Happy (5th) Anniversary!

Justin and I hit the five year mark this New Year's Eve. We've had 5 really great and blessed years. Since we were back in Pittsburgh, with the nearest temple being the one we got married in and free babysitters close-by we thought we would take advantage of it and make a trip out of it. We left the boys with my mom and dad for a few days and headed to Washington D.C. to relive our wedding experience.

The only thing we really changed was our hotel. For our wedding we stayed in the Mayflower Renaissance downtown, but we were okay with saving a few bucks and not going back to that particular hotel. Instead we stayed at the Westin at Tyson's corner so we could go to Maggiano's when we got there. We had our wedding luncheon here and Maggiano's has remained one of our favorite restaurants ever since. We've never really lived close to one, so we were excited to go back.

Warning: we did not get ANY good pictures on this trip, but I really made an effort to actually take them, so I'll post them anyway...

My eyes are closed. Nice. Our server took this for us and then we told him we were there for our anniversary and that we'd come there after our wedding, etc. A few minutes later he came back with 2 glasses of champagne. After an awkward moment, we thanked him but explained that we don't drink and anyway, I was pregnant. His manager happened to see all this too and we had all had a good laugh. But the food was good and we had a great dinner. They have the best lasagna - we get it every time!

After dinner we went to see Avatar. We had to wait in a line before they opened the doors to the theater, but they made that line about 5 miles from the actual door the theater. So by the time they let people through all the dorks went into stampede mode. It was crazy! Seriously, no need to run down a pregnant lady for a seat in a stupid movie. I was very annoyed, but oh well. Here we are in our 3D glasses, and yes, another lovely picture of me with at least one of my eyes closed:

After this we got in trouble for using a camera in a movie theater. Shame on us! And btw, Justin and I both agreed that we could do without the 3D. They still need to work on the technology a little bit - they are just trying to make an extra buck right now. So don't bother paying the extra $$ to see it in 3D - we thought it actually took away from the movie.

The next morning, on our actual anniversary, Justin scraped our car out from under a layer of ice and we headed to the temple where we were married. Since there had been freezing rain the night before the temple was pretty empty and even quieter than usual.

No fancy photographer or posed pictures this time, just the arm-reach-self portrait! There was plenty of snow there this time and even though I had really wanted snow for our wedding day pictures, I realized that with all that snow would have been all that slush - and my dress would have been a mess!

After the temple we headed for home, but made one more stop for what my memory had deemed the most delicious chicken tenders ever. The night before our wedding we took all the wedding party to a restaurant near the hotel we were staying in. Bugaboo Creek. None of us had ever eaten there before, and I got the chicken tenders and have wanted to have them again ever since. But Bugaboo Creek is an east coast chain, so we hadn't come across it since. Here they are, the Snowbird Chicken Tenders:

So good. The breading is so light and crispy and the chicken underneath so tender. And the BBQ sauce and honey mustard so good! Okay so I'm sounding like the chicken tenders were the best part of our little anniversary getaway. They weren't. We had a really great time. I'm glad we were able to go (thank you mom & dad!). And I'm glad we've made it so easily through the first five years of married life. We have truly been so blessed and we look forward to the next five and beyond!