leaves. Also the whole thing is covered with Christmas lights. There are no words.

And that's Vernal. We had a great time. Chose not to eat there, for what I believe are obvious reasons. T-Rex had already taken the best for himself. But people everywhere we went were so nice to us. I don't know how, but they seemed to know we weren't from around there. Because my hair wasn't big? Because we weren't driving a truck? Who knows what gave it away? People kept coming up and saying, "Where are you from?" and when we told them, they'd say, "Well, Welcome!" and proceed to talk our ears off for the next half hour. Everyone was o! so affable.

For example, the D.I. manager has seven kids, three left at home. His fourth child just left on a mission and is in the MTC in Provo. He has one son back from a mission, and two daughters married. One of them lives in the town next to ours, and she is the most beautiful girl in the world. Her husband isn't very good looking. He and his wife were married in Manti. She is the most wonderful woman in the world. It takes 2 1/2 hours to get to Manti from Vernal. He's lived in Vernal all his life, and wants all his kids to still be at home. He's pretty sure that after daltonman leaves in three weeks, I'll be sad.

I'm totally serious. He followed us around the store talking to us. Fortunately, we were almost ready to go when we met him. If we had chatted much longer he would have taken us home to dinner with him.

Anyway, back to the anniversary. I'm glad I'm married, even gladder I'm married to daltonboy, The Sweetest Man in the World (TSMITW), and even gladder that we had a lovely day together and get to look forward to twenty or thirty more anniversaries. Provided I can prevent him from eating 2000 calorie breakfasts and having a stroke next year. We start Year Eight off with oatmeal for breakfast! And he will love it.