The Big 10 in Big Bear

No, we weren't married in January but better late than never to post our

10 yr anniversary trip right?!?

So back in October, thanks to my mom's willingness to watch our kids and my dad's willingness to put up with our dog, we were able to sneak in a little be-lated anniversary get-away. Jared had high hopes of making this a Hawaiian trip but since I was preggo and we hadn't won the lottery yet, I convinced him we should perhaps be do something on the main land instead.

I'm so glad we did too!!

We decided to head up to a little town called "Big Bear Lake" tucked up in the mountains less than 2 hrs away that we've always wanted to visit. We were excited to go some where where we could enjoy the snow and cool temps and then retreat back to our warm weather.

We had the best time walking around the cute little town sans kids,

hitting up the tiny local theater (I think it sat 30 max),

admiring the beautiful scenery,

exploring the coolest antique stores I've ever seen,

picking up some "tasteful" souvenirs

and even doing some outside late night swimming in the super warm hotel pool

with snow all around us.

(No, I didn't take any pictures of us swimming. You're welcome.)

We thought we would enjoy what the area had to offer

so Jared went down this super long Alpine slide.

Can you tell he liked it?

He tried to convince me to go too but the rules were pretty clear. Dang!

We wanted to spend a day tubing too since it looked so fun but decided against it.

Considering Chase's early arrival, it's probably a good thing too.

Can't peg that on me Chase!

I assured Jared that we'll come back another time

when we don't have to worry about smashing our poor child in utero.

And in case we ever forgot where we were,

there were reminders everywhere we went.

At basically every restaurant we saw-

At the firewood lot-

At the Police Station-

Even at Vons.

This place puts "Build-a-Bear" to shame

Jared planned the whole trip thought it would be fun to visit Lake Arrowhead too

on the other side of the mountain.

He arranged for a hotel there too

so we said our goodbyes to this beautiful lake-

And headed to this one-

Lake Arrowhead was equally beautiful

but with more of an exclusive resort feel to it

(real hoighty-toighty like).

Since we had already eaten-out quite a bit

and since everything there is so dang expensive,

we hit up a grocery store and bought all the fix-ins

to eat dinner back at our hotel room.

Just the bare necessities I tell you.

After all, who can live without the 1,000 calories in

Ben & Jerry's New York Super Fudge Chunk?!?

Jared arranged for us to take a "steam boat" tour of the lake and I'm so glad we did.

Cap'n Chuck told us all kinds of cool things about Lake Arrowhead.

None of them I can remember now but trust me, they were cool.

Apparently this is where the rich and famous go once they become rich and famous.

We saw the amazing homes of

old movie stars like Doris Day, newer ones like George Clooney,

famous people like President Ford

and the owners of places like Winchell's Donuts and In-n-Out.

And of course a bunch more that I can't remember.

Cap'n Chuck would be so disappointed.

I do remember that he pointed out an apple grove there

(coincidently called Apple Grove)

that was planted by the Mormon Battalion

that's still producing apples 150+yrs later. Very cool.

As you can see, the houses weren't anything fancy,

just your basic 4 walls and a roof

. . .that happen to cost 10's of millions of dollars.

Even the (over priced) resort we stayed in had their claim to fame

since it was where one of the episodes of the tv show "House" was filmed.

(Any House fans out there? It was the one where House drugs Wilson at a convention they go to. Anyway, kind of cool to see the picture in the lobby of them)

Not that we don't love our children but we sure do love our time together when it's just us. We've been so very blessed in the 10 years of our marriage. This weekend was just another reminder of why we got married- we just can't seem to get enough of each other. I'm glad this was not only true during those late nights in the halls of Glenwood at BYU but is also the same, even more so, today. I'm grateful that we were able to be sealed for eternity in the San Diego Temple and that I can look forward to years together with this guy, not just for another 10, 30, or 50 years, but for forever. I just hope Ben & Jerry will be there too!