15

On the 26th of this month is our 15th dating anniversary.

That means that we will have been dating for the same amount of years that Evan was alive when we actually started dating.

That means next year, at 16 years of dating, Evan will have had me in his life longer than he was without me in his life.

Mind boggling.

Elisabeth has been very curious about how Evan and I met lately. She asks about when we met, our first few dates, etc. She thinks it's funny that Evan and my sister were in 4th grade and that I may have seen Evan and not known even known it. "Mom, what if you did see him! Wouldn't that be weird to see him and know that you were going to marry him?!"

I told Evan that I might write down our story for the kids. He asked why, "it's not really that exciting". And, to be honest, it's not exciting in a romantic movie type of way. There's no "love at first sight" moment, no huge dramatic break up scene, no old boyfriends or girlfriends to bicker over. But, when we are introducing ourselves to new people (which happens all the stinking time in the military), we often get asked how long we've been married or when we met. People always are impressed to find out we're high school sweethearts. They become amazed when they find out how young we were when we started dating (15 and 17, respectively) and that we never broke up. I had one spouse of Evan's co-worker tell me that Evan and I were a rarity. "You don't hear about hometown high school sweethearts too often anymore."

I'm not sure how true it is that we're a rarity, but I do understand wanting to hear more about how we met and ended up staying together. I love hearing how people met; I think it's a great way to learn more about them. There are usually funny stories or inside jokes that the couple has told so often they have it down to a finely tuned art when they tell the story to new friends. There's that history of a couple that shapes and develops them into who they are today as individuals, but more importantly, who they are as a couple. Those are the stories that Elisabeth is looking for, the stories that made her parents from being just Evan and Virginia into Evan&Virginia.

So, I think I will write down our story. It may not be interesting to others, but I think our kids will appreciate having it someday when we aren't there to tell it anymore. Plus, I need to write it down before I forget parts. Isn't that sad to think that someday I may not remember all the details as well as I do right now? Like the first time I ever heard Evan's voice. Or the first time I went to his house. Or the first time we held hands.

But, I really feel that the part of our story that I like best is that because we decided to start dating, because we decided to really commit to our relationship forever, we have three beautiful people in our house that are here because of us deciding to be boyfriend and girlfriend 15 years ago.

I Mustache You a Question...

I'm sure you have all heard of Mustache March. If you have not, here is a quick history of the AF General who started the tradition.

In our house, mustaches are an every day affair. Evan has had one full time for since last November. My children are genuinely amazed by awesome mustaches and will point them out to me and Evan and have even complimented some men on their extraordinary mustaches (if it is a curled mustache, Julia will feel the need to compliment it).

 The other week, the older two girls had to get their sports physicals so they can play tball and softball this spring. The doctor was able to see them both at the same time, and at the end of the visit, told all 3 girls that they could pick a prize from her prize drawer. The younger two both squealed with delight when they saw these Groucho Marx disguises because they had mustaches.

 Evan has always enjoyed mustaches. His Halloween costumes usually are not complete without one. Here is his favorite Halloween mustache:

His real mustache:

Vivian likes to pet Evan's mustache. It's super cute.

 Evan was trying to see if his mustache would be a conductor of static electricity. :)

 I always find it very amusing when Movember (another month for growing mustaches or beards) or Mustache March roll around and wives of the men who participate start complaining. I guess what I don't understand is, for the majority of these women, if their husbands at all responded to their choice of hair cut the way these women do about mustaches or beards, there would be loads of hurt feelings and anger that their husbands were so mean, rude, etc. I know that if I decided to chop off my hair into a pixie cut Evan might be sad that all my long curls were gone (he is a fan of the curls), but he'd never make me feel guilty or stupid for wanting a short hair cut. That's how I feel about mustaches and beards. True, I actually do like them on Evan, but even if I didn't, it's not my face. I know of a couple of wives who said they'd refused to kiss their husbands until they shaved their facial hair! That's ridiculous. 31 days of not kissing your husband/boyfriend due to facial hair? That's 31 days you can't get back!

 I like this picture because in the background you can see a pic of Evan from high school when he performed in a play where his character had a mustache.

The girls will probably always be supportive of mustaches on their loved ones. Maybe even passionately so...

6 years ago today...

Six years ago today...

The church was decorated with doily cones full of tulips.

Small cousins played together in fancy clothes waiting for a ceremony.

A certain 2.5 year old was her usually bubbly self.
Evan found the exact chalice he wanted to use during communion.
My best friends were lined up looking beautiful in periwinkle blue.
My dad walked me down the aisle and he didn't do one ornery thing along the way.
The flower girls tried their very best to entertain themselves.
Our friends and family watched as Evan and I said vows that couples before us had been saying for centuries.
I danced with my husband to Frank Sinatra's "Easy to Love".
Matt danced with his soon-to-be wife Kyle.
Evan's best friends stopped talking and laughing long enough for a great picture of the 4 of them.
Elisabeth looked beautiful in her dress.
I married Evan, who I'd been dating for over 6 years.
It was a beautiful day.

Captain Bonnett

On July 10th, Evan was officially promoted to Captain. We had heard it was going to be late, especially since one of his co-workers, who was ahead of him 3 months for promotion, wasn't promoted until 6 weeks or so after he was scheduled to due to some delay in paperwork or whatever. Evan's was only a day behind, so he was really lucky! When he found out, Evan told his boss that Jana and Keith were coming to town to visit for a week, so his office had a formal ceremony of the pinning ceremony. We'd always planned on having Elisabeth participate in the ceremony, but now his parents would get to watch! On Monday, the 13th, we all went to the base for the ceremony. Elisabeth was very excited and nervous about pinning the Captain bars to Evan's hat. He practiced with her the night before, and she did a really good job when it was time.
Here's Julia walking into the courtroom. She's getting really good at walking while holding someone's hand, but still isn't too keen about trying it solo yet.

Where we sat.
That's Evan's Baby JAG sippy cup the guys in his office gave him his first week. :)
Someone's excited!
Evan's boss and I pinned the Captain bars to his jacket, while Ebeth worked on his hat.
Evan surprised his parents by asking them to put his new shoulder boards on his shirt.
Taking the oath as a Captain.




How many times did I say "Captain" in this blog? A cash** prize for those who get it right!!!



**by "cash prize", I mean an email saying you are correct.

Me. Like. Evan.

I forgot to make mention of the fact that I have been dating Evan for 10 years today. That's right, 10 years. And we're only 25 and 27, respectfully. We still like each other, so we've got that going for us. Oh, and we have two lovely girls, so that's another plus.

Love you, Ev.

Evan is home!!!

Evan is home until Thursday! As you might remember, I left Wednesday for the Bloomington Airport to catch a flight to Alabama so I could be with Evan when he graduated and whatnot. Yeah, let me tell you how much of a freakin' mess that was. First off, ISU is wreaking havoc around campus by redoing streets, building, etc. So, I get there and I go to turn on a street that is no longer a street, end up getting a bit backwards, but finally find my way again. Then, I get stuck in a traffic jam while large dinosauresque machines block the street I need to get on to be on time for my flight. By now I'm super stressed because I had left Pekin at 1:00, barely getting a good-bye with Julia because I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to make sure I had everything I needed for the girls before I abandoned them for 3 days. It's now 2:30 when I am stuck in traffic, ready to cry, with a cell phone that just died, Google map directions that aren't worth crap, and dinosaur machines blocking the road and threatening to eat my car if I tried to leave the line of traffic. Finally, after almost 30 minutes of waiting, I am flying to the airport chanting "Please don't let me miss my flight. Please don't let me miss my flight," probably looking like a complete crazy to the people around me. I get to the airport, run to the Delta man behind the counter and practically scream at him, "I'm here for my 3:oo flight to Atlanta!" The poor (now deaf) Delta man informs me that they just loaded the plane and are taxing (3 minutes ahead of schedule). Poor Delta man...because I asked him to repeat that information to me several times while my completely stressed out brain tried to process this information. So, then, adding the final straw to making me look like a complete and utter idiot, I say, "Now what?". So, Delta man tells me all about "next available flights" and then helps me get one of those. I find out the next flight leaves at 5:45, there is plenty of room, and then he tells me to make sure I am seated by the boarding gate at 5:15, "So this doesn't happen to you again, ma'am." Thanks. So, I go, plug in my phone and call Evan bawling my eyes out because I'm so frustrated and sad. I won't get to see him till 11:00PM and we'd planned on eating dinner and hanging out with his friends on base. Evan decides he still likes me and seems a bit concerned over my amount of tears (normally, I"m not much of a crier). Since I hadn't eaten lunch yet, I got to a restaurant at the airport, order a beer and a hamburger, and read a book. After that, I'm much calmer and follow Delta man's advice and sit at the terminal like it's my freaking job.



I finally get on the plane. Yes, I'm one of "those people" who take pictures out of the plane window. But, I think it's so cool to have clouds under me! And to see so far that you can actually see the curve of the earth. Hm...I wonder if the girls will inherit my extreme geekiness?...

I FINALLY arrive in Birmingham, where Evan is so nicely waiting for me! I didn't get to meet any of his friends Wednesday night, but did get to lounge in his room while he had to do PT stuff in the morning (aka: run around the base for 2 hours). We ate lunch with his classmates, and then Evan said the most sweetest thing to me, "I was thinking we could go back and take a nap before dinner." A nap?! A nap!!! There is a God! Of course I want to take a nap! ARe you kidding me? So, we go back and NAP (napnapnapnap)...for over 2 hours! Almost missing our getting ready time for the Dining Out (oops!). But, we hurried, and made it on time for cocktails!



Here we are in our finest. I was so excited to have a purple dress, and then find out 3 other wives were also thinking purple. We are obviously all geniuses.


After the dining out, we changed and went to the Officer's Club for beers and some stupid pool game called Crud where people get injured trying to steal cue balls from each other. Neato.



Friday was graduation!!! Then we packed up and headed back for Illinois!

Evan was nominated for an award.
Us outside his JAG school!


We stayed overnight in Mt.Vernon, but made it home Saturday. The girls were very excited to see Evan. Julia was more excited to see me (and her constant milk supply), but eventually showed excitement over Evan as well. He gets to stay until Thursday morning and then he's heading out to Colorado Springs to report in to his base. He will be house hunting and getting our stuff together out there. The girls and I will be joining him probably around Memorial Day weekend. So, we will be staring at him and demanding attention from him until Thursday morning!