18 years?!?!?!

Yesterday was our anniversary. 18 years. Wow. We decided that since we weren't going out of town this year to celebrate, that we would make it weekend-long celebration instead. It started out Friday night. We decided to use a coupon we had for Buca de Beppo. Curtis is not an Italian food fan, but he knows I love fettuccine alfredo, so he takes a bullet every once in a while. If you've never eaten there, it is Italian Immigrant-style food.

The place looks like I would expect some one's grandma's house from Little Italy would look. Kitschy lamps, oriental-rug carpeting, photos big and small everywhere, (and I mean everywhere--they must have thousands in the place) and every wall is a different, very(!) bright color. It started out with a "tour" of the kitchen. Actually they just show you where they place the pizzas fresh from the oven. The manager was also there to shake our hands. You are then herded past a table of diners with very annoyed looks and fake smiles on their faces because everyone is intruding on their meal. That and the noise of the rest of the kitchen goings-on. (Note to self: if you ever go back, don't sit at the kitchen table).

We were ushered upstairs to the "Wine Room". We felt like we were on a circus ride. It was really weird. Also, nobody warned us that there are pornographic images all over the place. After 15 minutes at our table Curtis couldn't handle looking at Sophia Loren in scanty lingerie any more, so he switched me spots. That meant that I got to look at her (oh yay), with the added bonus of a photo of several people looking over a wall. One of the ladies in the photo is wearing a skirt which has blown up towards her back, exposing her very bare bottom. Didn't she feel a draft?

After we got desensitized, we actually really liked the food. We shared a salad and pizza. Hope nobody spit on it as they were led through the kitchen. I also got a side of fettuccine alfredo (of course).

After the carnival ride/dinner we went to Target. My blow dryer and curling had bit the dust the day before, so my hairstyle was a little unusual that night. I suspect that's why Curtis was so willing to go shopping on our hot date.

We got home kind of early so we told the kids we were still on our date and that they better not disturb us. We retired to our room to watch "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". LOVE that movie!

Saturday we woke bright and early and went to the Temple. That was sooooo nice! After a stop at the distribution center and an order at Wendy's we were on the road.

"What else fun are we going to do today?" Curtis inquired eagerly.

"Ummmm. Nothing." I said.

I ended up cutting Grace and Zane's hair. We then washed the "Titanic" (my aunt and uncle's van) so that we could return it to them. (Oh yeah. Our white car is fixed, thanks to the excellent mechanic services of Bishop Russell.)

Late that evening we went through the drive thru of Burger King for a treat on our way to pick Hallie up from the dance. Ahhh, romance! We were really livin' it up now!

Since Sunday was the actual day of our anniversary I planned a special dinner. Curtis' favorite: Meat loaf (ugh. Couldn't someone have come up with a better name?). We also had baked potatoes (another of his favorite's), steamed broccoli (my favorite), and for dessert carrot cake (his favorite).

He decided that he would decorate the cake. This is what we ended up with. He kept messing up the lips so he just added more and more sprinkles. Note to self: red dye sprinkles are BITTER!!! Um....yeah. It was....errr....delicious. I threatened to send a photo to cakewrecks.com (if you've never been on that sight, go right now. And prepare to wet yourself laughing).

He cleaned up after dinner, we sent the kids to bed, congratulated ourselves on making it another year, and promptly fell asleep.

At 9:30.

It was fun.