7 years

I had to show-off my anniversary gift from our Smart Son (5yr)- a giant painting of the Washington DC Temple-(complete with gold leafed angel Moroni )where we were married 7 years ago.

For those who have never been to a dinner party at our house...here is the condensed although convoluted story of how Smart Mama and Smart Daddy-o came to be...

He was starting his sophmore yr just back from a mission- I was a 17 yr old freshman at BYU. I liked him/he liked me- we went out- i didn't want to get serious- because he was the husband material type- I maturely decided if I ignored him it would all go away. Well it did for awhile. I dated my "college boyfriend" until after i graduated (With one date with allen mixed into that 2 yr relationship) I finished BYU in 3 yrs., taught school in Virginia, and went back to grad school. Well my first Sunday back guess who i ran into- yep- smart daddy-o (at first i thought- what is he still doing here-- he must be a total slacker, he should've graduated when i did- but I found out he was 1/2 way through an MBA/MS in mechanical engineering (okay maybe he wasn't such a slacker). We kept bumping into each other on our way to the grad student parking lot-- and finally at the end of that year-- We started dating again-(after i dreamt about him 3 nights- i decided to bring him cupcakes- yes food has always been a theme with me - see i really was interested in this other guy mike at the time and I guess I needed something to get me refocused on smart daddy-o --every story has to have some cheesy element- the dream thing is mine) of course this was march- 1 mo before the end of the school year. he was finishing his thesis- i was going to johns hopkins to do child life clinical hours all summer and then planning to go a mission - so it kind of threw a kink in the works- we pulled the long distance thing- i called my dept in july and said i was coming back at the end of the summer- not engaged and not going on a mission after all- As soon as i got back to school- smart daddy-o took a job in CA and i finished my last year of grad school. So luckily i worked my grad schedule so i could fly to CA every 2 weeks to see him (got to love 49$ southwest internet specials)- we got engaged in october and married may and the rest is 7 years of history...

So smart daddy-o this one is for you-- thanks for giving me everything these last 7 years... 7 down/eternity to go-- I can't wait! As to your anniversary gift--how about a romantic dinner for 2 (uh make that 4-- no babysitters), I'll write you up some "good fors" (that never get redeemed) and give you veto power on the new dining room rug design.

XOXO, your favorite smart mama