Five Years of Bliss

Well, it has been five years of wedded bliss the 24th.  Jonathan and I wanted to celebrate our five year anniversary with a bit more celebration than we have celebrated the past four anniversaries, which actually wouldn't take much to accomplish.  Anyway, we thought we would get away for a couple of days.  Haven got to celebrate with us since she is still food dependent on me, if you get my drift.

Wednesday we headed out of town.  Mom and dad were able to get us two nights stay at Big Cedar Lodge (wonderful place!).  What a blessing that was!  Mom said it was a God thing, which I have no doubt.  They happen to have extra special points with their time share that had to be used by the end of May and Big Cedar just "happen" to have a space open on the two nights we planned to be there!  That is a God blessing.  It was wonderful.  We had an apartment type place.  It had a full kitchen, a living room, and king size bedroom with a jacuzzi tub.  Lots of room for Haven to roam and the best part of all was that she could sleep in the living room.  It was nice not to have to go to bed at 8:00 when she did!  Oh and they bring fresh homemade cookies each night.  Can it get any better?

Our first stop was Springfield for a little shopping.  Oh let me back up, actually our first stop was Lamberts.  We just had to have their fried potatoes, fresh rolls and smoked chops, among other things.  Anyway, back to shopping.... I had to pick up my Mother's Day gift at Best Buy.  Since Jonathan got a nice big grill last year for Father's Day, this year I got a nice new small digital camera!!!  I love my huge nice camera, but it is not convenient for all situations.  I wanted one I could stick in my purse, okay diaper bag at this point in life.  I love my new small pink camera.  I would have gotten a blueish one, but they didn't sell them in the store.  Jonathan okayed the pink one, what a man.  Anyway, here are a few pics of our three days, two nights in Branson.

We were trying out my/our new camera.  Jonathan cheeses.

I am not quite as cheesy, but I am happy!

One of our favorite things to do of course is to go out to eat!  As mentioned above we went to Lamberts Wednesday.  Thursday we went to Famous Daves, one of our favorite BBQ places ever.  We love their corn bread muffins, they are more like a dessert.  Friday we went to Shorty Smalls.  I remember liking it in the past, but will probably pass in the future.  It was a bit pricey and I would have rather spent the money at Famous Daves.

Poor Haven didn't get to eat everything we did. I made sure she ate her veggies.  Now don't feel sorry for her.  She did get some of our meat and of course she threw veggies on the floor when she didn't want them.

My handsome husband.

I really was having a good time even thought that wasn't my best smile.

One of the perks of Big Cedar was the pools.  We had bought Haven her first swim suit and so we wanted to try it out.  They had a great kiddie pool that was the perfect depth for Haven.  It was shallow enough she could stand up by herself, without the life jacket.  She loved watching all of the other children play around. 

Haven is gearing up for the pool.  If you look in her hand you will notice that she went for the free soap.  She loves anything sample size...forget the toys! 

Okay, daddy had a bit of a problem putting on the swim suit.  In the picture below he put it on backwards.  She looks like a wrestler.

So he tried again and this time he put her leg in the side of her suit where the cute little cut out of the flower was.  Not a leg hole.  He did eventually get it on right.

They had little life jackets.  Haven didn't quite know what to do in the water with it.  It made her off balance.  She also couldn't really move her head, and unless we held on tight she would either end up face down in the water or floating on her back.  It was kinda funny and pitiful at the same time.

We had mercy on her and took the life jacket off.  Haven likes to splash, but well the result is not her favorite thing.

She loved watching the other kids play while spending time with daddy.

I did mention the jacuzzi didn't I....oh yeah.  The bubbles grow when you turn the jets on.  

Haven didn't know what to do with bubbles, so she did the only thing she knows how to do....put them in your mouth of course!

We wanted to go to a show, so we picked one that we thought would be different.  I wasn't sure I would like it, but I really, really enjoyed it.  We both did.  It is hard to explain all of the amazing things that the Chinese acrobats could do.  There was a wide variety of amazing feats, flexibility, balance and muscles galore.  Can we say amazing core!  

Haven entertained the audience around us before the show and during intermission.  She is a real ham.  Smiling and flirting.  Not shown below, just had to post another pic of Haven.

We went mini golfing.  Haven has a golf ball that matches her outfit perfectly.  She wasn't really into the golfing thing yet though.  She just looks real cute.

Jonathan got a hole in one!  He played exceptionally well, of course.

I on the other hand stunk, as usual.  Here is a through the leg shot that I had to take.

While in Branson, Haven was trying to see what she wanted to be when she grew up.

Here is her Hollywood classic look.  She was seeing if she wanted to be a diva.

Here she was seeing if she wanted to be a cowgirl.

We had a fantastic time!  One of the sweet romantic things Jonathan came up with was to give me five different letters.  One for each year we have been married.  They each listed five things he loved about me, our life, etc.   They were amazing!  What a man.  I thank God that he brought Jonathan and I together.  He is the best husband and daddy ever.  He is an amazing man of God who loves with an unconditional grace-filled love.  I couldn't have asked for a better man to spend my life with.